Recorded Books Inc. - Patriots: Surviving The Coming Collapse

Table of Contents

Above all else, it takes faith and friends to survive. Ive been blessed with a lot of friends, and they have helped to strengthen my faith in Almighty God.

This novel is dedicated to the not-so-fictional Group: Conor, Dave, Hugh, Jeff, Ken, Linda, Mary, Meg, P.K., Roland, and Scott. Keep your powder dry!

My thanks to the readers of SurvivalBlog.com and the many other folks who encouraged me, who contributed technical details, who were used for character sketches, and who helped in the editing process: Arne, Barbara, the Bee Man, Bill L. (with the French Resistance, 1943-1944), Bob The Soap Maker, sharp-eyed Dr. Boris K., R.F.Burns, the HAM wizard, Carolyn, The Chartist Gnome, Cheryl the Economatrix, Chris the Rocky Mountain Diver, Commander Zero and his new bride, Dr. Craig in New Zealand, Col. CRM Discriminator, David in Israel, the late Jonathan Davis, Debbie, Pastor Dennis, 1/2 M.O.A. Dick in Orofino, Quiet Donny, Dr. Eric, Fred the Valmet-Meister, Frank in Nah-lens, Gayle, The Glock pro in Connecticut, Pastor Hale, the anachronistic H-man, Huff the dynamite shooter, Joe Clutch, John Jones in the desert, Kirk and Karen in Montana, All-Grace-No-Slack-Really-Reformed Kris in Oregon, Lance in Moscow, LVZ in Ohio, Froggy Mark, Marshall the Cyberpunk, Marvin The Wordmonger, The Mill-wright, Nadir, Nick in Australia, Patton, Peter in Switzerland, PPPP- the Pioche Professional Polymer Pistolero, Preston, Ranier, Roland in Germany, Rolf and Sandy (both in Washington), Sara the Reenactor, Sherron, Stefan in Sweden, Tina The S.C. Clone in Kooskia,Wes in Boise, and MRE Woody.

Thanks also to those who have provided web space, outlets, publicity, motivation, and/or prominent links for my novel: Howard Albertson, Patrick Alessandra, Joseph Ames Jr., Jeff Baker, Billy Beck, Ed Bertsch, BOHICA Concepts, Bill Brumbaugh, John Bryant, Ammon Campbell, The Christian Survival Intelligence Network, the late Jeff Cooper, Jim Crews, Captain Daves Survival Page, Richard DeCastro, the late Carla Emery, First Virtual Bank, Detra Fitch, The Frugal Squirrel, The Fraud Information Center, The Gospel Plow, Bob Grenert and the Sacred Covenant Resource Center, Bob Griswold and the staff of Ready Made Resources, Mikael Hggstrm, Ken Hamblin, Michael Heinze, Fred Heiser, Richard Horton, Peter Huss, The Staff of the Idaho Observer, Dean Ing, Devvy Kidd, Mark Koernke, John Leveron, Live Oak Farms, Dr. Lawrence Martin and Lakeside Press, Henry McDaniel, Mike McNulty, Mike Medintz, The Mental Militia Forums, Patty Neill, Dr. Gary North, Nick Norwood, Mark Nowell, Michael Panzner, Dr. Ignatius Piazza, Maj. John Plaster, Jerry Pournelle, Larry Pratt, Project Epsilon, Steve Quayle, Dr. Norm Resnick, John Ross, Rourke, Kurt Saxon, John Stadtmiller, David Stott, Gabe Suarez, Kurt and Angie Wilson of Survival Enterprises, Nancy Tappan, Truth Radio in Delano, Two Toes Consulting and Design, Ed Wolfe, Weapons Safety, Inc., Tom Woolman, and Aaron Zelman of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership.

Thanks to Paul B. and Randy K. for their sharp eyes in editing the previous edition.

Most importantly, this novel is dedicated to my excellent wife (The Memsahib). She has patiently put up with the heaps of supplies in the barn and garage for twenty-plus years. She suffered through nine months of voluntary separation while I moved to Idaho alone to pound nails and write the first draft of the novel. She cheerfully joined me for the following eighteen months with no running water, living amidst Sheetrock dust in a half-finished house. She helped fill the chest freezer with her livestock, garden produce, and wild game. She wrote the book (or at least the chapter) on home birth. Most of all, I praise her for displaying the patience to live in loving Christian submission with a husband who spends far too much time clicking away at a keyboard. I am truly blessed!

James Wesley, Rawles

The Rawles Ranch

March 2009

... nuclear warfare is not necessary to cause a breakdown of our society. You take a large city like Los Angeles, New York, Chicagotheir water supply comes from hundreds of miles away and any interruption of that, or food, or power for any period of time youre going to have riots in the streets. Our society is so fragile, so dependent on the interworking of things to provide us with goods and services, that you dont need nuclear warfare to fragment us anymore than the Romans needed it to cause their eventual downfall.

When the landing gear came down, Todd Gray gave an audible sigh of relief. He was almost home. The seventy-seat Horizon Airlines Bombardier CRJ- 700 commuter jet started its downwind leg, with its engines throttled back to low thrust. Todd looked out his window at the familiar rolling Palouse Hills, a neat patchwork of wheat fields. This time of year they were shorn to a short golden stubble. By early October even the straw had been hauled out. Just after the plane touched down, the air brakes flipped up, and the engines reversed with a roar. The plane wheeled to a stop at the tiny Pullman-Moscow air terminal, just west of the state line dividing Washington and Idaho. When the plane switched to external power, Todd unbuckled his seat belt, but didnt get up. He hated standing in the aisle, waiting for everyone to pull out their carry-on bags, and waiting for what always seemed like an eternity for the cabin door to open and for the passengers to shuffle out. So he sat and waited for the aisle to clear. He closed his eyes, said a prayer, and considered what had gone on in the last seventy-two hours.

The meeting had been called on short notice, and attendance was mandatory. Everyone from mid-level account executives on up were thereeven the field office managers from as far away as Baltimore. Todd Gray and the firms two other telecommuters were also corralled into the meeting by the management. It was important, they said. So Todd dutifully packed his best suit. He drove from Bovill to the Pullman-Moscow airport, took a commuter flight to Seattle, and then a United flight to OHare. He rented a car and checked into the Marriott, where he usually stayed on his quarterly trips to Chicago. That blew the entire first day. With the two-hour time difference from Idaho, it was 7 p.m. by the time he got to the Marriott and clicked on Fox News. There was lots of bad news on the television. He watched the news for a half hour and then started making phone calls and sending e-mails to his friends in Chicago. He spoke in urgent terms. After a fitful nights sleep, he sat through a full day of meetings that started with a 7:30 a.m. working breakfast. This early start time for a major meeting was unprecedented at Bolton, Meyer, and Sloan.

The firm had brought in two consultants for the daylong meeting, a Russian from Florida, and an Argentinean from New York City. Both were considered subject matter experts on high inflation. Both were well-seasoned accountants, and both had lived through it in their home countries. Triple-digit inflation. Todd heard from one of the mid-level managers that the consultants were each paid twenty thousand dollars for the day.