More people are waking up.

[Omegaman]

In my part time job and in public I am seeing more and more like minded people (preppers). I see more people carrying EDC bags or GHB’s, wearing Para cord accessories and carrying more personal survival gear. I get asked a lot of beat around the bush survival questions by people just getting into prepping because I work part time for an outdoor outfitter. I like the big smile of relief I see on their faces when I ask “is this for your BOB, EDC or GHB?” They realize they are among friends and people who share a common interest that are not going to look at them like kooks. I love being able to share recommendations on equipment and supplies and this web site. When I was at Tractor Supply the other day a guy wearing a small pack gave me a low hand wave when he saw I was wearing a fatboy pack. So I think as times get worse we will see our ranks growing more then anyone thought. Hopefully a lot of the recently awakened people will be able to make their way to this site for help and info.

[tbkbtk123]

Well I am far from knowledgeable about this whole prepping thing, but the other day my neighbor asked me what I thought of all this prepping that was going on.
I gave him the adage, "Hope for the best and prepare for the worst".
I got a big smile and he started asking me questions about this or that.
I gave him this new site and said that I didn't know that much, but am learning more each day.
You could almost see him relax about the subject as he realized the he was not the only one concerned with it.

[herbalpagan]

I think more people are waking up. I don't think they have much choice with food and gas prices going up like they are.

[Skyowl's Wife]

OMG ((((((Pagan!!!))))))

[herbalpagan]

Yeah, Diesel has been driving me nuts with all the emails, so I figured I'd poke my nose in again! lol

[Diesel]

About dang time!!!

[kenno]

I live sorta remote, in the past 2 years I have had 3 new neighbors move in from THE CITY, all three are here as BOLers I have been expanding my horizons meeting locals from other communitys and several of them are serious preppers as well as being combat vets

[Recently_Awoken]

I live sorta remote, in the past 2 years I have had 3 new neighbors move in from THE CITY, all three are here as BOLers I have been expanding my horizons meeting locals from other communitys and several of them are serious preppers as well as being combat vets

Unfortunately, I live in an area where the folks are A. oblivious to it all, due to existing available credit left on their cards :( or B. they're too shy to step out and meet other folks in the prepping community. While I wouldn't call myself a full-on "B," I'd say I'm little hesitant to openly mention prepping to those I am casual with. Tried it for awhile, and have received blank stares, less than polite chuckles, and even some flat-out ridicule. It's not worth the emotional beating to actively search for preppers to network with (at least not for me).

I finally decided to keep my mouth closed, raise the OPSEC curtain higher, and let God bring those relationships to me.

[Echo2]

I've been noticing this trend also.....I just wrapped up a job helping a family get prepped....this was my AAR....


Well....After quite a while.....this project has wound down.

The owner really didn't want to take it as far as I thought he should, but when he is the man fronting the cash for everything.....you gotta play by his rules.

1) FOOD:

We went from having basic discussions about what they ate on a regular basis....to trying some of the freeze dried instant meals. This topic was a bit unusual due to the fact that they had a 10 hr a day nanny...that does the majority of the meals....70% by my guess. She packs the kids lunches.....makes lunch type stuff for the house hold...and prepares a dinner about 3 days a week.

So what they decided on....was to take what the normally eat...and shoot for the canned or freeze dried equal....and let me tell you....when you have a person going to the store for you 3 to 4 time a week for fresh food....you apparently get a bit spoiled. The adult end of the equation reacted just as I thought they would...."it's nutrition" and "it's not bad"...etc. The children however will starve themselves for a while....or eat massive amounts of PB&J.

The food they choose....we calculated for an 8 month stretch....plus. We set up a area in the basement to warehouse the shelves. He dabbles in wood working....and built them himself. He did a good job...they are very sturdy. The room has a dehumidifier and completely climate controlled. we installed a humidity alarm and high/low thermometers. every thing is neatly arranged and easy to get to. There are also a refrigerator and large freezer there.

2) WATER:

This was another adventure. The property is fairly "hilly", and has a spring on the low side...about 150ft away from the house. I found a crew that would go down in that hole...and hand lay with natural stone a spring box. They did a super job...it looks great, and over flows into the natural lay of the land...so no flooding.

He however....wanted a source closer to the house. So after the guys were done drilling the well (he's on public water), all was good....the water tested fine, the guys were paid in cash, and the municipality is none the wiser. He now has a valve manifold and a master switch for a pump, along with a couple back up well buckets and a tripod pulley system.

Out of those three systems....one will work....and he has a pool...

3) FIREARMS

This again was an adventure.....a few of the adults had experience with firearms. Not nearly enough to be considered proficient. Nor did they show much interest in learning. The owner....reluctantly....agreed to go to a tactical shotgun class, and found he enjoyed it. Him and the Mrs both went to an introduction to hand gun class....and are scheduled to take the advanced class this spring.

None of the grand parents were interested in taking any training, but one of the grandfathers has military experience....and a few of his own firearms.

They now have a very nice Fort Knox safe in the bed room....with 2 Glock 19s, a Mossberg 590A1, and a couple Beretta skeet guns.

I did talk them into banking some ammo....3k of 9mm....and a couple hundred #4 buck....plus a pile of skeet shot they already had.

Not as much interest as I'd like....but some is better than none.

4) MEDICAL:

Things become a lot more interesting when you have money. We found a couple very good instructors.....willing to teach a basic first aid to the entire family.....then come back and teach an advanced Firstaid class to 4 of the adults and the oldest girl. Then teach 2 of the same adults...and again the eldest girl....an even more advanced class that involved some "when there is no doctor" stuff.

The instructors set up a very in depth medical cabinet...and 3 VERY extensive trauma bags. Every car has a basic kit....and every level of the house has a basic bag.

They also have received some of the meds that are harder to get in bad times.

one of my perks was to sit in on the classes....and I got one of the trauma kits.


This covered the basic Beans, Bullets, and Band aid stuff....

5) POWER:

Ever see those big CAT diesel 25 kw generators setting outside of a EMS building?.....so has he....now he has one. I can't remember the actual model #...but it is one of the more efficient models. It adjust Idle automatically to produce power that is needed. The set up also has a battery bank that talks to the generator.....and tells it when the need to be boosted.

The battery bank is large enough to run the well pump, circulatory fans on the furnace, and some lights. It will basically run the house at night w/o having to run the generator. It also is hooked into his existing alarm system and cctv cams.

All this power is housed in a nice little insulated shed with automatic louvers for ventilation....and the most awesome set of stacks you'll ever see on a generator...custom done by a muffler shop that works on road tractors. It is very quiet.

He also has a Honda 6000w for a back up.....but it has to plug into the system separately....this is quite possibly the cleanest set up I have ever seen.

6) FUEL

To have the toys....you need to be able to feed them. There is now a shed located on the property.....that houses....get this....two 1000 gallon propane tanks....two 1500 gallon diesel tanks.....and a 300gallon gas tank.

We chose the location for the shed....it took about 2 months to build.....I personally could live in it. It is heated...ventilated....and has a foam fire suppression system built in. Fully automated shut down set up on everything.....very cool.

7) COMMUNICATION:

This was one major point of contention between us. He had no interest in doing anything with two way comms. I firmly believe it is an important part....he did not. We compromised on having a small multi-band receiver....this along with a CB.....is pretty much the extent of his comms.

The antennas are mounted to the top of the basketball post.

8) MISCELLANEOUS:

They had one fire extinguisher in the kitchen and one in the downstairs bar.....now they have nice little wooden cabinets in the hall ways with extinguishers in them.....in a cabinet next to each gas log fireplace....and a big boy next to the wood fired fireplace. Also each of the laundry rooms have one inside the door.

All the bedrooms now have a rechargeable flashlight mounted above the light switch plate.....also one beside everyone of the alarm panels....beside the exterior doors...and in the utility rooms and storage room.....a total of 18 lights. Also installed was a couple emergency lights in the electrical utility room and generator shed.....drop in power they cut on for 15 minutes.

A friend of mine is a fire marshal...he came over and went through several different fire drills with them. Basically since the house is large....where to exit from which part of the house....and where to meet.

They are set up with GHBs. Very basic....warm clothes....good shoes and socks....etc ( I'm not going to go into it....cause you guys know what goes in them..... ). This again is a point of "I can't hold your hand".....There is a rack in the garage for the bags....because no one ever knows which vehicle they will take. The eldest girl is the only one I've seen really paying mind to her kit....it has a large FAK in it...so she keeps it with her...whichever car she's in....the Mom keeps hers in the big ride along with the smaller kids.....but never transfers it from car to car....the Dad is the same way.....stays in his truck....never transfers....oh well....they have been instructed.

Camping equipment above and beyond what they already have......we got everyone good sleeping bags (in winter it stores in car).A couple Coleman lanterns, a good camp stove, etc......didn't go too elaborate....they have most the stuff in the RV. I did however talk them in to keeping 2 sets of clothes for eah family member in the RV....2 summer weight....2 winter weight....for a fire emergency.....along with moving the RV to the other side of the property.....instead of right next to the house.

Documents....we made and/or ordered copies, hard and digital, of all important documents....and have them stored off site. We also took 13 photo alblums and had a friend of mine do high res scans of every page in them......made multiple copies and stored them in many sights including the safety deposit box. All passports are stored in a fire proof box....inside the fire proof safe.

Insurance.....he had not had a revision of his home owners policy for almost 3 years....I talked him into getting his coverage current to what he's put in.

All in all....I didn't do nearly as much as I thought I would. They took a look at the "survival" end of it....and decided not to go that far.

I told them that in a true SHTF or TEOTWAWKI.....there is no real protection in the area he is in.....so a higher level of security or a good bug out plan would be in order......that was a no go.

He does however feel that he and his family could handle a somewhat bad SHTF.....and hes right.....power....food.....some protection.....good alarms....etc.....but anything that runs longer than a few months.....they will be in a similar boat with most others.....they have nothing to sustain a long term event (more than a year)

Most everything was done by contractors....I helped with tech support...and asking questions....he ordered most the stuff after we'd discussed it in great detail. Weird thing....all but one of the contractors were out of towners......not necessarily by choice...that's just how it played out.

He said they may want to take it further in the future.....but for now his comfort level has been achieved.

I've been compensated for my end of it....very fairly....and I learned a bit in the process.

Echo2

[monet861]

First welcome back HP.
The tea party that I belong to is putting out a 50+- page survival/emergency book next month. Other than a few minor suggestions (from my Marine days) I kept fairly quiet, but it is interesting to see this group of 200+ mostly older folks talking about survival. I think it is a very good thing.

[Echo2]

First welcome back HP.
The tea party that I belong to is putting out a 50+- page survival/emergency book next month. Other than a few minor suggestions (from my Marine days) I kept fairly quiet, but it is interesting to see this group of 200+ mostly older folks talking about survival. I think it is a very good thing.

You guys should check out Backwoods Home Magazine's "Emergency Preparedness Guide" (if you haven't already)

I use it to introduce friends to prepping....in the back I tape in a sheet of web sites that are relevant.....good reading.

[Oscar Wilde]

I've been noticing this trend also.....I just wrapped up a job helping a family get prepped....this was my AAR....

Echo2

Great write up Echo2.

O.W.

[Echo2]

Well....I might get the opportunity to do the whole "prep with someone elses money" again.....with a referral from the job I spoke of....I got a call the other day and have now set up a meeting to see what they want to have done.

I'll let you know how it goes....it's this week end.

[Grim_R556]

When I first started to adhere to this hope for the best, prepare for the worst lifestyle, I thought most people were going to think I was crazy. Fortunately, I found this website where I could let my questions be answered here, instead of more than a number of confused looks and outcasting from fellow college students (current student in PA).

[Echo2]

When I first started to adhere to this hope for the best, prepare for the worst lifestyle, I thought most people were going to think I was crazy. Fortunately, I found this website where I could let my questions be answered here, instead of more than a number of confused looks and outcasting from fellow college students (current student in PA).

Not as crazy as you thought eh.....:)