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This article is about identifying, stocking, and using the post collapse equivalent of a pocket full of dollar bills. It should be enough that if someone is trading eggs or socks you can buy a pair without having to run back to the house, but not so much that if someone robs you at gunpoint, you've lost a major part of your savings. That's barter. I define trading being qualitatively different, because it involves much higher-value items. Trading involves some psychology on both sides, similar to buying a car or a house, as opposed to daily shopping. Also, it is...

Buy Three Months Of Food Stock Buy A Water Filter Buy A Small Solar Kit Store A Fuel Source Find Alternative Shelter Buy One Semi-Automatic Rifle Buy 1,000 Rounds Of Ammunition Approach One Friend Or Neighbor Learn One Barter Skill Grow A Garden Prepare Your Mind For Calamity

When people talk about "The End Of The World As We Know It” (TEOTWAWKI), it is almost always in ways of how we might prepare for the end, what equipment to have, how much food to store, and what skills we must learn. These are all valid points. Most people can agree on common standards in these areas, but what if the act of preparing for the end can cause danger to yourself and your family? I'm not mocking prepping; I'm a prepper myself. I'm simply stating that a prepper must be in the correct mindset to make choices they...

Electric grid compounds across the country have faced an uptick in unauthorized intrusions by unknown individuals, causing concern that the U.S. grid is “inherently vulnerable” to widespread sabotage, according to a recent oversight report issued by New Jersey’s Regional Operations Intelligence Center (ROIC), which monitors the threat level. Following at least eight “reports of intrusions at electrical grid facilities in New Jersey” from October 2013 until January 2014, the ROIC’s Intelligence & Analysis Threat Unit issued a report warning that the U.S. electrical grid is “inherently vulnerable” to attacks that could wipe out power across large swaths of the country.

This is the story of my family's experience during the ice storm that hit the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) of South Carolina and Georgia. My family and a network of friends, who live in the area, are reasonably prepared for any problems that may come our way with food and water storage, shelter, generators, et cetera. When the "ice hit the fan" in our area, we had a very real test of our preps that lasted five days, and some families were still without power seven days later.

The regulations would require hospitals, nursing facilities and group homes to have plans to maintain emergency lighting, fire safety systems, and sewage and waste disposal during power losses, and to keep temperatures at a safe level for patients. Those inpatient facilities would also be expected to track displaced patients, provide care at alternate sites and handle volunteers. Transplant centers would need to identify alternate hospitals for patients awaiting organs — a challenge because centers maintain different transplant criteria. Home health care agencies would be required to help patients create personalized disaster plans. Hospices and others caring for frail, homebound patients...

During the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, the U.S. Army built 28,000 MRAPs (Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected Trucks). Now the U.S. Army has announced that it is giving 13,000 of them away, for free. Who’s receiving the trucks? Homeland Security and U.S. Law Enforcement. Instead of mothballing these MRAPs, Homeland Security is evidently pre-staging a domestic army of militarized agencies, police and law enforcement. While Police and agencies say that all this military equipment from DHS grants will only be used against crime, the trust in many American alphabet agencies has been broken – now that we know some of the extent at...

I have seen countless disaster movies set 30+ years after the collapse of society where, somehow, people still have gasoline and diesel fuel to run their vehicles. I am a professional diesel mechanic, operating two vehicles retrofitted from their original gasoline engines to run on older mechanical diesel engines. I feel I could stay mobile longer because I would not be dependent on service stations to provide me fuel, and I could make my own

His story is not so unique, but I know much more stories about how folks got killed because they refused to leave their home (and run) when under attack by several people armed with firearms, while they were unarmed, or armed with pistol or knife, clearly outnumbered. I read every day on web sentences like “having this gun will save you when SHTF” or “with this BOB you can not lose when SHTF”. Of course this is marketing crap from people who want to sell you something. Please do not get yourself killed, or allow your family to die when...

What you have to keep in mind is that back in 2008 we had one of the greatest financial crises the United States ever faced. The system was on the brink of collapse at that point in time. What the Fed and the federal government did was spend every penny they could, anything they could create or anything they could guarantee. They did everything they could possibly do to keep the system from crashing. They guaranteed all bank accounts. So, they saved the system, but now what they did has not borne fruit. We have not seen an economic recovery....

Highly trained individuals are much more able to overcome the flight part of the response and stand their ground and fight. Equally, in a hopeless situation they’re training allows them to make the decision to retreat faster than the average person would. This should never be construed as cowardice, it is simply a tactical withdrawal that leaves them alive to fight another day. Sadly some of those we may call ‘The Golden Horde’ may also possess the ability to make decisions faster than the average person. Those used to living on their wits will cope better in flight or fight...

Ferfal viedo of his analyst of the Ukrain. Some good stuff.

A bon mot doing the rounds in post-commodities-boom South America is that Brazil is in the process of becoming Argentina, and Argentina is in the process of becoming Venezuela, and Venezuela is in the process of becoming Zimbabwe. That is a little harsh on Brazil and Venezuela.

There are certain factors you should consider when living through an extended emergency. It is common for your physical, mental and emotional state to be affected following a disaster. On top of that, you are hungry due to rationing food portions and still have to continue daily activities, physical labor, parenting, etc. If you haven’t put thought into the right types of food and the amounts needed to see you through the ordeal, then you could be setting yourself up for deficiencies in your diet. Repeatedly, I have told readers interested in leading a self reliant lifestyle to simulate a...

For most Americans the crisis is over. For the people of Syria, war rages on and the fight for survival continues. According to The Daily Mail, over 120,000 people are without food, water, medicine and essential services in Syria’s capital city of Damascus. Many are starving to death. Humanitarian aid has been slow to come amid complications with Syrian leadership, continued fighting in the country and the sheer size of the population requiring assistance. This is what it looks like when a country’s entire infrastructure is completely destroyed and its safety nets fall apart. People searching for resources as far...

In that short period before s. hit the fan with full force, people usually lost their lives because they did not recognize situation. People were out rioting, stealing, fighting. But all that was still like “moderate”. At that moment people still were “inside” the system, so we all were trying to hide more or less when looting was going on in neighborhood. Police were still arresting people and trying to control things. People were shooting each other yes, but it was not yet like full scale shooting and violence, mostly people were scaring each other with shootings. One of my...

These individuals were able to weather the storm in conditions ranging from basic temporary self-reliance to minor discomfort and inconvenience. They had a source of food, water, and heat. They had a means to defend themselves if necessary. They did not require supplies after the fact. They were also a distinct minority. Others still believed they were prepared . . . until the storm hit. They had generators but no gas. They had extra food but no way to cook it. They had a well but no way to pump the water. Some had fireplaces with no logs or firewood...

If an ice storm can cause this much panic in our major cities, what will a real crisis look like? The biggest news story in the United States right now is the "historic ice storm" that is hammering the South. Travel will be a nightmare, schools and businesses will be closed, and hundreds of thousands of people will lose power. In fact, it is being projected that some people could be without power for up to a week. But at the end of the day, the truth is that this ice storm is just an inconvenience. Yes, the lives of...

Purpose: To quote my spouse, “I didn't know when I married you that you were a bucket of crazy.” So essentially, this article is intended to help the spouse whom you love but whom is not a prepper. There are many hundred-plus page books written on this subject, but this primer can be read in less than an hour and is tailored to my personal situation. It is the hope of the author that others will create their own such document for family and friends using this as a starting point. Whether I am dead, geographically separated from her, injured,...

A man in Kansas lost all his feet toes after walking for an hour in the snow wearing only dress shoes. As I read the article (link), I wondered how many people could have easily been caught in the same situation. Some people do keep an emergency kit of some sort in their cars. Usually this is some kind of basic car breakdown kit or of bug out bag.