Category: Survival Mindset

Letter Re: Preparing With Your Spouse

Dear Editor: I know helping a spouse to become preparedness minded is a common topic in your blog, but I thought I would give my two-cents worth. My wife and I are devout Christians with four children. We both believe that the scriptures are clear in defining roles for husbands and wives. We believe that husbands’ primary responsibilities are to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Wives’ primary responsibilities are the nurture of their children. Husbands and wives should work as equal partners in these roles. Occasionally certain situations require some adaptation of these roles. We …


Facing Fears to G.O.O.D., by Prairie Chick

This article is my personal story of how some early childhood lessons helped me G.O.O.D. from Southern California in June of 1994.   I have added a few links using today’s technology, but advise you to plan on keeping things as low-tech as possible.   I traveled half way across the country in 1994.  I was a single woman with a ten year old child, no cell phone or gun.  W.T.S.H.T.F. you may not be able to get as far as we did as fast was we did, but by learning to face your fears, and being prepared, you will eventually get …


Two Letters Re: TEOTWAWKI: Getting Folks to Recognize the Possibility

Sir, As a recent “convert” to Rawlesian Survivalist Philosophy, I very much identify with the author of “TEOTWAWKI: Getting Folks to Recognize the Possibility.” I did, however, take issue with his conclusion regarding his treatment of family members in a Schumeresque world. Having recently presented my “list of lists” to my wife, she made the comment to me that my quantities were off. As a future pastor (I am currently serving in the Navy and preparing to enter seminary) she made the point that if the SHTF we would undoubtedly be taking in strays from my congregation who did not …


TEOTWAWKI: Getting Folks to Recognize the Possibility, by M.G.K.

This article is about something that many preppers think about, convincing friends and loved ones that TEOTWAWKI could happen at any moment.  For most of us this idea hadn’t occurred to us until we stumbled across it or a good friend hinted at it.  The important thing to remember is that we had to come to believe it ourselves for it to make an impact on our lives.  I think the greatest fight all of us have is getting people that we love to actually consider that TEOTWAWKI can happen and that it is a reality that looms in front …


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: A Police Officer’s Comments on High Stress Reactions

Dear Mr. Rawles, I have enjoyed your books and SurvivalBlog for several years now. They have helped me prepare myself and my family for dark times we hope are not coming but look more and more certain each day. I wanted to attempt to share some of my knowledge with this community in hopes it can help prepare others. After 9-11 I made a career change and became a police officer in Northern California. I have been blessed to receive a lot of specialized training since become an officer. Some of this training has included: firearms instructor, defensive tactics instructor, …


Situational Awareness, Instincts and “Wargaming”, by H. Hunter

The recent SurvivalBlog article on a home invasion robbery reminded me of a situation I experienced a couple of months back. I attribute my successful evasion of a possibly harmful or even deadly situation to my preparations, long before the fact. Part of my work involves the inspection of in-service bridges to ensure they are structurally sound. This is by far the most dangerous work that I do because many of these bridges are in bad neighborhoods and I am sometimes by myself. I have been in dangerous neighborhoods before and observed literal word of mouth travel up the block …


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 …


Waking Up and Getting Prepared, by Matthew G.

I live a very average suburban life similar to many people across the country. Commute to work, office job, suburban home with wife and kids. It’s easy to forget how fragile this lifestyle is and how little it takes to remove all the things you come to depend on. Recently I had an afternoon that showed me just how easy these conveniences can go away and the difference a little preparedness can make. After picking up my daughter from day care I drove home to find myself locked out of the house. We were having new keys made and I …


Triage Systems for Crisis: Making the Hard Calls in Life or Death Situations, by Kathy S.

While I have been searching the web for preparedness information I have yet to see much mentioned of the most emotionally and physically draining process of triaging the casualties produced during a crisis event.  While we are busy with our stockpiling of food and materials, weapons, and seeds, we seem to have left out some of the really horrific tasks we may be called upon to perform. Even if we are fully engaged as “preppers” we don’t take time to understand the implications that illness and injuries will have upon our lives in drastic times. Most of the general population …


How Long Can You Tread Water? by Tom S.

Noah may have questioned God about why he should build such a big boat.  To quote the comedian Bill Cosby, God might have asked: “How long can you tread water?” In the event of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) burst 250 miles above Kansas or a super solar flare, the loss of the electrical grid would stop almost all food production and importation in the USA.  Some estimate there is, at any given time, more than 1,000 pounds per capita of food in consumable form available in the USA.  Unfortunately, it is very poorly distributed and will not be available to …


Letter Re: Surviving A Home Invasion Robbery

Dear Mr. Rawles: I am intrigued by the fact that almost all the responses to the recent post on surviving a home invasion robbery focused on material issues such as doors or the proper firearms for home defense. All of these were intelligent, well-reasoned — but off target. Napoleon said, “The moral is to the physical as three to one.” Susan and Mike had the most important survival factor: courage. As soon as Susan realized what was happening, she decided to fight, rather than submit and hope for the best. She ran for Mike and attempted to close the bedroom …


Some Hope for the Low Budget Survivalist, by D.L.

You’ve heard it before, “Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.”  That principle can be, and should be, applied to every facet of your survival preparations.  It applies to the possession of material items such as food, weapons and first aid.  It applies to your skills such as how you find your food, use your weapons and administer first aid. It applies to your physical abilities such as endurance, speed and agility.  It applies to your state of mind such as courage, honor and ingenuity.  And, of course, it applies to …


Letter Re: Learning From an OPSEC Failure

Letter Re: Learning from an OPSEC Failure Hello Mr. Rawles, The shopper who had a badoperational security (OPSEC) experience at the grocery store is not alone. Here in Canada I had the same thing happen to me in a slightly different way. It was a tax free weekend at a major store and I stocked up on everything subject to both provincial (state) and federal sales tax. Big (12%) savings on every item that wasn’t food. I provision a family of seven, I wait for these weekends. For the first time I noticed I was stared at by other shoppers …


How to Create a Risk Mitigation Plan for Hard Times, by J.A.

We are a family of five living in Houston, Texas. Within the past several years, we have faced several dangerous situations where we were caught blindsided. Among those where several hurricane evacuations, and most recently, we experienced a forced evacuation from our home, after a chemical plant leaked and exploded nearby. Prior to these incidents, we had no thoughts of survival skills, prepping or preparing for disaster. While these experiences were very unpleasant, we are actually thankful for them because they served as a huge wake up call for our family to prepare. One of the most important things we …