Prepping: Creating a Collapse Supply List

I don’t do a lot of prepping articles because to be honest, most of it is common sense type stuff. Blame it on me being raised in the south and having a really “hands on” child hood I guess, but alot of what most people consider “prepping” I did when I was 12 years old in the woods with my Dad and it kind of just “stuck”.

 This  article however is an exception. I don’t really peruse “prepper” websites, because as I said, most of  the information contained within them is redundant and most everyhting else you find on these sites could be labeled “fringe” at best, “tin foil hat/nut job” at worst. But I do peruse websites (LEW Rockwell) that re-print selected articles, and that is how I found this one. I think is a GREAT example of being AWARE of your surroundings and ACTING ACCORDINGLY.

Just to give a little bit of Background on the DIRE Situation down in Venezuela, Read THIS.-SF

Sometimes a cautionary tale is more motivating than any amount of positive reinforcement every could be, and the horrifying reports from Venezuela are a perfect example. If you’re paying attention to the things they’ve run out of, you can put together a collapse supply list to see you through the crisis in the event of a breakdown in our own country. The time to prepare is now, well before the situation devolves to one that is similar.

Every day, there is more dire news out of Venezuela.  It’s so bad there that even the mainstream news can no longer ignore that the country is in the midst of an economic collapse. Thousands have turned to looting in order to feed their families. Even their soldiers have been stealing food. Long lines, empty stores, and hospitals without electricity are the norm instead of an unusual occurrence.

It wasn’t always like that. Life before Venezuela devolved into socialism looked a whole lot like our lives do today. In fact, as recently as the 1970s, Venezuela was one of the top 20 richest countries in the world.

So, today, our financial situation certainly looks far brighter than that of Venezuela, but according to a lot of experts, that is a glossy veneer over a crumbling foundation.  Obama calls it “peddling fiction” but the outlook here is not good. Financial statistics are massaged and many of them hidden to keep us in the dark. Jobs are nearly impossible to find, and heaven helps you if you lose one.  The price of living is going up, but financial solvency is going down as personal debt outstrips the ability to pay it. Pension funds that people rely on are going bankrupt, one after another.

It really isn’t a question of if, but when.

Economic collapse starts out as “going through hard times.” It isn’t mobbed on the streets or regression to Third World status initially. Before it ever gets to that, you have time to prepare. So let’s get started.

Pay Attention to What They’re Out of in Venezuela

The best way to make your supply list is to figure out what they’ve run out of in Venezuela.  Below, you can find a list of the things they do not have, along with suggestions for stocking up or educating yourself.

If we never have a problem in the United States, you can rest assured that none of these supplies are crazy things you’ll never use. Most are the most basic of necessities and you’ll find it’s very convenient to be able to “shop in your pantry” whenever you need something. As well, learning to be more self-reliant is a great way to save money, live simpler, and often be healthier than those who depend on the store to meet all their needs.

Read the Remainder at The Organic Prepper

Only 1% Are Preppers

No one really knows how many preppers exist in the world, but it is safe to say that there are more than three million in the United States alone.  Even though this sounds like a huge segment of the population, this is still only slightly more than 1% of the total US populace.

So, the bigger question is this: who is going to take care of the remaining 99% percent of the population when a major disruptive event occurs?

My guess is that most folks believe that the government will step in.  Yeah right; just like they did with Katrina and Superstorm Sandy.  We all know how well that worked out. The victims of Katrina waited days for aid while thousands were housed in the Superdome without supplies, and the victims of Sandy sat huddled in dark, stinking apartments, then stood in long lines for hours to get their allotted bottle of water and an MRE.

Here’s the cold, hard truth: the US Government is ill-equipped to take on a massive rescue operation. They have neither the manpower or the supplies to do so.

Plus, if the disruptive event is an economic collapse, you can bet that corporations will be bailed out long before the populace.  It happened in 2008 and 2009, and many of us have the retirement account statements to prove it.

It’s undisputed that disasters can happen – and often do. The only question is, how will you deal with it? Will you wait for someone to charge in and rescue you and your family? Or will you take the matter into your own hands and prepare so that you can be self-reliant, regardless of the crisis?

The idea of prepping can be overwhelming when you think about the vast amount of supplies that you don’t yet have when you discover your home may not be the best location in which to ride out the storm, or when you realize that you really don’t have that many viable post-apocalyptic skills.

The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Prepper in 20 Easy Steps

Don’t despair. This is your ultimate guide to becoming a prepper, complete with some assessments to help you figure out where you’re at right now, and the steps you need to take to get to where you need to be. Best of all, this is a guide that doesn’t require you to drop $11,298.36 (aka big bucks) today to become prepared in one fell swoop. Many of these to-dos are absolutely free!

The Four Stages of Prepping

Before starting, let us first review the four stages of prepping that I first wrote about in 10 Simple Strategies for Becoming A Prepper.

From what I’ve noticed, the mix of readers on prepper-centric websites fall into four major camps. This is a progression of preparedness.  You may recognize yourself and others in these descriptions.

I do not mean to imply that any stage of prepping is a bad thing.  Not at all.  Rather, it is our duty to exercise our own free will to make preparedness decisions that bring sense to our unique situations.  There is no such thing as the one-size-fits-all Prepper.  You may reach a certain stage and feel very comfortable at that point. Not everyone can be a candidate for a reality show, nor does everyone want to do something like that.

The Prepper Wannabe

This is someone who wants to embrace preparedness but does not know where to start.  This person may also feel that he or she does not have adequate financial resources to prep.

The Prepper Newbie

This prepper has started to prepare but needs help in sorting through an overwhelming amount of advice and preparedness strategies both online and off. Whether it is simply handholding or education, the Prepper Newbies have started their journey but continue to seek knowledge and positive reinforcement to ensure they are on the right path.

The Dedicated Prepper

This is someone who has embraced the preparedness lifestyle with gusto.  These preppers have supplies, knowledge, and skills but are seeking to fine tune their preps with advanced strategies for survival healthcare, living off-grid, and coping with civil unrest.  They actively share their own personal experiences with others and offer tips and help other prepper-types learn and grow.  I consider myself to be a Dedicated Prepper.

The Diehard Prepper

This prepper is planning for a major apocalypse and devotes considerable time and energy to ensuring that he or she will prevail.  The Diehard Prepper may have a well-stocked bug out retreat where they can live out their days if the end of the world should come.  They may also be highly secretive and unwilling to share what they have and what they know for OPSECreasons.

Being a Diehard Prepper has been somewhat glamorized by the entertainment media.  This serves to disillusion and discourages those who are unable to create this type of alternative life for themselves. But don’t despair! It’s important to understand that this is the absolute far end of the scale and that this lifestyle isn’t necessary to weather the most ordinary storms that we are most likely to face.

Okay, so we now know that there are at least four types of Preppers. There are undoubtedly more, but for the sake of simplicity, let us leave it at that.

No matter where you are in this range, it’s a great place! Why? Because you’ve already taken the most important step: you realize that you need to become more prepared.  After accepting that uncomfortable reality, the rest is just adding the nuts and bolts.

Read the Remainder at Back-Door Survival

Hunting: How to Skin a Deer with an Air Compressor

 

Read the Original Article at Ammo-Land

Time to Get out in the Woods and go PRIMAL

 

As a whole, most Civilian Operators devote a majority of their time (and budgets) to self-defense training. They see the world around them going to shit at an accelerated pace and want to be ready should the wolf come knocking. And while this is admirable and NEVER should  be discouraged in any way, as long as the training is practical and realistic, I think we as the CO Community need to remind ourselves that OTHER skills, like the primitive skills of fire-making, shelter construction, primitive trapping and water purification methods in the field, just to name a few, need to be DRILLED on frequently.

Now I want you to notice that I did not use the word “survival skills” but “primitive skills”, why? Because very often folks THINK they are practicing survival skills but in actuality they are still relying heavily on modern conveniences and technology. For example, for fire starting they might practice igniting a tinder bundle with a Metal Match and Knife versus a Bow Drill, which depends on nothing but gathering materials you can find in the woods and a bit of hard work and patience.

How about water purification? Now for the prepper who is on the ball, perhaps after reading 52 Prepper Projects you built yourself a ceramic water drip filter for the house or fallback shelter and also purchased several Frontier Emergency Water Filter Straws for yourself and the tribe in the event you have to BUG. But what about if we don’t have any of these nifty items? In that case it would be practical and SMART to learn how to build a Makeshift Water Filter out of  a 2L Coke Bottle  or maybe how to use Transpiration Bags to Both collect and filter water at the same time. There is also the Solar Still, which if made correctly, can produce up to  a quart of water per day, or by building 4 stills can yield up to a gallon of water per day.

How about food? Yeah you have packed those MRE’s and cases of SPAM, but what about when that runs out? For those of you that have never hunted animals for food or fished, I suggest you learn quickly. Besides hunting with a bow and arrow or firearm, there is also primitive trapping. Not to re-hash some common knowledge, but the LESS energy you can expend in getting food, the better, which is why traps make the most sense.

Shelter is often one of those things that preppers take for granted IMO. Regardless of the lengths we have gone to have a safe and self-sufficient home, having the ability to build a temporary or semi-permanent shelter is MANDATORY. Regardless if you just need a temporary place to get out of the elements like these SHELTERS you can build in 20 minutes or a more SEMI-PERMANENT STRUCTURE like this one, having the ABILITY and KNOW-HOW can be a life saver.

Lastly, the best way to practice all this stuff is to get away from the modern world for a while and take off to the woods. What should you take with you? Well, if you want to go the easy route, take your BOB and a firearm, but if you really want to drill on PRIMITIVE SKILLS that DO NOT rely on anything but human ingenuity and some hard work, just bring yourself (and a knife of course). If you have a wife and kids, I strongly urge for them to tag along as well. A family that learns to cooperate and work together NOW with minimal supplies has a much better chance for survival.

Stay Primal, Stay Alert and Stay Dangerous!

 

 

Primitive Skills Checkup

The Civilian Operator must NEVER neglect training on the skills which would enable him to survive and be self-sufficient from modern society. Going back and learning and training on Primitive Skills is the only way you can ensure the future of yourself and loved ones when the world goes down the proverbial sewer pipe.-SF

 

 

“Going to the woods is going home, for I suppose we came from the woods originally.”
– JOHN MUIR, US naturalist, 1838—1914

The word origin of ‘Primitive’ comes from prime – meaning first.  The foundation of man’s ‘first skills’ are cutting tools, cordage, and fire.

From these three tools you can start to build everything else you “need.”  Steve Watts and a few others teach a class, “Abo 101,” that address these skills.  As a part of this list, I would include “Plant Practicality.”  Cordage, Fire (and many other things) require a practical knowledge of plants.  This doesn’t necessarily mean being able to identify a plant by name, but having a practical knowledge of the plant properties that can make cordage, fire, and so much more.

Here is a little more on each…

Cutting Tools.  Man was not born with Fang or Claw.  When one of our ancestors accidentally cut himself with a rock for the first time and said “OW!” he realized the potential he could do in piercing things and separating matter.   Cutting Tools also include things that abrade, scrape, and grind.  And it is not just stone, “cutting” tools can be bone, shell, and even wood.   Good rock can be a limited resource in some areas.  It can be tens of miles (or more) in one direction before you find an area with rock sharp enough to slice.  This is why a knife (or axe) is a most critical tool.  Nonetheless, every Woodsman should know how to make a sharp edge from rock should they lose their knife.  This is not a difficult thing once someone shows you how to do it the first time.  Worse comes worse, bash some rocks and let the chips fall where they may.

Cordage.  Before the nail was invented, man’s world was held together by cordage.  Its uses, like duct tape today, are limitless, here are few; fire making, shelter, traps, snares, clothing, footwear, fishing line, bow stings, tool construction, crafts, containers, etc.  Knowing how to make cordage from plants, animals and even manmade materials is a valuable skill.  Some natural materials include hides, sinew, inner tree bark, woody stalks, leaves, grasses, rootlets, root bark, vine, and wood fiber.

Read the Remainder at Master Woodsman