When I finally grew up and opened my eyes to the chaos occurring across our country and the entire world, I knew I needed to prepare for the tough times ahead. As I started my research, mainly online, I came across some startling observations. When I would type in “survival techniques” or “tips for survival” and such, the same results would appear. Article after article, blog after blog, site after site, and YouTube video after YouTube video of the same things showed up: Guns. What the best gun for survival, what guns do you need when TSHTF, and on and on. Don’t get me wrong, I am an avid hunter and gun nut. I like my toys just as much as the next guy (or gal–I know there are some gun-ettes out there). But even just starting prepping, I knew there was more to surviving any sort of disaster than just having guns around. So with some search engine fine tuning and a little more elbow grease, I finally came across this web site. What a relief that was for me. A place I could go to get real information and how I should prepare and the things I might need. After some time went by, I did more research and starting really getting into the mindset of how to go about prepping. Then at work one day the light bulb was switched on and I “developed” an easy solution that might ease people into prepping and survival.
The first ingredient in this P.I.E. is twofold. In my humble opinion it’s where the majority of people should start when realizing they need to do something for the future. The "P" is to PREPARE and PREDICT. Just skimming past the news and turning the radio dial led me to some programs that didn’t lend themselves to the typical left wing media slant. I felt like I was hearing the “real” news for the first time, not just what other people wanted me to believe. This is when I began the prepare/predict portion of the P.I.E. I felt like with the information I was given I needed to evaluate the current signs in order to assess what I believe is the future threat. I asked myself many questions. Do these signs point to a nuclear threat, an EMP, economic collapse and so on? What will I need to do to be ready for this event? Where can I find the information I need to get ready? A sudden sense of overwhelming can come over you when trying to sort everything out. You need to use the information and your intelligence to make this decision, but also don’t forget to trust your gut instinct and most importantly pray. Trust in The Lord to guide you through the decisions and the difficult times ahead. You should learn quickly that preparation doesn’t mean going out and clearing the store shelves of guns and ammo. (My wife let me know early on that buying things all the time wasn’t going to happen.) All this is going to do is get you into hot water with your companion and probably get you on some sort of government watch list. This is especially true if all you do is buy boatloads of guns and ammo. Acquiring things, useful things, should be a direct result of preparation with lots of research done searching for the proper equipment and getting the right deals. Instead of spending, start out by planning alternate routes from home and work to a safe retreat. This is also good because it lets your spouse know that you are serious about your family’s safety rather than just being a kooky gun nut. Also learning new and useful skills and mastering those skills is a cheap way to prepare and can be a good time spent with the family. Are you already a skilled tradesman of some sort, maybe a carpenter or electrician or a plumber? That’s good but my guess is that if you are prepping with others they have the same skill sets. It won’t do anybody any good to have a lot of people that have the same skill much good. Learn how to grow food, shoot, trap, first aid, radio operation and such, and then cross train everybody in your outfit to be proficient in other areas in case of injury or death. This is also a good way to find out who is really great at certain things and who has weaknesses. Also, it’s fun and important to learn tactical skills like stealth and OPSEC and others, but the fact is when your three year old is crying because of hunger, those things just aren’t as important. I realized that acquiring these skills is a good way to accumulate “things”, which feeds your prepper “fix”, but not spend much money if any at all. This information is also helpful to you even if there never is any sort of disaster unlike having a safe full of guns. Whenever I get the hankering for a new toy I remind myself, “it’s not the gun itself that will save me, it’s the time I spent training how to use it that will.”
Now that you have planned and prepared yourself for whatever you think is coming, what do you do? Be patient, hone your skills and learn them backwards and forwards. Be in tune with what is going on in the world and be ready to IDENTIFY the event. Watch and listen to the news (and I don’t mean the left-winged alphabet-named cable networks) but rather a reliable news source. I think most of us can agree the entire world is in disarray and things are happening each day to bring us closer to the coming chaos. Notice these signs and document them. Then you will be able to see you frequent they are becoming and stay ahead of the curve. Keep your eyed on the stock market and precious metals market. Get daily updates on the food commodities. Be sure to understand what is happening globally as well as regionally and locally. Anything that might indicate a even a small shift toward a disaster will give you an advantage over the masses. Once the chaos starts it will probably be too late for you to G.O.O.D. Don’t forget to trust your gut. If you feel like this is the time then MOVE IT. What is the worst that can happen if you’re wrong? You have to load and unload your vehicle. You got a good practice run in? At least if you are wrong, you have the opportunity to fix any mistakes you may have made during the exercise.
Well, now you have done all you can do.
You are prepped and you have identified all the signs of the disaster, what’s next. It’s time to EXECUTE. This is the time when all your hard work and alleged paranoia pays off so to speak. If you have prepared properly you have gear ready to go, your route mapped out, and you are hitting the road. I have never experienced this phase but I predict this is where a lot of people might panic. It is pretty easy to execute your plans when there is no imminent threat to you and your family. It is a different ball game trying to execute when your lives might be on the line. This is why the prepping stage is so vital. It should be like second nature to pack your gear and hit the road. This is also why it is so important to identify the signs. If you identified them correctly, then you will be hitting the road before TSHTF. We all know that plans usually don’t go off as expected. Even though this is the case it is of importance to follow those plans the best to your ability. They are the plans that have been worked over with a fine tooth comb and it probably won’t be the best of times to go out and “wing it.”
This might not be the most in-depth survival guide and it definitely isn’t the end-all-be-all of prepping, but I believe that it is a good outline for people just starting out to begin prepping. I found that it is a good way to encourage your spouse and loved ones to see your point of view without being labeled the family whacko. Don’t get discouraged when starting your research into prepping and survival. There is a lot of misinformation and just plain stupid information on how to start and what you might need. To be fooled by videos of guys in tight tee shirts with a basement full of guns telling you how to survive and prepare. Research, study and arm yourself with information before you ever spend a dime. If you have stumbled across this site, you are already off to a good start with a community of like-minded people and a treasure trove of information.