BOL Hardening Against Vehicles

Earlier today I was taking a walk along the river here in town. There were some large rocks/small boulders along the trail as well as a large amount of broken up concrete along the sides to stop erosion. I had been thinking about what the survival/prepper community calls a Bug Out Location or a BOL. For those that may not be familiar with what a BOL is, it's basically some sort of home on a typically secluded piece of land that a person can go to during some sort of man-made emergency. A common thing for preppers to talk about is wanting to build some sort of wall around their BOL home. This wall would serve a two-fold purpose. First, it would prevent people from seeing into/entering on foot your home without authorization. Secondly, it would keep someone from breaching your home with a vehicle.

I personally see a wall as a bit too much. Unless you're very wealthy or have a LOT of resources, you're likely not able to build such a wall. However, upon seeing those boulders, I had an idea that would add an additional security envelope to your “compound”. If you have a BOL and you're able to get access to a number of large rocks, you can fortify your most important structures against the threat of vehicular attack (aka looters smashing a giant hole next to your front door—no matter how secure your BOL home is, a giant hole will take that level of security down to zero). By placing these large rocks every couple of feet, you have created a fence that is likely not penetrated by any vehicles—at least not conventional ones that two-bit thugs are going to have access to or the knowledge to operate.

The fact is, you're not going to need a whole lot. A rock that's about three feet high and a few feet across is going to weigh SEVERAL hundred pounds. Add that to the fact that said rock has a very low center of gravity and any vehicles looters try to enter your home with are gonna end up stuck at the gate. Obviously, this does nothing to stop foot traffic. Even if you place rocks together with no gap, they can very easily be climbed/jumped over. If you had enough materials to do it that way, it would more than likely slow down your attackers by a few seconds. Every little bit helps but it all depends on your priorities and the resources you have available to you.

Now, I know a lot of people would think that implementing such a security system—or even worrying about the threat of an attacker driving a vehicle into your BOL home—is just silly. Do they have a point? Honestly, yeah, they probably do. I'm definitely not saying this is the first thing someone should do to enhance the physical security of their BOL. But look at it this way. If an SHTF (S**t Hitting The Fan) event were to ever happen and it becomes a very prolonged situation, things aren't going to be like they are now. The threats you face now aren't necessarily going to be the threats you face then—in other words, certain conventional thought may no longer apply. If someone knows that you have all kinds of supplies and food stored away and they're desperate enough, who's to say they won't take the closest operational car and ram it through your wall?

Stay safe out there