Survival Preparedness

09/04/05 | Me

[tsmith130]

I can't think of a better place with better people to start a discussion on recommendations for survival preparedness. A list of items that people here find necessary to survive during a disaster. As we've all seen this is our personal responsibility. I'm sure there are sites all over the internet with this information but Freepers are the best...so have at it.

[Old Student]

"good tasting MRE's Isn't that an oxymoron?" "Meals Refused by Ethiopians" and "Meals, Ready to Eat: two lies for the price of one," are my favorite descriptions of what most MRE's actually taste like. Of course, I'm something of an old-timer, and I understand some of the newer MRE's are actually edible. I "fondly" remember the dehydrated pork patty -- looked like a hockey puck, tasted like my dog's dry food smells. I do remember C-rations, from when my dad was in the Army National Guard, and I liked those much better than MRE's.

[Old Student]

Ok, send me back to HTML bootcamp...

[Utah Girl]

Thanks for the ping. Here is my thread I started after 9/11. It will go right to post #88, which is the list of what I have in my standard 72 hour kit that I put together several years ago (way before 9/11.) It sits under a table in my living room (camoflauged by a tablecloth.) It's right by the front door, so I can grab it and go.

I have put a couple more items in it after seeing Katrina this last week. More cash, 2 more paperback books, and a very complicated needlework kit. I HATE being bored. Anyway, any questions or anything about the thread, let me know.
Emergency Preparedness (year's supply of food, 72 hour kit)

[tmp02]

Nice gun! I know that the Delta Force carry Mossberg 590s. - 8 + 1

[Professional Engineer]

Thanks for the link. I had bookmarked the thread, but had lost it during a series of computer crashes.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Shotguns are best for facing a mob or crowd. (That can be as few as one or two opponents, actually.)Pistols are for close-up, after they've gotten in too close for the shotgun, as a go-to-h3ll option. NOT recommended for primary defense, so if your funds are limited, go for the shotgun first.

Some may have heard of this round, I don't remember the maker, but my agency uses them.

The old standard was one inch of spread for every foot when it came to 12 gauges. But that's not applicable with this round. Instead of 9 shot inside it had 8. The first two are adhesed together inline and the other six are adhesed to them in a ball. The shot are all held together in one clump with the two inline shot leading the way. It all stays together until it hits something, at which point it seperates. It is good to 3" @ 50 yards if I remember correctly. So now you can have a shotgun round accurate enough to use in a crowd and the devestation on the target is comparable to arms length shot with a 12 gauge, but out to something like 15 yards. Then the effect is still extraordinary, but the loss of energy is such that it's not as spectacular.

I'll have to ask Tuesday what the make and name of the round is again.

[Squantos]

Tac 8 from remington ?

http://www.remingtonle.com/ammo/ss_tac8.htm

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

I don't thinks so. It would show up as on large shot on a paper target. It seperates when it hits a mass.

[Squantos]

Hmmmmm I've done this by cutting the exterior of the shell and modified our own such animal. We cut almost through the exterior of the hull down to the cup. When ya fire it the round travels as a slug and then kind of "dispersed" when it hit a harder target. Didn't know a round was designed and sold as such.....please let me know brand etc when ya get the skinny on it.....please !

[little jeremiah]

check in later.

[Jeff Chandler]

Batteries and water seem to be the first things people wished they had.

Batteries I can understand, but water? They had plenty of time to fill up every container available, and those in houses had 30-50 gallons of water in their water heaters.

[Old Student]

"I've done this by cutting the exterior of the shell and modified our own such animal. "

My dad used to be a commercial tuna fisherman, and they did this for killing sharks. Gave pretty good range, and some serious striking power.

Seems to me Glazer Safety slugs do much the same thing.

[Old Student]

"Batteries I can understand, but water? They had plenty of time to fill up every container available, and those in houses had 30-50 gallons of water in their water heaters."

Most water heaters are on the first floor, and unless you cut off the water into the tank, they tend to get contaminated if something happens to the supply pressure, particularly ruptures in the ground, where the line acts like a siphon hose. Also, a lot of the people in NOLA live in an appartment, and many appartments have a boiler system that distributes hot water to the apartments, so they don't have the tank in their quarters. Another gotcha is that many of the older houses have much smaller tanks, and some have demand heaters with no tank at all.

Besides, ain't the gubmint supposed to take care of them? Some people have never thought that the Government, when and if it is even competent, is going to be awful darned busy in a disaster of this magnitude, natural or otherwise.

[GiovannaNicoletta]

bookmark

[Smokin' Joe]

There is a lot already mentioned,but I hadn't seen this: Chlorine Bleach, or tincture of iodine, for use as a water purifier. Halozone Tablets are another option, and PUR.

Never discard useable water bottles.

Water can often be found, but rendering it drinkable is another matter. Avoid water which smells of chemicals or is found near industrial sites, especially if it has a rainbow sheen on top.

article on water purification efficacy

How-to purify water using relatively common chemicals

[Smokin' Joe]

I reccommend this, but I'd still use it within 180 days. Sta-bil

After it is older, you have to blend it with fresh fuel and performance can suffer.

[Dick Bachert]

...or your BLANKIE!

[Smokin' Joe]

Thanks for that link!

[Lurker]

You're welcome.

L

[Noumenon]

Thanks for the reference. Interesting stuff at first glance. Roger that WRT the protocols they'll use.

Heads up - there could be a couple of Punch Rare Corojos headed your way...