If you’ve been looking around at the world lately and thinking, “Man, things are really looking bad right now,” you’re not alone. There are many other people out there thinking the same thing. If you’re reading this you’ve taken the next step from just thinking the above to actually doing something about it.
Congratulations! It’s a big step.
Why do we do it? Why do we prep? We all want to take care of our families and ultimately I think that’s what it all boils down to. I have one adult child, a three year old hellion, and a one year old Sweetie Pie and I would do anything in my power to make sure the children and Mrs Jarhead are safe and taken care of.
The world has always been a relatively unstable place. Natural disasters, war, economic hardships, crime, disease, famine, etc., are all a part of our planet’s history and are pretty common even today with all our technology and knowledge.
Now that we’ve decided we need to prepare we need to ask ourselves, “What are we preparing for?”
If you’ve ever seen any of the prepper TV shows that have come our recently they always say, “My name is Tommy Prepper and I’m preparing for a neutron pulse from a nearby exploding star.”
To be honest I’ve only ever seen a few minutes of a couple of episodes, so I can’t speak for the entire series – it could be pretty good – but to be honest every time I watch someone say that they’re prepping for something as specific as a solar flare it makes me cringe.
What Do We Prep For?
Seems like a pretty easy question to ask doesn’t it? But to get to the specifics of it can take a little work. Personally, I don’t prep for a solar flare, or a neutron pulse, or an Earthquake, or a winter storm. I prep for all of those things with the understanding that some are more unlikely to happen than others. We weren’t alive the last time Yosemite blew it’s top and we’re unlikely to be alive the next time it happens; however, if I’ve prepped for a winter storm then I’m still ready for a disaster and will be able to keep my family safe even if something the magnitude of a supervolcano does happen.
My best guess is that the next big event that will cause us societal problems is some kind of economic collapse. I’ll save the specifics of my thinking for another post, but needless to say that I feel like I’m at least marginally prepared for it if it does happen. The same with a winter storm, or a solar flare, or whatever.
By having water, food, and other items on-hand you up the chances of survival and even the comfort for your family during any type of emergency.
Most likely emergency I’ll have to face here in Maine? A good ol’ Noreaster or an ice storm. Nothing like a big blizzard to blow through and shut things down for a few days.
So that’s what I prep for. One of the things likely to happen during a blizzard is loss of electricity, which means no running water, no furnace, no lights, no refrigeration, and spotty communication. It’s also a good bet that roads will be impassable for a day or more with snow and blown down trees.
In order to prep for this scenario I have plenty of food and water stored, a generator for backup electricity, a kerosene heater as backup to the generator, an extra supply of gasoline, and items that will help me protect all this during hard times. During the ice storm that happened ten or twenty years ago up here there were reports of people stealing generators while they were still running!
By having these items on hand I’m ready for other emergencies that can cause the same results – just from a different disaster.
Will a generator help me in the case of a semi-permanent or permanent grid down situation? Probably not, but I do have backups for my backups. I live in a heavily wooded area and making a fire is something I can do in my sleep. My family will not be cold.
No matter what it is you prep for it’s always a good idea to have extra food, water, batteries, flashlights, candles, and other supplies on-hand to keep you alive when things get rough. It’s also a good idea to have a bug-out bag handy in case you need to leave your home for any length of time, or a bug-in bag that will help you get home in case you have to walk.
Now What?
Now that you’ve decided to do something about it sit down, figure out the event most likely to transpire in your area and then make a plan for it. Once you’ve got a plan start getting the items together that will enable you to implement your plan. Once you’ve done that I can guarantee that you will feel better about your situation.
Good luck and get prepping!
What do you prepare for?
-Jarhead Survivor
For anyone with enough sense to PRep, its obvious. To those who are in question its like saying” here comes a train. Should we get off the tracks or stay here and see what happens?” Anyone that ask themselves if they are going to prep or not has already become a casualty of the situation and will likly not make it anyway.
I prepare for uncertainty.
Well said Templar. If we were sure things would stay “normal”, then we would just be “crazy preppers”.
I’m very pleased with this site, I found it on Survival Cache and when I got to looking around on it I couldn’t stop reading it. I check it every day. I’m only 17 but I’m taking steps toward preparedness. I’ve assembled a bug out bag, a 10 day supply of water, and some food storage(that needs to be improved). Thank you guys for all of your articles they are very helpful.
With all that is going on , I know folks that #1 are not part of , or aware of the “prepper movement ” #2 are aware of or have at least heard of what that is but in no way are call themselves or consider themselves such , that are stocking up on goods regularly . Their reasons are simple , fear of job loss and to fight inflation . So my point is , the number of people that are starting or doing this is growing and much higher than we think . Just be aware , even though they are , they in no way consider themselves in this sub culture ………they are just worried Americans , no more , no less .
Originnaly started because every June 1st marked the start of the Atlantic hurricane season. Used to stock up in spring and after the season was over, would use up the preps. The last couple of years has seen a lot of chaos in the world so prepping became year round. Now with the preps on hand I can easily handle hurricane season and I know just about any other event thrown at us. It really does grant you great peace of mind. Nice post jarhead. Semper Fi and my one child leaves for Marine OCS on Sunday to become a third generation jarhead!
OCS?! That’s great GA. Semper Fi and good luck to him in his training.
i used this site to prepare: http://readynutrition.com/resources/52-weeks-to-preparedness-an-introduction_19072011/
i just adjusted it for where i live and am preparing for periods of a few days or weeks without water and electricity over 6 months while the world resets after the economies implode over their debts. i figure if things take longer than 6 months to return to normal, we’re headed for 17th century living and i’m not sure i want to live thru that.
Cool site, thanks for sharing it.
yeh, what Michael said: “Cool”.
living in the 17th century won’t be a picnic. most of your time will be spent trying to get food, and trying to keep warm. (or to cool off during the summer)
you may be able to salvage some 19th and 20th century tech, and make it bearable. my Dad, age 94 says the true, biggest innovation in his lifetime was the automatic hot water heater. (1920′s for most of America)
if you have soap, and potable water, you’re still better off than much of the world.
it may have been the 1930′s, but the point is still valid…
Agreed. And with strides in solar tech, with much of it DIY, (like the solar heaters I’m building with pop cans and solar water heaters) much of 2th century comfort can be maintained. I think the hardest will be loss of refrigeration, here, in the desert. I found plans for a gravity powered swamp cooler. The only electricity required is for the pump needed to wet the filters. If you could make a wind powered pump, or something, you wouldn’t need even that.
Oh, and tp will be a loss, and modern sewers, but am looking for a composting toilet.
if you can produce some ammonia, you might be able to do “icy ball” style refrigeration. (i don’t know exactly how it works) there are kerosene powered and natural gas/propane refrigerators too.
without TP, being able to produce soap and hot water will be especially crucial. I’m thinking soft cotton rags, or wash cloths would be the next best thing. (washed out like cloth diapers) i think they originally produced bleach, through electrolysis of seawater.
things are really going to stink.
if you can produce some ammonia, you might be able to do “icy ball” style refrigeration. (i don’t know exactly how it works) there are kerosene powered and natural gas/propane refrigerators too.
without TP, being able to produce soap and hot water will be especially crucial. I’m thinking soft cotton rags, or wash cloths would be the next best thing. (washed out like cloth diapers) i think they originally produced bleach, through electrolysis of seawater.
things are really going to stink.
my grandfather (west Philly) used threaded iron pipe, and fittings to make up “water backs” for the coal fired range in the kitchen. i’ve been thinking about winding copper tubing around the kerosene heater…
it’s extremely dangerous. (you need relief valves, etc) people routinely got scalded.
(sorry about the double)
There are people who hate our Republic and It’s Constitution, running it!
The Fed is destroying our currency and driving up prices of everything.
Turkey (NATO member) is shelling Syria ( allied to Russia/China)
China is making ready to go to war with Japan.
Gun sales at all time highs
Why isn’t all of America preparing?
the 47% cannot!!
some of the 47% cannot. the remainder choose not.
well, 47% cannot prep- the rest might be, just quietly- hush, hush on the q-t!!
even the government says it’s wise to prepare.
You must be some kind of NUMBSKULL if you aren’t making some preps.
the last time I checked, ENVY is still on the list of deadly sins. the “Evil Clown Posse” is busy fomenting envy, wherever they can.
instead of allowing more pie to be baked, they are suggesting that your piece of the pie, needs to be “redistributed”.
…and I do mean EVIL. this is in reference to the administration in power, and their party. (not the ICP rap group)
To actually answer the question, “what am I preparing for?”:
the past.
The Great Depression. Total War. Hurricane Hazel. The ice storm of ’58. Hurricane Donna. The Cuban Missile Crisis. School bullies. Minor surgery. 1968. Bad guys threating to shoot my Dad. The flooding from Hurricane Agnes. Being fired from my job. Being under-qualified/under-educated, for meaningful work. Being inefectual in an emergency. A complicated childbirth. Y2K. 9/11. Anthrax. Major surgery. Dysfunctional People Working in Groups. Sick pets. Hurricane Irene…
all of these incidents have affected me personally, or adversely affected the psyche of the people I love. Naturally, it could have been worse… or I wouldn’t be inflicting myself on all of you now.
Would anyone in his right mind want to be less prepared for the future than he was for the recent past?
dang, Irish, you must live under a dark cloud — but you are correct to list those things, because our society is a house of cards, ready to collapse at any time
Yeh, sometimes I’ve wondered whether I’m cursed.
For the most part, it’s been Miraculous Blessings.
My Dad was born in 1918. He survived whooping cough, as a child. My parents grew up during the Great Depression. Dad survived a Kamakazi attack aboard a “Kaizer Coffin” in 1945. Thirteen of his shipmates were burried at sea. It’s a miracle I even exist.
The house where I grew up had one bent over tree.
The neighbors told my parents it had happened during Hurricane Hazel. We were 70 miles inland from the seashore there. Hazel continued on, all the way to Canada. Agnes was a few days of rain, down at the shore. 5 years later, you could still see the high water mark in at Harrisburg. Upstate counties were hit hard. Many of the same places were hit again by Irene. One of my earliest “real” memories is of leaving the seashore ahead of Hurricane Donna. She did considerable damage in New Jersey.
Except DHS, who considers preppers to be potential terrorists.
how could they be worried about harmless guys like us?
Lol, got me there. We are a quiet, passive bunch of sheeple… Oh wait, no we’re not
We’re not???
well, OK. I’m not quiet. But I am all talk…
(really I am)
Prepping’s a great excuse to buy coats and shoes…
I’m mostly worried about winter storms and economic downturns. If the store shelves can’t get restocked for a week, I don’t want to get caught in the malay that breaks out over the last carton of eggs on day 8.
When i was young my father and grandfather told me nothing in life is easy or guaranteed and they both prepped for the bad winters and old ball storms that blew through durring the spring.
Durring one of those years a blizzard came though knocked out all the power then few days after the storm we got hit with freezing rain
I remember this because it was 3 weeks of no school and diving into the 10 foot crunchy snow drifts.
So i have always followed in thier foot steps, i remember their lessons well.
Semper Fi Jarhead!
-
It’s about denial and repression. also called the “normalcy bias” Many individuals can’t imagine what they will do when they are confronted with surviving a nation-wide disaster
Be aware and prepare!
Right on Jarhead – WRITE ON!
Respectfullly, Yoda
“Terrorist Attack On America”
http://www.magnifiedview.com
Prepping, especially the physical side, has a side benefit for me. Cutting wood, farming, physical fitness, hiking, camping, etc. burns up nervous energy and stress that is brought on by listening to the psychobabel of the left and the right. Preparing for whatever ‘calamity’ ;>) gives me peace knowing I’ve got a better shot of getting through it. Knowing I can get away from technology now and then will make it easier to cope with it if it happens “for real”. On the generator front. Apparently most of them are not warranted by the manufacturer for long term use. YMMV. I’m working on setting up power inverters on our vehicles to run the freezer, pump and charge batteries… Like one guy said people were driving around wasting fuel in “generators” looking for fuel for their portable generators. Preparedness and primitive skills also go hand ind hand for me. If something goes on for a month, 6 months, a year. Eventually the preps will run out. Or the PTB will be back. Don’t want to depend on the now or then…. Alright enough of this drivel. I’m out!
Oops that’s “don’t want to depend on ‘THEM’… And BTW ‘what everyone else said!’
I have a power inverter I can hook up to my vehicles too. And a small solar panel set up. I try to have backups for my backups!
I went the other route. When the power goes out I only have a very small fridge to worry about and can do just fine without power. But, I’m prepping for one. If I had a wife and 2 small kids I’d get a generator and some solar panels.
Im prepping for whatever come my way.i have 3 lil boys and they will not go hungry.i have enough food and water.i haved lived with no water or power due to hurricanes and thanks to my parents i have the skills to survive.its sad when i try to touch the subject with friends they just laugh and ask what food shortage.hopefully theyre quiet preppers and scare to talk i dont tell anyone what i got except family members,i come from a family if preppers :-) and proud of it.
I prep for the unknown. Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. Instead of hoping everything will be the same as it was when I went to bed, I am preparing in case one day I wake up and it isn’t. The more prepared I get, the less I worry about future uncertain events.
Not ;Should you prep; But, How much and where? IF you hold in place you MUST be able to defend it. And none of us are. Unless your “doomstead” is built like a fire base. Armed like one too. Sorry guys and gals BUT; 15 seconds after the local LEOs/SWAT/NG/FEDs get wind that you got what they want.Be it food, meds, gas, girls,guns, ammo or slaves. They are going to hit you like a piledriver. They may just kill you for sport,or to make an example. No matter; none of us got THAT kind of fire power. I don’t much care about “inner city” folks. They got No training. But I’m scared to death of hungry lawless men in black, with all the machine guns ,tanks and helos the feds could transfer.They ALLREADY kill us at will. What are they Gonna do When the gloves come off?
Dying is the last thing I want to do!
Dying is the last thing we all do. Except your hair and fingernails still grow after death.
I do not worry about trying to survive an unsurvivable situation. If a supervolcano swallows my home there is no survival. Same thing if a meteor lands on my house. The real trick is not dying during a survivable crisis. If lawlessness comes into play, which it will, you need to move if they are after you or your stuff. All it really takes is one person willing to trade their life for yours. You may have to move more than once in a truly bad scenario. Bugging out may become a daily thing. Live to fight another day.
Yeh Joe BUT; ya can’t run with little kids, you cant take your preps (more than you can carry) . My point is HOW to” defend in place”. A local defence force seems the best idea. But: Who do we trust? You ever dig trenches? Rig a fugasse? Emplace tanglefoot?I can’t and won’t run, so now I MUST think on the” big ugly”. Maybe Its time we all do.
Hi Ray,
I completely agree with your assessment of the U.S. Govt. It is getting very scary. I also plan on staying in place as long as possible, but defending myself from the govt. is an unsurvivable situation. I could live in a Remingtom Arms factory and would still lose. To me that leaves 3 options. Fight and die, go to a FEMA camp, or bugout before they get here. None of these are very appealing to me.
Since you are thinking about things like this it puts you way ahead of most people. To me that in itself is a form of preparation. I am keeping an eye on what is happening in Europe. I think it is telling in what lays ahead for us. I hope this helps.
Prepping has come about for me after my old home town was almost leveled in an earthquake, that was over a year ago and they are still cleaning up the mess. Seeing that and knowing people in the city that went without power, food, shelter, water and sanitaion for almost a month in some cases, really drives home the need to be ready at anytime for any eventuality.
Natural disasters “mother nature bi#@h slapping us up side the head” are the top of the list. Heck we can control our economy (badly at the moment), but nature is out of our control. Prep to be ready and when it hits, atleast you will be in the position to take a punch.
Biggest concern of all that people should focus on is sanitation, thats the one area where we as people can be hit hard and hit bad. Dig ya privy down wind, away from your water source, recycle water into vege gardens, clean yourself in one area and prep food in another. Its amazing the amount of people who won’t do this and will end up with a gastric bug, puking and expelling both ends, dropping precious minerals and fluids and the lbs that should be helping to keep them alive and strong when the SHTF. People are their own worse enemy at time!
They are probably their own worst enemies, most of the time.
however: “Never Under-estimate the Power of Dysfunctional People Working in Groups.” (someone in my workplace hung up a sign with that quote on it, last week)
OK, commented on some of the other stuff. Now to answer Jarhead’s question: what do I prep for? I have no idea. I live in an area prone to massive earthquakes, every 3 centuries KR so. Might or might not survive the next big one, but if I do, I want to be able to continue surviving. But that’s only a small concern, as it were. What scares me the most right now, is our own government, the possibility of a new civil war, economic collapse, and on and in. I love history. But history also scares the crap out of me, because the one thing that has been certain throughout history, is that nothing is ever certain. If someone isn’t trying conquer you, then you are fighting yourselves. Or a natural disaster occurs, or law and order are weakened by a corrupt or weak government and you have to defend against outlaws. Or the government is the outlaw. Or disease runs rampant through the land, or… The world, at least the major players, have enjoyed a long and prosperous run, much like the Roman empire, or the Greeks. But, these times always end, and its the common man that suffers most during times of disaster and unrest, war and famine.
I am blessed by a love of history, and cursed with the knowledge that chaos and tyranny are the norm for those not in power. I look around at a world coming apart at the seams, where economies are failing, where illegal immigrants are posing the same threat to America that the Vandals and Goths posed to the Romans. Our meddling in the affairs of others has created animosity towards us from all corners of the world. Weather patterns have gone screwy, tectonic activity is increasing. So, I have no idea what I am preparing for, but I am preparing to face whatever comes, as best I can.
I’m a former Boyscout. Lord Baden-Powell the patriarch of scouting
was once asked about the Scouting motto “Be Prepared”. “What are you preparing for?” his response, “Oh, just about any old thing” there is no way to fault a man who is that eloquent. Protect yourself. Do it now!
Gooder article for sure, prepping has been such a learning curve and people with sites like yours help us all to become educated to the max, and lessons the learning curve as well as an ease on the hip national bank, (wallet), tho at times money seems to get wasted on something that doesn’t turn out right, and not to dis on a fine man but his new book that just came out, 90% of it was what he wrote in his privious book, I am still shaking my head wondering why this man did such a thing, he seems to have so much integrity, unless a publisher pushed him or a contract demanded something from him that he did not have, but to say it was a waste of money for sure…..
In the gorgeous Pacific Northwest, we have all kinds of exciting natural disasters to prep for. Some of the ones I lived through growing up were windstorms (I’ve had neighbors lose cars, and parts of houses, when trees fell on them), mudslides, earthquakes, and volcanoes (got evacuated from a weekend Girl Scout camp due to Mt St Helens!). Just off the coast, we have the same kind of fault line that caused the 2004 Indonesia earthquake & tsunami, and it’s due for a quake (averages one every 300 years for the last several thousand, and the last one was in the year 1700).
I’m actually more worried about economic problems, though. While my job is fairly secure, my husband has been out of work since January except for his Navy Reservist duty, and despite cutting out all luxuries many months ago and really scrimping, we’ve run out of savings and we’re feeling the pinch pretty fiercely. And I’ve always been a bargain hunter, so we didn’t have a lot of extravagance to come down from in the first place! But Christmas gifts from us this year will have to be just home-canned desserts & a card (and would have been just cards except I got ahold of 40 lbs of fruit for $8).
kinda puts things in perspective. here I was feeling sorry for myself…
hang in there Jeanne. I hope things get better for you soon.