Jim,
I am a nurse anesthetist currently working in Georgia. In the short time of about a year, I have been involved with preparing for a possibly very ugly future. I wanted to state that your web site has been extremely helpful. Your contributors on the blog site have given me many directions in which to prepare and think, as well as yourself.
Last summer, I was in a Borders bookstore with my wife and was passing a table in which your novel; “Patriots” was presented. It caught my eye, and I bought it. It was a real page turner for me (especially for the events of the day). “Patriots” made me acutely aware of how poorly my family was prepared. Although, my wife is not necessarily of like mind, she has felt that the need to be somewhat prepared for a minor catastrophe. Thus in her mind it would be worth the time and money that I would be putting into preparing our family.
Like others that visit your web site to glean information—some families are in the position of where only one member has to be the one to do the “heavy lifting” of sorts. I welcome this opportunity because I am the one that has the desire, means, and opportunity to get the materials and training done. Since reading your book, watching the news (which is maddening and depressing at best), and reading other recommended books from your site—I have been able to acquire the basics and built from there. Those being; shelter in a lightly populated area; water from a hand pump/Berkey filtration systems; food for approximately a year; weapons/ammunition; medical/dental supplies; wood burning stove with wood; rosaries/Bibles; and tools. Building on this, I have signed up for a medical survival course, wilderness survival course, and Front Sight weapons course. The Lord has allowed me to do much in a very short period of time that others may not be able to have the means to do—but as my mother reminds me—-“When much is given, much is expected”. So while I do want to make my family safe—I am under no illusion that the Lord may bring many my family’s way for help/assistance. But until that time, the prepping continues.
I would also like to thank a contributor that advised walking for a means of exercise to simulate real world situations in which one may have to travel a distance without the means of modern transportation. This suggestion spurned me to get out on the local high school track and walk. Fortunately, it is open 24 hours a day. Over the last couple months, I have worked up to walking 5 miles 3-4/week with an A.L.I.C.E. pack and boots. I do this at 4-5 am or 10-11 pm. I have read and trained up on doing some tying of ropes, which I practice for a short time on the bleacher rails (which would simulate helping others down a mountain/steep grade or even setting up a temporary shelter. Just a couple of suggestions with this type of training if you do it—start off with tennis shoes and work up to boots, start off with nothing on your back- then progress as tolerated with a light pack (I work out at the gym and felt I could do this in this manner—don’t hurt yourself, please). I also have the blisters on my feet to prove this isn’t something that comes easily. More suggestions: preemptively take some Tylenol or Ibuprofen to reduce the anticipated swelling (I also take regularly Tumeric seed, Emergen-C Joint Health
Thanks again to your many contributors and you. God Bless, – Michael in Georgia