Category: Clothing

Letter Re: Family Preparedness: How to Protect Your Infant Child

Good morning Mr. Rawles, In regards to the “Family Preparedness: How to Protect Your Infant Child“, I just wanted to comment that wool diaper covers need to be washed less often, do not smell at all and two is all you need. Plus, they are just more comfortable for infants than plastic, no matter how cute or functional. They also breathe better and keep baby warm even when wet, which is important if you are changing less often than usual. Mother-Ease diapers are handy – no folding, no velcro, and they are one-size fits all. You can also buy doublers …


Family Preparedness: How to Protect Your Infant Child, by Jen J.

When my son was around three months old, I needed to run out and pick up milk and a small tool my husband had on order at a local hardware store.  I anticipated the total outing to be around an hour, and thought I had packed appropriately.  We successfully made it to the farm where I picked up our milk for the week, and placed the glass jugs on the floor of the car.  During the drive to the hardware store, my son woke up and started fussing which rapidly escalated to a full-blown tantrum.  When exiting the freeway, the …


Letter Re: What I Learned on My Summer Vacation

Dear Sir: I believe I represent the younger group of your readers. I’m 28 years old, third year medical student. I have no wife, kids or major responsibilities beyond school at the moment. I have a Facebook account which I mainly use for socializing with classmates of friends back home. Also as a relatively young adult/student I enjoy the long summer vacations many of my contemporaries do not due to work or other obligations. However unlike many of my classmates and friends I was born and raised up to the age of 14 in the former Soviet Union and have …


Advice on a One Man Git Kit, by J.S.I.

Growing up in a family which camped a lot, the family slang for what is now usually called the B.O.B. was “the Git Kit.”  As I am now an ossified old coot, I reserve the right to keep calling it just that. Something I have noticed in most written descriptions of BOBs/Git Kits is a generality of speech bordering on the uselessly vague.  No weights, no measures, no manufacturers, no clues!  It’s enough to give  Horace Kephart’s ghost a ripping case of hives. With that in mind, I dug into my gear with the goal of providing a more detailed, …


Survival Skills and Gear, Part 1: Bug Out Kits and Bugging Out, by E.F.

Introduction If the normal daily routine of our lives is suddenly and violently interrupted by events large and dangerous (such as major riots, natural disasters, or a a terrorist nuke) how prepared are we to “bug out?” If it’s time to leave, and leave immediately, are we ready? What do we take? Important papers? Guns and ammo? Food and water? Clothes? Camping gear? Baby diapers and sani-wipes? Family photos? Medicine? And where do we go? A friend’s farm? A wilderness cabin or campground?A small town? And what direction? Upwind? Downstream? How do we travel? By foot, or car, or bicycle? …


Home Sweet Home on the Range–Bedroll Basics, by D.K.

When assembling your post-apocalyptic, biker zombie, total collapse of civilization kit (or just getting started in camping) one item you should consider as part of your kit is a classic bedroll. History A classic bedroll, not the stuff of Hollywood or television, but the kit of real working men is both comfortable and multipurpose.  They are not lightweight, small, or easy to backpack. Please allow me to share the road I took to get to my current bedroll.  I will try to describe the attributes of a good bedroll, suggest the minimum bits for a good durable bedroll, and provide …


Letter Re: Day to Day Survival–From the Perspective of a Homeless Man

It may not be TEOTWAWKI, but the end of “your world” may be closer than you think. Mine came eight years ago with the end of my wife’s battle with cancer. With the down turn of the economy and a mountain of medical bills, we had already leveraged every penny that we could. We took out a second mortgage, maxed our credit cards, sold the boat, the four wheeler, and travel trailer. Since then I’ve sold my pickup, her car, the tools of my trade (I’d been a carpenter), and anything else that could bring in a dollar. I’ve been …


Letter Re: An Arizona Traffic Jam Provides an Object Lesson

Hi Jim, On Wednesday (July 21st) I drove 90 miles down I-17 to Phoenix to have a enclosed shell “cap” installed on the bed of my pickup. “No big deal; the cap arrived early, and I should be to town and back by mid-afternoon….” …so I thought! The trip to town was easy, and the installation went smoothly. On the ride home I stopped for a gigantic Coca-Cola (one of my little habits). As I left the north side of the Phoenix metro area, an electronic highway sign said “Car fire – ten miles, I-17 North closed.” Okay … since …


Some G.O.O.D. Thoughts, by J.I.R.

Before I begin discussing bugging out or Getting Out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.), I want to be clear on one point: Any travel during a disaster is dangerous. After TEOTWAWKI, it could be deadly dangerous. If you can avoid it, you should. Mr. Rawles is a strong advocate of living year round at a well-stocked and well-chosen remote retreat location, and I couldn’t agree with him more. This is a great compromise that will get you through a whole variety of problems. Unfortunately, not all of us are so well postured and are forced to make due with a lesser solution. …


I Thought that I Had a Clue, by K. in Florida

So since the balance of power change in the Federal Government I thought I was sitting pretty good for my ability to survive a possible TEOTWAWKI . Man was I so wrong. I have learned in the past three months that I am so far behind that if The Collapse happens in 20 years I will still not be as prepared as I thought I was. Yes I have some basics and am a bit off of the beaten path, but there is still so much more that I am not ready for. Let me explain. I have lived in …


Caring for Babies in TEOTWAWKI by A. & C. K.

You’ve seen it in the movies: the very pregnant woman gets stuck in traffic, or an elevator, or wherever on the way to the delivery room. (Although, a very pregnant woman was recently rescued by Sheriff’s helicopter on I-40 during the recent floods here in Middle Tennessee!) On the screen she usually makes it to the hospital with some stunt driving from a frantic father or some Samaritan will deliver the baby in the back seat. The whole affair ends with smiling patients and doctors happily mewling over a freshly swaddled newborn. Then everyone heads home in their nice family …


Living Like TEOTWAWKI Could Come at Any Time, by Mrs. C.J.

If you even so much as glance at the news or if you’re like me and check out The Drudge Report every morning, you can’t help but realize the world is becoming more and more uncertain. It seems that anything could happen at the drop of a hat and without little, if any, fore-warning. Volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and floods seem to be changing or taking the lives of unsuspecting people almost daily. The threat of nuclear warfare is always just beyond the horizon. If we ever experience an EMP, we could be without power and [utility-supplied] water for months. Most …


Constructing a Permanent Underground Cache, by JIR

If you are concerned about hiding a large amount of goods from looters, neighbors or other busybodies, remember that no indoor hiding place is likely to survive a determined search. If your home is the only place you have food and provisions, you may be forced to fight against very long odds to try to keep it. If you are forced to abandon your home in the middle of the night or burned out by looters, you might appreciate having a store of food and other gear in a safe, undetectable location where you can recover it. You might want …


Letter Re: The Art of Humping a Pack

Sir, In the articles concerning Humping a Pack, I observed comments about not using wool for foot wear. I would strongly disagree for a few reasons. My reasoning is based on over 16 years of active and reserve military experience in the Infantry, and from my experiences as a teenager helping Lane County (Eugene, Oregon) in the mid 1970s. Wool is a superior resource. 1) Unlike synthetics, Wool socks can be repaired. 2) Wet Wool unlike synthetics still maintains up to 80% of its heat retention value. Granted, wet wool weighs a lot. 3) Wool does not burn and melt …


Letter Re: Start with Good Boots and Warm Socks

Dear Mr. Rawles: I recently had an experience that allowed to me confirm a basic lesson: Start with good boots and warm socks. The weather forecast for my north eastern city was for 2-4” of snow. Anyone with half a lick of common sense knows that this means anything from blue skies to a foot of ice. By the time I left work at the end of the day, the snow was falling very heavily, but the warm-ish temps quickly converted it into wet muck. My usual commute involves the combination of a subway ride and then a bus, but …