Retreat (survivalism)
The survival retreat concept has been touted by a number of influential survivalist writers including Ragnar Benson, Robert K. Brown, Barton Biggs, Bruce D. Clayton, Jeff Cooper, Cresson Kearny, James Wesley Rawles, Howard Ruff, Kurt Saxon, Joel Skousen, Don Stephens, Mel Tappan, and Nancy Tappan.
In 1975, Kurt Saxon began publishing a newsletter called The Survivor, which advocated moving to lightly populated regions to "lie low" during a socio-economic collapse, and setting up fortified enclaves for defense against what he termed "killer caravans"[5][6] of looters from urban areas.
Writers such as Howard Ruff warned about socio-economic collapse and recommended moving to lightly populated farming regions, most notably in his 1979 book How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years, a best-seller in 1979.
Wood, Dr. Carl Kirsch, Charles Avery, Karl Hess, Eugene A. Barron, Janet Groene, Dean Ing, Bob Taylor, Reginald Bretnor, C. G. Cobb, and several other writers, some under pen names.
[10] Economic troubles emerging from the credit collapse triggered by the 2007 U.S. subprime mortgage crisis have prompted a wider cross-section of the populace to modify their homes as well as establish dedicated survival retreats.
[11] James Wesley Rawles, the editor of SurvivalBlog was quoted by the New York Times in April 2008 that "interest in the survivalist movement 'is experiencing its largest growth since the late 1970s'”.
"[11] Mel Tappan was quoted by then AP correspondent Peter Arnett that: "The concept most fundamental to long term disaster preparedness, in retreating, is having a safe place to go to avoid the concentrated violence destined to erupt in the cities.
Although it has higher population density, Mel Tappan recommended southwestern Oregon, where he lived,[17] primarily because it is not downwind of any envisioned nuclear targets in the United States.
Survivalists may opt into maintaining an older vehicle as they most likely lack critical electronic components that could be damaged by the electromagnetic pulse that accompanies a nuclear explosion.
Letter (April, 1982), Cooper suggested using the "Vauban Principle", whereby projecting bastion corners would prevent miscreants from being able to approach a retreat's exterior walls in any blind spots.
[19] Depending on the size of the group needing shelter, design elements of traditional European castle architecture, as well as Chinese Fujian Tulou and Mexican walled courtyard houses have been suggested for survival retreats.
In both his book Rawles on Retreats and Relocation and in his survivalist novel, Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse, Rawles describes in great detail retreat groups "upgrading" brick or other masonry houses to that of a blockhouse with steel reinforced window shutters and doors, excavating anti-vehicular ditches, installing warded gate locks, constructing concertina wire obstacles, and fougasses, and setting up listening post/observation posts (LP/OPs.)
[20] Both Bruce D. Clayton and Joel Skousen have written extensively on integrating fallout shelters into retreat homes, but they put less emphasis on ballistic protection and exterior perimeter security than Cooper and Rawles.
Anticipating long periods of time without commerce in the future, as well as observing documented history, retreat groups typically place a strong emphasis on logistics.
Frequently cited key logistics for a retreat include long-term storage food, common caliber ammunition, medical supplies, tools, gardening seed, and fuel.
Even in America and Europe there could be moments of riot and rebellion when law and order temporarily breaks down.”[11] Survivalist retreats, both formal and informal exist worldwide, most visibly in Australia,[21] Belgium, Canada,[22] France,[23] Germany[24] (often organized under the guise of "adventuresport" clubs),[25] New Zealand,[26] Norway,[27] Sweden,[28] and the United States.
[11] Construction of government-built retreats, security compounds and underground shelters—roughly analogous to survivalist retreats—has been done extensively since the advent of the Cold War, especially of public nuclear fallout shelters in many nations.
