Hey everyone,
I came across this forum through some random google search a couple days ago, and I have since been reading the threads til my eyes are crossing. Now my account was approved and I can jump in and say hi. I don't know much about much when it comes to survival stuff, but I think I'll learn a lot here.

I'm a mom to a three year old girl, stepmom to 3 teenage girls. My dear husband is a Marine, and I often worry about what will happen if he is not around one day when the SHTF. So, here I find myself scouring the net for information.

I think my first step is going to be to prepare an emergency binder like I saw mentioned in another thread. Meanwhile, each time I do my shopping I will be working on food and first aid stocking. Any third step suggestions are welcomed!

I suppose my biggest worry is that some disaster will happen, and I alone will be responsible for keeping my kids alive!

Anyway, nice to meet you all, and I hope I am able to contribute something here or there that someone might find useful!

Welcome!

To tell the truth, I think women are a little better mentally set up to deal with some of this stuff. The guys are more interested in gear! You can do it!

Shelter
Fire
Water
Food
First Aid

Just start with the basics and keep going. Don't be afraid to ask questions. There ARE no stupid questions!

Identify what problems you are most likely to face where you live, and then work on how to deal with them.

If you think it might be likely that you would have to go to a shelter, why not start with that? A couple of carryable totes with lids with what you think the four of you would need for a stay in a Red Cross shelter. Then branch out to sheltering at home and in your car, or at a friend's or relative's place.

Even thinking that something could happen is farther than most Americans will plan ahead. You'll do fine.

Sue

Welcome to the fire! We're glad you found this place worth of joining.

-Blast

You're already a survivor. Mothers of teenagers are among the toughest people around. That's a survival situation I haven't faced. I'd sooner deal with a month-long power outage in July.

Also check out this blog by a mom who became interested in preparedness and in classic achiever-mom fashion, is learning everything she can and sharing her knowledge.

http://thesurvivalmom.com/

Susan got you off to a great start. It helped me to organize learning and prep around the basic tenants of survival.

Welcome aboard! Good to have another chick around here.

:-)

Hello, Krista. Welcome aboard!

Howdy.

Hello new person. *waves*

If it gets rough, how together are the teenagers? I'm not trying to be mean, I knew some who were already thinking about prep (JIM, Climberslacker) enough to come here. Others... not so much. In any case, talk with them, be open about what you are doing with the preps and why.

And the why is the good part. What kind of dangers do you have, how long do you think you can stay if you have to bug in, and if you have to bug out, where are you going? How are you getting there, becuase with a three year old you probably aren't walking.

So far, you've got a good start in terms of the gear. Take your time on the food and medical, you can do that in bits and peices as you are now. And a Blast Book is a serious tool, and very drool worthy if you can do a complete one. The third step is to plan, like I mentioned. What can go wrong naturally? What are y our man made threats? How to get out, and when that route turns into a parking lot, now what? That is the real tactical thinking in prepping IMHO.

Welcome to the fire, good people here.

Lee

Welcome to the Fire and Semper Fi!!!

I totally agree with Susan's advice and Blast's Book has been an invaluable asset (Guidance) for my wife since I am also gone from home a great deal. We are also a military family that are now retired.

Possible problems to look for and at, IMO, are:

Natural - Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Winter Storms, Volcanoes, Tsunami, etc. Look at how probable these are likely to occur in your area and then you can start figuring out ways to mitigate the effects such an occurrance would have on you and your family.

Manmade - Any highways, railroads, or navigable rivers near you? If commercial traffic comes near your home, then Hazardous Cargoes are using those routes and a HazMat Incident could occur that would force a quick evacuation. The possibility of a terrorist incident, a nuclear power plant accident upwind of you should be determined and assessed, as well, IMO.

I definitely recommend that each person in the household have a BoB. These can be assembled over time and improved upon over time.

Every place has it's STOBOR!!!

Okay, LOL, let’s see if I can get replies to you all in here, I’m not really used to “chatting” in forums, it might take me a bit to figure out the most efficient way to reply to multiple posts!

Susan- I love your idea for getting totes ready for emergency. I’m a bit OCD and already use them like crazy! I am not really sure if the red cross shelter is applicable to my situation… you see, I live on a military base and quite honestly, I don’t know what would happen here in an emergency situation. I can guess that the first thing would be base lockdown (no one in no one out). I am definitely going to make an emergency kit to keep in my vehicle, though, that’s just practical for even a regular old break-down.

Blast- Thanks for the welcome, I have to say your emergency binder sucked me in! And the wild edibles blogs are great. The one link in your signature says for mobile devices…. How can I get that on my phone, just bookmark it as a favorite page through the browser? (sorry, I’m not all the tech savvy)

Dadgny- Thanks for the link, I‘m enjoying it with my morning coffee!

Hi Doug, Art and leeman, thanks for the welcome!

Ironraven-You definitely made some good points. My teenagers are aware of the possibilities of things that can happen. They have pretty good heads on their shoulders (one per kid I mean, not multiple heads). They take direction just fine, but if they were alone I’m not sure they would fare to well….

Wildman- I think it’s a great idea for everyone to have their own emergency bag. Do you think I should have similar items in everyone’s…. Or a variety in each bag so that as a group we have more options? As I type that I realize the flaw… if we were separated one person might me more “screwed” if their bag wasn’t sufficient….. hmmm.