preperation

[mikieg]

let me first state that i am no conspiracy or space alien take over theorist. i am not paraniod. there are how ever some very real and near situations that we will need to be ready for. like i had already said, we are only a natural or economical or social disaster away from the stone age.
so we get to the question "what is preparedness?". most folks think that if i buy (insert item here) then i am prepared. these guys have all this super cool stuff. yet they are missing the most important thing, knowledge and experience. the more you sweat in peace the less you bleed in war.
you have no idea how many shooters refuse to seek formal training. if guys like mr randall are willing to share knowledge, then we need to take advantage of that. all the knives in the world are useless if you freeze to death in the snow because you cant make shelter and fire.
there is only so much man can do with a piece of carbon and micarta. rat has pretty much maxed out the idea of making a quality life long tool. no doubt.
so i am wondering what folks here have done in regards to preparedness? posts can be on things acuired both material and knowledge. like gear and schools. bring on the pics.

 

[RABII]

As you follow these forums, the Becker and ESEE forums to name a couple, I think you will find that quite a few of these members have some pretty extensive training in the art of survival. They regularly post pics and info from excursions they've taken into the woods/mountains/trails and show some pretty amazing skills. Our forum hosts include both Jeff and Mike of ESEE and Ethan Becker of BK&T all of whom are avid AND accomplished outdoorsmen. I know of no other forums that offer more on the subjects of survival skills and know-how than these two. While they may be designed for our entertainment, they do, nonetheless provide a high level of instruction and demonstrate very useful skill-sets in the event we ever find ourselves in an actual survival situation. So continue to visit these forums and I can almost guarantee that you will find common ground.

 

[mlrs]

I do alot of camping. Year round. I do several trips a year that I bring only the bare essentials. By the bare essentials I am talking about my BOB. I only bring a small amount of food and a small amount of water. The small amount of food I bring is supplemented with the stuff I trap, hunt, and catch. The water I get is from purifying it myself. The shelter that I use is what I build. I believe that if you have the gear you better know how to use it before the time comes. It is sometimes tough to go out with almost nothing and sustain life for a week or two. There is alot more work that goes into it than alot of people understand. I don't have any pics of the stuff that I do because I never think to take any. This spring I will get out for a couple of trips and take alot of pics to show. I encourage everyone to try something like this. Maybe not as extreme as I go but at least get out and learn the ins and outs of the gear you have. If something happens and you have confidence in the gear you have, it will keep you from second guessing alot of things and create less stress on you. After all, you have better things to worry about than wondering and stressing if the gear you have is going to fail you.


mlrs

 

[foxx]

The more I learn about self-reliance, survival, and wilderness skills, the more I realize how unprepared I am for the long haul.
Your OP mentions a disaster that sets us back to the "stone age". In that regard, in the short term, some of the skills we talk about will come into play.
But, what about long term existence? How many of us will live as hunter and gatherers, and how many of us are farmers?
Some of us can survive and thrive in the wilderness, but what about long term? When the bullets are gone, the gasoline pumps are dry and the current food stocks are drained how will we live?

 

[mlrs]

The more I learn about self-reliance, survival, and wilderness skills, the more I realize how unprepared I am for the long haul.
Your OP mentions a disaster that sets us back to the "stone age". In that regard, in the short term, some of the skills we talk about will come into play.
But, what about long term existence? How many of us will live as hunter and gatherers, and how many of us are farmers?
Some of us can survive and thrive in the wilderness, but what about long term? When the bullets are gone, the gasoline pumps are dry and the current food stocks are drained how will we live?

I have had this conversation several times with my mom and friends. I have come to the conclusion that you will need to do some of both to survive. I noticed that alot of the Plains Indians had places for summer and winter. To me hunting and gathering and farming both need to be done. If you do not do a little bit of both life could get real bad real fast. It is like putting all of your eggs in one basket and praying that you don't drop them. What if the crops die or the animals leave the area or are over hunted. Either way you go there is still a certain amount of conservation to it as well. You don't want to kill all of the animals in one area or not rotate crops and use the minerals and things in the soil up. There is alot more that goes into long term survival than most people think about. Maybe I am wrong. Who knows.


mlrs

 

[foxx]

I worry that we will have to find out, mlrs! I'm 38, and WE ARE GOING TO RUN OUT OF GASOLINE in my lifetime.
At the rate of growth and consumption, around the world, there is no sustainability.
There are so many other disasters that could set us back.
Power grid failure
Sustained blizzards, or mini-iceage
Viral outbreak
water contamination, floods, tsunami's
economic collapse
super volcano erupts
asteroids
solar flares
extended drought
the list goes on and on...

 

[mlrs]

I worry that we will have to find out, mlrs! I'm 38, and WE ARE GOING TO RUN OUT OF GASOLINE in my lifetime.
At the rate of growth and consumption, around the world, there is no sustainability.
There are so many other disasters that could set us back.
Power grid failure
Sustained blizzards, or mini-iceage
Viral outbreak
water contamination, floods, tsunami's
economic collapse
super volcano erupts
asteroids
solar flares
extended drought
the list goes on and on...

I worry about it to. I will be 34 in a month so we are close to the same age. That is why I practice things and try to be prepared as best I can. The bad thing is, there is so many things that could go wrong it is almost impossible to be prepared for it all. You just have to learn and do as much as you can and leave the rest up to God.


mlrs

 

[StagLefty]

I worry about it to. I will be 34 in a month so we are close to the same age. That is why I practice things and try to be prepared as best I can. The bad thing is, there is so many things that could go wrong it is almost impossible to be prepared for it all. You just have to learn and do as much as you can and leave the rest up to God.
mlrs

I'm 64 and agree completely with your statement. One of the worst things I see is people buying gear just to have it and never practice with it or worse yet even understand what it's for. I don't have any gear that's hasn't been tried and tested. :thumbup:

 

[Tyrkon Lawson]

One thing I am looking into are those huge 50 gal. water containers. If we have a disruption in services due to a major earthquake or something water is one of my major concerns.

As for training... it never ends but that's a good thing to always learn something new or add to your tool belt of self reliance.

 

[stsparky]

I use to have a dozen huge 10 gallon jugs I'd had in the SUV and the old apartment. Getting married and having a kid just made me more hopeful. My new thoughts are to desalinate/purify water with several stills. The last earthquake FUBARed the local area for three days. So five days of SIP is what I plan to undertake come a disaster.

And so what if we run out of gas, there are biomass fuels (from trash not food) that can be used until our politicians get their heads out of the sand. I like the idea of a hydrogen economy leveling the playing field.

 

[mikieg]

i am leaving for the gulf coast on sunday. i will be working down there for several months. obviously i will be taking my sailboat to live aboard. but i am also taking my ruck sack. i couldnt imagine living thru a katrina event without my gear. not that it couldnt be done, just be a lot less stealing involved. oops, did i say that? i meant "scavenging".
being with out my gear would leave me feeling naked! there is a comfort in knowing that it is there.
december 2007 we had an ice storm here in oklahoma. when it hit, i was on my last night of a backpack trip. it killed the grid for a couple weeks. when our power went out on the second day, my wife demanded we go buy a generator. i wasn't too worried. when the storm was raging, i was backpacking that night. so i told her that i was in my tent when it hit, and i will be happy to set up in the back yard. i ended up driving 3 hours out of the storm circle to buy a generator.

 

[drillsgt71]

There is a movie called "the Road" that came out a few years ago. It's a post-apocaliptic story that shows that even a well prepared survivor runs out of supplies and has to go out into what is left of the world to try to survive. A very sad movie, I couldn't watch it to the end as I couldn't see anyone surviving in the world that remained in the "plot"(canibbals and world fires, etc.).
The lesson I came away with is; no matter how prepared you are with training and supplies, there may come a day when nothing is left in the world, not even hope. But I'm going to be as prepared as possible for things I hope won't happen and I'm going to fight to live as long as I can.

 

[Mannlicher]

I think the OP would be surprised at the number of Citizens that have been 'into' prepping for many years.
If it takes reading the current newspaper to get you so attuned, you are WAY behind the curve.

 

[spraay]

Planning and learning how to do things is the best way to spend your time/money IMHO. Getting gear and supplies is second.

Cultivating the preparedness mindset is key. It starts with a simple question: "What happens if...?" If you see the world, at least partially through that lens, everything else will follow. You will want to learn and prepare if you understand there are reasons for it. The people who mock preparedness, simply don't have this understanding.

I try to keep a minimum of 30 days worth of food and other basic necessities on hand at all times, and a practical reserve of non-perishables to last me even longer. It's not only good preparedness, it also means I don't have to run to the store everyday, because I've run out of something or other.

I've hunted and fished all my life, and even grown my own food (and have the space around my home to do so), so a longer period without supplies from civilization won't mean the end of my little world.

I'm not spending every day fretting about the apocalypse. But in my lifetime I've seen regional power blackouts that lasted for days (personally), terrorist attacks, and riots (on TV, but still in this country). I went to St. Bernard Parish a year after hurricane Katrina, to help with cleanup, and that's not what anyone would call civilization. Those things are all very real and they could easily happen again. Our world is not becoming a more orderly place.

I don't mind spending a bit of time each day, thinking about how to keep things running if it all falls down for a while. Then I go back to living the life I enjoy. The good news is that hiking, hunting, fishing, camping, and being on the forum are all things I enjoy anyways, so 'being prepared' isn't a chore for me.

SP

 

[Mr. Tactical]

Let me start off by saying this is a great thread! I think its safe to say everyone here is prepared to a extent. We all get comfortable it's human nature, it's also not good for us. A post like this will help kick start that drive to attain knowledge and extensive training. To prepare I have stock piled ammo & kept my guns running and working, also modified them to CQC (which is more likely how they will be used in a survival situation for me)

I think urban survival gets overlooked most of the times, but i feel urban survival is far more common then we give it credit for. I have also taking tactical shooting courses & you will find me dry firing and performing drills on the weekend in fort living room. I also work on bushcraft every chance I get. Making fires, shelters, traps, fishing with little supplies etc. I would still like to take my training even further. I am planning on taking Jeffs course as well (maybe in April). I also keep my bob up to date and take it everywhere no matter what or where i go. I also have a SHTF bag at home which i could live out of for months if i had too. (always using and replacing the gear, stuff that works well gets duplicated and saved)

I read as much as i can on survival and all the different styles. I don't just read i try to put all the stuff to the test as well, but seeing this thread makes me want to do more! I love this forum! the people on here are great and us checking each other with threads like this is very helpful. All the knowledge i have gained from being on this thread has taking me to another level.

I thank you all!

 

[R.A.T.]

The world as we know it is not going to come to an end. I've been hearing this same old stuff all my life and I'm going on 47 years old. The reason we should always prepare to be self-sufficient are for the short periods of time that we will need those skills. Katrina is an example of this. Being lost in the wilds from hunting or hiking. Coming up on a car wreck and understanding how to do quick treatment of trauma to save someone's life until more experienced people get there.....and about a half million other reasons. The "coming collapse" is not part of my reasoning becasue I don't put a dime's worth of trust in the idiot Glenn Beck and all the other doomsayers. Red Dawn is not coming and none of us are going to have to run to the hills and live off of hunting and trapping (couldn't do it anyway). I practice gardening, canning, and other "old" skills because it keeps me in shape physcially and mentally. My pysical work is what makes me who I am. I also like to cook my own food. There is something about making a great dinner with everything that you raised yourself. It makes it seem worth the effort and sweat equity. I service bait stations and game cameras every day and sometimes sit on a bait station at night with NVGs because it builds my knowledge of my surroundings and also serves to keep me in shape physcially and mentally. I like to track animals. I kill nothing because I have no reason to, but I could shoot something anytime I wanted.

Trust me, 10 years from now everyone will still be talking about the world coming to an end. Bullshit.

 

[Marklar]

The world as we know it is not going to come to an end. I've been hearing this same old stuff all my life and I'm going on 47 years old. The reason we should always prepare to be self-sufficient are for the short periods of time that we will need those skills. Katrina is an example of this. Being lost in the wilds from hunting or hiking. Coming up on a car wreck and understanding how to do quick treatment of trauma to save someone's life until more experienced people get there.....and about a half million other reasons. The "coming collapse" is not part of my reasoning becasue I don't put a dime's worth of trust in the idiot Glenn Beck and all the other doomsayers. Red Dawn is not coming and none of us are going to have to run to the hills and live off of hunting and trapping (couldn't do it anyway). I practice gardening, canning, and other "old" skills because it keeps me in shape physcially and mentally. My pysical work is what makes me who I am. I also like to cook my own food. There is something about making a great dinner with everything that you raised yourself. It makes it seem worth the effort and sweat equity. I service bait stations and game cameras every day and sometimes sit on a bait station at night with NVGs because it builds my knowledge of my surroundings and also serves to keep me in shape physcially and mentally. I like to track animals. I kill nothing because I have no reason to, but I could shoot something anytime I wanted.

Trust me, 10 years from now everyone will still be talking about the world coming to an end. Bullshit.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
You are a smart man...

-Mark

 

[mikieg]

manlicher, you would be suprised to know that this is not my first rodeo. the purpose of this thread is to see just what folks are doing with these fine tools.
like i posted, i dont feel that all the hype about the world ending is realistic. i do how ever believe that any number of events will throw a monkey wrench into our lifestyle for any period of time.
and i do agree that eventually your supplies will run out. your neat gear will wear out. as much as i like fire starters, the drill method is probably the best skill option. i love bullets, but when i have fired my last, the rifle will be discarded. my true love is traditional archery (black widow to be exact). now this is a renewable tool.
the idea i had in mind is not that buying supplies is a bad thing, but it is far from a complete plan. i was looking to see what education and experience folks here have. when you really need it, the supplies you carry between your ears will likely be the only tools you will have. and whoever said that urbin survival is over looked was right. i bet if you talked to the katrina folks, they will all agree that the game was finding available resourses.

 

[Tyrkon Lawson]

Ya the whole end of the world thing is old. My students, 8th graders, are on the world ending in 2012 kick. I just tell them that if it does then they won't have to worry about it any more.

Skills, as mentioned above is #1 for me with water being #2. I am only really worried about a major earthquake disrupting services for a time. Food, fire, shelter, are all taken car of and I am not worried about those. Personal protection is much better than it used to be as we are in a much safer area now. Water is the one I want to make sure to have plenty of.

We just relocated so I am in the process of learning everything I can about the area, map it, etc... Our old neighborhood was pretty unsafe which was always a concern.

 

[foxx]

Being prepared is great, being paranoid is not so great. The "END OF THE WORLD" is not coming, Jeff. You are correct about that. But, "THE END OF THE GASOLINE AGE" is coming.
There is no energy source like fossil fuels. Nothing else compares to the millions of years of stored energy/sun power. It takes fuel/energy to build cars, roads, nuclear plants, well, everything in the modern age. Unless it's found on another planet, we will be using limited energy in the future.
We are fooling ourselves in thinking that science will find another energy source, equal to fossil fuels.
I envision a future with more local economies, less travel, more beasts of burden, and less growth. The transition might be gradual, but it's coming.