Feb 21, 2023

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Hello everybody and welcome back. Thank you for joining us in the ninth episode of this season. We've got a pretty good episode waiting for you, so we're going to go ahead and get this show started right away. Patrick's on the line now. He's ready to go, and so am I. My name is Chris Williams, and you're listening to the Constitution Commandos. Yeah, I know I'm blacked out on the screen because my truck is dark. I mean, I've got a slight, I got a slight glow off my ELD and all, but... I can see your glasses. Okay, that's cool. I bet people are laughing at that. This is a farmer's gym. This is a farmer's gym. Can't see his ghostly ass. I can see them glasses, boy. Well, you know, I was finally told while I was in the Navy, still trying to get into the SEAL program, that one of the reasons I could not go was because I wore glasses. And I thought that was stupid as anything I'd ever heard, and then I thought about it, and I was like, yeah, glasses give off a reflection that gives away your position. No, that wouldn't work too good. But that's when I tried to get into the LASIK surgery, and because I wasn't already in a... Combat arms class, yeah, you couldn't get it. Yeah, well, it was still experimental surgery back then, too, so... Yeah, everybody in the 82nd, if you were combat arms, if you were 11th series in the 82nd, back then, everybody was getting it. I wasn't allowed to get it because I wasn't combat arms. But what I did do, because, you know, I have to wear my glasses, but what I did do was I bought boonies with a little larger bill, and I was able to drop the bill a little beyond my glasses frame, and I was able to deflect a lot of light. Being in communications, a lot of times I was behind a commander or had a security detail, so I was generally not pointing the guy, so... There you go. Yeah, I need you to get me another boonie. Well, this is a little bit small on me, but if your globe is as big as mine, you won't be able to wear it. I got a 7 5 8. Yep, your globe is as big as mine. Yeah, the one I got at the house is a bit on the large side. I don't like it that much, either. I need to find me a better one. Yeah, that one doesn't fit me. Somebody gave it to me, and I was like, yeah, my brother would like that, and I tried to put it on, and I was like, well, maybe I'll be able to wear it anyway. Yeah, you said that, and I haven't had that thing for about a month now. I keep forgetting about it. Oh. Yeah, these are... I'll also... Go ahead. No, you go ahead. Well, I was going to say, another thing, along with the physical conditioning for people, there are some simple things that you can do, also, just for basic survival. Buy a compass. Get a good compass. You don't want to be out there lost. Get a good compass. Right. Learn how to read a compass and a map. Get a protractor. It's a square protractor, not like a drafting protractor. And learn how to read a map. And not just any map. Well, learn your geographical land features. Yeah. Topographical maps are good, but those aren't always going to be available, unless you've got the time and the money to start putting them away. But get you a compass. Learn how to use it. Start putting small kits together. First aid kits. Get antibiotics to put in there. Right. Put together fishing kits. You don't have to have complete fishing poles. Those are easy to fashion. Always have multiple blades. Yeah. I'm a blade guy. I love my knives. Between my wife and myself, we've got well over a hundred. I don't even know how many. We've got a lot of blades. Every blade has a purpose. You'll need some for cleaning fish, for cleaning game. You need some serrated, some not. Yeah, you need some with a thicker spine that can handle some abuse. Right. I mean, you need good fighting knives. You need good concealing knives. That would be great for defense. But you need multiple knives. But put together fishing kits. Flint rocks. Flint rocks. Yeah, but fishing line. Get multiple spools of fishing line. It's relatively inexpensive. It's multipurpose useful. Great for doing traps. Absolutely. And don't get the poly line. Get braided line. Right. Well, plus it'll last longer and it's stronger. Then on top of that, get multiple size hooks. These are things that if shit goes south and you have to fish for food, fish has a lot of protein. It's a good source of protein. If you need food, have a fishing lure set. Not a lure, but hooks. Hooks. Line. Yeah. But there are basic things that people can do right now that are minimal expense that would allow you to start being better prepared. This might sound crazy as all hell to some people, but stock up on tampons. Field dressing is good, but tampons. You can ask any medic who's ever been in the field. Tampons are the best thing you can use for field dressing. Yeah, they soak up a lot of blood. Mm-hmm. But having battle dressings, 4x4s or something like that. That's going to be a necessity. That's good field dressings. And you also want to get you a good SAM splint. Broken bones happen in the field. You need to be able to immobilize it. 550 cord is a good thing. I would recommend getting first aid and CPR qualified, especially now while you still can. I don't mean to be a hard carrying member, but if you have the knowledge and the training, that will add a lot to your benefit in any community. Assuming that you get involved with a community, and I would highly recommend that people understand what community is and start learning how to be a part of one. Because that's going to be extremely critical when shit does hit the fan. That's right. And to be a part of a community, you have to be able to contribute to that community. If you've got nothing to bring to the table, forget about it. You better have a skill or some knowledge or a good back willing to work. And if you lighten the physical load for one man, that'll free him up to do something else. And anytime working together, you can always get twice as much done in half the time. And look, when these days come, I know it sounds like we're probably promoting, I mean, propagating propaganda, but you take it for whatever it's worth. If you can, if you have something to contribute, bring it. If you don't have something to contribute, I promise you, there's no place for you in a community. You're hearing that now so you don't have to be shocked by it later on. You don't have to be too butthurt when you hear it. Now you're hearing it. Community living requires everybody working and everybody's got to be able to bring something to the table. And even if two people are working together to get twice the work done, your work's not going to be done because the days of dishwashers are going to be over. The days of refrigeration are going to be over. You know what I'm saying? So you're not going to be able to just go fish and stock up your fish. Where are you going to get ice? You know what I mean? It's going to be a daily thing. Everything's going to have to be done on a daily basis. It's going to be long days. It's going to be hard-working days, much unlike what everybody's used to right now. But you will get used to it. There's a saying, if I can't shoot a gun, I'll carry the rounds. If I can't carry the rounds, I'll drag the wounded off the battlefield. If I can't drag the wounded off the battlefield, I'll mend their wounds. If I can't mend their wounds, I'll cook. If I can't cook, I'll do the laundry. Everybody has to do something. That's exactly right. Because if you're not doing it, ain't nobody going to do it for you, I can tell you that. And nobody's going to just let you hang around and not do it. No. And that's the thing. It must be understood that the days of being sick all the time, that ain't going to work. I mean, if you're that sick, we're going to feed you to the wolves. And unfortunately, that's the way it's going to have to be. But if you go all the way back into history, you study real history, just in this country, for the 250, 300 years people lived in the United States, settled in the United States, before it became the United States, these people showed up to wilderness. They weren't paved roads. There weren't stores right down the street that they could go purchase things. These people fought day in and day out to survive. And quite frankly, they respected their neighbors. They loved their neighbors. They knew their neighbors. You know what I mean? And even though there was a lot of hard, treacherous work ahead of them every day, their life was good because they could depend on the people in their community. That's right. I mean, it sounds foreign, I'm sure, to most people now, but it's not going to be foreign pretty soon. And it's going to be quickly understood that you have to be able to rely on the people you're around or they're going to have to go. So don't let it be a shock to you. Get ready for it. I made it for myself. And I don't know how much money people have. It's not even a concern of mine. And there are ways around, especially today with the Internet. I have gone off and bought so many manuals, not just field manuals from the military, because there's a lot of things in the military that I did that I want in literature because there are things that I don't do all the time and it's a perishable knowledge. But it's also critical to survival. Yeah. Go on the Internet. Print things if you have to. Research things about survival. If you have the money, go on Amazon. I've got less than, I don't know, I'd say less than $150 in about 10 books. And just about all of the books that I have purchased, I have studied from those manuals. But I've got a few books that were more advanced. And it's worth it to purchase it. When things go south, books will be got. Are you still there? Yeah, you cut out for about five seconds. Go ahead. But I would say having books is a good thing because books are going to be. . . Go ahead. If you're buying no other book, I highly recommend two books that should be at the top of your purchase list. Number one is the Bible. And number two is The Art of War by Sun Tzu. If you don't have those two, you're going to be lost. Yep. I'll put a third book on there. Got it at any Department of Defense approved. . . It's called Combat Task Training, CTT. That's the one you showed me, right? Yeah, it's what I was issued when I went into basic training. It gives you a chapter of basic medical knowledge, tactics and movements, land nav. It'll teach you how to use a compass. It teaches you geographical land features, which will be important to communicate with people. Right. It teaches you things that are basic and crucial if you don't have that knowledge already. Yep. Everybody's got the aptitude for it. It's just you've got to learn it. And learning ain't such a bad thing, people. It's just not. Actually, learning is probably one of my favorite things that we have as human beings because, I mean, if you think about it, really, there's nothing you can't do. Right. And I said it before. Bob said this to me when I was a kid. This is one of the very few things Bob ever said to me that I've allowed to stick with me. And that was nothing is too hard. Some things just take a little bit longer to learn. And, you know, adopting that idea in your everyday thinking, there won't be an I quit mentality, period. No. And that was one of the things that, you know, I did like about the military. It sounds stupid maybe, but there wasn't a quit option. I mean, from boot camp all the way through, there was no quit option. You got a job to do, get it done. That's your option. There's no highway option. And if you're there, quitting is not an option. You get it done. That's it. And another thing that people need to understand during this process, and I hope our listeners do take this upon themselves to act on it, I want everyone to change their thoughts about failure. Failure is the greatest teacher. No successful person has become successful with the absence of failure. Every successful person has failed more times than you can imagine. If you fail at doing something, you need to sit back, take a breath, evaluate. That's right. Evaluate what happened and learn from it. That's right. You already learned from it because I don't want to do that again. You learned it. You learned something. I think it was Benjamin Franklin that said, you show me a man with many failures and I'll show you a success story. That's right. So people need to, literally, you need to take the word failure, you need to hold it close to your heart because that is the greatest teacher. Befriend it. Don't alienate it. Failure and pain are… Your best friends. Absolutely. Yes. Pain is weakness leaving the body. Well, that and when shit gets thick and when you know you're going to have to do something to survive a situation and you can feel your body aching and you can hurt all over or you broke a hand or an arm or a leg, you mend that son of a bitch up and you can say, I am still alive. There is something I can still do. Yes. When you feel no pain anymore, you're dead. Doing something wrong. Yeah. Well, that goes with what granddaddy said all the time. The day I quit learning is the day I'm pushing up daisies. That's right. So if there's ever a day that you feel like you can't do something, you're pushing up daisies. You can always do something. Always. I don't know… Go ahead. I don't know of any reason why anybody couldn't do something. I haven't found it yet. No. You know, I remember when I was in a school, you know, half of our class was Marines and the other half sailors, obviously. But any time you had one Marine in your class, it was a Marine that did your PTs, right? Yeah. And the reason for that is because the Marines PT is different. But it's, you know, especially when it comes to the run, it's a lot more demanding because those sailors only run a mile and a half for the PFT and the PRT for the Marines because they run three miles. And where we do sit-ups, the Marines do dead hang pull-ups. So the Marines did our PTs because we had Marines in our class. And one day it was announced that during the PFT, the Marines were going to participate in our PFT, which I'm sure was a great joke to them. And we were going to have to participate in the Marine PFT, which I was gung-ho about. Hey, yeah, let's do this, right? But remember now, before I went in the military at all, this little, you know, PT packet that I had gotten was called a Bud's Op Order, nothing but PT stuff for anybody getting confused. In that workout thing that I got, there was a lot of pull-ups and a lot of sit-ups, a lot of running, a lot of different kinds of stuff. Unfortunately, this is stuff that the Marines did. And our assistant class leader was a Marine, and he had been messing with me. And he said, well, I'll see you at the PFT. And I said, no, no, no, no, we're going to do this at the PRT. And so when it came time for the three-mile run at the PRT, I let everybody get a good head start. Bear in mind, I was only 5'10", and this assistant class leader, Bayard, he was a cool guy over here, but he was something serious. But he's like 6'4", right? So that three-mile run was just a job for him at best, you know? He could take his time and still complete. Damn, and open that stride up. I had to get down to business, right? About halfway through the run, I caught up with him, and he wasn't expecting it, but I said, hey, you need a running partner? And so we get down to about two and a half miles, and I'm not kidding, man, my back was hurting so bad. I felt like my kidneys were about to protrude in my back. And for some reason, I caught a glance over my shoulder, and there was this one Marine coming up on us fast. I mean, real fast. He was shorter than me. But the problem was is I recognized him as one of the guys in our class who really did struggle running. I mean, he just wasn't a runner, you know? And there are people like that. They just don't run. They can't run or, I mean, they can run, but they struggle. And this one Marine that I thought it was was coming up on us hot and heavy. So I told Bayard, I said, I'll see you at the finish line. I was not going to let this no-running Marine outrun me. And I opened up stride, and I think for the first time in my life, I ran three miles in 18 minutes and 50 seconds. And Bayard crossed the line at 19.10. And I was at the finish line puking my guts up. But everybody was like, man, you should have pushed that hard. And I was like, I was not going to let that slow Marine beat me. It just wasn't going to happen. And, yes, I was hurting. I mean, I could have quit right there, just laid down and wallowed on the ground because I was hurting bad. But no way was I going to let a slow Marine beat me. I mean, it's just not going to happen. But, you know, fortunately, I do have that mentality to not quit. And maybe that has something to do with my entire life combined, you know, because there was a lot of things that I probably could have quit when most people would have said it would have been okay to quit. But I just couldn't quit. And I probably complained about it more than anybody wanted to hear, but I didn't quit. So, anyway, back to what you were saying. Go ahead. Well, I would just say that would be something interesting for us and to kind of keep in touch with our listeners. And it would be good for the listeners to do it because they would actually be able to watch the progress. But I have no problem. I mean, you can upload onto the web page. What I'll do is I'll write down from the first weight I took, and then I'll write down what I do. And since I'm a truck driver, you know, it's difficult. I'm somewhat sporadic. But I do still get to work out, and I have to do it at odd times, and it's not very consistent because I'm a truck driver. But I can write down what I do for exercises and stretches and my progress. And then hopefully our listeners, they'll do the same thing, share what their progress is. Plus, when you write it down and you see the progression, it's a little bit of a motivator. You can see that, wow, I did do that. I got better at this. I'm doing more push-ups. I'm doing more sit-ups. My flutter kicks, I can do more reps. Or I went from curling this weight to now I can curl 5 or 10 pounds more doing the same amount of reps. More importantly than that, you wake up in the morning and do what you do, and then at the end of the day, you realize you actually still have energy. That's right. Hey, look, I'm going to say this, too, because this is something that I've noticed about being in the military that I've really wanted to get back to. And this is part of the reason why I want to get back and say it myself. The whole time I was in the military, every date, every time, every flight number, every transfer, I could remember without a problem. Never had to write it down. Now, my memory has always been fairly decent anyways, but I noticed while I was in the military, these things were next to impossible for me to forget. And I remember people, I remember faces, I remember times, events. In other words, my memory was outstanding. I accredit that to two things, regular diet and exercise. That's something I've been missing, just being able to remember. I mean, I can't even pick up anything and remember what I did with it five minutes later. And so that's part of the reason why I've been wanting to get back, be in shape and get on a regular schedule again. I don't know how that's going to happen, but it's going to have to. That's not a bad idea, what you're talking about, and I'll do that myself as soon as I get cleared to get back to picking up more than five pounds. Well, I mean, because it is a historical fact. It goes across the board. I don't care who it is. It applies to everyone. If you start, like, I haven't done bench press in a while. I've got an Olympic bar, weighs 50 pounds. I've got God knows how many pounds of weight. I have no intention of bulking up. That is not my goal. Right. When I get back on the bar, which I've been scared ever since I hurt my shoulder, my rotator cuff a number of years ago. But I'm getting ready to get back on the bar. I'm going to start with my bar and probably two 10-pound plates. So don't think you've got to get out there and strap on 100 pounds right then. Don't hurt yourself. Do not do that. You're no good if you hurt yourself. Starting out light is the best way to go anyway because part of it is you've got to build muscles first, and your muscle memory is going to play a big part in it. But you don't want to start heavy anyhow. Yeah, but the thing like you're talking about, helping your memory and more energy and things like that, I mean, all that happens when you work out is your body releases more endorphins. Right. More oxygen to the brain. Your heart strengthens, especially when it comes to cardio. Right. And your lungs, I mean, you'll notice that your heart rate reduces because you're used to putting it under a strain. Right. Not a strain like heart attack or cardiac arrest or anything. Exercise. Yes. It makes for a healthier body, clearer thinking mind. You feel better. There's a lot of things that are personal benefits that, and like I said, this applies to everyone. It's a scientific medical fact. If you started out with just an empty dumbbell or barbells or dumbbells like you're curling, and you get two dumbbells and you put no weight on them, and you curl those and curl those and curl those, and next week put a two and a half pound on each one. Yep. On each side. Then do your bar plus five pounds per arm and stay regular. The next week, you'll have an extra five pounds on there. That's right. And before you know it, like me, I'm only doing 20 pounds per arm, but I have no doubt that I could go 30. But I don't want to do 30. I want to stay at 20. Right. You want to build up. You don't want to tear it down. But for you egomaniacs, you're going to go out there and load a barbell at 150 pounds and start working out. Your worst enemy in a combat situation or a survival situation is being bulky. You don't want to be full of mass. That's right. You want to be lean. You want to be strong, but you want to be lean. So go for cut. Go for endurance. Right. Endurance is going to be the major thing. You're definitely going to have to have your endurance. And the strength will come. As long as you're working on your endurance, your strength will come. That's right. That's absolutely right. And you don't even have to have money for weights. Get you a log out in the yard. Go flip that son of a bitch around. Drag you a tire around the yard. Do something. My brother-in-law used cinder blocks. He put them on his chest to do sit-ups. Yeah. Anything will work. Get you some milk jugs and fill them up with water. Yeah. That's what I used to do in jail. Fill up bags with water. Seriously. Well, they wouldn't let us have weights on the floor, so I had to fill bags with water. And if they ever saw it, you'd get in trouble. But yeah, I'd sit there and I'd curl bags of water. And, you know, this probably doesn't seem like a big thing, but in the process of doing all this, there is something that will come, but it's something that needs to be paid attention to because it's going to be necessary. Observation is going to become critical. Situational awareness. Situational awareness, observation of any kind. And it doesn't seem like it now. It really doesn't. And there's so many people that lack observation these days that it's phenomenal how people actually survive. But, you know, observation is going to be key. You need to learn how to observe. I guess I got lucky because I had a grandfather that would go sometimes with my grandmother to the mall, and he would just sit on a bench and watch people while she shopped. And I thought it was corny as heck that he did it, but when I started watching people, I started watching people from a distance in conversation. You'll watch mannerisms, see how they reacted to certain statements even. You know, it's just you need to observe for sure. Yeah. Well, that and situational awareness, like if you go to a convenience store. Know how many people are in there. Yeah. Try your hardest to identify all exits and entrances. These are little things that you can do on your own. Don't cost any money, but it will sharpen you and your mind. And you do it enough, it becomes second nature. Yep. Locate your entrances and exits. See if you can count how many people are in there by the time you walk in the door. That's right. Not get in, but by the time you walk in. Then as you pass through before you grab the first thing, see if you can identify details of these individuals. Right. It's not, I'm not saying identify what shoes they got, what pants, shirt, hat, what type of glasses. Go for character traits. Yeah, go for, start, like I said, you go to a restaurant. Pay attention to who's in the restaurant. Stay in the room. Do it without being obvious. Try to paint a mental picture in your head of your surroundings. You might be at a bus station. You might be in a train station, an airport. There's no telling where you will be. You might be at your place of work. Understand your surroundings. Know your surroundings. Always have a route to get out. If you have a significant other, come up with a plan with them. Me as a truck driver, I'm on my way to Kansas. Washington, Kansas right now. From Richmond, Virginia. 1,328 miles. My wife is in Mississippi. But if something happens and an EMP goes off while I'm on the road, we already have a plan. Well, I'm going to lose all communication with her. Phones will be down. But I know where she is going to go. I am already prepared every time I get in this truck. I am prepared to use my feet to get home. And make a rally point. The rally point, well, you don't know when you're going to make it to the rally point because it depends on where you are when things happen. But you know where to go and you know when to meet. You know who's going to be there when you get there. That's right. That's the key. I am prepared to where I will not be walking roads. I will walk 50 or 100 yards in the wood line. Maybe follow a road. But I will not be seen on my travels. And if you are, it's always somebody with the same skills you've got. Yeah, they better not approach me. Better man. Yeah. Leave me alone. If you're going the direction I'm going, we can gain a mutual trust real quick. We can go with each other, but if you don't pass my requirements to gain my trust, you better go on your own way. Yep. And I better not find out you're following me. Yeah, there's one thing that I noticed over the years that you can find out, I mean, that you'll discover pretty easily. Anytime you go into a restaurant, you'll know who has either been on the streets, who's led a street life, or who's been in the military in a combat life. They're usually sitting in the corner with their backs against the wall. Yep. So they can observe everything from in, out, and what we're talking about, situational awareness. That's right. And if you don't think that's true, just go to a restaurant. You're not going to see too many people who've lived a hard life on the streets or have been in combat situations just sitting at an open bar. That's not going to happen. Unless the bar is in a manner where he can be at a hint or in a position to where he can face everybody. That's right. That's exactly right. And those are the people you might want to befriend because they have the observational skills. They've got the situational awareness. Of course, you know, Dad started teaching us. I know he did with me anyway. The first time he let me drive, I think I was 14, in the Maverick, going to Holmes County State Park. You remember that? Yeah. And for those who don't know, Maverick has a three-speed column shifter. And the dashboard is not exactly what you would consider a flat surface, nor is it a surface that has any kind of grip. But the first time I drove, Dad put his coffee cup right there on the middle of the dashboard, full of coffee, and told me don't spill any of it. It wasn't a travel cup. It didn't have a lid. It was just an open cup. And as we're driving along the Natchez Trace, Dad throws his hand over the rearview mirror and says, don't look out the other mirror. He said, but tell me how many cars are behind you. Well, I thought I was doing good when I could tell him how many cars were behind me. But then he would ask me, what's the color of the car two places back? I'm like, what difference does that make? And a lot of that was confusing at first. Why would you do something like that, you know? Why would you have to know something like that? But the more I was driving with him in the car, the more the questions got complicated. Like, did you notice anything wrong with that car you just passed, you know? A lot of it had to do with defensive driving. Know how many cars are behind you. How many are in front of you? Are there any beside you? Yeah, you're looking for an escape route. What if this car does this? Where can I go? And if you're watching the other cars on the road, you'll notice, do they have a wheel that's wobbling? I mean, you can actually tell when a front wheel bearing is going bad on a car if you know what you're looking for. And he did that a lot. A lot drove me crazy, but you want to know how many wrecks I've been in? None when I was driving. So all these things apply. And when things go south, again, those are going to be very critical things to possess because nobody else is going to do it for you. However, in a community type of situation, if you're lucky enough to have one, it'll be very important to that community. You know, like you were talking about a minute ago, Patrick, if you can't fire the weapon, you can carry the ammo. If you can't carry all that stuff right there, if you can't do anything else but sit on a wall and watch the open terrain and make sure no enemies are encroaching, that's critical. Oh, yeah. Believe it or not. That's critical to everyone's survival, not just yours. That's why soldiers in war back in Vietnam, and I'm sure it happened in more modern wars. If you pull guard duty and you go to sleep. Don't you dare go to sleep because that is. They'll franchise you. Yep. I mean. They might not snuff you right then, but oh, you're going to get friendly fire. Oh, yeah. Count on it. Well, you know, one of Dad's friends, you know, he was a tunnel rat in Vietnam, did three tours. But he, without any, I mean, I don't know that I'd say without any compassion, but without any regret, he has told me about, you know, of course, there was a bad heroin problem with soldiers back in Vietnam. But if they had any soldier that was any way altered in the mind, they didn't hesitate. They just put a bullet in his head. Yeah. And I noticed that sounds cruel and unusual. But when your life is on the line, that is not cruel. You got one man that can't think straight. I mean, you're talking a platoon, a whole company that's put in jeopardy. You can't have that. No. Well, if you guessed it, that's another episode in the iron fight. Went a little longer today than normal. But I'm Mr. Patrick McClendon. That's the message. Get your brain chicken, anyway. Don't forget to leave comments and comments. Follow us on social and Facebook. Recommend us to your friends and family. More the merrier. On behalf of Patrick and myself and the Constitution Commandos, we're signing out.