Category: G. O. O. D.

Letter Re: Lessons Learned From a Recent California Power Outage

I have been a prepper most of my life.  Growing up in a foreign country is a relatively rural area everybody was a prepper by definition.   Limited services, almost no government, many subsistence farmers. I also spent a fair amount of time in the Navy doing bad things to bad people. Enough said.   When we lost power out here in San Diego County I was almost happy!  Finally I would get to put into use some the plans that many of us have been making. Maybe that sounds bad but after lugging my bug out/bug home bag for years I …


Three Letters Re: Lessons Learned From a Recent California Power Outage

Dear Jim Yesterday at about 4:00 p.m. there was a massive power outage in the southwest. All of San Diego County And other parts of Southern California were without power for almost 12 hours some still are. I learned a few very good lessons from this experience. I do consider myself a prepper but am limited to how much I can store because I live in an apartment. I had concentrated on food, water, and defense measures for the long run, but had completely ignored some more immediate short term supplies. First and foremost, I overlooked cash. I have been …


An Early Baby Boomer’s Bug Out Bag, by Jen L.

I’d like to address the requirements for a Early Baby Boomer’s bug out bag.  The word “emergency” has a completely different meaning for those of us who are over 60 and can’t move fast, can’t climb stairs and can’t get up once we get down on the ground!  Needless to say, we can’t pack 100 pounds on our back, nor can we lift 50 pounds from the rear of the car.  But survival is still important.   My three sisters and I were born during the Korean War era, were raised on what I call a post-WWII and Great Depression farm …


Lessons From Wartime Bosnia-Herzegovina, by Benjamin

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I have been following the survivalist trend on YouTube for about a year now and so far you provide the best and most realistic advice of anyone. Many of the people who offer advice, in my opinion are not qualified based on what they are saying. And I can say this based on my experience. Half of the things I hear other people say cannot be applied to the situation I was in or most situations, but you seem to understand. I was born and raised in Bosnia-Herzegovina. I saw that a fellow Bosnian gave you his story, but he …


One Big BOV, by KC-4-JC

In my prepping, one of the hardest things for me currently was the bug out vehicle (BOV), so as with any prepping activity I made my list. I first made my list for a “normal” BOV; 4×4, diesel, four doors, trailer hitch front and back, winch front and back, spare rims and tires, and enough storage for our stuff. Since we currently do not have a retreat location, we would have to be able to carry a large amount of supplies and equipment to the location we will be hunkering down at. Continuing the thought process I decided we would …


Letter Re: Prepping for Missionaries and Other Long-Term Foreign Workers

Jim: The NGO Security Page Safety & Security Resources for Humanitarian Organizations page is a great site with lots of free NGO Security Manuals in PDF. These may be relevant to both Aid Workers overseas and civilians without military experience. The International Committee for the Red Cross Manual Staying alive: safety and security guidelines for humanitarian volunteers in conflict areas is particularly good at explaining the effects of military weapons to laymen who’s ideas about their effects come from watching too many B movies. In my experience what gets foreigners in trouble overseas is cultural arrogance and doing reckless things …


The Other BOB: The Bugout Bank, by Ron A.

There’s another Bug Out Bag (BOB) in the prepper family that you need to meet. It’s the Bug Out Bank, something that should be an addition to everyone’s G.O.O.D. plan. With the chaos going on in the financial world, and the uncertainty that goes hand-in-hand, the importance of this element of your plan can’t be overlooked. We all realize there’s a bad moon rising. Let’s take a step back and look at the big picture. It’s worse that it appears from up close. The official, underreported unemployment rate is hovering around 10%. The debt ceiling “fix” was done with masking …


Letter Re: Prepping for Missionaries and Other Long-Term Foreign Workers

Hello,  I have been a regular reader of SurvivalBlog and am very grateful for your efforts in maintaining such a great resource for those of use concerned with survival-related topics.  I would like to make mention of a recently-published book that is one of the best I have read in this field: Everything That Follows Is Based on Recent, Real-Life Experience That Has Been Proven to Work: Professional Survival Solutions, by James Shepherd-Barron  Here is a description: “James Shepherd-Barron has worked in more than 26 countries, including the conflict zones of Iraq, Kosovo, Croatia, Central Bosnia, Burundi, and Rwanda. Once …


Prepping for Missionaries and Other Long-Term Foreign Worker, by Mission Mobilizer

The position of the Missionary or Long-term foreign worker is a bit unique, and certainly cannot be assumed to be similar either to a non-American prepper in his native home or to short-term traveler overseas. Those who travel overseas in the short term, need only to make sure that they are back home before any kind of crash and they can implement all of their plans as normally as they would have had they been at work when things began to go wrong. Those overseas for longer periods of time, stretching into years rather than days or weeks must plan …


Letter Re: A Folding Kayak as a Survival Vehicle

Jim, I have used a kayak for a couple years now and find it indispensable. Three years ago my grandfather gave me the very nice gift of a brand new Old Time kayak (a dark green fishing model). He want for me to have something to remember him by as he was on his way out of this life. But I digress. This kayak has been on numerous fishing trips and river excisions, including a week long float on the Current River. It has never failed me and I have been extremely impressed with it. My dad grew up spending …


Two Letters Re: A Folding Kayak as a Survival Vehicle

Jim, Today’s submission on Kayaks as survival vehicles is good but the statement, “Often in a hard shell boat the majority of your effort is spent simply paddling, trying to keep the boat upright!” isn’t really accurate. It might be true of some sporty river kayaks but certainly not of modern hard-shell sea kayaks. A number of years ago I spent three days kayaking among several islands in Puget sound. It was a guided trip and except for one time on a placid river, it was my only time in a kayak.  I found our tandem kayaks remarkably stable in …


A Folding Kayak as a Survival Vehicle, by Jann B.

The vehicle I am about to describe does not often come immediately to mind when one thinks of a survival vehicle to be of use during troubled times but bear with me.  The vehicle I have in mind requires no fuel, and no mechanical upkeep. Additionally it offers significant stealth mode and is totally silent. If one is in or near an urban setting such as the San Francisco Bay area or Manhattan or Seattle then this survival vehicle will grant one the power to disappear from the crazed urban crowd scene almost immediately.  No, I’m not talking about some …


Letter Re: Lessons from the Road

JWR, I’d like to add just a couple points to the excellent “Lessons from the Road” article by R.W.. One key item that I feel is important is to involve everyone in the planning of your escape route. If you are the primary driver, and end up incapacitated, it is essential one of your other fellow travelers be able to take up the mantle and get the BOV to the BOL. In families, route planning can be a great way to get everyone involved and on-board with the preparations process. It also allows everyone to contribute and point out things …


Lessons from the Road, by R.W.

Statistically, driving is one of the most dangerous activities in most of our lives.  Limited supplies, new or dramatically changed surroundings, minimal physical protection and exposure to observation make moving by vehicle the most dangerous phase of many survival plans.     There has been a great deal of focus on the best ‘Bug out Vehicle’ and proper vehicle gear to use in a survival situation.  Often overlooked are techniques and skills, many of which are completely different than the driving skills we use in our daily driving, necessary for a vehicular bug-out.  Whether you are driving a 5 ton military …


Letter Re: AR-7 Type .22 LR Survival Rifles

The debate on firearms manufacturers and caliber are endless, so each person must in the final assessment decide what works for them and theirs, having over 50 years of shooting, gunsmithing experience, and having taught firearms safety, I would like to offer a insight on a wonderful .22 rimfire rifle that is available from Henry Arms Company.  It is called the U.S. Survival Rifle .22. (A very appropriate name, for current conditions in this world).   I first owned a variant of this little rifle back in the 1980s when it was called the AR-7 and enjoyed the unique shooting and storage …