I’m going to relate a story to you today, I’m sorry to say it’s beginning to be a familiar theme! I know what you’ll all be thinking… How could Prepper continue to allow this to happen? A smart “prepper” would figure out a way to keep himself and his family safe, especially during a time when the S hadn’t even Hit The Fan yet? This would never happen to me, I wouldn’t allow it – no way, no how! Well, we’ll see, I hope you’re right!

  Back on February 12 Mrs. Prepper and I had been over to the BOL for the weekend. We didn’t really do a whole lot but just kicked back and relaxed! I did some writing for you guys and just had an all-around good time. In fact I wrote the post “The weakest link” that particular weekend. We had taken several walks and stopped over to visit with our closest neighbors. Nothing at all seemed out of place. On Sunday afternoon we got all packed up to hit the road and get back to the insanity inWestern Washington(otherwise known as real life). We normally would always stop over at the old cabin (original BOL) at least once during a weekend, just to keep an eye on the place. For some reason we didn’t get a chance to do it this time.

   Well, we were actually at the end of our driveway and locking the gate to go when I decided that we better go take a quick look, just to put my mind to rest. We turned that direction and followed the road that leads up to that piece of property. This particular lot (7 acres) is just about adjoining to our main property but the way the lots are subdivided there are 2 private roads that cut us off from actually sharing a property line. So, I rounded the last corner and started up to the locked gate… When… Wait… What,NO WAY! I could see the cargo container doors swung all the way open and stuff sitting outside the thing???? My mind was racing as to how I could be seeing what I was? My good buddy and survival partner hadn’t been there in a couple of weeks and would never have left the doors unlocked much less standing wide open!

   It was true! The freakin grimmies had struck again but this time had actually gotten into one of the supposed supply strongholds! I approached the scene with caution but it was pretty clear that the low life’s had already done their damage and cleared out. As I walked up the hill to where the conex container sat, I was dreading the look inside! The entire end of the box was sitting there VACANT! Right where 2 quad ATV’s should have sat there was nothing! I walked closer and was able to see down into the dark nether regions of the 40 foot metal tube and saw that the entire contents had been upended and the place looked as though a hurricane had hit.

   Everything that was inside had been removed, smashed and or generally torn up! MY STOMACHE SANK, I was specifically looking for the substantial stack of ammo cans that should have been right where they always were but that spot was piled high with what now looked like nothing more then junk! I found several ammo cans still among the mess but they were now empty and had previously held supplies that were now all over the floor. Every ammo can that held ammo was now GONE! I just felt sick, literally sick!

   Close to 18 years with nothing more then a gum wrapper to indicate anyone had trespassed and that was likely a well meaning neighbor out for a walk! The in a little over a year, we get hit 3 times. The worst thing was that I had just gotten finished writing the post about the weakest link and was developing a plan to make security improvements to the containers! So much for well meaning plans, when they don’t actually get completed! I made a quick mental inventory list of what I thought was missing. It was right about then that I thought I had better go check on the cabin…

   The cabin is just a little to far back in the trees to be able to see it clearly from the container so I had to walk down the trail… Dreading each step I took and what I would soon be faced with… You guessed it, the front door was standing wide open and there were items strewn about on the ground. I had to walk past a semi-submerged fuel storage area and sure enough it had been hit too! I walked around behind the kitchen lean-to and saw that the back shutter had been ripped off the window. It was obvious that this was the point of entry.

   I entered the cabin and sure enough the flashlights just inside the door were gone and everything had been rifled threw! The place was a mess and my mind was spinning too much to make out clearly what else, if anything, was really gone rather then just dumped out on the floor? It was about that time that I tried to close the place back up and head for the conex to decide what I needed to do next! Do I call the police, go see the neighbors, find someone to take all this out on! It’s amazing what kind of mischief your mind will come up with when you’re excessively angry and nearly in shock…

   I decided that the sheriff needed to be called, so I took care of that first… While I waited for the report takers to show up I started my own investigation. It turned out that the scum had attempted to use bolt cutters on the padlocks but had been unsuccessful. They did succeed in cutting the chain that was wrapped around the door hardware, the links being sufficiently softer then the padlock… Then I find that they had cut the locking hasp that is actually part of the latching system that’s built right onto the container itself!

   I found the bolt cutters these characters had used laying in the dirt not far from the front of the container. They were completely destroyed! The handles were bent beyond repair. They were so cheep that I’m surprised that they even worked at all? However, they did work and the guys did make off with what would eventually turn out to be almost $12,ooo worth of goods!

   Eventually the sheriff did show up and take the requisite reports and gave me the instructions about how to best document the items taken so they could keep an eye out with all the usual suspects… I asked the officer for information on who these “usual suspects’ might be but he didn’t think it was a good idea to give out any specifics to the guy that just got robbed, go figure! The officer was sympathetic but didn’t offer much hope that the items would be recovered.

   After the reports were completed it was time to try to clean up the mess, at least enough to get the doors locked back up in some fashion. I was able to relock the chain around the doors and jimmy the locks back in place enough that the casual observer would think the conex was locked again. The truth was that the important survival goods had already been pilfered and the remaining items while valuable were of the least likely to be stolen anyway. Needless to say I felt very uncomfortable with my other containers sitting on the other lot. Something had to be done or I would never be able to go home and trust that all my valuables would still be there when I got back… This type of thing is very unsettling to say the least!

   Well, I was able to alert the neighbors about what had happened and still get an upgraded lock mechanism welded on to the primary container before the daylight faded. With every possible lock fitted onto the containers, we were able to reload the Jeep and start home… That is after we loaded every firearm and some of main ammo supply in the trunk. No way I was going to loose the gun collection to these scum bags! We went home heavy but I felt a lot better knowing the guns would remain under my control!

   I thought I would relay this latest event to all of you but not to show you what a loser I am for allowing this to continue to happen. I wanted to show you that it does happen and even to experienced preppers that should obviously no better! These pictures that I’m attaching aren’t that good but if you look carefully you can see what the latches that the crooks cut to get around the padlocks. In some future posts I’ll show you what upgrades I’ve come up with and eventually I’ll be rolling out some commercial options since there is a distinct lack of upgrades for these conex boxes. I’m also hoping that I can provide some object lessons for the rest of our community by pointing out my particular weaknesses! “Old Man prepper” always told me to learn from other peoples mistakes because I would never live long enough to make them all myself!

Prepper

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