Category: Survival Mindset

Letter Re: After the Shooting

Mr. Rawles, Mr. Tupreco has made some salient points in his article on your actions and statements after a shooting to protect you and yours. However some of what he says is blatantly false, at least in my neck of the woods. I am a retired police officer who was involved in five separate instances of deadly force during my career so I think I speak with some experience that Mr. Tupreco lacks. He states that police officers are focused only on clearing cases so they will interrogate you with that frame of mind even if your use of deadly …


Letter Re: After the Shooting

Dear JWR: In response to Tupreco’s After the Shooting submission in SurvivalBlog, I have two observations to offer:   1: None of the scenarios or situations in that essay reasonably described those I’ve encountered in the aftermath of three separate lethal force incidents. Happily, in two of those, there were multiple witnesses, so the situation was pretty far removed from the Home Alone scenarios so described in Tupreco’s thoughts. That is not to say that they aren’t valid, in some locales; just an observation that in some areas, things may not go nearly as simply as described; in others, the investigatory process …


After the Shooting, by Tupreco

Your bedside clock says 3:40 a.m. You have just awakened to a sound like breaking glass.  You pick up the phone to call 911 but the line is dead.  It’s dark in the house and you ease out of bed to retrieve your handgun from the closet safe just as you have practiced dozens of times.  You wait inside your bedroom door with your ear straining to hear. Someone is down the hall sliding something on the tile.    At that instant, the 30-second delay on your security system expires and the alarm begins to peal.  Another crash in the living …


Stuff Hits the Fan 101, by Mrs. S.

I grew up in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. I was raised by a single mother who didn’t have time for much besides working to pay bills. I wasn’t lucky enough to grow up on a farm or learn canning or learn any useful survival/life skills besides how to cook Hamburger Helper and I was doing that at the ripe old age of 10. I did become a pro at making stew though and I could probably tell you 101 ways to use pasta. And thanks to my grandmother I could even crochet you a scarf if you’re lucky and …


A Community Action Plan, by ShepherdFarmerGeek

Introductory Note: I wrote this plan as the local Neighborhood Watch Captain and instructor for a nearby monthly Preparedness Workshop. I’m convinced of the value of having a written plan to follow in the immediate aftermath of a disaster or crisis. I’m sharing this for those sheepdogs who do not yet have a plan in hand – start with this and edit it. Make it your own. But have a plan. When it gets crazy this may help you get through it all. Be Prepared. Trust God. We can do both! FIRST 15 MINUTES Walk / bike / drive through …


Observations From a Rookie Prepper, by Silver

I am a rookie prepper, too bad for me. This underlying lump of fear of bad times coming has been residing in the pit of my stomach for a long time, ignored and deprived of the necessary attention it is well deserved of. Recently I have awakened to the call of cover your own ass or someone or something else will force me to become non-existent. So to heed the warning sign of government irresponsibility and bad times coming I let the monster of fear come to the surface, and so I have begun my journey of self-reliance. This is …


No Cost Preparedness, by B. George

Sure, it’d be nice to prepare for the rest of our lives on Bill Gates’ budget. (I would keep a fully-staffed Pizza Hut underground in my retreat group.)  But you can do a lot with what you’ve got. Plus, even the rich need to do important things that cost nothing. Rich or poor, this is for everyone. (If you’re reading this, be reminded you’re relatively rich simply because you have internet access) You know the list is going to start with cleaning, but don’t scroll too fast. SCOUR Clean your house. If your spouse is not on board with prepping, …


Long Term Preparedness: The Outer Limits of Public Health, by F.B.D.

Preparedness is on the periphery of public health. Many facets of local and federal public heath deal with disaster preparedness but almost never for preparations beyond 72 hrs. I have worked in public safety and healthcare administration in various capacities for over 20 years and the subject is almost taboo. However, it is the growing “pink elephant” in the corner of the room. Anyone who works or deals with disaster preparation in an official capacity knows that official disaster assistance is woefully inadequate and that there are many scenarios that could trigger a “collapse, or severe problem, extending beyond 72 …


Middle of the Road Family Embraces the Prepper Mindset by C.L.

So how does one start down this journey of becoming a prepper?  For me and eventually our family, it was a gradual transition, which included the convergence of medical, physical and political convictions.  This was not a planned journey but rather one, which we have come to embrace as our only path to survival. We are a typical family in one sense and atypical in another.  We have led a typical life of work, play and trying to get ahead.  Where our life has veered from this typical course is the support we must provide to one of our children …


Out of the Neighborhood and Into a Community, by J.N.

As a firearms enthusiast, I have spent far too much time reading gun-related forums.  The collective knowledge of the larger forums is amazing and far outweighs the poorly thought-out words of the few ignorant posters who have nothing to add.  Often, after catching up on my favorite firearm sections, I find myself checking out the survival/preparedness sub-forums that the major firearms forums all seem to have.  Limited on the depth of their information, I usually hop over and research a topic on survival-specific forums and blogs where the levels of knowledge and experience are at much higher standards. The topics …


The Life of the Wife of a Prepper, by Erica S.

I wake up in the morning, get out of bed, and head to the kitchen. There is a jar of seeds on the counter that have sprouted. They have little, white, hair like sprouts, with some sort of fuzzy little hairs covering them. I think to myself, “I agreed to eat this?” As I go about my day, I encounter various oddities from my husbands prepping. The above mentioned sprouted seeds are wheat sprouts, as many of you may have already guessed. I hear, from my husband, that they are packed with nutrients. He has quite a few mylar bags …


Generational Preparedness, by S.D.

Articles written as personal memoirs always have a special way of reinforcing why preparedness is so important to me. They inspire me to continue learning, and make me proud to call myself a prepper. Hopefully my story of growing up to live among the modern generation of preppers can do the same for you. I remember my high school shop teacher, and the day he wheeled a television into our room and turned it on. His face was flushed as he changed the channel to a news station, and we watched as thick smoke rolled out of the World Trade Center. …


My Vacation in War Torn Yugoslavia, by C.N.

My family is from the former Yugoslavia and it had been a family tradition to go back and visit the homeland of my grandparents. Unfortunately for me, by the time I could go, my father had passed and I found only one cousin willing to do it again. As luck would have it, it was the summer of 2000 and I thought the war had been long over. It was only recently I discovered that the horror continued right up until just before my arrival there.   After a short stopover in Frankfurt, we boarded a smaller plane to Zagreb. The …


The Mainstream Media’s Blatant Anti-Preparedness Bias

It seems that any time that there is a crime that involves someone who lives outside of city limits and that owns guns or that lives with any degree of self-sufficiency, then they are immediately branded as a “survivalist.” This label gets slapped on regardless of whether or not the perpetrator has had any training or inclinations toward survivalism. The outlaw Claude Dallas was a prime example. Dallas was an eccentric 19th Century anachronist rather than a survivalist. But the mainstream media uses the label “survivalist”, almost by default any time that a criminal flees into a National Forest, if …


Being Prepared is More Than Just Having a Bugout Bag, by Christine S.

When a SHTF moment happens, preparedness is everything. But it is more than just having a bugout bag and a meeting place for your family. It means being ready, economically, intellectually, and physically. I’m going to talk about three specific goals, why they are so important, and the techniques you can use to get yourself in the best position possible. Don’t wait to progress from one to the other – instead, look at each of the three goals and pick an idea from each to focus on, then continue to add and build as you go. Goal #1 – Economic …