While dug in and seemingly safe, there will always be a soft spot or weakness in the perimeter. It makes little difference weither you are sleeping in a fort or under a bridge, the perimeter must be secured.
Your area or the "safe haven" you think you control may attract attention and the envy of those without your fore site. After long term disaster or at times of lawlessness and as supplies start running low and Police / National Guard are overwhelmed with duties. You will need to take responsibility for your own security. If you are static (dug in) you have a number of options (and limitations). The walls are hard and provide cover and concealment as well as viable barrier. The windows can be covered or barricaded, doors can be locked and a "fatal funnel" can be established to channelize neophyte intruders into your self defense fire. members of your family or party can occupy different parts of the house for better coverage/support and better detect intruders or outsiders "probing" your perimeter.
Alarms both hard wired and portable, electric or mechanical can be implemented as early warning systems. If you are lucky enough to have power, most of these options are easy to come by and many people will take advantage of this option.
However, if power is out and you have no hard wired system to watch over you as you sleep, you may need to get inventive.
Option one: GET A DOG! treat it well and have it become one of the family. Apart from AWACS aircraft, nothing is a better early warning system then a loyal K9. The dog deserves a place in the family and should be fed and sheltered just as you would any child. This will keep them dependant, healthy and loyal. Dogs should be trained to NEVER except feedings from anyone other then group members and not allowed to "scavenge" for food. It is hard to keep a hungry dog from eating what it finds along the perimeter, a full belly helps keep them focused and less opportunistic.
One expert (and close friend) in K9 security training upon reading this page advises the following: Only one handler should feed a "Guard" animal and then ONLY from a designated bowl. With proper training the dog will learn that the only meal that exists for him is what flows from this source, it is his reality and nothing else matters. This is an advanced training program and handlers must be schooled by qualified instructors. This makes K9 members of your group poison resistant.
Option two: multiple perimeters. Have a warning perimeter OUTSIDE the hard perimeter. This need not be a deterrent, just a detector zone. Anything that can signal a probe or breach.
Option three: Have a "clear" zone if possible. You don't want to provide cover or concealment to an outsider. This zone is the "Killing Zone" an area that a determined intruder must cross before reaching your "hard" perimeter. It should serve as notice that they (the intruder) will be vulnerable if they enter. Prepare for a group rush and consider your immediate action. It must be fast and firm and as Clint Eastwood said in the Eiger Sanction, Something Massive!
Option four: Portable alarms. The type used by joggers and normally carried on a belt can be set up trip wire booby trap fashion in key areas, across doorways, on steps or attached to items that intruders need to move or open. These loud piercing screamers are cheap, small and practically disposable. They provide a real time exact location of the intruder. Wind chime type detectors such as cans and rattles suspended on dental floss may be primitive but they still work. Driveways and walkways around your area should be gravel not paved. This will help you (and the dog) detect an approaching intruder.
Option five: Lights. Motion activated lights are great but need protecting. Lexan covers and Vandal resistant housings should be used to cover them as they will be natural targets. Of course if the power is out this is not an option.
I like surrounding a perimeter wall/fence with reflective tape facing inside (towards you). Even in low light the reflective "line" is visible from your shelter and any black spot or break in the line is easy to see. That black spot will be a person standing in front of the tape....intruder detected! He may think he's in the dark and safe but his position is identified.
ON THE MOVE.
If bivouacking or relocating and you need to set up a perimeter, you will need to go native. Sure the joggers alarm and rattle line may be part of the equation but more often then not, it will be just what is around you.
Pick a site that offers good natural protection on as many flanks as possible. It should be neither on top or at the bottom of the terrain. Avoid natural attractants such as trails, streams and roads. Remember that any obvious "escape" route will be an potential ambush point so think defensively.
I suggest using false stops and after dark relocation for your bivouac. followers and ambushers are likely to spring after hours attacks on a camp site you are not in.
Gather twigs and leaves into a ring around your rest area. Use the debris under foot first, this will clear your camp area while you are piling up brush. It keeps things quiet in your camp and noisy outside the perimeter. Sleep LRRP fashion in a tight star pattern with each member facing out and feet close together, in this way a silent toe tap can be used to inform all members of the group of approaching intruders and from what direction.
Strict noise and particularly LIGHT discipline must be observed. You may be more mobile then a fortified house but you are really an island in the wilderness. Personally, I wouldn't have it any other way. Being in a forest puts my intruder on the same playing field as me. I'm not holed up with an outsider siege mentality to contend with. Sooner or later they will find your soft spot.
POST SENTRIES,
This is the only way to secure a none existing perimeter effectively. Watch in shifts,
Trust the dog and pay attention. Have a react plan as well as one or two rondevu spots. This is a more fluid situation and the sooner you wrap your head around that the better. Be dynamic not a sitting duck.
Something as slight as the smell of coffee can bring the desperate down on you. Be sure you are in a safe area before you stoke up a fire or camp stove, then only use them just before displacing. Anybody you may attract will find you long gone by the time they arrive. This could also mean a cold camp (no fire) so be sure you are dressed for that.
Your worst enemy is complacency, be vigilant and direct in your thinking and travel plans. This type of security is hard to maintain so you will need to find more permanent quarters. Relatives, friends or co-workers that have a similar mind set can join forces to share manpower, food and shelter until the world rights itself. This means acting now! Any major incident/disaster will eventually come to an end. The powers that be have the resources to reestablish order given enough time. You only need to keep the wolves off your door for a while, this is not a new life style. Take heart and plan now. What can you do now that would "fortify" your home or safe area? Think about a mobile situation, how to bug out and where to go, how to get there and security needs until you arrive.
You only have three options, stay and bug in, fortify the homestead against looters and criminals, rely on your law enforcement units to handle the situation (and hope you are not relocated forcibly) Or you can bug out to another site with better chances for your group, providing security as you travel.
Or you can pray and hope for the best. NOTE: most of the intruders coming for your food-water-blankets-first aid will be made up of people from this category.
Watch your six
(and 3+9)
RJ
