Category: Survival Mindset

Letter Re: Observations of An Old Alaskan Bushrat

Hi Mr. Rawles, I just ran across your site and have been browsing it. Your Precepts of Survivalist Philosophy are superb. Best is that you are a 100% sold out Christian. You may find a few observations of interest, from one who has lived extensively off the grid. First, some background. I grew up in a tiny community with the surf out my front door and a thousand-year-old forest that stretched for miles in back. My father grew up on a homestead and trapline among the Sarcees of the Alberta Rocky Mountain foothills. He never had a pair of shoes …


Letter Re: Why I Started Prepping, by KB

Sirs, We, as a country, have run our financial cycle; reference KB’s timely article. I have one addition: the reference to $19 plus trillion is for funded U.S. debt. In addition, folks, there is over $200 trillion in unfunded debt, which the current POTUS has added almost 50% to that portion since his time on the golf course. We are led to believe that $19 trillion is the true bottom line total debt number. Like Mark Twain once said, “Politicians like diapers should be changed often…and for the same reason”. I have only heard Trump and Carson address the true …


Are We Prepared?, by Michael G.

We heard a medical doctor issue a warning before the dawn of the new century that we needed to get prepared. All of the engineers interviewed in IEEE Magazine at the time said we were in trouble. I did not want to face my family at the dinner table regretting there was no food because I did not heed qualified warnings. I had to act. We considered what we might need and went out and purchased what we could afford by priority. We prepared as though we were preparing for war and assumed we would have to make it on …


Occupy Wall Street Versus Occupy Malheur: Clear Cases of Selective Prosecution

This news headline makes it clear that the BHO Administration is widening their net:  Nevada Standoff Indictment Names Bundys, Five More.  These “add-on” indictments are quite troubling. I believe that the assessment by Brandon Smith’s (previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog) may be correct:  A Warning To The Feds On Incremental Prosecutions Of The Liberty Movement.  There may be dozens of more indictments of people who attended the Bundy Ranch protests in 2014 that filter out over a the next six to nine months. Let’s draw a comparison: There were overt and quite visible physical threats and considerable actual violence in the …


Sarah Latimer: Unrealized Expectations – Part 2

In continuing with the idea of not relying upon others for the “sweet” wants and needs we have, here are a few more ideas that you can provide for yourself (and feel quite good about your independence in doing so!): Fresh and Dried Fruits and Vegetables– Want organic, highly nutritious fresh or dried fruits and vegetables year around, economically? Plant fruit trees and bushes and grow a garden as well as consider using a greenhouse for winter produce. Then, can, freeze, dehydrate, and/or freeze dry your excess produce for later seasonal use. We are still enjoying freeze-dried cubed tomatoes from …


Letter Re: Know Your Limits

Dear Sir, Regarding the article in SurvivalBlog by “Molon Labe” titled: Know Your Limits: The thing is to also know your real personal limits.  Too many people think that if “I have this gun and this ammo then I can hit anything.”  I recently tried to talk some sense into a guy who was looking at a $3,000 .338 Lapua Magnum rifle with a $5,000 scope in a sports shop.  He was looking at it as his first firearm. I tried talking him out of it.  He insisted that he had friends who were snipers so he knew what to do. The …


Community Risk Mitigation, by T.P.

I hate it when I see statements on prepping site that make assumptions of our fellow citizens that are overly broad and frequently demeaning. You know the things I’m talking about. “They assume the government will save them.” “Sheeple.” “They refuse to prepare because of their narrow mindedness.” There is certainly a small subset of people who fit that mold. Most however are of the “ignorance is bliss” variety. They simply haven’t woken up to the risk. Prepping is simply a form of risk mitigation. It’s insurance. When my family woke up to the risk, we didn’t suddenly realize the …


Ghillie Up, by Molon Labe

From a young age, I’ve been fascinated with hunters and snipers alike who stalk the wilds with a bushy cloak that conceals their location, like a ghost who conforms to his terrain and disappears in plain view. And so since an early teen I’ve researched, constructed and eventually refined the art of personal camouflage by way of the ghillie suit. The truth is that nothing can make you truly invisible and that even the best camouflage can be compromised with movement. However, through constant research and development both for myself, friends and eventually building ghillie making into a side business, …


Know Your Limits, by Molon Labe

In these times, there are many activities that we must train to be able to do, many skills we must know, and many tasks we are forced to accomplish to sustain our lives and those who we care about. In the days ahead, there will be even greater and more difficult things that we will have to do should a collapse or failure of civility occur to any degree in our area. Many things that are abhorrent to us may become required in order to righteously protect what is ours. Taking lives in the defense of our lives, our property, …


Letter Re: A Lesson from Fasting for Preparedness

Dear Editor: I enjoyed the post by J.C. regarding Fasting for Preparedness. It was well written with lots of info for those who may wish to explore further. I am a 55 year old male. I am 6’3″ and weigh 190 lbs. I’ve been blessed with a strong Christian upbringing and was familiar with the concept of fasting for spiritual reasons most of my life. The Bible is chock full of fasting references, from short duration to supernatural fasts such as Jesus Christ in Matthew Chapter 4. So back in the 1990s when I began fasting, it was for spiritual …


Sarah Latimer: Unrealized Expectations – Part 1

A simple reach to touch and squeeze my hand, followed by a slight smile in the corners of what are usually distant eyes that at that moment were deeply focused on mine, brought me to tears. Last week, after my husband had prepared a sandwich lunch for his mother and me and I had fed her, done her hair, and given her a manicure, I prayed with her. I just gently touched her arm with one hand and went to our Heavenly Father with praises, intercession, and petitions in our Savior’s name. “Mom” is on hospice care and in the …


Plyometrics Training Equals Survivability, by Molon Labe

This is a commonly accepted fact in the world of preparedness: The better you are able to traverse difficult terrain or navigate dangerous scenarios, the more options you’ll have and the better overall odds you’ll have of coming out on top. However, mobility means more than being in good shape and having a bug out bag. It is the ability to make a split-second decision and stick to it, to think on your feet. All the fitness in the world won’t help you if you don’t decide to escape before being surrounded and cut off. It means taking advantage of the …


Winter Survival- Part 1, by R.C.

In this three-part series on winter survival, we will examine surviving the winter on foot, in your vehicle, and in your home. We have all seen the videos of the recent storms and how even though the news have been reporting nonstop on the dangers of winter travel, the general public is out in it woefully unprepared. If you are reading this from your warm armchair or desk, I’m probably preaching to the choir. In the past I have been a snowplow operator, a first responder, and an instructor of CPR/First Aid and wilderness first aid in the Intermountain West. …


Times Are Getting Tougher, But Women Can Thrive and Not Just Survive!, by Sarah Latimer

There are hundreds of thousands of women among the SurvivalBlog reader community and their households, and most of us are feeling stressed beyond what has been “normal”. If you’ve been reading SurvivalBlog and watching the news for anytime at all, like me, you’re probably concerned on a macro level about the blatant disrespect of human life, the trampling of our liberty and privacy, the moral decline of society in general and in what the children in schools are being taught, the economic crises around the world, the pressure pot of international conflict on multiple fronts, and more. Then, on a …


Letter Re: Making a Last Run

Hugh, I just wanted to add a tidbit to the article of making a last run when the SHTF by GMJ. Though this was a well written and well thought-out article and most obvious a great tool for the newbie to the art of survival, for me and my family we will not be in need of one last run. Because of all of us being a great student of this business we have benefited greatly from the steps outlined by our fellow survivalists. So for the new comer to this important scene of preparedness, you might want to pay …