"Read my mind GZ..good start.....IF we decide to build on our nice block in the Philippines"
I stayed at my inlaws in Mindinau (southern Philippines) the house was surrounded by barb wire, and my wifes father had a little 22 he took with him, but a lot of the armed robbery was on the highway where the robbers car jack the vehicles and often kill the passengers hard to prevent against a situation like that.
I guess at least in Oz and NZ car jacking occurrs rarely. As for military background my brother in law worked in the Aleutian Islands for the military as a radar operator and would not be able to fight his way out of a paper bag.
