Readiness Today

Goodness folks – I drifted WAY off and neglected my blog so badly. I am terribly sorry for dropping off like that.

OK, enough of the apologies, let’s get rolling again, and this time I am only going to make weekly updates.

Here’s the plan… We are going to work through becoming ready for what may come your way. This will be high level preparations that you will be able to customize to your specific situation and environment. In addition to the readiness stuff, we will cover basic safety because in my years and years of working with people on the simplest of disaster recovery preparations, I find that individuals are horribly unprepared in their personal lives as well.

THE PLAN:

1. The rule of 3′s – your basic set of rules that you will need to memorize. It’s simple, but critical to all of your planning.

2. Deciding what’s most important, least important, how to deal with changes in your mindset and environment.

3. Supplies… where to find them, how to buy them, replenishment plans, donating nearly expired items, etc.

4. PLANS – ya, plans. You can buy all the crap you want and have it piled high all over your house, but if you do not PLAN, then that stuff will be incredibly ineffective without a plan for each and every item.

5. Testing your plans… yes, that is EXACTLY what you think it is  - crack open those freeze dried foods and EAT THEM. Test out the splint that comes in the first-aid kit you got 2 years ago.

6. Communications – as evidenced in recent disasters, communication is critical for you. Even small, localized disasters can have dramatic effects on the human psyche and if you do not have a comms plan, and you have not tested it, then that is like getting directions somewhere, but never testing the route.

7. Survival – what the heck is it anyway? EASY – not dying (in the most extreme sense, of course…) – how does being prepared tie into absolute survival? Should you take a “survival” course? If so, how do you decide what course to take?

8. Urban, suburban, rural – three major differences between each of these parts of the place where you live. Big cities get help first – that’s just the truth. Suburbs next, rural last. And, that has nothing to do with population density actually… I will explain why it is the way it is …

9. Water – all about it

10. Food – all about it

11. Shelter – all about it

12, Family – if you are part of a family, or have started one of your own, you better think about THEM too. When it comes down to it, the one group of people that are most reliable to help you out, it will ALWAYS be family. Not firefighters, not cops, certainly not the government folks in general. They get paid to “care” – family is different.

13. Pandemic response plan – while the likelihood of a pandemic is not as high as other events, you should take some care and think about what you would do in that event. Pandemics usually involve the government, and you need to be able to support yourself (and family) for up to several weeks without ANY assistance or supplies from ANYONE. Seriously… you will be quarantined to your home at best. Step outside and risk getting picked up by the National Guard,  or worse…

14. Helping others - should you help others? Probably one of the toughest questions you will face in a situation. Should they help you? Well, if you’ve gotten serious about readiness, then you should not need help from them, but they may want help from you…

15. Bugging out – ever thought about a situation where you had to leave, or FELT like you should leave to a safer area? This is NOT evacuation like in a hurricane, but it could be that too. Evacuation implies it is mandatory and the government will “help” you leave. Bugging out is YOU deciding to leave your normal place of residence and going elsewhere based on the situation. YOU decide when to leave and where to go…

16. Life and death – where do you stand on the subject of defending your life? REALLY. Are you willing to kill another to preserve your life? Not in a murderous manner, but in self defense manner? The truth is that you will not know until you face it FOR REAL. Unless you’ve trained like a Navy SEAL, and even those guys gotta cope with it down deep in side, you;re not a SEAL – so, what will you do? Will you kill or be killed? It’s a tough question to ask, and very hard to answer for some folks. I’ve faced it and I will share my experience with you.

17. Money – what will you do for money? Do you have enough cash and items to barter in a short-term bugout situation? Cool of you do, but most people don’t. What about long term? What is valuable?

18, Bullsh!t TV shows – OK, an opinion piece on those damn TV shows… Jeez, even IF YOU DID do all that crap, you’d probably DIE anyway -these folks are simply HOLLYWOOD people trying to portray survival as a reality show. don’t fall for it folks. It is pure BS.

19. Fitness – yep, simple, basic fitness. No Arnold Schwarzenegger kind of fitness here, just good old fashioned fitness. Why it is important, how to accomplish it without joining a gym, sharing your fitness with others and why it could be the deciding factor in your survival.

20. Acronyms – Ya, ACRONYMS. SHTF, TEOTWAKI, BOV, BOB and so many more!!! We’ll have a little fun, but these are seriously important acronyms for the serious prepper.

21. PREPPER? Is that like that commercial? Nah, it’s cooler…

22. Government;s role in your survival, and, preparedness – Yes, I am not a big fan of the government in general. BUT – their ready.gov site does have a lot of good info for you. Worth a look, but always consider it with the idea of whether it is good for you, or good for them. If it is good for them, then tread cautiously. For all their faults (can you say KATRINA?) FEMA does have some good resources and recommendations for BASIC preparations.

23. Extreme couponing… WHAT? No, I have not gone off the rails… Listen, coupons are MONEY right now. If you have a coupon, USE IT.  Shoot, if you are gonna watch a TV show, watch EXTREME COUPONING – it is CRAZY!!! Now, these people, they have got the SUPPLIES part of preparedness down pat! Worth a look…

24. Animals – do you have pets? Livestock? What will you do with them in certain situations? Here’s my 2 cents on pets vs. livestock and the tough decisions you may need to make. I hope not, because I love my dog, but if it comes down to my survival vs. my dog, I win every time. PETA people, shut the BLEEP up… this has NOTHING to do with ethical treatment of animals.

25. Faith – yep, faith. There is a wide variety of faith. Religious, self, government, friends, etc. No one, and I mean NO ONE, has ONE faith. I know, I have just trampled onto the Christians, but hear me out on this one… It will be worth the time to seriously consider what I have to say about FAITH.

26. WAR – what if?