‘Modern survivalists’ dig in for disaster

Richmond Times - Dispatch ^ | May 2, 2009 | MELODY MCDONALD

[appleseed]

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Jack Spirko owns a media company, is married to a nurse and has a son in college. He has two dogs and lives in a nice house with a pool in a diversified neighborhood in suburban Arlington, Texas.

Spirko, 36, considers himself an average guy with a normal life.

But for the past few years, Spirko has been stockpiling food, water, gas, guns and ammunition. He also has a load of red wine, Starbucks coffee and deodorant stashed away.

"I refer to myself as a modern survivalist, which means I don't do without," Spirko explained. "I have a nice TV; I have nice furniture. We are not living in the sticks, but I take all of these things very seriously."

Spirko, an Army veteran and self-described "stark-raving-mad Libertarian," is part of a growing movement of people who are preparing for a disaster natural, economic or man-made. Referred to as "modern survivalists" or "preppers," they are taking steps to protect and provide for their families should something bad happen.

Theirs is a different breed of survivalist, far from the right-wing militants or religious extremists who hole up in bunkers, live off the land and wait for the apocalypse.

Preppers are regular people with regular jobs who decided after Sept. 11, after Hurricane Katrina or when their 401(k)s tanked that they can't rely on someone else to help them if something goes awry.

"We are normal people just like you," Spirko said. "We just understand that, sometimes, stuff goes wrong."

Donnie, 38, a McKinney resident who is an account executive with an international trade show organization, said Hurricane Katrina opened his eyes. He spent six weeks working as a paramedic in New Orleans.

[appleseed]

http://survivalblog.com/

Best site for survival info. I have found. Guns, ammo., flu epidemic, economics, food and storage, updated daily. Dude that runs the website has also written a book on survival.

[diamond6]

That’s a beauty, how much did it cost?

[Eagle50AE]

>>> I'm not the best on the computer but if we need to start one I'll figure out how to do it. <<<

here is the first of the current survival thread :

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1990507/posts?q=1&;page=1#1

here is part 2:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2181392/posts?q=1&;page=1#1

the first thread has 10k posts , thread 2 is around 7300+ posts

and you are all welcome there.

[ChocChipCookie]

The Bible also gives many examples of being prepared for difficult times and even says that someone who does not provide for his family is worse than an infidel. I think that many Christian “preppers” do think about what they will do if/when needy people come looking for food and supplies. One man I know buys old back packs and the like and has begun stocking them with things like an old blanket, #10 can of soup mix, first aid kit, etc. so he WILL have something to share.

[brushcop]

Those are reasonable thoughts PP. During these days of imagining folks coming in "teams" (soldiers assigned to DHS) for weapons checks and/or confiscation, I thought what if they were young men in BDUs with the well known 3rd Infantry Division patch on their sleeve, the same unit my son fought with for two deployments in Iraq?

So many that I got to know so well (and still know), what if they were young men like that, could I actually pull the trigger?

And so, at least for me in that scenario, the answer was...no.

[dynachrome]

http://www.survivalblog.com/

“Best site for survival info. I have found”

Ditto that.

[appleseed]

My wife thinks I’m wasting time and money. We are Christian and in fact my father inlaw is pastor of our Southern Baptist church. We believe that the only way to heaven is through our Lord Jesus Christ. As far as how we get there is up to faith.

My church and my family believe that we will be raptured out before the tribulation. I pray that will happen. However, to me, scripture is not totally clear on this as it is on other things. I have read the bible several times and in my humble opinion God’s word is true, every single word.

It’s like I tell my wife, I pray for the first train out. If we are meant to live through tribulation, we are ready. Powder is dry no matter which way God has planned.

[ctdonath2]

Start it up, count me in.
Could also make “survivallist” a defacto standard tag (like “banglist”).

And neardeathexperiments.com is a great forum.

[Freedom4US]

I bought a katadyn pocket filter in 88 at the REI store in Seattle. So, I never paid much attention to the catalogs when they say “not yet available for sale in Iowa”; for some reason state health officials will not allow sale of filters or purifiers, even though they have been signed off on by WHO, Red Cross, various .mil agencies, testing labs, etc. It would be interesting to know why that is.

[Squantos]

Here at our home we have a system of systems. Levels based on where we may be if trouble finds us at play , on the road, work or home. We have redundant abilities as we have encountered long term power outages due the remote nature of our property thus we have such tools that lets us sustain all our needs without external resources . We look at transportation, shelter, security, food production and storage, medical and health, information collection , income, fiscal resources etc ........

Simple plans made long ago that are not a knee jerk reaction of buying a bunch of gadgets. Wells, stocked fish ponds, wild game locally, gardening , properly collecting and managing a harvest . Never keeping all our resources in one arena in case we are forced to leave our primary safe haven of home.

Things turn to total crap in the next 10 minutes we could make it a few years shy of an all out attack from zombie biker criminal sorts . But we would make em hurt bad before they take what we have. A love of country, life, family , peace and privacy is our motivation.

Just my opinion of course.....

[Atlas Sneezed]

now you have this huge cache of food; meanwhile someone is going to find out and come a calling for help...

---

Especially if you tell a newspaper reporter about it in advance.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Great site.

Great book.

[Freedom4US]

Actually what you want to use is Iodine after filtering. This would ensure against viruses, something that chlorine isn't especially good at. The dosages needed after filtration are low enough to be underectable. The old "two tablets per quart" routine assumes the dirtiest raw water. Wilkerson, in Medicine for Mountaineering mentions this, its something like 1 tablet or equiv. dosage for every 4 gallons.

[appleseed]

I look at it like Noah. When he was building his ark he was ridiculed. He saw the impending doom and he did what he needed to according to God’s revelation to him.

As far as having stock piled food if and when the poop hits the fan - I’m ready. If events come to a time where it’s total anarchy, I feel by my preparation it is for a purpose, those who find me will be blessed 10 fold. Kinda like when Jesus fed the 5,000 with some fishes and bread and after everyone was done there was even more left over.

[Balding_Eagle]

the Bible tells us not to horde

I'm not at all familiar with that. Do you have a verse reference?

[Wiseghy]

I recently ordered one of the UV based light sterilizers. It can do dozens of gallons in short order.

It works very well, but you’ve got to stockpile the batteries or make plans for rechargables.

[mad_as_he$$]

Will you protect your hoard from the horde?

[WKUHilltopper]

Yeah, me too....

[WKUHilltopper]

Deal me in on this ping, if you start one...

[mad_as_he$$]

Several groups in the West are into the rotation thing by passing on lists of stuff that someone else may need. Sounds pointless to me but they claim it is successful. One thing is tagging a store that has say canned peaches on sale and wiping them out. Then meet for a swap where you trade for Spam or whatever else. They claim good success. Unfortunately they are very quiet about there program. Might be worth starting in your area with relatives or friends. Find the barter groups someone there will have the scoop.