Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance Both natural and man-made disasters have always occurred. There’s nothing novel about their occurrence, despite the disaster porn ranting of the media. In my own lifetime, I’ve experienced tornadoes, wildfires, housefires, hurricanes, blizzards, chemical spills/leaks, and terrorism impacts, as well as war. While it’s sometimes hard to fathom that there are adults in society who were not even born when 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina occurred, anyone over the age of ten or so has been exposed to the reality of these occurrences, even if just via media reports. This year is the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which was—for many Americans—the first really major natural disaster to enter their consciousness: a disaster from which full recovery and rebuilding has still not occurred, and likely never will. For many Americans, even those who followed President G.W. Bush’s advice after 9/11 and “went back to the mall,” or who sleepwalked through the hype around Y2K’s potential, Katrina served as a wake-up call, that nobody was coming to save them. While many hit the metaphorical “snooze” button and rolled over to go back to sleep, a percentage of those so awakened remained awake and aware to the reality that preparedness, as a guarantor of safety and survival, is an American heritage birthright and obligation. Over the last twenty years though, millions of Americans have again hit that “snooze” button and become complacent. Right and Left alike, the vast majority of Americans are content to sit idly by and expect someone else to come and save them. While it’s somewhat understandable, given the tax burden of the American citizen today, to expect that SOMETHING would be done to help, the response to Hurricane Helene, as well as the recent Los Angeles wildfires, should be illuminating.1 From political malfeasance and corporate greed, from threats of nuclear conflagration to insurance claim refusals; from relatively “minor” localized disasters to potential “world-ending” threats, planning ahead can make the difference, at least for you and your family, friends, and neighbors, between being a frightened, panicked victim, or a confidence, useful individual looking for work that needs to be done to contribute to the welfare and safety of those around you. It’s often been said in disasters, “look for those who are doing.” The best option you have for survival and success in a disaster is not to look for guidance from those who are doing, but to be the one doing, that others are looking for. This is the epitome of the theme discussed in my book Forging the Hero. In the military, whether for a short-term patrol, or the long-term preparedness of a unit to conduct it’s wartime missions, planning provides the guidance needed not just for specific actions, but also for the planning and preparation needed to be able and ready to achieve those specific actions. Having a plan will help you—and your kith-and-kin—successfully maximize the odds of successful survival for as many as possible, by providing specific SOP2s, allowing each of you to know what to do, and how to best do those tasks, as well as understanding what to expect from each other. Short-Term THEN Long-Term The panic created as a result of chaos and confusion in a disaster scenario are commonly as likely to result in catastrophe as the physical devastation of the event itself. Having a plan of action and response, prior to the beginning of need, can go a long way towards increasing your odds of survival and safety. What threats are the most likely to occur in your area? Understanding what threats are actually likely will go a long way towards helping you avoid waste of your limited time and energy. Where I live, for example, hurricanes are never going to be a threat, and tornadoes are vanishingly rare. Since we are entirely off-grid, for my family, even power outages are simply not a factor for us to need to consider as they are for most people. Winter storms, earthquakes3, and wildfires, on the other hand, are all common, regular occurrences here, both regionally and in our specific area, depending on season. It doesn’t make sense then, that we would focus our preparedness planning on hurricane threats then, does it? No more so than someone in Clearwater, Florida, or Baton Rouge, planning for a week-long blizzard! I’ve long been an advocate of the school of thought that “if you prepare for TEOTWAWKI, then any lesser, localized disaster is no more than a minor inconvenience.” I still stand by that conviction, but I’ve come to recognize that, for someone who hasn’t been seriously considering the subject for years—or even decades—THAT can be overwhelming to the point of paralysis. That paralysis results in preparedness for even less encompassing disasters ends up not occurring. On the other hand, here in our area, preparing to be snowed in for a week or more at a time, is a regular occurrence, at least for those of us in remote rural locations.4 Learning to plan for these “minor” emergencies serves two important purposes: (1) it prepares you for these often frequent occurrences, so you’re not in the way, nor are you suffering needlessly over stupidity. (2) It teaches you the processes and procedures needed to develop the mental framework to prepare for more severe, reaching disasters. A young NCO team leader learns to plan, organize, and conduct “hip pocket” training long before he is promoted to platoon sergeant or first sergeant, where he is responsible for helping to develop and execute planning and training for the higher echelons of platoon and company. This serves the exact same purpose: by learning to execute smaller tasks, you learn the patterns and procedures needed to execute larger, exponentially more complex tasks. The simple fact is, once an emergency commences, it’s too late to plan for that emergency. At that point, you’re stuck reacting. Whether you are reacting in blind panic, as things occur, in the often futile hope that something will work, or you are reacting to anticipated stimulus, with planned, effective courses-of-action, is dependent on whether you planned and prepared or not. Sit down—preferably with your spouse and any children in the household old enough to contribute to the discussion—and consider what the top three most likely local disasters are, so you can make effective plans to confront those, when they occur. Packing a rifle and a plate carrier in your vehicle every time you leave the house, is utterly fucking pointless, if you don’t even bother keeping extra blankets and bottled water in your car in case of a breakdown or emergency that precludes getting home… Too many Americans today try entirely too hard to shield their children from reality. Obviously, a major part of the responsibility of being a parent IS to protect our children, but keeping them blind to reality does not achieve that. Instead, it leaves them victim to circumstance. Prepare your children by having them contribute to the planning and preparation, at whatever level they’re capable of. That is probably a significantly greater level than you anticipate. It can range from helping to brainstorm solutions to helping organize and pack equipment. When it’s time to act on the planning, your children—from toddler to teen—are less likely to panic, and more likely to help you and themselves, if they’ve been given ownership in the process. As you plan responses, identify “battle drills” and create actionable plans that can be practiced by all members of the family. As a family, discuss your plans. In our wildfire response plan, an example of this can be seen in our plans for gathering and moving the horses. While I am hooking up the trailer and moving it to a loading position, the older two kids’ task is to catch, halter, and tie the horses in the corral, so they’re ready to be loaded when I get the trailer hooked up and moved. Meanwhile, the youngest, the boy, is tasked with getting the other animals caught and tied, and start moving their food and dishes to a pre-determined point to be loaded in the truck as well. Discuss your intended rendezvous locations, in case the family is not all together when disaster looms; discuss emergency contacts, both in the area and outside of the area. Discuss specific courses-of-action that every member of the family should take, in the case of each of the three emergency scenarios. Again, toddler to teenager—especially if they’re EVER away from your immediate physical control, such as at daycare or school, or even with a babysitter, while you are doing something else—involve your kids in this planning. Allow them to express their concerns and ask questions: allow them, and encourage them, to contribute ideas and possible solutions, no matter how initially outlandish those may seem. In a worst case scenario, you can always take the time to explain why their concern is groundless, or why their solution to a scenario may be sub-optimal. That’s how they learn. Important Considerations Ask some critical questions during your planning: Read the rest and join the conversation, here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/gener...paign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link Continue reading...
