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 Readiness
Zero Debt – If you are currently in a position of zero debt, and I include mortgage, car payments, credit cards and student loans in this, congratulations. Now…stay that way! As for the rest of us…get out of debt and avoid all debt if you don’t have any yet.
Why is this so important? Put simply, debt is slavery. Stop worrying about your credit score or whether you have one of those nice new flat screen televisions. Keep in mind that every commercial is a siren call to stay a slave and be in debt. It is a pervasive message, one that urges you to continue to swim upstream and be beholden to the credit card and mortgage companies. They want you to believe that your credit card score will be terrible if you aren’t out there running up the numbers.
Living within your means is excellent training for the complete financial collapse that is almost assuredly coming. It isn’t the time to party until the 11th hour, but to teach you what reality, with all of its bristly parts, is really like.
Accomplishing zero debt takes time – especially if you are an owner of a house with a mortgage or cars in the driveway with a few payments to go. Consider either doubling up on payments and forgoing the annual vacation or if you have a decent amount of equity in the house, selling it and purchasing a smaller, more affordable house that has a zero or minimal mortgage. Then pay it off.
If you are currently looking at buying a car or a house, make it a priority to consider whether it fits your needs. Does the car get excellent gas mileage? Could it be converted to biodiesel? Will it carry all the members of your family and have room for the belongings you will need if you have to Get Out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.)? What can you afford to pay double payments on (thereby reducing your term of slavery by half)?
Don’t depend exclusively on debit cards, have some cash on hand at all times – A credit or debit card in your hand will not buy you groceries when the store is out of power and full of desperate people. Have at least a small amount of cash on your person at all times. Invest in a money belt or other hidden contraption and keep some cash in your vehicle and in a safe location in your home.
A source for good money belts and travel wallets can be found here.
I recommend this article on places to hide cash in your house.
And this web-based vendor carries a variety of hidden safes.
Silver and Gold – Consider storing some ‘junk silver’ coins in a safe place in your home. If the dollar continues to devalue, having a precious metal on hand to barter with may make the difference between being able to eat or not, and having the fuel to Get Out of Dodge.

Goal #2 – Intellectual Readiness
Learn something new every day – I’m not just talking self-sufficiency here. Learn a different language, for example. The United States, the country that I and a vast majority of SurvivalBlog’s readers live in, is a melting pot of diverse cultures. And while English is the primary language, having the ability to converse in another language gives you an advantage. It shows your flexibility and willingness to learn from others. If you learn Spanish, Italian or French, they all share common Latin roots – enabling you to communicate in a limited fashion with speakers of other Latin-based languages. 

Learn survival skills, take a CPR class, learn to cook foods from scratch. (This includes practice replicating mixes such as Bisquick, muffin mixes, bread mixes and more).

Learn to garden, farm animal husbandry, auto maintenance and more. Don’t just write it off as ‘not your specialty’ – instead, become a generalist. Science fiction author Robert Heinlein once wrote, “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

Play games   – All sorts, but mentally challenging ones are best. Rev up your brain. Engage in challenging games of strategy by playing chess or other mentally stimulating games. Do crosswords or Suduku and word scrambles. The key here is to challenge your brain – to make it struggle a bit, so that it continues to grow.

Engage in ‘what if’ scenarios – What if there is no way to rendezvous back home with your family? Where do you go? What if you are hurt, or they are hurt, are you prepared? What can you do to prepare?
If you aren’t asking yourself these questions and more; if you aren’t thinking of ‘what if’ scenarios, then you are not prepared. Your bugout bag might be sitting at home, twenty miles away and all your plans shot to dust.

Organize yourself – Know where everything is and have a place for everything. You should know exactly how much food you have in your pantry, how much cash (or gold or silver) you have on hand, and where everything you need to survive a SHTF situation. This means keeping the house tidy, evaluating and re-evaluating the need to keep items and where to store them. Do you have a basement jumble of ‘stuff’ that you haven’t touched in years? It is now time to go through it.

Can’t park your car in the garage due to the pile of belongings inside it? Figure out what needs to go and what needs to stay and find appropriate storage solutions.
Streamline your life and possessions as much as possible.

Increase personal productivity – Increase the number of things you do each day. Make it into a challenge to see how much you can get done (and how few steps you can take to do it) on a daily basis. You can start by making a list of goals…and then get started accomplishing them.

All of these steps will help you become ‘mentally fit’. Someone who is used to working out their brain, every day, will be better prepared for the twists and turns of an unknown future. They will also be better able to make a snap decision that may very well save their lives and the lives of those that they love.

Goal #3 – Physical Readiness
Exercise daily – Whether it is walking, running, working out with weights, yoga or Pilates. Ask yourself this – how far can you walk before getting tired? How far can you ride a bicycle before reaching teh point of exhaustion?
You don’t have to be in ‘run a marathon’ physical shape. What you should do is build your endurance each day, challenging yourself to go that extra five minutes, that extra mile, or that extra five pounds of weights.
Think about creating more flexibility as well. Yoga, Pilates, or just simple stretching activities are good for this. Coax yourself off of the couch and onto a treadmill – or better yet, a walk outside. Take in the fresh air, meet your neighbors, and scope out your surroundings near and far.

Learn a martial art – Increase your chances in surviving a personal assault by taking some kind of self-defense class (even consider fencing – it is mentally challenging and requires quick movement, flexibility and spatial awareness). It will help get you into shape, teach you good body awareness, and help if you are ever in a situation where you need to defend yourself against an attacker. This makes good common sense, with or without a SHTF or TEOTWAWKI situation.

Learn Gun Safety – Learn how to handle a gun. I was quite young when my father taught me gun safety, around nine or ten. At fifteen, I was the only other female and the youngest of our group when I attended a combat firearms course taught by Massad Ayoob in the mid-1980s. A special note to any women who may be reading this, do not depend on someone else for this –learn how to operate and clean a handgun. Your life may depend upon it.

Stockpile Medications – Maintain your health and stockpile any needed medications. Ask your medical provider if they will issue you a second prescription that you can fill at cost. Insurance might only cover one, but a good doctor will issue two if you request it. For those with chronic conditions (high blood pressure, Type I diabetes, and any other medication-dependent conditions) it is imperative you stockpile these medications. Most insurance companies will only pay for 30 day supplies, keeping you dependent on their medical system. That system is all well and good, until it breaks down in a socioeconomic collapse, or even a basic natural disaster. Medical records could be lost, and your store of medications could quickly run out. Stockpile what you can – and if possible, keep additional prescriptions on hand to be filled at a moment’s notice if things start to go bad.

The Side Benefits
All of these goals will prepare you for TEOTWAWKI or a SHTF situation, and give you that added level of preparedness that may well make the difference between living and dying. However, they are also good common sense.

Being economically prepared also means that you are no longer a slave to debt. Instead you are being financially savvy, and that is a huge step up from the neighbor who only buys Abercrombie & Fitch, or can’t live without getting a new car lease every three years. Your life in the here and now may be simpler, but it will be far better in the long run.

When we keep ourselves mentally challenged, we are encouraging our brains to work out hard each day. There has been a great deal of research into the possibilities that keeping our minds mentally fit is just as important as keeping our bodies physically fit – and could even stave off the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s.

And of course, when we keep ourselves at a healthy weight, exercise and prepare our bodies, we are more flexible in combat situations or able to flee while our neighbors huff and puff along behind us. Having the presence of mind to ensure our health through necessary medications will give us the upper hand when faced with others who have chained themselves to a system that is ripe for failure.

In Summary
I hope that you also now see that ‘being prepared’ is more than just a bugout bag near your front door. It is a lifestyle, it is a frame of mind, and it is also completely achievable. Better yet, it will keep you alive…come what may.

Two Letters Re: All You Need to G.O.O.D. You Can Carry on Your Back

JWR:
In response to some of the comments on my article:  My point is that is not necessary to carry a lot of “gear” to survive in the wilderness.  I’ve seen some list of items you would need a van to carry it away.   If we have a major earthquake on the New Madrid Fault (and shut down bridges for hundreds of miles on the Mississippi River and cut off the food supply to half the country), flood, tornado, Yellowstone eruption, meteor impact, economic collapse or whatever, your gas tank will be empty very soon and then what do you do with all of your “gear”?   The longhunters and native Americans went into the wilderness with only a few items on their backs and lived, not just survived, but lived.  It is very difficult to carry more than 10 days of rations if you need to leave in a hurry the rest is “procured” where every you end up.  If you make it to a well-stocked safe retreat well and good, but you may have to walk there and if you do you will need to survive along the way.

I didn’t want to get into making fish spears, fishing equipment, brush houses, cordage from plants, wild food harvesting, large caliber versus small caliber, hand gun, long gun, et cetera. My focus was that you will need to take the time to test your gear in extreme conditions and determine what is necessary.

As to the durability of my gear, my pack now has over 4,000 miles in some extreme situations and is still going strong.   My tent has over 3,000 miles and not so much as a drop of water in it.  Last year on a hike we had 6 inches of rain in two days and all my gear was “dry as a bone.” 

My gear is all forest green with no bright colors.  Please go to my trail journal web page and look at the photos.   Only 10% of the hikers that attempt to through hike the Appalachian Trail complete the hike.   If the gear was not tough it would not survive. 

Test your gear for an extended period of time in all conditions and you will limit it to just the things that are “necessary.”

You have a great blog site with some great information.  Thanks for providing it. – Charles M.
 

Hi JWR,
I am writing you about the letter from Charles M. It was an interesting read, and great for the new to long hiking, but had some huge holes in it as far as surviving and G.O.O.D. is concerned. First off he stated that light weight boots had come a long way and that we should stay away from the all leather heavy type. This is false and he proved it himself as he stated that he wore out three pairs on his hike! As a fifth generation Idahoan, I was raised in the woods. Hiking and mountain climbing is a way of life in my family, and I can attest that buying high end boots that will last is a must. I will only buy boots with all leather upper, a stiff shank, Norwegian welt, and a hard semi rockered waffle stomper sole. I have one pair that have climbed many peaks in Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, Ecuador, Germany, and Australia that are 10 years old! Other than the nicks and scrapes they still have half the tread left! Light weight boots with a soft sole have no place in a long term use situation. The other was the premise that you can carry all your food on your back. He was re-supplying every 10 days or so at a store. You can carry some of the food you will need but you must be able to produce some along the way.

I went into the woods of central Idaho in June of 2002 (diving a 1980 AMC Eagle) with 15 lbs of brown rice, 5 lbs of dehydrated vegetable soup mix, 10 lbs of oats, 16 oz jug of honey, and 5 oz of salt and pepper mix (I didn’t mix it, after that). I had fly fishing and spin-casting gear, a 1920s single shot .22 rifle (with 500 rounds), a bullpup 9mm (with 150 rounds), 20 gallons of gas, 2 gallons of water capacity in various canteens, a dutch oven, axe, shovel, 5 gallon bucket, high lift jack, and a big dog.

We (the dog and I) lived like kings until the snow pushed us out in late September. I ate fish, rabbits, birds, mushrooms of all types, berries, apples, nettles, wild onions, and so forth.  Take what you have go to your desired “woods” with extra gas so you can come home, and see how long you can last, and see what really stops you in your tracks. (For me, it was two feet of snow at 7,000 feet over night. I thought I was done but the lower I got the lees snow and I was fine.  Could I have lasted the winter?  Maybe, maybe not.) 

Now is the time to find out if all the things you think you have learned really do work.

Cheers from Idaho, – Wayne P.

Economics and Investing:

Veteran content contributor K.A.F. sent this: Gasoline Prices are Not Rising, the Dollar is Falling. Here is a brief quote: “”Right now, the threat posed by rising gasoline prices is not just to family budgets. An even greater danger is that the government will use escalating oil prices as an excuse to do something stupid.”

G.G. flagged this: Chart of the Week: Nearly Half of All Americans Don’t Pay Income Taxes

The Real Hunt Brothers Silver Story Part 1

Projected PIIGS Pillage: 3233.5 Tons of Gold to be Confiscated by Insolvent European Banks

Items from The Economatrix:

Gasoline Gas Spike Has Temporary Offset

Housing Dilemma:  There’s Not Enough to Buy

Some Greeks Might Have To Pay For Their Jobs

The Looming Threat to Gas Prices:  Straight of Hormuz Explained

Odds ‘n Sods:

F.B. sent this charming bit: Official: Anonymous May Be Able to Disable Power Grids by Next Year

   o o o

Reader R.J.R. recommended this free Kindle e-book: 101 Offline Activities You Can Do With Your Child.

   o o o

Ready for grid down? “Z2” sent us this BBC article: MPs warn over nuclear space bombs and solar flares

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To follow up on a previous article link: Felony gun charge dropped against Farmington man: County attorney calls Fleming an ‘upstanding member of the community’.

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G.G. suggested this: Gun culture spreads in India: Indians own about 40 million guns, second only to the U.S. Rising incomes, along with crime and fear of terrorist attacks, have fueled firearms purchases.

   o o o

And, speaking of guns: Gun owners hope to win the right to carry concealed weapons.

Note From JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 39 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 39 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Adjusting Survival Plans to Meet Your Unique Circumstances, by Thomas A.

So, first a quick rundown on my family circumstances.  I am a lawyer by training.  My spouse, a former teacher, is midway through dental school.  We own a (mortgaged) home in the Virginia suburbs of a large city.  My spouse is from a western state, having grown up around guns, hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, etc.  By contrast, I grew up in a small city, in a house without guns.  I was in the Cub Scouts for a few years, but various other interests took over and I never got to do the majority of the important skill-building that being in the Boy Scouts allows.  I was, however, a varsity athlete in high school and college, as was my spouse, and we still retain some of the drive toward fitness that preparedness requires.  I am a relatively recent convert to the prepping mindset, thanks in large part, surprisingly, to my dad.  Several years ago, he was caught out, overnight, on a major highway because of a bad tractor-trailer accident in horrendous weather.  He had nothing in the car to eat, or to keep warm.  Luckily, he was able to pull onto the shoulder and drive around cars until he reached a nearby exit, where there was a gas station on a back road, which was covered in ice.  He couldn’t drive home, but the gas station allowed him to eat junk food and to keep warm without completely depleting his gas on the road.  He also had his cell phone (no car charger, though), and between us, we coordinated with his neighbors to feed the dog, etc., while he was away.  He was lucky, and he began immediately afterward to stockpile food at the house, keep needed items in the car, and generally to begin preparing for various minimal disaster scenarios.  His experience impacted me, as well, and we began talking about what we might do in the event something serious happened, creating a loose framework of family responses to various emergencies.

My Own Planning
I began to research and came across ww.survivalblog.com, which I consider to be the finest resource available for relevant information on the topic of prepping.  After reading up on the admittedly overwhelming range of considerations that a complete approach to prepping requires, I started planning.  As the literature says to do, I first determined which scenarios I thought were most likely to occur, and decided what we could do on our meager budget (most lawyers these days work in smaller firms or in solo practices and do not make anywhere near what the general public is led to believe) to prepare.  Knowing how my wife thinks, and thinking that it might be counterproductive if I just brought the whole thing up out of nowhere, I began discussing prepping with her slowly.  We had a couple of conversations, and I suggested a few books (S.M. Stirling’s Dies the Fire and William R. Forstchen’s One Second After are two that I mentioned.)  In hindsight, I shouldn’t have been so cautious, as she was actually very receptive to the idea of being prepared for different eventualities.  However, given the demands of her job at the time and her application process to dental school, virtually all of the planning and decision-making fell to me.

We already had one handgun and 100 rounds of ammunition due to a previous situation with a crazy neighbor, but that was all we started with.  We didn’t feel that compelled to increase either the number of guns or the number of rounds we stockpiled because we both worked within a mile of our home, and we decided that our priorities for preparing actually first lay with making sure we had enough to eat.  Over time, we stockpiled several months of food and water at the house, my wife got a cell phone (which she hated at first), and I started planning for both bug-out and bug-in situations.  I began building a bug-out bag for each of us. We bought an all-wheel drive vehicle.  We started thinking about what we would do with our pets if we had to leave the house.  My wife received a prestigious military scholarship that paid for the vast majority of her expensive tuition and provided a small stipend while she is in school.  Everything was coming together, if slowly.

Everything Changes
Then everything changed.  About 18 months ago, I got laid off because of the combination of the sheer number of attorneys in town in my particular practice area and the dwindling number of paying clients. Due to the horrendous job market for attorneys, I had to take a job out of town, about 150 miles away.  My wife stayed behind in our house.  We did this to allow her to complete the dental school program she was in. 
We talked at length before we made this decision, focusing mainly on the risks and benefits of living apart.  Our plan was (and is) that I should have an apartment near my job where I stay during the week, and I come home to our house on the weekends.  The salary at my new job is nearly double what I was making before, and even accounting for the additional expense of gas and of an apartment in another city, we can still afford to make substantial payments toward eliminating our credit card debt.  We have paid off two credit cards, and are moving quickly toward being completely free of credit card debt.  We only have one small car payment, which is the next target after the credit card debt is gone.  Her dental school education is supremely important, not only because it’s what she has dreamed for years of doing, but because being a dentist has a certain value all its own.  Reading any of the survival fiction available, it’s a common (and reasonable) theme that, in a SHTF scenario, in communities where resources are scarce, only those who can contribute will be welcome.  As a stopgap measure, then, her dental skills may become very useful.

But there was an obvious complication.  All of my careful planning and preparing had resulted in plans we could no longer really use.  Everything was different, so I had to go back to the drawing board.

Implementing Changes
We had to re-think everything.  First, we decided that protection was now of primary importance.  Having only one handgun between us was not enough, not if I was going to be living somewhere out of town and driving 150 miles, one way.  Let me say now that my wife is an excellent shot, much better than I am, in fact.  This is to be expected because she has been shooting since she was a young child (the first gun she ever shot was a .357 Magnum – and that is a really funny story that I won’t go into here).  Her father was an excellent teacher.  But we couldn’t very well do much with one handgun between us.  So we bought my wife a Glock pistol, which she loves.  Then, I bought a Kel-Tec PF9, really for concealed carry (I already had my CCW License), because my other handgun was too big to carry (a Taurus Millennium Pro).  I also got a great deal on a Mossberg shotgun to keep at the house.  I also began to stockpile ammunition.  We do not live in a place where a large-caliber rifle is going to do much good, but in the event of a SHTF situation, I do have a slingshot for squirrels and a .22 rifle is next on the purchase list. Those might help for a few critical days if we decide to bug in, and could be good on the road either as protection or for hunting.  The upshot of all of this is that I now am able to carry a gun plus keep a spare in my B.O.B. at all times.  My wife is much better able to defend the house if she needs to because she has her own handgun (for carry) and a shotgun for last-ditch protection at home.  We also now have made a commitment to regular range training and I am looking into additional personal defense training.  In one sense, then, making this drastic life decision forced us to drastically improve our defense capability. Hunting is another story, but our increased budget has allowed us to stockpile more food.

In many other ways, though, we were back at square one.  For example, what do we do if and when telephone service is not available?  Before, when we were living together and working close to our home, this wasn’t a terribly important consideration.  Now, living 150 miles apart most of the week, it’s crucial.  Presently, we rely heavily on cell phones, email and Skype to communicate during the week. If the satellites are down, and the roads are impassable for any reason, how do we coordinate our movements?  The only viable answer to that question is greater planning and practice during our limited time together so that we can trust in the plans we have made. 

But the considerations are myriad. 
Bugging-in is relatively simple, but do we plan on my coming back home first before we bug out together?  If we do, then we will have to allow for a maximum of three weeks before she executes any fail-safe bug out plan.  In the event of road closures, hiking the full 150 miles across two interstates and many other, smaller highways will take at least two weeks, and probably closer to three.  In the meantime, will it be safe at the house?  If not, where do we go?  How do we decide whether or not it’s safe for her to remain at the house?  How does she communicate her decision?  What is the secondary meet-up point if she has to leave?  How long will she stay?

We had to pay closer attention to mapping my route home.  Virginia provides free road maps upon request, both of the major roads and the so-called “scenic” roads, which may be useful in mapping alternative routes along more rural properties.

The purpose and contents of my B.O.B. also had to change.  Rather than 72 hours, I had to plan for several weeks.  A larger bag, a tarp/tent, extra food, means of getting more food, a more robust and capable water filter, etc.  Because of the additional gear, the weight of the bag increased, and so versatility of various items also had to increase.  Her B.O.B. also had to change.  Honestly, we’re still working out how to deal with pets and the additional pet food, etc., but the purpose of her B.O.B. is to sustain her in traveling to our pre-arranged location, where we have cached a number of additional supplies. Ultimately, and tragically, the hard truth is that we may have to leave beloved pets behind.  Also, with my wife obligated in the military when she graduates, we will likely be moving some distance away while she is serving.  Caching, then, is only a temporary solution to a larger problem, and one which we will have to solve at least a couple more times in the near future.

Our new situation presented us with smaller considerations also.  Where I work, I live only several blocks from my office, in a small apartment.  However, I have no garage parking.  I do have a dedicated parking space at work where, if I wanted, I could leave my car 24 hours a day and walk to and from work.  However, the neighborhood near the office is not great, so I normally park at night on the street near my apartment (the few blocks make a big difference).  I still don’t want to leave my B.O.B. (and the loaded gun inside it) in the car overnight, so I generally leave the bag in my apartment unless I know I am driving some distance.  In terms of OPSEC, I have had to make a hard choice, since it cannot have escaped notice that, occasionally, I move a large, obvious hiking/camping bag to and from the car and the apartment without any apparent reason.  I’m still working on how to make that transition less obvious while maintaining the amount of gear I will need in my B.O.B.  However, I have done too much work and spent too much money to have the B.O.B. stolen, and as a responsible gun owner, I cannot in good conscience leave the gun in a car on the street to be so easily stolen by thieves.

Finally, our long-term plans have had to be more fluid.  Previously, we had planned eventually to purchase land and build a home in a rural area in Virginia.  The uncertainty of my wife’s eventual posting, however, has delayed that a bit.  We do know that we would like to come back to Virginia after she is done with the military, but that may also change.  At the same time, the longer we wait, the more risk we take in not having our retreat available. 

Acquiring New Skills
Not being at home during the week, I do have some time to seek to acquire new skills to supplement my formal education, which would be all but useless in a SHTF situation.  I have time to go the gym and am improving my fitness.  Also, I am currently looking for defensive shooting classes in the area, and with the number of hiking trails around, I have the opportunity to spend some time every week hiking with my pack to begin building up endurance in the event that I have to walk home.  I am reading about foraging for edible plants and about the wildlife in the area.  Living in the apartment, I have no room to practice gardening, etc., but I feel I am making the best of my situation.
We also have a trip planned for later this year to the Pacific Northwest, to my wife’s parents’ house, where I will be spending time with her dad in order to learn some of the hunting, tracking and fishing skills I lack.

The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that the major change we were forced to make in our lives has had both benefits and massive complications.  It has made us (and allowed us financially to) make some immediate improvements in our preparations, but in general, it has made us revisit our plans and drastically change them to suit our new circumstances.  On the bright side, knowing that our living situation will change in the future, we now have the experience of revisiting and changing our plans to adapt to our new circumstances.

SurvivalBlog remains a crucial resource for me, and I have spent hours looking through the archives to gain insight into ways to handle our situation.  Thanks to SurvivalBlog’s varied topics of discussion, I feel I have a much better idea of what questions to ask when I am thinking about making or changing plans.  Thank you, Mr. Rawles, for your prescience and insight.  Keep up the good work!

Experiences Prepping in Florida and Texas, by Scott B.

I’ll start this by saying I’m a single 33 year old. I’ve been into preparedness long before I knew there was a word for it.  I don’t really know where it came from in the beginning, though my mother was my Cub Scout leader in elementary school. Some of my best memories were sitting on the floor underneath the dining room table tying knots around the table legs. I also remember reading The Hardy Boys Handbook: Seven Stories of Survival in elementary school, which was a mix of survival stories and information. It is worthwhile to find a copy for your kids.

As I graduated high school in Texas, Y2K was looming.  I had always been someone to keep a flashlight and jumper cables in my car, but that seemed just sensible to me.  I bought several magazines on Y2K preparedness but being on a college student budget and living in the dorms there was little I could do besides buy a couple of plastic water storage bags. Then after graduation I moved to Florida.

Florida, it would seem, would be the natural place for someone with a survival mindset. Having never lived in Florida before but being someone that watched the news often, all I knew about the state was: Hurricanes.
My father and extended family had lived in Florida for several years and had been through at least one hurricane and the wildfires of the late 1990s. My father being ex military I was sure they would be accepting of the idea and most certainly were several steps ahead my concept of preparedness. Boy, was I wrong.

When I arrived at my father’s house, I couldn’t find a functioning flashlight. They had no water storage. They had a grill that was electric. They had a generator that was not only undersized, but had never been taken out of the box. When I inquired to where there fuel storage was, the reply was ‘we’re going to siphon out of the cars’.  Ok, reasonable idea. Where is the siphon pump? Where are the extension cords for the generator, or do you plan to put it in the middle of the living room?

These questions bothered me greatly, and then Hurricane Floyd came.  I was working for Radio Shack store on Merritt Island at the time, and we had set up a display full of weather radios. I even went as far as to print a picture of the satellite track and tape it onto the stack of boxes. It was mostly ignored. 

Until the final few hours.
I was at the store with a co worker when the wind started to pick up. I made the decision to go home to help the family pack for the evac.  The story that was told to me later was that about  5 minutes after I left, the district manager called to tell him he was free to close the store whenever he felt uncomfortable.  The story goes, that after the district manager hung up, the store was inundated with local people, buying every flashlight, battery pack and weather radio they could get there hands on.  Good day for business, bad day for common sense.

We were lucky enough to have a house in Orlando, so we had some place to go.  I was in the first carload to the house that I had only visited once. The Orlando house had even few preparations than the primary house had.  I fell asleep that night in my clothes with my five year old 4-cell MagLite next to my bed, trying to figure out how to put the skylight back on with duct tape, that I was sure was going to blow off during the night.
As with most Hurricanes that head for the Space Coast, it blew itself out before it barely made landfall.  We didn’t even lose power, thus the complacency continued.

One of my windfall moments was a few months later when Hurricane Irene hit.  [By the time it reached us,] it was a tiny storm, barely a Cat 2.  We had put up our opaque lexan window panels by that point. Irene hit late in the morning and I had slept though most of it. Ironically enough, though the winds were pretty minor, we had lost power.  Since my windows were darkened due to the panels, I had problems finding my way out of my own bedroom. I’ve slept with that 4-cell Maglite under my bed ever since. It’s there right now,  11 years, two states, and many cities later.

I lived in that house on the Space Coast for another year, quietly building a first aid kit, some batteries, flashlights and other equipment quietly. I hid a lot of two liter coke bottles re-filled with water under my bed. It got little attention, until we got our latest ‘boil water order’.  As my father started to fill pots to put on the stove, I pulled a couple of bottles out from under the bed and passed them out. Not a lot of appreciation, but not a lot of scorn either. I was okay with that.

A year or so later, I was on my way to my student research project on my off college day.  I wasn’t much one for the local Orlando radio stations, so it wasn’t until I got to work when I found out about what was going on in New York.  It was 9.11.01.   My boss was e- military and we had several active duty military personnel in the research project. I watched the Internet go to a crawl and cell phone service die.  I finally decided to go home and began filling up anything I could find with water, not sure what would happen next.   My brother got home a little while later. He was working at Sea World at the time and for the first time in remembered history, they had closed and emptied the park.

I remember the uncertainty of the following few months. I recall the anthrax attacks, the invasion of Iraq and the D.C. Sniper.  I was in college in Orlando at this point and had a few extra dollars.  I gathered what I could, mostly first aid and water storage as quietly as I could manage.

Many years later I found my way back home to Texas, and to a place of my own.  I didn’t have to answer anyone about preps and though Y2K had long passed and the overall sense of dread of domestic terrorism was starting to subside, I still wanted to continue prepping.  I had been a member of an online survival forum for a while at this point and it was gaining momentum. As I tried to talk to friends and family about prepping, I had mixed results. When you talk about prepping, people’s minds often go to the extreme.  While there certainly are people sitting in cabins in the woods, surrounded by MREs, I’d put them in the extreme minority. 
I try to talk about balance and threat analysis.  I currently live in Central Texas, which has a stable climate, stable power grid,  no major targets for attack, and is seismically stable.  We did have some radical flooding a few years ago but other than that, we’ve been pretty lucky. I’ve mentioned that about the most extreme plausible thing I can think of is a freak ice storm.

Then Hurricane Katrina happened.
I was working for another Radio Shack store at the time, and it began with strange phone calls from other stores.  Locations were selling out of weather radios and flashlights as fast as we could get them in.  I hadn’t been paying attention to the news lately so I was caught unaware of the situation.   I remember going home that night and reviewing my preps. I was pretty solid at that point, but decided to venture out for some last minute items.
You couldn’t find a pack of batteries in Austin if you tried. You couldn’t find a bottle of water if you had $1,000 to spend on it.

I remember going to an Academy Sports store to look for items. There were several very confused and frightened looking people in the camping aisle, staring at the wall of water filters with glazed over eyes.  I reached for the last 5 gallon water jug a half second before another man did. I had 3 at home, so I let him have it.  He turned and started to look at the MSR Miniworks water filters and I made a quiet comment about what to look for. I glanced up to see 8 pairs of eyes, fixated on me, eager for information.  I answered what I could and made my way home. Seeing that the parking lot at my local grocery store looked like Wal-Mart on the day after Thanksgiving, I found a new respect for Walgreens. They had everything I needed, with reasonable (if not slightly higher) prices.  Keep an eye out for a Walgreens or CVS pharmacy if you’re in an emergency situation.

I watched the news that night and attempted to keep my stress level down. I’m a marginally high strung person and I though I’ve been into prepping for  a while, I had yet to actually be in an emergency situation. I packed my freezer with as many bags of ice as I could make and filled everything I could find with water. I moved a mattress into my closet and even made plans to block the windows.  You see, in those final few hours, there were news reports that estimated that Katrina was supposed to go right up the middle of Texas, through Houston and up and through Austin and onward.  Bastrop (a South East Suburb of Austin) had evacuation orders was another rumor.

The next day was a mix of emotions. Texas barely got anything, while the insanity of New Orleans took hold.  My own personal temper was fanned by my employment situation. You see, when no disaster came to pass in Texas, virtually every pack of batteries, weather radio, flashlight or pocket television was returned. I wanted to scream at every customer, standing there holding there receipt. It was less about my deflated bonus check about the frustration that was so similar to what I felt in Florida.  It wasn’t like we were selling generators or gas masks. It wasn’t like the items were thousands or even hundred of dollars. I couldn’t understand why someone would return a $5 flashlight ‘because nothing happened, so now I don’t need it.’

I’ve stopped trying to beat people over the head with prepping. I’ve found that you catch my flies with honey than you do with vinegar. When I talk to people about prepping, I focus on realistic threats and low cost solutions.  People think that prepping is expensive. It doesn’t have to be. I tell people that if they stop to think about it,  probably 80% of the things they need they already have, and another 15% of things, they should have. Does every house need a flashlight, a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher?  Have you ever gone camping? You probably have a stove, blankets and sleeping bags. Water storage is as cheap as a 2 liter soda bottle, or  a $12 Aquatainer. It’s not about guns and gas masks, though I don’t discount those either. It’s not about zombies or EMPs, though I don’t discount those either.

If you stop and look around your town or city, you can probably come up with a few plausible, reasonable situations that could happen with little to no warning.  Are you prone to snow, ice, flooding or extreme heat?  Do you live near a rail line? (overturned chemical car anyone?). If you live near a nuclear power plant or military base, do you know several ways to get out of town?

Mostly, focus on the little things. I still feel strongly that most of the situations that you’re going to come across you won’t be home for. Do you carry a flashlight, tool kit, jumper cables and a flash light in your car? You don’t even want to know how many of each of those are in mine. I don’t feel normal if I leave the house without a knife in my pocket and a flashlight on my key ring. Why?  These are things that I use every day of my life. People reading this would say that will probably think that is too basic a thing to even mention, but look around you. How many of you have friends or family that don’t own flashlights.  How many of your friends don’t have jumper cables in their car?

I’ve slowly got friends and family into prepping. It was a hard road. Being subtle helps. Christmas and birthdays provide opportunities.  I wouldn’t suggest buying a relative a gas mask if they aren’t already on board.  Start easy, like a wind up weather radio or lantern. Something they will likely use even not in a disaster situation. Even cheesy disaster movies like 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow (one of my favorites) provide opportunities. Anything that will give you the chance for a discussion is of benefit, just keep it light. Let them come to you for more information when they are ready. Let them know that you love them and you’re trying to help save their life, but don’t beat them over the head with it if they aren’t ready.

Most importantly, keep a good attitude. At the end of the day, unless you’re Bill Gates, you can’t prepare for every single situation. Pick your battles and your primary threats. Do what you can when the finances allow.  By reading this and going to the store, you’re already ahead of 95% of the population.  Regardless of what the voice over on Doomsday prepper says about the odds of a disaster happening, remember:  It’s not about the odds, it’s about the stakes.

Four Letters Re: Celiac Disease: The Gluten-Free Prepping Challenge

Jim:
I am also gluten intolerant and I found out much in the same way and the previous writer.  In addition the information provided I would like to point out potatoes.  They can be bought in 50 pounds bags and stored in a root cellar for most of the winter.

We buy two 50 pound bags in the fall that last us until late spring.  We also grow 18 different varieties of potatoes and save and grow them from seed each spring.  That way we have the knowledge and ability to ramp up our own potato production in case we couldn’t buy them from the farm down the road.

As for bulk oats they should be avoided by people with celiac disease unless they are certified gluten free.  Growing a field of oats without wheat contamination is a difficult and costly process.  Ordinary bulk oats are contaminated with wheat.  After three days of one bowl of bulk oats a day, my intensities let me know that there is gluten in there.  Store what you eat, eat what you store. – Dan in Upstate New York

 

JWR;
This posting has come at an opportune time for me. My daughter-in-law has celiac. That combined with the fact that she is a vegetarian has left me with few options for stocking foods that she can eat.  She has to be wheat free and gluten free. You and poster are correct about separate grinders etc. When they come to visit, she must use a different stick of butter since even the touching the our bread can trigger a reaction.  We always have to read the label because wheat is used as a filler and thickener in many products, pasta sauce, candy and even in toothpaste. She does eat eggs and cheese. So fortunately our little flock can feed her and I am planning to get a milk goat. 
 
Thank you for a great blog and a “gathering place” for like-minded individuals. – Linda U.

 

James Wesley:
As a thirty-year survivalist I had a couple years of food storage when I married my wife a few years ago who has celiac disease.  While we do not maintain a gluten-free kitchen as I enjoy the occasional ‘normal’ pizza, cookie, or sandwich, I made the decision to convert my food storage to all gluten-free because the galley in the retreat is much smaller and we cannot assure contamination will not occur there like we can at home. I drove my truck to the food cooperative in a neighboring state and purchased 800 additional pounds of corn, buckwheat, quinoa, and amaranth which I processed in 5 gallon buckets according to your directions in How To Survive the End of the World as We Know It.  I also ordered a Country Living Grain Mill because they will test it with rice at the factory instead of wheat to prevent contamination and the optional bean auger is perfectly suited for popcorn which I can get inexpensively in 25# bags at the local warehouse club. I have started storing and using xanthan gum which attempts to hold baked goods together the way the gluten does in baked goods containing wheat.

After sorting out and setting aside my wheat and other glutenous provisions, I contacted some local preppers and survivalists and sold my entire stock of these items for the bargain price of $5 per #10 can.  My wife is very good about making me gluten-full foods I enjoy.  For example, this evening we both had biscuits and gravy, but mine were ‘normal’ while hers were made with alternative flour.  Grocery stores are keeping more gluten-free products and a plethora of recipes are available all over the Internet for those who cook everything from scratch.  I find that every year I develop more and more taste for gluten-free products.  I compare it to going from whole milk to 1%.  One might start by transitioning to 2% before moving to 1% or skim. 

The two biggest problems I have encounters thus far are that I can no longer store TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) which is also known as soy meat because they list wheat as one of the ingredients and it will be difficult to share meals with those in our retreat group because their food storage and meal planning is highly dependent upon wheat products.  Prudent planning has overcome these obstacles and I feel I am no less prepared now than I was before I purged gluten from my food storage. – Allen C.    

 

James,
I enjoyed the article by Geoff in Kentucky. Having a daughter recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease I can sympathize with him. The simple act of grocery shopping took three time longer when we first started. We’re back to normal now and prepare both gluten containing and gluten free meals and storage. One helpful tip I’d like to pass along is an iPhone/iPad app called “Is that gluten free?” by Midlife Crisis Apps. I don’t recall what it cost us but the fee was reasonable and has more than paid for itself in time and frustration. You can search by brand or ingredient. It even covers many local brands.

All the best! – South Florida Gal

Two Letters Re: Traditional Tools for TEOTWAWKI, by Bill H.

James,
I just read the comment  by one of the readers on the Crosscut Saw Company (in Letters – Traditional Tools for TEOTWAWKI, by Bill H.).
 
I am on my second crosscut saw I purchased form the Crosscut Saw Company. (The first one that I owned was stolen). I also purchased their saw maintenance manual, and some sharpening tools. I purchased the saws manufactured by them (They also have some of the commercial made saws). Their saws are of excellent quality and workmanship, and definitely worth the money.
 
If you do decide to purchase one of these saws, purchasing a manual on how to sharpen the saw, and a good file are a must. The difference between a sharp saw, and a improperly sharpened saw is, that one zips through the wood, whereas the “mutilated” saw will quickly wear out the user without cutting much wood.
 
Crosscut saws come with two type of tooth configurations, depending on their primary use. I have always used the Perforated Lance Tooth design, and it has worked for me. They are available as either one man saws, designed to be used by one person, or two man saws to be used by two persons. With two man saws, the saw is always pulled through the cut, never pushed. Depending on the saw, the handles may have to be purchased separately.
 
I spent many years on a farm, cutting wood, and felling trees with crosscut saws. (We had a chainsaw, but my uncle always insisted on us using the crosscut saw for the first trees, so that “I would learn something useful” I also got to cut the firewood with the smaller one man saw. Well he was right. I had indeed learned something useful).
 
A well-maintained Crosscut saw is a must have as a backup to a chainsaw, and is also a lot quieter. – The Consultant.

 

James Wesley,
I appreciate you posting my article, and those who responded.
 
First off, the suggestion of the shaving horse immediately drew my attention. Constructing one will be my next project. I will most likely follow the plans from this link. There also appears to be some other excellent information on this site.
 
As for the purchase of a crosscut saw, the vendor appears to have quality products. I personally would have a hard time convincing “she who tracks the bank account” feeling good about spending that much for a hand saw. If a person is patient there is a fair chance a reasonably priced saw will be available on craigslist, at an estate sale or at a swap meet. I was recently able to acquire a broad axe head (small) for $3, a steel splitting wedge for $1, a cast iron 3 qt dutch oven for $10, and a hand crank meat grinder for $6 at estate sales. All of these items are high quality, made in the U.S. items. I spent $20 for items that would cost well over $100 new if I could even find them. I am still looking for a froe, but am not sure I would use it much. That possibility drives the price down for me.
 
With all of that being said, an important part of the article is not just owning these items. The important concept is to use the items you do own. I use my drawknife at least once a week, and usually more. That is why I will be making the shaving horse. It would be much easier to use a shaving horse than to use my bar clamps, as I currently am, to fashion a handle for the broad axe. Necessity drives invention (or motivation). I just want to have some practice doing these things before my life depends on it.
 
Best regards and thanks again, – Bill H.

Letter Re: Switching to AR-10s for Battle Rifles

JWR,
I’ve looked into getting an AR-10 to supplement my AR-15 and considered the SI Defense and CMMG options that accept the widely available and very inexpensive Heckler und Koch G3 20 round magazines.  The former requires minor modification of each G3 magazine, the latter requires modification to an upper receiver, and unfortunately those lower receivers are no longer produced. 

I know you’ve mentioned your plan to convert to SI Defense receiver AR-10 rifles, but I did not see a mention of the required magazine modification.  The instructions to modify the magazines can be found here.  The modification involves removing a bit of material from the feed lips, evenly from both sides.  I have not yet taken the plunge on this rifle, so I do not know how difficult this modification is or how it affects the use of modified G3 magazines in G3 rifles.  I would be interested to see if any of the Survival Blog readers has experience with either of these rifles/conversions. – Andy J.

Economics and Investing:

Chart: ‘America’s Per Capita Government Debt Worse Than Greece‘. (Thanks to B.B. for the link.)

The compression of generations – 25 million adults live at home with parents because they’re unemployed or underemployed.

Reader R.B.S. sent this: Idaho Rep. Hart pushes gold coins as ‘legal tender’

$6 Gas This Summer — U.S. Economy Falls Off Cliff

Items from The Economatrix:

Iran Stopped Selling Crude to UK and France

Oil Price Hits 8-Month High

Gallup Finds Unemployment Climbing to 9% in February

US Dollar Could Weaken Amid Euro Talks

Odds ‘n Sods:

An astounding piece from Nanny State Canada: Man arrested for daughter’s picture of him with gun. My advice for my readers in Ontario: Relocate, while you still can! You will find the western provinces are more gun friendly. Vote with your feet! (Thanks to B.B. for sending the link.)

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John R. sent this headline from Nanny State Britannia: Widow faces jail for possession of late husband’s illegal pistol after it was stolen during burglary. JWR’s Comment: Don’t miss this quote at the end: “To find a gun is quite bad enough, but to find ammunition is a serious aggravation.” I can only imagine their reaction if they walked into Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR), and saw the entire wall of ammo cans. They would surely have apoplectic spasms.

   o o o

A good summary: The History and Future of Pandemics

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New Hampshire man arrested for firing gun into ground while catching suspected burglar. (So much for “Live Free or Die.” FWIW, in many western states and in much of the South, he probably would have received a commendation, instead.)

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A new free e-book: The Proverbs 31 Woman Guide to Starting Seeds

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“The U.S. economic and systemic-solvency crises of the last five years continue to deteriorate. Yet they remain just the precursors to the coming Great Collapse: a hyperinflationary great depression. The unfolding circumstance will encompass a complete loss in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar; a collapse in the normal stream of U.S. commercial and economic activity; a collapse in the U.S. financial system, as we know it; and a likely realignment of the U.S. political environment.” – John Williams of Shadowstats

Note From JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 39 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 39 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.