Preparedness and Physical Fitness

 Well, I weighed myself the other day and topped out at just under 200 pounds. For me, that's heavy, very heavy. At my fatest I tipped the scales at 216 lbs. and my ideal weight is between 175 - 185 lbs. depending on muscle density. Needless to say I'm a little concerned, especially with the holiday season and it's accompanying food are fast approaching.

Being in good physical shape is a key element in the prepping lifestyle. This doesn't mean you need to run 5 minute miles or do 30 pull-ups with a 50# pack on your back, but you should be at a good and healthy weight with solid health habits. For a lot of people this is old-hat, but let's outline some of the benefits of a base-line level of health below.

Psychology

It's a proven fact that healthier people are happier people. A positive self image and an overall contentment lead to better moods even when life's other stressors threaten. Confidence and high self esteem abound when a person is over all more fit and healthy than not.

Prepping Affect

Having a positive outlook caused by knowing you're relatively healthy leads to better decisions and stronger confidence levels when preparing for disasters

Mentality

Eating right and exercising increase blood flow to the brain. In short, healthy people can think, reason, and deduce at faster levels. Healthier people are mentally sharper people. Now this doesn't mean healthier people are smarter people, but brain functionality in someone healthier is more responsive and extensive than in people who fail to maintain a healthy diet or exercise levels, and healthy folks inspired to, say, earn another college degree or vocational certification will do so at an easier pace.

Prepping Affect

Healthier preppers think more soundly and can address problems with disasters that threaten them in better ways. Thinking better leads to better, more affective preparedness.

Physiology

Of course this is the main benefit. Being healthier just leads to a better life, such as being able to walk up a flight of stairs or carry more groceries per-trip in from the car to the kitchen.

Prepping Affect

Whether you're bugging out with a 35# pack on, slinging cases of water into your pantry, or running from a hoard of zombies, preppers need to be able to actually do some physical labor, and being more on the fit side really helps.

Some helpful links

• This link includes an at-home shadow boxing workout (scroll down a bit).
• Fifteen minute video workout. Warning if you click this one - moderately annoying trainer ahead, but the workout is still nice and simple and affective.
• Top 25 at-home exercises.

Developing a Fitness Plan

As I recommend with everything else related to prepping, a fitness plan should be incremental and in easily consumed chunks of development. Smooth and steady wins the race, and the biggest mistake humans make when trying to get into shape is doing too much too fast. Start with the mentality that you just want to improve your current fitness level by one notch and go from there. Also, keep in mind that this is a base-line, simple plan. For those preppers already in good shape, this will probably be a little light for you. A nice simple plan should start with...

1. A healthy diet. Reduce snacks, including pop, and red meats, and increase healthier foods like fruits and vegetables. Notice I said reduce. I didn't say eliminate. You can still eat snacks and red meat, just don't eat that whole bag of chips or bacon for every meal. The key is moderation.
2. A fitness routine. We have an Echo Show (Amazon/Alexa device), and one of the cool routines it will show you is a 7-minute workout. It's nice and simple and doesn't need weights or even a lot of room to do. Seven minutes and you're done. Getting up and walking a mile outside is excellent cardio...as long as you do it at a good pace. Just remember, any additional activity inserted into your daily routine will help. Keep the mix varied, a combination of functional weight training and cardio; try to perform your routine the same time every day; take breaks from your routine, such as on weekends; and smoothly increase your routine as the exercises get easier.
3. Workout with others. Go to a gym with a friend, or better yet get your whole MAG (mutual assistance group) involved. Doing so allows you to encourage each other and be there for each other if someone starts to slip back into old, bad habits.
4. That which is measured is improved. Track your progress. ...but don't get discouraged. Measure your weight and how well you do with your routine each time you work out, but if you miss a day or miss a goal do not quit. I had a goal of being able to run a mile in under 8 minutes when I turned 50. I failed to do that, but I realize that's okay. I'm still in better shape than a lot of other 50 year olds and I'm going to keep that up. Blank days in your log or tracking software are more hiccups than failures. The important lesson there is that you do your routine the next day after the one you missed.

 

5.  Keep it up. It takes 3 months of performing an activity for it to become familiar, 6 months for it to become habit and a year for it to become part of your natural lifestyle. Another word on this topic - living healthy and exercising becomes easier over time so again, don't get discouraged.

Final Thoughts

A good fitness plan and healthy diet should be part of any preparedness plan, but they should also be realistic and achievable by the individual prepper. Having at least a base-line level of fitness is critical to being able to prepare for disasters and life-altering events. Be healthy, be safe, be happy.

Peace.

The Stigma of Preparedness

 Anybody who's been into the preparedness lifestyle for a decent length of time has had to deal with several stigmas and negative perceptions of the activity throughout the course of their journey. In this article I'd like to break down some of those stigmas, where they come from, and some discussion points to counter them.

The History of Modern Day Preparedness

My research has led me to understand that modern day preparedness stems from the 1940's fear of atomic warfare. In those days people genuinely feared escalations with Russia and the Soviet Union would lead to atomic, and later nuclear, war. To prepare for such an event, American citizens turned to what British citizens did when the Nazi Germany air force bombed the English country side and London as a model; they built and stocked bomb shelters.

Public Opinion and Negative PR 

Over the next several decades from the 1960s to the 1990s, this concept of preparing for World War 3 led to the rise of the survivalist, especially during and after the events around the Vietnam War. The survivalist was an American civilian or ex-military individual who was concerned with not just WW3 but other events, some of which were rooted in anti-government conspiracy. During this time frame, however, the term survivalist received some extremely negative press that even the 1982 movie Rambo couldn't dissolve. Individuals such as Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber) and, later, Timothy McVeigh , along with events such as Ruby Ridge and Waco, TX, solidified an extremely negative view of the survivalist and survivalist organizations throughout public opinion. Near the end of the 1990s and into the 2000s a rebranding occurred with preparation enthusiasts who were not as much into the extremist conspiracies typically associated with survivalists, labeling themselves preppers.

And for a few years the term prepper held a more rational angle around the preparedness movement, but that image failed to last too long. The Sandy Hook mass-murder performed by Adam Lanza, who acquired the firearms used from his mother who was tagged by the media as a prepper, and other similar events which occurred throughout the 2000s and 2010s, once more slated prepper as a negative term used to describe supposed-delusional individuals who prepared for disruptive events. The TV show Doomsday Preppers on the NatGeo channel exasperated this image further, seemingly marking anybody who participated in preparations as a bit off or "crazy" by targeting only the extreme side of the activity.

Today, even common American citizens with a healthy idea of preparedness can easily be branded as delusional or "paranoid" by others, friends and family members, who's perceptions of preppers have been skewed by previous events. This can be the case even though the American government, itself, promotes a healthy level of preparedness for every American citizen.

Countering the Stigmas

So, how do those of us into preparedness, who wish to promote the activity among our fellow friends, family, and American citizens, overcome the negative images and perceptions of the past? Let's address address some of the arguments and discussions for the negativity I've encountered, myself.

It's craziness and I don't want to be seen as nutz.

This argument is typically a direct result of the past events I detailed above and can be relatively easily countered by explaining to the person making it that a rational level of preparedness has nothing to do with either conspiracy nor doomsday. Just as having life insurance, car insurance, a spare tire in your vehicle, fire extinguishers and smoke detectors in your home... are not irrational or 'crazy'. Having a base-line and rational preparedness plan is not either. 

If the person is still worried about what others may say about them, I'll advise them to simply not tell anybody else that they prepare (which is also good for security operations anyway). If they're really worried about what the Judgy McJudgerstons of the world think, then don't tell those folks that you prepare at all.

Emergency Services will help during any disaster

Not only can you point out the events around hurricane Katrina as a stumble for FEMA and other emergency services to respond effectively, but you can use the example of the response time of a police officer, fire, or EMT personnel in an immediate case of need. Despite the fact that FEMA and the CDC (as well as volunteer organizations) have drastically improved their emergency responsiveness during disasters and that first responders are all-too willing to assist during an immediate emergency, there's always the timeframe before these organizations and personnel can actually get to you during the unfolding of or after effects the emergency events. Think of a preparedness plan as gap insurance, similar to what you have when you purchase a new vehicle which covers depreciated value of the vehicle compared to what you actually owe. Being prepared yourself helps alleviate disastrous events before or until emergency services can get to you and, in some cases, can eliminate your dependency on emergency services altogether.

It's too expensive and I don't have the money to even start

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. This particular argument's pretty easily broken apart. An extra can of food each time you grocery shop, an extra case of water, etc... would cost very little. Explain to the other that you don't have to go from zero to a three year supply of food in one setting. Buying a little here and storing up a little there adds up quickly over time.

I don't have the space

This argument's a little harder to counter, especially if the person lives in a small house or apartment. Typically I refer them to online resources, such as apartmentprepper.com , or advise space-making options such as risers for bedframes and even a thorough cleaning of unnecessary items to make room for prepping supplies. I've found that encouraging cleanliness and an increase in organizational skills goes a long way in prepping within a limited space.

Final Thoughts

There are always people on the borderline of any activity who hesitate taking place in that activity due to misperceptions or certain stigmas around said-activity. Preparedness is no different and as an advocates of the preparedness lifestyle I strongly believe we should work to counter or break down those stigmas and negative perceptions. Being prepared for a disruptive event could save you or your family's life. If you're reading this I doubt I have to point that out, but for those friends, family, and fellow citizens who struggle with the sense preparedness makes and the negative perceptions that come with it, it can be a serious challenge to start a prepper plan. It's up to those of us who already prepare to help those borderliners overcome their fears and concerns around the activity, and encourage them to take those first steps.

Peace.

Lone Wolf vs Community

It's a volatile question in the preparedness community these days; which is the best strategy in developing a preparedness plan for the apocalypse ; going it all lone wolf style or forming a community of trusted friends and family to deal with disruptive events. Most seasoned preppers shun the lone wolf strategy, calling it reckless and unsustainable. Other lone wolf preppers don't say much about it....they're lone wolves after all and want to do their own thing. I'm not so quick to discount the lone wolf strategy and thought I'd lay out some pros and cons regarding both strategies, comparing the merits and advantages of each.

Compare and Contrast

• Raw Selfishness - Winner; Lone Wolf. 
• LW - Picky eaters. Kids or the elderly in the group. People who complain it's too hot or cold while sleeping on the ground, etc... The lone wolf only has to deal with his or her own tolerance for discomfort. They can eat whatever the can muscle through, sleep where ever they can hole up, and run away whenever they wish. 
• Community -  problems, conflicts, and issues all rise within communities. Get more than 2 people together and there will be complaining, arguing, bickering, even violence. A lone wolf doesn't have to tend with any of this. 
• Security - Winner; Community. 
• LW - while it's true a lone wolf can better employ stealth and concealing tactics, there's really no replacement for having someone watch your back while you sleep or standing guard over your person and your gear. The lone wolf does get additional cred for mobility, though.
• Community - however, advantage of a single person's mobility can be overran by more eyes and ears, say, when a community group is rolling
  through an abandoned warehouse and can watch each others' backs. A group of survivors can also take differing sleep schedules, allowing for watches overnight and throughout the day. One big thing to be said here, if you don't trust the members in your community, this advantage is lost to the lone wolf strategy and quickly.

• Search and Scavenging - Winner; Community. 
• LW - only so much ground can be covered by one person. 
• Community - The more eyes and ears involved during a search the more resources that can be found. A community group of four or more would be able to split into groups of two and cover a lot more ground.

• Resource Use - Winner: Lone Wolf. 
• LW - it's true that the Loner may not be able to effectively search as well as a group of scavengers, but what resources are found can be carefully rationed by one individual, for his or her own needs. Food and water, and even medications can be consumed only based on the individual's parameters.
• Community - a group of survivors, it's assumed, would have a central, safe base of operation. Resources found while searching and scavenging can be pooled here and doled out among the survivors as needed. A lone wolf will only usually only be able to carry found resources, or it would be seriously difficult to maintain security of found-resources should the LW cache a hoard somewhere.

• 
  Medical - Winner; Community. 
• LW - There's not much of an advantage a lone wolf would have if they became sick or injured. Their best bet would be to hole up somewhere in hopes of recovery.
• Community - Having more people in a group greatly increases the odds that one of them will have at least rudimentary medical knowledge. If someone in the group gets hurt, too, two people could fashion a make-shift stretcher and haul the wounded back to camp, as another example.

• Morale - Winner; Community. 
• LW - The only advantage a lone wolf has here is threat of lack of cooperation within a community that can occur between different personality types. That threat can lead to internal battles over politics, religion, and more. 
• Community - Even for introverts, being alone all the time is wearing from a psychological perspective. In long term apocalyptic scenario, having people to talk to, laugh with, love, or even argue with can be refreshing and help to keep spirits up.

• Short Term Survivability - Winner; Lone Wolf. 
• LW - When faced with an immediate threat it can be next to impossible to keep a group of people all safe and together while fending off...whatever it is (tornado? Zombies?) Going back to the "Selfish" quality above, the lone wolf only concerns themselves with...themselves. The ability to focus solely on escaping or sheltering just for oneself cannot be underestimated. 
• Community - But....

• Overall Survivability and Sustainability - Winner; Community.
• LW - The lone wolf can live off of luck and the idea of running away to fight another day, but eventually that luck is bound to run out during the apocalypse. 
• Community - ...the resource and knowledge pool that can be acquired by a community of people prepared takes the cake regarding long term survivability. Even in a simple disruptive weather event it's critical for the loner to find friends and family necessary for that long term survival.

The Victor - Community

Prepping within a community, even a small group of 4 or 6, greatly increases the odds of survival and recovery in a disaster event. That-said there are times when going lone wolf, temporarily, may be necessary for immediate survival. Think being in your car on a county road when a tornado knocks you into the ditch, stranded with no help. There are clear cases where a person has only their wits, skill, and immediate resources to survive, but the need for those individuals to reconnect to a group is urgent, especially for the long term.

Of course this list is not 100% comprehensive. There are clear advantages and disadvantages to each, but overall having a community of like-minded people near to you who you can count on when disaster strikes has more pluses than trekking alone.

Peace. 

Online Social Network Security - Staying Safe and Secure with Friends

A few very high-profile ransomware attacks have brought the threat of cyber security to light in recent weeks and considering I work in the cyber security field I thought it may be prudent to address the issue in a post. The risk
became a bit more pressing to me when an elderly family member created a new Facebook account and nearly every privacy setting was set to "Public". He, understandably, was concerned but didn't even know where to go in the app to adjust these settings. Below I'll address some concerns and offer advice and guidance in maintaining a secure and safe online 'footprint' which will dramatically decrease the odds of having your identity stolen through social media.

The Threat

To be clear, anytime you connect to the internet through any device and connect to any web site, you open yourself up to a potential hack or to having your personal information stolen. Creating an online profile within any social media network is another method of exposure of your personal information if you're not careful. Say you create a new Facebook profile and don't review or adjust the privacy settings. You start searching for friends and family, you update your location, add your telephone number, where you graduated high school, where you work and even add your home address. You also include the fact that you're married and have two kids, ages 7 and 10. With Facebook's default settings, anybody who finds your profile has a range of information they can use to steal your identity....or worse. Most passwords are made up of personal information, such as birthdate or graduation data.

Worse than someone brute-force hacking your password now that they have mountains of your personal data mined from your profile, they have your location information now, too. Hardened, non-cyber criminals who come across this data can take additional steps such as breaking into your home when you post your happy vacation plans online. An even worse scenario to consider, and it should always be considered, is you've exposed your kids as well. The information of where you live along with pictures of your kids could reveal the likely school the attend, their friend's homes, or the church where they attend Bible school ... including potential bus or walking routes, all of which could lead to an abduction attempt. 

My example above targets Facebook, but in truth any social media site is the same. Facebook is often targeted and 'picked on' because it's still the most popular with the greatest number of users, but ultimately Facebook is no more or less secure than any other site. Pictures shared from vacations, boasting about the achievements your kids or grandkids accomplished at school or church, even product and local vendor reviews all create an image of you and your life....and the lives of those around you.....which can be exploited by bad guys and gals if you share all of that information to the Public in a wide-open security posture.

How to Protect Yourself

So what can you do? Don't share all of that information to the Public for starters, but how to accomplish this requires a bit more education and the development of some online habits.

Don't be this dog.

Limit Your Exposure

It's tempting to have a profile on every social media network out there, but most Internet junkies use only one or two social networks at most. Think about which network you log onto the most, where your friends are, and where you enjoy sharing the most topics and posts. If you happen to have any other social media profile out there unused, delete them, but even before you delete them, remove any and all information from the profile, then delete it. Why? Even when you delete a profile from a network, the profile remains archived on that social media server, sitting in a "deleted" folder indefinitely. If that social media service gets hacked and the server compromised, your data is still exposed, even if you deleted the profile years ago. Often times data points within the profile, however, are purged completely when they're removed or changed so removing your information before deleting the profile helps protect you a little further. 

Learn the Social Media Settings Thoroughly

Once you've decided on one or two social media networks to join learn the software and settings of those networks completely. Within those settings will be all of the privacy configurations you'll want to get to know and adjust. Normally these settings can be found under your Profile options and may be listed under Privacy or Security. Take the time and peruse each setting and make the following adjustments. 

1. Credentials and signing on (these are critical);
1. Have a solid, hard-to-guess password that's at least 14 characters long and includes special characters.
2. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA), always. MFA is just that, multi-factor, meaning when you sign into the social media network you won't just be prompted for a password, but you'll have to enter a code sent to your phone, too. A hacker with your password shouldn't have your phone, too, so they won't know the code, etc.
3. If your phone supports it, use facial recognition.
2. Remove any and all settings that refer to Public and adjust them to Friends or Those I Follow for instance. 
3. Never include your address or phone number in your profile. Friends and family who 'need' these data points should already have them and keep them stored individually, such as in phone contacts. Social Media should not be used as a personal address book. There's simply too much risk for exposure. A business may be different, however.
4. Be extra careful with work and school information, even previous information in these cases. I never share any details about my job on social media, and I'm intentionally coy about my school as well.

Posting/Tweeting/Sharing

1. While using the social network, be very careful about who you actually share posts to. Many social media networks will have privacy settings per-post so you can limit who sees them.
2. To expand on #3 above; only post information you'd have exposed to the public regardless of the privacy setting you place on the post. Think of it this way; if you're uncomfortable tacking the information on a public billboard in your city's town square, you probably shouldn't be posting it on the Internet regardless of how private you think it'll be.
3. Be careful about what's in that picture you're about to post. A picture contains more than just the subject, usually. Items in the background can expose a lot of private information if you don't review the picture carefully before posting it.

Your so-called Friends

One of the biggest schemes out there involves fake social profiles. Imagine this; you're diligent and lock down all of your privacy settings so only friends can see your semi-personal details, then you receive a friend request from Jacob Jinkleheimer and although Jacob doesn't look familiar to you at all his name sounds familiar so you friend him...only Jacob is a black-hat hacker and now has access to some of your more personal information through your social network profile which he can use to exploit in some fashion. The lure, typically, on social media is to have a lot of friends, to try to be an influencer with high follower numbers. Hackers know this and, thus, slap up fake profiles to tempt you into "liking" them and revealing your data. To avoid this scheme....

1. Thoroughly inspect a potential "friend's" profile before clicking Like. Hackers create hundreds, maybe thousands of profiles across all social media networks, so they don't have a lot of time to put into actually fleshing out those profiles. Accounts that only have a few pictures, no real information, haven't been used in six months or more, or that were just created within the last week, are all keys that indicate the profile is most likely fake.
2. Check the profile's friends and see if you have any friends in common. If not, how'd they find you and why would they want to 'be your friend?" 
3. Watch for hacked accounts from true friends.  We all have those moments of weakness where we click on a link or reveal our password when we shouldn't have. Hackers are in the business of spreading their evil. When they hack an account successfully, one of the first things they do is hit that account's friends list and try to hack others from there, so if you receive an invitation from someone on your legitimate friends list asking you to click a suspicious link or enter your social media password...even though you're already logged on... those are red flags that your friend may have gotten hacked. As the saying goes, "In God we trust. All others we verify."

Note: After working through the privacy and security settings of the social media network you've chosen, it's possible you still may not be comfortable with the level of security the network provides to it's users. If you feel unsafe, change your social media network. There's no harm in doing so. You can let your friends and family know you don't use "XTube-aGram" if they don't secure your information appropriately. Just remember to purge all the information you put on XTube-aGram before actually clicking Delete on that profile.

Final Thoughts

There are a few other steps you can take above and beyond those I listed above, such as purchasing and installing a 3rd party antivirus/anti-malware software suite on all of your devices, using a VPN (virtual private network), and resetting your passwords every 3-6 months. 

In the end being cautious, watchful, and knowledgeable about whichever social media network you choose is the biggest key in preventing exposing your information or getting your account hacked. In this day and age just signing onto the Internet is a serious risk. In regards to the issue of online privacy, just remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Peace.

Preparedness Kits and Bags - A Few Examples

 Ask my fiancé and she'll confirm, I'm a sucker for a good bag. Tactically designed with lots of pockets and expandability and I'm throwing my money at the cash register. In the preparedness community there are several types of bags, and kits most 'preppers" herald to suit a variety of purposes. In this post I hope to cover and clarify a few of those kits along with their intended purposes from convenience to surviving disasters.

The EDC Bag

EDC = Every Day Carry for those of you not familiar with the parlance. For most of us our EDC kits consist of what we can stuff in our pockets or on our belts (hence why I swear by cargo pants/shorts), but for a few that's not always enough. A small bag for the over-fill is either necessary or comforting to these folks. EDC bags tend to be smaller in size, maybe only a liter or two, and contain knives, a fire making kit,...even a firearm and ammunition, etc... . In my particular life situations, an EDC bag is overboard, but, again, for others it's a suitable solution.

The Day, or Hiking, Pack

A few steps bigger than an EDC bag, a day bag is designed for outings where more resources, such as food or snacks, may be needed. This is the bag I use for hiking. Not only do I drop a bit more food and water in there, but I'll also have a first aid kit, a fire building kit, a heftier knife, rain poncho, and some paracord. The volume of these items will depend on where we're hiking for that day and the weather. Hotter means more water. Farther will mean more food. The other items are "just in case" necessities that would allow me to live off the land should the hike go really bad or we get lost, etc... 

The Vehicle Bag(s) 

I warred with this one for a while. I've seen countless writeups on car kits and most articles seem to trip over whether the bag is designed for automotive repair or survival of the occupants. My solution? Two bags - one for each purpose. 

Vehicle Repair Kit

This bag contains items needed for quick-fixes and maintenance for your car. Items should include (among other things) reflective triangles, flares, a shovel (for snow and dirt), a can of Fix-a-Flat, etc.... I also have a wrench and socket set that includes screw drivers and a hammer and other tools. These types of kits can be found even in local retailers so it's not necessary to build one of these from the ground up, in my humble opinion.

The Car Survival Bag

This one tailors to you and your occupants in the event of an emergency. Extra food, water, a candle and coffee can (warmth and light), first aid kit, a change of seasonal clothes, etc... should all be included in this bag. The contents may rival that of a 72 hour bag and some people into preparedness refer to this particular bag as a Get Home Bag since the contents may have to be robust enough to get you through a hike back to home or at least to safety once other options are exhausted or it becomes too dangerous to stay with the vehicle at some point.

The 72-Hour bag (or...Bug Out Bag (or....BOB))

Everybody into prepping and preparedness knows this one. The bugout bag contains enough food, water, shelter, medical supplies, etc.... for it's pack mule (i.e. you) to survive for 72 hours, on or off grid. The bag should be kept at the ready at home, it's contents checked at least once every six months, and should be employed when it's no longer safe to stay at your home. This the bag that, when it's no longer safe to shelter-in-place, you grab and go with the intention that you will return to your house at some point once the danger is past.

The INCH bag (or the I'm Never Coming Home bag)

I've seen this idea tossed around a bit, but I've not quite been able to wrap my head all the way around it. Supposedly the INCH bag is a BOB on steroids. If you know you're not returning to your place of residence, this is the bag you grab. Sustainability is key, here. Space you would take up with dehydrated meals may now be taken up with equipment for making snares or performing a field dressing on a hunted kill. A smaller hydration pack may be used to make way for a larger water purification system within the pack. The bag itself would be a minimum of 70 liters or larger, and may be an external frame design for long treks. The bag and the load-out would be identical to a through-hike backpacker setting to trail over the course of two months or more.

Final Thoughts

There are endless types of bags and configurations in between these general examples I've listed, but over all this set of bags should cover most catastrophic disruptions (and minor convenience needs) depending on where you are and what you're doing. The first thing to consider when looking at these types of bags, should you decide you want to expand your bag collection, is the intention of the bag and contents, 100%. Once you have the intention, pick the right-size and type of bag, then start stocking the bag from there. As with a 72-hour bag, I think it's critical to regularly review all your bags, their content, and make replacements, restock, or improvements as needed.

Peace.

TEOTWAWKI Scenarios! Two Sides of the Coin

 There are many TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It for those not quite as versed) scenarios each with varying degrees of survivability. As someone interested in writing an apocalyptic story someday, I've often pondered what the 'event' or 'events' I would utilize as the background for my own apocalyptic adventure series would entail. Some scenarios are horrifically dire and offer the barest chance (if any) of survivability - think The Road. Others are a little more survivable, but come with their own lasting effects or impressions that survivors have to deal with from there. Still, other scenarios would stage human survivors with a near-utopian environment within which to grow and evolve.

Below I explore the polar-opposite sides of the spectrum for TEOTWAWKI events along with the differences in outcome. Of course the outcome of TEOTWAWKI events is an analog scale with everything in between and, for the course of this mental exercise, I'm assuming these events are End of the World As We Know It, not the actual end of the physical world.

Common Threads

Apocalyptic events have standard, general threads or parameters we can start with when discussing the survivability and lasting effects of such scenarios; environmental impact, human impact, time of event, and lasting effects. The ratio to these parameters in relation to one another will make or break the survivors and set the stage for the chances of recovery of humanity. Let's take the two extremes of these variables as outlined below....a total hell of an apocalypse for the survivors and an apocalypse that's...not so much of a hell, utilizing just two of the parameters; environmental impact and initial human impact. 

Major, Sudden Environmental Impact/Minor Initial Human Impact

For my money this is the worst-case scenario. Again, think The Road as an example.  The actual event was quick (though never described, I believe it was an asteroid or meteor strike) that broke the planet, but killed very few people. From what we can tell in the story, the event devastated the environment at a base-line level to a degree that 10 years afterward there were no crops, no food, and no sustainability to maintain the human population on the planet. However, that population was still very large....people still in the billions immediately after the event, so you had billions of people now fighting for precious little food and few resources everywhere.

In this type of scenario the lasting effect is just that; lasting, altering the global environment permanently.  With nature dying and no resources to go around, for the remaining billions of human beings left on the planet, violence and cannibalism would quickly prevail. There would be almost no chance for any type of sustainability. Preparations, for those that made them, would either be quickly exhausted or people would die trying to defend or steal them. If the event's serious enough it could very well lead to the extinction of the human species. Our only hope would be if, some how, nature could start to recover fast enough and in a way that humans could exploit without, again, consuming natural resources to nothingness.

Minor to Non-Existent Environmental Impact/ Major Human Impact

This is the flip side of the apocalypse above, where many humans are killed or die off quickly while leaving the environment relatively untouched and stable. This, in my opinion, is the best-case scenario as it would leave plenty of resources for a long time, with very little human competition. I've often referred this to a utopian dystopia...all the vision of the end of the world as we know it, but if you happen to survive the event you'd have plenty of food, water, and supplies as long as you're in a safe area. Perhaps the worst, lasting effect the survivors would have to deal with would be the piles of human bodies left behind...all depending on the event, of course.

Examples of this type of event would include a global pandemic with very high virility and lethality rates or some other event which specifically targets human beings and kills quickly. Another, farther fetched example may be alien invasion similar to what was portrayed in Skyline (horrible movie, BTW), in which the aliens targeted and harvested human beings similar to the way we harvest lobsters and seafood from the oceans en-mass. 

Final Musings

Of course, I'd rather survive in option 2 than option 1. The setting is rife with the survivors having options to rebuild and expand, assuming the cause of the apocalypse didn't return and/or the lasting events of the apocalypse were manageable.

Option 1 offers the greatest challenges to survivors (and authors writing about them, I think). This type of apocalypse would offer a hellish landscape and background in which to survive. To say it'd present it's own challenges is an understatement....but, then again, challenges provide opportunity in their own ways.

Sidebar..... Tribal Warfare

Even a casual look at all apocalyptic fiction reveals a common threat that courses through; man vs man or tribal warfare. Boil away the zombies, radiation, infection, raging storms, or whatever apocalyptic event that triggers the story and you have one group of survivors fighting another group (or groups) for resources. In that, the apocalypse would only serve to emphasize the age old drive our species fights on a daily basis - the urge, need, or hunger to perform violence against our fellow man. Fun fact about myself, I'd love to live in a zombie apocalypse, but the thought, even then, of taking arms against another human being twist my stomach, even knowing that doing so would be a mark of my own survivability. That's not to say I wouldn't do it, but I'd sure as hell avoid it as much as I possibly could, especially considering there may not be much of us humans left at that point. Let's just be thankful that the apocalypse remains relegated to fiction books, moves, and video games.....for now.

Peace.

 

BattlBox Mission 76 Review

 Okay, so I gotta be honest, I was going to cancel my BattlBox subscription after my last review, but I let that lapse and I ended up getting another one. Below is my review of Mission Brief 76, Basic edition.

Stuff

Three items came in the box this month; a crud-cloth ("Shower in a bag"), a leather cozy by Lord and Field Outfitters, and a knife from Ganzo tools. Now, I'm a sucker for a good knife, almost as much as I am a good backpack or field bag, so the knife gave me pause. As usual, it's not like I need another knife, but hey, I've already paid for it so...yea!

Crud Cloth

MSRP: $4

• Pros: 
• Few beginner preppers worry themselves about hygiene when getting started in preparedness so a nice little compact way to clean and sanitize yourself and your gear is pretty clever. Toss this in any of your kits and you won't stink quite as much throughout the disruption. 
• The 12"x12" washcloth in the package is washable and reusable so there's a dual purpose as a camp cloth, too.
• Cons:
• None that I can really think of other than there are options to get the Crud Cloth in other scents. The Crud Cloth that came in the box is unscented which is what I'd prefer in a disaster scenario if I'm washing my junk in the woods. The other scents (peppermint, tea tree, lavender, or citrus) may give you away or attract insects.

Lord and Field drink cozy

• MSRP: $24.99 (remember, it's genuine leather).
• Pros:
• It's genuine leather and very well made. VERY well made.
• It has the nice leather smell so when ever you take a drink of...whatever you're drinking, you get the bonus of a leather tinge.
• Cons:
• Despite being genuine leather, the price is violently high. If you're interested in this product, I suggest shopping around a bit.
• I rarely use cozies and even if I did the need for one during a disruptive event escapes me.

The FBKnife by Ganzo Knives

• MSRP: $26
• Pros:
• 440 steel
• One-hand open operation w/lock (close is two-handed, then, obviously).
• Built in belt/pocket clip.
• Wicked-sharp out of the box (no, I didn't cut myself).
• Over all the price is nice for the quality.
• Cons:
• It's made in China.
• No sheath, just a little draw string sack to keep it pretty, I guess.

For the $41.73 I paid ($29.99 subscription + shipping + tax) I do question the value of the box. Bottom line is I could have taken that $41 and spent it on things I really needed (though it's questionable whether or not I needed another knife.)

Over all the products in this month's Basic box were, of course, good quality and, for the most part, usable. As with my first review, if you have the time and want to supplement your preparations, subscription services are fun, but for me, personally, I'm at the point I think the money's better spent in more precise ways.

Peace.

Points Of Preparedness Failings

So, over the last several years in my quest to be more prepared for disasters and other disruptive events, I, like most experienced "preppers" have ran into a few standard fault-points where I stumble. Below are a few of these areas where I let-loose the reigns and tend to fail with my on-going preparedness level. I'm outlining these in hopes to 1. stop myself from doing them and b. help others to be watchful of these pitfalls to preparedness, themselves.

Failure to follow the “always improving” protocol

The Marines follow an edict that drives them to always improve their current situation, regardless of what that may be. Too often I find myself buying preparedness equipment on a budget, but not improving that equipment when I have a little more money. We all fall into the "a little is enough" fallacy where we skimp on gear, supplies, or even training in order to just put a checkmark in that box and move on. 

Imagine if you will that you buy a $5 "survival knife" from Walmart and chuck it in your BOB only because you're told you need one, but don't want to spend more cash at the time. A year later the zombie apocalypse occurs and you grab your BOB and hit the local state park (yes, I know some are cringing at that). Unwrapping your "trusty" $5 Walmart special, you're able to cut up some tinder and grab the ferro rod, but on the first strike of the rod the blade of the knife snaps. Now, guess what? You're likely about to face some zombie chompers.

The "always improving" protocol dictates just that; identify lacking or slightly insufficient components of your preparedness plan and, as soon as you are able, improve them to the best of your ability. Sure, you may only be able to buy a $5 knife from Walmart when you first build your BOB, but, say 6 months down the road you have a little more cash so that would be the time to head back to Walmart and upgrade to the $30 knife. This isn't to say you should eventually spend $1000 on constant knife upgrades; there is a peak limit on quality, training, and experience, but this is why it's critical to have a realistic preparedness plan with obtainable goals. Those goals should include a rugged and reliable knife, for instance, so going back to our analogy  once a sufficient knife is equipped in your BOB then you can slow up, check off the box and relax regarding that particular requirement... until you win the lottery and can afford that $400 laser-etched survival knife used by Bear Grills in his latest adventure.

Of course, always improving goes beyond BOB's and knives to every single aspect of preparedness. Again this falls to your plan. See more on that below.

Failure to regularly review preparations

Yep, the zombie apocalypse has occurred and your $5 knife just broke, but you're in luck, the shambling crowd of undead got distracted by a family of four setting up their tent so you're safe for now. The only problem? It's late December and it's just started snowing. Desperately digging through your BOB before you get too wet and cold you realize the only clothing you have in there is a pair of cargo shorts and ankle socks tossed in when you first configured your BOB...in late spring.

Sometimes burn out or boredom take hold and I fail to perform regular maintenance on my preps. However, this is a dangerous task to miss. Depending on your tolerance, I would recommend a review of current preparations at least once every three to six months. I tear my BOB apart and review it's contents at least every six months A. to refamiliarize myself with the content and location and 3. to swap out seasonal gear. I do the same for shelter-in-place preparations for the same reasons, and to check expiration dates on consumables.

Failure to regularly review and update preparedness plan. 

Sprinting back to your house to get more appropriate clothing during the winter-time zombie apocalypse you meet up with, of all people, your wife of 3 years who was also desperately trying to get home from work, herself. Oh yeah, you think as you surreptitiously check her over for zombie bites while she cries in your arms. Almost forgot I got married a while back. Together you make it back to your house and as you go through your shelter-in-place preps you realize you only have enough food and water for one person for two weeks. Since there's now two of you, you only have food and water for one week. Balls. 

Within the last 2 years I've relocated and tripled the number of people I have to prep for. During my divorce three and a half years ago I had to sell all but one firearm, so within the last year and a half I've had to re-evaluate not just my preparedness supplies but my plan over-all. Life changes occur regularly, and sometimes so smoothly, or even not so smoothly, that you don't consider your preps during those changes. A regular review of your preparedness plan with the necessary updates helps to prevent these surprises. Any time you have a major change to your life; marriage, divorce, a new child, etc... it's time to review and upgrade.  Since moving in with my fiance, we've tripled our food and water storage, dramatically increased our security operations and posture, and made countless other preparation changes to accommodate not just more people, but the animals we own, too.

Final Thoughts

It really is easy to get burned out regarding preparedness, or to get distracted from the tasks-at-hand when other life events, good or bad, sweep your attention away from your preps. These three fail-points can be avoided as long as proper balance with life and preparedness, and a bit of mindfulness, are applied. In the past I've even set quarterly or bi-yearly reminders for my preparations reviews on my Google calendar. Going through your preparations and reviewing your plan, even just twice a year, can help prevent these pitfalls without consuming your attention or leading to burn out.

Stay safe.

Bug Out Bags - Preconfigured vs Built from Scratch

A good friend (and prepper buddy) recently sent me a link to an advertisement selling preconfigured bugout bags (72-hour bags) that had come across his Facebook feed and it got me thinking. Now I've always been told it's better to create your BOB from scratch, but I thought I'd discuss some pros-and-cons about both....store bought vs built from scratch.

Preconfigured, Store-Bought BOBs

I'm seeing a dramatic increase in advertisements for store-bought, preconfigured BOBs, lately, and partially hold the pandemic to blame. More people are in a preparedness mind-set these days, and even FEMA recommends having a 72-hour bag ready and at-hand.

Cons

• Quality and "Unknown" performance; If you're not familiar with what comes in your preconfig BOB, or the load-bearing capability of that equipment itself, it can lead to dangerous failures at critical times. Cheap knives, or even poor craftsmanship of the bag itself, can be inconvenient at best, dangerous at worst, and I hate to say it, but some companies skimp on the quality to increase profit.
• To get around this, test the equipment of the preconfig BOB as much as you can. Break it apart, check the knife quality, strike a few of the matches, taste a bit of the food. Learn the items and how they work, and how well they work. In a perfect world I'd recommend buying 2 of the exact same preconfig BOBs and breaking the shit out of one of them while still having another on-hand for a real event.
• Price; Shopping around for deals can save on individual BOB gear, and preconfig units tend to tow the line between quality and price. The manufacturer of a preconfig BOB may have gotten a good deal on cheap first aide supplies to chuck into the BOB at a good value, but if you build your own you may find better supplies at a better price (sales, clearance, etc...) . While dropping $400+ dollars for a preconfig unit, how much can you really break down how much each item price contributed to that over all cost?
• 
  Size; I don't look at anything smaller than 60 liters for a BOB bag (for a full grown and healthy adult) considering what I'm putting in it. A LOT of the preconfig BOBs I've seen range around the 30 - 45 liter capacity. This is grossly insufficient in my opinion. I want the ability to add clothing and shelter supplies and normally these smaller preconfig units are chock full of only what they provide (no room for additions).
  

Pros

• Preconfigured is better than nothing at all; Some folks more into preparedness may argue this one with me saying if the preconfig bag has shoddy or under-quality tools, relying on them can provide a false sense of confidence and lead to a dangerous situation as a result (think crappy matches that fail to light a fire in a dire circumstance and now no fire). However, for risk of contradicting myself about gear quality, most preconfig BOBs I've seen come with fair-quality tools that may get you by, and they come with other items such as emergency water pouches that will help in a grid-down situation if nothing else. Some of the more expensive preconfig BOBs actually have some higher quality gear. In the end if I'm facing the Zombie Apocalypse empty handed or with a $120 preconfig BOB, I'll go ahead and snag the BOB on the way out and take my chances.
• It can be a good starting point; Assuming the bag is a decent size and quality, a preconfig unit can be a great starting point for someone new to preparedness. Folks can customize or build on the BOB from there. Is the knife a POS? Toss it and buy another to add to that current kit, as an example. Add prescriptions, sleeping supplies, more food, etc....to further customize it, again IF the bag itself comes large enough.
• It's an easy quick-fix; This point can go either as a pro or a con, actually. People too lazy to care that much will buy a preconfig BOB, toss it in their trunk or closet and not give it another thought until Zombies come a-knockin'. Keeping with the "better than nothing", if the quality of the preconfig BOB is sufficient, this may give that lazy guy or gal at least something to fall back on... less the over-confidence argument.
• Price; Yeah, I'm listing Price here, too. Again, if the manufacturer has done any due-diligence in building the BOB with the right-costing gear, it can actually save you a little dollars instead of building from the ground up.

I've added a few links to sites offering higher-quality preconfigured BOBs below. I get no kick back for recommending these sites. I only do so out of respect for the quality of their gear. However, I also have to add the disclaimer that I, personally, have not used any of their gear. I'm strictly going off of reviews and a bit of (distant) Internet research. 👽

Building your own BOB

Cons

• Lots of work and research; Lots. Lots! 
• The off-set to this con is that there's already a shit-ton of lists, Youtube videos, and blog posts on the Internet. Additionally there's even more books and literature you can buy to get you in the right mind set and started on your own BOB.
• Yes, I'm going to play favorites here. The book Build the Perfect Bugout Bag by Creek Stewart was my very first preparedness book, and I highly recommend it.At the end of the book Stewart even goes to Walmart and buys nearly everything needed for a BOB (somethings were missed for necessity which he details there, too.) He spends $303.80 on the whole thing.
• Price; The cost of building your own can quickly sky-rocket, I can safely say (see above). Budgeting $30 for a knife and seeing a much better one on sale for $45 leads down that road. Where preconfig BOBs offer a one-and-done price, building your own requires lots more budget-minded discipline and shopping around.

IS it all necessary? This one's a little overboard.

Pros

• Customization and Personalization; straight off the cuff you're in control, choosing what kind of bag you want and everything that goes in it. I flubbed this bit on my first bag; I bought a cheaper model from a local retailer that looked all tactical and fancy, but when I wore it for any length of time with more than five pounds in it, the thing felt like it was breaking my back in two. Lesson-learned. Now I shop for better bags that fit me much better. Plus, you add the specific items you need, from medications to self defense tools to preferred food and so on.
• Intimate familiarity with the gear; Well, maybe not THAT kind of intimate, but, assuming you're testing all the gear before you put it in your BOB, you know exactly what's in there and what the capabilities are of that gear. Drop your favorite knife in there, matches you know won't fail you, your warmest underwear, etc... Your confidence will be high because you know what's in the bag.

Final Thoughts

Regardless of buying a preconfigured bugout bag or building one from scratch, few people into preparedness would argue the fact that everyone should have one. Throughout your preparedness plan you should improve upon your bag, even if it's preconfigured. At least twice a year I strip mine down, through a little cash into it for improvements, and pack it all back up again. This is good practice even with a store-bought one. Tear it down, review it's contents, commit them and their locations in the bag to memory, then pack it all back up again and keep it handy.

In the end I recommend building a bag on your own, but I rarely, if ever, fault someone for taking steps to be more prepared and buying a preconfigured bag is still a definitive step in the right direction.

Peace.

Some Links

Denver Survival

Stealth Angel Survival

Freeze-Dried Food Review - ReadyHour

 ReadyHour freeze dried foods are bulk foods, meaning most packages of food contain serving sizes of at least 4. If you're feeding a family of four this is fine, but if you've less than that in your group you run the risk of some of the food going to waste. Most freeze dried meals don't provide left over storage options for later re-heating.

#1 - Mac and Cheese

Summed up in one word; blech!  I purchased the Ready Hour 72 emergency food pack which is what they consider to be their sampler pack (no free options offered). I cooked up this insufficient meal and gave it a go. Disclaimer: I followed the directions specifically. This particular meal differed from the others I'd sampled so far; you didn't pre-boil the water according to ReadyHour's instructions, and you use 4.5 cups to heat. You then boil the whole thing, cook for 15-20 minutes (mine cooked for 17 at a near boil), stirring all the while, then let sit 3 to 4. I did all of these religiously.

Specifics:

• Price: $27.49 for the whole kit.
• Serving size: 4 per bag
• Calories: 310 per serving.

Cons:

• Preparation; as indicated above the prep was different than most other dehydrated meals. I was wondering, while I cooked this, why didn't I just cook up a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese instead? In fact, aside from the claim that this meal will last in proper storage for 25 years, prep is really no different than Kraft or other store-bought Mac and Cheese.
• Taste and Texture: I let this pot sit for 5 minutes and it was still cheese-flavored noodle soup. I added some shredded sharp cheddar cheese to assist with the consistency.
• To me this is worth putting on this list again; store bought Mac & Cheese tastes better in addition to the preparation comment above.

Pros:

• Shelf life: Yeah, if I had this in my storage and 12 years down the road it was between this and starving, I'm sure the box of Kraft would be long gone so ReadyHour Mac and Cheese it is.
• Noodles: The noodles cooked up well, fluffy and didn't taste too bad.

Overall Rating: 3

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