Not a prepper, but… I was thinking about preparedness.

[Tahoe1305]

Disclaimer here: I’m not a prepper. I’m not trying to get into conspiracy theories or anything. However, I’ve been reading “One Second After”, and thinking about my proximity to DC, and perhaps a little preparedness would go a long ways. My wife is on board after seeing how stupid people got over Covid.

I’m looking for resources and recommendations… not crazy ass forums, but solid resources. Looking for Books, in particular. something we can read when there is no electricity; bushcraft, survival, etc. Also looking for a resource that has a solid list and plan for essential supplies and gear for a long term scenario. Again, trying to avoid the dark corners of the prepping internet. In the end, I want to come out of this with knowledge, supplies, long term food, and a water source to last for a while on our own if it ever came to that. Thanks. Also, if you want to lay awake at night staring at the ceiling, go read that book.

That’s a good book. Met the author when I worked at DARPA.

My wife became a prepper after that and “Ghost Fleet”. Also met author that year.

 

[cnelk]

I don’t know when the term ‘prepper’ came about.

All I know is I grew up with being frugal and making things last.

When I was a kid, my parents raised me and my 2 sisters on a rural farm with no running water.
There was a well to water the cattle but it wasn’t fit to drink.

My mom would wash diapers in the creek when it thawed in the spring.

We had a big garden and canned the veggies and the meat my dad shot in the fall.

It can be done. Not much has changed in the technique, only the mindset of what you need in day to day living.

 

[TheCougar]

My friends consider me a hoarder, especially when it comes to ammo, guilty.

I’m not an ammo horder. Frankly don’t understand it. I’ve got enough for defense and enough to hunt for several years. Beyond that, I’m more worried about the things that will keep me alive

When most people think of “prepping” they don’t think of having enough money in savings to cover their needs for three months if they got laid off. That scenario is far more likely than some TEOTWAWKI event (google that). Ask how many people in the last 3 years wish they had that versus 50 gallon drums for rain water collection or radiation tablets from Amazon. Just my two cents…

I’d bet most preppers probably spend way too much money on crap they will never use, and spend way too much time worrying about events that will ever happen.

Maybe that’s the scotch talking, but I think most people need to just use a little bit of common sense and enjoy life, it doesn’t last very long.

I’m not in that boat. I’m financially prepared to be out of work for a long time, if it came to that. I’m also not too interested in the traditional “prepper” stereotype of stockpiling ammo and canned food that will expire anyway. I’m thinking more along the lines of knowledge, some supplies that are multi-use and go a long way, etc.

 

[eamyrick]

99% of info and people giving info in the area are nuts. Having been and worked in several disaster areas and a career as a first responder a few take aways:
1) Cash at the house. $500-1000 in small bills at a minimum. During Hurricane Katrina a lot of folks had a hard time getting out. Gas stations didn’t have power and the only way to get resources was cash. You end up way ahead if you can get out of an area and cash is king despite what the internet will tell you.
2) Water. In Austin, Tx the water supply has been unreliable several times in the past decade. At minimum a case of 50oz smart water bottles at work and at the house to get your through a few days. The size is highly portable. I have a 55 gallon barrel from a home brew store filled with water behind my house. I clean and refill every year or so. Understanding the dynamics of water purification is also a useful skill.
3). Skills. Anything you can learn, from vehicle repair, to conceal carry and deployment of a firearm is much more important than any piece of gear. Ask people who have served in non permissive environments and not a single one who isn’t selling something will tell you to walk around with a rifle and Tac gear. I’ll take a concealed g19 (which I already always have) over my safe full of long guns and issued armor. If I leave my house due to a major disaster, getting armed to the teeth is my absolute last priority.

 

[Red Letters]

We live close to the coast where hurricanes are a regular thing, if you wait too long watching to see if a storm is going to get close you are screwed. Grocery stores sell out of everything in a few hours and they rely on trucks every day to keep the shelves full. I guess everyone got a taste of that with items (toilet paper etc) over the last few years.
Without some sort of a miracle we are in for a bumpy ride, likely bumpy whatever the case. The WEF has told us exactly what they are going to do and it just so happens to line up with what the Bible says will happen. They are coming after the food supply, it has already started. With immediate plans to start Vaccinating our beef and pork with mnra, chicken farm after chicken farm mysteriously burning. Certain feed causing chickens to stop laying. guys like bill gates buying up farm land. I could go on and on.
They say straight out they are going to do away with beef and replace it with man made products and bug etc. Hell Ireland is making plans to kill over a million cows to meet the globalist demands to curb global warming. A buddy of mine just had the government show up at his place for an inspection to keep qualifying for his ag exemption (he has been raising cows for years had his ag exception for ever and has never had anyone come inspect) this year they did a inspection and made a list of every animal he had, including counting every chicken. Chickens have absolutely nothing to do with his ag exception.

Back thousands of years ago they would lay siege on towns/villages, surrounding them cutting off all supplies. If their water source was a river they would divert the river and just sit sometime for years. It got so bad mothers were known to eat their own babies.
Klaus Schwab said in 10 years we will own nothing and like it. I can’t imagine a scenario where everything is taken from us and they think we’ll be ok with it other than these same people creating a crisis so bad, with them controlling everything to the point where compliance is the only way of survival.
They talk about the coming digital currency with a new ID tied to your ESG score (already happening) where you will be penalized for not meeting their carbon and social standards. 15 minute cities are being planned now as well. These people pushing for all this are evil, but not as evil as the force driving them.

This stuff isn’t a CT, they either have plans to start doing or, are already doing the things I listed and the strangest part about it they aren’t hiding, they are telling us straight out. Which begs the question what aren’t they saying?

Seems like a pretty good idea to be prepared and start becoming as self sufficient as possible.

Edit: most of us are men and are directly responsible for a number of family members, reading about those sieges really brought this home to me. Imagine how bad it was for a mother to eat her own baby. I hear guys bragging about their 2nd amendment contingency plans, I personally think there are lots of ugly scenarios that will play out before that.

Another thing, I don’t understand peoples need for approval or their concern about what some knucklehead might say about them when we are dealing with what could very well turn into life or death situations. If you are having an internal conversation telling you to do some of these things..do it quit worrying about what someone might say and think about your responsibilities to the people in your life involve.

What is the saying, if history teaches us anything, it’s that we’ve learned nothing from history, only now we have examples from the past and a book telling us what is coming.

 

[Gone4Days]

the “crazy ass forums” you speak about are where you should go. People on there aren’t crazy and have been right about most things. they are the people you should learn from. It’s just people who woke up from COVID who are behind the 8 ball. ive been prepping since 2012.

 

[Gone4Days]

99% of info and people giving info in the area are nuts.

Hyperbole.

 

[Gone4Days]

Cash at the house. $500-1000 in small bills at a minimum. During Hurricane Katrina a lot of folks had a hard time getting out. Gas stations didn’t have power and the only way to get resources was cash. You end up way ahead if you can get out of an area and cash is king despite what the internet will tell you.

how will that prepare you during the dollar collapse? or when your CBDC wallet is locked because you haven't uploaded your vax passport? Cash isn’t king. It’s trash.

 

[Gone4Days]

- Get some precious metals
- Learn to preserve food, can and store enough for min 3 months
- Store water, I store 550 gallons living in AZ
- Quality air rifle. Springer style .22 ca. Pellets are cheap and simple to store and will kill small game.
- Some guns, but focus more on ammo
- Learn to make soap
- Buy a whole steer (or share) from local rancher and keep freezer beef to last a year.
- Store wheat and learn to make bread from wheat berries. Mill your flour
- Store antibiotics and essential Rx meds. COVID I had Ivermectin, Hydroxycholoquine, Zinc, Budesonide stored.
- Get your amateur radio license and use HAM radio
- Equip your home with an Interlock Switch for whole home backup generator (I can run my whole house including AC in AZ on my portable 9000w generator dual fuel - propane). Soft start kit installed on AC.
- Learn to use a bidet, both in home and portable
- Build or buy a few alcohol stoves to boil water. Stock denatured alcohol.
- Grow veggies
- Learn how to use a 3d printer
- Raise chickens and preserve/store the eggs by water glassing.

These are all thinks I do or have done. I can’t count the number of people who once thought I was stupid who ran to me during COVID looking for help and advice. Unfortunately, most of the already forgot what happened and are right back where they started.

 

[Team4LongGun]

99% of info and people giving info in the area are nuts.

That's a pretty ignorant, broad brush statement.

 

[snowymtnwolf]

Proximity to DC —-> think of where you can drive to east - NE in mtns to get out of “circles” of bad stuff.

Don’t have book names off top of my head - but military expeditionary preparedness books would be a good start. Can likely pick them up for cheap in military surplus stores. And those stores have good things to pickup BUT double check prices and how old some of that gear is inside those stores. But would be a good place to start


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Flyjunky]

We live close to the coast where hurricanes are a regular thing, if you wait too long watching to see if a storm is going to get close you are screwed. Grocery stores sell out of everything in a few hours and they rely on trucks every day to keep the shelves full. I guess everyone got a taste of that with items (toilet paper etc) over the last few years.
Without some sort of a miracle we are in for a bumpy ride, likely bumpy whatever the case. The WEF has told us exactly what they are going to do and it just so happens to line up with what the Bible says will happen. They are coming after the food supply, it has already started. With immediate plans to start Vaccinating our beef and pork with mnra, chicken farm after chicken farm mysteriously burning. Certain feed causing chickens to stop laying. guys like bill gates buying up farm land. I could go on and on.
They say straight out they are going to do away with beef and replace it with man made products and bug etc. Hell Ireland is making plans to kill over a million cows to meet the globalist demands to curb global warming. A buddy of mine just had the government show up at his place for an inspection to keep qualifying for his ag exemption (he has been raising cows for years had his ag exception for ever and has never had anyone come inspect) this year they did a inspection and made a list of every animal he had, including counting every chicken. Chickens have absolutely nothing to do with his ag exception.

Back thousands of years ago they would lay siege on towns/villages, surrounding them cutting off all supplies. If their water source was a river they would divert the river and just sit sometime for years. It got so bad mothers were known to eat their own babies.
Klaus Schwab said in 10 years we will own nothing and like it. I can’t imagine a scenario where everything is taken from us and they think we’ll be ok with it other than these same people creating a crisis so bad, with them controlling everything to the point where compliance is the only way of survival.
They talk about the coming digital currency with a new ID tied to your ESG score (already happening) where you will be penalized for not meeting their carbon and social standards. 15 minute cities are being planned now as well. These people pushing for all this are evil, but not as evil as the force driving them.

This stuff isn’t a CT, they either have plans to start doing or, are already doing the things I listed and the strangest part about it they aren’t hiding, they are telling us straight out. Which begs the question what aren’t they saying?

Seems like a pretty good idea to be prepared and start becoming as self sufficient as possible.

Spot on. Amazing to me that more people don’t pay attention to what these people are saying. The books that Klaus has written are eye opening.

 

[Team4LongGun]

Everybody is an expert, until they are not. This topic is like many others, such as home defense, concealed carry, "go bags", all the way up to the zombie apocalypse. Youtube is full of barracks Rambos teaching tactics and "high speed" nonsense when just about none of them have ever been in a firefight, or had real world training and experience.
I suggest vetting the sources you glean info from, and make sure your plan(s) are not one dimensional. This is where part of what @eamyrick said I agree with.

As for prepping, I think a well rounded array of supplies and equipment is a good idea. Going to far in any one direction (5 years of food) and not covering all the bases (no water source) is where some folks get it wrong.
The dudes with an infantry battalions worth of ammo that thinks he and his wife are going to be able to sustain combat for days and weeks is kidding only himself. A lot of people think survival and catastrophic events seem "cool" and when all the marbles are on the line, it's anything but cool.

Ultimately, LOCATION is your greatest asset. Be where you think is safest when the event kicks off. This may mean moving your family now to a different geographical location.

 

[Red Letters]

there have been lots of reports, including from nasa saying we are likely going to deal with long term internet, cellphone and or grid outages (long term electric outages will be HARD to deal with if that were to happen) I’ve seen people lose their minds after just a few weeks of no electricity. Along with Fist fights at gas stations etc.
Anyway oddly enough several people I know all just ordered hamm radios and each person had no idea everyone else was doing or thinking about doing the same thing. From what I understand you can use a hamm radio without a licensE during an emergency? But having the same people crashing our system telling you what constitutes an emergency is almost asking for trouble.

Does anyone have experience with these or long range walky talkies?

 

[Wetwork]

Being stationed on the Oregon coast I was worried about tsunami. I planned for what I figured would be no power for many months. I bought four months of MRE entree's for three meals a day, for four people. It was about $2 to $3 a entree back then. Four months of chow in two plastic totes, that my 7 and 8 year olds could chuck into the back of my pickup alone. Solar powered radio and a tent, a large butane torch and a couple of pots and pans.

If something worse happens, the cities will clear out and flood neighboring country-side with folks wanting food. There is nothing on earth a Father or Mother wont do to feed a crying baby who hasn't eaten in a week, up to and including murder. Thats why the big hub-ub about 72hr kits. To get families over a hump that maybe the govnt can start bringing in emergecy stuff before the killing really starts. If you just mess around looking at what folks did to survive and live before electricity its easy peasy. Our cattle ranch didn't get power until the early 50s. Its hard but do-able. -WW

 

[Gone4Days]

From what I understand you can use a hamm radio without a licensE during an emergency?
Does anyone have experience with these or long range walky talkies?

You can’t just pick up one of these radios and use it. You need to know how they work. Repeaters, frequency, offset, tones, etc. Unless you want to communicate via simplex then it’s easy, but that’s just direct radio to radio and won’t get you much range at all. That’s basically just like FRS or GMRS. For long range, mass communication you need to learn to use duplex repeaters.

If you are truly interested get your license and learn to use it. otherwise don’t use it at all. You need a license.

Prepping or not, more outdoorsman should have their radio license and a HAM in their truck for when out of cell service. I have a yaesu FTM-7250DR mounted below the dash.

 

[Broomd]

Feel for you living so close to Port-au-Prince. Although Haiti has more political integrity that the U.S. does anymore.

 

[*zap*]

I’ve been reading “One Second After”, and thinking about my proximity to DC, and perhaps a little preparedness would go a long ways.

I’m looking for resources and recommendations… Looking for Books, in particular.

Move away from dc.

The military survival manuals are a great source of info. These two are very good and contain lots of info:


Mental and physical fitness/fortitude are as important as anything else.

Do you exist within the comfort crisis? Gradual elimination of comforts will make you stronger and better prepared.

This is really a big topic and those are just initial recommendations.
That whole series of books by forstchen are good reading but the first one can really hit home and could happen....since it was written people are 20x more worse off in comfort excesses..and phone dependency.

Stay away from the 'feel good' fixes for being prepared and embrace the preps that suck. Everyone in the house should have a go bag ready for a quick exit...keep them up to date as the seasons change and maybe a few bags for other general stuff.

Good luck and stay hard.

af manual 64-3.
sere operations air force handbook 10-644/27 march 2017.

 

[TheCougar]

Move away from dc.

The military survival manuals are a great source of info. These two are very good and contain lots of info:
View attachment 568981

Mental and physical fitness/fortitude are as important as anything else.

Do you exist within the comfort crisis? Gradual elimination of comforts will make you stronger and better prepared.

This is really a big topic and those are just initial recommendations.
That whole series of books by forstchen are good reading but the first one can really hit home and could happen....since it was written people are 20x more worse off in comfort excesses..and phone dependency.

Stay away from the 'feel good' fixes for being prepared and embrace the preps that suck. Everyone in the house should have a go bag ready for a quick exit...keep them up to date as the seasons change and maybe a few bags for other general stuff.

Good luck and stay hard.

af manual 64-3.
sere operations air force handbook 10-644/27 march 2017.

I’ve got those manuals. I’ve been to sere and advanced sere. Good times in the box and sleeping in the snow in the Spokane winter!

 

[TheCougar]

I’ve got those manuals. I’ve been to sere and advanced sere. Good times in the box and sleeping in the snow in the Spokane winter!

I’m stuck in the Virginia area for a while. I fly for the airlines. I’ll always be near a major metro area. I just live as far away as I can tolerate the drive to work.