Prepping School of Philosophy

[DavidR310]

This one is for Mr. Plink, he feels that prepping isn't necessary. I feel that it is.

I also feel, that each person needs to prep for their own situation.

If you live in a big city your plan is different from someone who does not.

I just read the recent thread :2 Dead in Joshua Tree

This is very very close to me and can see how someone can die that fast. S sure did HTF for this couple. Too bad they didn't plan ahead and have a PLB.

I know there are sites that are devoted to this, but what do you calgunners think? Is disaster prepping necessary or is it just paranoia?

Also if you do prep, what is your school of thought? Cody or Dave, James Wesley Rawles or Fernando "FerFAL" Aguirre, a single Doomsday event or a gradual decline of the U.S.?

[223556]

I agree, Prepping is necessary for everyone. Its better to have a not need then to need and not have!

[fabguy]

I am very new to prepping and am learning everyday from this site and another. I personally feel that it is necessary because if for anything a large E.Q. My mother when I was very young used to say that when "the big one hits" the gubment ain't gonna do nothing until it's too late, years later Katrina was proof of that. I remember her storing canned foods and water in old bleach bottles, and milk bottles in closets around the house and thought wow she has a screw loose. Looking back she was right. it hasn't hit yet but if it did and we had nothing like all the neighbors, I probably wouldn't be here today. We have some basics and are slowly building it week by week. An extra case of water here, 5-8 cans of meat/tuna, 5-8 cans of veggies etc every week and in the last few months it has gotten to a decent size so far but by no means as large as some on the sites, little by little we will get there. Wife & older kids have been shooting many many times to learn and upkeep their shooting skills, cleaning, maintenance, and most of all shot placement.
We haven't read any books on this, but have taken alot of advise from websites and have even integrated dehydrated foods into our everyday life so when whatever may come we aren't surprised by taste and are familiar with what we have.

[DavidR310]

Hey Fabguy,

If your holding off on buying a book, in the mean time, check out TSP. This guys has a blog, podcast and youtube videos.

[elSquid]

I know there are sites that are devoted to this, but what do you calgunners think? Is disaster prepping necessary or is it just paranoia?

Considering that all levels of gov't wants you to prep...

Federal:

http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/index.html

State:

http://www.oes.ca.gov/CEPM2003.nsf/htmlmedia/checklist.pdf/$file/checklist.pdf

City:

http://www.sanjoseca.gov/emergencyServices/eq_kit.htm

...it would be smart to have a means of being self sufficient for at least a week at the minimum.

-- Michael

[Ripon83]

Why Not

For 25 years I've saved for retirement,
For 27 years I've had health insurance at a cost to me or to me thru an employer,
For 45 years I've had a life insurance policy.
Those were "preps" that many take for granted and never think twice about.

It wasn't until my friend asked me to help get his extended family out of Argentina in 2003 could I imagine the need to prep.

No curreny like the US Dollar has lasted forever. It will falter, but maybe not in my life. If so I'm ready. If not my decendants will be.

This one is for Mr. Plink, he feels that prepping isn't necessary. I feel that it is.

I also feel, that each person needs to prep for their own situation.

If you live in a big city your plan is different from someone who does not.

I just read the recent thread :2 Dead in Joshua Tree

This is very very close to me and can see how someone can die that fast. S sure did HTF for this couple. Too bad they didn't plan ahead and have a PLB.

I know there are sites that are devoted to this, but what do you calgunners think? Is disaster prepping necessary or is it just paranoia?

Also if you do prep, what is your school of thought? Cody or Dave, James Wesley Rawles or Fernando "FerFAL" Aguirre, a single Doomsday event or a gradual decline of the U.S.?

[plumbum]

Preparedness is mandatory in life, it is just the level of commitment that we are all trying to agree on.

Some are hardly prepared to deal with a parking ticket or tipping over their diet cola; most are satisfied on being prepared for the newest episode of their favorite reality show. Many aren't even prepared to go beyond their next paycheck or job week.

The ability that has given Homo sapiens an advantage, is having the tools and knowledge to deal with their ever changing environment.

[DavidR310]

Preparedness is mandatory in life, it is just the level of commitment that we are all trying to agree on.

Mr Plinks says prepping is just crazy talk. His plan is to stock up on ammo and use his AK to shoot people with supplies during SHTF. While not a very good plan ( in my opinion) he is prepping in his own way.

[MrPlink]

Wow, a thread dedicated to moi!

I never said being prepared is crazy, but being prepared in a crazy way is well.... CRAZY.
There is a fine line between prepared and paranoid, and as customary for many of us in the firearms community, the line seems very very BLURRED.

Having a basic level of preparedness (as already stated in this thread) is definitely mandatory, hence it is given and IMO does not warrant discussion (esp when fear and paranoia are at the root of said discussion).

Do we constantly discuss breathing?

Realistically in California the most likely SHTF scenario one would have to deal with would be an earthquake scenario. Not some amalgam of Road Warrior or Red Dawn.


What DavidR310 is leaving out of this is the inflection and insinuation behind his original post which spawned this thread.

For those of you who are CERTAIN of the impending doom of this country I suggest you study history and ponder this:
The end of empires is not the end of civilization.

Once again, there is being prepared, and then there is this:


(p.s. the AK comment was clearly a joke, I suggest looking up some of my previous posts about how to properly flank and take a costco for survival purposes)

[Shellshocker66]

For me prepping is important but not my full time job. I pick up little stuff here and there, work on small projects, and will think about things like if this happened or that happened what would I do.

I spent many years as a Paramedic and seen too many little SHTF situations for people who with a little planning could of had a better outcome. Such as taking trips out to the country and someone gets hurt and they have nothing in the way of communication, medical supplies, or any medical training to help the person they are with. I've also seen many people obviously hurt and laying on the sidewalk/bike path and everyone just passes them by without stopping to help. So I'm very well aware that I need to be able to take care of myself and not expect help from anyone but my family.

I think the first step to prepping is being adaptable. If SHTF in any form I guarantee things are going to happen you didn't plan for or expect no matter how well prepared you think you are.

[Ripon83]

No MrPlink the end of a government or monetary system does not mean the end of people or a society, but how you prepare for that change can determine how you come out on the other side.....a have or have not, a free man, or a slave.

[thenodnarb]

All it takes is for the power to go out throughout all of San Diego county to realize that you need at least basic prepardness. We all prep for different reasons, but everyone can get on board with extra food and water and flashlights for an earthquake or power outage. You have to spoon feed the newbies or they get scared off. However, absolutely everyone I've talked to recently about preparedness agrees: Something bad is coming, and people should be prepared. I've been helping people at church and other close friends get their supplies together. most people are scared about something: dollar collapsing, natural disaster, terrorist attack, the gubmint, whatever. Usually as long as you don't talk about a zombie apocalypse seriously, most people will have something that they want to prepare for.

If you think about it, until recently, almost everyone had extra food stored for themselves and weapons ready to defend themselves. Its really only been in the last 50 years of food and power stability within the U.S. that people have gotten away from that. People in cities especially seem to be negligent when it comes to preparedness. Tell your friend to get a clue!

[DavidR310]

Yes Mr. Plink, a thread dedicated to you!

I think our ideas of what is SHTF is our problem. You automatically think Red Dawn, Road Warrior,(both good movies by the way) nuclear attack or EMP bomb. ( Maybe I would worry if I lived in Taiwan!)

Realistically in California the most likely SHTF scenario one would have to deal with would be an earthquake scenario.

Being born and raised in SoCal and you especially in Frisco, earthquakes are a way of life and not SHTF to me. We live accordingly.

I do think you are failing to see another "most likely" at the State, Federal and World level. The bankruptcy of California for starters. It is very likely and one should prep for that. Maybe the California prison system releasing thousands of inmates last year isn't a big enough clue and I am just living in fear?

My prep goal IS also focused on the "most likely"to occur in the Country. The collapse of the U.S. dollar and economy. A second recession or worse yet a depression. Look around you, we are in a decline. I am not prepping to sit on my roof and shoot mass looters and flash mobs in the middle of the mojave desert. I do plan and prep for the collapse of the U.S. "empire" which HAS and WILL continue to lead to a degradation of our civilization and morals. I plan on increased inflation, increased crime, rapes, gangs, home invasion robbery, increase of unemployment.... So I need to get prepared. Look at Argentina in early 2000's. Ripon did mention it earlier and I had a college professor who lived through it as well and told us about it and it was not pretty. If the U.S. goes through another Depression, we are not going to be nice people and work together as they did in the 30's. It is going to look a lot like Argentina. LAPD has already warned people about wearing gold jewelry in public.

The Feds and Ben Bernanke have thrown their hands up and say they can't do anything else for the economy. We have been downgraded to AA+. There are moves by other countries to get the dollar removed as the world reserve currency. Right now, printing money for our debt is one of the few things saving us. What happens when China and other countries refuse the dollar for payment of our debt? The U.S. is BROKE. Look at the declining value of the dollar and the rising price of gold.

Mr. Plink, preppers are not standing on the corner saying the end is near and do nothing about. At least that's not what I am saying. What I am saying is that we have some tough times ahead of us. Most preppers today are normal, middle class people who's numbers are ever increasing as we open our eyes that it feels good not having to rely on the gov't for everything, especailly from the same Gov't that is chipping away at our rights and liberties. I don't like the term prepper, more like what my Grandfather would think," Being responsible for yourself."

Preppers are not living in gloom and doom. We live happy lives knowing that we can take of ourselves. It is impossible to plan for everything.



That guy holding the sign is NOT a prepper. He is a nut who lives in fear and does nothing to prepare our protect themselves and expects the gov't to help him for everything. They call those people Liberals.

(p.s. the AK comment was clearly a joke, I suggest looking up some of my previous posts about how to properly flank and take a costco for survival purposes)

I am enjoying your sense of humor Sir!

[sholling]

Prepping covers a lot of things and as the OP said is different for every situation. We all have to be prepared for minor to extremely severe earthquakes and for power outages. Those on the coast should have a plan for tsunamis and those in large cities need to prepare for urban unrest and and the total chaos of being cutoff from help for up to a few weeks in the event of a 9+ earthquake. That means planning and prepping for a bug-out and a forced bug-in.

I don't see us in a Road Warrior situation but there is a very real possibility of nuclear terrorism and EMP attack. EMP may not create a Road Warrior situation but 3 EMP bursts it would leave us living pre-20th century and without a means to harvest or transport food. In other words lots of hungry people looking to get food anyway necessary - especially gangs. A bio attack on either the wheat crop or the corn crop or both is also plausible because it's very hard to trace back to the point of origin and would leave millions starving and there have been rumors of Iran working on such bio agents. Both situations call for prepping for a semi-bug-in situation and supplementing what you can legally obtain with what you have stored and making it last 12-18 months. And being prepared to defend your home from gangs scrounging for food.

Finally there is the very real possibility of a modern equivalent to the Spanish Flu or a man made pathogen such as weaponized smallpox. That means an extended bug-in for 3-12 months to avoid contamination.

Bottom line there are lots of solid and plausible scenarios that people should prepare for depending on where they live, what they see as likely threats, and their financial ability to put aside stocks of food and other supplies. But I sleep a whole lot better knowing that I have enough for 6 months than I would wondering what I would do and knowing that I'm equipped to defend my life and home rather than realizing I don't have what I need when it's too late. We all ran into that with the Great Obama Panic of 2008-2009 when you couldn't get your hands on guns or ammo for better than a year.

[DrRobert]

What about prepping for Obama getting re-elected?