Category: G. O. O. D.

Survival To Go, by JMD – Part 1

Many of us have invested in learning the skills, stockpiling the tools and supplies, and hiding the caches necessary to survive in the event of a major disaster that impacts our local area, but the reality is that these types of events happen around the world on a daily basis. While skills are useful anywhere and anytime, the best stores and caches are useless if you’re hundreds or even thousands of miles away when a disaster strikes in your current location! While developing my survival strategy, I realized that I had a major gap– I travel a lot on business, …


Bugging Out With Children, by T.L.

The day that we found out I was pregnant was a happy and joy-filled day. Never once did it cross our minds that a few years down the road, we would fear for the lives of our children and their futures. The world in which we live in is a scary place. The economy is always in peril, the government continues to become more unstable, and it seems we are always one step away from some catastrophic worldly event or the threat of scientific experiments gone wrong, causing a man-made apocalypse. Whatever the case may be, we live in constant …


Letter Re: Pre- and Post-SHTF Vehicle Operations and Preparation

Hugh, Thanks to C.C.K. for the great article on convoys. It’s great to hear from the voice of experience. One item I have not seen addressed in the various SurvivalBlog submittals on post-SHTF convoys is ideas on responding to vehicles who might want to join your convoy. I suspect that a well-equipped and organized convoy is going to be fairly easy to pick out for many people. Similar to signing up to join the old wagon trains across the west, because there is an experienced guide (you hope) and safety in numbers, in many scenarios there are likely going to …


Pre- and Post-SHTF Vehicle Operations and Preparation, By C.C.K.

Ask yourself this question: How will you get to your retreat when the SHTF? Do you imagine it will be easy? Even if you live at your retreat, there is still a good chance you work away from home. What about you city dwellers planning to jet out hundreds of miles away to a safer place? While getting there now may not be to difficult, this can all change in a heartbeat. Are you even prepared to deal with a simple breakdown, getting stranded, or a roadside medical emergency? Chances are that your pre- and post-SHTF travel plans aren’t as …


Preparedness and Practice… RV Style, by A.S.

A few years ago two different activities came into the life of my family. First, we started prepping. We began the process of preparing ourselves, physically and mentally, for whatever potential disaster we might face in the future. Second, we purchased a camper and started taking regular weekend camping trips during the summer. Sometimes these trips were three-day weekends, and a couple times per year these trips are extended to four-day weekends or an entire week vacation. The topic of “practicing your plan” and being familiar with your supplies and equipment has been covered many times. It occurred to me …


A Get Home Plan, by H.H.

First, I want to thank all the contributors for all the time and effort that they have put into this blog. I won’t say I have read all of them, but I have considered a significant portion of them not only in my own lifestyle but in my preparation. My own situation is that I work in a large city in the south and the family is miles away. I have been prepping for a few years now and would just like to offer a few observations. I have done all the normal things at the retreat, including food to …


Thoughts on Planning Your Bug Out, by R.G.

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Making a decision to bug out is always an individual choice, based on your own situation and local conditions. My wife and I live in the Virginia Beach area. While Virginia Beach may not come to mind when one makes a list of major metropolitan areas, the Hampton Roads area (Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Newport News) has a population of more than 1.7 million people. The Elizabeth River, Nansemond River, James River, and several smaller rivers all empty into the Chesapeake Bay at Hampton Roads, necessitating highway bridges and tunnels with resulting traffic delays throughout the area. The population density …


Guest Article: The Timetable For Bugging Out, by H.B.

We all get nervous when faced with the prospects of possibly bugging out because of a disaster or threat of some kind occurring. Do we leave or stay?  This has been discussed many times over, and it is based on the type of threat, your particular location, your preparedness, and what all. This article will simply touch on the possible timetable, as it relates to your chances of effectively escaping to your destination without getting caught in the middle of a traffic jam and all of those corresponding issues.  Let’s review your handling of being actually caught in the jam. …


The Little Things, by Claymor – Part II

Accepting the probability that eventually Patriots are going to be reduced to the bare necessities of survival, I am reviewing seven “little things” to be considered by all preppers in a bug out situation. Part one looked at the first four items. Part two will finish off the seven with the last three items. Fire Starter. Sooner than later in any survival situation you’re going to need fire. Beyond the obvious, like keeping you warm and cooking food, a fire is comforting in a hostile bug out situation. A little comfort will likely go a long way. The warm glow …


The Little Things, by Claymor – Part I

We’ve all seen the YouTube videos, watched the TV shows, and read the latest articles on prepping and survival that show stocked food pantries, high tech gear, arsenals of guns, and stockpiles of ammo, which are all necessary for an ultimate survival situation where you’re held up in the comfort of your home. However, considering the fact that ultimate survival in a real-life scenario will likely be short lived, these means will be abandoned, reducing one to the mere little things they can carry on their person and in a backpack. It doesn’t take much consideration to conclude that bugging …


Bug Out Bag Strategy, by S.G. – Part 2

Vehicle Bug Out Bag You’ve just headed out the door after being told to evacuate and driven a short ways. All of a sudden, whamo!, you’ve blown a water hose, and you lose all your engine coolant. It’s late in the day on Highway 88 near Silver Lake, California, or some other similarly remote area, and you realize that the normally light traffic is nonexistent today. You’re probably stuck overnight. To make matters worse, it’s very cold, with rain that’s starting to look more and more like snow. Are you and your vehicle prepared? If you’re like a lot of …


Bug Out Bag Strategy, by S.G. – Part 1

It’s the middle of the night, and you get a call from the local authorities that a mandatory evacuation has just been ordered because of a major fire. You’ve been given 10 minutes to evacuate because no one expected the fire to turn your way so soon, and you have no time to do anything but grab what you can and jump in your vehicle to head out for parts unknown. What’s a BOB? Let’s start with a simple definition of what a bug out bag is. It’s some form of bag or backpack you’ve prepared that you can grab …


How To Choose A Bug Out Bike, by B.B.

Many of us plan to use bicycles for transportation during TEOTWAWKI, or we’ll use them as bug out vehicles in the event that roadways are snarled. The need to take the bike off-road will necessitate that you have mountain bikes. Not only are mountain bikes best suited for off-road travel, they have the ability to pull a light trailer. In addition, the rider sits a little more upright on a mountain bike than on a road bike. This gives the rider a wider range of vision to look for threats, as well as giving the ability to wear a backpack …


Tracking the Plume: Dodging the Toxic Cloud When Deciding to Bug-in or Bug-out, by B.H.

Someone just told you about the Boston Marathon bombing. You are combing the interwebs looking for more details and view several videos of explosions and subsequent swirling brownish smoke. What was in that smoke? Did anyone die from just that smoke? Was it cancerous? Was it filled with botulism? Mustard gas? Alpha particles from a dirty bomb? While people either ran away from the explosion, sought cover, or were moving toward the explosion to help victims, most people probably did not worry about what was in that smoke. I, on the other hand, was primarily concerned about the smoke wondering …


Letter: Staying Put in a Chicago Apartment?

Hello, I love the website but having difficulties. I live in an urban environment, in a good town but near a rough section of Chicago…which causes crime to seep into our borders (theft a huge problem). I live in an apartment, with limited storage space….limited space in general. So much seems geared to those who live in a bit more suburban or rural communities. I want to be prepared but overwhelmed is an understatement, as well as feeling stymied by many factors outside of my control, i.e. space and lack of land. I have looked through the archives, perhaps not …