Category: G. O. O. D.

Letter Re: Airport BOB

Hugh, I used to be an airline pilot, so I’ve spent plenty of time in airports and hotels. Let your readers know, one inexpensive way to pick up an extra cell phone charger is to ask the front desk at the hotel. Previous guests accidentally leave their chargers, and the hotel stores them in a box. Most guests never return for them (I have left a couple myself), and the hotel either has to give them away or dispose of them. Just ask if you can run through their “box-o-chargers”; every hotel has one. – R from Texas


Airport BOB, by T.H.

I agree that flying is a huge loss of rights, but I can’t afford not to fly.  I’m a college student getting ready to graduate, so I’m busy trying to find a job.  For an interview, I was flown to Dallas the same day they were setting records for snowfall.  As my flight had a connecting leg, home/Denver/Dallas, there was a distinct possibility of getting stuck in Denver and not being able to get to my interview hotel.  These flights were a great and so far safe/easy dry run.  All of this led me to really think about what would I …


Letter Re: Jumper Cable Gauge

Hugh, The Prep Your Ride recommends 4-Gauge jumper cables, but I say 2 Gauge is the minimum, and the lower the better. The power is Current Squared over Resistance, so your 800 Amps / 14 V at your end might end up under 6V, under 300A at the car you are trying to jump. It is going over 10-20 feet so even what seems a trivial resistance causes lots of power loss even if the cables don’t heat up. At least a half dozen times, with one car racing the engine and the other failing to turn over, I swapped …


Prep Your Ride- Part 3, by J.U.

Situation: “Normal,” Everyday, Routine, and Your Vehicular Operations What is “normal,” everyday, or routine? Most people in America assume that these words mean orderly peacefulness, a lack of chaos and violence, and a Merry Christmas to all. They think that way because for so long that was “normal” in this country. Anyone who watches the news at all knows that these are things that can no longer be taken for granted; those sentiments do not represent the “realities on the ground” in our current state of affairs. Post “event,” what will become the new “normal” will likely be far different …


Prep Your Ride- Part 2, by J.U.

3. A Generic Car-Emergency Kit: Most of these car emergency kits come with a basic tool set (that usually borders on worthless), but most have jumper cables, reflective triangles, a good bag to use to carry your own custom kit, and a cigarette lighter powered tire pump (which can prove useful if you’re not going to spring for the Powerpack or a unit of similar capability.) I bought my car-emergency kit for the bag and then built my own kit into that bag. The useless tools from the original kit make great presents for your brother-in-law. What To Put Into …


Prep Your Ride- Part 1, by J.U.

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“The best gun is the one you have with you when you actually need it.” We’ve almost all heard or read that old saying at some point in our lives. It is such a common saying because we all recognize the simple truth inherent in those words. It doesn’t matter how many “tacti-cool” guns you have at home in the safe if you’re miles or just blocks from where you live when you suddenly need to defend your own or someone else’s life. The gear you have with you (or close at hand) is the stuff you’re going to war …


Bugging Out With Young Children- Part 1, by MPB

The concept of bugging out is an integral part of preparing for an uncertain future. I won’t list them here, but there are dozens of reasons why it may be necessary to leave your home/homestead on very short notice. Page after digital page has been published online addressing this subject… some of it quite good and some of it good for nothing more than a laugh. But there is one aspect of bugging out that I think has been largely overlooked in the survival community. It is the special considerations needed when bugging out with young children. My focus in …


Trekking for Survival, by G.U.

I have to admit that I have watched one or more movies or movie shorts with an apocalyptic theme. Often the survivors (or survivor) are either walking or driving along a barren road, through a barren town, or through the country side. Sometimes, they will have some gear, maybe a backpack, a bottle of water or canteen, and maybe a gun or some kind of club. In some cases, they are well organized and have a compound of sorts, but eventually they have to take to the road for supplies or to find others. In most of the movies, there …


Bugout Apple Pie, by Sarah Latimer

Back in October, during part of the time we were away from SurvivalBlog, we were practicing our bug out scenario with a group of folks we might join in a TEOTWAWKI situation. We took our vehicle with camp stove, tent, and significant equipment, but we also took the minimal equipment that might be needed if we were to need to vacate the vehicles, too. We believe in practicing what we preach, so to speak and encourage you to do so too. There is no substitute for experience! Every time we do this, we come up with new ideas for improvement, …


Bugging-in vs. Bugging-out, by John M.

In most preparedness magazines and on most prepper websites, bug-out bags are an ever-popular topic for discussion. The idea of “bugging-out” in a SHTF scenario makes us dream of an idyllic cabin in the mountains where we grow or hunt our own food and live happily ever after, or it’s where we take on an enemy in a Red Dawn (United Artists, 1984) scenario, hopefully minus the attrition rate of the Wolverines. However, practical preparedness should be about looking at possible real-life scenarios, rather than things that rarely happen. In a real-life emergency, would it be better to “bug-out” or …


Letter Re: T.P. for the Bugout or Get Home Bag

I’m constantly looking online at what people put in their bug out and get home bags. So far as I’ve seen their always missing one important item– toilet paper! I keep at least two rolls in every bag. Yes, they take up room but weigh nothing. All of my vehicles also have a couple rolls. An immediate dietary change, going from norm to survival mode, is going to have an immediate effect on one’s system (aka: bowel movement). Yet, as I review preppers/survivalist bag setups, good old TP seems to be never mentioned. So, load a couple rolls in a …


Letter Re: Spam Can Storage

Hugh, Attached are two pictures of Spam cans, Russian Wolf manufacturer, I buried in 2009. You can see the difference of the one I repainted and covered in grease at the time of burial and the one left as bought. All ammo was fine inside of both, even though one rust spot did make a pin size hole. I re-canned them all. The ground was moist most of the time. Ammo was steel case. Thanks for the website. – W.W.


Five Things Women Need, by J.W.

My wife has a love-hate relationship with all this personal defense stuff.  She hates the idea of needing to be prepared and can’t stand that her day-to-day life is affected by potential or perceived and often unseen threats of violence, bUT she loves me.  So that means she agrees to all my training, prepping, security protocols, and most of my gear purchases.  Most? Okay, many of them. Many? Okay, fine. I just buy what I want. She gets mad for awhile and then eventually forgives me! The point of this article is to give you five things that we think …


The Fallacy of the Bugout Bag, by J.C.

I began my quest to become self-sufficient in a bug out situation sometime around the end of 2004 or the beginning of 2005.  My first purchase, if I recall was a gravity fed water filter and a small solar battery charger.  The old saying that one can live three weeks without food but only three days without water, in hindsight is what drove me to that purchase.  I don’t regret buying it to this day, but the chances that it will be with me in a true bug out situation, are slim to none. Before I go any further I …


Everyday Survival Living Overseas Among Muslims, by A.E.

I read articles and letters on this site, and other blogs and web sites, where people are prepping for survival. Oftentimes these articles and letters concentrate on hypothetical or theoretical post-TEOTWAWKI situations. My family’s and my survival experience is not theoretical. We live in an everyday survival context. I hope this article can help to enlighten some of you on prepping for everyday living and to expose some of the challenges faced across America and the world by people wishing to prep in less than ideal circumstances. I am an American, an Army veteran of foreign wars, believer in the …