What is it that makes you prep? Past, present or predictions for the future??

[Angie]

Sarah Connor is pretty much the raddest chick ever.....If I was a dude I'd have a huge crush on her....but since I am a mom she's pretty much my idol (except the getting locked up in the psycho ward part....)

Me too. I think of her doing the pull-ups in jail. That was hot, and inspiring. I look around sometimes and think, my god, everyone is so fat, there is no way they could protect themselves or anyone else from a threat, foreign or domestic. I don't want to fall in that category.

Watched Red Dawn with my 16 year old yesterday, BTW

 

[FortunateSon]

Most likely to occur, in my opinion.

1. Natural Disaster.

2. Economic collapse.

3. And, shortly after the economic collapse, a breakdown of society where gangs of thugs rule the streets and the government controls everything else, including our ability to provide for and protect ourselves and our families. If you aren't already prepared it will be too late to have any control over your own destiny.

 

[MissJ]

P.s.
I'm prepping for two types of hard times.

Type 1: Total collapse
In a total collapse scenario I don't go to work. You keep watches around your home 24/7 and rely only on what your group and immediate community can do to survive. In this scenario you don't concern yourself with "Rent" and here is no structure to maintain that financial system.

Type 2: Economic hardship and marshall law. As long as you are within the regimes regulations you can continue to work and provide for the family, but self reliance helps because there will be limited resources and people scrambling to get them any way possible.

The type I'm not prepared for is where we all lose our jobs, yet the big brother nanny state is fully intact and makes slaves of us all and I lose my ability to maintain our home and we go live in a tent city somewhere. Drones watch everyone, the TSA monitors all road traffic and DHS polices all stores and gas stations.

So I'm prepping for moderate or total collapse. Something in between would be disastrous for us.

You are very wise, Jack.

I think that at least #2 is extremely probably to happen in my lifetime (I am 31). I'll be pleasantly surprised if it DOES NOT.

#1 is also probable enough that it is wise to prep for....though no amount of preps will be enough for that....you'll need some luck and some smarts and some divine intervention to make it through #1....but still best to prepare than not. If #1 happens I'll be super bummed out, but not exactly surprised....

#3 (the nanny state) is unfortunately what we are slowly marching toward unless something drastic changes. It is the scariest because you really can't do anything about it, like the old saying "You can't fight city hall". In Katrina families who WERE prepared to ride out the storm were forced to leave their homes and amimals behind and were stripped of their weapons and ammo....that could happen to ANY of us if the government continues to "protect us from ourselves"

 

[M67]

History and the military have been my best and favorite teachers.

History has taught me what can go wrong or right and also, the hows and whys.
The military taught me how to deal with situations and ways to exploit them or get out, with the least amount of damage.

I teach these lessons to my children and show them examples and real world applications. I show them how to, improvise, adapt and overcome. I also teach them about things i hope they will never have to do or use, but should the need arise, they will know what needs to be done.

Also learn to live with nature and all it can provide. With the proper knowledge, the outdoors can give you all you need to live in relative comfort.

The more options you have, the better off you are. Never put all of your eggs in one basket or all could be lost.

That's my .02 cents worth.

 

[Burt Gummer]

A lot of people have a misconception of us people that forsee an economic collapse, like we want it to happen. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It IS coming, it is just a matter of when. If it is after I die I will be a be a happy camper. It is going to be horrific beyond comprehension and will make the Great Depression look like a blip on the radar.

No one in their right mind would WANT it to happen. But unfortunately the various financial elite, like crows picking at a carcass, are going to make it a certainty. My guess, and I've spent thousands of hours reading and researching, is that the time frame for the collapse will be fall 2013 to spring 2015. Many believe the collapse will happen this fall.

I don't subscribe to the this fall timeline only because the powers that guide our lives enjoy the political puppet show that they put before us. They also desperately want a Rothschild central bank in all nations. That is why we are being propagandized to go on our spree of nation building, which in reality is bank building.

Whether it is now, or five years from now (that fly right by), anyone that does even minimal research that isn't spoon fed by the banker MSM must know our time is up.

I believe they still have a use for us as they billy club as we go marauding around the world. If it were not for that, they would have flushed us down the toilet a decade ago. It took them decades to mold a nation of non-thinking lemmings and they are not quite ready to pull the plug on that just yet. At a time of the financial elite families' choosing, we will be turned into a third world cesspool. That I know for sure.

It is too late for the USA. Our empire is going to collapse. We ignored all the warnings our founding fathers gave us about the financial elite and now we will pay the price.

Now is the time to prepare on an individual level for what is coming. Don't waste your breath or effort on the political puppet show or other scripted nonsense. You are spoon fed that Matrix of lies to keep you busy. The fact is you have no real freedom, no real choice at all, so get over it. Swallow your pride, realize you are a slave and start taking care of numero uno.

Don't forget that these indeed are the last of the good times. Try your best to enjoy your life, your friends, your love in the here and now.

 

[MissJ]

I pretty much agree with your last post, Burt even though it sounds like doom and gloom; the truth is that it's reality. We don't have to like it because reality doesn't care if we like it, or understand it or agree with it. Reality is what it is- plain and simple.

The only part I slightly disagree with is below:

I believe they still have a use for us as they billy club as we go marauding around the world. If it were not for that, they would have flushed us down the toilet a decade ago. It took them decades to mold a nation of non-thinking lemmings and they are not quite ready to pull the plug on that just yet. At a time of the financial elite families' choosing, we will be turned into a third world cesspool. That I know for sure.

I don't really think that the financial elite EVER want us to catapult into a 3rd world nation- I think they want to slowly pick our carcass clean like flesh eating ants and it is in their own best interest to keep us as placated and misinformed as long as possible to faciliate the feast. The best parasites don't kill their host; otherwise they lose their meal ticket.

The scary part is I don't think the financial elite are in complete control of the power they are wielding....much like the Fukishima nuclear reactor....it is a marvel of human achievement....until something goes wrong then it is a destructive power that it's creators cannot control.

I DO think that the financial elite are plotting to rob us blind through global banking schemes, raping central govermnent coffers, and ponzi schemes like social security. But I don't think all of their scheming can keep the very fragile house of cards on the knife's edge indefinitely.

SOMETHING will happen beyond their control that ends the whole charade....whether it's natural disaster, crop failures, political unrest, etc it really won't matter. It WILL be something....we are in a hair trigger situation....and when that shot is fired; the financial elite won't have actually PULLED the trigger or WANTED the shot to be fired....but they'll be wearing Kevlar from head to toe and we'll all be screwed.

 

[Burt Gummer]

Insiders have said there eventual plan since the 60s includes our destruction. They gave us false faith, national pride and fiat currency to keep us ants moving around in the glass house but it is just a matter of time before they get out the Raid.

 

[Colin]

We all and I post several on movie, tv shows, news articles about why we prep, but what about lifes experiences??

Past, present and your predictions for future needs.

I will start years ago I was out of work in the early 80's killed my savings account. Unemployment ran out and I finally got a job at minimum wage working security 78 -80 a weeks, after rent utilities and car payment there not much left, my meals mostly consisted of oatmeal, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, hot dogs and eggs.

several years ago, I was out of work again and was cleaning out horse stalls, doing farm chores, with cows for land lord to work off my rent, my meals consisted of whatever I could scrape up, I remember one evening when all there was anywhere in the house with any nutrition were several small packets of sugar and that was what I had for dinner that night.

That is the primary reasons I prep I told myself when I got back to working, I would immediately put extra food aside and as i got debts paid off, I would put the things aside a person needs to sustain themselves.

Even then I saw our country in bad shape, now I see it even worse shape and declining with, with invisible price increases on goods, like a 34 ounce jar og planters nuts at samsclub for $14.58 when they had been selling for at least the last 10 years a 40 ounce jar, and two weeks prior I paid $14.58 for a 40 ounce jar.

I see lots of drastic cuts coming from the government to cut debt or either a lot more waste and deeper causing higher unemployment, either way the next months look very unstable to me. And the next three year for sure look financially challenging for out nation.

I know alot of you have similar stories, if you do not mind, share a few, I am sure someone will be motivated to prepare even a little by your story or reasons.

 

[erudne]

Times may change but human nature never will, that's reason enough

 

[The Heretic]

Times may change but human nature never will, that's reason enough

That is pretty much what it all boils down to

 

[Siglvr]

I prep because that's the way I was raised. It's traditionally called planning. My ancestors experiences have been passed down. Times are great right now, and may they always be so. However, as noted in this thread above, not only can one can never be sure, but history teaches that something usually goes bad sooner or later.

When my grandfather got back from WW1 and became the owner of a stock trading firm, he never thought that would all disappear in a puff of smoke and he'd one day be re-winding motors for Sears for a living, and damned happy to have the work.

When my mother married my dad, he was one of the most successful folks she had ever met. President of the college fraternity, 4 year letterman in high school, had gotten rapidly promoted during ww11 and he'd gotten a fantastic job at high pay with a large company after college. They had 2 babies and the 3rd was on the way when he just up and died from a brain tumor. Etc Etc on and on.

 

[The Heretic]

My grandparents were migrant farmers during the Great Depression and my parents grew up during that time.

One of the first things I learned as an adult is that stuff happens, and a person needs to be ready for it. Usually "it" is some kind of financial "emergency" - the car breaks, the roof leaks, you lose your job, your child needs braces - that kind of stuff you can absolutely count on happening if you are an adult.

And yet, almost nobody prepares for it, and it usually catches most people by surprise. Why should it though? It shouldn't be any surprise to anybody that mechanical things eventually break, that kids need maintenance too, and that some percentage of people every day lose their job - that sooner or later you will probably be one of those people.

So at the very least, plan on those things happening.

Then look around you and see what else is happening. There are floods, forest fires, earthquakes, wind, snow and ice storms, hell, even volcanos. These things happen, and they happen here and other places. I've been around to see all of this and more - sometimes yearly, sometimes every five or ten years, sometimes once in a lifetime.

It shouldn't be a surprise that these things happen too. Plan on it - it is just plain foolish to say "it can't happen to me" - and yet, most people do.

Do I prepare for the gov. coming around in black helicopters and pushing people into work camps? No - despite the fact that some people feel that it is inevitable, I haven't seen it happen personally, although I know it has happened in the past, and has happened in other countries. I do allow that it could happen here, I just don't think it is very likely.

Mostly, beyond the things I know happen sometimes - financial emergencies, natural disasters, etc. - I prepare for what I see happening in the long term, that I know has been happening and will continue to happen for the foreseeable future (while I or my child still live anyway):

The human population on earth continuing to grow, continuing to pollute, continuing to use up natural resources like they are infinite, when in fact those resources are shrinking daily.

Arable land, land to simply occupy, energy, clean water - these things are needed to survive, but they are increasingly decreasing on a per person basis. It is such simple math that it never ceases to amaze me that most people deny it is happening; more people, the same amount or decreasing resources equals less resources per person.

It is a simple grade school math problem; if you have ten oranges and ten people, how many oranges will each person have if you divide them up evenly? One of course. What if you have 20 people? Half an orange.

The same is true of arable land. Land to build houses on. Water. Energy. By way of those things, food.

At some point, we will, if we haven't already, reach a breaking point - the "carrying capacity" of the earth. Thereafter we won't be able to feed everybody - there simply won't be enough land, water and energy, to grow food for them. We already have serious potable water problems. We already kill tens of thousands of people in foreign countries over energy (oil). In some countries people are killing other people over land, water and food.

It is simple human nature - we will not stop growing our population by choice. Even though in the USA we have made great strides towards controlling our population, the rest of the world - the parts that make up the billions of other humans, have not stopped growing. And in the USA, we use more resources per person, than they do anyway.

So that is what I really prepare for. The other stuff - the day to day life of any adult - I do the same that any wise adult would do.

The resource issues, I try to see ahead, that in a decade or two, having a somewhat self-sufficient parcel of land, with its own water source, shelter that doesn't rely solely on external sources of energy, that needs very little energy, land that can grow most of the food we need to survive. All of that without debt - that these things will be more than being "nice to have", more than "being prepared" for an eventuality. These things will be a necessity to survive, possibly without struggle, most likely without barely eking out a bare existence.

And if by some miracle, as some seem to rely upon happening because they want to stick their heads in the sand and believe what their political "leaders" tell them, that this isn't really happening (because those leaders are paid to say that by their corporate masters, who in turn don't care about next year, only about this quarter's earnings), that some miracle of technology or science will eliminate this growing problem - then fine, I will just sit back in my rocking chair on my porch and enjoy my homegrown peaches and beef roast, while those relying on others to solve this problem for them with the miracle of science are spooning up another serving of soylent green for their kids and themselves to eat by candlelight while they drink their polluted water.

YMMV

 

[edison bulb]

Major concerns of mine:

- Cascadia Subduction Zone rupture 9.0+ earthquake
- WWIII
- Economic collapse

It's important to plan for these events because survival increases dramatically when one has, in fact, prepared. Water. Food. Weapons. Those who lack these three elements will die quickly. Those who have these three elements will live much longer.

 

[erudne]

(Source: rtrixie, via kaching)

 

[Medic!]

I'm a gun nut. And needed a way to justify it!






What! I'm being honest!

 

[edison bulb]

I'm a gun nut. And needed a way to justify it!






What! I'm being honest!

The most honest answer here!

 

[ROC]

I was lucky and grew up with the involvement of four depression era grandparents.

 

[IheartSig]

I prepare for emergencies. I prepare because people rely on me to keep them safe, fed and sheltered.

I prepare for other things because my life experience has shown me that preparing for certain events, and being as ready as you are able, is certainly preferable to trying to survive without the preparation.

I know what its like to be hungry and unsure of when I will eat again. I know what its like to be truly cold, or so hot that basic function seems like a large request. I know what its like to be down to 1 magazine and not know when a resupply will come.

I know what its like to be scared.

I want to not ever feel those things again, I certainly want to lessen that burden for my family.

 

[jdaddy15911]

I prep for life, but I don't really believe in stockpiling a secret stash of food and supplies. I keep a lot of everything on hand, but I use it. In my garage, I keep 5 gallon buckets of beans, rice, noodles, flour, oatmeal, etc. we use them, but refill the backups as we go. None of it ever goes bad in the 3-6 months it takes us to use it. My hobbies are centered around prepping, but I do them for fun too. I reload, I distill moonshine, er, ethanol for fuel, I smoke meat and make jerky in a propane smoker, I hunt, I fish, I tinker with an old 4 wheel drive truck. And I am working on a forge for blacksmithing. I don't have a bunker, or a cabin in the mountains, but I know where a couple are. I like to keep the things I do practical. It seems a little crazy to me to prep for an invasion by China, or an EMP, when a year of unemployment, or three weeks without power (both things that have already happened to me) are more likely, and nearly as serious of disasters. I need enough supplies to feed us, keep us warm, and clothe us for an extended period (roughly 6 months). I need enough bullets to defend myself and my family (not necessarily to fight a war) during a period of civil unrest, I need enough friends and family nearby, that we can pool our resources if need be. And that's it.

 

[salmonriverjohn]

TX68,, close pass to earth on March 5th.
As close as 11000 miles? Keep in mind that JPL and NASA measure center of earth to center of object.
You may want to look this one up, I'm not saying or predicting we're going to take a meteor hit here, but it is believed by folks. @NASA that its possible that the impact in Russia was caused by a tag along chunk of this meteor that came by on its last pass in 2013.
This object is approx. x2 larger.

The past is a good predictor of the future. hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, floods, loss of health or employment, recession/depression... You name it. Any and all have happened in the past and can happen in the future, and it's been said that chance/change prefers the prepared.

To be prepaired for ALL possible disasters and contingincys isn't very realistic, and is improbable but,
To not be prepaired to take care of yourself and loved ones in a natural disaster where you may be on your own for days, weeks or possibly longer is asking for a man made disaster,,, your own.