The Godfather of Preppers

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 7/23/2019 | R Alexander

[w1n1]

Q&A With James Talmage Stevens On Preparedness - James Talmage Stevens knows more about the preparedness movement than probably anyone alive. He's been a leader in it since 1974, when he wrote the book, Making The Best of Basics. The handbook has sold over 800,000 copies since hitting the shelves at Kmart during the gas crisis. Over 500 pages long, it's considered an encyclopedia on preparedness, everything you need to know. It is even made out of rice paper, in case you need to eat it.
Talmage tells me we’re undergoing a “doom boom” currently, due to the lingering poor economy. There are all kinds of things popping up related to preparedness – even prepper dating sites. Talmage has been putting food away since he wrote the book – and it's still good. I asked him what are the most important things people need to know about preppers.

RA - What is the prepared movement?

JAMES TALMAGE STEVENS - It's being ready for inevitable catastrophic situations. You can’t go back to kindergarten, you know too much now, you’ve got the knowledge that things are going to happen. You’ve been there, you’ve done it. Your life has changed forever as you knew it, and it will change again. Most TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) is positive. If you possess additional knowledge, you’re now more responsible, if you care to use this knowledge.
TEOTWAWKI doesn’t really mean the end of the world. It means things change for you positively or negatively, mostly positive, such as getting married, having kids, etc. It’s not about just being prepared for a catastrophic world event, but life catastrophes, e.g. your car gets hit in the parking lot. It allows you to continue as if nothing happened. Of course, no one is truly self-sufficient except God. Look at it as triages that need to be sustained.
For example, a garden is composed of the three Ps: produce, prepare and produce food. Unfortunately, people aren’t focusing on the right words. Not everyone can plant a garden on the third floor of an apartment building. But you can have indoor plants on your countertop. It also provides healthier, raw food with more nutrition; and as long as you can flush your toilet, you don’t have to leave your home other than to get water.

RA - How should gun owners keep their guns prepared?

JTS - I was raised shooting squirrels and rabbits, and I served in the military. People should have guns if they want to. I hate people like Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) who drive around with their armed guards – but I can’t. There is no legislation that will ever stop people from using guns. We have a right and should take advantage of it. I have a .22 long rifle, an AR-15, a 12-gauge shotgun, a .45 pistol and a .32 Franz Stock pistol.

RA What do you think about the recent hype over a zombie apocalypse?

JTS Do you know what zombie means? Hollywood has created this image that a zombie is an undead person. It ain’t gonna happen, God's in charge of this earth, and nobody's rising from the grave. Now here’s what zombie means: If you were addicted to something, you’d do anything for a fix. You would lose control of your ability to be rational. Similarly, in the case of a massive disaster, if you needed water or food, you'd do anything to get it. If you know anything about the psychology of predators, they almost always go for the weakest and easiest target. Read the rest of the godfather of preppers.

[LaRueLaDue]

“[...] lingering poor economy [...]”? Seriously?

[treetopsandroofs]

Well, he did write the book in 1974...

[Lurker]

“JTS Final thoughts: It’s our responsibility as parents and citizens to take care of our families, to teach and feed them. It’s not a governmental responsibility. The government was doing it for awhile, and back then they did a good job. Fairly good lifestyle 50 years ago, easy society to live in. My childhood was idyllic. Now it’s very difficult, they keep whittling away with what made it great.

We’ve let other people run our lives for so long that we don’t recognize the fact that we’ve given up rights. Today there’s much legislation you can’t buy a chainsaw without a permit. It’s Satanic, it’s evil, it’s not just opportunism, or free enterprise gone mad.

Do not rely upon first responders. You are your first responder, your first line of defense. You can’t always depend on your neighbor, or your partner, professor, school. We now live in a changed world.“<\b>

Some sage words here.

L

[petro45acp]

Thought Mel Tappan was the GF of preppers (survivalists back in the 80s), but he was a student/cohort of Stevens.

Mel passed in 1980, “...still living...” from the article is correct. He used to type articles in G&A, SoF, and I think Backpacking magazines.

“...it’s not if, but how much one should be paranoid...”

KYPD

[petro45acp]

“...but he was a student/cohort of Stevens.”

OOPS, wrong Stevens....Don Stephens.

Emily Litella lives!

Chagrined....

KYPD

[Pollard]

I thought it was James Wesley, Rawles but I see both he and Mel Tappan have wikipedia pages but Tappan was a lot older so I guess that would make him GF.

Never heard of this James Talmage Stevens and he doesn’t have a wiki page so I guess he’s not that popular. In fact, a general web search only shows that he wrote a book.

[AppyPappy]

We need to be ready for Y2K.

[gundog]

Another potentially useful read from the '70's is Dolly Freed's 'Possum Living.

[moovova]

"Talmage tells me we’re undergoing a “doom boom” currently, due to the lingering poor economy.

Doowat?

[King_Corey]

Simply put, if you live in a huge metro area near downtown, you are toast if anything really goes bad. Look up golden horde. In the city it will be a meat grinder. Outside in the burbs you are not able to do anything real except shoot. In the outer bands you have a small chance.
EMP it will be a walking horde.
Read “One Second After”
Read more books
You are on your own or in a small group or town may pull together. But otherwise, you will die, painfully, and brutally. Odds are not in your favor. Your bugout is not good enough. Sorry, but misery will only be the result. And I’m prepared, chickens, horses, donkey, water, small farm/ranch and I’m still screwed. If you don’t have anything, you are really done in the first day. I expect I’ll last hours, maybe a few days before being overrun.

[Georgia Girl 2]

You are forgetting one thing in your “I’m screwed” philosophy. That is human nature.

You are correct that people near downtown are screwed and the burbs will be almost as bad.

But the truth of the matter is that if we experience a lights out situation or other terrible event the average Joe will sit tight in their house waiting for the govt to come rescue them. By the time they get desperate enough to set off for unfamiliar rural territory they will be too weak from hunger to hoof it 75 miles to your little farm.

Another truthbomb is that within a few weeks of lights out or whatever the build up of uncollected waste and non working sewers and no clean water will result in dysentery that will kill more people than lack of food.

As far as roving gangs of bikers and gangbangers go they will be rapidly picked off by all the desperate people with guns that are trying to defend their last five cans of chili. Not to mention that every exit off the interstate into small rural towns will be barricaded and manned by armed residents.

So actually you likely won’t be screwed.

[metmom]

And the further out you live, the better.

I agree.

Most people have NO idea what to do when their cell phones go out. NO WAY they are going to be able to survive in the wild for more than a few days.

I see so many people in the winter seriously underdressed for the cold.

If they try to trek it out of a city that has become uninhabitable, they will be hard pressed to find food, water, and shelter. Especially if it happens in winter. The cold will take MANY of them as many people do not have means to heat their home other than gas or electric.

But I also agree that even being prepped does not guarantee anything. It may only prolong it.

The thing to be really ready for it to meet your Maker, which ALL of us are going to face some day or another.

[King_Corey]

I’m 33.6 miles from Downtown Houston Texas just off of a major highway. If they come, they will get riddled with bullets for miles and miles. But eventually, they will come. It’s worse if there is gas and running cars/trucks. That gives people some range, but the roads will be clogged with out of gas cars and the ditches will be full of them too. Bikers and Gang members will get wiped out. I agree disease will take a huge toll.
I actually think the best escape is on a sailboat out into the gulf of Mexico and head to someplace less inhabited. And if America goes down, I expect a chain reaction to the rest of the 1st world and a lot of tech Asia will get unrest. And eventually even Texas will run out of ammo and bodies stacked and rotting won’t be good for health either. Small pockets of people won’t take in refugees unless they are known to them. It will be brutal as I said.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Well eventually we will all meet our maker and thats a valid point.

But in the meantime the truth is that if you want to avoid being in the first die off get thee to a rural retreat.

The most realistic scenarios of what might happen will likely require you to be totally self sufficient for a year or two. The NE power grid and the Western grid are not connected. If we go lights out one end of the country the other end will still have power.

If the New Madrid fault goes and takes out all the bridges over the Mississippi river we will still get gas, oil and grocery supplies but they will have to be trucked around God’s green acre or flown in to the East. So you need to be at least prepped enough to get through supply disruptions.

[metmom]

We live in the east and just closed on our very prep friendly digs in a very prep friendly state, which is NOT the People’s Republic of NY.

:)

[LaRueLaDue]

Ah! I thought this was from the interview...

[King_Corey]

I work on power and power grid stuff. I will say that many areas can isolate themselves. The problem will be breakdown. Power isn’t the only thread that can pull the place apart. We have lost our common civility. Not much will stop a mass issue. Food, fuel, power, water, mass disease, and WMD, any of these if in short supply for a long enough time will start the spark of a big fire.
Localized natural disasters are not enough, but a big enough disaster with carry on effects will.

As for grid isolation, most areas can cut off all connections given time and start generation for a decently large area. Small systems can keep important infrastructure running as long as they have fuel for their small gen facilities. Bigger drains like industrial will be offline, but they may be able to power on their co-gen facilities and provide local power.

The biggest most complex gadgets mankind has ever made is the electric grid systems.

[Georgia Girl 2]

I hear ya. We are rehabbing our house for sale and heading to the N GA mountains.

[metmom]

Love your tagline.