Search Results for: prepper-resources

How to Prepare When You’re The Only One- Part 2, by Patriotman

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…living in a fantasy realm. You nailed it. He should be taking everything you say to heart and adjusting his life accordingly. Didi I am a woman in my 60’s. I’ve been “getting ready” since before Y2K. In all that time I have tried to “educate” and “persuade” my loved ones to open their eyes to the need to at least THINK about the future. Doesn’t work; you can’t turn a person into a prepper. Preppers have a certain kind of approach to life which seems to be built in. What few relatives I have are not the least bit interested in leaving sunny southern California where life is grand. So I finally came to the realization that even at this late point in my life, I needed to pick myself up and get myself to a safe location. I chose to move to the American Redoubt (grateful hat tip…


Home Design Choices for the Prepper, by S.L.S.

…to compare each effectively by comparing an expected BTU use per year, the quantity of fuel needed for each category and its costs, including installation and maintenance costs over the life expectancy of the equipment. Some web based resources are available to help with this, try this calculator. Propane is my favorite, from a prepper’s standpoint. Propane can be stored essentially forever, as it does not go bad. Large underground tanks can be installed to supply your needs for a full year, or more. This also allows the home owner to take advantage of off-season purchases, which may save quite a bit of money each year. One warning: leased, rented, or company owned tanks are often a rip-off. With them, you are typically required to buy the gas from only the tank owner and they know it! Buy your tank if at all financially possible, then you can shop for…


A Multi-Faceted Approach to Post-Disaster Information Gathering, by D.C.

…has been my observation that most folks in prepping circles are aware of this, but we as human beings have a tendency toward tunnel vision on some things and ignore others. This is often to our detriment. Information gathering takes many forms and goes beyond the technology involved. By our nature, we, preppers, like to focus on mechanical, technical, and logistical solutions to problems. These are all important things, but it also means that we may inadvertently compartmentalize our thinking, and thus we don’t really see the big picture. One of the most common sources of information is the Internet. Many preppers tend to overlook this area of information gathering in favor of other non-conventional methods, which will be discussed later. The typical prepper’s concern regarding the Internet is that the Internet is vulnerable to attack and disruption in a multitude of scenarios, such as an attack on the power…


Survival Planning Using the Military Decision Making Process, by A.J.

There are literally thousands of resources out there for the prepper and would-be survivalist giving advice on the best Bug-Out Bag (BOB), Bug-Out Vehicle (BOV), or necessities to pack into your Bug-out Bag (BOG) or the well stocked first aid kit.  All of this advice is great, however, one thing most of these references have in common is that they all tell the individual prepper he or she needs to assess his or her needs and current situation in order to determine their individual needs.  One thing I have noticed is the dearth of advice on HOW to plan for survival.  I propose using a tried and true tool that can easily be learned and is actually quite intuitive. The US Military (as well as NATO partners and others) use what is known at the Military Decision Making Process, or MDMP, to plan every level of mission from a squad…


A Prepper’s Wife’s Perspective, by ATL

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…evening news). By the time the hurricanes made landfall they were less severe in our county than predicted; however, our neighborhood did lose power. Prepper Spouses Relatively New To (or May Doubt) This Way of Living There’s a huge difference, in my mind, between talking about what to do in case of TEOTWAWKI and being well-prepared for a major weather event about to bear down on you. Here’s what I have learned from my recent real-world experiences that may be helpful to other prepper spouses who, like me, are relatively new to (or may doubt) this way of living. New-To-Me Experiences During these storms there were some new-to-me experiences. I’ll summarize these below: Power Outages Mean No Tap Water Power outages mean no tap water; that’s limited flushing. Water in our house is supplied by a well on our property. The gadget that pumps that water up from the well…


Budget Prepper Guns, by Pete Thorsen

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Preppers can have many reasons to own and many uses for firearms. Hunting would likely be one of the top reasons to own. Security could be a valid reason, for sure. A means to dispatch livestock might be another reason. And just for fun would still be a very valid reason. There are certainly plenty of firearm options. Firearms have been made for hundreds of years with countless variations. Well cared-for firearms can last for several generations. Personally I have shot guns that were fully functional even though they were hundred and fifty years old. Many guns have been passed down through family members for generations. With thousands of gun choices, what should a prepper buy? I would start by saying that any quality firearm could be a good choice. And I can guarantee that no matter what guns I would happen to suggest they would be hotly contested by…


Prepper Axioms That I Find Puzzling- Part 2, by N.B.

…do that, then perhaps you can help the person who can. If you don’t do it, then someone else will, and that person might have sinister intents, plus an army. Prepper Axiom #4: First aid concerns Probably the worst thing about first aid is that many preppers get CPR training and think they are ready for anything. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. I will say that in normal times CPR training is great to have, but in a survival situation it is essentially useless. CPR circulates blood but does not restart the heart. Only defibrillators can do that. If help is not coming, then someone with heart failure is dead. I am sorry, but that is the truth. Hearts do not simply stop without cause. They usually stop due to massive trauma or some underlying medical condition. If you are performing first aid in the field and someone…


Start Now, While You Can, Because You Can, by Old Bobbert

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…most simple, plainest, mundane items have great value on occasion. Sometimes when you want to blame anyone except yourself, as in the above example of the porta potty. Go to Google or yahoo for answers to simple but unpleasant questions and find articles. Three Types of Preppers Okay, let’s do our summary and talk about the three types. We have learned that there are basically, or generally, three types of preppers in most places and most of the time. The GPs First, we have the genuine prepper who does a lot very quietly with very little notice or notification to others. We can call them the GP’s. They are the “Great Preppers”. They have amassed a large, personal library of topics that will be of great value after a financial/banking failure, a power grid shut down, or whatever it might be that shuts down the system. There is food to…


OPSEC Problems for Preppers, by The Lone Canadian

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…the Media First, we have to admit that shows like “Doomsday Preppers” have not helped our cause. Although it did bring public attention to the fact that there are a lot of preppers out there, it sensationalized the whole movement as a crazy, fringe element. More like the National Enquirer than a television show about self reliant individuals. Some of the newer shows about living off grid are much better and show real people, but they seem to studiously avoid the word “preppers”. The media continues to vilify anybody that doesn’t agree with their vision of what a perfect citizen should be. Somebody that will fall into line and support all the right causes. Somebody that is “Woke”- whatever that is. I’ve been woke most of my adult life. I have been able to look past the propaganda, and find the truth. I have been able to see the lies,…


Buying Land in the American Redoubt, by G. in Virginia

…terms of the conservation easement are once again recorded with the title to the land at the land office and a copy can be obtained. The advantage to a prepper on most covenants is that the vast majority of covenants restrict development of a piece of land, the last thing a prepper wants to do. So while this land is the same value to a prepper as it was pre-covenant to everyone else it is far less desirable. This reduced pool of potential purchasers means that land with conservation and other covenants is often far cheaper than the surrounding land, allowing a prepper to get a lot more bang for their land buying dollar. Financing Now that you have found your land how are you going to pay for it? Most of us do not have hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting around. This means that we are going to…


Prepper Primer for Your Non-prepper Loved Ones, by T.S. – Part 2

…fine since a little dew will not make much difference. Wash your boots if they get dirty. Muddy boots will not breath and your feet will get sweaty inside. In addition, mud on your boots will break them down faster. Mud and dirt on any piece of gear will break it down faster. Keep your gear and clothes CLEAN! Pack some kind of sandals or croc-like shoe to wear to give your feet a rest from socks and boots. Wear these secondary shoes while setting up/taking down camp. The “butt” cream used for baby butt rash is perfect for your feet! Use it if you start to have difficulties with your feet. 1P. Underwood,US Army Survival Manual (Skyhorse Pub Co Inc, 2011). 2S. Skipton, B. I. Dvorak, and J. A. Albrecht, Drinking Water: Storing an Emergency Supply (Cooperative Extension, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2004). 3N….


Comprehensive Crisis Communications Planning for the Prepper, by Hammer

…be of potentially great use to the Prepper. 75/80 Meters has the ability to communicate regionally, beyond the range of typical VHF and UHF systems which will be discussed later. 75/80 fills a unique gap in HF coverage, and can provide statewide communications. This is where most statewide emergency communications “nets” take place. Groups such as the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and state Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) conduct most statewide HF operations in this band. It has been said that most disasters are local and regional in nature. This makes 75/80 very useful because of it’s propagation characteristics. The best propagation mode for the Prepper on this band is to use Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS). This involves the counter intuitive placement of an antenna that is very close the ground, within about 8 feet or so. It needs to be just high enough that people or animals cannot…


Letter: The Disturbing Trend of the Disengaged Prepper

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JWR, Hugh, SurvivalBlog Readers, In case you haven’t noticed, our 2nd Amendment rights are being stripped before our very eyes. As uncomfortable as it was, I chose to participate in the local pro-gun side of the recent #MarchforOurLives protest on March 24, 2018. The only thing more disappointing than the turn-out for “our” side was the complete absence of any members of my circle of preppers. I’m not sure when it became the apparent modus operandi of so many in the self-reliance and prepper movements to stop participating in chances to voice our opinions and stand in the here and now to fight for our rights. For some, it has become much easier to rationalize that nothing can be done to right the ship, retreat to their mental or physical hidey-holes, caress their firearms and dehydrated food, and wait for the collapse. If we are to have any hope for…


The Rules of Engagement: Meet PTSD- Part 2, by Autistic Prepper

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…to himself. Hints of what I don’t know sometimes slip out, like the time we were at a military collectors show and he saw a North Vietnamese helmet. H picked it up, remarking, “The last time I saw one of these was through my sniper scope.” I’ve become good at reading between the lines. Why I Wrote This This article began because someone asked a good question—how is autism related to prepping? I’m the over-analytical person who took the question and, having applied it first to autism, decided preppers should know at least a little about a completely different kind of psychological difference. So, why I wrote this was to educate and prepare the prepping community. If SHTF, Some of the Most Valuable May Have PTSD If a SHTF event ever happens, we will find ourselves dealing with a wide variety of people. Some of the most valuable may be…