I'll add the Start Here First forum as described above. I say we start adding some thoughtful threads to it based around the categories talked about and see where it goes. We can always edit / cut and paste as necessary and I think that while we're working on this, discussion and chat within those separate threads is fine and welcomed. Once we have our topics nailed down, I'll go back in and edit out the comments and critique. So, here's your shot at assisting a total deer in the headlights newbie in beginning their journey towards squaring away their family for the storm...
I suppose I could start this by saying that to prep foods etc is very important, it should also be known that having a reliable source of back up or independant power is equally necessary to contininue living in any kind of "normal" life style. Of course as far as I am concerned , living completely off the power grid is the only way to go. So you find yourself totally independant of the oil and electric thing altogether from the git go. As gas goes up, so will electricity and instead of crying about it every month when the statements come in, start doing something about it now. You can build it small so you get a chance to learn how it works and why, and then just continue adding as money permits. Yes it costs money. But it is also great that I don't get a bill every month in the mail.
Starting out I thought "Beans, Band aids, & Bullets" in that order. Starting off with food & water (Beans), figure out what you want to be prepped for, 1day (you wouldn't be here if that was the case) 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, etc. I took the approach that I wanted to first get 1 month of food and water stored up, then worked on 6 months, then 1 year and continuing to build from there. For times when the emergency is 1 week or less, many of the meals can be cold or "ready to eat" type stuff. For longer plans need to be in place for cooking and boiling water. Band aids - any 1st aid or medical item. If you take medicine daily, get an extra Rx from your doc. I take synthroid daily. I got my doc to write my annual Rx and an additional 90 day Rx (he really didn't want to, but after repeated requests he did). I got the 90 day Rx filled "off the books" (nothing sent to insurance, paid cash). I now have a 3 month supply that is constantly rotated. Bullets - This is highly personal. Arm yourself with what you want. Get training and continue to train. Get ammo for training and self defense. Why this order? I know of many preppers that focus on guns. But ask yourself this, how many times have you had to defend your life? I'm not talkin' school yard fights, I'm talkin' loser is pushin' daisy's. I'm willing to bet it's a low number. Now how many times do you eat per day? I will agree with Nadja that as money (and time) permit, moving yourself towards being off the grid is a great way to go. Being self sufficient is a long way off for many. I started gardening about 7 years ago. After the first year I was ready to quit, I got virtually nothing from the garden. Every year after I have increase the size of my garden and the yield. Last year was the first year that ALL of my garden plants were started by me from seed. For someone just starting off, the best way to go is to get plants from your local nursery or Lowes/Home Depot. Again, as Nadja said, as gas goes up so will the cost of everything else, including fresh produce. As Broker listed in another thread, knowing what can happen in your AO. Have a plan and a back up plan for each scenario. I would add that in addition to what broker listed there's "personal castrophies" - Loss of home due to fire, Job loss, Accident or serious injury, etc.
There are a lot of people on this forum that know a great deal about intermediate and advanced solutions to preparing. I would like to see some of our Alaskan folks offer some clear, short, and simplified lists of important preps commonly used. They could also separate their interests by geographical locale; it doesn't necessarily have to be just the Alaskan folks who contribute. Some ideas offhand I can think of are: stoves (cooking), game (storage), food (preparation), remote security, travel (snowmobile care and maintenance), winter hiking, mountain hiking and scouting, land navigation, home power solutions (basics), the freaking list is almost endless. I would like to see a few people propose a solution for each in 6 - 10 sentences or less with the subject in bold lettering at the beginning. Do you guys think that is fair? That would rock. It would really help a lot of new people and cut down on confusion. The less we make it daunting and long-winded, the easier it will be to digest. Some advanced preps for the beginner would be to include homesteading, growing their own food, raising animals, and all the really good stuff. Again, if it is all clearly labeled and ordered and not too complex, it will give a decent stage for a beginner to work from. I like Kckdrgn's suggestion for a firearms/ammo topic, too. That definitely needs to be clearly defined and explained as simply as possible.
So, should this forum be 'published' yet? I know I started it after some discussion on the newbies and their mad rush to stockpile everything but admittedly, I've not had much to do with these threads.
Gotta admit reservations. I don't see how we can guide or steer the discussion that I think it will need.
Yeah, just read through the threads in this sub-forum - Not ready for public dissemination. So, the idea is sound, the focus is a little blurry and the 'votes' in each thread are about 50/50. Perhaps a better idea would be to open the forum up clean, and hold some sort of "Start Here First" thread challenge. This might let more input into the idea and if we had some great threads, could lock/stick/whatever. I could probably look around and find a couple of gifts to stimulate the creative flow. I can write the initial post explaining what we're after.
Has merit. Thread deviations will happen, and without heavy handed guidance and editing, it could be a fail. I just tried that with the thread on "gear" in comms, and it went off the main idea of specific hardware recommendations so fast, there's no hope of recovery; I'm letting it die if it will. Ryan is about as close to the real bottom line starter thinking that's showed up. "Beans, Bandaids and Bullets" Plus dihydrogen monoxide, uv cuss.
That's the problem with this sort of idea. It needs to be written by a few select individuals and then published or else it deviates too far from the initial concept. Not sure how to do it - don't really want to be the author.
Sorry about the Gear Thread in Comms.... I was trying to get the drift, and it just blew right over my head.... Missed it completely.... Publish a White Paper and then let that be the basis of the conversation...
"Prepping" can be such a 'nebulous' subject and discussion. IMHO there are sub-categories to the main category of "Prepping" in a 'Start Here' forum or sub-forum... Examples in my mind include the following... Mind Body Soul Supplies Competencies Locations Partners Etc... Most have focused on supplies and knowledge of how to use them... But for some people like me... that is already discussed and re-discussed and presented and re-presented in various forms (forums, blogs, youtube, tv, video etc) some good some very good... And if it doesn't discuss something I am interested in then I probably won't be back, won't contribute, won't ask questions, won't learn, won't teach... well you get the idea.... "Mind" is the most important in my humble opinion... Worst case, "Unthinkable", "Deep Survival" type situations... no supplies, no friends, nothing... Remember my lifeboat example... who do you let go? Wife or child? I think sub-categories would allow folks to focus on their interests initially... and they are more likely to check out the others and maybe contribute and learn a few things as well... A "Think Tank" concept on where to begin rather than a "experience/opinion dump" is what would capture my interest... There are some folks out there that don't have any supplies or competencies or location or partners... what they do have is a "predator" instinct with training, conditioning and willingness to use a single weapon to "procure" what they need from targets of opportunity.... and a simple "wave" can wipe out all that most think is the best planned preps... Some folks have little... some have everything... But... What can you do with "nothing" and or "no one"?.... Sort of Zen... But that is where it begins, continues and ends... and I don't see that discussed to any great detail... Maybe off topic or drift... I also haven't followed the discuss in great detail.... but that is my humble opinion and suggestion...
Bear has it tagged, it is nebulous and varies from person to person. Uv cuss, that makes it very complex with a lot of branchings. Had a thought that might work. What about trying to establish a decision tree, say Step 1 - Establish the crisis to prepare for 3 days without power and comms 3 weeks of ditto 3 months of whatever SHTF Step 2 - Establish a plan to get to the favored crisis covered Step 3 - And so forth. Once the subtopics are set up, we could go into the archives and add links to the subtopic posts/threads. That will relive the necessity of trying to re-write the steps we've already taken. We'll have to guard against getting off the topic at hand playing the "what if" game; it will take us off the logical trail in a right smart hurry. Yanking deviations back on track will take a heavier hand than we usually like to use.
I have to admit that I haven't put much effort into this project but would still like to see something come of it. Remember that this was born after watching 4 or 5 new members rushing around with credit cards in hand to buy anything and everything they 'thought' they needed. We wanted to try to create some threads that could at least give them the priorities and order of how they should do things so that they weren't purchasing Gen 3 Night Vision when they had no food or source of clean water. I agree with Bear's assessment from November but we're not really trying to create an all inclusive survival guide out of this, just the proper mindset and priorities for those who know nothing.
If I might.. and by all means, take what you will or toss what you will 1st thing to tell a " deer in the headlights prepper" that has just been awakened to the thought of calamity DON"T PANIC!! your worst nightmare, is just that. do not dwell in your dark imaginings or you will despair. There is a very strong possibility that tomorrow will look just like today all the things that you read about and those videos on youtube took years to put in place One day at a time 2nd, you're here, so you are ready to begin, but just as everything else.... Prepping is a skill and to learn it you will make mistakes. The only thing you can do when that happens is to make some corrections, learn some lessons and carry on. Don't beat yourself up because your grain storage got laughed at on another forum. Don't quit, just hang in there 3rd start with the basics, all the gear and food and ammo in the world does nobody any good if the bank is repo' ing your house get your finances in good order get your spouse onside, explain what you think the (realistic) worst case scenario is and how you think you could invest some time money and talent to improving your response to that scenario 4th, Be realistic this is a big committment, perhaps it will involve a lifestyle change selling everything and moving to a bug out location may not be the answer at this time. What that means is, that while you may wish to change your location based on what you perceive to be happening, it may not be the right thing to do right away. There may be other things that you can do to mitigate risk than hiding in the woods 5th, and perhaps most important THINK this is a game of chess, you are starting here, where you want to be is over there. how to get there and when to get there is an individual decision that is based on experience. If you don't think you have the experience to make an informed decision, seek out someone you trust with more experience and make your decisions based on their experience. But think about where your goal is Small goals to start are far more rewarding than a failed large goal. So, start with an extra____ this week. If you have the time and money, maybe an extra _____ next week. before you know it, you will be prepping in all the little ways that make it work Now, when you have read this, and have plotted your course, remember that course corrections are required in any endeavor small course corrections are much easier than huge ones, circumstances change and prepping is all about adapting to the changes around us Go and network, quietly find some like minded people to share your experience with. There is no way you can be prepared for every contingency, so having other people you trust to help and to help you, is a good thing Welcome! to know that there is one more person around who is determined to look after themselves in a crisis is a wonderful thing.
There are outstanding ideas here and I can see that much thought has gone into them. I guess I been at this most of my life and that's a long time . Most that are just starting out see what a longtime prepper has as what they should have already ,but it takes a lifetime to get where some of us are. I can tell ya I don't like to say what I have ,I'll talk about butchering a beef or a hog that the family has raised but as far as talking about particulars is just not my style. I do like the way cdnboy66 put it and if we could get that mind set out there more people would get with the program . JMHO
I think there are some good threads that came out of this and they may still be able to be used. Maybe we need to dispel the idea that 'this is all you need'. More of a starter that aids in people coming up with the priorities for their personal situation? I've thought about having a writing contest where the winning prize is some survival gear or other item. Still thinking about that and how to define the idea to others.
I'm a little bit of a Tin Foiler at heart, as most know who have seen some of my post. But conspiracy theories very often turn out to be Conspiracy Facts,having said that, events that were taking place when I came here are actually starting to snowball and are quickly becoming Facts. http://www.huduser.gov/publications/pdf/huddoc.pdf This is truly a scary thing we are facing. A Muslim King is in charge of this and the U.S. Muslim in Chief has committed us to this U.N. program which includes Extradition for comments made by citizens of any country for offences of anti-muslim speach, innuendo and even Miming.( what ever the H*** that means) We have a strong network here, about 10,000 strong, that's a lot of eyes and ears! Gun Control is being pushed hard and their ramping it up with executive orders, just a matter of time! Economy Is a sham, numbers that drive it are Manipulated, Money that runs it is printed as fast as they can run the presses, food is toxic, GMO's are forced on us though most of Europe has refused to plant them. Meat is full of Steroids,anti-biotics... TPP makes us liable to an un-elected and permanent panel of Business men, with no appeals process, and that just the little bit that's been leaked, because they wont release this secret document, It's a Secret!!! Russia, Iran and China are all in alliance much like NATO, etc.,etc......... Conspiracy theories from the past have become reality of today, How much worse can it get? Very Much!!! Thats what brought me here in the first place and I'm Happy to say I have learned a lot in my time here and have done my best to be a helpful contributor as well.
