Bushcraft and Survival Skills

If you have ever encountered "prepper flack" from loved ones, family or friends, here are some thoughts to bring peace to your mind and hopefully to theirs. And remember you need not prove to anyone your sanity for prepping.

Prepping is a personal choice. I think of it as insurance for the future. I buy other insurance so why not prepare for the most important things needed in case of loss from storm, job loss, economic collapse, EMP etc. We preppers each have our own reason for prepping.

You Tube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/healthyprepper

10 SHTF Preppers Communications

Top 10 SHTF Communications. Comms are vital in an emergency situation and Cell phones could be shut down in certain situations.

1. Cell Phone
2. Multi-Band Scanner
3. AM/FM Radio
4. Weather Radio
5. Shortwave Radio
6. FRS Radios
7. GMRS Radios
8. CB Radios
9. Marine
10. Ham / Amateur Radio

Tags: SHTF, Communications, Comms, Prepper, Survival, Survivalist, Doomsday Preppers

Doomsday Preppers Preview for "Nine Meals Away from Anarchy"

I have been asked by National Geographic's Doomsday Preppers to do a preview for the upcoming episode "Nine Meals Away from Anarchy" which will air on TUE MAR 6 2012 @ 9P et/pt.

Upon receiving the preview DVD and watching it with a fellow "Survivalist", I have to say we were both taken back by a few of the "preppers" on this episode, while I have been asked not to go into too much detail as not to spoil the episode, I will give some thoughts on the 3 preppers that were presented on the show.

The 1st presented I will call him the "bug in guy", he was probably the most well rounded in forethought in his preps and his defense plans.

However, there were a few things that bothered me, first and foremost is OPSEC! (Operational Security). Lets just say he lives in a well to do area, and unless the show used props and not the real location, where he is could be easily located, especially from the local residents in the area.

Although he does have his trained guard dogs, he and his family are training in the use of fire arms, and they do have an ample cache of food and ammo... if an individual or group wanted what they have, there are many ways relieve them of their supplies, some without firing a single shot, which I will not go into here.

Which brings me to what I will call a "fatal flaw". From what I can gather they do not have a contingency plan to bug out if they were forced to evacuate their premises for what ever reason. To be quite honest most in the family looked like they could not walk 10 miles with a 50 pound pack, sorry to be so critical here, but this is real world "survival" we are talking about here, is it not?

The second guy I will call the "Seed Guy". All I could do is shake my head and face palm! His big concern was nuclear fallout from the Fukushima disaster, while this is a very real threat and I am in no way down playing it, it is not the scope of this post.

In general his plan is to gather heirloom seeds, lots of them, and grow them in small green houses made from plastic or canvas from what I could tell. Its is obvious he does not have a basic understanding of the different types and aspects of radioactive particles.

His plan was to bug out with all his seeds, some firearms, and a few of his buddies, Really? So much wrong here, but I think with this guy his lack of critical thinking skills are demonstrated in how he responds to a craigslist ad.

The last guy, I will call him the "Under Ground Bunker Guy", while I could go into great detail here about him, I will just say he has not taken the time to think things all the way through, the distance, inhospitable terrain, he and his young family would have to face would be insurmountable to reach his bunker if they they had no access to an automobile, and his solution to this is his "push cart" Lots wrong here! You be the judge when you see it.

The other thing I might mention is the very reason he is prepping is for a physical pole shift, an under ground bunker on the side of a mountain is the last place I would like to be, as an impending earthquake from such a pole shift could very well turn that bunker into their tomb.

I will also mention, that no one in this episode demonstrated any basic survival skills on how to procure water, food, or shelter using non conventional methods and sources, which is what this blog is all about. Although, to be fair they may have these skills, but they were just not covered in this episode.