The Preparedness Articles Category
Survival Magazines
If someone asked you to list your favorite Survival Magazines, what would you say? When my buddies and I where in high school – back in the 1980s – we would read any magazine, or mail order catalog we could get our hands on. This was back before the internet – so you had to either go to the store and actually buy a magazine, or send off an order form and wait 2 – 6 weeks for the first issue to come in. Over the past 25 years, only a hand full of magazines have risen to the top and deserve a special mention.
5 & 6. Field and Stream and Outdoor Life – both magazines offer a wide variety of hunting and outdoors information. Since both magazines offer such a wide variety of information, its difficult to say that one is better then the other. Where else can you find information about fly fishing on 1 page, and wilderness survival on the next page.
4. Backpacker – offers quality gear reviews mixed with a touch of conservation. What other magazine can you read about -20 degree sleeping bags, and about timber companies cutting virgin forest in the same issue?
3. Soldier of Fortune – no other magazine is going to cut to the heart of military history, political and military issues like Soldier of Fortune magazine. Back in the 1980s when Russia was at war in Afghanistan, and I was only a teenager, I remember reading about fund raisers to help the Afghan freedom fighters.
2. Farmers Almanac – its going to be difficult to find a more reliable source of inforamtion on gardening and farming.
1. American Survival Guide – All hail American Survival Guide, also known as ASG. If you were a survivalist in the 1990s, ASG was a must have. For those of us that did not want get on a mailing list, a trip to the local magazine stand was a monthly ritual. This magazine had it all – everything from turning 2 ALICE packs into a raft, to growing herbs, to basket weaving. My buddies and I will sometimes pull out our old ASGs and discuss the articles.
Its a shame that ASG went out of print. It was the only magazine that main stream survivalism to the masses.
So once you have a nice supply of survival magazines, what do you to with them? Personally I keep a small supply of magazines here at the house. The rest are moved to the camp. Ok, why is there a supply of survival magazines at the camp?
They make good reading material – when your sitting at the camp, its deer season, the sun went down before 6pm, its cold outside, its only an hour before bed time so you can get up at 4:30am to go get in the stand – having a variety of reading material is a good way to pass the time.
Education material – if some kind of SHTF situation occurs, having resource material at your bug out location is a wise idea. Instead of scratching your head wondering what kind of fertilizer works best for turnips greens, whip out your books on gardening and read up.
There are a lot of good magazines out there. The key is to find the ones that fit your needs, get a subscription going, build up a nice stockpile, and then distribute the magazines to your camps.
Post your comments in this forum thread about stockpiling survival related magazines.
What to take in a bug out situation
Some missionary goes to the Congo for 6 weeks to preach the salvation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the natives. As he boards the plane back to the good ole US of A he is not feeling to well. Its just a slight fever, nothing to worry about.
Fast forward 6 weeks, the once unknown airborne virus has wrecked havoc on mankind. With no vaccine and no natural resistance, people are dieing off like the Native Americans did to Small Pox. Which means that entire populations of towns were dieing.
You set your plans into place, but things have not worked out as planned. The daily bicycle ride to the nearest river for water is getting old. The neighbors are running out of food and have turned into beggars. Its time to put your back-up plans into effect; that includes leaving your home, and going to a friends farm.
At the farm there will be seclusion – its miles off the beaten path – there will be water from the well, fresh food out of the garden and fresh meat from the local wildlife. Who knows, there might even be fresh eggs from the chickens. And where there are chickens, there is fried chicken.
Its time to pack up the important things in life and get out of the city. The question is, what do you take?
Some of the stuff is pretty obvious – food, water, clothes, medicine, first aid supplies, sleeping bags, pillows, seeds, can opener, water filters,,,,,,.
Some things are not so obvious – family pictures, letters, bible, books, playing cards, board games, wills and property titles,,,,.
Family pictures – if there is one thing that can not be replaced, its family pictures. Your kids will never be young again, your grandparents will never come back from the grave.
Letters – any hand written letters that retain you family history. Maybe even printed emails from friends and family members.
Bible or any other religious book – for spiritual support.
Books – for education and preservation of knowledge. College grammar books are a good option, as they contain works from a wide variety of authors. Regardless of the situation, the education of children must continue.
Playing cards and board games – helps keep the mind busy and acts as a distraction.
Wills – to make sure that your property gets passed down to who you want it to, its important that everyone have a will. And if you have a will, make sure its signed by a witness upon your signature.
Property titles – ensures that you retain legal ownership of your property. Even during outbreaks of the Black Death in the middle ages, some kind of law and order was maintained.
Post your comments in this forum thread about Forgotten Items.
Top 10 survival gear items
Out of all your survival gear items, which 10 are the most important? This list is going to change on your geographical location and any special needs. So consider this food for thought.
1. Home based water filter – an example of this is the Berkey Light or the Royal Berkey. Why is a water filter the first item? Because water is used so much in our daily lives. You do not need to be brushing your teeth with water contaminated with E. Coli, shigella or cryptosporidium.
2. Peanut butter and honey – High calorie food (peanut butter) mixed with honey – which has trace minerals – makes a meal that is difficult to beat. Unlike dried foods, no water is required to cook peanut butter or the honey. After opening, neither one needs to be kept cold. Honey can be stored for years without fear of spoiling and it makes for a good topical anti-biotic.
3. First aid kit – for taking care of wounds and injuries.
4. Way to cook without electricity – Propane is a good option, but its going to run out sooner or later. Solar ovens are a good choice, if you live an area that gets plenty of sun light. Wood burning pits are a good option. Firewood might go into short supply as people run out of ways to cook, but its always going to be around.
5. Water bottles – some way to transport water from a nearby stream to your water filter.
6. Good quality bicycle – after gasoline runs out, you have an way to get around.
7. Good quality boots – if your feet hurt, your not going anywhere.
8. Solar charger – whether its for charging a cell phone or a flashlight, the sun offers unlimited energy, you just have to have a way harness that power.
9. Fishing supplies – give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man how to fish and you feed him for life. If you live close to a lake, stream, pond or river, fishing gear must not be overlooked.
10. Physical and Mental conditioning – Stay sharp and stay fit.
Post your comments in this forum thread about must have survival gear items.
Maintaining a remote camp
Back around 1980 my parents inherited some land from my grandmother (my dads mom). Shortly after my parents got the land, they moved a 2 bedroom 1 bath trailer house behind my grandmothers house – which had been built around the turn of the 20th century. Mom and dad put a septic system down, setup a water well,,, all the comforts of home, except a home phone. Back in the early 1980 cell phones had not been invented yet. So for maybe 10 years, every time we went to the camp, we lost all contact with the outside world.
I would like to share my past 30 years experience with dealing with camps, and remote locations.
Rodents – This includes mice, rats and squirrels. Not only do they chew holes in the eves of the house, in floors, in the walls, and get into your food stocks, they build nest, piss, and poop everywhere. When you start talking about feces, there is always the chance of diseases.
Squirrels are not too bad about staying in the house, its mostly the mice and rats that like to make themselves at home. What is the difference between a mouse and a rat? About a pound.
If you put rat poison out – sometimes they will get in the walls, die, and start stinking. But for a camp that people do not go to everyday, nobody will be around to smell the stench.
There have been times when I have gone to the camp, and found mice in the toilet – dead. I’am going to guess they jumped into the toilet to get a drink of water, and could not get back out.
When those mice get hungry, they will start chewing into everything they can. This includes peanut butter jars made out of plastic, snacks, chips,,,, anything with a plastic container.
Something of interest, I have kept cases of MREs at the camp and rodents have never gotten into them. Why is it that rodents will chew into a jar of peanut butter, but not an MRE? Maybe because the MREs are double sealed? Maybe because the MREs do not have the smell of food on them from being handled? I dont know exactly, maybe its a combination of several factors?
Food Stockpile -Sometimes my family and I will go to the camp, bring some chili, canned beans, spam,,,,, with plans to either it that weekend, or eat it later on. Well, the canned goods get put in the pantry, forgotten, and expire. We may keep a couple of weeks worth of food up there, and its rarely rotated out. So when we go looking for something to eat, a lot of the cans are expired. This is one of the problems with keeping food stocks at a remote location. If people only go there a few times a year, the canned goods do not get rotated out.
At least one thing with the rodents, they force us to rotate out some of our food stocks. Its like the mouse is saying – “this is going to expire soon, so why not eat it before it expires?” A big chew hole in the side of a plastic jar of peanut butter is a lot more noticeable then a small printed date on the top of the lid.
Every bug out location should have some kind of food stocks, but the problem is keeping the food rotated out. When you have a remote location that may not be visited but a few times a year, food rotation becomes an issue. Its not like the dates can be checked every few weeks.
No frozen foods (or very little) are kept at the camp. There have been times when the freezer stopped working, or the power was out for several days and all of the meat in the freezer spoiled.
Drinking water in an urban survival situation
If the water went off tonight, what kind of plans do you have in place? As with everything else in my survival plans, water is broken down into 3 phases – short term, medium term, and long term solution.
Short Term – this is your bottled water. Most people have a couple of cases of bottled water laying around somewhere. On a trip to the grocery store most people might grab a case or two of bottled water to have around for guest or parties.
Some survivalist stockpile water in 35 or 55 gallon drums.
When the water goes out, the bottled and stockpiled water will go first. Its convenient, you just un-screw the top of the bottle and the water is ready to drink. Most people like to take the easy way out, and bottled water is about as easy as it gets.
Medium Term – this is your water filters. This may include your Berkey water filters or some kind of backpacking, lightweight water filter.
Sooner or later, the filter is going to reach its lifespan, and that is it.
Long term – private water well that is safe to drink. This could include water wells on farms, or rural water wells where people do not get city water.
Now that we are past the three layers of water preps, lets move forward. “Where” exactly do you get water in an urban survival situation? Lets see, there are – local ponds, streams, creeks, rivers, lakes, rain fall, ditches, bayous,,,,,.
For an example, in the middle of Jasper, Texas (where I live), there is a park with a small pond and creek. Using my bicycle I could cycle to the park, use some water bottles to retrieve the water, bring it back home and run it through my Berkey water filter. Its about 8 miles round trip from my home to the park.
River water – Another example, the Angelina River is just a few miles from my house. Once again, using my bicycle I could cycle to the river, bring several 32 ounce water bottles, collect the water from the river, cycle back home and then run the water through my Berkey water filter.
Rain water – once those 55 gallon drums run out of water, they could be positioned under the down spout of a rain gutter. But this only works if you live in an area that gets rain fall. If you do not have any 55 gallon drums, some 5 gallon buckets should work just as good. If nothing else, refill those water bottles that were used when the event first started.
Waterborne diseases – As sewers fill up and start to back up, people will start doing their “business” outside. The problem here, is when an area receives rain fall, the sewage can be washed off the soil and into the local rivers, steams, ponds,,,, any kind of surface water. If water can stand around the pipe going into a well, there is a chance that contaminated water can get into the well. That is why its recommended that a cement step be built around the pipe of a well.
Possible diseases include:
Cryptosporidium
E. Coli
Shigella
Giardiasis
Botulism
Cholera
Dysentery
Legionellosis – Legionnaires disease and Pontiac fever
Salmonellosis – Salmonella (mostly foodborne)
Typhoid fever
Hepatitis A – food and waterborne
only to name a few.
In my opinion, the ideal situation would be to have a water well with some kind of solar water pump on it, or at least a hand operated water pump. In a worse case situation, having a well and a hand powered pump is better then nothing.
One of the big differences between urban and rural water plans, would probably be that a lot of people in rural areas already have some kind of water well in place. Whether its to water the cows, horses or other livestock, or as their main water source, a lot of people who live in rural areas have access to some kind of water well. From there, its just a matter of getting the water out of the well with no electricity.
I would like to hear some input on this topic. What are your safe drinking water plans in some kind of long term survival situation? Do you have a water well already in place? Do you have a rain water collection system already in place? Do you have any creeks, streams, ponds or lakes nearby that your planning on filtering the water from?
Post your comments in this thread about drinking water in an long term urban survival situation.
Top 6 diseases post STHF
There is a thread going on over at the forum – Post-Disaster Disease Management. During the discussion, the thread was kinda derailed into a discussion on Tuberculosis (TB), Whooping Cough, and other diseases. While looking for some information on the most common diseases, I found a page on the World Health Organization website – Six diseases cause 90% of infectious disease deaths.
From the WHO site:
Pneumonia
HIV/AIDS
Diarrhoea (Diarrhea)
Tuberculosis (TB)
Malaria
Measles
Some of the diseases that I expected to see were not listed, such as Whooping Cough, Small Pox, Plague, and water borne diseases. After all, the Plague has killed more then its fair share of the human population over the past 1,000 years. Instead of listing all of the water borne diseases separately, I’am going to guess they were grouped together and listed as Diarrhoea.
On the topic of Tuberculosis (TB) – the WHO says that “nearly two billion people – one-third of the world’s population – have latent TB infection.” When the person becomes sick, and their immune system becomes weak, the TB infection can break out.
The question is, have you reviewed your infection control plans? Do you have N95 facemask (or something similar), do you have non-sterile surgical gloves, do you have hand sanitizer.
For you metal workers out there – the face shield you use for grinding can also be used as s face shield for taking care of infected patients. The face shield provides full face protection from cough droplets and vomit projectiles – be sure to wear safety glasses and an N95 behind the face shield.
Diarrhoea (Diarrhea) – according to the WHO website, Diarrhoea kills around two million children every year.
With the topic of Diarrhea in mind, have you reviewed your water filtration and water purification plans?
Post your thoughts on this topic in the forum thread about Post-Disaster Disease Management.
Complicated survivalist plans
When talking to survivalist, it becomes clear that some of them have no idea as to what they would do if a long term disaster set in. For the sake of argument, lets say that some kind of new virus came out of the Amazon. Loggers are cutting in areas that mankind has not seen in 10,000 years. While moving the logs, a worker is exposed to some kind of virus. He goes about his daily routine for a few days, walking around town, going to the local stores, spreads the virus. And just like with the swine flu, in a matter or days its spread all over the world.
When the Swine Flu broke out in early 2009, the US government refused to close the borders – citing that companies would lose too money.
The virus moves from city to city and country to country with nothing to stop it. People become sick, die, social services breaks down, the trucks stop rolling, supplies and food shipments stop to the local grocery stores, panic buying sets in, and in a matter of days the shelves are empty.
From there, certain groups of survivalist plan on grabbing their bug out bag, and head to the nearest national forest where they and their families will live in safety and seclusion. That is, until some kind of dysentery sets in and members of the group needs medical attention.
For those of us that take our survivalist mindset a little more serious, we have secured provisions, and have tested plans in place for such a situation.
While testing a Berkey water filter at the camp – which included filtering water from a creek for 3 days – a lot was learned and the plans will be changed to reflect what I learned.
Here is the video about the 3 day Royal Berkey water filter test.
Someone on youtube posted the following comment to the video:
Reverse osmosis is much much better. I would use a reverse osmosis system with a permeate pump.
The problem is, reverse osmosis with a permeate pump requires electricity. In a total break down of social services – which means no electricity, no running water, no natural gas,,,,, no nothing, exactly “how” is a reverse osmosis with a permeate pump system “supposed” to work?
From here, I’am pretty sure someone is saying – setup some solar panels with a battery bank, or a wind generator, or make some bio-diesel to run a diesel engine so that the alternator can be run, then take that DC voltage from the alternator and run it through an inverter to power the water pump,,,,,.
The problem is – all of that needs to be setup “before” a disaster happens. The more moving parts something has, the more likely it is to break, and last but not least – keep it simple.
How much more simple do you want a gravity flow system? Pour the water into the holding tank, and it flows through the filter. The only moving part is the spigot that you get the water out of.
I dont know what planet some survivalist live on, but in my world, supplies do not just magically appear out of nowhere. If you need a solar panel, its not just going to appear out of nowhere as a gift from the solar panel GOD. If you need a water filter, its not going to magically appear as a gift from the water filter GOD.
Here are the facts:
Your plans need to be laid out and tested before hand.
From those test, corrections need to be made.
The corrections then need to be tested.
Keep the plans simple.
Keep the plans realistic.
Simple Plans: Why makes things more complicated then they need to be? If someone ask you what time it is, do you hand them instructions on how to build a watch? Why even thing about using a complicated water filter system, when you can use a simple gravity flow system?
Realistic Plans: Over the years I have seen people talk about everything from bugging out to a national forest that is a 14 – 18 hour drive – under normal situations. Exactly “how” they were going to get fuel for the drive, exactly “where” they were going, exact plans on food and other supplies,,,,, had never been thought out, much less tested.
Post your comments in this forum thread about simple and complicated survival plans.
Spam as a survival food
Is spam the perfect survival food? That question was asked in this forum thread about spam. It seems that most people like talking about spam – whether its fried, cooked, cold, right out of the can,,,,,,, most people will have something to say about it. Even if they say its so nasty they would never eat it, that is still something they had to say.
Can of spam classic net weight – 340 grams (I dont know if that net weight includes the metal can).
Serving size – 56 grams
790mg of sodium per serving
340/56 = 6.071
6.071 servings per can X 790 mg of sodium = 4,802.5mg of sodium for a can of spam.
Source on weight and sodium is from the Spam website.
Three cans of spam classic a day- 1 for breakfast, lunch and dinner would provide around 3,240 calories and somewhere around 10,500 – 14,500 mg of sodium.
Pay attention to that 14.5 grams, that is 14,500 milligrams – which is 6.041X the recommended daily allowance of salt. The USDA Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for Sodium intake is no more than 2,400 milligrams – but that is for a healthy adult with no health problems. Race also plans a factor in your sodium intake, it seems that salt affects blacks and whites differently.
If you have health problem like high blood pressure or heart disease, your recommended daily intake may be more like 1,400 mg.
So lets say that your have stockpiled lots of spam for a disaster, and your overweight and have high blood pressure. Eating 10,500 – 14,500 milligrams of salt everyday might just mean that your eating your way to an early grave.
If you have a health issue, be sure to talk with your doctor and get some first hand advice as to what your sodium intake should be. Lets not stockpile food that could kill us.
*weights and measurements should be considered an estimate.
Related Post:
Bugging out to the wilderness
There is a theory that has been going around the survival community for decades, and at one time I subscribed to it, but not any more. The theory goes like this – if there is some kind of wide spread disaster, I’am just going to grab my bug out bag, and bug out to the wilderness. From there, my family and I will live in peace as society falls apart. When everything has passed, my family and I will return and help re-build.
Here are some of the reasons why I no longer subscribe to the bug out to the wilderness theory:
Ehrlichiosis
Lyme Disease
Rocky Mountain spotted fever
Tularemia
E. Coli
Cryptosporidium
Dysentery
Vitamin Deficiencies
Culture Shock – that may not be the correct term, but its going to be used anyway
Frost Bite
Heat Stroke
Heat Exhaustion
Only to name a few,,,,,,,,,.
One thing that I have noticed, people who subscribe to the “bug out to the wilderness” theory, usually do not have a grasp on wilderness diseases and how their spread.
All it takes is one tick bite, and the person can contract a number of tick borne infections.
All it takes is one sip of contaminated water, and the victim has some kind of water borne infection.
You can not take someone (like a teenager) out of their comfort zone, take them out to the wilderness, put them in a tent, and expect them to be happy – its not going to happy. The only thing that situation will do, is make matters worse.
On July 16 – 17, 2010, my son, my son-in-law and I went on a camping trip along the Angelina River – which is close to Jasper, Texas. The day time temps were in the mid – upper 90s, with night time temps in the mid 80s. At one point the heat got so bad that I was getting disoriented. Thank goodness the river was right there – so all 3 of us jumped in and cooled off. The question is, what if there was no river too cool off in? With little to no shade, and no way to cool off, heat related problems can be a real issue.
Lets say that you have a nice bug out location picked out – its close to water, has lots of wilderness for hunting and foraging – keep in mind that primitive man did not stay in one location year round. The life of a hunter-gather revolves around being able to move from one location to another. Staying in one location for very long will deplete your sources of roots, berries and wild foods. Even if you are on a river, man can not live on fish alone. Sooner or later, your going to have to relocate to find new food sources.
At least with staying at home, survivalist can stockpile supplies – food, water, water filters, first aid supplies, stockpile seeeds, have a garden, stay in touch with friends and family members, sleep in your own bed,,,.
Real survival plans should start with a realistic approach, and a realistic plan.
Think about you plans, talk to your friends and family members about their plans, and how your plans and their plans can work together.
What kind of disaster are you planning for – hurricane, wildfire, plague, earthquake,,,,,, or something else?
Instead of trying to find the solution here, real through this list of forum threads about Bug Out Plans, and go from there.
Texas starts their Disaster Preparedness campaign
The Texas Department of State Health Services along with state and local officials today launched this year’s Ready or Not? multilingual public education campaign to encourage Texans to prepare for emergencies.
“Whether it’s a hurricane, tornado or flood, a disaster can strike when we least expect it, and we want people to be prepared,” said Dr. David Lakey, DSHS commissioner. “We’re one month into hurricane season, but it’s not too late to put together a plan.”
Ready or Not? or ¿Estás Listo? in Spanish uses radio, television, newspaper and online advertising; community outreach events; and its websites to encourage every Texan to create an emergency plan now. The goal is to help Texans be ready to respond to, and recover from, any natural or man made disaster.
This year’s launch took place at the Island Community Center in Galveston with local officials presenting information about how to prepare. The Galveston event also marked the kickoff of the 15-city Ready of Not? community outreach tour.
The yearlong Ready or Not? campaign focuses on three key elements: family, essentials and information.
Family – Talk with everyone in your family about your emergency plan. Know where your family will meet if you have to evacuate. Include elderly neighbors and people with disabilities who may depend on you for help. Have a list of emergency contacts. And remember your pets.
Essentials. Make a shopping list of essential items you need. Store those emergency supplies in one place. Put copies of all essential documents – driver’s license or passport, insurance policies, health cards and prescriptions – in a waterproof bag.
Information – Know how to get information in an emergency. Have a battery-operated radio on hand with plenty of fresh batteries.
Ready or Not? partners include local emergency management officials, community based organizations with emergency preparedness and response/recovery roles, and other grassroots organizations.
The website at www.TexasPrepares.org or www.TexasPrepara.org offers people a way to build a custom plan step by step. Those without Internet access may dial 2-1-1 for help finding local sites that offer free Internet access.
The Ready or Not? community outreach tour will hold 18 events in 15 cities this summer beginning today in Galveston. Additional stops are planned throughout the month of July in Pasadena, Port Arthur, Beaumont, Lufkin, League City, Tyler, Houston, Bay City, Victoria, Corpus Christi, Harlingen, Brownsville, McAllen and San Antonio. Each free event will feature a 20-foot by 20-foot tent filled with informational displays, sample disaster supply kits and an interactive kiosk where visitors can begin or continue their emergency planning.
The Ready or Not? campaign will run through August 2011.