Are you a prepper?

[joko104]

A hand pump filter is, as far as I'm concerned, a basic necessity.

They make hand pump water desalination units (very small) that also have a significant purification aspect, though bleach (bad choice) and hydrogen peroxide (good choice) plus of course boiling can eliminate essentially all biological hazards. We never go offshore without at least 2 hand desalination pumps and have two floatation toss-bags along with a self inflating raft just-in-case if we go offshore, though unless way out the handheld marine radio and Satellite emergency transmitter activated if the boat sinks should really cover it.

She is morbidly afraid of sharks, these are shark waters, so the self inflating raft isn't an option regardless of boat size.

 

[notquiteright]

And who says all us patriots are old men in their 60's and 70's? I'm only 33 lady. I'm pretty sure I can move 25-30 miles in a day.

Gotta throw the BS flag... I was a grunt until I was 30. I'm pretty sure a guy on the internet being pretty he can move 25-30 miles a day is pretty clueless. The clueless patriot doesn't think things through, just has a movie in his head. Given the fact you are doing this rather heroic moving (we marched 20 klicks a day and that was an all day event, and day after day so I am pretty sure I know what I am talking about) this rather impressive 25-30 miles for a reason other than marathon, there maybe a few obstacles in your way... :roll:

Fact is most 'patriots' do the 25-30 miles in bumper to bumper traffic on a very good business day. but keep the dream alive... :2wave:

 

[Mr.Nick]

Coulda, woulda shoulda... :doh

Like I said when I meet 'one of these people' who ain't rat crap crazy.... :mrgreen:

I'm not crazy, nor do I discuss this issue unless someone brings it up - and this just so happens to be the appropriate thread to talk about this issue...

But thanks for the deflection of my points made.

I'll tell you this much - no one can protect you and your family but yourself - not the cops (they will be your enemy) not the national guard (they will be your enemy) not the army (they will be your enemy - or at least the ones who choose to fight the people).

 

[Mr.Nick]

Gotta throw the BS flag... I was a grunt until I was 30. I'm pretty sure a guy on the internet being pretty he can move 25-30 miles a day is pretty clueless. The clueless patriot doesn't think things through, just has a movie in his head. Given the fact you are doing this rather heroic moving (we marched 20 klicks a day and that was an all day event, and day after day so I am pretty sure I know what I am talking about) this rather impressive 25-30 miles for a reason other than marathon, there maybe a few obstacles in your way... :roll:

Fact is most 'patriots' do the 25-30 miles in bumper to bumper traffic on a very good business day. but keep the dream alive... :2wave:

Yeah, but I'm an outdoors man that knows this area extremely well and knows how to properly carry equipment and use nature to my advantage.

Furthermore I've hiked farther than 25 miles in one day - I know what I'm doing and have been doing it since I was a little kid - 25 miles is nothing when you're used to it and you have the right equipment.

Of course if you don't want to be tracked you have to move at a much slower pace.

 

[serato]

I'm good with guns and natural farming. I have extensive experience in combat tactics (82nd Abn, infantry) and the production of food on very limited resources (work and research in the developing world). I have close contacts throughout the world. I'm a rather strapping example of quality DNA. My intellectualism is without question. If the crap hits the fan, I will be the most valued commodity. I'm the guy you give the gun to and ask, "how do we survive".

Now that's prepping.

I heard that driving a Corvette can be an excellent means to ending a mid-life crisis

 

[ecofarm]

I heard that driving a Corvette can be an excellent means to ending a mid-life crisis

I'm 15 years into a 20 year plan (ending in becoming an ex-pat in Africa) with no intention to change course. I know exactly who I am and what I want.

I heard driving a Corvette is an excellent experiment to prove missiles hit the twin towers. One could use a rental.

 

[Thx]

Great post! What beautiful scenery! Thumbs up! I agree with your reasoning, too. The problem I might have is wondering how to help those that didn't prepare, and want you to share what you have. Particularly troubling if there are children....

Greetings, thx. *waving hello* since I've been told by the system the smilie limit has been exceeded.

Something further... along the lines of helping others...

I am a great believer in the "teach a man to fish" philosophy and spreading knowledge and ideas seems like the best help.

So, I like to spread the word about "guerilla gardening" wherever possible.

In the town where I live now, it was once mostly farmland and there are a few fields left, the little town was no bigger than "Mayberry"...

Then the city decided to change the zoning to include more commercial zones.

One by one the farms were bought and replaced with warehouses, we must have 100 by now.

But between those warehouses are substantial fields left to fallow... just sitting there waiting for another ware house I guess.

So I toss "seed bombs" and also plant cherry trees and apple trees, something we are famous for anyway.

And most of it has grown pretty well, some day there will be cherry tomatoes growing out of the cracks in the city sidewalks, lol.

Another thing... for folks who live in hurricane and tornado country... put the tarp over the roof before the wind tears the roof off, not after!

Hurricane Andrew, I'm watching it on the TV and I see a nice Spanish-style house and the wind is just barely getting ahold of the roof and the whole thing is even floating over the house for a moment.

If a cat were clinging on to the roof, it might have added enough weight to keep it down, it was so close!

I wondered if this person would have put some nylon rope over the roof, lashing it down, if that might not have saved the house?

Now, I realize the brunt of a hurricane or tornado will destroy a house no matter how you lash it down, but what about all the other houses that didn't get the full force?

Hey, rather than watch my roof float away, the least I can do is heave a bit of rope over it and tie it to the base of a few trees or even land anchors of a sort.

Just a couple points for pondering along these lines guys.

Thx

 

[notquiteright]

I'm not crazy, nor do I discuss this issue unless someone brings it up - and this just so happens to be the appropriate thread to talk about this issue... But thanks for the deflection of my points made. I'll tell you this much - no one can protect you and your family but yourself - not the cops (they will be your enemy) not the national guard (they will be your enemy) not the army (they will be your enemy - or at least the ones who choose to fight the people).

First off no deflection, just pointing out 'your point' is absurd, perhaps the most absurd 'reason' for prepping. My money is on before the jack booted thugs in armored cars roll into your neighborhood you'll already be dead or in a FEMA camp. :roll:

Gee no one can protect my family but me... as a combat vet I suuuure appreciate your 'insight'... :doh

Now IF alllllll the folks you named are against little ol' you I can predict the outcome... you wake up and vow to never eat pepperoni pizza so late at night... :mrgreen:

 

[Mr.Nick]

I don't call 'em preppers, I call them pretenders, some with a paranoid overblown sense of self worth in the Gubmint's eyes.

Being prepared in case a natural disaster occurs like hurricane, tornado, floods, ice storms, earthquakes that TEMPORARILY disrupt society, Hell the Gubmint (some fear) ENCOURAGES such preparations, is only common sense.

However 99.99% of most prepping mentioned here is doomed for failure if the big boogeyman threats some mention actually happen. Most family sized prepper enclaves are too small to survive a real test of the defenses. Not enough bodies to man a defensive perimeter 360* 24/7 for any length of time. SILs who have military experience should know this.

Problem with most limited capabilities defenses- ie no indirect fire on call- is the attacks you ASS-U-ME will happen depend on the bad guys following the script you write. (they seldom do)

I have had several rather amusing conversations with 'bug-out' guys, some with a bit of tacti-cool training. Frankly you have better chances of winning the lottery than bugging out of any major city or sprawling suburban.

Those water purification straws, bottles and the like- the cheaper ones in sporting goods stores right by the fire starter key chains- you know the ones. Those are for WILDERNESS water, not the heavily contaminated water around cities- they don't filter most chemicals found in 'urban' contamination. Even the tried and true still type purifier can still produce chemical laden water. good luck

Plague- a good one but it would take a great deal of luck to not have contact with the carrier- as the really deadly ones use various vectors besides kissing each other. Rats, birds, bugs... again, good luck.

transformers in tornado alley- i suppose there could be a power company so damn stupid that they would use transformers that take two years to replace and in enough numbers that if a hurricane, tornado or some such did hit power would be out for 2 years (Thinking a real quick conversion to a more modern transformer will happen at lightening speed) There are a few small towns here in Oklahoma that have their own 'power company' and yes they have very old systems- the residents are too few in number to pay for upgrades so the town manager has to order parts that take some time getting in, but even they have a work around.

So being prepared for the run of the mill crap like hurricanes just makes sense, thinking you can prep for a societal meltdown is wishful at best.

But hey there are worse hobbies to have.

You think the government has 1.5-2 million solders to fight a domestic war?

The patriots could capture the United States in a month or two.

Lets not forget the 1/3rd of military defectors..... Patriots outnumber the military 15-20 to 1.

 

[serato]

I'm 15 years into a 20 year plan (ending in becoming an ex-pat in Africa) with no intention to change course. I know exactly who I am and what I want.

I heard driving a Corvette is an excellent experiment to prove missiles hit the twin towers. One could use a rental.

I this, I that...I I I. Me me me.

What is "ex-pat Africa"?

 

[ecofarm]

I this, I that...I I I. Me me me.

What is "ex-pat Africa"?

Vroom vroom

 

[notquiteright]

Yeah, but I'm an outdoors man that knows this area extremely well and knows how to properly carry equipment and use nature to my advantage. Furthermore I've hiked farther than 25 miles in one day - I know what I'm doing and have been doing it since I was a little kid - 25 miles is nothing when you're used to it and you have the right equipment. Of course if you don't want to be tracked you have to move at a much slower pace.

Again as a grunt I can tell you you are fulla crap, the internet is full of outdoorsmen, who have been doing it since they was knee high to a.... :doh

25 miles a day on a nature trail ain't diddley. Walk those trails and you won't last a day to worry about blisters. You seriously think there will be no one else out there so you can just saunter to where ever you think you are going? Being 'tracked' is the least of your worries.

Put in 25 a day and you will sleep like the dead- which is a REAL good survival skill. Putting in 25 a day and you will never see what hits you, around mile 15 (if you can actually do that) you will zone out, miss indicators, make waaaay too much noise...

bottom line-
NO ONE who doesn't train everyday day and twice on Sundays is going to carry any real weight through the bush, literally off the beaten path, with any awareness, in 'peacetime'. now do it under stress and having to keep some sort of watch at night...

But thanks for playing.... :2wave:

 

[serato]

Vroom vroom

That's an odd response to my legit question.

 

[notquiteright]

You think the government has 1.5-2 million solders to fight a domestic war? The patriots could capture the United States in a month or two. Lets not forget the 1/3rd of military defectors..... Patriots outnumber the military 15-20 to 1.

And you just keep proving my point about crazy....

IF numbers counted then China would have won Korea. The africa natives would have kept Europe out of the Dark Continent. Gotta be able to do more than type. but back to the real issue... odds of an event happening so to focus time, money, and ridicule on the most likely. A domestic war??? :doh

Lets not forget you are clueless how many will defect, what will set the revolt/ 'tyrany' into motion. For all you know most the people and all the LE/Mil types will see the 'patriots' as a clear and present danger. For all you know the 'patriots' will be a handful of Kooks, not masses of ill-equiped, under trained, cannon fodder types righting wrongs and chit.

But as far as your scenario- it is all just a wild paranoid fantasy to ahhh puff up over... :roll:

 

[polgara]

Something further... along the lines of helping others...

I am a great believer in the "teach a man to fish" philosophy and spreading knowledge and ideas seems like the best help.

So, I like to spread the word about "guerilla gardening" wherever possible.

In the town where I live now, it was once mostly farmland and there are a few fields left, the little town was no bigger than "Mayberry"...

Then the city decided to change the zoning to include more commercial zones.

One by one the farms were bought and replaced with warehouses, we must have 100 by now.

But between those warehouses are substantial fields left to fallow... just sitting there waiting for another ware house I guess.

So I toss "seed bombs" and also plant cherry trees and apple trees, something we are famous for anyway.

And most of it has grown pretty well, some day there will be cherry tomatoes growing out of the cracks in the city sidewalks, lol.

Another thing... for folks who live in hurricane and tornado country... put the tarp over the roof before the wind tears the roof off, not after!

Hurricane Andrew, I'm watching it on the TV and I see a nice Spanish-style house and the wind is just barely getting ahold of the roof and the whole thing is even floating over the house for a moment.

If a cat were clinging on to the roof, it might have added enough weight to keep it down, it was so close!

I wondered if this person would have put some nylon rope over the roof, lashing it down, if that might not have saved the house?

Now, I realize the brunt of a hurricane or tornado will destroy a house no matter how you lash it down, but what about all the other houses that didn't get the full force?

Hey, rather than watch my roof float away, the least I can do is heave a bit of rope over it and tie it to the base of a few trees or even land anchors of a sort.

Just a couple points for pondering along these lines guys.

Thx

I like to think that I am doing my part, along the lines of "teach a man to fish" theme, by volunteer-teaching moms how to can and dry food for future use. The schools have stopped teaching this, unfortunately. The classes are getting larger all the time, and with food prices escalating, they are so happy to learn that it makes my time spent teaching very gratifying. Anyone that can learn to help themselves in any way will be further ahead than those who expect others to take care of them.

 

[Mr.Nick]

Again as a grunt I can tell you you are fulla crap, the internet is full of outdoorsmen, who have been doing it since they was knee high to a.... :doh

25 miles a day on a nature trail ain't diddley. Walk those trails and you won't last a day to worry about blisters. You seriously think there will be no one else out there so you can just saunter to where ever you think you are going? Being 'tracked' is the least of your worries.

Put in 25 a day and you will sleep like the dead- which is a REAL good survival skill. Putting in 25 a day and you will never see what hits you, around mile 15 (if you can actually do that) you will zone out, miss indicators, make waaaay too much noise...

bottom line-
NO ONE who doesn't train everyday day and twice on Sundays is going to carry any real weight through the bush, literally off the beaten path, with any awareness, in 'peacetime'. now do it under stress and having to keep some sort of watch at night...

But thanks for playing.... :2wave:

No, I walk through brush, maybe a deer trail every once in a while..... I'm in the ****ing forest - and I do this for fun on some weekends in the summer.

Never been worried about being tracked but if someone wanted to they couldn't track me if they tried.

I can make those idots you see on TV like Survivorman or Man vs Wild look like idiots...

Then again I wouldn't have to survive by myself either - If all the classical liberals, libertarians and patriots united this Nation would be in a world of hurt...

Progressive dissenters would be looking for any rock or place they could hide.

You think I would be running from someone? think again...

IMO, I think all 2 million of us patriots march on DC in protest just to show our numbers, and I think 2 million would be an underestimate - I think it would be like more like 5 million (minimum)... And we brought our guns..... what the **** the cops going to do? tape protest signs to our rifles.

That would certainly freak the **** out of MSNBC, CNN, CBS, NBC et al.

 

[Mr.Nick]

And you just keep proving my point about crazy....

IF numbers counted then China would have won Korea. The africa natives would have kept Europe out of the Dark Continent. Gotta be able to do more than type. but back to the real issue... odds of an event happening so to focus time, money, and ridicule on the most likely. A domestic war??? :doh

Lets not forget you are clueless how many will defect, what will set the revolt/ 'tyrany' into motion. For all you know most the people and all the LE/Mil types will see the 'patriots' as a clear and present danger. For all you know the 'patriots' will be a handful of Kooks, not masses of ill-equiped, under trained, cannon fodder types righting wrongs and chit.

But as far as your scenario- it is all just a wild paranoid fantasy to ahhh puff up over... :roll:

NO, the Chinese where successful because the majority of China was unarmed (much like Cambodia and Korea) and nothing more than farmers, it's apparent you know absolutely NOTHING about Korea so I'm not even going to go into a brief history there.

90% of "patriots" are ex-military, ex-police or highly trained individuals who know their land and their wilderness and where to find clean water to drink and food to eat off the land.

The majority of patriots are ex-military.....

It's kinda like the Mujahedin (analogy) just on US soil.

 

[sawyerloggingon]

No, I walk through brush, maybe a deer trail every once in a while..... I'm in the ****ing forest - and I do this for fun on some weekends in the summer.

Never been worried about being tracked but if someone wanted to they couldn't track me if they tried.

I can make those idots you see on TV like Survivorman or Man vs Wild look like idiots...

Then again I wouldn't have to survive by myself either - If all the classical liberals, libertarians and patriots united this Nation would be in a world of hurt...

Progressive dissenters would be looking for any rock or place they could hide.

You think I would be running from someone? think again...

IMO, I think all 2 million of us patriots march on DC in protest just to show our numbers, and I think 2 million would be an underestimate - I think it would be like more like 5 million (minimum)... And we brought our guns..... what the **** the cops going to do? tape protest signs to our rifles.

That would certainly freak the **** out of MSNBC, CNN, CBS, NBC et al.

notquiteright is not in too good of shape. There is a lake here I hike into regularly to fish that is 10 miles each way. I do that and spend hours fishing and I'm in my 60s so your 30 miles a day thing sounds reasonable to me. Oh and the trail to the lake is steep and rocky, not easy hiking. Probably why the fishin is so good, keeps the guys like notquiteright out.:lol:

 

[Mr.Nick]

And you just keep proving my point about crazy....

IF numbers counted then China would have won Korea. The africa natives would have kept Europe out of the Dark Continent. Gotta be able to do more than type. but back to the real issue... odds of an event happening so to focus time, money, and ridicule on the most likely. A domestic war??? :doh

Lets not forget you are clueless how many will defect, what will set the revolt/ 'tyrany' into motion. For all you know most the people and all the LE/Mil types will see the 'patriots' as a clear and present danger. For all you know the 'patriots' will be a handful of Kooks, not masses of ill-equiped, under trained, cannon fodder types righting wrongs and chit.

But as far as your scenario- it is all just a wild paranoid fantasy to ahhh puff up over... :roll:

No, Mao promised the "farmers" land before he just turned them into slaves to provide food for the cities.

To call them farmers would be a stretch because they were pretty indigenous peoples - that had no concept of national politics but rather tribal politics...

The same happened in Cambodia and Vietnam - but at least in Vietnam they Vietnamese knew what was going on as far as war and politics.

You really need to read some history - both 19th and 20th century history and even before that...

You ever hear of Nero?

 

[Thx]

I like to think that I am doing my part, along the lines of "teach a man to fish" theme, by volunteer-teaching moms how to can and dry food for future use. The schools have stopped teaching this, unfortunately. The classes are getting larger all the time, and with food prices escalating, they are so happy to learn that it makes my time spent teaching very gratifying. Anyone that can learn to help themselves in any way will be further ahead than those who expect others to take care of them.

Oh, that is a great skill and one I must acquire myself.

Grandma used to send us preserves back in the day.

Got a thread for it? If not it would be a good one to set.

I am really digging into the tiny house movement and might just build my own...



Really good documentary folks ^

Just a little place in the woods with a fence around it so the dog can play... that'll work.

And a 1400 sq. mile back yard with no fences.

I would love to move now, but I must not be impulsive and still need some more savings and less to pay on my mortgage, so two more years in the city.

Thx

 

[Mr.Nick]

notquiteright is not in too good of shape. There is a lake here I hike into regularly to fish that is 10 miles each way. I do that and spend hours fishing and I'm in my 60s so your 30 miles a day thing sounds reasonable to me. Oh and the trail to the lake is steep and rocky, not easy hiking. Probably why the fishin is so good, keeps the guys like notquiteright out.:lol:

Oh but when you go fishing it's all about the thought of the fish that keep you going

I think that speaks for all fisherman lol.

I'm a more catch and release fisherman but, sometimes If I catch me a nice catfish I have no problem dragging him a few miles or where ever it it I'm going to clean the sucker... good eating. A sack of Walleye or perch isn't that big of a deal tho.

I do hike to a couple of my secret fishing spots/ponds myself so I am familiar with the hike.... I just don't like carying my soggy mud boots tho lol. Sometimes I just camp out tho. I get 4g on my cellphone so I'm not completely cut off from the world haha... Bring a bottle of booze, catch walleye and perch all day then throw a line on the bottom after dark and wait until my "bell" goes off lol..... Fun, fun, fun.

It's not for everyone but I enjoy it.

 

[ALiberalModerate]

But no gun, radio, flares, fishing line/hooks?

You're extremely unprepared.

I am not looking to live off the land if I have car trouble out in the middle of nowhere. I am just making sure I have what I need to spend the night out there or walk out if need be. On wilderness backpacking trips we always have fishing equipment with us as well as bear spray if we are in grizzly country, when one of my kids is with me I also carry a satellite locator beacon that way they can send for help should I become injured. Unless you are on a hunting backcountry trip, or if you are in an extremely remote area like northern Canada or the Alaskan Interior, carrying a gun with you on a wilderness backpacking or canoe trip is just adding extra weight. The vast, vast, vast majority of the time it is exposure that kills people in the backcountry, getting attacked by a bear or mountain lion is literally 1 in a million.

 

[SBu]

I am kind of a prepper I guess. My full time home would be considered a bug out location to most preppers and I do have lots of ammo stocked up. I keep enough gas, propane oil etc to run my home for 6 months at least. I have food stores to last probably a year and I have a plan to divert a stream down the road to my land that would wash it out in short order. I'm not all about being a prepper all the time but it just makes sense to me to have enough resources to take care of yourself for a year or so if s*** hits fan. Anyone else in here consider themselves a prepper of any degree?

I'm not against 'prepping?'. Seems like a responsible thing to do. Whether you believe the grid could go down for weeks, or a zombie invasion could befall us, it really doesn't matter. Prepping in and of itself is not a bad thing. I'm sure Japanese in the earthquake and tsunami zone would have wished they 'prepped'. Possibly, the motives for prepping could fall under scrutiny. Prepping for an ideological reason is probably not a healthy thing to do and could be confused with paranoia.

 

[ALiberalModerate]

No, I walk through brush, maybe a deer trail every once in a while..... I'm in the ****ing forest - and I do this for fun on some weekends in the summer.

Never been worried about being tracked but if someone wanted to they couldn't track me if they tried.

I can make those idots you see on TV like Survivorman or Man vs Wild look like idiots...

Then again I wouldn't have to survive by myself either - If all the classical liberals, libertarians and patriots united this Nation would be in a world of hurt...

Progressive dissenters would be looking for any rock or place they could hide.

You think I would be running from someone? think again...

IMO, I think all 2 million of us patriots march on DC in protest just to show our numbers, and I think 2 million would be an underestimate - I think it would be like more like 5 million (minimum)... And we brought our guns..... what the **** the cops going to do? tape protest signs to our rifles.

That would certainly freak the **** out of MSNBC, CNN, CBS, NBC et al.

The majority of the guys I know that have a lot of trail nights underneath their belts are fairly liberal. Especially in so far as they are typically very big proponents of federally protected wilderness and environmental protection (they want their wilderness playgrounds preserved and untouched). Point being you should not assume that many liberals don't know what they are doing in the backcountry as well.

 

[ALiberalModerate]

And who says all us patriots are old men in their 60's and 70's?

I'm only 33 lady. I'm pretty sure I can move 25-30 miles in a day.

I am not a lady. Also, you can't move 25 -30 miles a day and carry supplies with you if you don't have a lot of food. Any endurance athlete knows (and I am one), that you burn 4 calories per liter of oxygen. Trail running burns between 700 and 1000 calories per hour depending on terrain and pace. Backpacking burns between 400 and 600 calories per hour depending on terrain and pace. The higher the altitude, the less efficient your body is at obtaining energy from food and thus the greater your caloric intakes has to be in order to maintain the same level of output. If you try covering 25 miles a day, then you are looking at a net caloric burn of about 2300 calories from that, which means your caloric intake would need to be over 4000 calories a day to avoid weight loss. Keep in mind you only have about 2000 calories worth of glycogen in your body, after that you are burning nothing but body fat and that slows you down by at least 30%. So you might be able to cover 25 miles the first day, but unless you are eating a lot every day, you won't be covering that kind of distance the next day. Moreover, unless you are a very avid runner as in 50 miles a week or more on average, you will be looking at overuse injuries after just a few days of trying to cover that kind of ground.