An interview with two experienced prepper networkers.

Preparedness networks offer the ability of the ‘members’ to work with others who have a similar interest in preparedness.  The advantages are numerous, including the ability to learn from other members’ experiences, to assist one another in the event of a disaster, to barter among one another, and to support the time-tested notion of specialization to gain greater degrees of productive efficiency.  Check out the two interviews below with some seasoned members of prepper networks.

Contrary to what others may believe, preppers are not a homogenous tribe of people that think alike, plan alike, and act alike.  They are in fact a rapidly growing group that have interests as wide as the general population.  The only real difference between them and the rest of the population is that preppers choose to take preparing for disaster seriously.  Among them, you’ll find all walks of life and a broad spectrum of reasons for which they choose to do it.  As a recent prepper myself, I found that getting serious about it can be quite intimidating and overwhelming.   When I began, I came across several mentions of prepper networks.  This intrigued me enough to do some further research which resulted in among other things, this article.

It’s difficult to define prepper networks.  Typically, they are loosely formed organizations designed specifically to help themselves and others prepare for disasters of nearly any type.  Keep in mind, there are many preparedness networks–some large, and some small.  They can be as simple as a few like-minded friends in a local community to state and national organizations.   I found two large, well organized networks that piqued my interest.  I noticed they have some things in common even though they are not affiliated with one another.  This article includes interview transcripts conducted with individuals of both of these networks.

 THE MISSISSIPPI PREPAREDNESS PROJECT

My first interview was with Sam Owens, a member of the Mississippi Preparedness Project (MPP).  MPP operates under a model consisting of five principles designed for

an individual, family or group for their ability to sustain themselves under any circumstances:  Communication, Water, Food, Medical, and Security.  The focus is on using teams to accomplish what is needed for each of the five components.

Mr. Owens has been a member of MPP for approximately 18 months and has been a serious prepper for over three years.  Following is a transcript from questions posed to Mr. Owens:

PM:  Can you explain the principle purpose of your preparedness network?

SO:  Our network’s principle purpose is to form a community of like-minded preppers who are interested in coming together for mutual benefit if and when a disaster strikes. Much of the preparedness project’s energy is spent educating it’s members and encouraging us to learn from each other via our built in blog. Our particular organization discourages political and religious discussions on the site. We are a PREPAREDNESS group. Not a militia or political group (like the Tea Party, for example).

PM: What are the advantages and disadvantages of being part of a preparedness network?

SO:  I would say the advantages are numerous, but they include: 1) many educational benefits as we learn from each other, 2) monthly training sessions and workshops on topics like food/water storage, first aid, security and communications, 3) we make lasting friendships, and 4) we have the peace of mind knowing that there are many other folks around who see the world as we do.

 As far as disadvantages go, it’s possible that the group could be infiltrated and the members may end up on a “list” or the subject of a media “hit piece.”  As a matter of fact, we had a former member who ended up on the no-fly list and got stranded in Hawaii for a week. Fortunately, the word got out and public pressure forced the TSA to remove him from the list.

PM: Does MPP follow a standard model of organization for preparedness?

SO: I don’t know how standard it is, but we have a state board that makes decisions with respect to the project. We are divided into six state regions based on geography (Northwest, Central West, Southwest, etc.)  Each region has a Point of Contact (POC) and each county within a region has a point of contact. Also, the project has certain titles for subject-matter experts in the fields of communications, security, medical, etc.

PM: Is MPP part of a larger network, APN for example? 

SO: No. But, it’s not a bad idea to be part of a national group. Also, we just spun off a group next door in Louisiana. They now have the Louisiana Preparedness Project. It

has the same format and organization as MPP.

PM: Do networks like MPP offer training for people who are interested in making preparations for disaster?

SO: Yes. We have monthly training, plus a huge online library of literature pertaining to preparation. Also, we have online blogs where we meet and discuss.

PM: Do you worry that being part of a group like this might cause unwanted exposure to either the government or those who have not prepared?

SO: Yes. As I mentioned previously, sometimes being a part of a group like this can cause some unfortunate side effects, but I won’t let it stop me.  The advantages far outweigh the risks.

PM: Does MPP try to do anything to educate others that preparing for disasters does not make you a kook?

SO: We provide speakers for groups such as 912 and Tea Party in the state of Mississippi. We are happy to provide a speaker to any group interested in hearing what we have to offer. We are not concerned about being thought of as kooks and extremists. Heck, just vote anything other than Democrat and you’ll be accused of that.

PM: As a newcomer to serious prepping, I’ve found the process of becoming a prepper both intimidating and overwhelming. Given the recent heightened interest in prepping, what would you recommend to those interested in trying to become more prepared?

SO: It’s easy to become overwhelmed in the beginning. I felt that way when I started. I would recommend that folks pace themselves and don’t think you have to do it “right now”. Make a priority list, then work your way down the list. For example, my priority list was: 1. Store one month of water. 2. Store one month of food. 3. Buy a pistol with ammunition. 4. Buy an emergency water filtration system. 5. Start gardening. 6. Buy a rifle with ammunition and learn to hunt. 7. Learn to fish.  etc…etc….etc…..It’s all about taking steps towards improvement. Very few folks have the financial resources to store a years worth of food immediately.

PM: For those without unlimited resources, do you believe it possible for newcomers to adequately make preparations without “breaking the bank?”

Yes! As I mentioned before, make a priority list and begin one step at a time. For example, my number one was to get a month of water. Bottle water is pretty cheap right now. People need to have a family budget and allocate a certain number of dollars per month towards prepping. Then, stick to it. Even if you only have 10 or 20 dollars per m

onth, it’s a start. Over time, it will all pile up. But, of everything  you can do, the cheapest thing is to educate yourself! There are numerous websites devoted to educating the public about prepping! Google it. One site comes to mind: http://www.survivalblog.com

PM: Anything of interest you would like to add?

SO: I’ve been accused of living in fear and being paranoid. The fact is, I was living in fear BEFORE I began prepping. Now that I’ve built up some preps and have the arms to protect my family, I am much more at peace than before. Furthermore, my experience when it comes to “preaching” the prepping gospel has been fairly positive. I have had a few folks tell me that I’m crazy. But, most at least listen politely. I’ve worked hard to bring my family and friends on board. Heck, when the SHTF, they will be the first folks standing at my door. So, I encourage them to prepare, with mixed results.

THE AMERICAN PREPPERS NETWORK (APN)

My second interview was with Phil Burns, co-owner and Chief Technical Officer of American Preppers Network (APN).  Mr. Burns is a 3rd generation prepper with a professional background in information technology.  APN’s mission is: “To bring knowledge and understanding of living a Self-Reliant lifestyle into the mainstream and teach it to every household in America.”  Their core belief is that “Every American family should strive to become Self-Reliant, enabling them to better weather the day-to-day disasters, catastrophes and hardships that we all experience.”  APN also has a strong belief in community stated as:

We believe in Public Virtue and that communities should draw together through Preparedness and develop friendships, trust and loyalty within their neighborhood through discussing and developing support, evacuation and safety measures.

We believe that every family should have a personal storage of every needful thing in the event of a local disaster to enable them to help themselves, help their neighbor

s and help their community.

We believe in the “goodness of man” and that our responsibilities lay first to ourselves, second to our families and then to our neighbors and communities.

We believe that with proper preparation, disasters can be overcome on a personal, family, neighborhood and community level.

Following is a transcript from our interview with Mr. Burns:

PM:  How long have you been seriously prepping?

PB: I’m a 3rd generation prepper.  Part of that comes from my background as an LDS and part because my grandmother did what most everyone else did in those days.  They prepared.

PM:  When and why did you decide to join APN?

PB:  I formed a group called the Utah Preppers many years ago and I was contacted by the owner, Tom Martin of APN who at the time was interested in building a national network. At that time I was working in other business endeavors, but later came on board as part owner and CTO about a year ago.  I joined because of my interest in prepping and in helping others to do so too.  I had just come through a family disaster where my daughter was diagnosed with cancer and spent all of my time and resources in helping her with treatment.  It was a personal disaster for my family.  During her recovery, we relied solely on our stored food and other resources.  I was able to spend that time with my family without working.  If I hadn’t been prepared, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do that.  When my daughter recovered, I came on board full-time with APN as part owner.

PM:  Can you explain the principle purpose of your preparedness network concept?

PB:  It can best be explained by our mission statement: “To bring knowledge and understanding of living a Self-Reliant lifestyle into the mainstream and teach it to every household in America, and further by our core beliefs. (see above)  We also have to keep in mind that there are many subsets of preppers, from survivalists and lone-wolfs to community oriented preppers.  We focus on the community oriented type.  We do not endorse or support conspiracy theories.  We like to engage in personal and community preparedness.  We also interact with government (national, state, and local), such as FEMA all the way down to local sheriffs and fire departments.

PM: What is your driving force behind your operation?

PB:  “Love they neighbors and getting them prepared,”  It’s really that simple and it comes from our Christian roots, although we do not limit membership or participation in any way to any specific faith.

PM:  What kinds of organizational opportunities does APN offer for individuals or other networks?

PB: We offer many resources on our website as well as discussion forums, newsletters, and Facebook pages for each state.  We also encourage and enable meet-ups and provide communication tools for each state or sub group to help them form their own networks.  These tools help preppers find each other in their local areas and allow them to work with one another in becoming more self-reliant.

PM.  Does APN offer training for people who are interested in making preparations for disaster?

PB:  No.  We’ve found that each individual wants to become self-reliant for their own personal reasons.  One might be planning for war.  Another might be for local natural disasters.  And others might be for economic collapse.  Each of those requires substantially different ways to make preparations.  It’s very difficult to come up with a training plan for those with  such diverse reasons for preparations. This is why we encourage meet-ups and smaller, community oriented groups so they can make preparations based on their own needs.

PM:  Do you have any recommendations for those that do not believe a more self-reliant lifestyle is needed?

PB:  Yes, think about the many things that can happen in your life.  It is very unlikely that you will get through life without some type of disaster.  It may be a personal disaster like the one I went through with my daughter, or it could be an extended weather related disaster such as a hurricane or tornado.  It may very well be about your life falling apart for any number of reasons and being able to deal with that–being able to avoid major catastrophic interruptions in your life.

Prepping isn’t just for “end of the world” scenarios.  Finally, many like to think of preppers as pessimists, but really, we’re actually optimists.  We’re realists and we’re not in denial about some of the things that can happen.

PM:  Finally, the recent popularity of the television show “Doomsday Preppers” has given a lot of notoriety to the notion of prepping.  What are your thoughts about this show?  Has it been a positive or negative influence on the self-reliant lifestyle?

PB:  I’ll refer you to an article I wrote in our blog in March of 2012 titled “The Consequence of Doomsday Preppers.”  Generally speaking, I’m pleased that prepping is getting more media attention, but I worry that the show brings too much negative attention.  The show often shows preppers as fringe people who don’t fit in the normal social structure of our country.  This is a false representation of the prepper mindset and it is unfortunate it is presented in that way.  The format of the show lends itself primarily to making “good television” and less on the positive things about prepping.

Phil Burns has written extensively about prepping.  He and his partners at American Prepper Network have accumulated a vast repository of valuable information for preppers, from beginners to expert.  I encourage everyone to visit their website and take advantage of the work they’ve done.

I’d like to thank both Sam Owens and Phil Burns for giving their time to share their knowledge and thoughts about prepper networking.  I encourage you to visit their websites and learn more about how being part of a network can in fact improve your chances of survival in the event of a disaster.

PROCLIVUS MAGAZINE HIGHLY ENCOURAGES READERS TO VISIT THE

AMERICAN PREPPER’S WEBSITE

“Hands down.  The planet’s most comprehensive resource for prepping!” — Proclivus Magazine

APN Core Belief

We firmly believe that every American family should strive to become Self-Reliant, enabling them to better weather the day-to-day disasters, catastrophes and hardships that we all experience.

APN Secondary Beliefs

We believe in Public Virtue and that communities should draw together through Preparedness and develop friendships, trust and loyalty within their neighborhood through discussing and developing support, evacuation and safety measures.

We believe that every family should have a personal storage of every needful thing in the event of a local disaster to enable them to help themselves, help their neighbors and help their community.

We believe in the “goodness of man” and that our responsibilities lay first to ourselves, second to our families and then to our neighbors and communities.

We believe that with proper preparation, disasters can be overcome on a personal, family, neighborhood and community level.

APN Mission

“To bring knowledge and understanding of living a Self-Reliant lifestyle into the mainstream and teach it to every household in America.”

We want to see every American household properly prepared for any negative or difficult event that may come in their lives that would cause the world as they know it to change.  This type of  event is most commonly on a personal level: the death of an immediate family member, an all consuming house fire, debilitating sickness or injury or a sudden devastating financial change such as losing a job.

These events also can and do occur on a  local community, state, region, national and world level.  They most commonly come in the form of natural or man-made disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, ice-storms, earthquakes and so on.  Less frequently and often less likely, they occur as a consequence of poor leadership, bad governmental decisions and poor policy.  These type of events can wreak havoc for anywhere from 24 hours to years on end.

We are adamant in our belief that any of these things can be overcome!  With proper preparation and “insurance”, we believe that humans have an amazing capacity to assess, adapt and overcome any obstacle that falls before them!  We created The American Preppers Network so that we could help teach others the skills, theories and tools of Self Reliance and Preparation.  We earnestly believe in every person’s ability to survive what may come – and come out on top!

We invite everyone to come join us on The Path of The Prepper: to question and learn from mentors, to study and practice together, to adapt and change through sharing progress, and to finally master and become an expert mentor to those who are beginning on the path!

pro•cliv•us | prō ‘kliv әs |
adjective
definition: ready
ORIGIN: late 16th cent;  Latin
______________________

Welcome to the premiere issue of Proclivus, a magazine for preppers.  Our mission is to educate and inform, but we also want to dispel the stereotype of “tin foil hat wearing nut jobs” that persists among the general public.

It’s hard to describe how exciting it is to finally get this project launched.  It has a been a labor of love for many months.  As a reader, you should be aware that when this idea began, the founders knew nothing about publishing, and to a great degree we still don’t.  We have technical backgrounds and a common interest in the subjectmatter.  Perhaps knowing nothing about publishing will cause others to scoff, but on the other hand, maybe we can do things the old school publishers would say you can’t do.  Either way, we’ve jumped in with both feet and are charging forward.  With the help of readers like you, we can improvise and improve over time.

Just a little background on the idea that launched this publication:  There are two co-founders.  One with nearly zero knowledge of prepping (that would be me) and another an expert in the field. We’ve been friends for many years. And for the record, neither one of us wears a tin foil hat. I got involved for a number of reasons.  First, for reasons that aren’t important here, I developed a keen interest in prepping. Secondly, I love nothing more than being involved in a new startup.  I’ve been involved in a number of startups, both for myself and as a consultant to many others and I find the entire experience exhilarating.  You’ll find one article in this issue written by me, titled “Confessions of a Newb.”  It describes the process I encountered as I began my research to become a prepper.

My co-founder is a true expert in this wildly interesting field of prepping.  Although he’s a friend, I really didn’t know about his involvement, but after I started doing my own research and asking about a few things, I discovered just how prepared he is and how unprepared I am.  And was I ever surprised.

After beginning my quest for knowledge with prepping, I soon became overwhelmed with facts, myths, questions, and more information than I was prepared to absorb.  Thus an idea was formed about creating a magazine created for people on the entire continuum of knowledge on this subject.  This includes total “newbs” like me all the way up to true experts.

Most of the content in this magazine will not come from professional journalists, but more from experts in their field.  So, if we err on the journalistic side, bear with us as we learn.

We hope you enjoy this new magazine and look forward to hearing from you.  We will always encourage feedback.

Wish us luck with this exciting new endeavor.  We truly hope you will find it enjoyable and informative.

Go Bags are an essential element of prepping.  Part 1 of a 2 part series, this article describes the importance of Go Bags, why you need them, and what you’ll need such as food, water, defensive tools, and other things that just might save your life.

The bug out bag, as the prepping community would call it, simply refers to a backpack or duffel bag equipped with survival gear. Some seasoned preppers would have varying opinions on what should actually go inside the bag but all would agree that there are some basic necessities that should be included. Over the course of the next few issues we will examine the GO Bag and what you should know as a beginner.

We all know at least one of them. You know, the guy that has so much stuff crammed into his bug out bag that he could fend off a small horde of zombies in the apocalyptic invasion. Before we begin though, I think that it is worth discussing why creating a GO bag is not just for the extreme prepper.

We all remember the devastating impact that Hurricane Katrina had on the parishes of Louisiana. The US Government promised the citizens that help was on the way when in fact it took weeks to set up makeshift medical facilities, food and water distribution points and even shelter for those whose homes were completely destroyed. Do you remember people refusing to leave their pets and were found dead clinging to what little they had? It is a well-known fact that even in the places where people were supposed to be safe, outbreaks of cholera and E. coli were rampant and thousands of people became sick from contaminated food and water.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that they would take extreme measures to prevent such an event from recurring. In fact, FEMA on their website now recommends that every American have in his or her possession an emergency bag that can sustain oneself for 72 hours because help may not be available.

The government has gone to great lengths to publish leaflets and handouts for those individuals that may be handicapped, shut-ins or even those with pets to help aid them in creating a list of the things they would need to sustain themselves until help could arrive.

Not as if Katrina was enough for the government to learn its lesson and help Americans prepare for natural disasters, in 2012 the Northeast was devastated with Hurricane Sandy and immediately after that a huge snowstorm that left tens of thousands of people without power, food, and water.

Just as extreme preppers prepare for the collapse of the economic system, oil shortages, nuclear fallout, or whatever extreme reason, you should prepare for those times when nature does its worst. Preparing for a massive earthquake, disruptive ice storms and other harsh weather conditions just simply makes sense. Food, water, and other essential supplies will fly off the shelves and be-come scarce. Massive lines for gasoline will develop and there will be a run on the ATM machines for cash. In some cases fuel may not even be available for you or I but only to the emergency services that are supposed to be saving you from the disaster in the first place. Riots, looting, and other criminal activity will ensue. So what should you need to know about preparing a GO bag for yourself and your loved ones?

The answer is actually quite simple. You should first decide if you are going to “Bug-out” or “Bug-in”. Knowing where you are going to be when a disaster or event strikes and what you intend to do is the first and foremost thing to consider. If there is a natural disaster such as Katrina or Sandy, you simply cannot remain at your current location and “Bug-In” so you will need to grab what you can and get out as quickly and safely as you can to an alternate safe location where you and your family can sustain until help arrives.

Your GO bag should include items such as Food, Water, Medications, Durable Clothing, Important Papers, Money, Fire starting ability, Defense, First-Aid, and some other miscellaneous stuff. So, let’s take a look at what you need in a little more detail.

Most preppers will tell you that they carry tons of ammunition, matches, and other survivalist type gear but what they often do not think about is having to carry all of that stuff while fleeing a particular area with their families in tow. Some will assume that their 4 year old can carry his or her own pack of supplies. This is where extreme “Planning” needs to come into place. You must first assess the situation. Will you be traveling with a family? What are the age groups and handicaps of the members? You may be forced to carry extra provisions for those individuals so consider this as an option. Water is extremely heavy to carry!

WATER

Water is the essential element of life. Carrying the recommended daily allowance of water for one person is cumbersome at best; consider having to carry 3 days worth of water for yourself and possibly a loved one. This would be enough weight to make traveling nearly impossible unless you have a means to haul it and you have the fuel and debris free escape route. Consider that you may be hoofing these supplies on foot! So what do you do? There are several options for portable water. Sure you can carry a canteen, camelback or other water containers but eventually they may run out and there will be no source of potable clean water for miles or lines will be so long or clearly demonstrated in past disasters or it simply won’t be provided for you by the government.

You will need some way to provision water for you and your family while still traveling as lightweight as possible. We recommend carrying three pouches of portable drinking water per person per day so that’s 9 pouches of water per person’s bag but after that, find another solution for purification.

The Lifesaver bottle was invented for extreme portability and extreme conditions. This bottle can filter up to 1,500 gallons of pure drinking water from any water source, even those contaminated from E. coli, cryptosporidium without the need to boil, distill, or perform reverse osmosis. The nice thing about this particular filtration system is that it will fit nicely in the backpack and even provide enough water for a small family so not everyone will need to carry water unless they are capable and able to do so.

The Lifesaver bottle can even be used to irrigate wounds and fill other vessels so you can even choose to assist or help others you come across and still maintain your values of helping others in need. Losing one’s moral values during times of disaster is something we would all prefer to avoid. If you would like to learn more about how the Lifesaver bottle can help provide you with fresh clean drinking water for you and your family during times of need, cruise on over to their website www.lifesaversystems.com and have a look for yourself. It’s even endorsed by the United States Military.

The one thing that you must remember is that whatever bag you choose to use, it MUST be durable and capable of comfortably carrying everything you intend on toting because you may be hauling it a long way for a long time.

FOOD

Food is unfortunately something that you cannot manifest by carrying around a little gadget. Food will be the second essential item in your bag and you should plan well. The first thing that you should consider is that your Go bag may sit dormant for quite some time before it is ever needed (which is another reason to not store water for more than a couple years in pouches). Storing food that could potentially go bad is obviously not wise. When shelves are empty at the grocery and lines are long for free handouts or there is fighting in the streets, it will be much better for you to have prepared to hold out a little longer than recommended. Our water solution allows you to potentially extend beyond the three days self-sustainment level and food should not be left out of this equation. However, hauling around buckets of food provisions is also not the answer to your nutrition woes. You will need to consider an alternative. You must also consider that your gear will have the potential for getting wet or submerged during the process of evacuation.

Companies like Mountain House, Wise, and Emergency Foods all offer long term portable food solutions that consist of flash frozen or dehydrated food which is much lighter to carry and is considered the optimum way to store food for long periods of time. Carrying around a jar of grannies pickled pigs feet is not something I would consider gourmet. Some say carry military grade meals ready to eat (or MREs) and this is also an option for you. The main thing to remember is that you have to carry it and you have to eat it.

MRE pouches are often bulky and encased in thick plastic pouches. Some of the smaller freeze dried solutions mentioned above may be a better solution in the long run due to small packaging and weight but you should always have enough water on hand to rehydrate this food.

The benefit of flash frozen foods are they do not need to be cooked or heated unless you desire. We recommend carrying at least 3 meals per day you plan to be bugging out per person so pack accordingly. Oh, and make sure that you bring a little extra along for those days when you just need a little pick-me-up boost of carbohydrates. You should also consider bringing along a small bottle of supplemental vitamins and take them. You may not be getting the proper nutrients on a daily basis to sustain good health resistance. If you own a pet, please take them into consideration and vacuum seal some dry food if you plan to take them with you or leave them plenty if you don’t.

CREATURE COMFORTS

Up until now, we have discussed water and food for your bag but you should consider some other creature comforts that you may need. Consider that you should bring with you some toiletries (a roll of toilet paper, zip lock bags, trash bags, toothbrush, toothpaste, and whatever personal hygiene items you feel you will need). You should also bring along some form of durable clothing such as Tactical pants or heavy jeans and possibly a jacket depending on weather and season. Remember that dressing in layers is always best.

Remember, the more you pack the heavier it becomes. One way to get clothing, bedding or other shelter equipment into your pack is to vacuum seal the articles so they are space compressed. Do you remember the space saver bags that were advertised? Food Saver bags work equally well when purchased by the roll. They can be cut to any length needed to seal larger articles. Consider sealing up any important documents like birth certificates, marriage licenses, mortgage and titles and even paper currency.

MONEY

Do you plan to take some irreplaceable family photos? How about sealing those up too? It is highly likely that you will need some form of currency so do not rely on your debit or credit cards to carry you through a disaster. Power may be out or no communications will be available to verify your card purchase. Good old cash, gold or silver is going to be the form of payment.

The need to have the ability to start a fire may be necessary for you to keep warm. Consider packing some BIC style lighters but think about what you would do if they are crushed or broken. Perhaps some waterproof matches or even a magnifying glass, magnesium stick or some other form of survival fire starting device. You will also need some form of tools such as a multi-tool and possibly a good knife. There are so many choices here it is difficult to recommend but a durable full-tang non-foldable knife capable of prying and sawing is recommended.

FIRST AID

There may be a situation where you become sick, injured, or have some other form of medical emergency. You should be prepared to deal with mild to moderate issues. As you prepare for your first aid solution, a good place to start is to seek out getting First Aid certified from your local Red Cross now so you are prepared later. You don’t need to pack like a paramedic or EMT but you should carry the essentials in your kit to handle cuts, scrapes, insect bites (include an EPI reaction kit if you are susceptible) and even small sprains. You should also include some form of over the counter pain medication and maybe even consider storing some of your own maintenance medicine and antibiotics if possible. You could always grab those at the last minute on the way out the door. For those of you who are diabetics, you MUST remember to take your insulin and tester kit and think about a way to keep that product chilled or cool (ice packs are good and a small thermal pouch).

You should always consider that you will be gone longer than 3 days when preparing for maintenance medications. Under preparation here could mean the difference between life and death. You should also have a plan if you are a dialysis or other dependent patient! Where will you go and how will you get there are questions that you need to ask yourself and most importantly how long will it take you to get there?

Some other items that you need to consider will be some form of light or illumination. Small headset LED lighting devices work well as does small LED flashlights. Remember, batteries are not always available so think about a crank-up or solar charging light / radio so you can keep in touch with the outside world for news and other pertinent evacuation information. Communications with your family is equally important and you should consider maybe a set of two-way GMRS radios and a solar charger or solar charge battery to keep your cell phone and other devices charged (remember the Sandy victims lining up for hours to charge their cell phones?) Don’t be in that same boat. There are several products that you can use that are small enough to fit in your bag. A simple Google for these devices will yield more options than you care to see. Glow sticks are another source of light that you might consider but get the 12-hour ones so they last longer.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

You should also consider personal information as a priority. I know we discussed vacuum sealing documents but what about that “digital” information that keeps us going. Think about making backups of your critical data to removable storage devices like thumb drives and sealing those up in vacuum bags to keep them dry and safe. Look at the TrueCrypt software to encrypt the documents so they are safe if they become lost.

PERSONAL DEFENSE

Defense is what I saved for the last item on the list. It is a commonly known fact that in today’s society there are the “Have’s” and the “Have Not’s”. Clearly by reading this article you are not in the latter category. You should know that there will be those who did not prepare as you did and will be looking to take from you what you have.

There may come a time when you must decide if taking another human life to preserve yours or a loved one will be paramount. Some extreme preppers may have varying opinions on which caliber and type of firearm one should carry but this entirely depends on your budget and perhaps what you already own. The key thing to remember for pistols are the larger the caliber the more defensive stopping power you have.

It is important to start building up your ammunition supply now gradually over time than to try and purchase everything at one time, as this could be very costly. If you choose to not pack a firearm, this is your choice but be willing to accept the consequences of becoming a victim.

You should always check with your state laws or obtain your carry conceal permit so you are educated and legally allowed to conceal a pistol or other weapon. You should know what the laws are that regulate when self-defense is justifiable and when it is not. Having said that, you should decide what caliber you feel most comfortable with and your level of defense.

If you carry less lethal devices like mace or tasers, consider that these may or may not be effective, depending upon your circumstances. Most nefarious individuals will not be bringing mace or tasers to rob from you, so you may need to meet force with force. Statistically, suspects that face an armed victim will often seek a weaker and less prepared target.

Stay tuned as we explore more advanced bug out options in future issues.

A NEWCOMER’S PERSPECTIVE

With respect to prepping, I admit it.  I’m a newb.  The term originally seems to have been coined for “gamers” who didn’t have a clue how to use a video game.  It eventually came to include those attempting to use software or hardware without knowing even the basics of how to do so.  Finally, it evolved to a more general term for those new to any particular activity.  This article is about my experiences as a newb in this amazing and mysterious field of prepping.

I’m a businessman with a technical background, so I’ve sometimes enjoyed poking fun at technical newbs.  But recently I learned that being a newb can not only be intimidating and embarrassing, but it is also downright frustrating.  For someone like me who’s used to being the expert, my experience as a newb has been a great lesson in humility.  This happened when I decided to look into and get serious about prepping.

WHY I DID IT

The reasons I decided to do this were varied, but the principal one is that I’ve become convinced that our country is about to have a very serious economic breakdown.  Until recently, I thought there were opportunities to correct some serious flaws in our economic system.  Now I believe those opportunities are behind us.  And no, this is not based on a gut feel or because someone else told me to think it. While in college I took a keen interest in economics, both in undergraduate and grad school.  I’ve read many books, countless articles, and followed many notable economists. It has been a hobby of mine for nearly 30 years. I do not consider myself an economist, but I do claim to know more than the average Joe about economics and economic policy.  Anyhow, that is why I decided to figure out how to prepare for the unimaginable.

I knew I was unprepared.  After all, I don’t have any more groceries in my cupboard than most people.  It began as a simple exercise.  “Why, I’ll just make a list of supplies that I need, and go out and buy them.  Yeah, that ought to do the trick.  I should have this thing wrapped up in a week or so.”  Now, I know all you seasoned preppers out there are having a good chuckle at that.  But don’t forget, I’m a newb, so go ahead and have your little laugh.

THE PLANNING BEGINS

I sat down one afternoon, thinking I’d make the list in about an hour or so and began typing in my word processor.  I resisted the urge to Google it (I love using that word as a verb).  Remember, I think I’m pretty smart so I didn’t really need to do any research.  As I started outlining, I noticed my list was expanding and my indentations were getting deeper and deeper.  Well then, now it’s time to put some of my techie skills to work, so I quickly moved from my word processor to my favorite outlining tool, Workflowy.com.  By the way, it’s hands down the best outlining tool on the planet, and it’s free too.  Dang, see what happens? I keep wanting to drift off into something I know about.  Sorry.  Sometimes I really can’t help myself.

My list started out something like this:

• Food
• Water
• Guns

That should be enough, right?  I need to eat.  I need to drink.  And I need to make sure someone doesn’t steal it from me when the SHTF.  But as I gave it more thought, other things started coming to mind.  Things like:

• Medical
• Sanitation
• Beer
• Trade Goods and Money
• Networking
• Communication
• Beer

Then each one of those little bullets expanded, then the sub-bullets expanded, and so on.  It was looking like this might take more than an hour or so.  Furthermore, I started realizing that I couldn’t just go load up on just any food.  I needed something with a reasonable shelf life.  So, would it be freeze dried food?  Dehydrated food?  Or maybe my old college staple, something like a 1,000 boxes of Ramen, each with 144 packages of delightful belly fillers (and probably zero nutrition).  Geez, that stuff is dirt cheap and oh so yummy.

And what about water?  Well, I have a swimming pool that has nearly 30,000 gallons in it.  It’s fine for flushing toilets, but would it be safe to drink?  I truly had no idea.  Now I was getting this irresistible urge to start Googling (that one’s even more fun to use). It was coming on strong, and I was getting weak.  As a slave to technology, I just couldn’t resist any longer.  So, I fired up the old search engine and started looking around.  My first query was “Can I drink my pool water?”  And like most of my queries, there were about 12 million responses I could choose from.  “Nope, this is definitely not going to get done in an hour.”  And what made it worse, my adult ADHD was in high gear.

Before I knew it, I had 40 tabs open.  I was moving from one topic to another and I couldn’t remember where I started.  Every time a new topic kicked in, all I could think of was “Squirrel!!!”  And I was getting dumber and dumber.  Oh Lord, was I getting dumb.  I felt like I did in my first calculus class in college.  My professor was from Cuba and had nearly no command of English.  I was in for a rough ride and was beginning to sweat.  So, what did I do?  Well, I did what any sane man would do.  I got up to get a beer and watch TV.  “Yeah, I’ll put this aside until tomorrow.”  So, I fired up the old DVR and watched episodes of “The Walking Dead” and “Revolution.”  That was supposed to take my mind off things.  Yeah, right.

This was turning out to be a lot like my college calculus experience.  I ended up taking three semesters with that Cuban professor.  I eventually learned to understand him (mostly because he spoke math, not English) and I learned what I needed to learn.  But this wasn’t going to be a class in basket weaving. It was going to take work; lots of homework, many tests, and more brainpower than I thought it would take.

Suffice it to say that weeks later, I had collected some interesting and useful information.  But it was becoming very overwhelming and I quickly realized that not only was this going to take a long time, but it was going to be expensive.  By now, I’m thinking, do I really want to do this?  The answer of course was “Yes,” but at this point I was a lot more humble than when I began.

OUT OF THE CLOSET

My next step was to consult with some people to find out what others were doing.  Then I thought, “Wait a minute.  If I do that, everyone’s going to think I’m a tin foil hat wearing nut job.”  My guess is that nearly every prepper has confronted this before.  Some don’t care, but for us newbs, it is a concern.  I’m a regular Facebook user and a while back I started a private group that only allows people with my political leanings.  There are quite a few members in this group, so I figured this was a place to throw a trial balloon.  I posted a simple question:  “Am I a kook for considering becoming a prepper?”

Holy cow!  Jackpot.  I was overwhelmed with supportive responses and not a single negative one.  Maybe I’m not just a whack-job after all.  I got responses from those that were obviously seasoned preppers as well as ones from people like me that are interested, but didn’t have a clue about where to start.   In some cases, I was shocked at who responded.

Then I called a friend I’ve known for nearly 15 years.  I knew we both shared similar political philosophies and we’re both techie geeks, but he was also an expert in firearms, an area where I’m sorely lacking. When I told him what I was thinking, he told me he had been prepping seriously for over 4 years.  He asked if he could come by my house that evening to show me some things.  When he arrived, he asked if I could help him carry a few things into the house.  So, he opened up the back of his Tahoe, and inside it was loaded top to bottom, end to end with prepping gear.  We hauled them in the house and he began his lecture.  He shared things with me for about three hours and showed off his wares.  I remember thinking I would never find the time and money to get all this stuff?

Since then, I’ve “come out” to several of my family members and a few select friends.  My two daughters, both in college just laughed.  “Silly old Dad, there he goes again.”  I hesitated to tell them too much, because I really don’t want them worrying about things like that.  They have enough to worry about with college, being young, and now a tin foil hat wearing nut job of a Dad.  I told them “Don’t worry about this stuff right now.  That’s my job.  Just know, that when the SHTF, I’m coming for you and I’ll have what you need.”

It turns out there are good reasons why you don’t want the rest of the world to know you’re a prepper.  Mainly, so they don’t come hunting you down like roving zombie herds trying to steal your stuff when they start getting hungry.  So, with respect to coming out to all my acquaintances, I decided to spare myself of the indignities of public humiliation and just keep it to myself.

TAKING STOCK

I finally managed to put together a semblance of a checklist.  It was by no means complete.  In fact, I quickly came to the conclusion, that the list would never be complete.  There really is no end to this stuff.  It doesn’t take long before a long list of other questions start to arise:

• If I bug out, just where am I going to go?
• What if I can’t get to my stash?
• When will I know when the SHTF?
• Do I need gold or other precious metals?
• Can I put beer in something that isn’t heavy like cans or bottles?
• Will I really be able to pull the trigger when hungry people are trying to get my stuff?
• Who can I safely tell what I’m up to?
• Can I get with some other like-minded people to form a team?
• Have I completely gone bonkers?
• Should I mortgage my house so I can buy a year’s supply of freeze-dried food?
• Why is it the general population expects our military, our civil government, and nearly all other institutions to prepare for disasters, but when we do it ourselves, we’re branded as loons?

The most important thing I’ve learned during this journey is that it is not going to be easy.  It takes lots of thought and lots of planning.  And it won’t be cheap.   The bottom line:  I’m in this for the long haul.  I’m not sure when I’ll get to the point that I can go to sleep at night knowing that I’m prepared for the worst.

I’d like to hear some confessions from some of our readers, so feel free to give us some feedback.

What you need to know about sources, filtering, and staying alive.

In this article, we’ll explore our thirst with water that most preppers ask us. We will examine the various aspects about water from how to acquire it, purify it for drinking and long-term storage.

Do you remember as a child drinking water from the garden hose or from a stream in the woods when you were thirsty?  Now, parents have become paranoid about invisible dangers that lurk inside clean drinking water. The most common form of death worldwide that can be associated with drinking unsafe water is Diarrhea.  In the 1980’s, it was claimed that a child died from Diarrhea ever six seconds due to unsafe drinking water.  I don’t think this was necessarily true so much in the developed world like the United States where filtration and treatment plants are held to rigid EPA standards.

Globally, more than 3.4 million people die each year from a water related disease.  If this was not enough, close to 780 million people lack access to clean drinking water.  This is 2.5 times more than the entire population of the United States.

Got Water?

Over the past few decades, there have been great advancements in the water processing industry and the introduction of Fluoride into the water (although some have claimed a conspiracy to sterilize the population) but nonetheless water-related deaths in the United States has diminished significantly.

The discussion here however goes deeper than just going to the faucet and filling all the water jugs, sinks, bathtubs, or other containers in the event of a catastrophic disaster or civil unrest.  The thing we need to remember is that the human body can survive for extended periods of time (sometimes weeks but not easily) however, without water the body cannot go for more than 3 days.  The good rule of thumb is 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food and you’re dead!

So, what do we do about water shortages?  How many times have you received a boil water advisory?  As a result, most preppers are looking into short and long term water storage.

How long can you store water?  Well, that all depends on the “type” of water you are storing.  I know you are asking yourself, is there any other type?  The fact is, yes there is.  There are several types of water such as Tap, Distilled, Purified, Bottled, etc.  According to The Department of Homeland Security, they recommend that every household store at least one gallon of water per person per day for three days.  Dissecting this, one would need to carry around 3 gallons of water (24 lbs @ 8 lbs per gallon.) just to stay alive for 3 days without even thinking about carrying any other form of survival gear!

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recommends that you can store regular tap water in clean vessels suitable for storing water for up to six months.  They recommend that you rotate your water stock because bacteria and algae can accumulate inside the container which is not much of an appetizing image when one is thirsty.  Storage of cases of plastic disposable water bottles is not a bad idea but remember that these containers are designed to be biodegradable and must be kept from UV lighting.

There are some other types of commercial off the shelf storage options.  Several movies like Cormack McCarthy’s “The Road”, where an epic scene of nuclear fallout forces a character to fill the bathtub with water.  The average bathtub can store up to 100 gallons of water. But who keeps their bathtub sterile and clean at all times?  One solution is the Water Bob and is quite simple, it is a water bladder that you unfold into your tub and fill it.  It is made of FDA food grade 10 mil. plastic and comes with a hand siphon pump.  The average retail for this is about $20 bucks, which is a great option to have if you are “bugging-in” but unfortunately, the problem is it takes up the entire bathtub and creates difficulty unless you have a second bathroom.

After Hurricane Katrina, large percentages of the employees comprising the Utility, Fire, Police, EMS, and Medical fields abandoned their posts.  This resulted in thousands of homes under water due to flooding.  Consider that leaving your home might just be the only option you have and carrying around a 100-gallon water bladder is just not reasonable.

Drinking water also comes in small pouches that you can find online for pennies on the dollar and they are small enough to fit into your GO bag but there is still no way to carry 3 gallons of water plus everything else you need.

So, what do you do?  The other option is to purify, boil, or distill your water “on-the-fly” as you go.  It is a common fact that there are plenty of lakes and streams of water but none of them are potable to the extent you would risk severe Diarrhea and dysentery over.  Since boiling water is the easiest way to get access to safe drinking water, one could find water, get it into a vessel, go through the process of starting a fire, getting the water to a full rolling boil for one minute, wait for it to cool, then use it.  This process could take over a half hour to an hour to complete from start to stop in an emergency situation.  Plus, you must also consider that lighting a fire might give your position away.  If you have found suitable shelter for you and your family on the go, you may not wish to attract attention by lighting a fire (unless you know how to do it right – more on this in our next issue).

Alternatively, you can use various methods of distillation that does not use fire such as in sunlight using the drip filtration method but this has to be done in sunlight during the day.   You could spend your entire day in one place and never get more than a quart of water this way.  You can carry around purification tablets or bleach and treat your water but you still must face drinking chemicals that you may or may not measure accurately.  This is a risk that you have to assume when attempting to maintain a healthy water supply on the go.

Water purification products like the Frontier and Life Straw Personal Water Filtration which are suitable for single person use at best and do not offer filtration down to the micron level to filter out all forms of bacteria and viruses that are often found in grey water situations.  As we have alluded throughout this article, water is one of the heaviest supplies that you will carry and it is NOT optional.  The LifeSaver Systems can produce pure clean drinking water from unusual sources such as ponds, streams, puddles, pools, and other sources you would not even consider.  Filtration systems such as this, use an activated carbon filter to remove any bad odor associated with contaminants.

The bottle is portable, lightweight (which is extremely important) and can filter up to 1,500 gallons of water!  There are absolutely zero chemicals to contend with and it will filter water on demand down to the lowest micron level to filter out the smallest recorded virus known to man.

The bottle can produce gallons of water at a time with no wait and can be used to fill up other containers.  You can filter water to cook or clean with if you wish and one bottle is capable of providing enough water for a small family of four if you conserve your water usage.  Replacement filters are also available and can be stockpiled so the device can last a long time.  Care should be taken once the Carbon Filter becomes wet and must remain wet never being allowed to freeze or dry out.

If you should choose to store your water, you should pick a suitable vessel.  The common mistake is to use plastic that can seep dangerous chemicals back into the food or water you are storing.  The good thing to remember is to use BPA free containers.  BPA based plastics act as an endocrine system disrupter that acts like estrogen, which is linked to cancer, imbalanced hormones, and can have a harmful effect on unborn children, babies, and young children.  There are a lot of medical issues such as Thyroid, Neurological, and Heart problems documented to be associated with BPA plastics.  There are common recycle logos that you will find on plastics ranging from 1 – 7.  This is called the “Resin Identification Code” (RIC).  If you are using plastic to store food or water, refer to the chart on the left.

There will always be a time when you will be searching for water in the field.  Since water is life, it is important in this issue that we give you some ideas on where you can find water when water might not be available.

The main thing to remember with natural or man-made water sources is that there are several dangers associated with drinking it such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia and other protozoa, which WILL make you sick and you could die if you drink it without using some of the previously mentioned purification techniques.

Water is just about everywhere on the planet if you know where to get it.  Here are some guidelines and recommendations:

Snow / Ice are good sources for water if you are in a frigid or winter area.  You must melt and purify this water first DO NOT eat this without melting it.  Eating snow or ice can reduce your body temperature and cause dehydration and possibly lower your core temperature to where you could go into hyperthermia.  The key thing to remember is that snow or ice is only as pure as its source.

Rain is a great source of water so long as you catch the water before it hits the ground by catching it with a tarp and diverting it to a container or vessel.  You can drink rainwater, however, remember that there may be other airborne, cloud, or surface based contaminants, so you are better served to purify the water first before you consume it. Sea / Salt Water is never good to drink on its own. You should take measures to boil and de-salt the water through distillation.  Caution, NEVER consume seawater directly.

Other sources of water can be found by looking in rock crevasses, squeezing moss, morning dew, condensation, rivers, lakes, pools, and streams—the obvious sources. Digging a deep hole in the beach and letting the water flow in may be a good way to get water but this must be boiled and distilled.  If you don’t have a distiller, you can boil the water and catch the steam in a clean cloth and squeeze this into a container.  The process takes a while but you still have to be concerned with surface contaminants and if the cloth becomes salty, it must be washed.

The most important thing to remember is if you find water; never drink it without processing it in some form or fashion. Urine contains harmful body waste and is roughly 2% salt so despite what others may say, it is dangerous to drink.  If you must drink urine, it should be filtered, distilled or processed, and it should ONLY be your own. Never drink any other body fluids like blood.  Blood requires water to digest and also may contain disease pathogens.

Whether or not you decide to stockpile water bottles, fill your bathtub or buy elaborate distillation units, the key thing to remember is if you have to leave, you may not be able to carry this water supply with you.  We recommend that you prepare for home or mobile water preparedness.  Ensure that you have the ability to go mobile.  It will be impossible to carry a 100-gallon WaterBOB^® bladder on your back.  Remember, water weighs approximately 8 pounds per gallon!  This means that the FEMA recommended 1 gallon per day for 3 days would be roughly 24 pounds per person! Imagine if your child can carry his or her own water or will you be required to do it for them, plus any other necessary items.  It’s good to have a filtration plan whether it is a filtration bottle or straw.

The grid is down.  Your child gets severely bitten by a roving dog.  Will you know what to do?  What do you do if one of your family members comes down with a persistent fever?

Your food supply is running low and you know you’re about to get hungry.  Do you know what kinds of plants are safe to eat?

You’re bugging out on foot.  You see a roving mob in the distance and you think they’ve spotted you.  Do you know the best way to evade them?  Yes, you probably have a weapon or two, but that should be your last resort.  Besides, if it’s a mob, you may just be outnumbered.

These and dozens of other scenarios can and might occur in the event you have to execute what you’ve been planning all these years.  Nobody can be an expert in all things, and most of us aren’t doctors, military experts, or botanists.  And it’s very unlikely that you’re all three.

One solution is to read all you can and hope to remember it all.  But even if you could, what if something happens to you?  Will your family or friends know what you’ve studied?  Doubtful.

A better solution is to gather all the information you can and make it portable.  Obviously, you can’t lug around a library full of books.  They’re way too bulky and heavy.  It just isn’t practical.  But, you’ll be happy to know, there is a practical way to do it.   You simply amass a library of all the books you can with regard to survival in digital format.  And the best part?  In most cases, it won’t cost you a dime.  That’s right, there is a multitude of valuable books available in PDF and other electronic format and much of the time, they’re free for the taking.

I know what some of you are thinking.  “Yeah, but if the grid is down, what good will my tablet do me?”  It’s really not a serious problem.  For the price of what you pay for a few books, you can acquire a few battery packs made just for the purpose of charging your little digital gizmos and with a small solar charger (again, made for that purpose), or even a hand-crank charger of some sort, you can keep them charged and ready to use.

And by the way, if you’re reading this, you’re doing it on an iPad, so you probably don’t need one.  But it never hurts to have a spare or two around.  Having a digital reading device of some type is something no prepper should be without.  They should be considered an absolute essential component of your prepping strategy.  So, even though you might already have one, be sure to tell your friends.

Go now.  Run, don’t walk, and get one.   You can get some of them very inexpensively now.  A simple, but useful NOOK Simple Touch™ will run you $79.  You can read for two months on a single charge and you can even store files on a micro-SD card.  The least expensive Kindle’s are selling for $69.

In this issue, we’re offering links to a number of useful books, that hopefully you’ll never need.  But at least they’re free and all you have to do is download them to your iPad, iPhone, or other digital reader like a Kindle or a Nook and you’re ready to roll.

We intend to begin adding these books and keeping them stored where you can download them anytime you like.  Also, we would love to hear from our readers about other books that may be useful.  If you can pass on the links, we’ll download them and put them in our library for others to use.

Check out our digital library for a list of books that we’ve accumulated so far.  Feel free to download them for free and save them to your computer, your tablet or other digital reading device (you must have Internet connectivity to view or download these books).

This is just a taste of the books we hope to collect over time, so be sure to bookmark the link so you can check back for new books as we add them to the list.

To most of you, paracord is nothing unusual.  It’s a mainstay product for most preppers and survivalists.  It was originally used in the suspension lines of U.S. parachutes during World War II, but paratroopers often found it useful for many tasks.  Now it’s used as a general-purpose utility cord by both military and civilians.

Perhaps you’ve seen your prepper brethren wearing paracord bracelets.  This is obviously used to keep the paracord in a compact and wearable form and easily disassembled when needed as rope or for fastening objects together.  Paracord is also woven into items such as lanyards, belts, dog leashes, and key chains, among other things.

This month, we offer instructions on how to construct a handy paracord belt.  It was provided by Jake22 on the popular website, Instructables.com.

In future issues, we’ll be sharing how to construct all sorts of useful things made from Paracord.  If you have some ideas and are willing to share your methods of creating them, please drop us a note and we’ll consider adding it to our upcoming issues.

Click on the link below for a PDF, created by Jake22 at Instructables.com, with complete instructions on how to build your own paracord belt:

Paracord Belt

What do you carry on a daily basis?  Could you survive for 24 to 48 hours with what is in your pockets?  Could you make it home over a long distance?

People always ask themselves “where will I be when disaster strikes?”  No one knows for sure, that is why I live by the motto “Always be prepared.”  Its one thing to have a food/water supply stored at home and to have a bug out bag ready to go, but what if you are away from home and a disaster occurs?  Just because you are out of your “safe zone” does not mean you can’t be somewhat prepared.

This is where the concept of EDC, or EveryDay Carry, comes into play.  EDC is not just for emergencies, but can also be for convenience in your daily life.  Many of my friends and family members joke around with me about the amount of stuff I carry on a daily basis and that I’m addicted to gear (which I am, but that’s not the point).  They are also the first to turn to me when they need something as well as want to be within my person should a disaster strike.

I have broken down my EDC into 4 main categories: day-to-day, utility, defensive/survival, and other.  ‘Day-to-day’ items consist of such things as wallet, cell phone, pen and paper, and a watch.  ‘Utility’ items consist of such things as multi-tools, lighters, flashlight, bandana, and knives.  Although, a knife can be used as a weapon I choose to carry mine as a tool first and a weapon second.  If I am ever in a defensive situation and need to use deadly force to protect others, or myself, I’m going to reach for my firearm first, not my knife.  ‘Defensive/Survival’ items consist of firearms, paracord, and knives (if needed).  And ‘other” consisting of non-essentials or fun items I carry off and on: headphones, etc.

By now you might be thinking, “why carry two firearms and three knives?”  There are good reasons.  First, because I can and I want to.  Second, more importantly is that I follow the practice that “two is one and one is none” as well as what I call the ‘center axis concept.’  By placing a firearm and a knife on each side of the body, this would allow you to reach either side should one side be hard to get to.

Note that I used the word “sheeple” in my list of items.  This is a term used for people who are not used to seeing knives in public.  It is a combination of the words sheep and people.  These are the type of people that would react with fear at someone using a folding knife to open a box in public.  A “sheeple” knife is usually a traditionally designed knife with a blade under 3 inches, similar to a Swiss army knife or other slip joint knife.  By having my EDC in my pockets and not in a bag, they are always on me as long as I am wearing pants.  This also provides a type of indistinctness from everyone around me.

People sometimes think Preppers and EDCers are paranoid, but I believe that it is the thought of most people that we should “hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.”  An EDC system allows you to have a number of options on hand for both everyday and emergency situations.  Whether it be opening a box or cutting a loose thread, to defending against a robbery or making it home after a SHTF event, having these so called pocket preps will help you overcome and survive.  And remember:

“ALWAYS BE PREPARED!”

LIFESAVER^® water filtration devices, the Bottle, the Jerrycan, and the Hydrocarry II, have been found by the London School of Tropical Medicine to exceed the National Sanitation Foundation’s P248 for Emergency Military Operations using Microbiological Water Purifiers which includes requirements established by the EPA in the Safe Drinking Water Act for water filtration.

Chesapeake, VA (PRWEB) November 10, 2011 — Protocol P248 was derived and adapted primarily from existing publications of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and NSF Intl. It describes the procedures to be used to test individual water purifiers (IWPs) designed to achieve removal or inactivation of microbiological contaminants, including bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and protozoan cysts and oocysts from virtually any fresh water source likely to be encountered by military personnel during exercises and deployments. Execution of this protocol for acceptance of an individual water purifier (IWP) will be administered and monitored by a Government Review Agency (GRA) designated by the Department of the Army Office of the Surgeon General (OTSG). For the purposes of this protocol, and with reference to their use for military personnel in emergency situations, IWPs for microbiological purification are not intended to significantly remove chemical contamination.

When I first became interested in prepping, the major obstacle that stopped me from jumping in headfirst was money.  The amount of money you can allocate directly to prepping obviously has a direct affect on many aspects of your preps; from the amount, the kinds, and the length of time it takes to amass a suitable stockpile.  Clearly defining your budget is the first step to building up your inventory.

The following is not on creating a prepping budget, but on some ways to take advantage of your budget.  Your approach should be “slow and steady,” the goal is to build up your preps over time.  Do not give up if you can’t get everything you want or need immediately.  Building up over time will give you better insight into what you ‘need’ and how to better use the preps you have, as well as an understanding on the best use of what you’ve accumulated.   Throughout this article we will go through a few hints, tips, and tricks to help make the most of your budget.

Know What You Have

One of the first things people do when they decide to start prepping is to go out and look for what is the biggest, best new thing on the market.  Instead of running to the nearest store or going online, your first step should be to take an inventory of what you currently have available.  Many household items can be repurposed to be included in your prepping.  For example, in my attic, there are boxes of camping equipment and the like just gathering dust.  Articles such as a camp stove or sleeping bags will be of great use if there are power outages.  Even tools, pots, pans, blankets, and many other household items can be repurposed when the need arises.   This goes for food as well.  What kinds of canned food or non-perishable food items are in your pantry?  Check to see what is lying around your house.  Gather the items you plan to use and store them in one or two main locations so you can keep track of what you have and they are easily located.  Designate one location for food storage, and one location for item storage.  Once you have an inventory of what you have on hand, you can get an idea of what you need and plan accordingly.

Be A Smart Shopper

You don’t have to go out and buy commercially made survival food (dehydrated, MREs, ration bars, etc.).  I’m not saying they are not a great option if you can afford it.  In most cases the purpose-designed survival/emergency/storage food will have a much longer shelf life, up to 25 years.  Companies like Wise Company offer a great option for people who want to make the initial, up front investment.  They can provide a long-term food storage option for on average, under $2.00 a serving as well as having a 25-year shelf life.

It is a good idea to start a supply of food you normally eat.  When going to the grocery store get an extra bag of rice or can of vegetables each trip, and over time your supply will grow.  So, when going about your daily life you can rotate out a can (use the oldest first), which will also help in keeping your supply fresh.  One thing that will help manage both the budget and your supplies is to be a smart and savvy shopper.

Keep an eye out for special promotions; buy one get one deals, and seasonal sales.  These are all good ways of expanding your food storage supply for a discounted price.  Along with the sales comes couponing, which is not just limited to the newspaper, but are available via numerous coupon web sites, for example: coupons.com and redplum.com are just two of many, as well as manufacturer websites.

While searching for coupon websites, I ran across a number of coupons for Campbell’s canned soups, which have now been added to my shopping list for the next grocery run.  Remember don’t overlook the store brands, they are the same thing and in most cases just as good, at a lower price.

The idea of being a smart shopper doesn’t just apply to food, but to all aspects of prepping.  Many of the items that a Prepper needs can be found at discount prices if you take the time to look and research what you are buying.  Garage sales, flea markets, thrift stores, and craigslist are all prime examples of places you can get preps on the cheap.  Browsing these sites in your down time can lead to great deals and finds on big-ticket items that would be essential to your prepping.  For example, a 2-burner camp stove that goes new for a little over a $100 can be found for $30.  If you are on a super tight budget or have a lot of stuff lying around you could also use craigslist to trade or barter for your preps.

One of the most important things to remember, especially when on a budget, is that cheap may not always be good.  Don’t just go out and buy stuff that is cheap because you need it.  And the reverse is true as well, just because something is expensive doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s good.  Research before you purchase, and determine the best compromise between price and quality that works best for you.  One of the worst things that could happen is when you go to use something you need, and it breaks or doesn’t work, especially if your survival depends on it. The Internet is by far one of the best resources when looking for information on products.

Be Smart, Not Just a Shopper

When the time comes that you need to use your preps, you should be able to know how to use them. What’s the use of gathering and storing all this stuff if when the time comes to use them you don’t know how?  I am a strong believer that knowledge is man’s best tool.  So, why not prep your “mental toolbox” as well.  Subsidize your material prepping with mental prepping.  Having the knowledge of how to survive is the first step in surviving.  Educate yourself.  In the age of the Internet the resources for learning are almost infinite and available for free. Dedicate time in your day for research and knowledge gathering.  YouTube is a great source for prepping and survival content, as well as giving you a chance to see the skills being performed and not just reading about them or looking at a picture.  A few channels to look at on YouTube for both prepping and survival are TheDailyPrep, Equip2Endure, and WildernessOutfitters.

Its one thing to learn the concept of building a fire, it’s a completely different experience to get out there and practice.  By going out and trying these newly gained skills you can determine what best works best for you.  As the saying goes “practice makes perfect”, or in this case the better suited “training/practice is what makes the difference between success and failure (life or death).”  Training extends beyond survival skills like fire starting, water purification, etc.  If you choose to include firearms in your prepping, you need to train with them to understand the safe and correct use that goes along with that decision.  Two major reasons to include firearms in your preps are hunting and defense.  Although there are underlying skills that translate to both hunting and defense, they are also very different uses for firearms.  This would be another aspect of training and practice to include into your prepping routine.  Diversify your knowledge, the bigger your knowledge pool the more you’re prepared for.  Basically, in the words of my favorite childhood cartoon “Knowing is half the Battle!”

Dollar Store Bug Out Bag

To illustrate the idea of prepping on a budget, I decided to run out to the dollar store and see what items I could find to use in my preps.  With no real plan when entering the store I was walking down the aisles and I tried to think outside the box on how I could use certain items for prepping.  At that point I decided to look for items that could better round out my Bug Out Bag.  The first thing I found was a 2 pack of 2” glow sticks, so I grabbed two of those.  Then I found what was labeled as a ‘magic towel’, but basically it’s a compressed washcloth.  I picked up two; they would save on space and be great for many different uses.  I then found an aluminum water bottle, make sure that it does not have a coating or paint, so it could be used to boil water if needed (the coating/paint would cause dangerous fumes).  I continued and found: a roll of duct tape, a 2 pack of electrical tape, a bottle of isopropyl alcohol, a 3 pack of travel tissues, a 2 pack of super glue, a 3 pack of butane lighters, and a pair of EMT shears.  All for a total of $12 plus tax.  These are just a few of the items I came across during a short 10-minute trip to the local dollar store.

In conclusion, know what you have, be a smart shopper, and be smart not just a shopper.  The topics covered are just a few that I have come across in my short time prepping.  There is no set guide or checklist to prepping.  Prepping is subjective in regards to many things, so hopefully these hints/tips/tricks will help you build your preps to best suit you, your situation and your budget.  Prepping doesn’t have to be over whelming in either information or budget sense.  It’s just a matter of taking the time to understand what you want from prepping, making a plan, and then acting on that plan.  And remember:

“ALWAYS BE PREPARED!”

For just a little light hearted fun.

So, if you’ve ever wondered if you’re a real prepper or not, you might just be one if you can identify with these:

• Your kids think freeze-dried food is a delicacy.
• You use your Foodsaver more than your washing machine.
• Your ammo bill exceeds your electric bill each month.
• Costco is your favorite place to shop.
• Your wife has ever said “Come move this stuff so I can take a bath.”
• You have your local gun shop on speed dial.
• Your favorite TV shows are Walking Dead and Revolution.
• You know what SHTF means.
• You think those featured on Doomsday Prepper are lightweights.
• You think your neighbors are all spying on you.
• Target practice includes more than 1,000 rounds of anything.
• Your storage unit contains more food than your pantry.
• You think rice and beans are a major food group.
• You know what a bug-out bag is.

And here are a few anecdotes you might want to think about…

Finally…..

• 30+ Acres
• Remote Location
• Gated Entrance
• Potable Well Water
• Year Round Brook
• Heavily Wooded
• Gravel Roads
• Ideal for Multi-Family Use

This 30+ acre property was originally developed to be a gated cabin community near the beautiful vacation area of Blue Ridge, Georgia.  Due to the collapse of the real estate industry, the owner was unable to complete development with cabins.  It was however outfitted with two gravel roads, underground power, and a community well system.  It is heavily wooded, in a remote location, has a gated entrance and has a small, year round brook on it’s border.

Originally laid out for 21 separate lots of 1.5 acres or more, the purchaser would be free to use it as they see fit.  Due to its location, this is an ideal bug-out location and suited for multiple families.  It is not located in the city limits and is subject only to county zoning, which has very few restrictions.

 ATTENTION PREPPER NETWORK CO-OPS!

This is an ideal purchase for multiple families or prepper network co-ops.  There is plenty of room for private, individual sections.   Band together with other family members or your prepper network members and get this ideal bug out property.

If you live in the Atlanta, Knoxville, or Asheville areas, you can be here in two hours, safely in your perfect bug out location.

Most serious prepper organizations believe it is essential to avoid being a lone-wolf prepper.  Joining with other like-minded people may dramatically improve your chances of surviving.