By Daisy Luther
We’d all like to think we’re some kind of action hero. Ready to fight against the odds and survive whatever comes our way. The smart, intrepid hero or heroine who gets things done, regardless of the situation and the people around us.
But are you really?
Here some tough love with three quick profiles of some preppers I know. Names have been changed to protect the guilty.
If you look, deep down inside, in that place where the ugly truth comes out, do you see yourself in any of these?
The Wilson family had a secret.
It was locked in their basement, in a little door hidden by a bookshelf with a few inconsequential items on it.
If a determined intruder were to get past Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and make it to the basement, behind that bookshelf, they’d discover a stash of beans, rice, guns, and ammo. Stacked to the rafters were these elements of survival. When the shit hit the fan, the Wilsons told themselves, (rather unconvincingly) that they would be ready.
But while they had a room loaded with supplies, they were missing vital pieces of the puzzle. They had no way to heat their home if disaster struck during the cold, Northeastern winter. Mrs. Wilson had never cooked a bean from scratch in her entire life, and if the power was out, she had no way to cook them even if she knew how. Mr. Wilson hadn’t fired one of those weapons in 20 years and was relying strictly on a couple of experiences from his early 30s to protect his family.
They knew they weren’t really prepared, but they pretended like the secret room gave them solace.
Dave was overconfident.
Every night after a meal of processed food, he plopped down on his creaky recliner, using video games like Call of Duty to practice his survival strategies until the wee hours of the night. He was darned good at it, a master, and if trouble came to his door he was confident that he would take care of it as handily as his avatar did on the game. Sometimes, he took a break from gaming to feverishly pound out patriotic rants on his laptop about how the government better send an entire army to “silence” him and how they could have his guns when they pried them from his cold dead hands.
He was an athlete. 27 years ago, he had been the star quarterback, leading his team to victory at the State Championships two years in a row. He had been a superstar and had no doubt that he still was. One year, he bagged a deer that fed his family for an entire winter. Did it really matter that the deer had a broken leg and was just lying there? Or that he hauled it to the butcher to get it processed? He brought it home, and that was all that counted.
If it came down to it, he would bug out on foot to the woods 3 miles away, beyond the mountain, where he could live off the land, no problem. It didn’t matter that he got winded when he walked up a flight of stairs. He knew he could power through when it counted. He’d just have to drag his prissy little wife and cellphone-addicted kids along. Then they’d see that all of his time training had paid off. He’d get the respect he deserved.
At least, that’s what he told himself.
But deep down inside, he knew that all of his boasting and apparent confidence was over the top. In the wee hours of those nights when he tossed and turned in bed, the nights when reality reared its ugly head, he honestly doubted his ability to do what needed to be done. In those moments, he knew he was overweight, out of shape, and truly unprepared. He knew that he was a fraud.
Laura was overwhelmed.
Laura wore a mouth guard at night because she had a bad habit of grinding her teeth. It was a miracle she had back teeth left, so worried was she about the current events she read voraciously online. Her husband’s job wasn’t stable and hers barely covered the cost of child care. Between threats of war with foreign powers, economic instability, and a natural disaster every other week, she couldn’t decide what to prepare for first.
Laura dealt with a constant, creeping feeling of doom. Sure, she had a few things put back, but she knew that she was nowhere near ready.
The future looked bleak and all she had to fight it off with was some canned peaches and crackers.
She read websites that focused on getting prepped, but the conflicting information and doom only scared her more. She had absolutely no idea how they’d survive if something went down. There was so much advice out there that she didn’t know what to do first, and her husband seemed oblivious that something bad could be looming on the horizon.
The world was fraught with impending disaster and it was all so overwhelming that she did…
…nothing.
Tell the truth.
Be brutally honest. Do you see yourself or someone in your family in any of the character sketches above? Maybe just a little? Maybe even a lot?
If so, you aren’t prepared for a major disaster. If you’ve remain unwilling to do what really needs to be done, how will your family fare in a situation like the collapse of Venezuela? How would you feel if your children were suffering when you look back and know in your heart that you could have prevented it?
But you can be ready. If you accept the reality of your situation, you can change it.
It’s time to get serious.
Make this the year you get it together.
These prepper mistakes seem so obvious when we read about them, yet many of us are guilty of the same ones. The best way to tackle preparedness is this: make your goals realistic and complete one before moving on to the next. After all, your families lives could depend on it.
What are you waiting for? Start the year off right.
Get prepped.
I have known people like this for many years. Lots of guns of many different calibers, but not one full box of ammo for any one of them. No hunting, gathering, or farm experience. No basic, practiced survival knowledge or even good books on the subject. Many, many just don’t care or really believe nothing is ever going to happen; not even a major power failure. Via, they don’t even own a small gas generator. “Sad”. Are there some “soft spots” in my preps? Yes. Am I continueing to close the gaps ?, Of course. The number 1 way I protect my family from being challenged and confronted in a worst case scenario by others is, I just don’t tell others that I prep. And I try as much as possible too pay cash up front for what we need. And no perceived plan is any good unless one works towards accomplishing those goals. I only can do a little at a time; but Damn! It’s starting to add up.
Good post Daisy. I am suprized though that you didn’t include one of those families with the “survrval”seed vault and plan to feed the family by diging up the surbaban lawn and growing their own food. They also forgot to buy a spading fork and hoe.
Since our main survival tool is our oversized brains maybe folks should engage them and think through the most likely scenarios. I might be helpful for those who are not used to thinkinh what if to try doing flow charts on paper.
The lady with the husband who has an unstable job obviously doesn’t have the resources to imediately prepare for the aftermath of a major international incident. She should start adding as much extra of staples she normaly buys as she can on every shopping day (skipping treats if necessary) At least they will have some reserve food and maybe her husband could take over the child care if he is unemployed.
The former athlete ought to take a few walks in his woods and see how much (little!) Game is actually there. Then do a little calorie counting. Game meat usually runs 2000 calories per boned out pound and to put that in perspective I weighed out 80 pounds of boned meat from this falls caribou which are about twice as big as the average deer. Then he shoud start buying rice, beans and what other staples takes his fancy to make up the 10,000 calories mimimum which a family of four needs. (Probably more after they work off the belly fat surviving.)
The guys with the food and guns first ought to buy at least sterno and stove but idealy a two burner camp stove with a bulk tank adapter. If they have a gas grill they might already have a side burner as well. You can also get Buddy heaters with tank adapters that are indoor safe and would atleast heat a room. Keep several spare 25 pound tanks to get by for a while. The Misses might try hitting pintrest or a cook book for recipies for beans. There are countless ways to cook beans, lentles, and split peas. Maybe try a new recipie every Saturday until she has several every one likes and then stock the extra ingredients and rotate the beans.
Thi is written from the perspective of a retired guy who lives off grid but on the highway in rural Alaska.
I recently read a post online by someone stating that they wanted to cook some beans but the power was out. I often wonder why people that live in an area where they lose power in the winter (or during seasonal storms) do not have multiple ways of heating their home and cooking. I live in Texas, out in the country. When we moved out here from the city, we found that we would lose power quite often. We did not have propane or natural gas , we were totally electric,from heating to cooking. That was 30+ years ago. We quickly discovered we needed a wood burning stove for heat and alternate ways of cooking. I now have multiple ways of heating and cooking. One must be prepared for any kind of disaster. Stock up a little each grocery trip. Buckets of beans and rice will not do you any good if you dont have water and the know how to cook them. I believe in having multiples of tools. During recent holidays, my electric can opener quit. I fortunately had 2 manual can openers. We keep hand tools all over the property. Shovels, hoes, rakes,hammers , hatchets, axes and hand saws just to mention a few. Gas and electric may not always be available. Yes we have most of the modern essentials. but what good will they be if there is no gas or electric ? I say buy some hand tools and learn to use them.
You nailed it. And I won’t leave myself out of that statement either. Nor should you – or any of us. The truth be told there are just two groups of people out there – those who can, could or will; and then, those who cannot, couldn’t or won’t. We’ve each got a bit of each of them in us to differing degrees. No one is ever really ready for the crisis that arises. One only kids themselves thinking they can do anything that they are called upon to do. In the end, it is those in the first group – who will try their level best, refuse to be defeated and when knocked down…….. get up again and give it a go all over once more. a nod to – Chumbawamba – Tubthumping. The lyrics say it all. All of us so-called preppers are simply p*ssin’ the night away for now until it gets real.
When your friends, neighbors, and family approach you armed, and demand that you share your food and supplies, are you prepared to do what is necessary? Or are you all a bunch of wannabes?
Forget about cooking beans in the dark, that will be the least of your worries. After 12 days, it will be obvious as to who has food and who does not.
When your friends, neighbors, and family approach you armed, and demand that you share your food and supplies, are you prepared to do what is necessary? Or are you all a bunch of wannabes? This is not some kind of a game.
Forget about cooking beans in the dark, that will be the least of your worries. After 12 days, it will be obvious as to who has food and who does not.
if any power could get past the us military do you really think you could fend them off?
also when power has gone out due to bad weather most people wait for the engineers to put it back on.
any rioting would last for a day or two at most then would be brought under control in that situation you would have to wait it out, and could last that long.
foraging for food in the woods would be hard and your supplies would not last long, and with family you would not last long.
the people who live in jungles in communities have adapted to that way through years of experience and being taught how by other people in their tribe.
in yugoslavia when it fell apart there was an example of what could happen and that was in a society not as advanced as america and they needed un food supplies to help keep them going, and what little help the un could do.
it is better not to let that happen in the first place.