Category: Survival Mindset

What I Learned From the Midwest Ice Storm of 2011, by J.M.

The three elements of nature that cause damage– sun, wind, and water. My bet is on the last one, especially the frozen kind. Preparing and acting upon it are two entirely different and opposite things. The rain started in the middle of a Sunday afternoon, without much concern at first. Although the weather report at first said the possibility of ice was real, it would stay south, in Ohio. Lesson #1: Nature is fickle, and even NOAA cannot always track the line between rain, snow, and ice. Predictive weather paths can give you a false sense of security, and margins …


Pulling the Trigger, When They Don’t, and After the Action, by K.B.

Are you prepared to take a life, and are you prepared to deal with the consequences? The answer is not as clear as you might think, but there are three very important concepts to understand that might make answering that question easier. First, in what situation would you take someone’s life? Second, how do you respond to someone not firing or freezing up during a firefight? Third, are you prepared to deal with the mental trauma associated with taking someone’s life? These are very real issues that need to be addressed, and this article attempts to show how to deal …


Letter Re: Revocable Trusts

Hugh, I am an attorney. I believe in trusts and have prepared many. A trust will not prevent estate taxes, but it can help keep them low. However, remember that you have to be rich to worry about taxes anyway. A well-drafted Will can do the same tax planning that a trust can do. The benefits of a trust are: Privacy. (You might need to give it to the title insurance company or the investment company, but it won’t be available to anyone who is just being nosy, as a Will filed at the Courthouse would be.) No probate. (There’s …


Letter Re: What Happens When A Spouse Dies?

Hugh, I’m responsing to the article “What Happens When A Spouse Dies?” by JEH. The author failed to mention getting a Revocable Living Trust (RLT) to distribute your assets. When a person contacts a lawyer for their will, they ought to ask if the lawyer knows how to prepare an RLT. Each state has different requirements for an RLT, but basically the RLTs are all the same. The RLT allows your assets to be distributed to your heirs TAX FREE and without having to go through probate. It’s a simple document that works along side your will (and in some …


Letter Re: What Happens When a Spouse Dies?

Hugh: The author of this article recommends a Living Will. These documents often express a patient’s wishes not to be kept alive by artificial means. Your readers should be aware that food and water are now considered medical care in all 50 states, rather than normal care of the sick. That means that people who sign Living Wills may be unwittingly authorizing their own starvation and dehydration. It is far better to express your wishes about medical treatment to a loved one whom you trust and instead sign a Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare. That gives your loved one …


Letter Re: A Tactical Plan for Surviving Major Disaster in the North American Suburbs, by A.M.

While much of the information suggested is useful, I take strong exception to a few ideals that reared their ugly head. The idea of forcing a less prepared neighbor to take menial tasks and give up what they do have contradicts my sense of morals. If they want to join, offer them conditions under which they join, and upon fulfillment of this commitment they are equal partners. To basically treat them like servants is unacceptable. You cannot save everyone; you will have to make hard decisions. If you take someone into your group that does not contribute, that’s on you. …


A Tactical Plan for Surviving Major Disaster in the North American Suburbs, by A.M. – Part 2

Water Water is essential. In Minnesota, water is not an issue. After all, this is the “Land of 10,000 Lakes”. Every Minnesotan is within walking distance of a lake, pond, stream, or river– everyone. In the spring and summer, we get adequate rainfall. In the winter, we are blanketed in snow and ice. As if that isn’t enough, most of our forests are deciduous, which means we can use plastic bags to collect respiration (water) from those leafy plants while the leaves are green. Before you all change your bug out plans to include “running to Minnesota”, remember that we …


A Tactical Plan for Surviving Major Disaster in the North American Suburbs, by A.M. – Part 1

How would you survive a long-term disaster situation? I am talking about the worst case scenario– gangs of marauders, hungry people fleeing the cities, and/or soldiers storming through neighborhoods with no electricity, no grocery stores, no water, and no heat. The lead recommendation in this scenario is to bug out to a rural area. Ideally, you would own a self-sustaining property away from the population masses and get there before the chaos begins. Many people will attempt this approach. People from the urban areas will spread out toward the suburbs and ultimately to the rural areas. Those who are fleeing …


The Dead Don’t Bury Themselves, by M.R.

Let me be honest. Writing this was not pleasant. Researching the information on death and burial and reviewing what I already knew was depressing, to say the least. The topic of death is one that the living naturally try to avoid, but if any group understands that avoiding reality does not remove it from our lives, it is the peppers/survivalists. Modern management of death has removed the need to know from our current lives. A SHTF experience can quickly remove those modern death management services. I’m a grey-headed, stiff-jointed prepper, who is at that age when loved ones and friends …


The Prepping Fatigue and Dilemmas of a Middle-aged Housewife, by P.C.

I have often wondered how much I might have achieved if my personal circumstances had been different. By different, I mean better, in the sense of having the freedom to make better decisions about preparing for the future, whatever it might hold. I imagine myself as a fit, 50-something woman with a knowledge of bush craft, a seasoned firearms expert able to hit targets on the run, and a keen homesteader with full expertise in herbal medicine and food storage. I would be the ‘’head honcho”, leader of the pack, with sound plans for neighborhood defense, communications, and top notch …


Two Letters Re: The Weakness in Your Defense Plans

HJL, I want to say thank you to T.S. Your article helped reinforce the attitude I had to re-condition myself and the way I see and think. I completely understand because that is precisely what I had to do when I finally purchased a gun. That was five years ago. Further back in time (I am in my 50’s now), I worked in a retail store that sold pellet handguns. Once, alone in the back stock room I took one out of the box. The feel of the gun, the weight, and that sense of power was kind of exciting. …


The Hidden Weakness In Your Defense Plans, by T.S. – Part 2

There are two tried, proven, and scientifically-documented ways to program the unconscious mind. Any professional or Olympic athlete will tell you that visualization works. If you watch winter Olympics downhill skiers stand at the top of their run, they are moving their bodies imagining the run as they want it before they even start. This programs the unconscious to see the same picture that the conscious imagines, and when the two work together amazing results follow. The other way to reprogram the unconscious mind is also well known and documented, though few have applied that knowledge to shooting; it’s positive …


The Hidden Weakness In Your Defense Plans, by T.S. -Part 1

The mental and emotional considerations of using lethal force to protect your home and loved ones after TEOTWAWKI is not going to be as easy, as you have imagined it. By way of introduction, I am a retired street cop who spent his entire career on the streets of a gang-infested neighborhood in a large, inner city. I have shot people, though none died. On several occasions, I was myself shot at, and I was hit once. I want to share my thoughts and experiences with you, lest you have naïve and unrealistic ideas, which will prove counterproductive, at best, …


Letter Re: Lessons Learned While Living in San Francisco

HJL, After reading this article, I was terribly, terribly incensed at SFPD/OPD. I am a former law enforcement officer from Southern California, and I now work in insurance, handling claims from the Bay Area. Stories like these are unfortunately very common (except for the heroic and dynamic recovery by the author). Hit and run, non-injury accidents, vandalism, and theft from vehicles are basically ignored. My professional advise is not to bother with calling the police unless a suspect is known. The fact that I have to give that advise upsets me to no end. It’s not hard to have good …


What Happens When A Spouse Dies? by JEH

In prepping, I never thought about my wife not being by my side. We have both come to believe that the world, as we know it, will evolve into a world where we do not belong. We both work to make our home happy and educate our child. We are paying for braces on her teeth, and we want the best for her. However, nine months ago, a close friend of ours was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. We saw a lady go from being a loving and caring wife, mother, and school teacher to a woman who fought …