Getting Started
2024 has been a lively year so far. Between a rough hurricane season that reached up into the Appalachian region, the possibility of civil unrest in the wake of the presidential election and a forecast of a hard winter more people are looking at preparedness.
The first thing to know, if you are just getting started, is that preparedness is not a destination, but a journey. There isn't a stopping point where you look around, after buying that last Mountain House meal. or you stack that last case of 556 and you are now prepared. It also isn't solely about learning skills. Yes, the more you know, the less you need. There isn't, however, a stopping point where you can look and say you've learned it all and are now prepared for whatever may come. There will always be something to learn, something to do.
The second thing is to decide how far you want to take things. What I mean is this, there are levels to preparedness. Think of the old number lines that they used to (and may still) teach math concepts. At one end, 0, you have someone who is completely unprepared. At the opposite end (infinity) you have a self sustaining homestead with a tightly knit group of like minded people. Most of us find ourselves somewhere between those two points.
Focusing on things, stuff, is short sighted. It's better to look at preparedness from a conceptual point of view. The first and most important thing to have is a reason to live. Call it what you like, faith, PMA - positive mental attitude, having something to live for has been credited with keeping some people going where others have died. Napoleon has been quoted as saying the moral to the physical counts as three to one. Personally, I am a Christian. I view life as a gift from God that I will fight to keep. Secondly, I have my family that I am bound to lead and care for. I'm not giving that up easily either.
Most place security next. I disagree, once you have your mind right, the body must follow. That means fitness and health. In other words, you have to be able to move and you have to be strong. I'll write more on physical training later. In short, if you have a bug out bag and can't walk more then 50 yards with it on your back before you're out of breath, you have work to do. If you are morbidly obese, forget worrying about a new pistol to ward off the goblins of this world, metabolic disease will kill you quicker than any bad guys. Get your diet in order and get fit, after consulting with your physician, of course.
Once you have your mind and body right, then you can worry about more mundane things. Now we get to security. Counter violence, I mean security, is usually where most preppers start. There is an old meme of an open gun safe packed with rifles and stacked magazines. The text reads "Preparedness has been achieved". By all means, if you are just starting down this path and don't have firearms, get some. Additionally, get some training and spend some time making sure you have a solid zero on everything you have. On a personal level, you need to have or develop the skill sets to deal with threats at the five ranges of combat (grappling, trapping, boxing. kicking, extension weapons). I've trained in many different methods, eastern and western. I count kali as my core art, but have added jiu jitsu to my training because it's a grappler's world right now. You need to learn methods to secure your home both to prevent unauthorized entry and to give you warning on people approaching your property. Beyond that, you need to know how to work with your family and friends to act together to protect both your and their property.
That last sentence brings up something else. You need people around you. People that you can depend on and that can depend on you. What I will say on this is you can have a dream team of people you would want. Might be an SF A team that all grew up on working farms for example. Bottom line, that is prepper fantasy football. Reality is you will have what you have. Skills are important, experience is important, but in my not so humble opinion, reliability is the deciding factor. People can learn skills, they can gain experience, but if you can't rely on them to do what they say they are a liability, not an asset.
Now, we get into what is normally referred to as the 3's of survival. You can survive for 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water, 3 hours without shelter, 3 minutes without air and (what I call the Mosby addendum to honor the Mountain Guerilla) 3 seconds without the means to apply immediate counter-violence.
Shelter is going to be your home for most people. It also includes clothing. If you are forced to flee your home for whatever reason, having both sturdy clothing and the ability to construct a shelter, either with a tent, or from material found in the area is going to be important. With this in mind, you should have a plan if you are forced out of your home by emergency circumstances (fire, hazmat spill etc.) to quote Joe Fox, you have to contemplate the unthinkable.
Water is next. Water is, bluntly, a pain in the ass to store. It takes up a lot of room and has to be rotated at relatively short intervals. The minimum recommended amount is one gallon per person per day. That at least is 30 one gallon jugs per person per day. Having several gallons per person per day is a good thing, but you need a way to collect and process water for drinking, washing and cooking.
Food is probably the easiest one. A stop at the nearest Dollar General can give you a month's worth of food to hold you over. Long term storage food, typically either grains or freeze dried food can be acquired with a purchase plan that you develop for your family and budget. What's the next level up? Sustainable gardens and livestock.
Air, also includes blood, and keeping that blood inside where it belongs. Get your first aid/trauma care skills under control now.
Those are the basics, in a nutshell. Once you have them under control, you can worry about 'advanced' skills like small unit tactics, CQB, higher level medical skills, herbal remedies, intelligence operations and area studies among others.
Just remember, to mix metaphors, it's a journey, not a destination and that journey is a marathon, not a sprint.
The Forge 2.0
Some time ago, you may recall, I wrote an article entitled 'What Are You Training For'. I had seen too many people doing some truly ridiculous and counter productive things in their physical training. Most of the time because of something they'd seen in a magazine or on line. I wrote that article as both a rant and as a reminder to myself to stay focused on my priorities. Yes, strength is important, but raw strength, without mobility, coordination and gas in the tank won't take you as far as some would have you believe. Likewise, the ability to run a marathon is great, if your goal is to run a marathon, otherwise I'd remind you to look up what happened to the first guy to run one.
When I was still on the job, there was a weight room in the station I took advantage of, I also trained regularly at a dojo and had a training area in my home. I've always had some type of home gym of varying kinds. While I see some of the advantages of using a public/commercial gym, for me, the advantages of a training area at my home outweighs going to a public facility. Like what you ask? I never have to wait for equipment, if I want to try something out of the norm no one will tell me not to. I can combine training in unique ways that I couldn't in a public facility. For example, before bow season started I combined archery with sprint training. I'd run a quarter mile repeat, take a shot at a given distance, walk back to the start and repeat the process for 6 to 8 cycles. Most importantly, my last three home gyms were in unheated/air conditioned spaces so there was also a toughening factor that I liked beyond the traditional strength and conditioning work.
Prior to moving south, when we had our homestead, the 'gym' consisted of three sets of kettlebells, a makeshift pullup and dip bar and a heavy bag in a dirt floor barn. No heat, the dirt floor turned to mud in the spring and fall which made muck boots necessary in season. I had space on the property for sprints and a lot of country roads for the occasional distance run. No heat, no air conditioning, I began calling it The Forge.
Now, the missus and I are renting a small cabin on 40 acres. No barn, but there is a one car garage. Still no heat or AC, but the floor is concrete.
Once we got settled in the new digs, I unpacked the weight pile from storage. In addition to the three sets of kettlebells, I now had a few hundred pounds of Olympic plate, pull up and dip bars, a heavy bag and speed bag stand and a power rack. I have an area where I can run sprint repeats mainly 50, 100 and 440 yards. Temperatures range from the teens to over 100.
The Forge 2.0 is an improvement over the old place. It has everything I need and nothing I don't. The only thing I could use is a few more square feet of space, but that falls under the nice to have not need to have category.
What is my point? Other than get fitter? Get fitter outside as much as possible. There is a great gym where I'm working right now. I and a few others take advantage of the mat rooms for jiu jitsu and kali work, but there is something about getting out in whatever weather and training hard, forging both your mind and your body. Try it, you'll thank me later.
