Random Musings

Some random thoughts on a really busy day:

• Either I'm shrinking or kids are getting bigger. Half of the trick or treaters we had this evening were HUGE.
• My pet peeve...kids dressed totally in black who are walking down busy country roads as they go trick or treating. Not safe.
• A friend passed away a couple of days ago unexpectedly. Although he wasn't a close friend, he was a good guy who always went out his way to help others. I appreciated that he always showed up to help with whatever project our range had going on, that he had a really good attitude, and that he would always say "here try out my new....(name of firearm)" Which makes me think that most of the people I know don't realize how much I (and other people) appreciate them because it isn't something you usually say to random friends/acquaintances. These people, though, are important in our lives.
• I'm glad my tattoos aren't stupid, creepy, or regrettable. See examples here.
• While I won't be at the NYC Marathon tomorrow, every once in a while I do look around for some new types of physical activity to try. Here's one place I look for such activities: www.active.com

'Nuff said for today...

World Coming to an End? Don't Panic

The Dave Ramsey show was on today and a caller asked him if she should take out her retirement money and other funds from the stock market and buy something tangible like a house because she was sure that the stock market, and in fact the entire American financial system, was going to Hell in a hand basket. If you listen to many pundits these days, you may know why the lady feels this way. Even I feel this way on occasion. Dave was firmly against this tactic and so was I but for different reasons. Dave feels that the stock market will remain strong and that American companies are strong in general. My reasoning is that:

• Disaster coming or not, you NEVER put all of your eggs in one basket. You don't sell all of your assets and buy gold. You don't concentrate all of your preparedness efforts on a single bug out shelter. You don't invest ALL of your money in the stock market. Diversification works for the simple reason that you don't know what kind of disaster will strike and there is a very good possibility that if you put all of your money, time, and effort into one thing that you think will "save" you, it is a good bet that that one thing will be the thing wiped away by disaster.
• A house is a nice investment but like any investment, it has risks. Like black mold which isn't covered by insurance. Like an earthquake or flood which your insurance probably doesn't cover. Like you may need to move in a hurry and selling a house is a time consuming thing (not to mention sudden market drops as happened during the last year or so which can turn you "upside down" on your mortgage loan within a matter of weeks).
• I prefer to be lean and mobile as much as possible. I have seen way too many instances where people have been ripped from their fairly normal every day life and been forced to flee their city or even their country with only what they can carry. You can't carry a house, you may not have much left in your stocks if anything at all, and you can carry gold but not easily or safely.
• I can't read the future and when I gamble it is for fun and not profit so trying to guess what is going to happen then betting all of my money and assets on what "might" happen is, in my opinion, a bad bet.
• Panic is not good in any situation. It is not a good thing to act out of fear because then you make crappy, not well thought out decisions.
• Change is inevitable. Life is continual change so trying to "keep things as they always have been" in order to feel secure is futile.

So what should you do if you really think the world as we know it is coming to an end?

• Keep yourself diversified, both financially and in life. Spread your assets and investments around. Spread your learning around as well. While some people think it is a great idea to be ultra-specialized in their work (a great idea if you are a neurosurgeon or rocket scientist), consider developing multiple streams of knowledge along with multiple streams of income which will give you much greater flexibility during times of significant change.
• Determine if owning a home fits your life style. I enjoy my home and need a place to live anyway so paying a mortgage, for me, is a sensible idea. For others, like those who are deeply in debt, move frequently, or simply don't want to own a house, they should not own a house. There are plenty of other options for places to live that may fit their needs better.
• Enjoy the things you have and the things you want to have but know that you can survive just fine with less. I prefer being a minimalist while other friends have to have all of the latest everything and enjoy having lots of stuff around them. Whatever floats your boat.
• Use your own best judgement. I'm a news junkie but when it comes down to it, I will rely on my own analysis of a situation before any talking head that you find on TV or the internet. Things could get better or they could get worse. I won't spend my life worrying about what "might" happen. I will prepare as best I can but otherwise enjoy what is happening today.
• Don't panic over what "might" happen. Instead, I train and train some more and hope that "muscle memory" will kick in when I need it. A friend of mine told me his theory on worry and panic quite a few years ago and it still rings true today. When someone is worrying about something he asks them what they were worrying about exactly one year ago. 99.9% of the time they can't remember what it was. Case closed.
• Enjoy change and embrace change. People who have a good outlook on whatever happens and can easily roll with the punches usually survive much better than those who cling to the old ways and develop an all-consuming resistance to change. You can train yourself to deal with change by starting small and building up your tolerance to it. Take a different route to work tomorrow, eat at a restaurant featuring foods you've never heard of before, or try something really off the wall (apparently, as my nephew tells me, it is all the range in school these days to eat dried worms and bugs which kids can buy at the mall. How's that for embracing something new with both hands?).

Fewer Firearms, More Ammo

I was checking out the Survivalist Forums today and one post discussed how many and what kinds of firearms one should have. While I am all for having a nice armory, there are a couple of things to consider if you aren't independently wealthy. First, firearms cost money. Good firearms usually cost more. Second, you can only fire so many weapons at once. Here's my quick take on firearms.

• Have a small selection of firearms for multiple purposes (a rifle, shotgun, and handgun for starters).
• Choose firearms with the type of ammo they use in mind. It's a good idea to choose firearms that use common types of ammo that is easily available. The more unusual and unique the firearm/ammo, the more difficult it will be to find ammo.
• The wider range of firearms you have with varying types of ammo needed, the more your resources will be spread out. Better to have fewer basic firearms with lots of ammo for each.
• Choose quality firearms. Cheap piece-of-crap firearms are more likely to fail than quality firearms. Quality firearms also tend to hold their value better.
• Spend much more on ammo than you do firearms. You don't want to have more firearms than ammo...after you run out of ammo you will need to resort to beating someone with your useless firearm or running, both bad options.
• Having a few spare firearms above the small cache that you usually use can be good for bartering.
• Stock up on ammo! The more you have, the better off you will be for a number of reasons. The cost if brass isn't getting any lower. Ammo is also a good barter items. Unless you reload your own ammo, you are subject to the whim of the market on both price and availability. You never know how long you will have to hold out on your own with only the ammo you have.
• Do your own experiments to find the best firearms/types of ammo that work for you. While it is fine to read up on these things and it's nice to get opinions from friends, the best way to figure out what works for you is actually trying a variety of firearms and experimenting with various types of ammo.

Surviving Disaster: Nuclear Attack

This week's episode of Surviving Disaster was about how to survive a nuclear attack. I always find this series fascinating and informative and I think EVERYONE should watch these shows as they offer more basic, practical information about the things to think about during various types of disasters than you would get simply from reading about it. That said, even though you read this blog post, you should really head over to Spike TV online and actually watch these shows. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words (and video is probably worth more than that). Here's what I learned from this week's show:

• This show follows two groups of people. The first group is located a mile from where the nuclear bomb detonates, about a mile from the city center. The second group is located about three miles from the area the bomb detonates, in the suburbs.
• The 10 kilo ton nuclear bomb is driven into the city in the back of a van. When it detonates, it will leave a crater about the size of 75 football fields.
• When the blast happens, turn away from the blast, don't look into the light, and get down on the ground, preferably in a ditch.
• If you are driving when the blast occurs, pull over, get out of the car, and get down on the ground, again, preferably in a ditch, and turn away from the blast.
• If you are near the blast area, as soon as you get on the ground, lay on your stomach, cross your legs. put your hands behind your head, and open your mouth so the pressure will not break your ear drums. At this point you will be waiting for the blast wave which will feel like a freight train roaring over you.
• If you are further from ground zero, get out of your car and position yourself against something heavy and thick like a concrete wall. Get low and tight against the wall and again, open your mouth so your ear drums won't be blown.
• The thermal pulse from the blast will cause a heatwave and a light that is like looking into the sun. Don't look at the light!
• Everything within a quarter mile of ground zero will be incinerated.
• Within a mile of the blast there will be fires and lethal debris falling.
• Cover any exposed flesh if possible to prevent radiation burns.
• After the blast wave, you will have 20 minutes to escape before nuclear fall out occurs and radioactive particles start falling to the ground.
• After the blast wave, stay down until the initial debris caused by the blast have stopped falling.
• Most injuries caused by this type of event are cuts, lacerations, burns, and broken bones.
• Cover cuts, burns, and lacerations if possible so that radiation will not enter your body at these sites and get into your blood stream.
• You will need to either find shelter quickly or be able to drive away from the fall out plume. It was pointed out here that with only 20 minutes to do this, you will probably have the leave the severely injured behind in order to protect yourself, which is really against our nature, however is necessary for survival.
• As soon as this type of blast occurs, satellites will pick this up and inform NORAD which will inform the Pentagon at which time specially trained teams will be dispatched to the scene.
• At this point it was clearly stated that in many of these types of disasters, law and EMS will be overwhelmed and they won't be able to come save you so plan to be on your own for a while. You are responsible for your life, the government isn't. The government will provide help but it will take time to get where the help is needed.
• If you are one mile from ground zero you won't have time to escape the area before the fallout begins so you will need to seek shelter immediately.
• When looking for shelter, stay away from walls which may crumble and watch out for sink holes, live wires on the ground, fires, etc.
• In the suburbs there will be less damage and the roads may be passable; you can drive away from the fallout if you act quickly.
• A nuclear explosion causes an electromagnetic pulse which toasts anything electronic (car electrical systems, computers, cell phones, airliners, TVs, etc) within a three mile radius.
• If you are in the suburbs and can drive away from the fallout zone, you will need to get a car. In this show, they had to steal a car.
• To find a car to steal in order to save your life, you will want to find one that wasn't in use during the blast as its electrical system may still be working.
• This is where you need to watch the video as they showed how to break a window to get into the car, hot to hot wire the car, how to use a jack handle to break the steering wheel lock, and how to get under the car to engage the transmission since without a key the gear shift lever will also be locked.
• Stealing a car and hot wiring a car are ILLEGAL which is probably why they showed basically how to do this but not in great verbal or video detail. It is a good idea to know how to do this, it is a bad idea to use this knowledge for anything but a life and death situation.
• To drive out of the path of the fallout, first find out which direction the wind is blowing. Look up on top of buildings at the flags to see which way the winds are blowing since the fallout plume will travel with the wind.
• The shortest path to drive out of the fallout zone is to drive perpendicular to the direction of the wind (ie: if the wind is blowing north, drive west or east).
• To treat flash blindness, cover the person's eyes with a scarf or towel for a while.
• When driving, put the air condition on recirc to prevent outside air from being circulated through your car.
• If you see fall out begin, you better be inside a building.
• An ideal building for sheltering is a concrete building with a basement. Wood frame houses and buildings only block 30% to 60% of the fallout, concrete is much better. Concrete basements with no windows can block out up to 90% of the radiation.
• Before going into the building use a pen or lipstick to write on the outside of the building how many survivors are inside, it will make it easier for rescuers to find you.
• Before going into the building, take off all outer layers of clothes that could have been contaminated. Then use water to rinse off exposed hair and skin (a rag or newspaper works best for this). One group changed out of their clothes and into janitors uniforms they found in a supply closet.
• Get a flashlight then find shelter in a basement that has no windows and thick walls.
• Use tape to cover around doors, windows, outlets, and any other place that air can come in (it won't be air tight but will block out most radioactive contamination).
• If the building you are in has no basement, climb as high as possible in the building; be sure to leave two floors above you to protect from fallout on the roof. Look for an inner office with no windows and reinforce the walls with desks, books, boxes, file cabinets, etc. in order to make thick "walls" to shelter behind. Make the walls a couple of inches taller than the tallest person in your group. Make an L-shaped entrance into the room from the doorway as gamma rays don't turn corners very well.
• Stay in your shelter and wait for rescue, don't go outside wandering around.
• Gather all of the food and water you can find and put it into your shelter room.
• In 24 hours, rescuers will be in the streets looking for survivors, in 48 hours, rescuers will be searching buildings for survivors. In 72 hours, government resources will be deployed.
• While in your shelter, you should stabilize broken bones, and keep clean bandages on wounds.
• Signs of radiation sickness include nausea, vomiting, and swelling. Try to keep a sterile environment if someone is sick from radiation but you will need to seek medical attention to treat such an illness. Radiation sickness is not transferred person to person.
• When you hear helicopters overhead, you will need to signal them so they can find you. One person from the group was sent to signal the helicopter. To leave the shelter you need to be covered completely. They used a towel with holes cut out for the eyes as a head shield. Over the eyes, they stapled a plastic covering. A rubber band around the neck was used to secure the head covering.
• For a signal, they opened a cold compress then put the contents into a small garbage can and added water. Newspaper is soaked in this solution then rolled up tight. On the roof, the newspaper was lit on fire as a smoke flare. The person who was signalling ran outside on the roof of the building (easier to see the signal from the air and ground), lit the smoke signal, then ran back inside. You want to be outside for as short a time as possible.
• When the guy came back from the roof they formed a decon line. Person number one had him to take off his clothes, person two washed him off with water, and person three gave him clean clothes.
• After three days, the fall out looses 90% of its potency. In this scenario, the group close to the city had to leave the shelter to seek medical treatment. They waited for a few days until the fallout stopped and were careful not to walk through piles of radioactive dust.

The show ended with the rescuers finding the suburban group and with the urban group walking out to find a medical tent. Overall, another great show and definitely worth watching!

My Bug Out Plan

A previous post noted that I do not have a BOL (bug out location) or permanent fixed shelter for bugging out to in the event of a disaster. What I do have is a bug out plan. Here it is, subject to change, of course:

• My home. In the event of any kind of emergency or disaster, my highest priority, if it is possible, will be to remain sheltered in my home. It is well stocked with all of the food, water, medical supplies, etc. that we would need to survive for literally months on end. It is well equipped for security and has alternate water, heat, electrical, and sanitation systems. It is in a very good location, not excessively rural, not in the middle of the city, but miles from the city in an out of the way area, with a very good neighborhood of hard working, community-oriented people who don't get into your business but will help out any time there is a need. The area is also not prone to floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, or most other disasters however earthquakes are always a possibility. And the area is uniquely defensible. Nice.
• Hotels. In the event of a minor disaster, we do have our Bug Out Bags at the ready with plenty of funds to cover as many nights as needed in a hotel. This is usually an option in very specific instances, such as when the entire city is not looking to stay in the same cluster of hotels. Many people I know have gone this route including a friend whose home flooded and required weeks of rehab, when the husband of a friend was in the trauma center for an extended period of time in the city, and when a friend's family was hit with an extended power outage during a snow storm and their home was too cold to stay in for all of their small children.
• Homes of friends and family. We have friends and family all over the state, the country, and the world. There would be no problem either driving, taking public transportation, or flying to these various locations depending on the type of disaster, the location of the disaster, and the details of the disaster (ie: how long would we need to be away from our home, is it a disaster that would require us to resettle, etc). I would rather bug out to a hotel than have a prolonged stay with friends or family just because it is less of a burden on others. Knowing that we have these people to rely on, however, is an integral part of my bug out plan.
• An RV or boat. We have had both boats and RVs in the past but due to lack of use and lack of time, have sold them, not wanting the effort and expense of keeping them "just in case". These are, however, excellent options for people to use should they need a place to shelter during an emergency since they are portable and can often provide many of the comforts of home. Buying either a boat or RV in the future after a disaster may be an option such as in the case of Hurricane Katrina when there would be a fairly long term of living in an alternate shelter while rebuilding a house for example. Nine months in a hotel would be outrageously expensive whereas nine months in an RV that you can pick up used for about $5,000 would be a better option.
• Community disaster shelters. Right after a major disaster (or even winter storms in our area where shelters are opened for the homeless), the local or state department of emergency management or Red Cross is likely to open shelters if they are needed. This would be on par with the next option as I would seriously not relish living toe to toe with a bunch of strangers who I don't know and don't trust. In some cases, however, having a roof over your head may require that you stay at the shelters that are available.
• Living "out in the woods". This would be my absolute last option for bugging out. This puts you in a very vulnerable position on a number of fronts: you would be an easy target for assailants, the people who live where you plan to bug out to would not be very happy and may show their displeasure at the end of a shotgun, you would be more susceptible to illness and disease due to sanitation issues, and it's damn miserable to camp for days on end in the winter, during downpours, in freezing temperatures, etc. While it is very important that you know how to live in the wilderness (ie: multi-week backpacking trips are a good idea for this sort of practice), this wouldn't be a good long-term option, especially for families. Or maybe I am getting soft in my later years...

Bug out transportation:

Getting away from the disaster area is a necessary part of our bug out plan. Staying at home would mean you don't have to worry about this, however leaving your home would require some pre-planning as to the what and how of transportation. We have settled this in a number of ways:

• We keep vehicles that can be packed with crates of bug out gear (food, water, camping gear, etc) and driven away at a moment's notice. I also have fuel stored to ensure that we will be able to fill up the tank before we leave and have enough to provide an additional tank en-route. This mode of transport is only one transportation option as roads and highways can be gridlocked for hours on a normal holiday so an entire city of people trying to escape would be chaos and roads may not be passable. The idea here is to bug out early, ahead of the crowds, if possible. There is no such thing as "taking the back roads" when an entire city or large town is evacuating as those people will more than likely know the back roads as well. Another hindrance to driving away from disaster is that in the event of physical disaster such as an earthquake, overpasses, underpasses, and bridges will probably be down thus shutting down major roadways.
• Mass transit is an option but not very dependable. Local buses, national bus lines, trains, and airline travel are all good ways to escape from where you are but these will have the same problems as when you try to evacuate yourself--everyone else will have the same idea and these transportation options, if they are even running because the drivers/pilots/engineers will also be trying to evacuate with their own families, will probably be immediately overloaded with people as well.
• Walking, bicycle, motorcycle, etc. are last resort transportation options. Again, these modes of transportation where you are out in the open, schlepping your gear, put you in a very vulnerable position. There is no protection for you against the marauding hordes, or even the weather, if you are walking or riding a bike. These are, however, options to keep in mind as they may be your only means of escape.

Bug out info:

• You should always have a Bug Out Bag at the ready.
• You should have multiple sources of money on hand (cash, credit cards, checks, gold, stuff to barter with, etc).
• You should have a plan made in advance if you plan to bug out with friends or relatives. A pre-arranged pact to shelter you (and vice versa) made in advance of a disaster is better than just showing up on someone's door step.
• A bug out plan that works for your circumstances. In my case, I have two people to worry about (the spouse and myself) and we are both physically able to walk, bike, or even run if necessary. For other people, they may need to consider small children or babies, pets, an aging or inform relative, or a family member with serious health conditions which would need to be addressed in their bug out plan.
• Bugging out with a lot of cool, useful gear may make you a target for theft, robbery, etc. Plan accordingly.
• Listen to the local radio station before, during, and after you evacuate as important evacuation information is often provided this way.
• Firearms and pets are often not welcome in community shelters.
• When evacuating your home, bring as much useful stuff (food, water, camping gear, etc) that you can reasonably stuff into your car or carry on your back. If nothing else, it will be a good way to ingratiate yourself with those who are taking you in.
• Take as much important stuff as possible. Prescription meds, copies of important documents, insurance info...all of these things will be important either during or after a disaster.

The bottom line is that there is no perfect "bug out plan". It simply doesn't exist due to the many and varied ways that disaster can strike. What you can plan for, however, is being able to take care of yourself, no matter where you end up, for as long as possible. The thing you don't want to do is end up walking away from your unlivable home, showing up at a shelter or family member's home with no cash, none of your important prescription medications, and only the clothes on your back. You will probably survive anyway but it won't be pleasant. Better to put some forethought into what things you absolutely need to live and get these things packed and ready to go. After you get your bug out bag together, determine what places you could bug out to then think about how you will get there. Even doing these simple things will put you miles ahead of the crowds.

Poll Results and a New Poll

Our last poll asked "have you ever personally survived a disaster?"
Your answers:

• 19 people (38%) said no.
• 22 people (44%) said yes, something minor (no one died but it was a big disruption to my life).
• 8 people (16%) said yes, something major (others died in the event but I survived).

That's a pretty big percentage (3/5 of the people who responded) who have lived through some type of disaster whether major or minor. All the more reason to be as prepared as possible for when the worst happens. BTW, any lessons learned by the survivors would be much appreciated in the comment section below!

It seems like I know more than a dozen people who have already contracted the Swine flu so far this year. How's it going in your area? Take our new poll...>

Editor's note: looks like the poll won't be up until tomorrow...some glitch with the computer I am using...

Stocking the Pantry with Loss Leaders

Here's an idea if you are having a difficult time stocking up on emergency food supplies. Each week when the store ads come out, you will see some cheaply priced items called loss leaders--sometimes requiring a coupon found in the ad flyer and other times requiring a "shopper's club card" to get the sale price--which stores use just to get you in the door. Take those non-perishable loss leaders and stock up on them when they are at bargain-basement prices and put them with your stored emergency food supply. Here is an example of what I found at one local store today:

• Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice 2/$3
• Chunky Soup $1 each
• Store brand 18 ounce peanut butter $1 each
• Store brand jam $1 each

So for $16 I was able to add an assortment of items that will make at least a dozen meals if you add in a little bread for the peanut butter and jelly. Yesterday on a run to Costco I picked up a giant box of oatmeal for $6.59 and a 25 pound bag of rice for $16. The oatmeal could provide more than a couple of month's worth of breakfasts for an average person, and the rice could last an average person more than a couple of months as well.

Stocking your emergency food pantry doesn't need to be expensive if you take the time to gather stuff up slowly as it comes on sale. Here's some of the things I consider when looking at loss leaders:

• The food needs to be easy to prepare. Since the food will be used in an emergency when time/water/facilities may be scarce, I don't want to have to put together a bunch of complicated ingredients to make a meal. I want to be able to pop a top and eat!
• The food needs to be non-perishable, since it will be stored for months with your emergency stuff.
• The food needs to be relatively nutritious. Soup, peanut butter, juice, canned fish, and items like these are more nutritious than, say soda pop, crackers that are orange and look like fish, cookies, etc.
• The food has to be things that we will eat and can therefore be rotated into our usual food supply. Granted we only eat canned soup as a last minute fill in, preferring homemade soup, and granted I have a preference for natural peanut butter and fresh squeezed juices, these items can still be used in baking, when putting together a big meal for a group, or as an emergency fill in when we run out of the items that we normally eat.
• The food has to be professionally canned or preserved. Many people can their own foods to hold them over the winter which is great, but the reason I choose professionally canned foods is because some of the food in our emergency supply gets rotated to the food banks in the city (which do not accept home canned items). I also don't want anything stored in glass that we will be relying on in a disaster, and some of these things end up in dishes that we cook for community/work/church potlucks so we don't want to take a risk of providing food that could have been poorly preserved (and known forever for making friends, co-workers, and community residents sick).
• The food has to be cheap. "On sale" isn't good enough. The price has to be at least half, or even lower, of what the normal retail price for the item would be. You need to know your prices because you can't always trust what certain stores put on the tags as their "regular" price, but loss leaders are usually highly discounted which encourages you to come into the store to do your shopping (where many other things you need may be higher priced...thus the need for a shopping strategy).

Starting, or adding to your emergency food reserves doesn't need to be difficult or expensive. Adding just a couple of inexpensive cans of food each week, purchased out of your regular shopping budget, will eventually provide you a big batch of emergency food--which you will be ever grateful for when, not if, a disaster happens.

15 Reasons Why I Don't Have a BOL and 5 Reasons Why You Might Want One

Many hard-core preppers and survivalists feel that having a BOL (bug out location) is right up there with flashlights and stored food when it comes to things to have to survive a disaster. Although I have a bug out plan, I have not set about creating a specific bug out shelter for a number of reasons, including:

1. Financially it doesn't make sense (for me) to support my current home and a secondary home/cabin/land/etc. I've done this before and like with boats, RVs, and vacations homes, you end up spending an inordinate amount of money supporting a place that you don't use nearly as much as you do your main home.
2. I often wonder how people who have cabins a good five or six hours (on a good day) from where they live will make it when, even on major holidays, traffic on major, and minor, roads can slow to a crawl. Crawling for 10-15 hours sounds like misery personified.
3. Should there be an earthquake (a very real possibility in these parts) getting anywhere will be tough as there are many bridges, overpasses, underpasses, tunnels, etc. within a dozen miles of here.
4. Leaving a bug out cabin stocked with supplies is an open invitation to theft, vandalism, and burglary....something I really don't want to worry about.
5. The usual places where you would locate a BOL are generally very rural and often don't have even basic infrastructure (medical services, pharmacies, law enforcement, etc) that most people, myself included, have come to rely on.
6. I am not a "back to the lander". I've tried this before too (when I was young and idealistic) and while the notion of having a rural home with its own well, chickens, and vegetable garden seems nice in thought, actually creating a homestead from scratch is A LOT of work, more work than I would want to do.
7. Everyone else will have the same idea...after a disaster. The locals won't be happy about this. After a major disaster, a whole bunch of people will get the idea to run for the hills. First of all, people are already living in the hills right now and they won't take kindly to strangers over running their land and their small towns. Second of all, you won't have the social structure (like friends, family members, and other people who make up your current community) that you can rely on. Third of all, YOU (not the local police) will be responsible for defending your bug out location from the marauding hordes.
8. I like to remain light and portable. I do this when I backpack, I do this when I travel, and I do this in my home. The number of things that I actually need to survive are quite limited in number and quite portable so the thought of having a lot of money, time, equipment, and supplies tied into my bug out location would significantly limit my options for relocating (ie: leaving behind one set of stuff at my home is enough to worry about).
9. I feel like there are enough resources in my general vicinity that I could survive off of what I can find wild and what I could scrounge than what I could find in the wilderness. Granted most places of significance would be looted in a hurry but I figure that if I can batten down where I am for a few months, that would give those who were much less prepared time to die off.
10. After a disaster, society will restructure itself. I would rather be in on the ground floor of this restructurization than wandering out of the woods some time later and try to figure out what is going on.
11. If worse comes to worse, I could take off and live in the mountains on a moment's notice. It wouldn't be too comfortable but I could, of course, do this.
12. I like the idea of having multiple locations to bug out to, around the country and around the world. It's very difficult to plan for every eventuality. Should your current home and bug out location five hours away all be impacted by the same disaster, you will end up with nothing. Better to have a multi-faceted bug out plan which will allow for you to utilize a number of locations depending on the circumstances.
13. With kids and family spread out all over the country and the world, I wouldn't feel very good being holed-up in a bug out cabin not knowing what is happening with everyone else that I care about.
14. I am, as a rule, super busy on a daily basis. Keeping my home stocked, prepped, and ready for disaster is a top priority, however doing this times two is not something I want to schedule into my busy day.
15. It is my own opinion that having a BOL is a better theory than an actuality. I run across this a lot...many ideas seem excellent in theory and on paper but when you actually do them/drill them, you find out that the actuality of what you are doing doesn't quite measure up with what you theorized would happen.

Well, those are my personal reasons for not having a bug out location. There are a number of people I know who feel that having a pre-set bug out location is a great idea. In the following circumstances, you may decide to have a BOL of your own:

1. You have the money and time to support two locations (your home and BOL).
2. You either are a back to the lander or you enjoy camping/hunting/other outdoor activities to the point where a bug out cabin a ways from your home would be well used and well cared for.
3. You have a BOL in an area where you are tied into the community and you have a plan for using the BOL to shelter you, the spouse, the kids, and other people who are important to you (there's safety in numbers and you generally want your kids, at least, with you in such a situation).
4. You have a reasonable chance of getting to your BOL (a few people I know have helicopters which they will use to access their BOLs).
5. You have put a lot of time, effort, thought, and action into creating your own infrastructure for your BOL (water, septic, security, food sources, etc).

Preppin for Winter

In these parts winter will be here soon. While I have lists of things to accomplish by season that will keep the home in good shape, my health in relatively good shape, and tasks done to prepare for certain types of disaster (ie: fastening down the hot water tank in case of earthquake), there are some crisis situations that are almost guaranteed to happen each winter in our area, namely loss of electricity, wind storms, rain storms, flooding, and snow storms. It only makes sense, therefore, to plan ahead of time for these things that will more than likely occur. Here's what we have done to get ready for this winter:

• Clean the roof and gutters. First to get the moss off then to ensure that the gutters are clear and that water will run off like it should.
• Cut down an old tree that was near the house and could have fallen on the house given enough wind.
• Brought everything in that could fly away in a windstorm such as deck chairs, deck table, porch swing, awning, etc.
• Checked all flashlights (there is one in each room of the house) and ensured they #1, hadn't been removed, and #2, had fresh batteries.
• Bought more than enough batteries of all sizes for use over the winter.
• Rotated stored food and water.
• Rechecked the BOB and the car BOB.
• Brought in the battery/hand-crank radio so I won't have to dig it out of the emergency supply box when the power goes out.
• Bought a small, battery-operated digital TV to access news and information during a power outage.
• Updated the first aid kit (with a healthy helping of flu stuff) since my last bout with the flu kind of depleted these supplies.
• Fortunately we don't get flooding near the house but I do keep a rake and shovel handy to keep the storm drain grates clear.
• The snow chains have been dusted off and are ready to use should we get snow.
• Ensured that we have enough food, toiletries, paper products, and other supplies in case we are snowed in for a couple of weeks like last winter.
• The wood stove and fireplace are cleaned up and ready to go, along with enough dry fire wood put aside to keep the house warm for a number of weeks if needed.
• Filled up the propane tank for the gas grill which we cook on if the power goes out.
• Gasoline has been rotated and filled up (we use this for mowers and tillers during the summer but always keep these gas cans filled up in case we need to use it for the car in an emergency.

That's about it for now. The idea is to prepare for the disasters that are most likely to happen in your area (ie: prep the most for a hurricane if you live in a hurricane-prone area and you know hurricane season is approaching as opposed for preparing for total socio-economic collapse that, while it could happen, is far less likely to happen).

Surviving Disaster: Mall Shooting

Again, I wasn't able to catch the broadcast of the latest Surviving Disaster episode, but thanks to the internet, I was able to watch the full episode here. Here's the scenario: terrorist have taken over a small town shopping mall. They have positioned themselves above the courtyard and are shooting everyone they see. Here's the high points of the episode:

• Malls, schools, and other places where people gather such as these are considered "soft targets" by terrorists. There are lots of people, mostly women and children, who are unarmed which makes for easy targets.
• Smaller rural or suburban malls also have little security and are a ways away from the nearest SWAT team.
• When the shooting starts, immediately get down and get behind something that can cover you (ie: stop a bullet).
• In many terrorist scenarios, the shooter's mission is to kill, there is no reasoning with them.
• You need to get out of the "kill zone" as quickly as possible. Spread out, don't play dead, and don't pile up with other people which makes for a large, neatly packaged target.
• People's stress response is to fight, flight, or freeze. Don't freeze, get moving.
• Use hand signals to communicate with others.
• After about ten seconds in the kill zone, you will usually have a chance to escape when they are reloading.
• Move from cover to cover to escape the kill zone. If you must cross an open area, wait for a lull in the firing.
• You may have a greater opportunity to escape if you go into a store since all stores in a mall are required to have a fire exit in the back. The nearest doors and other obvious escape routes may have been chained closed.
• Once in the store, head towards the back and find the exit to the hallway which runs behind the stores. Be sure to move pallets in front of the door to the store you just exited or create other quick obstacles.
• Note that fire escape doors may be chained closed to keep people in and the police out by the terrorists.
• Call 911 as soon as you are able to and provide as much description as possible: how many shooters, types of weapons, descriptions of the shooters, if they are wearing body armor, etc.
• Don't wait for mall security to come and save you; they are easily overwhelmed in these types of situations.
• If you can't leave through the fire escape, go back into the store and use the computer to print out maps of the mall from the mall's website.
• Take cover in the store until you have a plan of escape. A good escape route (in this scenario) is the freight elevator near the food court which leads down to the loading dock area. This is usually a large area that is difficult to contain and will probably be where SWAT enters.
• In the video, local police were first on the scene but were pushed back by IEDs that were set near the entrance.
• About ten minutes into the scenario, the terrorist have killed most of the people and are now entering the "cleaning phase" where they go from store to store searching for survivors to kill.
• At this point, the group was in the store and the power went out. This is usually police protocol to make it more difficult for the terrorists to move around the facility but it is good for survivors who can hide in the darkened stores ("if they can see you, they can kill you").
• Immediately find weapons such as scissors, box cutters, metal bars taken from display racks, etc. The group also found a camcorder which had zoom and night vision which can be used like a periscope to look around corners without exposing yourself.
• If you are trapped in a store with the gunman coming, you will need to ambush the shooter. Find weapons, outlined above, and a metal suitcase which you can fill with phone books which can be used as a shield.
• The group needs to work as a team to ambush the shooter. One person takes the suitcase and rushes the shooter in order to "pancake" him, while another team member uses a bar to swing low at him and another uses a metal bar to swing high at him. When the shooter is down, the fourth person bashes his head with whatever object will do the job.
• To ambush the shooter, the team gets into "ambush" position and waits until he is in the middle of the strike zone before springing on him. Ambush position is basically surrounding the person so there is no one target for him to aim at and no escape when the group converges on him.
• Once the shooter has been taken out, take his weapons, magazines, body armor, any information he is carrying, etc.
• Two of the group takes the weapons and magazines and also cuts the body armor at the shoulder straps (which will make two pieces of body armor to serve as chest shields) and they duct tape these to their bodies.
• At this point in the video, the group is given a quick lesson on AK 47 use including: keep your finger out of the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot, keep the weapon pointed up until you are ready to use it, how to seat the magazine, how to position the stock into your shoulder before firing, and how to rack the weapon to remove any bullets that may jam.
• When heading towards your escape route, the group needs to move like a small military unit. Move single file, about a foot from the wall, with one person with a firearm covering 9-3 up and down in the front and one person covering 3 to 9 up and down in the back.
• The people in the middle of the line should help scan for shooters.
• Don't walk too close to the wall as bullets often ricochet and travel down walls.
• In this case, the group needed to move past a choke point (ie escalator) which was being guarded by a sniper. Their only option was to take the sniper out.
• Make a silencer for your firearm so as not to alert the rest of the terrorists to where you are and that you have a firearm. Duct tape a piece of clothing over the barrel of your firearm in order to silence your shot.
• At this point, the person who was going to take out the shooter (with a head shot since he was wearing body armor) was giving some basic shooting information--stock into shoulder, use a stationary object to stabilize the firearm that you are holding, get your sites on the target, breathe a couple of times then squeeze the trigger when you are at the bottom of your exhale.
• The group then ran up the stairs and, like with the previous gunman, they took his weapons, body armor, etc. They also taped down the transmit button on the gunman's radio to make a "hot mic" (this would make it so the terrorists could not communicate with each other).
• Next the group of terrorists figured out what was happening and went after the group of survivors. They divided into teams of an equal number and took turns covering each other with fire as each group moved from cover to cover towards their destination (ie: one group would shoot at the terrorists while the other group moved then the other group would shoot while the other group caught up with them).
• If you don't have much ammo, slow your rate of fire.
• One person was shot so they drug him into a store. Use a hand or shirt to provide direct pressure over the wound. A tampon was pressed into the wound to help stop the bleeding.
• A "drag line" was made with belts to help the team drag the injured guy. Loop a belt into the last hole then put it under one arm. Do the same thing with another belt and put it under the other arm. Put the third belt through the other two belts and fasten it. Use this to drag the injured person along the floor.
• The group then used tables in the food court to set up a defensive position. While some were firing, others found a garbage cart with wheels to put the injured person in. Another found a fire extinguisher and they used a belt to keep the extinguisher spraying thus creating a smoke screen to allow them to escape to the elevator with each person taking a corner of the garbage cart in a diamond formation.
• When the group got to the elevator, they kept their weapons trained on the elevator door in case more terrorists were coming up in the elevator.
• In the elevator they got down low and continued firing at the terrorists who were coming towards them until the doors closed.
• When the elevator was going down, they put all of their weapons on the floor because SWAT would more than likely be waiting when the doors opened and if they see people with weapons they will shoot, not knowing if they were the terrorists or not.
• When the elevator doors opened, the group kept their hands in the air and followed all instructions given by the SWAT team. The group is treated as terrorists until it can be ascertained that they are the victims.
• Do everything the SWAT team says, always keep your hands visible, don't make any sudden moves, and don't run towards the officers as this will be seen as an aggressive action.
• At the end of the video, the group gets caught in the cross fire between SWAT and the terrorists; they crawled (not stood up and ran) out of the danger zone and followed one of the SWAT officers to safety.

Another good show full of great information. While most people will never be caught in such a situation, and those that do may find the scenario unfolding differently, just having this type of basic information is a very good way to become more prepared since usually after an active shooter situation all you get are sound bites on the news, not facts and explanation on how to best survive such an event.

Since training and muscle memory and all of the other vital skills necessary to survive such a situation require more than just watching a video, consider other ways to train to respond to such an event, including paintball (it's not the same as getting shot at but you will become more adept at a number of useful skills such as reading your environment, identifying "enemies" who are hiding from you, traveling silently, etc), taking a firearms course or two, and participating in practical shooting leagues and events which will increase your firearms skills dramatically.

20 Tips to Improve Your Health

Well I had a nice long post outlining 20 tips to help you improve your health, fully narrated and explained in great detail then the damn thing disappeared. Instead of no post this evening, or tossing this computer out the window, I'll just give you the condensed version:

1. Sleep eight hours a night.
2. Exercise every day.
3. Stretch multiple times every day.
4. Eat a couple of pieces of fruit and a half dozen vegetables each day.
5. Walk more.
6. Get any necessary vaccines.
7. Stock only healthy snacks and get rid of the junk food from both home and work.
8. De stress your life; remove, as much as possible, things that cause stress and drama in your life.
9. Get outside every day (good for vitamin D, exercise, and fresh air).
10. Take any needed vitamins each day.
11. Skip restaurants; if you must go, choose ethnic restaurants or choose the healthiest choices on the menu.
12. Quit smoking.
13. Nix drugs and alcohol; addictions are unhealthy in general.
14. Change your environment to improve your health (ie: if you live/work in an unhealthy place, change things to improve the healthfulness of your environment).
15. Drink water in place of coffee, soda, and other beverages.
16. Sing everyday (in the privacy of your own home). It cheers you up and with proper technique will provide much needed oxygen to your lungs.
17. Keep on top of any chronic health problems.
18. Pay attention to your dental health (bad dental health has a negative impact on your physical health).
19. Get your health on paper: health insurance, disability insurance, a living will, a medical power of attorney, health records including medications, allergies, health history, etc.
20. Save your favorite junk food (ice cream, cookies, etc) for a weekly treat instead of a daily "fifth meal".

How to Get a Job

I read this article yesterday and nearly fell off my chair laughing. I could go on and on about Gen Y kids, their helicopter parents never letting them want for anything or suffer, and their unreal expectations coupled with a sense of entitlement...but I'll save that for another blogger. Now I want to talk about how to get a job.

How NOT to get a job:

• Get into massive college debt to earn a degree then just assume jobs will be waiting for you. It doesn't work that way.

How TO get a job:

• Nix the college education debt as much as possible. Get scholarships or work your way through a state school or join the military and use the GI bill. When you are overwhelmed with debt it just adds to your desperation and this shows when you are looking for a job.
• Take what you can get. While I have an amazing job these days, I started out hustling pizzas, drinks, bait, and bowling balls...if there was work available, I took it whether it was related to my field of study or not. Surprisingly, this has led to a whole bunch of other job skills that I never would have learned in college.
• Use your contacts. Sending out a thousand resumes will just land your resume in a pile with thousands of others. Most people don't get jobs like this. The way people do land jobs is through their contacts. Ask everyone you know to let you know about job openings that come their way. You'd be surprised--six degrees of separation wise--how many people (and job opportunities) can be found through your parents, siblings, friends, former co-workers, professors, etc.
• Find ways to make (or save) people money. I started my first job this way. I saw a system that a business was using which was old and outdated and offered a number of ways that they could cut spending and increase income. I was hired as a contractor within the week.
• Find ways to make YOU money. While helping other organizations will get you a job, if you have a good way to make money for yourself (ie: buying low and selling high, selling your skills to the public, etc) you may want to start your own business.
• Volunteer. This is an excellent way to showcase your talents which others (ie: future employers, etc) will take notice of. One of my organizations has a steady stream of volunteers. Those who are hard working, take charge kind of people that don't whine and always look for ways to improve what we do will either get hired by me or will get rave reviews from me to others that I know who are hiring. And it doesn't matter if the person is a college graduate or high school drop-out. Attitude, work ethic, and having common sense are much more valuable than a degree because I can teach people the skills they need but I can't train people to have a good attitude or common sense.
• Continue to improve and expand your skill set. The more skills you have, the more valuable you are. If you can write code, that's nice. If you can write code, use your search and rescue background to develop an emergency plan for your company, use your social skills to bring in more clients, and use your reputation as a master gamer to bring notoriety to your company, you are golden.
• Move. Sometimes where you are isn't where the jobs are. The two girls in the article above are two very small (journalism) fish in a very big pond of writers who have much more experience and credibility than they do. Moving to a location that either has a lot of jobs or needs your particular skill set will give you much better odds of finding a job than living in a locale where there are few jobs in your field and a whole bunch of job seekers that are more skilled and have more connections than you do.

Those are the basics. Getting a job isn't rocket science and it very rarely is all about luck. Mostly it is just working hard at what jobs you can get while you make plans (and develop the skills) to move on to bigger and better things.

Disaster Communications

There's usually two things you can count on in regards to communications during a disaster. One, communications systems will be down and/or two, what communication systems aren't down, will be so overloaded as to make them practically useless. Either way, the result is that when you most need to rely on your communications system to call for help, check up on family members, or find out more information, they won't be available. Here's a run down on a variety of communication options during a disaster.

Satellite Phone

• These aren't wholly reliable, even on a good day. The Global Star network is still in the process of putting up its new satellite constellation which should be completed during the second quarter of 2010.
• Sat phone systems are expensive. For the average citizen, having a satellite phone in the off chance you would need to use it during a disaster doesn't make financial sense (you'd be better off using the money for additional stored food).
• If you have a base unit with the antenna mounted on your roof, you need to make sure the antenna is still standing after a disaster in order to use it. On the other hand, if you have a portable unit, you can only use it outside where it has direct access to the satellite (not a fun option in the middle of a down pour). In either case, your antenna can't be blocked by anything (trees, buildings, etc) that would interfere with direct access to the satellite or it won't work.
• If you do have a sat phone, make sure to turn in on during a disaster in case someone is trying to call you. Generally, organizations have sat phones as a back up system for disasters, however since they usually only turn the phone on for testing purposes and not normal use, people may forget to turn it on!
• If you plan on calling a friend/government agency/etc on their sat phone after a disaster, make sure you have a list of the sat phone numbers you will need to use.
• You may want to print off the satellite schedule so you will know the best place to find your satellite connection if you need it.
• If you try your sat phone and can't connect, try again a little later.
• Bottom line: unless you need a satellite phone for mission specific purposes (a dog sled race to the North Pole, a mission into places where it would be difficult--or deadly--to ask to use a pay phone) you probably don't need one.

Home Phone

• A home phone is usually the first line of communications, other than a cell phone, that people will use before, during, or after a disaster.
• If you have a phone company phone line in your home, these will often work even when the power is out. The catch is that you need a wired phone to plug into the jack (not the cordless type that also needs to be plugged into an outlet).
• If you use a VoIP system (internet phone service through your broadband company) or use Skype through your computer, these systems are only as good as your power supply (to power the computer and modem) and the power supply to your internet provider's system (some have back-up battery systems for use during power failures).
• Consider telephone priority services such as GETS and TPS which, for a fee, will give you priority for getting your phone working after a disaster (from reports this seems to be hit or miss as sometimes your phone service will be restored sooner rather than later depending on where exactly you are located). Some programs are available for civilians, but most focus on restoring service as quickly as possible to critical infrastructure providers.
• Keep a list of contact numbers near your phone. Like many people, I look up nearly every number I need online or in my contacts list on my computer; without power I would not be able to do this.
• Note that is is sometimes easier to call long distance after a disaster (this is part of your emergency communications plan isn't it?) than to call down the street.

Cell Phone

• Cell phones work fairly well on a normal day, however dropped calls and overloaded cell circuits are common even on a good day.
• Be sure to always keep your cell phone charged up and keep a car cell phone charger on hand as well.
• Check out wireless telephone priority services (WPS) similar to the above services for land lines.
• If you can't get a cell phone call through after a disaster, consider sending a text message as these can often get through when the voice calling part of the system is overloaded.
• Consider having cell phones with more than one company. I carry cell phones from two different service providers due to service issues where I usually work. One has better coverage in some areas, the other has better coverage in other areas.
• Even if your cell phone isn't working, leave it on as cell phones can be "pinged" to find your location if needed.

HAM Radio

• During and after a disaster, HAM radio may be one of the few communication options available since it uses radio waves to send and receive messages.
• You can't use a HAM radio without a license, however getting one of these is fairly simple. Check out the ARRL website for more information.
• Base stations radios with good antennas work quite well but require power (ie: these won't work when the power goes out unless you have a generator or battery back-up system). Portable radios work on charged batteries but usually their range is shorter without a really good antenna.
• An excellent way to practice your HAM radio skills (and provide a valuable service to your community during a disaster) is to volunteer with RACES or ARES.
• Note that two-way handheld radios are often included in people's emergency supplies. These are good for communication within a very short distance (two miles or so) and for coordinating with your team.

Newer Communications Technology

• Aside from the old stand-bys, newer communication methods to call for help or provide information after a disaster can be accessed either through your computer or web-enabled cell phone.
• Twitter has been used on more than one occasion to call for help. One man sent a message out via Twitter as he was being hauled off to jail in a foreign country; at least his friends knew where to start looking for him.
• YouTube, Flicker, blogs, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites often provide disaster information faster than the local news. Simply upload your video, photo, or message and it is shot out to the world.

Incoming Communication Services

• In instances when you may not be able to communicate with the outside world after a disaster, it is still important to receive information about what is going on.
• A wind-up radio should be a part of everyone's disaster supply kit.
• You can now purchase small battery-operated televisions which do not need a digital converter box as this is built in.
• Scanners often provide up to date information just by listening to the calls from dispatch to the law enforcement and fire service personnel in the area.
• A short wave radio is another option for receiving information before, during and after a disaster.
• A NOAA radio has the added bonus of being able to turn on an alert specifically for your area when a weather disaster threatens.

High Tech and Low Tech Communications Systems

• There are other types of high-tech communications systems that just aren't practical for civilian use (infrared and microwave systems to name a couple).
• Low tech communications includes the things our ancestors would have used: smoke signals, sending a runner with a message, beating drums, using mirrors to signal others, writing out your message and posting it somewhere, etc.

While communication gaps are a huge topic for disaster planners, people seem to forget than only a few short decades ago (we're talking the '60s, '70s, and early '80s), there was no such thing as being connected to the world 24/7. Then, TVs had three stations, cars had AM radios only, and the way you communicated with others in your hunting party was to write a message on a paper plate and tack it to a tree in the mountains. While I am just as much of a communications junkie as everyone else, we all need to prepare for the times when communications are down and our normal methods of communication are not available.

Link Roundup: Some Reasons to Be Concerned

Some reasons to be concerned:

• I saw this story about Ron Paul a couple of weeks ago and thought hmmm a mild reason to be concerned.
• Then saw this article a week later and thought jeez a big reason to be concerned.
• Bad news about the swine flu and children.
• And another reason to be concerned about the financial market.
• Some useful news about the swine flu...a flu assessment test.
• And a frightening new "game".

That's enough depressing news for one day...and some reasons to get prepared.

Surviving Disaster: Lost at Sea

Unfortunately I was not able to watch last Tuesday's 'Surviving Disaster' show, fortunately, full episodes of this show are available to watch online at www.spike.com/show/33200 which I did today. Here's some lessons learned from the "Lost at Sea" episode:

• There are 12 million watercraft in the US.
• Weather conditions can change in a moment when you are out to sea (the scenario is a group of people miles from shore on a deep sea fishing trip when the weather turns bad).
• If you are out to sea and the weather takes a turn for the worse, try to out-run the storm and head back to port.
• In a storm at sea, tie everything down and get everyone inside the cabin if possible.
• If you can't outrun the storm, ride straight into the storm and straight into the waves (don't let the waves hit on the side of the boat or it will capsize the vessel).
• When you are turning the boat to face the wave, time the turn so the wave doesn't hit you on the side of the boat.
• Throttle up to power over the wave but let off the throttle at the top of the wave.
• Conserve fuel; when you run out of fuel, you will be at the mercy of the waves and the boat will probably capsize.
• Call in a Mayday via VHF radio channel 16.
• When you call in a Mayday, say "Mayday" three times, the name of your vessel, the number of people on board, and your approximate location, followed again by the name of the boat.
• Have everyone get their life jackets on.
• Cinch everything down and batten down all windows and hatches.
• Each person should have a flashlight (they will be hard to find when the power goes out if this event is happening at night).
• When you are out of fuel and power, prep the life raft because the boat will probably capsize soon.
• You need to get off of the boat before it capsizes or else you will be drug down into the water with the boat.
• Gather everything that could be used to survive on the life raft (use plastic bags to haul stuff and be sure to close the bag with air in it so that it will float if it lands in the water).
• Stuff to take includes: first aid kit, sheets, blankets, water, food, mirror, flares, etc.
• Every vessel should have a life raft. Most life rafts will automatically inflate when they hit the water.
• In the scenario, one person was knocked unconscious before the group could escape the boat was it was about to capsize. The boat did capsize and the group needed to find an air pocket in which to breathe.
• If you are in a capsized boat, take off your life jacket and tie it to a rope. Send two swimmers with the rope out of the boat and to the life raft. The swimmers should tug the rope to let the others know the are at the life raft (and they should also put their life jackets back on).
• The rest of the group should follow the rope out being sure to close the unconscious persons nose and mouth so they won't inhale water.
• Put the unconscious person in the life raft first.
• Lash anything that is buoyant to the life raft to add buoyancy to the raft.
• Use the flashlight to look around the area and make sure everything that is useful is in or tied to the life raft.
• If it is raining during the storm use bags, buckets, and coolers to collect rain water for drinking.
• Keep the lantern protected from sea water.
• It's a good idea to have an emergency beacon on the life raft.
• Use a sea anchor to keep the life raft as close to the position you gave with the Mayday signal. The anchor will keep the life raft from drifting too far too fast.
• Control exposure by using sheets and blankets for a canopy over the people in the raft.
• If the raft will not hold all of the people, they need to take turns (30 minutes each to avoid hypothermia) floating in the water, hanging onto the raft.
• Keep the raft as dry as possible inside.
• Don't drink water for the first 24 hours. People can go three days without water so this is a way to conserve water and make it last longer.
• Don't try to paddle the raft unless you are near shore. Paddling in the open ocean is a waste of energy.
• Never drink sea water.
• Make a solar still to collect water. Take a bucket, get some clothing wet in the ocean and put the clothes in the bottom of the bucket. Put a cup or bowl on top of the clothes and run a tube from the cup out of the bucket. Cover the bucket with plastic and put something like a rock in the middle of the plastic to make a cone shape that points towards the cup. You should get a few ounces of water in a couple of hours and up to a pint in 24 hours through condensation.
• The will to live is the key to survival. Assume that the Coast Guard is looking for you if you sent out a Mayday.
• The raft may drift 50 miles per day.
• For food, try fishing. Use dental floss and a safety pin for a hook and line. They used bloody bandages from the injured person as bait.
• In this scenario, the person outside the boat was attacked by a shark. For shark bite, put the person in the raft and apply direct pressure to the wound.
• Blood in the water will bring more sharks.
• Because the raft won't hold all of the people, when there are sharks in the area, two people should be in the water, back to back, and with fins/mask/snorkel so that they can watch the entire area for sharks.
• Use sticks or other long sharp items to fight off the sharks; hit their eyes, nose, face, and gills where they are most sensitive. Remember you are fighting for your life and fight accordingly. Usually they will go away if you are too difficult a target.
• When sharks are present, trade off people quicker than every 30 minutes as fighting them off is hard work.
• When the helicopter finally finds you, you will probably hear it first. Each person should scan a sector looking up and down and left to right.
• When the helicopter is spotted, use a mirror, flares, or other device to signal the crew and don't stop until you are sure they see you.

Once again, a good show. While the show can't cover every possible scenario, there are a number of good lessons provided that you could realistically use in the event of this or another survival event.

FEMA EMI ISP

If you don't recognize what those letters mean in the headline to this post, you may be missing out on a pretty good (FREE!) training opportunity. FEMA's Emergency Management Institute offers an independent study program online that everyone is welcome to use. Everything from 'Radiological Emergency Response' to 'Disaster Basics' to 'Principals of Emergency Management' to 'Livestock in Disasters' and dozens of more courses are available online at http://training.fema.gov/IS/ Granted, there is no substitute for actual hands-on, cobbling together a shelter in the pouring rain type of classes that people spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to take, however these online classes will give you a general overview of disaster preparedness from the government's point of view and will probably even teach you a few things you didn't know.

Prepping If You Are Disabled

Most people assume preppers and survivalist are Rambo types with lots of cool gear and a more than reasonable amount of physical prowess for handling any type of situation that comes along. Since EVERYONE needs to be prepared for disaster, that stereotype leaves out a goodly portion of the population who are disable in one fashion or another. Note that disabled doesn't just mean someone in a wheel chair. Disabilities can run the gamut from being morbidly obese to missing limbs to having severe chronic health conditions to not being able to understand English (and therefore not being able to understand orders to evacuate, etc) to being elderly to having limited mobility to having an acute fear of large groups of people (which would make living in a shelter tricky) to having schizophrenia... You can see that the range and number of disabilities is quite long but the idea is that no matter your condition, you or your keeper (ie: the person charged with caring for people with these and other disabilities) needs to take some additional things into consideration in order to be prepared for disaster, including:

• What MUST you have to survive apart from the food, water, shelter stuff? For someone on a ventilator, that would be electricity. For someone with severe psychotic episodes, that may mean medication. Make these items your top preparedness priorities.
• If you rely on medication, consider getting prescriptions for 90 days instead of 30 days. Also ask your doctor or pharmacist what their plan is to ensure that you will still be able to get your needed medications after a disaster such as a hurricane or earthquake.
• Plan with someone who can help you. This may be a family member, friend, neighbor, home health nurse, etc. If you are disabled, start planning now with someone who would be able to help you in the event of a disaster. How will you let them know if you need help? What if the phones are out, will they come to your house to check on you? If you don't speak English, do you have a neighbor who can translate for you or do you have picture books of signs that can help tell emergency responders what you need? If you are elderly or infirm, does someone else have a key to your home so they don't have to break a window to check on you?
• Stockpile the things you need that others may not have and therefore would not be able to provide you in the event of a disaster. Depends? Hearing aid batteries? Specialized medical supplies? If it isn't something that one could usually just borrow from a neighbor, plan on stocking much more of the item than usual.
• If you are replacing a fairly spendy specialized item, consider saving the old one in case the new one gets broken in a disaster. Dentures, hearing aids, wheel chairs, prosthetic limbs, glasses...even though these items may not fit like they used to after you get used to your new item, in a disaster these items would be difficult to replace immediately and would come in handy.
• Be in the best physical shape possible. If you are obese, start working out and going on a diet NOW when it will be most beneficial for you. If you are in a wheel chair, there is no reason not to have exceptional upper body strength developed by working out. If you are elderly, exercise can do wonders to not only reduce your risk of falls on a normal day but will make you stronger and better able to help yourself during a disaster.
• Keep a list of your current medications and a copy of the most recent prescriptions in your BOB. Include physician contact numbers, contact info for next of kin, and a current medical history too.
• If you have a spare wheelchair, walker, or crutches, keep the spare in the garage or in an out building. During an earthquake, for example, your wheelchair may end up crushed but if you have a spare one in the outbuilding which suffered less damage, you may be able to use that one.
• Evacuate WAY ahead of time. If an evacuation is imminent, don't wait until the last minute, get to a safe spot as quickly as possible. Which would be better? Picking up grandma and safely ensconcing her in a nice hotel for a few days when it looks like a hurricane is heading her way or being stuck with a senile and incontinent grandma in the family mini van as you wait in a 10 mile long back up on the freeway with everyone else trying to evacuate at the same time?

The bottom line is that there is no guarantee that anyone will come around to help you right after a disaster, thus the need for preparedness. For those with no disabilities, this would be a difficult time, however for those who rely on others (or assistive devices or medication or other necessary things) it will make the situation many times worse. For those with disabilities and/or those who care for people with disabilities, the need to prepare thoroughly and immediately can not be overstated.

Five Recovery Steps After a Break-In

A young woman called me today. Seems her husband inadvertently left the garage door unlocked and someone wondered into her home and stole her purse. Fortunately nothing else was taken and by the details provided, it didn't sound like a professional thief who did this, more like bored kids. Here are five quick things I told her to do:

1. File a police report.
2. Re-key all of the locks (if the person has your keys it's a good bet they may return...maybe with a U Haul).
3. Cancel all credit cards and bank accounts then put a fraud alert on your credit report.
4. File an insurance claim (depending on what was taken)
5. Go about replacing what was lost (driver's license, library card, etc). Note that when doing this you will want to alert the agency that your cards/documents had been stolen.

Recovering from a theft or break-in will take much longer to heal psychologically however it is imperative that you take immediate action to deal with the immediate things that can ruin your life (such as identity theft, the possibility of further damage, etc). Fortunately, while the young lady was disturbed about the situation, she was able to think logically and be appreciative of the fact that no one was home when this happened, no one was injured or killed in the incident, and it was just stuff that was taken which can be replaced.

Five Things to Consider About Personal Preparedness Planning

It's been another busy week of conferences and meetings. There are many planning and preparedness things going on at the state and federal levels which pertain to overall infrastructure and public (this is public in general, not public as in you specifically) security and preparedness. While planning at this level is very global in scope, I am more concerned that each individual person is prepared which is something that can't possibly be done on a state or federal level. So it is up to YOU, individually, to be prepared to the highest level possible. Here are five things to consider when preparing you and your family for disaster:

1. Loss of key infrastructure, loss of assets, and a huge increase in demand for services will happen with a big disaster. Plan accordingly.
2. Depending on the size of the disaster you will be on your own for hours, days, or weeks. The bigger the impact of the disaster both geographically and population-wise, the longer you will be on your own.
3. Plan and drill for every possible disaster scenario that could impact you. Plans and theories are nice but if you don't drill and exercise your plans you won't pick up key things that you are missing (ie: a fire escape plan on paper and discussed with your family is good but unless you do an actual fire escape drill, you won't realize that the window in the guest room has been painted shut, the flashlight that is supposed to be under your son's bed is missing, and the basement smoke detector's battery is dead).
4. Disaster survival is often a team effort. Working as a team is much more efficient and effective than working individually, hence the need to plan and prepare with your family, friends, and neighbors. BTW, these are the people you will be relying on immediately after a disaster.
5. Besides luck, knowledge is the key to survival. Where can you get an H1N1 vaccination? Which way is the plume moving? What is the weather forecast for the upcoming week (this can be life critical in some cases)? How do you purify a gallon of water? Is it a couple of drops of bleach or a couple of cups? You get the idea...