Where do you Start? What threats
should you be preparing for?
If you are just
getting started, or even if you are a seasoned prepper, we know making your way
through all of the information online can sometimes be overwhelming. Even on
this site, we have over ten years of articles archived; for that reason, we put together this resource guide to
help you navigate the world of emergency preparedness and hopefully answer any
questions that you may have along the way.
Now that’s the million-dollar
questions, isn’t it? The truth is, I have
no idea. I can give you some ideas, and we will do that later in the article,
but anyone who tells you they have all
answers is a liar! The only one who can really
answer that question is you.
Preparing is going to be different for everyone, we all have a unique set of problems and possible disasters that we may face that are going to depend on things like:
The reality of prepping is that when you reach that metaphorical SHTF moment, there is a very high chance that the event will be either hyper-personal or extremely localized in nature. A job loss, a freak winter storm that shuts down your city, or even an event like Hurricane Katrina are all examples of localized or personal disasters. While they aren’t the Walking Dead, they are things that can feel like an end of the world event when you’re living through the situation firsthand.
To truly be
prepared for anything, you are going to need to do a little work. That starts
with figuring out what threats you are likely to face and then analyzing how those threats will affect you in the
future. Only then can you really begin to
come up with a unique emergency preparedness plan that will work for you, not
some generic ten-point survival plan that some dipshit survival expert tried to
sell you because he once spent the night in the woods.
When it comes to
emergency preparedness, there is no such thing as a one size fits all solution.
Before you jump into the world of preparedness, you need to know exactly what you’re preparing for. That starts by performing a threat assessment.
Grab a piece of paper and make a list of the most likely
threats you will face based on:
Performing a SWOT
Analysis is one of the most effective things you can do to determine how
prepared you are. A SWOT Analysis is a simple, but effective method of understanding
your Strengths and Weaknesses before they become a problem. Going through this exercise
will also help you to identify Opportunities that you can exploit, and Threats
that you might face during a SHTF
situation.
3. It’s time to put your Survival Plans in Place
Based on the information that you’ve obtained from the previous
exercises, you can now start to put together a personalized emergency preparedness
plan. Here are four plans that everyone should have:
If you’ve never
been to this site, we recommend reading these five articles. They contain just about
anything you would ever want to know about emergency preparedness and survival,
and they give you a good idea of the types of things you should be preparing for.
If you’ve made it this far, then you’re probably more prepared than 90% of the country; but the truth is your planning means nothing without the proper training. When it comes to real-world preparedness, your ability to survive during a disaster comes down to two things: Planning and Training.
Once your plans are
in place, you need to figure out if those plans work. The only way to do that
is to conduct periodic emergency safety drills.
Essential steps to performing a disaster drill.
The purpose of these
drills is to go through the steps that you laid out in your emergency planning phase and test those plans in a mock scenario.
Here is some more information on training and preparedness drills.
Not everybody is going to be able to do this, but the
endgame for many of us is having a well-stocked rural retreat away from the big
city dangers that will become threat number one during a long-term disaster.
What
it means to Live off the Grid
Everything you
need to know about Off-grid Living. What it means, how to find land, how to
power your home, how to make money and what you should expect.
Buying
Rural Land: Safety Considerations When Purchasing Off-grid Property
Living off the
grid often means living on a rural property, and living in rural areas presents
a number of safety issues that you must
be aware of before choosing a property.
Finding the Ultimate Bug Out Property or Survival Retreat
When it comes to
buying a survival retreat or bug out location, location is the key. Check out the top considerations that you need to keep in
mind when looking for the ultimate bug out location.
RV
and Trailer Living: The Nomad Preppers way of Survival
Articles on Off
the Grid RV Living and Off-Road Travel Trailer Camping. Information for
backcountry camping and profiles of people who have gone off the grid while out
on the road.
Don’t ever listen
to a single expert; there are no one-size
fits all solutions to survival planning, so make sure you do your homework and
come up with a plan that fits your unique situation. Here are some survival
resources beyond this site.
Newbies, and even some old timers, often obsess over their gear. Sometimes they put so much emphasis on their gear that it can actually become detrimental to their ability to survive. I love survival gear as much as the next guy, but I think our attention deficit disorder society has created a culture that is addicted to the quick and easy fix.
I see it time and time again, people who load up on survival gear and then live under the delusion that they are somehow prepared for everything. But that’s not how it works.
Your survival gear is only as good as your training.
If you lack the skills to survive, then all the fancy gear in the world isn’t going to be able to save your life. In fact, I would put my skills up against any piece of fancy gear, any day.
So when a newbie asks me what kind of gear to buy, I usually recommend a good survival book or point them over to one of the posts in this article.
It’s not that I don’t like survival gear, I have a lot of it, and I often make gear recommendations. But when someone is a brand new prepper, there is nothing more valuable than information, knowledge, and real world experience. Once you have a good grasp on what’s needed to survive, then you can start to choose what survival gear to buy.
If you are just getting started, then stick to the basics. Water, Food, Shelter and Protection.
The survival gear that you choose needs to be based on a number of factors.
In my opinion water, food, shelter and protection are the most important things that you can focus on. They are the fundamental building blocks to any good survival bag, and should be the foundation that the rest of your gear is built off of. If you can cover those four categories, then you are on your way to being set in the gear category.
Having the right gear can make life a whole lot easier, but eventually your gear is going to fail. Investing in your skill set is the only sure-fire way to ensure your long-term survival.
Okay, here are a couple of gear articles for those that love their gear:
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Where do you Start? What threats
should you be preparing for?
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