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Get Yourself Prepared
By Richard A. Fleetwood - May 2001
(From My Summer 2000 Newsletter)
-[Survival Skills> -
A topic of discussion on my Blast Shelter email list (
http://theblastshelter.topica.com
) has had to do with BASIC survival skills, such as fire building, survival
kits, and so on. How much survival skill should a person have THESE days,
in the cream of humanity, with food available on ANY street, tools at ANY
store, and technology at ANY computer? Some say that in these days of wine
and roses, when one can get anything in this world with enough money or barter
material, that old primitive skills are a thing of the past. Others say that
you can NEVER have enough primitive skills to be prepared. I can see both
sides of this discussion very clearly, and I think that I lean towards HAVING
the skills in reserve, is the best advice.
How many times in the past decade has there been a regional catastrophe,
just in this hemisphere? Never mind Hurricane Mitch, in central America, with
its close to 20,000 deaths in horrendous flooding. Never mind Hurricane Andrew,
with its 200mph winds that carved a wide swath of desolation thru southern
Florida. Never mind the Kobe earthquake that killed 5000 people in a few
long minutes in one of the most earthquake prepared nations in the world.
You may have some notice of a dangerous event about to envelope you and your
life, and the lives of your loved ones. You might have certain preps you
can do for that event, but limited funds / tools / escape routes / relocation
opportunities will stymie your best plans, or make most unworkable. What if
you are trapped, and have to live THRU the event...only with what you have
on hand, with what skills you were able to learn beforehand, and with what
luck the good lord blesses and keeps you with? It can be done....it has been
done....but oh, at what cost to those that WEREN'T prepared? Yeah, sure,
Uncle Sam will come by, doing their grid searches, looking for survivors
and casualties..after the fact...sometimes days later. They have to pull
their stuff together and MOVE it to the disaster areas after IT happens,
and that is done using PRE-Star Trek Technology.
So what do you do now? Prepare. Plan. Purchase. Practice. Prevent. And Pray.
PREPARE by knowing what CAN happen whereever you live. Up north, you will
at some point get ice storms and blizzards. In the midwest, you will see
tornadoes and hail. In the west and parts of the southeast, earthquakes and
flooding will happen again somewhere near you. All along the east and west
coasts there will be more hurricanes. KNOW what can hurt you and understand
your needs to prepare to deal with these natural disasters. Don't forget...house
fires, car accidents, robberies, and other very localized things like this
can do just as much damage to body and family as the big things.
PLAN by getting your hands on books, articles, videos, and training that
will help you DEAL with those things that you now are aware of after doing
the ABOVE preparation. Your local library has loads of books on topics that
you could consider useful in survival situations. The internet with all its
tens of millions of webpages has plenty of FREE information for you, as close
as any seach engine, or might I suggest.... http://www.survivalring.org .
Big book stores also will have all the latest books and magazines on preparedness
areas. I can recommend the following magazines as always useful and full
of just this type of information: American Survival Guide, Mother Earth News,
Countryside Journal, Back Home, Backwoods Home, and many more like these.
They all have subscriptions and are well worth the investment in a few dollars
a year.
PURCHASE the tools and supplies you need NOW, before disaster strikes, or
is even looming on the horizon. Camping gear is an essential that will keep
you alive even in your own home, should power grids fail for weeks at a time,
or if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere in an automotive breakdown. Food
storage, at LEAST two weeks worth for EACH member of your family, water filters
and water storage items, cooking gear such as portable stoves and grills,
and some kind of shelter and sleeping gear are REQUIREMENTS for minimal comfort
in emergency situations. All can be had cheaply and easily beforehand...as
close as your local Walmart or KMart. Sturdy clothing and shoes, as well
as bad weather gear will keep you safe and snug when others are beginning
hypothermic breakdown. These will also enable you to help those around you
weren't as prepared, when it's too late.
PRACTICE the skills needed for basic survival. Go camping at least a few
times a year. Try camping in ALL kinds of weather at LEAST once a year, and
learn from the experience. Learn how to start a fire with what is at hand,
and how to keep it going. Know where to find food in the wild, how to prepare
wild game and fish, and what things in nature to avoid to stay healthy. Not
only does this build your confidence in yourself and your ability to care
for your loved ones, it also opens your eyes ever so much more to the wonders
of this incredible thing called EARTH. Create a Survival Kit with fire tools,
fishing hooks, emergency rations, water filter, survival book, poncho, blanket,
rope, knife, and whatever else you can think of you would want to have with
you if had NOTHING ELSE in the world. It can fit in a small bag, backpack,
extra purse, golfbag, tackle box, or whatever.... Make sure you have one
for each family member, and that each family member has it near them at ALL
times. Cost can be minimal, but the practice is the thing. Have practice
storm drills with your family and pretend you are snowed into your home for
24 hours with no power, communications, or anything. See what does work and
what doesn't, and learn from the experiance.
PREVENT problems and disasters from affecting you by long term planning.
Find a career that allows you to live in the safest areas you can find for
your family. Move to areas that aren't in the heart of natural disaster regions,
heavy populations, or technological accidents waiting to happen. Understand
that ANY domestic or international terrorism that this country sees in the
coming years WILL be in large population centers of this nation, probably
one of the 120 cities that is discussed by FEMA and other news agencies,
in which DOMESTIC PREPAREDNESS missions and practice operations have been
happening for the past few years. Birmingham, Alabama just had such an event
at Legion Field, the big collegiate football stadium, where hundreds of public
safety workers, volunteers, and state and federal level workers simulated
a terrorist attack on a large group of people at a big event. This was covered,
and very lightly I might say, by all the local media. At least the government
admits it IS possible, and has done some preparation "just in case".
If unable to move or change, at least work on local levels to mitigate disasters.
Fireproof your home by clearing brush, fixing loose wiring, having ample
fire extinguishers for the area, and know how to use them. Burglarproof your
home with security systems, deadbolts, and a saferoom somewhere in the interior
of your home. Create a storm shelter in your yard, basement, or central room
using the FEMA 320 manual, TAKING SHELTER FROM THE STORM. This shelter booklet
can be downloaded from http://www.fema.gov and tells you how to build a shelter
that will protect you from the WORST storms, and is even bullet proof. The
Oklahoma City Tornadoes last year passed right thru the suburbs of the city,
and directly hit homes that had this exact shelter in them. Occupants inside
came out unharmed, even where the rest of the homes they were in had been
blown away.
Finally, PRAY. Pray to your spiritual guide to keep you safe, out of harms
way, and able to fulfill your work on this earth. Whether you go to church,
temple, synagogue, or mosque, at least take time to get to know your heavenly
father better, and strive to do as much good in his name as you can. Life
just winds up better for all this way.
As I have mentioned before on several occasions, FEMA has a series of Independant
Study Courses available for FREE from their website, which will provide vast
amounts of preparatory information for you to be able to Pull Through any
situation. Check out the latest course lists here >>>
FEMA: Independent Study
Courses .
Another great source of HANDY, USEFUL, and FIELD TESTED survival and preparedness
skills is a series of pocket sized books called THE RANGER DIGESTS. There
are 9 books, with the latest one called RANGER DIGEST IX, just out. ALL are
written by retired Army Ranger Rick F. Tscherne, of Italy, who spent 13 of
his 21 years of active duty overseas in Italy, Germany, and Korea. There
are some really great tips and skills covered in these series of books, from
using empty ammo boxes as portable bbq pits, to how to stay warm in a pouring
rain with a single candle and a poncho, to using your flashlight for MORE
than just light, to upgrading your compass with great useful items that may
not have been included in the orignal model. He is very thourough, though
his early books lean a little more towards your classic drill instructer
verbiage.
Each of these books sell for $5.50 each, and his sister in law sells them
here in the US from Pennsylvania. You can also purchase large multiple quantities
at wholesale prices if you are interested. These books are so good, and so
highly regarded, that PIRATE (read ILLEGAL) copies of these manuals are found
at guns shows occasionally.... You can contact him at
rangerbooks@hotmail.com, or
go to his new website at
http://www.therangerdigest.com/.
I now have a set (Thanks, Ranger Rick) to put in my backpack that is ALWAYS
with me...even at work) and glance thru them during my lunch breaks, or while
waiting in the car while my wife is grocery shopping at the local Binge and
Purge. Check out his site, email him for more info, and if you have some
neat tips to share, give'em to him. I will be giving a long review of his
books in the next few weeks, to give you more details on what is within them.
But don't wait on me...go ahead and get some copies for youself. You won't
be sorry.
Updated May 2001 - © 2001 By Richard A. Fleetwood |
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