Preparedness

[rebel]

I was reading the other day that in 2003, 77% of the population were unprepared for a disaster. In 2011, 66% and today it's 65%. The articles' author said that more people would die after the disaster than would die during it.

[kyratshooter]

What disaster?

"The Disaster" is a pretty general statement.

[hunter63]

That means more assets to the survivors.....Be a survivor.

I really only care about My numbers....can't fix stupid or change bad luck.....Just a few less that 2003

[1stimestar]

Yes exactly. What kind of disaster? A disaster for some is not necessarily a disaster for others.

[Rick]

No one plans to fail. They just fail to plan.

[Antonyraison]

mmmm yeah I was thinking a similar topic some time ago..
disaster is a very board term, and likely impossible to be prepared for all scenarios..
I think the best preparedness one could have is the right mind set and not to panic..
anything could happen, and you could be very far away from your equipment and rations, and bug out location..
I feel for me the best I could do is learn skills, and practice.. also I have a unique experiences as apposed to many others, I actually have survived a High jacking, a Mugging, and a house robbery where I was tied up for 2 hours...
the main thing I could say is not to panic, very hard not to do, thankfully I have never. keep your head down listen to the guy with the gun..
even years of Martial arts experience (which I have) its never wise to try something with 2-3 gun men with other people around you, or even if your alone.
Hence I say its what's inside that keeps you going and mental preparedness, over everything else.

[rebel]

Yea, the article didn't specify the "disaster". I thought it interesting in that prepping was getting better. Unprepared down from 77% to 65%.

[rebel]

Also, how they came up with that percentage???. My guess is that most just buy a little extra at the grocery store and wouldn't be all that open about it. I know I haven't be questioned about readiness and would probably just say no if asked.

[madmax]

My SHTF fantasy has always been the bug out to the woods. Yeah, save it. I know the arguments against. But I'm physically compromised and other options have become relevant.

[Antonyraison]

I also feel, that although being prepared is very good, and should be a necessity and is just plain old good practice,
I don't feel its all what people need to survive a situation.
I feel people over look the mental aspect, and practicing..also planning, and good old sitting down and Talking on what to do, what procedures to follow. Whom to call, where to go, etc.
Maybe TV has dramatized survival making it idealistic and seemingly fun (which i suppose practicing it can be)
More emphasis on physiological, and mental state should be prioritized imo.
maybe I am just talking utter BS haha

[hunter63]

My houses, trucks garages and sheds are full of "the things I needed ...Last time"
May mean nothing "next time".

They, who ever they are, are offering opinions...can't see where numbers could come from...appears to be trying to make use feel better?....Or selling us some thing to "not be in that victim" group.

We are all the hero of our own fantasy .........Just don't want to run up against others that are the hero of theirs.

When I see the "I'm new to prepping"....huh?...been in your parents basement all this time?

[Antonyraison]

My houses, trucks garages and sheds are full of "the things I needed ...Last time"
May mean nothing "next time".

They, who ever they are, are offering opinions...can't see where numbers could come from...appears to be trying to make use feel better?....Or selling us some thing to "not be in that victim" group.

We are all the hero of our own fantasy .........Just don't want to run up against others that are the hero of theirs.

When I see the "I'm new to prepping"....huh?...been in your parents basement all this time?

Mmm yeah my house also full of said things.. as will my car have a kit in. Although I also travel a lot fly all over the country and or use hired cars.. so in some cases I litterally can and will have the clothing on back and the knowledge in my head.. that is what makes me think... All the times I am not even close to any of my kit.

Mmm yeah a point on the hero of said fantasy... it maybe somewhat idealistic and I supposed romantised in our heads.. but I can tell you nothing can be further from the truth.. I been on the bad side of a gun many a time.. and often think about those situations I have been involved with and realised what I did at the various times was the best senario.. be polite to the man with the gun let him take whatever it is he wants and aid him getting away fast as possible don't spook the assailant don't make sudden moves.. be calm. Be rational don't be the hero.. sometimes just being calm answering correctly is being the hero.. I shudder to have thought what would have happened had I answered yes to the hijacker asking me if anyone was home (my parents where and asleep) I often wonder if I said yes would they have gone in and killed them or what?

[Antonyraison]

My houses, trucks garages and sheds are full of "the things I needed ...Last time"
May mean nothing "next time".

They, who ever they are, are offering opinions...can't see where numbers could come from...appears to be trying to make use feel better?....Or selling us some thing to "not be in that victim" group.

We are all the hero of our own fantasy .........Just don't want to run up against others that are the hero of theirs.

When I see the "I'm new to prepping"....huh?...been in your parents basement all this time?

Mmm yeah my house also full of said things.. as will my car have a kit in. Although I also travel a lot fly all over the country and or use hired cars.. so in some cases I litterally can and will have the clothing on back and the knowledge in my head.. that is what makes me think... All the times I am not even close to any of my kit.

[kyratshooter]

Mmm yeah my house also full of said things.. as will my car have a kit in. Although I also travel a lot fly all over the country and or use hired cars.. so in some cases I litterally can and will have the clothing on back and the knowledge in my head.. that is what makes me think... All the times I am not even close to any of my kit.

A few years back when there were more forums and more people on them we used to play a game with threads like "If you had to get up and run out the door right now what would you have for gear?"

I think we have played that one here in the past. It also helps if you keep up with what is allowed as carry on luggage on a plane and what is legal as daily carry in your pockets.

Back about 250 years ago there was a guy that roamed around in my area named Simon Kenton. You South Africans would not know him but he was a very early entry into the Kentucky area. Was not but about 16 when he arrived as a scout/trapper and he gained a great deal of fame for his skills as a woodsman and was one of the Indian fighters that lived long enough to die of old age.

He was in a lean-to shelter in the snow one evening, early in his career, and had his clothes off drying by the fire when he was attacked by Indians. He bounded into the woods buck naked, closely followed by one of his trapper associates, and on that man's tail were a host of irritated Shawnee Indians.

He had to travel naked in the snow for several days, but he survived and the effort taught him something. From that point on he hid supplies in caches all over north Kentucky!

His favorite caches were in hollow trees and the occasional cave and usually consisted of a blanket roll containing extra moccasins, a knife and a fire steel.

I think the modern version of that is Jason Borne and his safe deposit box caches!

I have always thought that if I was traveling an established circuit for business I would find a good hotel, speak to the manager as a repeat customer, and have some materials kept in the hotel safe for my use when I was in each town.

[Rick]

I have fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, emergency lighting and an escape ladder for upstairs. The big one is covered. Once I clear the house I'm running as hard as this old body will allow for as long as it will allow. If all the propane, gasoline and ammo goes at once there is sure to be a rather large hole in the ground.

[hunter63]

Simon Keaton ...Was the book about his life..."The Frontiersman"...?

[kyratshooter]

The Frontiersman was a novel about Kenton but it was not a biography of Kenton.

Ekert wrote with a pretty broad stroke while claiming all his information was "history", when it was not. He made some pretty bad mistakes with not only Kenton but the people influencing, fighting alongside him and against him.

He was especially bad about using footnotes to make his work appear to be historical presentation when the foot notes contain nothing factual.

Most of the stuff in the books is close enough to have some basis in truth as far as general facts go, but the quoted conversations between characters in the book never happened. I was also suspect of orders given to and conversations held between members of groups of fighters that were wiped out to the last man. How does Eckert know what they said? They all died!

The real pity is that there was much recorded about Kenton's life from the remembrances of his daughter and other family members. It is all presented in the Draper Manuscripts, recorded from the words of the family and friends. Ekert generally ignored that and skirted around the facts. Just the things we actually know are enough to give you a bad case of butt clinch when you read about them.

He was a rough and tumble young giant who enjoyed a good running Indian fight, organized a company of rangers and patrolled the Kentucky side of the river while occasionally swimming across the Ohio to steal horses from the Indians just to stir up some excitement.

There were very few major battles on either side of the Ohio River that he did not take part in. Usually he was a scout working deep inside the Indian territory, sometimes right inside their villages, then taking information back to the major planners. It was long range recon work that no one today would believe possible.

At Boonesboro, during the siege of 1777, Kenton and his rangers actually infiltrated through the lines to get into the fort after it was surrounded. They would slip out of the fort through the Indian lines, make a kill and bring the meat back through the Indian lines into the fort.

I give about the same credit to Kenton for developing the concepts of ranging as is given to Robert Rogers . Kenton probably taught the skills to a larger group of frontiersman than Rogers. While Rogers went home after his war Kenton and the Kentucky frontiersmen fought for most of their adult lives as they continued west.

They passed those skills to the next generation we know as the "Mountain Men", who became the scouts and guides for expansion to the Pacific.

An even greater number of the next generation went south and west, into Texas, where they were again organized into ranger companies to protect the widely scattered settlements from the Comanche and Lipan Apache.

That group still exists as the Texas Rangers, direct decedents of Simon Kenton's rangers in Kentucky.

[Antonyraison]

1st I heard of Simon Keaton, I am not familiar with him at all.
Although I hear ya, having caches, and or knowing the hotels etc you frequent and keeping things with manager seems like a good solution. Thanks.

I once spoke to a drifter a few months back out on a trip, the guy Walked from Durban to Mtunzini a good 100km+ hike in a few days along the coast, he simply just carried a lighter, and picked up whatever he needed along the beach from old fishing lines to bottles, to discarded bottles of Half full water, he fished when he could caught crabs, and cause the climate is not bad he would sleep out in the open behind dunes, make a fire etc.. was Quiet the story.. and well made me Humbled 2 guys from different walks of Life we could actually have quiet a decent conversation, I realized as all men we are actually equal when it comes to being out in the bush... having stuff helps but you can make a way with very little.

[hunter63]

1st I heard of Simon Keaton, I am not familiar with him at all.
Although I hear ya, having caches, and or knowing the hotels etc you frequent and keeping things with manager seems like a good solution. Thanks.

I once spoke to a drifter a few months back out on a trip, the guy Walked from Durban to Mtunzini a good 100km+ hike in a few days along the coast, he simply just carried a lighter, and picked up whatever he needed along the beach from old fishing lines to bottles, to discarded bottles of Half full water, he fished when he could caught crabs, and cause the climate is not bad he would sleep out in the open behind dunes, make a fire etc.. was Quiet the story.. and well made me Humbled 2 guys from different walks of Life we could actually have quiet a decent conversation, I realized as all men we are actually equal when it comes to being out in the bush... having stuff helps but you can make a way with very little.

That is a great insight......seems we tend to follow our own counsel and disregard ways we disagree with....

[kyratshooter]

Many people do not realize that Africa had a parallel exploration and settlement pattern with North America at about the same time. North America settled east to west, Africa settled south to north.

The Dutch arrived at the Cape about the same time they arrived in New York. The British took over colonial control of the Cape and NY in the same treaty negotiation. Both settlements were resupply ports for the East India Company.

There were explorers and fighters on both continents and the equipment was very similar, as well as the evolution of the frontiersmen/settlers on each continent.

Sometimes the parallels are eerie. Divided natives, divided colonial beliefs, wagon trains going cross country, pitched battles with native tribes that were also migrating, railroad building, exploitation of resources as technology developed.

Both fought wars of independence against Colonial Britain, separated by 100 years and 50 years too late for the Africans to be successful.

Where the U.S. revived the Ranger concept in WW2 the British Army revived the concept of the South African Commando.