I am curious if anyone saw the special section on Emergency Preparedness in the 3/16 edition of the Washington Post? Here is a link for those outside the DC area:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/metro/specials/preparedness/

A lot of generic material, and not nearly as sophisticated as this forum. The part that I find upsetting are the two articles that advise us to lighten up. I realize they are tongue-in-cheek, but what place does that have ? I would appreciate any alternative viewpoints.

Thanks for the reference. I read "All Taped Up and Nowhere To Go" and enjoyed it. Humor is a great coping mechanism, especially when a great deal of uncertainty is involved. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I think a very valuable place.

Having been involved in survival and preparation for a number of years, I have seen numerous people who make it to this forum and others like it all twisted up in knots with worry that they will not be able to get all the required and necessary supplies and stores in place by tomorrow. Their fear of the unknown have them spending every bit of money they can scrounge on supplies in an effort to keep the bad thing at bay.

They feel they must have a reinforced bunker filled to the brim with supplies and even then it will only be a stop gap measure. It takes a while for them to find out that it is not possible to be 100% self sufficent or no amount of supplies will protect you from every possible event.

These and all people need to take a step back and get some realistic ideas. Preparation never ends. It is not just supplies but knowledge. It is changing your environment to lessen the possibility of problems. It is reviewing potential threats and assigning probabilities and developing plans. Humor is a way to let off some of the pressure of not having all the supplies, plans, and mostly the answers.

I think it is vital and often misaligned..

I would even go so far as to say that educating yourself should be the first step. Books are cheap, places like this website are even cheaper (its' hard to beat free <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />). You can start saving your money during the learning process, by the time you're ready you'll have the resources in place to get what's appropriate to your situation/area.

Counting on someone else to tell you what supplies to lay up is inefficient at best, disasterous at worst. The only thing I would advocate a newbie buying right off the bat would be a weeks worth of extra food/water and a good off-the-shelf FAK. And a flashlight/batteries of course, but most people have that already.

Free? Doug doesn't live on survival rations the companies send for testing. ETS donations are always welcome <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I hear you chirpin' big bird! <img src="images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Don't worry, you guys are on my list. I sent all my money to Bushmaster Firearms, Inc. this month. I suspect you can guess why if you follow the news and have a good recall of details.

My grandmother, of German descent, referred often to "Galgen Humor,"or gallows humor, when bad things were afoot. One can look at The Washington Post being some percentage of the way there, and criticize the publication for not being sufficiently "pure" in its handling of survival issues, or one can look at the newspaper and realize that even this bastion of left-of-center, jaded, "sophisticated" journalism is willing to discuss what adherents of this forum have known all along: government can't and won't always be there, and so we must be prepared.

I loved the insert and I am glad that the paper ran it, humorous columns and all. . . .

atty_guy