Do It Yourself
Are You Prepared for Survival?
Are you actually prepared? Are your survival skills really where they need to be?
Many people will scoff at this article and pass it by thinking, “Obviously! Of course I am!”
I, like most of you, read the articles and watch the prepping videos and consider myself adequately prepared for a SHTF situation.
But what if you're not?
I'm not going to point fingers, but from what I have seen many of the preppers that are posting videos on the Internet are showing a huge reliance on machines and gas operated vehicles.
Many of them have food stores that can sustain their families up to a year or more, intricate methods of water filtration, and weaponry to make a stand against militarized home invasions. The question I pose is this: we all have bug-out bags or kits that we plan on bringing with us, but our first thought is driving somewhere safe. What if we are unable to drive due to the danger of traveling on roads, or what if you run out of gas before you reach safety? Are you physically able to carry your gear on your back while hiking for what could be miles through the wilderness with your family?
As mentioned earlier, I have witnessed many prepping videos on the Internet and what I gathered from these videos is that a lot of people aren't in the physical shape that they were once in. Yes, many of us went through military training but how many of us continue with PT? I have a friend who was an MP in the army. I asked him, while he was still in service, if he would like to go out for a light jog. He was gassed before we made it one mile. That instantly made me nervous. He claimed to be prepared for an attack at home but couldn't run a mile wearing simple PT gear.
I was a personal trainer and athlete before my military service, and I have continued to improve my PT training since my enlistment. I can already hear the remarks of rebuttal, but hear me out. In the event of an attack, no one will need to be a competitive body builder or Olympic athlete. I consider the first stage of adequate preparation to be my body. I can honestly say that I train every day of the week, alternating between strength and cardio.
Prepper Exercise Program
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi9D0H5onO0
Now I am not going to provide the ideal prepper workout because each situation and prepper is unique. My only caution is to not focus on just one aspect of fitness. I had a PT instructor early in my Air Force career and he only knew football drills. While they are effective, training for football will only get you so far. Football training is designed to make your body work really hard for a few seconds and then rest.
If you have to hike for miles through the woods while carrying your bug-out bag and listening to the whining of your family members, you will need to have trained more than intense football drills. If you're reading this saying that you are adequately prepared physically, mentally, and materialistically, then good for you. My point with this article is that everyone regardless of physical condition will need to keep an open mind regarding their own preparedness.
The human body will grow accustomed to whatever is thrown at it. Therefore, to keep your body prepared for the possible upcoming fight you must keep an open mind towards all aspects of training.
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Michael W. Perry
March 24, 2014 at 10:02 AM
Good ideas all, but perhaps the most likely scenario isn’t going to be like a Hollywood apocalypse film, with the smart people heading into the wilderness armed to the teeth. It may resemble Germany in 1923.
What was so special about 1923 Germany? Unlike its foes, Germany didn’t make much effort to pay for the war as it went along. It assumed it would win like it won the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and could make the French pay for the cost of being invaded. Compounding Germany’s post-war troubles were those reparations required by Versailles.
What’d Germany do? In a nutshell, it used the French occupation of the Rhineland to trigger massive, massive inflation. And no, we’re not talking about the little anemic stuff of the 1970s. We’re talking about inflation so bad, a loaf of bread costs twice at much at 5 pm as at noon. A life’s savings wouldn’t buy you a bottle of wine. At one point, the German government had 1200 printing presses running around the clock printing out new, larger denomination bills. When it began, a few German Marks could be exchanged for a U.S. dollar. When it ended, the exchange rate was trillions to one, that is if you could get anyone to do an exchange.
The end result was the German government got rid that huge war debt while the money-saving middle class was destroyed. If the novel The Black Obelisk it accurate, the government also had special schemes in place to protect certain core groups. They actually benefited from inflation, picking up property for almost nothing.
And what is our situation today. A similarly huge federal deficit that’s only kept manageable by printing money and by keeping interest rates at unheard of low rates. If all that begins to unravel, triggering huge rates of inflation will become very appealing to some in positions of power.
What will you do in that situation? Guns won’t be needed. There’ll be no reason to flee to the wilderness. A food stock will be handy, but eventually it could run out. Living on the land might allow you to live cashless since cash will have become essentially worthless. But that would require drastic changes in lifestyle in advance.
And no, I don’t have any answers myself. I’m merely suggesting that the real problem may end up being different from what many are expecting. No one in our government has reasons to want lawless mobs and chaos. Some do have reasons to trigger a blow-away inflation rate.
–Michael W. Perry, Across Asia on a Bicycle
fran
March 24, 2014 at 2:55 PM
in either situation, being physically fit wil be a huge advantage. the best thing to do in the german situation would be to produce as much food as your land allows, no? and to do so will require many hours of digging, tucking, tying, reaching etc. this is probably beyond the fitness of many?
ok maybe I’m biased because i think for a squillion reasons everybody should be growing some of their own food.
I thought it was a great article that promoted an angle that was more than cans and bullets 🙂
Sapper
June 25, 2014 at 3:24 PM
The goal in bugging out is to get away from the mobs. Think Katrina in New Orleans. One way or another my family won’t be in Houston. We will be in the woods. Better chance of survival that way rather than waiting for the mobs to come and get us. I live about 10 miles from the 6th most dangerous neighborhood in the nation. Not about to be around here.
The other side of it is exactly what you last comment addresses. The government won’t want lawless mobs….which means martial law, gun confiscation and Nazi like ruthlessness. Again, I’m not going to be in town for that crap. I’ll take my chances on the run.
DT
March 24, 2014 at 11:16 AM
I’m simply going to SECOND everything the author wrote here – backed up with this:
my best friend is retired SF, and current active duty contractor doing things I will not/cannot repeat. This fellow is 40, and will beat 99.9% of us all in any and every survival scenario imaginable. His trick is not only having things, but MOST importantly, keeping as fit and strong, and lean as possible. Biometric exercises and a diet that would just barely exceed the bare minimum. The purpose? Train. Train your body to be ready to go into survival mode at a moments notice – which is exactly how SHTF happens.
What I see of many current, chatty,”preppers” is sadly the stereotypical “‘Mearican”, who, regardless of race, sex, religious belief, or patriotism, couldn’t run a mile with their BOB. I’m sure I’ll get heat for this comment, but only because it’s a true statement. A person is only as able to fight as hard as they train, and let me tell you, when we need to put our survival talk to the test, it’ll be unfortunate to resupply my gear from yours.
Get fit! Eat less! Train hard, and drill for the worst. Only then will you stand a chance of actual “survival”.
Sapper
June 25, 2014 at 3:13 PM
hmmmm, can’t argue with any of that except to say that not all of us are able to be all gung ho anymore. At 45 I can still haul my 150lb large alice pack but with my blown out knee I can’t run, do side straddle hop or any other high impact exercise. Limited to walking and bike ride. That said, humping the pack around puts enough strain on my bad knee that I have to keep tylenol and alieve in me all the time. I don’t necessarily see why it will be imperative to haul ass once outside of a major city. As soon as I’m in the bush I can take it slow and steady.
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Sapper
June 25, 2014 at 3:07 PM
Two comments, no one is ever fully prepared. Even in Army spec ops you have to improvise a lot. Secondly, I have a game cart and a horse to help carry gear. Plan is to get out in vehicles but failing that we put my daughter and some gear on the horse (eventually will have three horses) and then we hoof it 500 miles to our perm location with our packs (two large alice and one med alice)
Fire, Water, food and shelter all have 4 different ways to accomplish. Caches buried along the route for resupply, and a route already mapped out. Electronics is another thing you don’t address. Solar charger, wall charger, crank charger and batteries (4 ways like everything).
Lastly, and just as important as physical conditioning is practice. I will be physically conditioned within a few days of backpacking. First couple will be torture and will get better after that. But if I don’t know how to use my gear I’m dead before beginning. So we practice shooting, starting fires, gathering and boiling water and drinking it, etc. and we ride bikes and hike and of course a lot of time training with the horse. There is a lot more to SHTF survival than being able to walk in the heat. One last bit of advice for those who are not in prime shape…..baby powder for the groin area to help with rub raw. Just sayin folks…..
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