214 Irish Survivalist Group - Irish Prepping with ISG Founder Frank Deegan

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I want to thank y’all for joining us… 

Europe’s cracking under the weight of its own politics. Great Britain’s stumbling through chaos, and Ireland — that quiet, watchful island — is standing at the crossroads of it all.

But while most folks are distracted by the headlines and hashtags, a few are paying attention. They’re not waiting for the next directive or bailout. They’re preparing — quietly, deliberately, and with purpose.

One of those people is Frank Deegan, founder of the Irish Survivalist Group. Frank’s not just another voice shouting about collapse — he’s building a network. A real community of men and women who see what’s happening across Europe and are taking action before the hammer drops. Because let’s be honest... The storm isn’t coming... It’s already here.

Tonight, Frank’s joining us to pull back the curtain on what’s really going down in Europe, Great Britain, and of course Ireland, and how he and his group are staying three steps ahead of the turmoil. We’ll talk a little shop and have some fun as we get reacquainted with Frank from Ireland. It’s a minute since we last had him on the show.

So, Let’s get to it…

ISG - Irish Survivalist Group

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Music: Nathan Evans - Wellerman 

Transcript

Preppers… Survivalists… Off-Gridders… Homesteaders… and the like… 

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We’ve got a great show for ya…

…There’s a shift happening overseas… you can feel it in the air.

Europe’s cracking under the weight of its own politics. Great Britain’s stumbling through chaos. And Ireland — that quiet, watchful island — is standing at the crossroads of it all.

But while most folks are distracted by the headlines and hashtags, a few are paying attention. They’re not waiting for the next directive or bailout. They’re preparing — quietly, deliberately, and with purpose.

One of those people is Frank Deegan, founder of the Irish Survivalist Group. Frank’s not just another voice shouting about collapse — he’s building a network. A real community of men and women who see what’s happening across Europe and are taking action before the hammer drops. Because let’s be honest — the storm isn’t coming.

It’s already here.

Tonight, Frank’s joining us to pull back the curtain on what’s really going down in Europe, Great Britain, and of course Ireland… and how he and his group are staying three steps ahead of the turmoil. We’ll talk a little shop and have some fun as we get reacquainted with Frank from Ireland. It’s a while since we last had him on the show.

So, Let’s get to it…

Buddy
All right, today we've got Frank Degan from Ireland, and he's got a robust prepper group there and and a whole other set of, for most of our listeners in the States, has a whole other set of problems over there that they're prepping for.

00:19.33
Buddy
And today, just kind of like to discuss a little bit about what they are prepping for, what they seem to think is their upcoming threats, or you know just what drives their train over there, so.

00:34.04
Buddy
We have Frank with us today and it should be a great episode.

00:36.86
Keith
Good to hear from you, Frank.

00:37.66
Frank
Hey, Keith and Buddy, nice to be invited back.

00:37.90
Keith
Again, it's been a while.

00:42.18
Frank
Thanks very much, guys. Yeah, and we've got a whole set of issues going on over this part the world, over Europe.

00:43.97
Keith
Sure.

00:48.23
Frank
So as I said earlier, we're in Southern Ireland, which is not connected by any land bridges to the UK or Ireland, Great Britain. um Our problems are, I think if everybody was listening to the news lately, where not the mainstream news because they don't see it, but but We're looking at all kinds of invasions going on with Russia over there.

01:11.13
Frank
They're going everywhere. They're testing the NATO waters, if you know what ah last night again

01:15.23
Keith
Is that right?

01:15.46
Buddy
yeah oh yeah

01:16.83
Frank
yeah Last night again, I think they had 11 to 16 drones fly into NATO territory and they were all shot down. And the Russians just said, no, it wasn't us.

01:27.47
Frank
It must be somebody else. did Did you hear it? you get anything? What time is it there, by the way? Sorry, I didn't get your time.

01:33.64
Keith
Yeah, no. ah I mean, i i didn't know that it was ah part of your neck of the world that they were flying the drones into. I thought it was someplace else, Turkey or or some someplace.

01:42.18
Frank
no and No, no, no, they're not near my neck woods, but it's part of Europe and we're all right interconnected more or less.

01:46.82
Keith
Ah, i see. I see. Gotcha. Gotcha.

01:49.12
Buddy
Yeah, I follow a little bit of the the Eastern Europe, European theater as far as like Intel collection goes. I keep trying to get a good pulse on it, and it seems like somebody's flying. and It just looks like they're testing waters, like you said. A lot of airplane incursions, the Russian planes are getting escorted out of Alaskan waters.

02:13.30
Buddy
They're flying into Latvia, it looks like. Now, i i thought I heard about a drone somewhere. that flew into and around a English airport somewhere. But I, I recently, yeah.

02:24.47
Frank
Oh, well, that could have been any external drone from somebody else, like but i don't think it was a I don't think it was a Russian one.

02:28.63
Buddy
And that's, I, yeah, I couldn't, I couldn't verify.

02:31.60
Frank
Or it went into Amsterdam.

02:34.39
Buddy
Okay. Yeah. Um, it just seems like, yeah, it seems like there, and who knows, man, there could be some false flags out there that there, you know, some NATO partners want

02:36.25
Frank
So they'd have to fly over Poland to get to there.

02:46.49
Buddy
want to really go to war. And I think you mentioned one of the countries that,

02:50.89
Frank
Yeah, well, there's a few countries at the moment right on the border with with Russia, Estonia, Latvia um and Poland.

02:56.12
Buddy
yeah.

02:58.20
Frank
And they've cut the power. still They were reliant on their electricity power from Russia. But only the other day, they've completely cut off the Russian supply and gone.

03:09.43
Frank
They've joined the European Interconnector, which means Russia no longer has control over the electricity anymore, which is not. They're not very happy in Russia about that because they had They had the thumb screws on them, but now they don't have it anymore. So Paddy, we call him Paddy Putin over here because we are we call him an Irish Paddy.

03:26.94
Frank
So Paddy Putin.

03:28.01
Buddy
I get it. Yeah.

03:28.42
Frank
And yeah, and he's not too happy with what happened there. So is it Turdikistan or Turkmenistan? What's the name of that little province the Russians have there next to Poland?

03:40.88
Frank
I can't think of off the top my head.

03:41.64
Buddy
ah That would be ah Belarus is right next there.

03:42.02
Frank
I'll have a look here now.

03:45.44
Frank
Okay.

03:46.00
Buddy
And then you have so up

03:46.85
Frank
ah Between that, yeah.

03:49.95
Buddy
kind of westerly. And I think it borders on Poland. um If I remember right, just pulled the map, but they have.

03:56.34
Frank
Yeah.

03:57.52
Buddy
Oh my goodness. Moldova.

03:59.30
Keith
and The only people here in the United States, that normal people in the United States that know anything about that going to be the military people like Buddy. As far as I'm was concerned and Ronda's concerned, they're just a bunch of stands. We don't know which one's which.

04:11.89
Frank
That's, yeah, that's that's a about right.

04:13.19
Keith
we know We know Afghanistan.

04:13.61
Frank
Stan.

04:14.23
Keith
well Obviously, Afghanistan we know, but there's a whole bunch of other stands and we don't know them.

04:15.68
Frank
Yeah.

04:18.42
Frank
Oh, Kaliningrad.

04:18.91
Buddy
Well, unfortunately yeah unfortunately, I had an undergraduate path ah at one point where I was studying Russian language and culture.

04:20.31
Frank
Kaliningrad.

04:25.83
Buddy
So, um I was real really into that for a ah one period of time. So i I still kind of, it's kind of a hobby of mine now. so But I study Putin a little bit to the point to where i kind of admire him a little bit from a nationalist standpoint, you know, because he he wants to make Mother Russia great again, you know.

04:49.63
Buddy
And so admire that.

04:50.64
Frank
yeah yeah the the advantage

04:52.68
Buddy
But then again, yeah.

04:56.10
Frank
the advantage that I'm looking at and I know the history of that area with Russia is Russia is very limited on its sea space so it doesn't have access to the sea you would have thought a huge country like that does they do in the north but it freezes over most of the time so the likes of Helsinki in Finland and Tallinn in Estonia there's a small little i don't know what the name of it obviously it's called the Gulf of Finland yeah there it is That's the only part where Russian ships come in and come out.

05:24.08
Frank
And prior to that, they have it in Kalingrad, and that's the main major port for Russia. So that's in the Baltic Sea.

05:31.32
Buddy
Yes.

05:33.22
Frank
So that's where they do all their operations in there. And that has been cut off now as well with the electricity. So they're kind of limited on what they can use. They have and call coal and gas electricity generators. They don't have any nuclear, as far as I know.

05:48.85
Frank
I was looking at a whole history in this ah yesterday, so i'm kind of fresh in my mind. But that's been cut off as of yesterday.

05:53.95
Buddy
Yeah. and it

05:56.64
Buddy
Wow. And it seems like that's the colt one of the cold water ports.

05:58.31
Frank
Putin is not happy.

06:00.44
Buddy
um

06:00.97
Frank
Yes.

06:01.86
Buddy
And then they like, one the reasons why they went into Ukraine, besides the oil and the the wheat, was to go in and take Crimea, which is they wanted a warm water port so for their Navy.

06:13.67
Frank
Correct. And the Black Cedar.

06:14.36
Buddy
So, yeah, and I followed Ukraine for a long time, that whole war, and then it just really couldn't, depending on if you watch RT compared to, you know, a pro ah chief ah ah publication or something,

06:14.88
Frank
Yeah. Yeah. if you and

06:31.43
Buddy
you know, is the message you got. So you couldn't really never get a good pulse on it. It was that information war that we're fighting that you just, you know, at one point I was just like, I'm not going to get the truth in a way, but somewhere in the middle, there is the truth.

06:43.80
Buddy
So just hard to get it.

06:44.99
Frank
But you can see, I can see why sorry i can see why he he wanted Ukraine.

06:45.11
Keith
I had heard that. ah Go ahead.

06:49.48
Frank
and It's got a huge warm water frontage. A lot of property there.

06:52.71
Keith
Oh, yeah.

06:53.09
Buddy
Yeah.

06:54.56
Frank
So that's why he's after it.

06:58.25
Keith
Yeah, I had heard that they were, ah Russia was getting better at navigating those northern seas during the winter times, or or or maybe there's some um um some some warming that's happened where it's not as bad.

07:03.17
Buddy
Thank

07:09.76
Keith
But as part of the reason why President Trump wanted to buy Greenland was to have a sort of a blockade right there, a protection towards Canada and the United States.

07:21.09
Keith
But I don't know i dont you know. Who knows? Global warming, who knows?

07:24.84
Frank
Yeah, yeah. I don't know about Greenland, but doesn't I don't need a strategic at all. But sure, you have bases there anyway, so i doesn't need to go and do that, but they're already there.

07:33.63
Buddy
Yeah, we already have the Azor Islands.

07:34.82
Frank
So, waste of money.

07:36.09
Buddy
You have Greenland, Iceland, which they should be named opposite, I think, because.

07:41.26
Frank
Iceland's actually part of Europe as well.

07:43.30
Buddy
Yeah.

07:45.23
Frank
Covered by Denmark.

07:45.38
Buddy
Who knows what what what but Daddy Trump does? Who knows?

07:47.94
Keith
Well, so, so is Greenland. Greenland is is part part ah part of Dutchland, isn't it?

07:51.01
Frank
Greenland is...

07:52.79
Keith
I think.

07:53.85
Frank
it's it's It's part of Denmark as well, yeah.

07:55.94
Buddy
Yeah, Denmark.

07:55.93
Keith
Yeah, Denmark. Yeah.

07:56.46
Frank
It's covered by Norway. It's covered with Scandinavia and it's considered Scandinavian. Greenland.

08:01.23
Keith
Right.

08:02.89
Frank
Look at that map. It's very close. You know, if i if I went out my door and turned right.

08:05.91
Keith
Oh, as an American, I would love to have, i would love to have Greenland as an American. I love to have Greenland, Iceland, and why not Canada? I'd like to have them all. I'm on, I'm on Trump's side with that.

08:14.01
Frank
Why not?

08:14.57
Keith
So, I mean, why not?

08:15.63
Frank
Yeah,

08:16.63
Buddy
Hey, why not stop there? You mean you take Mexico and...

08:19.88
Keith
Nah, let them have Mexico.

08:20.53
Frank
yeah.

08:21.88
Keith
It's hot down there. We don't want to have Mexico. We don't need that.

08:24.39
Buddy
Yeah, but they got they got stuff that we...

08:24.46
Frank
yeah Yeah, you need need too much sun cream.

08:28.66
Buddy
They don't know what they have down there, so I'm sure they got minerals plentiful, you know.

08:31.46
Keith
and They got great food. That's what they got. I'll tell you i'll tell you one thing.

08:34.84
Buddy
Well, I like to vacation down there, so that's another thing.

08:37.68
Keith
Mm-hmm.

08:39.34
Buddy
so

08:39.39
Keith
So what are some of the threats that are happening in your neck of the woods? um You know, I know, you know, the Prepper Survivalists, we get on these podcasts because we we are considering threats and and what's happening. and and And sometimes the United States would feel so big that it's protected.

08:57.20
Keith
But... Not, it's not really protected.

08:58.34
Frank
yeah

08:59.91
Keith
There's a lot of things that can happen that we do prep for. And a lot of times those preps save lives, but you know, someone like Ireland, I mean, ah not that you're not, not that you're small, you're not as big as the United States, obviously.

09:11.07
Keith
But the thing is you have a very ah low um ah population count somewhere in just the millions, right? Under, under 10 million.

09:20.35
Frank
ah Oh, wow, you shook me. Four and a half million up to last year, but we're way exceeded five million now.

09:23.89
Buddy
Thank

09:24.55
Keith
Oh,

09:26.93
Frank
We have 70 million as a diaspora, which means in America alone, there's there's there's millions who claim to be Irish and they are descendants of the Irish.

09:34.32
Keith
Oh, yes.

09:35.06
Frank
So 70 million diaspora, both population wise, four and a half to five million tops.

09:35.79
Keith
Yes.

09:39.95
Frank
We're very small.

09:40.15
Keith
so Okay, so, I mean, threat level-wise, are are you know what do you what do you prep prep for?

09:44.71
Frank
We're neutral.

09:46.06
Keith
You know, i mean...

09:47.15
Frank
it's It's a neutral country in the eyes of NATO. We don't pay any, we're not connected. We're we're neutral during World War war one and World War two but we were on the allies side, if you know what i mean.

09:57.66
Frank
They were helping the allies, but not publicly. But what threats do we we have? the The biggest threat that we have at the moment is ah immigration. And I think we can all say that all countries are getting hammered now at the moment, especially the UK.

10:11.85
Keith
Yes.

10:13.21
Frank
The UK, if you look out online, it is absolutely destroyed with immigration. um And it doesn't seem to be stopping at all. The mayors and the Their Prime Minister, he's all for, come on in, come on in, we'll welcome you with open arms and give you a free house and all this kind of stuff.

10:32.39
Frank
Our own country, Ireland, now only yeah last Friday, I heard, so sorry, yesterday, Saturday, I heard a ah tiny little clip on the back end of the news. Ireland is to give 10,000 euros, approximately 9,000 US dollars, to every immigrant if he goes home.

10:50.95
Frank
So 10 grand, there's 10 grand, good luck lads, and We won't see you again. So they'll go back and then come back with a different name trying to get back in. But once you say to the world, we'll give you 10 grand to leave, everybody in the UK that's illegal is going to make their way over.

11:04.58
Keith
They're coming.

11:06.53
Frank
Oh, they're on the way.

11:06.99
Keith
Of course.

11:07.60
Frank
You may believe it.

11:07.75
Keith
Yeah. They're all, going to over in boats, planes, whatever they, however they can get there.

11:10.46
Frank
Absolutely.

11:11.27
Keith
They're going to come.

11:12.05
Frank
Rubber dinghies, tyres stuck together. They were on the way.

11:13.98
Keith
In fact, I might even come over there for 10 grand. I mean, you know,

11:16.46
Buddy
Oh, here I come.

11:17.13
Frank
I know, me too.

11:17.64
Buddy
Here I come. Yeah.

11:19.83
Frank
I'm going to paint my face a different color and just come in on a paddleboard. Hello, I'm going to play Inglés.

11:26.59
Keith
ah You know, it that reminds me of like, ah you know, when you when you pay the bully not to beat you up. It's, you know, it's not a good idea.

11:33.88
Frank
Doesn't work.

11:34.35
Keith
Uh-uh.

11:34.98
Frank
It's going to backfire big time. But the the the public haven't even really got wind of this yet.

11:37.14
Buddy
yeah

11:39.39
Frank
i've i already I noticed on one or two of the chats that had only came online today that the 10 grand is offered to all these people. It's about to be offered. so They said it really quick and really, and if they snuck it in before the weather.

11:53.46
Frank
Oh, we're gonna give 10 grand to everybody to home. Good luck. Now here's the weather. So they really snuck it in nice and quiet so that, I was fuming when I heard I actually rebounded the television in back just so I could hear it again.

11:57.34
Keith
Right.

12:05.70
Frank
And I said to my wife, did I just hear what they just said? They're gonna give 10,000 euros to everybody. What about the people that don't have any money that are stuck homeless and and people that are finding it hard to make ends meet, you know?

12:18.18
Keith
Right.

12:18.23
Frank
These are the issues that we're having in Ireland at the moment. And it's just the whole world has got the shit in fairness. like can absolutely We're seeing it firsthand, but I think it's starting to creep in. We used to be a great country where there's only the Irish.

12:32.83
Frank
And I remember the first time I see a foreign man. He was an Indian guy and he had a turban on his head. And I couldn't believe i was looking at we all stared. We said, what the hell is that? he walking down the road. He was doing sales from England or something. We hadn't got a clue what it was, you know, so what he was. I know it now was a Sikh.

12:49.50
Frank
But then, oh, when I was 10 years old age, first time I ever seen a coloured man. It was amazing. Because we don't have a we don't have any Africans or we don't have any Hispanics or we don't have any Mexicans.

13:02.70
Frank
are we We just have English and Irish. That's all we've ever had until about 10 years ago when it really got started to take off, yeah.

13:06.89
Keith
Really?

13:09.76
Keith
So you guys don't get authentic Mexican food. That's terrible.

13:14.23
Frank
um I don't even know.

13:14.39
Buddy
Yeah, but they got really good.

13:15.93
Frank
I've never seen a Mexican restaurant.

13:18.58
Buddy
They have really good ah Indian food, though.

13:18.65
Keith
Wow.

13:21.40
Buddy
That's what I hear. At least the curry.

13:22.26
Frank
i I've never, I've never had Indian food, but we eat Chinese food.

13:22.73
Buddy
that

13:26.22
Frank
Yeah. That's what I would go for quicker than an Indian food. But saying that, I was Liverpool years ago and I had one of the best ever.

13:30.16
Keith
I've never had Indian food. Hmm.

13:33.67
Frank
Yeah.

13:33.84
Keith
m

13:35.18
Frank
20 years ago and in Liverpool, fantastic Indian food.

13:38.73
Keith
Man, I would love to try some Irish irish cuisine, though. I really would. I mean, the kind of the kind of food I think about when I think about Irish food is like what what, i mean you know, Americans mostly eat like in the wintertime, like hearty, beefy, like big, like manly food.

13:42.80
Buddy
Oh, man.

13:42.83
Frank
Oh, the Irish food is next to better.

13:53.25
Keith
You know, that's what I think about.

13:54.30
Frank
Oh yeah, we eat man food the whole time. have big feet of ribs now waiting on at home later on when I get into it.

13:56.56
Keith
ah yeah

14:00.97
Keith
That's what I'm saying.

14:01.30
Buddy
No, when I think of Irish food, I'm thinking of ah shepherd pie, ah ah cabbage, yeah, corned beef and cabbage, you know.

14:07.23
Frank
That's lamb. Yep, have that waiting on me inside.

14:09.51
Keith
Oh yeah. Yeah. l Lamb. Stews like stews and stuff.

14:14.16
Buddy
Oh, yeah, yeah.

14:15.25
Frank
The time of the year is going to start getting colder now.

14:15.67
Buddy
Lots of...

14:17.58
Frank
So stew is a great Irish stew made with Guinness. That was a fa a family favourite.

14:21.22
Buddy
Oh, yes.

14:21.97
Keith
Oh, nice.

14:22.11
Frank
Yeah.

14:23.42
Keith
Nice.

14:23.51
Frank
yeah and potatoes in there, carrots, parsnips, onions.

14:27.50
Keith
Now do you put be ah beef in that or do you put lamb?

14:27.92
Frank
and All of our beef is grass fed. No cows are fed artificial food. So we don't have any Monsanto or any of that.

14:34.67
Keith
Whoa.

14:36.14
Frank
We we all cows are grass. There's no artificial flavorings around that. out That's one thing we're very proud of over here.

14:43.32
Keith
Nice. Very nice. You know, I get the, uh,

14:46.32
Frank
And the food in Ireland is meant to be the best and invest in the world as well. So there's some great, great restaurants here.

14:52.42
Keith
we use the, uh, we use the, the Irish butter is what we use in our house. Um, I forget what it's called.

14:57.03
Buddy
Oh, yeah.

14:57.36
Frank
Kerrygold.

14:57.93
Keith
That's Carrie. Yeah. That's it.

14:59.11
Buddy
Yeah, there we go.

14:59.31
Keith
Caragold.

14:59.77
Buddy
Yeah.

15:00.22
Keith
We get the salted in the unsalted. We put the unsalted in, in our coffee as a a creamer and we put the salt in everything else. And it's great. and It actually tastes better than anything else you can get on the, on the shelf. You really does.

15:11.86
Frank
That's pure grass butter right there. It's made by a cow eating grass. And generally they'd have the, say in in a herd, you might have maybe a hundred cattle and you have one Jersey cow, which is a cream color one.

15:25.46
Frank
And they're great for the cream.

15:26.08
Buddy
Yep.

15:26.58
Frank
They add add to the butter, add to the mix. This is because I know my wife is a farmer's daughter. So I learned all this, which which is good to know.

15:35.97
Keith
Do you have any ah livestock?

15:36.06
Buddy
Yeah, I might.

15:36.17
Frank
it It adds to It's creamy. No one had gotten on. We only have dogs here. I'm living in ah in a dormer bungalow. So I'm living out the sticks overlooking, hundred and I'm 160 meters above sea level.

15:49.45
Frank
And I overlook one of the local rivers here.

15:50.30
Keith
Oh, nice.

15:51.61
Frank
So we have a great, we're out the country. which is good. Not too far out the country, but we'll fairly out. Not as far as you now, Keith. I know you're out in the sticks.

16:00.62
Keith
Yeah, I am in the sticks. We are definitely out here. Yeah, I gave Rhonda, by the way, a link.

16:04.38
Frank
You hear banjos at night.

16:05.34
Keith
ah ah No, we don't hear anything at night. yeah but I mean, it's just all, you know what?

16:09.03
Frank
No banjos?

16:11.21
Keith
We are, wait, what did he say banjos?

16:13.91
Buddy
He did say banjos. like it.

16:15.30
Keith
Banjos? Okay. I thought he said badgers.

16:17.71
Buddy
oh

16:18.74
Keith
I'm like, what?

16:19.85
Frank
No banjos.

16:20.12
Keith
Banjos.

16:20.99
Frank
It's green like a pig, boy.

16:21.65
Keith
Banjos. No, we're not even that, we're we're not even, we're not even that close.

16:24.47
Buddy
but

16:25.62
Keith
I mean, we're that far out that we don't even hear banjos. Seriously.

16:28.80
Frank
Okay, joke. I'm only joking.

16:31.21
Keith
Uh, but, uh, no, I get the joke, but, uh, but no, seriously, I was thinking, I was just thinking about it last night when I, you know, when we walk outside of our house, we are in the woods, like not of some trees around the house.

16:33.08
Buddy
oh like it

16:41.91
Frank
You can see the stars.

16:43.60
Keith
Like we're, we're the house in the woods, not the, not the house with some trees around it. You know, it's, it's, and it blows my mind. It's like, it's kind of scary when you think about it. Cause you're out there alone, you know, out in the middle of nowhere, you know, big foots around or, you know, something like that. You don't know.

17:01.50
Frank
Did you ever, do you remember when you said you had a stranger or walk up when you moved into the house there last year or the year before?

17:01.78
Keith
You don't know.

17:07.42
Frank
Did you ever find out who that was?

17:07.52
Keith
That's right.

17:08.58
Frank
Did you ever see him again?

17:08.79
Keith
Nope. We didn't. Nope. And I, I got the guns and a dog and and went out and look for him and no, never saw him again. know And I talked to some of, talked to some of the neighbors that down the road and they were like, no, we, and I went down and checked their house.

17:14.96
Buddy
Because it was Bigfoot.

17:15.31
Frank
Jesus.

17:20.31
Keith
Cause they don't live you know here. They live in another part of the state and they come on weekends and stuff. And i I told him, I said, yeah, i went down your house and and walked around. ah I didn't see him down there either. I don't know. But yeah, we, it was weird.

17:30.39
Frank
Yeah.

17:31.57
Keith
And I also found, I also had another occasion, ah Rhonda was in Texas and went out with the dogs. I guess it was probably close to midnight. was dark. And across across the open area of our where our home is, is a tree line. And that tree line is a ah it a national, not national, it's a state conservation area.

17:49.99
Keith
It's all woods. It's 800 acres of nothing but woods. And I can i saw the legs standing right there at the tree line. like It was dark out and I didn't have my flashlight or was dead or something like that.

18:01.17
Keith
And I just had the glow like the moon and maybe what, maybe the TV on in the house, you know, at 50 yards. So, i but I saw, and then it moved like legs and then disappeared.

18:12.49
Frank
you ever think of putting a trial camera out there?

18:12.70
Keith
And I don't know.

18:15.62
Keith
Yeah, I got, ah we have some other kind of cameras um on the property. They just weren't in that, in that direction. Trail cameras.

18:22.25
Frank
Yeah.

18:22.61
Keith
I mean, they're so just the good ones are so damn expensive and I got so much land to cover. I don't really know where to put them. you know, but I, I grabbed, I grabbed the shotgun and went out and I just started firing off rounds, you know, like, like into my, into my woods, not into those woods, uh, to be clear in case anybody's listening.

18:28.49
Frank
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

18:39.24
Keith
And, uh, you know, I don't know, just let them know that, that you're going to get hurt if you're thinking about it. I mean, you may be hungry.

18:45.95
Frank
Yeah,

18:46.28
Keith
You may be wanting something. Maybe you're, maybe you're a junkie. I don't know. Maybe you heard some chickens, you want some eggs, who knows, but I can tell you it's not going to be worth what's going to happen.

18:54.58
Frank
yeah, yeah. Dead right.

18:55.80
Keith
You know, I don't want to shoot nobody, but it's going to happen.

18:59.39
Frank
Yeah, well, if they walk onto your land, they you can do that.

18:59.81
Buddy
Just put the purple paint out there.

19:03.42
Frank
We can't do it over here. We can't even, nourish if you shoot somebody over in this part of the world, and you're done for manslaughter murder or whatever, regardless, even if he's in your house.

19:11.51
Keith
Even if it's self-defense?

19:13.88
Frank
More or less, yeah. yeah You get done for everything.

19:15.50
Keith
Ooh. Wow.

19:17.56
Frank
yeah the root The rules are are fairly strict here. and We don't have a huge amount of guns in this country. I have one myself. The gun licenses are very strict here.

19:26.38
Keith
Yeah. You got a shotgun, right?

19:26.91
Frank
Very strict.

19:27.62
Keith
I think I've seen you with a shotgun and in a video.

19:29.85
Frank
No, just a small LR22. two two That's all i have. and I don't have a shotgun, no. Because each one costs 80 euros per every three years.

19:41.33
Frank
You have to renew it every three years.

19:42.63
Buddy
Whoa.

19:43.24
Frank
and they make it harder and harder and harder for you to renew it. So I could get more, but sure, the brother-in-law has about 20 of them anyway, so I'm okay if I need any.

19:46.89
Buddy
Oh, man.

19:51.26
Keith
So is there no, uh, is there no, uh, hunting in Ireland?

19:56.16
Frank
Oh yes, there is, yeah, yeah. You need special licenses, of course, for everything. So the likes of deer, if you want to go shooting venison or deer, ah you have to be out before 11 o'clock in the morning, and you have to put signs up in the local area saying that it's shooting and involved and we don't wear orange hats like yourselves so you try and get all the shooting done before 11 o'clock in the morning and generally yeah that's you're allowed shoot one or two deer some people are culling permanently you know they're going out that's their job they're culling deer because we have an awful lot of them here and wild boar we have a lot of them as well so yeah well there is yeah but most people don't hunt at all so

20:34.55
Keith
Oh, nice. lot protein.

20:40.69
Frank
Yeah, plenty of shooting over here if you're into it. And you can actually, there is companies over here that that bring you in a as a tourist to go shooting for a shooting holiday or fishing. and know That's what they, a lot of companies specialize in that.

20:54.52
Frank
So you're interested coming over to Ireland, you know where to go.

20:54.98
Keith
Well, you know... and In the United States, ah we when you think of prepper survivalists, a lot of people, a lot of people think of, you know, gun-toting armed people.

21:05.54
Keith
that's that's That's not the truth. But firearms and and self-defense is a part of prepper survivalism in the United States. what Is that a part of it there in Ireland as well?

21:13.37
Frank
Yeah.

21:15.75
Frank
No, no, no, it's not. um see As I said, guns are fairly strict and they'll ask you why you need the gun and what you have to have it for and all this. I just generally say I'm shooting vermin for the three local farmers. I have to get the three farmers locally to sign a piece of paper every three years to say I'm shooting rabbits or foxes on their land and they're okay with that. Or you have to join a gun club.

21:41.77
Frank
which is a bit more stricter. So you can get any amount of guns then when you're with the gun club, but I don't bother. So some of the guys do, they're in they're into that shooting area, you know, target shooting and so on.

21:53.63
Frank
I went up a few times just as as ah as a ah day out and tried my hand at all the big weapons, but sure. You know yourself, if you're into it, you're into it.

22:01.40
Keith
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

22:04.48
Frank
But i know i know that i know the gun rules in in the States are are completely different. And I know it's in your amendment. It's in the Constitution. So don't ever let them take the guns off you.

22:14.91
Frank
That's one sure thing. Oh, and they did that in Germany after the war. Took all the guns. And they can't shoot anybody now, which is a pity.

22:22.70
Keith
ah They did that in, ah they did that in Ireland. I'm not sorry. They did that in um ah Australia as well.

22:26.12
Frank
Australia.

22:26.45
Buddy
Australia.

22:26.77
Frank
Mm-hmm.

22:28.31
Keith
But you know what? That doesn't, that doesn't necessarily end violence or even gun violence in some cases. Cause I mean, criminals will get the guns.

22:33.75
Frank
No, it means that the criminals get the hand of the guns. Yeah, exactly.

22:37.24
Buddy
Knife violence goes up tremendously right after. if you If you don't have a gun, you're gonna you're going to grab a knife or a hammer or car. You're going to do whatever, you know.

22:47.56
Frank
was a time in Ireland where we had zero murders. That was back when I was teenager a murder once a year, we say, oh my God, a murder? Wow. Now we have two or three every day.

22:59.29
Frank
And it's it's not because a gang violence anything that. It's just because the boys that are coming in are engineers and doctors coming in and they're not happy with themselves and they either kill somebody or they're killing their own buddies.

23:10.50
Frank
And that's happening pretty regular, pretty regular.

23:10.93
Keith
Uh-huh. And wasn't wasn't there a time, though?

23:13.55
Frank
I think there was two two murders this morning.

23:16.63
Keith
Really? not not not close Not close to you, though.

23:17.16
Frank
Two family members. Yeah, a wife and daughter found dead in the house.

23:19.52
Keith
Ooh. Damn.

23:22.84
Frank
They didn't give any information, but we can generally guess who did it.

23:26.15
Keith
See, now in the United States, we say those folks were armed and trained, they might be alive today.

23:26.43
Frank
Another...

23:32.68
Keith
That's how we look at it.

23:33.27
Frank
Yeah, well, chances are, it's i' as I said, I don't know the information behind it, so I can't really comment on it. But we did have another, which is 25 miles away from me.

23:43.78
Keith
Mm-hmm.

23:44.00
Frank
And he this guy, he came out of England. He's a foreigner, came from England. He was in jail in England. His wife and daughter were over here. His wife was Irish, and she converted her so her religion into Muslim.

23:56.84
Frank
And the daughter was mixed, I think. So he found out when he came home. or when he got out of jail for something. He was in jail for one or two years. He came over here. He wasn't happy with the daughter. After four days, he cut the daughter's throat.

24:11.10
Frank
Good luck, good night, and there it is. yeah

24:13.41
Buddy
Wow.

24:14.82
Frank
Only that was very close to us. That was very close. So you don't need a gun, you know?

24:20.42
Buddy
So do you consider,

24:21.35
Keith
No, all you all you need is a religion and you get to kill.

24:23.80
Buddy
yeah

24:24.20
Frank
Yep, there you go.

24:24.24
Keith
it's

24:25.65
Buddy
Do you consider, i mean, you you've, you've said it, that you know, one of the threats you guys have would be the, the foreign invaders are, I, I, I use invader.

24:25.62
Frank
Yep, religion and peace.

24:34.66
Frank
Yes.

24:36.13
Buddy
I don't think you use that term, but, uh, I'm calling it the way I see it. What other types of threats that you guys are looking for are you're you're prepping for?

24:48.28
Buddy
And I know a lot of them.

24:48.55
Frank
Oh, the prep and chat.

24:49.34
Buddy
can Yeah, a lot of them will intermesh. But what other things would you.

24:52.79
Frank
Yeah. You see, as as a as an island as well, we don't have a huge amount of hurricanes, tornadoes, very, very rare. Tornadoes are rare.

25:04.05
Frank
um Our weather is on the same power as Canada, but we don't freeze. But because we have the North Atlantic Drift, which heats the water up, so it's just warm enough to keep it tepid and it doesn't freeze. So we never freeze, so but we're on the same latitude as Canada. Now, if the North Atlantic Drift stopped, we would start to freeze and England would freeze as well and half of Europe.

25:24.13
Frank
But and because of that, it keeps it really stable. Our main threats and my threat that I would Well, I was asked this last year and the year before.

25:34.99
Frank
I would say Putin just goes cracked and says, okay, Lithuania, we're going to nuke our Poland, we're going nuke our Germany, any of them. But if he starts that, we have generally the weather blows the wind in from that area to us.

25:50.40
Buddy
Ah, okay.

25:50.56
Frank
So we'd have the radiation fallout.

25:50.62
Buddy
Yep.

25:51.88
Frank
So we' we're looking at that kind of stuff. um I think that is the main threat at the moment. But then again, I'm always wrong with the threats and something else will come over. it and and like meteorite land on it or something you know something high in the odds

26:06.45
Keith
Yeah, but that's a pretty big threat, and and you're going to need to have stuff like you know iodine or iodine tablets. or You're going to need to have stuff to do that.

26:12.77
Frank
I have all of that stuff yeah all of this stuff I have Geiger counters and everything tree masks a load of filters yeah i have all of this stuff every every time every now and then I go mad and I buy a load of stuff for one section of

26:14.72
Keith
that's that's a That's a scary thing, man. that's That is a scary thing.

26:19.65
Buddy
yeah

26:20.01
Keith
Yeah.

26:20.21
Buddy
suits, gonna have your mask and the filters.

26:21.67
Keith
Wow.

26:23.78
Buddy
you ki Yeah, a lot of filters.

26:32.45
Frank
of a disaster zone. So one day I had a notion, right, get ID and get the masks, get the suits, the whole lot. That's all done. Now I'll move on to the next part. of What do I get? Oh, I'll go comms. I spent a thousand or $2,000 on ham radios and walkie talkies, VHF radios whole lot and have them done. Now we'll move on to something else. Got my, actually, you know, i need more bullets.

26:55.36
Frank
Now that you mentioned, need to get more.

26:57.50
Buddy
So you mentioned communications.

26:58.90
Frank
Yes.

27:00.43
Buddy
Is that, you know, I know you have a pretty robust group.

27:01.31
Frank
Yes.

27:03.29
Buddy
I follow you guys online and and I've listened to couple of your podcasts that you've had with other people. Not stalking you or anything like that weird.

27:10.39
Keith
Big group, big, big group.

27:12.00
Buddy
um Do you guys communicate?

27:13.49
Frank
Big group, but not as active as I'd like.

27:13.99
Buddy
Yeah. Yeah. Do you guys communicate like, ah you know, like I would say every Sunday or every so Friday night or something? do you have a communication like check in where you test out your comms and make sure everything's good?

27:27.62
Buddy
Or is it just kind of everybody's got their stuff and, you know.

27:28.42
Frank
Yeah. Tuesday at half eight, if you you tune into a certain frequency, you will hear the Irish i was doing the check-in around the country.

27:39.76
Buddy
Okay. Okay.

27:39.82
Frank
Now, it's a repeater system in Ireland, so I think they have about 15 repeaters. So I've heard guys talking from Northern Ireland down to the west coast of Ireland, 300, 400 miles, and they're talking by handheld radios using the repeater system alone. And the UK came in and and America came in on as well.

27:57.60
Buddy
Nice.

27:57.65
Frank
So it is there. There's a system there in place, and we're ready to override it when we need it, but we know it's there.

28:03.46
Buddy
Okay.

28:04.27
Keith
Buddy, is there is there, I have to ask, is there is there a way to get contact with Frank through our systems here?

28:04.71
Frank
And we have our we have our own hand one, but yeah.

28:11.06
Buddy
Oh yeah. Yeah. It happens.

28:12.56
Keith
is Is that right?

28:12.78
Buddy
I mean, you can go, you can, you can get Russia, you can get, can go all over the globe. If you know what you're doing, you know, there's different setups.

28:19.76
Frank
Yeah, you can go. And the other one, and an easy one is Zello. That's another one if you try Zello. It's okay.

28:24.44
Buddy
I yeah.

28:24.80
Frank
It's online system and it requires internet, but it does work. Something similar, but it's not as a dependable as a ham radio or anything like that.

28:34.47
Buddy
yeah Okay, so you guys use Zello.

28:35.16
Frank
And also the repeater systems require electricity as well to operate. So they'd have to have batteries and solar and all that kind of stuff. I don't know what to set up on top of the mountains, but something like that.

28:44.12
Buddy
I have a few groups that we use Zello, so that's that's that's nice. I didn't know I could reach that far with Zello, so we'll have to test it out.

28:50.53
Frank
Oh, it's that'll work anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world, yeah.

28:53.29
Buddy
Yeah, we'll have to definitely test that out. I'd like to, that would be a, that that's, it's a nice system. But then again, you know, when, when all the grid goes down and maybe not the option you need.

29:04.81
Buddy
So, but.

29:05.70
Frank
Yeah, but the the ham radio one is is pretty good one. And I've tried, we we've tried a few times now to get some of the group to go on standby and we'll will'll have a test signal on the ham ham. So the ham would be 27 meter sorry, 11 meter band.

29:21.50
Buddy
Okay.

29:22.04
Frank
That's the one where you're right on the fringes of licensing and and it's also got, I mean, I've got a huge area, 19 foot area on the roof and they did the ham would be great in in that setup if the repeater failed.

29:37.80
Frank
So I'm looking at one like two is one and one is none. Isn't that what you used to say, Keith?

29:43.08
Buddy
Yeah. Two is one and one is nine.

29:44.12
Frank
So that's it.

29:44.60
Buddy
Yeah.

29:45.82
Frank
Have two radios instead of one. So I have I have 11.

29:50.77
Buddy
Yeah. We have so many, I, I do teach classes or help teach classes with it.

29:52.25
Frank
And have backups.

29:56.35
Buddy
And we have so many different setups that, ah we, we actually counted them up the other day and we, we have way, way more than what we can ever use, but you know, we hand them out.

30:05.34
Frank
i loved I'd love to have one of your classes there. Yeah, I'd love to be at one of your classes.

30:07.99
Buddy
Yeah. The, You know, and out that was leads me up to a question I was going to ask is when you guys get together, do you guys have classes? Is it just to get up, meet and greet? Or is it, you know, ah something ah that's structured where you you, you know, come out for another night, you're, you're pressure testing your gear and then have classes or, you know, how how does it work?

30:30.40
Frank
um Most of the time meet and greet and have a few beers around the fire and cut cut the cloth, you know. Other times, there's a lot of people that are asking me, can I just go wait for a weekend and you can teach me this, that and the other.

30:44.91
Frank
I don't have a huge amount of time to teach people my my job. as an and I'm an engineer. I don't have a huge amount of time to, free time anyway, to dedicate just to teaching people, who say, ropes or knots or navigation or or Morse code or or any kind of things like that, you know.

31:03.05
Frank
um They're always asking me about bushcraft and stuff, which is great, but I mean, I've been doing it for so long. I just do it second nature. I've been doing this as a child, and survival part comes in. it's It's all common sense. i Firstly, I'm a prepper. Secondly, I'm survivalist.

31:20.85
Frank
When your prepping gear breaks down, whatever, you change mode into a survivalist.

31:26.37
Buddy
Yeah.

31:26.50
Frank
And I don't like

31:27.29
Buddy
yeah

31:27.92
Frank
I don't like to become a lone wolf. I want to be with the pack because obviously the pack is going to work in your favor.

31:34.17
Buddy
Oh, yeah, definitely.

31:35.02
Frank
yeah you'll have You'll have everybody can do it. We can assign different tasks and stuff.

31:41.78
Frank
We've discussed all that that kind of stuff, but it's it's like everything else. it's Until becomes critical, people aren't going to pay attention. so The group, as I said, we have 3,000, 4,000 members in it, but if I got even a third of them to come on and talk online in one night would be a miracle. But we used to be like that 10 years ago.

32:05.76
Frank
We'd be overwhelmed with people talking and wanting to do this, that, and how do you do this? I mean, I've got it this morning again. I've got people there ringing me up asking me, can you bring me to a class and do this? So I refer a lot of the time to a guy in the Wicklow Mountains. He specializes survivalist teams.

32:26.98
Frank
He'll bring you out and make you wild camp completely, pick three items off the table and off you go. That's extreme. you know I don't ever want have to do that.

32:33.34
Buddy
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

32:34.97
Frank
I know how to do it. I don't want to have to do it. I like my comfort.

32:38.80
Buddy
Well, it's a skill.

32:39.39
Frank
But i know how I know how to get around. It's a skill you learn. You have to practice it.

32:42.19
Buddy
Yeah, and it's a perishable skill as well. I mean, land navigation. I haven't done actual land navigation in a long time. You know I've been out of the military a few years, but I mean, at one point in my life, I could, you know, ah go on foot with a map and a compass and and make, you know, go anywhere in the world I wanted to. i I navigated all over the world.

33:03.69
Frank
You can stick me in the middle of the ocean and I'll find my way home.

33:03.87
Buddy
It's a little faster.

33:06.86
Buddy
Yeah, and same thing with the ocean. Yeah. um

33:09.66
Frank
Yeah, I've used the sextant.

33:10.30
Buddy
With

33:10.90
Frank
I was in college and I was in the merchant Navy. So sextants and astral navigation was my forte. I used to love doing that. I was very good at maths, know, trigonometry.

33:21.93
Frank
Yeah,

33:22.21
Buddy
Yeah, with but a lot of people, you know, they, they have a phone now. And so, and I, I fall in that category to where I try to, you know, rely on that phone more than a hard, but I do carry a paper map with me everywhere I go.

33:35.33
Buddy
Uh, so just in case, but ah yeah, you're, I call it the early warning device.

33:35.36
Frank
yeah. Sorry if you can hear my security device out the back there in the background.

33:41.41
Buddy
Yeah. I got mine.

33:42.27
Frank
yeah there was a shadow passed by my gate.

33:42.41
Buddy
Uh, yeah, you saw some legs, right?

33:48.01
Frank
It must have been a cat or something.

33:48.35
Buddy
Yeah. Yeah. So, uh,

33:50.53
Frank
oh I can turn on my camera.

33:53.08
Buddy
But yeah, man, I would love to come over there. And I've been saying, I think I've mentioned this before. I'd love to come over and go to one your meet and greets and, you know, maybe teach couple of classes on stuff and just, you know, share some skills.

34:03.83
Frank
ah to be Yeah, be great. Yeah.

34:08.17
Buddy
I think it would be a great, and we'll pull out cameras and we'll do some, you know, interviews and stuff. And yeah, me and Keith have talked about it offline.

34:15.02
Frank
More than welcome. More than welcome.

34:17.63
Buddy
It'd be awesome.

34:18.28
Keith
Mm-hmm.

34:18.87
Buddy
But so,

34:20.59
Frank
I tell you what, the English, in England, they have bushcraft and every year. They have the bushcraft weekend. But by God, thereafter, when you go to, you need to remortgage your house to get to it because it's so expensive.

34:34.62
Buddy
Yeah.

34:34.59
Frank
They charge of an arm and a leg. Whereas all of our classes and courses are all free. And that was probably the way it made us so popular. But we had to knock it on the head because of that. We had so many people wanting to come in and and and do stuff, you know, so.

34:49.94
Frank
It can bite you the ass if if you let it.

34:52.12
Buddy
yeah

34:52.16
Keith
Well, you know, and he's been building, ah Frank's been building his mag, his mutual assistant group for long, long time now.

34:52.52
Frank
sure yeah I think you're right.

35:00.01
Keith
And ah as far as I'm concerned, it's his best asset. I mean, don't know, Frank, personally, I've never been to the his, I've never seen his preps. But as far as I'm was concerned, his biggest prep asset is his group.

35:13.41
Frank
It's the knowledge that we share as well and the camaraderie and friendship. So you gotta be able to trust people in the end of the day if something really goes sour.

35:19.41
Keith
Right.

35:20.66
Frank
If you're going into a bunker, for example, you're not gonna just bring any juice up into a bunker. You just got cracked or something. I know some of the guys and I think we'd all manage. Most of us.

35:31.70
Buddy
Well, that leads me up to it one of my questions I had was the big bus buzzword and kind of the end thing with the Purple community here in the States is is networking and community and, you know, the mutual assistant group type thing.

35:32.02
Keith
Yeah.

35:32.08
Frank
I think.

35:46.32
Frank
Yeah, the bags.

35:46.54
Buddy
Sounds like you guys have already mastered that community type of networking.

35:50.35
Frank
No, we don't. No, I do in in a sense that the original group members that we had starting 10 plus years ago, they're still active, but all the new people coming in, I think they're the next generation where they like to think that they can, they obviously hear me talking on the, I talk on the radio and TVs a lot and they like to hear me talking about stuff and I get a lot of comments coming back.

36:15.92
Frank
ah But it's trying to, I think you've, You don't have the same problem in the States. It's trying to get the prepping mindset into people's general thoughts.

36:27.12
Frank
How do you do it? There there there is ways of doing it. you know You can subtly drop a hint. Oh, the nuclear power station down the road there, they had a kind of a mishap last night, but they fixed it. you know And then walk away and leave and think about that. you That kind of stuff.

36:43.16
Frank
You've got to get people interested. And over in this neck the woods, people aren't interested. until something really bad happens.

36:48.10
Buddy
Well, it sounds like...

36:50.64
Frank
Now we did have a huge storm. Sorry, we had a big storm earlier this year and it knocked electricity off for probably 14, 15 days. And a lot of the country it was rural and the main capital Dublin wasn't hit at all and they were okay, happy days.

37:01.36
Keith
Whoa.

37:07.45
Frank
But the half, West of Ireland was without electricity for over 14 days.

37:07.88
Keith
Yeah.

37:12.29
Keith
Two weeks, man.

37:12.55
Frank
a lot of the country, yeah, that's two weeks.

37:13.33
Keith
That's hard. That's hard.

37:16.36
Frank
And people were saying we're left behind and the news hardly reported on it.

37:16.57
Buddy
So...

37:16.77
Keith
Wow.

37:20.83
Frank
I went up there my in my work as an engineer and I've never seen so many trees down in my life. And telegraph poles and electric cables and trees falling everywhere.

37:27.38
Keith
Oh

37:30.35
Frank
And I went up there and i was speaking to one guy. He was 11 days waiting. and He's a quadriplegic in a wheelchair in a specially designed house. His doors were automatic. When I came in, the electric was back on at that stage.

37:42.52
Frank
He had to hit a button to open the doors. He couldn't get the door open. People had to come around the back door, get over a wall, come around the back to him.

37:47.02
Keith
oh my God.

37:49.47
Frank
They couldn't charge his electric wheelchair. Obviously, there's no power now. So if they had any backup at all, which I don't think he did, e it was gone after 24 hours.

37:53.87
Buddy
Oh, man.

37:58.28
Frank
So the car, his car, and jack lead into the car. That wasn't exactly suitable. I think it managed a bit. They worked something out to get him power for his wheelchair.

38:08.89
Frank
But that was just one guy. And that was, oh, before the storm hit,

38:13.19
Keith
Yeah.

38:14.90
Frank
France came to Ireland and said we're going to send you a lot of generators and this and the Irish government believe it or not know you're okay we're fine and what were we stuck for generators we didn't have enough that's our government over here they're just inept look it's like any politician they're useless they're absolutely our politicians are useless you know i promise not to get heated on politicians because I i can go on a rant very easy about our guys

38:25.09
Keith
Why?

38:29.11
Keith
whats so What was the reasoning behind that?

38:38.09
Buddy
yeah

38:44.34
Frank
They're just useless. But that was one of the big, absolutely useless things that they've done. Oh, we don't need the generators coming in from France. We give you a loan of them. No, no. But then again, you see the ESB in France or the electric supply in France and Ireland and England are all the same. We're all 220 volts, 220, 240.

39:03.27
Frank
They came over here as engineers, the whole flotilla of guys came over and I was in the same hotel as some of the French guys.

39:03.33
Keith
Yeah.

39:09.53
Frank
So, um, yeah, uh, To see the French coming over and help us get the electricity back up and running, brilliant. But our Irish government didn't see it coming. And that was it.

39:19.93
Frank
They just left it all. They just left it. So that's what we're up against over here.

39:23.09
Keith
I don't care where you are in the world. 14 days without power in the United States. that That's devastating. I don't care where you are.

39:28.74
Frank
It is hard.

39:29.05
Keith
That's, that's hard.

39:29.81
Frank
And it was winter.

39:30.29
Keith
That's really hard. Oh yeah.

39:31.95
Buddy
Oh, wow

39:32.24
Frank
And also in in in Ireland, you see a lot of houses, a lot of the older houses, have stoves and they have heat pumps circulating in them and the heat's the radiators. And so obviously the radiators wouldn't work because the pumps weren't working and people were afraid to light the stoves because the water would just boil and gurgle in the system and not go on anywhere. So they didn't light the stoves. Some of the other people were telling me they didn't light the stoves.

39:57.05
Frank
And I said, go inside and light the main chair. There was always a room in the house with an open fire. It was made law a few years ago. No more open fires in Ireland.

40:06.79
Buddy
Wow.

40:06.88
Frank
I don't make this stuff up. This is real.

40:08.29
Keith
No, they there's a few states here that tried that with us.

40:09.15
Frank
i did So...

40:09.75
Buddy
Yeah.

40:11.45
Keith
that they They started saying no more wood-burning stoves. there's There's a few states that have those laws in place.

40:15.84
Frank
Yep, yeah, wood burning, yeah, there you go.

40:16.43
Keith
Terrible.

40:17.44
Buddy
Yeah, only electric, only electric stoves, no gas stoves, no, you know, they started that crap.

40:17.98
Keith
Terrible.

40:23.40
Frank
Yeah, electric stove, sure, it's not much good if the electric goes, is

40:23.82
Buddy
you Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

40:28.41
Frank
So you see, I think all of our politicians went to the same school.

40:28.71
Buddy
yeah

40:31.17
Frank
Your politicians and our politicians all went to the same school, or councils, or city councils, or whatever, they all went in to the same, don't let them light a fire, you know, so.

40:41.75
Buddy
Yeah, they they have the same doctor and then do a lobotomy on them as soon as they are.

40:45.05
Frank
Absolutely. Why did he do this?

40:46.75
Buddy
Gosh.

40:47.91
Frank
It's behind me.

40:48.06
Buddy
Yeah.

40:48.59
Frank
i can't understand it.

40:50.82
Buddy
It's like you have to turn in your common sense in order to, you know, go out and lead a community or something.

40:51.28
Keith
Mm-hmm.

40:54.59
Frank
to To get a seat at the table, but your common sense goes out the window. Yeah.

40:57.74
Buddy
Yeah. That is crazy. It's almost like, you know,

41:01.16
Frank
ye

41:01.94
Buddy
you know It sounds like there as well as here, know, the area where I live and Keith lives and actually Jeremy too, we have natural disasters all the time. So we're constantly reminded that you might want to prep for, you know, a grid down situation. might be temporary. might be a few hours, might be a few weeks, might be a few months. We don't know.

41:24.61
Buddy
So we have that constant reminder. It doesn't seem like you have that as much there.

41:30.09
Frank
um I was in Spain there earlier this week and I got a call out of the blue from the main radio station in Ireland, RTE.

41:41.20
Frank
And the presenter asked me, did I know anything about the upcoming SMS early warning system for Ireland? um This is something I brought to their attention a couple of years ago. And as far as I was concerned, nothing was being done.

41:56.13
Frank
So I got a an email there two days ago saying, we now have a system, which I've never heard of, and it works in lieu of but the phone system. I'm not sure how it works, but as I said on the radio, I said they have to invent something. Irish government just can't go along and say England or Belgium or Germany can we borrow your system please and we'll all be on the same network no the irish government will just go and do something completely different and use complete different it's like using linux and c plus plus it just doesn't work you know so

42:31.50
Keith
So Frank, there's a lot of of, some of that stuff will, will some of that stuff change for you if you, if you're able to become part of Great Britain?

42:39.55
Frank
oh we're not coming be carried we'll never be part of great britain you're joking we want ireland back

42:43.05
Keith
Oh, I thought you said earlier that you were trying to, ah you were trying to become part of it.

42:46.24
Frank
No, no, that's Northern Ireland will be handed back to Ireland and it will all become one island. That's the Oh, no, 800 years we're fighting to get free of England.

42:51.91
Keith
Ah, see. I took it as you guys would all become one government country and then also be part of Great Britain. I took it, I took it as that.

43:02.00
Keith
I was about to say, because I don't know what, I thought that you really, really did not like that idea.

43:02.83
Frank
800 years.

43:08.00
Frank
No, no, no you well I know you got it wrong there. so Northern Ireland was kept by the UK and they should have given it back to us. on 1922, they should have said, okay, there you go, there's the whole of Ireland.

43:19.16
Frank
But a ah portion of the people living in Northern Ireland, or the Protestants, they wanted to stay under the UK government. So they were kind of caught. So the UK government at the time said, all right, we we'll keep it as a free state and an independent state.

43:34.45
Frank
So the Catholics up there and the Protestants up there were fighting each other. And that's why Northern Ireland was so violent in the last 50 odd years, especially the last 50 to 80 years.

43:43.46
Keith
With like the NRA and all that.

43:45.74
Frank
The IRA, yeah. And the Irish Republic Army and the UDA, the Ulster Defence Forces and the Free Hands of Ireland and other all the other groups.

43:47.14
Keith
ah IRA. Sorry. Yeah.

43:50.52
Keith
hmm.

43:55.65
Frank
fair They're all gone now. the but They're gone, per se. They're actually... People talk to each other. um People, Northern Ireland, Catholics and Protestants now go drinking with each other, which is, I thought I'd never hear that.

44:12.82
Frank
They go into the same pubs. But... it can kick off any time, you know. But at the moment, we're all kind united as well at the same time with the immigration that's coming in and they are getting it as bad as we are in Northern Ireland. So I've seen a protester the other day and he was holding up an English and an Irish flag sewn together.

44:35.09
Frank
And some guy went up and with a microphone asking him, what's this about? He said, it's the only time you've seen Northern Ireland and Ireland, all UDA, the Ulster Defence Force,

44:45.84
Frank
And the the Catholics join and hand but hand in hand to get one problem gone. So they want the problem of immigration gone as well.

44:52.83
Keith
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

44:53.75
Frank
Because it's destroying them.

44:54.34
Buddy
yeah That was a big question I had.

44:56.74
Frank
As I said, a small country of four and a half to five million people were tiny.

45:01.51
Keith
Mm-hmm.

45:02.68
Buddy
That was a huge question I had about, you know, is is what I see on social media true? Now, my ex-wife was, I guess, first-generation. Well, her grandparents came over from Northern Ireland, I guess, one set of them.

45:16.97
Buddy
So they were IRA Fitzpatrick.

45:18.52
Frank
What were their last names?

45:22.04
Frank
Oh, Fitzpatrick would have been an Irish name, yeah.

45:22.50
Buddy
She's... She was named after the Shannon river. So, uh, yes.

45:29.59
Frank
Shannon Fitzpatrick.

45:31.05
Buddy
And, and, and some coins. So, uh, yeah, the CEO, Y N E, I think is how to spell it.

45:33.91
Frank
Okay.

45:38.55
Buddy
Anyways. So she had a lot of Irish roots, some Norwegian and, I have Irish roots and and Welsh roots as well. So I, I kind of understand the history and, and, uh, she was explaining to me the, the IRA background and her family and stuff. And, you know Some could have been lore.

45:55.79
Frank
yeah the

45:55.95
Buddy
Some of it could have been, you know, real truth, but who knows?

46:00.18
Frank
I think you've got comments coming back now from some of the English listeners. You see, the Irish history is not taught in English schools, so the English generally don't understand what's going on, the Irish and English are always fighting each other.

46:13.90
Frank
They have never been taught the history of Ireland.

46:15.67
Keith
No, we have idea whatsoever.

46:15.97
Frank
like

46:17.50
Keith
no idea whatsoever

46:17.62
Buddy
Every time I eat potatoes, every time I eat a potato, I think about it.

46:18.23
Frank
Going back to the potato famine in the yeah, 1845 to 1847,

46:22.07
Buddy
Oh, yeah.

46:23.40
Frank
and forty five thirty forty seven

46:23.83
Buddy
Yeah.

46:25.47
Frank
and the potato famine, and food was grown in the country and exported to the UK when people were starving, loading the boats. So, I mean, 2 million people emigrated and died in this country. and We were a population of 8 million. We've never got to that population since.

46:39.70
Frank
As I said, we're only 4.5 to 5 million at the moment. We've never got back up to the 8 million, which is...

46:43.55
Buddy
Well, the Irish are are the irishris are steamed in our history too.

46:45.99
Frank
I can't figure out where they all lived.

46:48.69
Keith
Bye.

46:49.96
Frank
There's a shortage of houses at the moment. Yeah. Yeah.

46:53.44
Buddy
Yeah, with the the Civil War, you had Irish ah brothers fighting each other and and a dad fighting the sons. off you know the north One was on the north, one was on the south.

47:03.57
Buddy
yeah

47:03.59
Frank
right.

47:04.62
Buddy
and it was It was crazy, but our history is...

47:04.67
Frank
Yeah.

47:08.79
Buddy
Look at the history of the Texas Rangers. That's my latest venture of history. I'm kind of a history nerd. Man, almost every one of the Texas Rangers, a huge part of them, were Irish.

47:20.86
Buddy
It's just part of our history, and the way I look at it. love you guys.

47:24.78
Frank
Well, as I said, the diaspora for Ireland is, the diaspora is 70 million.

47:25.43
Buddy
no we love you guys

47:31.51
Frank
So 70 million claim Irish heritage from around the world.

47:37.01
Buddy
Yeah.

47:37.47
Frank
And which is good, which is a good thing. We have all, most of our tourists here are from North America, Canadian and or an America. And all coming over looking for their roots and where do they live and the families, you know, so which which is a good thing as well. It's great to see.

47:55.39
Buddy
Well, everybody, everybody in America is Irish on one day year.

47:55.49
Frank
It's to the Americans come over.

47:56.21
Keith
Yeah.

48:00.79
Buddy
So it doesn't matter where you're from.

48:01.03
Frank
Paddy's day.

48:02.43
Buddy
You're Irish show on St. Patty's Day. So, which is something I guess you guys don't.

48:05.79
Frank
No, not Pat, not, not, it's not Paddy.

48:08.32
Buddy
Yeah, you guys don't.

48:09.69
Frank
It's Patrick's day. We have to get that right. Patrick, P-A, Patty.

48:12.62
Buddy
Okay. All right. I stand corrected.

48:15.69
Frank
Yeah, I know, and like Patty is a bun, but Patrick or Paddy, P-A-D-D-Y-S. So yeah, that's that's a common mistake. Don't worry about it. We're used to it.

48:26.54
Buddy
yeah we, we, we, uh,

48:27.31
Frank
It's great day over here as well.

48:29.29
Buddy
we would go When I was married to the the Irish girl, we would go and and hit all the, you know, we we've been to Savannah, Georgia. was a huge St. Patrick's Day event. And then we lived in New York for a while and in Brooklyn, you know, and and there was a smaller parade.

48:48.66
Buddy
But, you know, in New York City, huge parade. I mean, everybody's Irish. you get You go to the parade, you drink, you're wearing green. it everybody's no There's nothing really going on that day.

48:59.21
Buddy
it kind of gets kind of rowdy, you know.

49:00.33
Frank
It's a great day.

49:01.90
Buddy
ah Later at night when people start getting drunk, yeah, so it's good.

49:02.47
Frank
Yeah, so it's always a brilliant day around the world.

49:06.78
Buddy
But,

49:07.61
Keith
It's one more thing where people have an excuse to party. It's basically what I look at it.

49:10.86
Buddy
ah you know. But it's a lot safer on St.

49:12.42
Keith
You know.

49:13.45
Frank
Yeah.

49:14.29
Buddy
Patrick's Day than it is when in New York City compared to, well, they have these different island days.

49:15.48
Keith
Can be. Yeah. Yeah.

49:22.44
Buddy
I don't know. They have every – everybody who – yeah.

49:23.35
Keith
I grew up in a small town. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead.

49:27.87
Buddy
No, no, no. I was just saying it's safe for community.

49:29.21
Keith
I was going I grew up in a small small town that's right off right outside of New York City, um just a few miles. And our town was predominantly Italian, which I am. And Italian, German, and Irish is basically our town our whole town. Everybody went to school that either had an Irish name, a German name, or Italian name, basically.

49:47.00
Keith
And saint you know St. Paddy's Day, St.

49:50.44
Buddy
Yeah.

49:50.95
Keith
Patrick's Day, was ah with that was it that was a party time for us, man. That was a time to party.

49:56.71
Buddy
yeah

49:57.43
Frank
Yeah, its it's always great around the world. Everything, they dye the rivers green and they they they light up the buildings green and and it's just everybody's Irish for a day.

50:02.36
Keith
Yes.

50:06.63
Frank
It's great.

50:07.69
Keith
Everybody's Irish for a day.

50:08.01
Frank
It's great fun, right.

50:08.57
Keith
Yep. But I've never worn green.

50:09.63
Frank
Yeah.

50:10.27
Keith
I don't like green on my body. I don't wear it. So it's not my color.

50:14.74
Frank
Yeah.

50:17.05
Frank
Yeah, that's good. Guys, my wife is looking at me now. She's wearing green and she's wondering, are we going out for something to eat?

50:25.28
Keith
ah the The answer to that would be no. You got survival food behind you. Go ahead and get some of that.

50:30.16
Frank
I have a lot of it in the press here, all the freeze dried stuff yet.

50:35.50
Keith
Uh, okay. So we want to get you out of here then, ah buddy, was there anything left over you want to talk with? I mean, honestly, this was just, a just you getting on, the listeners love to hear you talk.

50:46.10
Keith
Uh, it feels like we're, we get a little more connected with the other side of the the pond, so to speak. Um, when, when we, when we do this and it's just great, it's great fun.

50:50.82
Frank
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

50:54.57
Keith
Uh, but is there anything else, buddy, that you wanted to mention?

50:56.99
Buddy
No, I just want to invite him back, and and if he wants to bring on some of his crew, you know we can we can expand it out to a couple of his guys there.

51:06.47
Frank
Yeah, i was going to say that.

51:06.61
Buddy
I've got my eye on a few of them.

51:07.11
Frank
I can get a few the guys to come on. Get a few of guys to come on.

51:09.44
Buddy
Yeah.

51:10.00
Frank
We can have a good old chat here and see how we go.

51:13.31
Buddy
Yeah, Buddy.

51:13.34
Keith
Yeah, that'd be fun.

51:13.99
Frank
They'll all be up for that, yeah.

51:16.29
Buddy
I'm calling out Buddy McSpuddy or Spuddy McBuddy.

51:19.45
Frank
Oh, buddy.

51:21.50
Buddy
Yeah, and Roland, too.

51:21.62
Frank
Are you sure?

51:22.98
Buddy
Yeah.

51:23.34
Frank
you sure you want him?

51:24.77
Buddy
I don't know, man.

51:25.77
Frank
as

51:25.85
Buddy
i'd like to he's ah he we care We share that common name, so you know maybe it would be interesting.

51:30.62
Frank
I know. That's Dara. He hates media. do immediately But he yeah you have spoke to him before, Keith.

51:34.78
Buddy
Oh, well.

51:36.69
Frank
You did speak to him before.

51:37.04
Keith
Yes.

51:37.59
Frank
He's got a very a very heavy Dublin accent.

51:39.73
Keith
Very, very heavy.

51:40.70
Frank
ah

51:40.85
Keith
I couldn't understand them.

51:42.95
Frank
but And he's also got a very flamboyant accent. So he you wouldn't want to be sensitive. Leave your sensitivity at the door. You know, cursing them, blinding the whole way through.

51:55.52
Frank
Proper sailor.

My Prepper Brothers and Sisters…

…..It’s always a good time talking to Frank and it’s great experiencing Ireland through an Irishman’s eyes… especially when that Irishman is a Prepper Survivalist. We may have slightly different prepper styles, but our prepper mindsets are the same. Frank and his people… just like those of us here in the States… know, as we’ve always known… Help is not coming when times get tough… We are the Help.

Stay Prepped… Stay Happy….

Thanks for Listening… And, Goodnight…