Category: Survival Mindset

Letter Re: Lessons Learned From My Elders

James: As a five year old I lived with my grandparents in a small isolated village in the foothills of the Austrian Alps.  This was about 1953 until 1958.  Rural life had its own rhythm which now seemed more akin to the 19th century.  Small family fields were plowed with the milk cow which was also used to bring in the hay and the harvest.  Everything planted had a use.  Each tree on these small family farms bore fruits or nuts.  Ornamentals were for the well to do- perhaps the village doctor who had a more secure source of income.  …


Letter Re: Mental Preparation for Lethal Force

Hi Jim, That was a well written and informative article by Mark B. on preparing yourself to use deadly force. As a retired police officer and firearms instructor I can tell you that Mark gives solid advice. We can also look at history for lessons on what’s important in prevailing in a gunfight. I’ve been involved in a few myself and I’ve spent a lot of years figuring out what works and what doesn’t. I’ve studied the old west, taken many courses, read countless books and analyzed my own experiences and how I survived. It can be distilled down to …


Practical Defense Skills When Left with Little or Nothing, by Suburban 10

TEOTWAWKI may leave you alone with nothing. Nothing but your knowledge of what is available to you as a means of survival and defending yourself. Hopeful you have enough skills to find essential items required to survive. Time is limited and for an active person foraging for food, protecting themselves and seeking safe shelter. Without these life essentials, this is (on average) how much time you have to survive: Air -3 minutes, Shelter at O degrees Celsius – 3 hours, water – 3 days, food – 30 days. Take care of these and half your battle of survival is won! …


The Survival Mindset, by M.C.J.

The healthy human mind doesn’t contempt the what if’s in reference to survival. Why should it? The very thought of such a thing does not factor in a persons average day. Especially given how people live there daily lives going about life on the railway to the normalcy train. That redundant moment in time when all is the same and sane . Waking up to conduct a normal work day of work and routine. Having a decent breakfast or rushing off fast grabbing a bite from either the microwave or the nearest fast food outlet, just to beat the morning …


Mental Preparation for Lethal Force, by Mark B.

When preparing for TEOTWAWKI, or any lesser natural or “man made” disaster, it can be mind numbing with all the list, needs, “to do’s”, training, purchases, and planning it really takes to become self sufficient. As you prepare it becomes very apparent how complicated modern life is and exactly how vulnerable our sophisticated society has become. Most Preppers actively research via the internet, routinely learn new self sufficiency skills, train, buy supplies, and are most likely to be ardent supporters of the 2nd Amendment. But there is one area of training that must be considered by Preppers and can be …


Letter Re: The Larger Questions

James: My wife and I have been “aware” that something isn’t right since the whole Y2K scare back in 1999.  Sadly at the time, we had no idea of what “prepping” was or the first thing to do about how we felt.  I think we might have had a dozen gallons of water on our shelves.  Pretty sad, but we really had no clue.  I’ve always had this nagging feeling that things were really getting worse all the time, but it wasn’t until I watched the “37 Things to Hoard” advertisement, that I finally decided I was going to find …


The Kamajors of Sierra Leone: A Model for Survival, by CYA

Those that are concerned with TEOTWAWKI scenarios, as we are, can find great benefit in looking to history for meaningful lessons on what to expect and how to plan and prepare. In many of these circles we often here of and reference the heroic exploits of bands of citizen warriors throughout history. Rogers Rangers, the Minute Men of New England, The Green Mountain Boys of Vermont and other Revolutionary War militia, The guerilla fighting Comanche and Cheyenne warriors of North America,  and of course the various books, movies and television shows that constitute our survivalist-militia paradigm. I wish to add …


Why Prepping is a Good Thing, by P. S. in Virginia

Based on some of the latest articles I have read, I wonder if there is a misunderstanding of prepping or the Preppers themselves. Everyone has their own reasons for prepping, what they consider prepping, prepping for or at what level they can prepare. Not everyone can afford prepping to the levels of others, not everyone has the skill sets as others or can go out and find that perfect piece of property to call their retreat or bug out location (BOL.) For the grannies who buy a few supplies or have found a like-minded social group of preppers where they …


Knowing Your Neighbors: All For One and One For All

Sound like an old cliche? “One for All, All for One”? A phrase from the past. But it is as valid today as it has ever been. Togetherness, cooperation, teamwork, none of those match the totality of “One for all, All for One”.       Of course there is no substitute for preparedness. As a former EMT, a person who has taken CERT training in my community, and who, as much as I can given my limited financial resources, taken the threat, for any reason, of societal breakdown seriously, I can attest to this. I remember my instructor many years …


Prepared For Just Any Old Thing, by Louie in Ohio

 I guess that I have always been a “Prepper”. Fifty years ago I joined the Boy Scouts. Of course most  of us know the Scout Motto, Be Prepared. Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the scouting movement was once asked, “Prepared for what?”  His answer… “Just any old thing.” My Scoutmaster, Mr. Garrison, told us that we needed to keep our backpack packed and ready to go, that some evening he would send out the word and we must report ready for a camp out. There would be a time limit and we must get there under our own power …


Prepping is Investing, by Michael W.

Preppers get painted is crazy doomsday people, sitting around waiting for the world to end, disappointed when it doesn’t.  I think National Geographic has done a disservice to prepping with their show.  The people on the show explain “what” they are preparing for.  To many, their reasons are crazy.  To me, some of the reasons are crazy.  I think it’s important to make it clear that it’s not about a specific event or cause.  It’s about planning for the future and protecting yourself.  Does it really matter if an EMP, financial collapse, or natural disaster disrupts your basic necessities?  What it comes …


Lessons From Storms At Sea, by Richard S.

I spent nearly ten years in the Coast Guard and the US Navy before injuries suffered in the line of duty forced my retirement, this is but one experience in my life that forced me to be a better man and come to grips with the fragile mortality of man and just how precious the gift of life really is. These are the teachings that have prepared me for what is coming. The horizon darkens more every day and the storm approaches. Are we prepared for the coming storm, can we weather it out. I live on 80 acres in south …


Why I Hate Preppers, by Allen C.

I may as well go ahead and apologize to anyone who is already offended by my title without apologizing for offending you.  I do not actually hate preppers.  I’m just fed up with them.  While I’m at it I may as well apologize for generalizing.  I don’t like putting labels on anyone any more than I like being labeled, but it is necessary to generalize in this case so if you consider yourself in one group, but the other better describes you then I accept that in advance.  If it sounds like I apologize a lot it is because I …


Remember the Little Things, by Bear

This is not your typical “How To… for Survival” or “Best Gear for Survival” blog article. Instead, I am asking you the reader, to read this with an open mind. This is much more than that and I believe it will be the difference between you surviving… and not. Nothing can take away from the importance of being prepared. Nor can the necessity of training and practicing certain survival skills be trivialized. Preparedness and practice are a couple of necessities of survival. But there is more to life than just surviving. the famous psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl, summed it up best …


Letter Re: Fasting and Starvation

Dear Editor: I am a practitioner of fasting. Having learned how it feels to go without food I feel it necessary to let others know. Hunger is a good thing, but letting hunger go too long is very bad. Let me explain how this works. Hunger and starvation are totally different. Hunger is the state that tells you that your body is not receiving food. Starvation is when your body is destroying itself to stay alive. As a geologist in the jungles of South America I had the not so pleasant experience of typhoid. Most of my time there (15 …