Category: Survival Mindset

Oral History: A Child of the Great Depression – Part 3

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(Continued, from Part 2. This concludes the series.) We also raised rabbits, in a row of three backyard hutches, that my father built. These were wire mesh hutches on wooden frames that were elevated and protected by a roof. We raised white rabbits with black ears, noses, and paws, as well as some gray rabbits. I was in charge of gathering the rabbit feed. Since Dinuba was a farm town, all of the vacant lots had weeds that were mostly hay grass, or alfalfa. Once every two or three days, I would ride my bicycle around town and use hand …


Oral History: A Child of the Great Depression – Part 2

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(Continued, from Part 1.) The Principal of Dinuba High School, Walter Hellbaum, came up recruiting at UC Berkeley, because Howard Page, his Agriculture and ROTC teacher–who was another Army reserve officer–had been recalled to active duty.  Daddy was a good fit for a position at Dinuba High School because he was qualified to teach both Agriculture and ROTC classes. But then a more experienced Agriculture teacher came along. So my father ended up teaching Math, Science, Spanish, and he led the Junior ROTC program. Daddy moved our family to Dinuba in 1940. We first lived in a modest two-bedroom rental …


Oral History: A Child of the Great Depression – Part 1

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JWR’s Introductory Comments: I transcribed and edited the following, from a series of interviews that I recently recorded with my mother, Barbara Marie (Creveling) Rawles. She is now 88 years old, and in failing health. But her memories are still vividly with her. She was born just as the world was entering the depths of the Great Depression. She grew up in a small farm town in California’s Central Valley. There, with a depressed economy, the community’s hardships carried on through World War II. I took the liberty of some paraphrasing and re-sequencing of a few passages, to keep them …


Top Six Outdoor Survival Skills, by Jonathan Gardner

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I love searching the Internet and libraries for bushcraft and outdoor survival-related videos and books. Now I have something to tell you. Many of these lists you read are wrong. If you do a search, there will be a general consensus of the top five skills being Shelter, water, fire, and so forth. I’m going out on a limb in reporting that they are wrong. Not all wrong, but it is not what you should study. Most of the listed are not skills. Water is not a skill, I’m not going to give you a tutorial on how to make …


An Old Boy Scout’s Journey – Part 1, by Rocket J. Squirrel

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What prompted me to begin preparing? I am not certain if there was one specific trigger. I’d like to share my journey to becoming “more” prepared? If you have recently realized that you need to be prepared to take care of your family, your community and your country in the event that really bad things happen, then hopefully my journey will encourage you. Maybe not, since it has taken me so long. I am still on the journey, still learning, still implementing new things about which I learn. My perspective continues to change. My beautiful bride and I are not …


Relocation In Catastrophes – Part 2, by J. of T.

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(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) PREPPING WITH A DOZEN OR MORE PLANS (PLAN A, B, C….. C1, C2, Z1) Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. This precept works in business, in missions, and in prepping. I have at least a dozen plans! I also have at least that many meeting points, encase of emergency events (tornadoes, earthquakes or civil unrest). I have numerous family defense features and I’m adding new ones every month. For example, if your electronic intrusion detection and firearms fail you (and sometimes they can, in extreme weather), you’ll want a loyal …


Relocation In Catastrophes – Part 1, by J. of T.

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Editor’s Introductory Note:  The author has a Christian worldview, and many years of experience as a missionary. He applies these to his family preparedness. Whether you are a Christian or not, you will probably find this article useful. — Lot was Abraham’s brother. He is mentioned in Genesis 14-19. He also receives honorable mentions in the New Testament. The Holy Scriptures don’t even hide his failures or his sin. I love God’s Word because its is brutally honest. It’s like having a best friend tell you the good and the bad about our life. Lot’s life is an example of …


Should I Move? by Southern J.

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In this essay, I will address how to know if it’s time for you to relocate. One of the seminal questions a preparedness-minded individual asks themselves is “Do I need to move to a better location?” Oftentimes the preparedness “fantasy” is the remote retreat in scenic Idaho, with beautiful views and being miles away from a paved road. This sounds great (who wouldn’t want that?) but the reality is that may not be feasible for most people. In this article, I will strive to give you criteria to look at to determine whether your location, the society you are in …


Preparing – Practicing & Preaching, by TJ in Georgia

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Regardless of who you are now, who you were in the past, or who you will be in the future, I think everyone will now be a ‘prepper’. Please consider this: We’ve all had a taste of doing without something in the past month or so, and I for one don’t look forward to this time in history becoming the new normal. I was in Girl Scouts from about 2nd grade until 7th grade. We learned many skills such as hiking, cooking outside, sleeping outside, fire starting, selling cookies (yes, that is a skill) and being a responsible citizen. In …


Propaganda and My Prepping – Part 3, by St. Funogas

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(Continued from  Part 2. This concludes the article.) The other big problem I soon discovered with the Thank a Vet program is that it propagates the myth that our military keeps us free. Think back to our childhoods: riding our bikes down to the gravel pit with our Stevens Crackshot .22’s across our backs with a sling, then walking into the little grocery store afterwards to buy some penny candy and nobody calling the police or thinking anything of it. We rode on the floor in the back of the station wagon, or in the front passenger seat of the …


Propaganda and My Prepping – Part 2, by St. Funogas

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(Continued from Part 2.) Propaganda can also be very damaging to us as individuals, and especially to us as a nation. Advertising = propaganda is ultimately about controlling us. Controlling us so we’ll quit littering, or controlling us so we’ll hand over our money and buy their products instead of the competition’s, or controlling us so we won’t object when they take away more of our freedoms either in the form of raising our taxes again or by passing more laws pushing us towards a more Orwellian future that awaits us. The term Military Industrial Complex (MIC) was popularized by …


Propaganda and My Prepping – Part 1, by St. Funogas

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(Part 1, of three parts.) Author’s Introductory Note: I normally enjoy interacting with commenters after JWR posts one of my articles but I will state in advance that I will not be debating any of the topics discussed herein. My apologies for that. My sincere desire is that you will read this, avoid knee-jerk reactions, and ponder what I’ve said before you respond. I’m sure some of it has never crossed your mind before. So I hope that instead of forming an immediate opinion, you’d instead ruminate on this for a while and let it simmer over a cinnamon roll …


Reaching Out to Others May Save Our Lives, by Ani

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Whenever I’d get upset about not understanding why someone was doing what they were doing or thought the way they did, a friend always used to remind me that “not everyone thinks like you do”. That adage sounds simple on the surface but I’ve realized that it is a profound truth and of critical importance to us preppers. At the time that I’m writing this we are immersed in the COVID-19 pandemic. I watched this coming, from the earliest days when the first reports of some strange new Coronavirus associated with the market in Wuhan was briefly noted online. That …


Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), by Pudge

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What are standard (or standing) operating procedures (SOPs), and why should you have them? According to the U.S. Army, a SOP is “a clearly written set of instructions for methods detailing procedures for carrying out a routine or recurring task or study.” Now what does this really mean and how can I actually apply this to both my daily life and also high stress situations? First, a quick background so that you can understand why this topic is so important to me. I’m an active duty Army Special Forces officer (O-3) with extensive experience around the world. I make my …


How To Zero Your Preps, by G.W.D.

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I’m sure by now most readers have had the opportunity to zero their rifle(s). (If you haven’t, please stop reading and do so now) When doing so, one of the first questions one must answer is, ”At what range should I zero?” Typically, we don’t know exactly at what range we will use our rifle, but we decide where to zero it based on two things, 1) What is the range of distances we want to be effective?, and 2) how far can we miss and still be effective? The answers to these two questions allow us to make some …