Friends, I realize Im new and perhaps posting alot and if I annoy then please forgive me but Im like a sponge and just so interested in this subject matter.

I remember my brother asking me what got me interested in prepping? I couldnt remember a defining moment at all. Perhaps world news and current events around the country got me realizing USA is going down a slipperey slope away from normality and the bill of rights. I also think AMC's The Walking Dead had a role in my awareness to prep as well.

Seems now I dont look at the world around me like a normal person would. I see the traffic and people around me in their daily mundane rituals all the while my brain is processing what if scenarios of social break down, martial law and just hell breaking loose. A constant barrage of how would I react if....?

Am I crazy or is my mind sharpening itself and my response options? Also, please share what got you to get with the program and did it alter your old lifestyle?

Faith & Friendship
Pooly

First, it should be clear that being a prepper should not mean one does not enjoy life same as, if not more, than others. Actually, since you have taken a few wise steps and precautions, should mean you enjoy life deeper.

I run what-if scenarios thru my head all the time, anytime, but it should not mean living in a non-real world. Take for example when I went to a wedding ceremony ... We have large halls for such occasions. I strated looking around for emergency exits ( without telling anyone what I am doing off course ) and looking if there were emergency lights. You know a fire can start or power failure and we end up with a stampede or whatever. Once I saw what I was looking for , I joined the fun and enjoyed the occasion.

It is like that and not, for example, hiding in a bunker waiting for zombies.

Starting in preps came gradually and naturally, but was defined around the y2k issue. Before that I didn't know it was called prepping but I always did things "the smart way". Like when I went with a few colleagues to a remote area for work, I brought with me a bag of few things (first aid kit ..etc. ) They laughed and pointed we were going for a few hours only , not a few weeks. I just laughed with them ... and guess what ! None of us was injured during the trip but we found someone who was bleeding and we used gauze and other stuff from my FAK.

Again, welcome aboard.

Not having a comb. I went with a guy when he was auditioning for a commercial. He did not have a comb. Neither did I since I was active duty at the time and my hair never needed one. Subsequent to that, the Ben Franklin actor for the play 1776 (which I was in) had a huge asthma attack. Since my son used inhalers, I wished I had one of his spares for just such an occasion. It was awful. I was on stage with him about 6 feet away and could barely hear him. Good thing the theater only sat 100 people.

My initial, and still primary, interest is with the wilderness aspects of preparedness ... how to be sufficiently prepared in areas where there are no safety nets readily available and self reliance is much more key.

That said, reading here and elsewhere has led me to be more prepared than some in my day-to-day life (though I'd wager much less prepared than many here). However, many of these basic principles are things I also learned from my Dad's example (food stores, basic emergency gear, etc.). What I find though is that I live in a relatively low-risk area and that implementing potential contingency plans often does not rate as a priority for me.

First, I think my Dad when I was a child in the 1950's. Hurricane? Loss of power and stove out (electric stove)? No problem! Kerosene lamps and a sterno stove were pulled out and we got by just fine. (I still have the same kerosene lamps.)

So he set the example.

Later, when I was out on the own, I got caught short several times, and realized that I needed to think ahead and prepare.

It took the invention of the internet and being in bed for two (boring) weeks with a bad back for me to find this forum. I've learned a lot since then.

like Izzy, kind of grew up with it... moved to Florida in 1955 and first hurricane was Donna in 1962 (we had maybe two days warning)serious fresh water flooding and water line break...spent a couple of years in the Far East as a Radio Traffic Analyst where I had access to intelligence summaries around the world... foreshadowing the war on terror, and saw firsthand evidence of the terrorist threat in the Philippines... the Philippines and Thailand were pretty much third world at the time, and living down town usually included no electricity at random times..when I started teaching I used a "get out of Dodge" scenario to work with student's decision making skills...one of my fellow teachers was LDS and she introduced me to the 72 hour "go bucket", and that became my focus for a hurricane related scenario, and on several occasions a real storm...became a practical shooter about the time I started teaching to improve my skill set...came to this forum after I retired a couple of years ago, and by then I had refined my thoughts on hurricane preparedness after the 04/05 season, when we were over run... have enjoyed the courtesy and information sharing...

A week of ice storms and rolling blackouts (January, 1994).

That ignited an interest in prepping, though I wasn't conscious of a label for being prepared for emergencies.

September 11, 2001 moved my prepping interest up several notches (I live and work in Washington, D.C.).

My interest in wilderness survival (which is/was the ETS emphasis) began with an intensive series of hikes in the Blue Ridge mountains to help a friend get in shape for a Himalayan trek.

Back to prepping: the more I consider the various disaster threats (especially TEOTWAWKI scenarios like a massive EMP), the more I'm inclined to believe that our survival, as individuals and as a society, cannot be ensured by even the most well-equipped solo silo.

So I'm back to preparing for the most plausible - power outages brought on by storms, earthquakes and occasional local or regional power grid failures.

Being in DC, terrorism is a concern but does not seem so imminent as it did in the first couple years after 9/11 and the anthrax attacks on the Senate.

I can't for the life of me figure out when I started as a prepper, but it was by the age of eight for sure. I don't recall any specific incident or incidents that led to it, but my username is no accident. If something is going to happen, it seems like it's going to always happen to me.

I'm not really a 'Prepper' but the normalcy bias began to wear off around 10-15 years ago. Normalcy bias seems to becoming ever more entrenched as I have found, even when dealing with many many business people. People in general seam to becoming ever more stupid and moronic. Being around and having to deal with stupid people is highly stressful. There are folks out there who will call a Sparky to change a light bulb, folks who don't know that eggs comes hens and that chips (french fries) are made from potatoes and that you can heat up microwave food without a microwave oven.

For example I was discussing a problem with the IT manager of a well known London Investment Bank called Lehman Brothers, which famously initiated the Global Wide Banking crisis of 2008 when it became bankrupt. This would have a been a few years earlier. Her Internet connection wasn't working due to her router not having the correct login information for her PPPoA connection. I explained this to her and asked her to login in to her router via the Routers IP address and enter the correct login information Username and Password, to which she responded 'What's an IP address?'

This has happened many many times from even Company directors of large Multinational communications companies, such as 'You should be able to connect if you turn your router on' to then get a response that it was my fault that no-one had told her previously to turn on the router box.

Nepotism, greed, laziness, incompetence, dulled reasoning, criminality, arrogance and stupidity by those in positions of authority i.e. such as the leaders of the corporate, business and governmental world are much, much, more dangerous than poor inclement windy weather or wobbly ground, simply because they generally will trade societal resilience and safety (whether Technically or Economically) to external natural perturbations to climb their own greasy pole. Basically the bean counters have taken hold.

Population normalcy bias is particularly insidious as it dulls the individuals senses for the potential of dangerous events (even dangerous events driven as Government/Business Policy) in which in events are highly predictable and makes folks belittle risks and the consequences of inaction.

For example when you explain to some one that a Commercial Nuclear reactor could become a national disaster due to a local rodent problem and to invest in an on site cat would be prudent, folks generally regard you as a nutter..

Yes I know, just about as crazy as building 6 Nuclear Reactors (with designs that were inherently unsafe) on a major earthquake fault line on the coast of a country with a known history of Tsunami's.

Pointing out normalcy bias will usually just get you a verbiage of abuse and derision and over time I have decided to just prepare. Of course if they know what the meaning of the acronym PPPPPP is, a meaningful discussion can usually be had.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somebody_Else's_Problem

Black Swan events are probably rarer than the Main Stream Media would have you believe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Swan_Theory

probably due to wide acceptance of Normalcy bias.

I come to ETS from a wilderness perspective which I began to explore as I attended college in Arizona and began longer and longer excursions into wild country. My senior year I was drawn into my first SAR operation, which was rather wild and woolly, but really rather informative. After a thankfully brief hitch in the Army, I began a career in the National Park Service, working for the first ten years or so in isolated areas, where the neighborhood supermarket was fifty miles away, and stocking up on provisions, etc., was an obvious priority. There were occasions when our living room became a dormitory during storm events.

And then I wound up in earthquake country - California. Of course I prep.

My wilderness preparedness bug started when I was young, with stories of Daniel Boone, the Swiss Family Robinson and Jack London. A local propane train derailment when I was 8 or 9, in which my mom had to go to work to evac a nursing home and my dad had to evac with my brother and I, just fueled those fantesies.

I grew up with parents and grandparents who seemed to always be prepared. They wouldn't call themselves preppers or survivalists though. They were just always stocked and skilled for just in case, always travelled to "survive not just arrive" and always had first aid training and supplies, subsistence gardens, etc. With grandprents who lived through the great depression, both in rural Ontario and on the Canadian praries, and a family tradition of nursing and farming, these were things we did out of the habit of generations.

9/11 scared me but the East Coast blackout of 2003 was the turning point for me when it all became very visceral. I was in our 24th floor apartment with our 1 month old on the outskirts of Toronto, and my husband was working downtown. The walk home took him hours, then he climbed up the 24 flights, only to have to go back down because we ran out of water to make forumla for our son. We've always been avid campers so had our camping gear and bbq to be able to boil water but not a drop to drink.

Not being able to feed our son was scarey. I vowed then never to be caught unprepared again.

I somehow grew into it. As a child I spent a lot of time outdoors. As a young adult I joined an emergency response unit. There I learned some skills and even more important situational awareness. From that time I continued to acquire skills and hone those I already have.
Preparedness certainly has an impact on the mindset. If you do not go overboard with it, it means a lot less stress. I started to automatically scan the surroundings, got better at judging situations, remembering things, judging potential consequences. That will not only help to get out of trouble, it will - and I consider that more important - also help to avoid that trouble in the first place.

Like Chaosmagnet, I don't really know when I started or why, but as a kid I endured two major earthquakes, several hurricanes/typhoons, evacuations for wild fires, three tornadoes and 1 major riot. That was all before I turned 17. My father was Air Force and we moved a lot, seemingly to the wrong places. It has always been there as far as I can remember. Spending 24 years in the Army, 21 in Special Forces, attending multiple survival schools, enduring more natural disasters, participating in rescue efforts, and numerous wars, riots, and other man made disasters did not alleviate my need to prepare. Now I am a scoutmaster and teaching the kids (and parents). I am too far gone to stop now.

I was an army brat--was in a different school, with different classmates, almost every year until high school. Made me very independent. High school (a boarding school with a total of 176 students) never seemed to serve enough food. Independent wilderness survival study, and the opportunity to take school-sponsored wilderness survival classes, gave me the skills to find the food I needed to supplement what I was getting from the diningroom and was able to catch, fishing on my own. I also learned to build shelters that allowed me to get away from the place for an overnight, when I needed some space. The US Army also provided much early training during grade school, via my father, GreatUncleGoo...

I went thru the UK's Winter of Discontent as a child. Power cut's, food rationing, the whole works. My brother, sister and myself were Shielded from the worst of it by our parents.
My parents grew up during the second world war and it's aftermath. I think that experience made many people natural preppers. Even if they do not think of it in those terms. You could say that the views of the parents are reflected in the child.

I've never really thought of myself as a "prepper", though I suppose I fit the general definition. Like hikermor and others I mostly come to it from a wilderness perspective. I started hiking, climbing, and whatnot as a young lad growing up in Oregon. Being prepared for the unexpected in the mountains just seemed like the logical thing to do.

Back in those days we never thought of Oregon as earthquake country (that was something they worried about down in California), but we did have the Columbus Day windstorm in 1962, and the Christmas floods in 1964, so I also had some sense of being ready for major disasters. These days of course we know the Pacific NW is definately earthquake country.

I've lived in Alaska since 1984. I'm getting a bit old for serious technical climbing, but I still spend a lot of time out in the mountains skiing and hiking, and on the water kayaking. I also participate (to the extent I'm able) with a volunteer SAR team. Alaska is definately earthquake country. And our climate can be severe at times. All of this tends to incline me to being ready and able to take care of myself and familly in unexpected circumstances.

Just this last week we had a severe windstorm in Anchorage. Lots of trees knocked down and most of the city was without power for at least a few hours. At my house, we lost power for about 48 hours. No big deal. We have lots of flashlights, headlamps, and spare batteries around the house. Cranked up my small generator now and then to keep the freezer and frig cold. Also ran my generator to help my next door neighbor keep his stuff frozen. No big deal.

I still don't think of myself as a prepper. I just like to be ready for the unexpected.

I am not a prepper by the most common definition, but rather try to be prepared for both urban and wilderness environments.

On the wilderness side of things. At an early age (mid 1970's), every week, we would gather around the TV to watch Wild Kingdom, Untamed World (Canadian Series), Marty Stouffer's Wild America (before we were aware of the animal cruelty charges that eventually came to light.)

It was watching these TV shows and along with the influence of family members who were outdoors men/women all their lives, that my outdoor passion grew from but did not hit full stride until my late teen years that friends and I began to spend days at a time out in the bush hiking, camping, fishing, hunting etc. During these years, the concept of being ETS was a completely foreign concept as now in retrospect, we would head out with minimal supplies, inadequate clothing, gear etc. Through the years, maybe it was just plain luck that we never had any serious life threatening situations and it was not until the early 1990's that I really began to look at outdoor adventure from a more practical...and much safer point of view and started being much more prepared as a result.

On the aspects of being be prepared for traveling of which we do a lot of and 95% is by vehicle. In the late 90's I met my SO on a hiking trip with mutual friends. From her, the lessons of being fully prepared hit closer to home. As I mentioned in previous posts, she spent some years as working for NGO groups in some of the most miserable places on earth. The worst being caught in the refugee situation from the Rwandan Genocide where millions of refugees fled that country and flooded into the neighboring countries, including Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo.) My SO's aide group was based in Zaire, very close to the Rwanda border until the situation became so dangerous and desperate that her group along with many other every NGO's pulled out. When her group started the pullout, they fled with precious little food, water and other supplies. Upon her group finally getting away from the Zaire/Rwanda border region and eventually to Europe then home almost 2 weeks later, my SO vowed that no matter the circumstance or where she traveled whether domestically or internationally, she would always have her own emergency kit.
Skip forward to today, my area of the country provides some of the best outdoor experiences anywhere and we take full advantage of this. To that end when we travel, our vehicle is stocked accordingly with right gear and supplies that we will need...without going overboard. Postscript to this. My SO is going back to Africa in December for another (and probably last) 6-8 month stint with an NGO. It also goes with saying that she will have her own extensive kit with her when she leaves.

On the home front and prep wise, no real one event or thing to influence us. However we are stocked up on food and other supplies more than the average person, however space limitations plays a factor in having a bit more supplies that would make us more comfortable. Then again, we live in an area that is free from hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, snow storms etc. In fact, the only major natural disaster (and unlikely) is a major earthquake which according to experts is a 1 in 500 year chance. However being just a few years south of 50 years old, I will in all likelihood, live the rest of my life without this occurrence. As for being prepared for a man made disaster, no major industries, plants, factories, rail lines, major highways etc close by so these scenarios are low priority but still something that we keep in mind and prepare for.

Like a lot of previous posters, I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call myself a "prepper" but I do try to be ready for instances of Murphy's law and I started thinking this way as a kid. I am fortunate to live in an area where we aren't prone to as many natural disasters as some other places, but we do get snowstorms regularly in the winter, some areas have occasional flooding, and tornadoes are pretty unusual but possible. To me it's just common sense to be prepared for things like a winter storm that knocks out power or prevents travel for a couple of days, or a car breakdown while driving somewhere (my sister's comment upon learning what I keep in the trunk: "if I ever get stuck on the side of the road, I hope I'm in your car!"). Besides, I like to hike, camp and canoe so I'm used to thinking about what I need to have with me on those trips in case I run into a problem.

Now there is a blast from the past!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0y0r3I0kAI

I found that the imported ruinous monetary economics policy shortly after were a little tougher than the Winter of Discontent. But that depended more on what part of the UK you lived in.

I made that mistake,thinking Nukes not an issue.About the only thing we dont prepare for is war/nuclear/bio war.I cant afford a bio/nuke bunker.No nukes in my area,only one is south and wind usually blows east,NO PROBLEM,right? WRONG!!

If that happens,good luck,all I can come up with is run/avoid,and even that wont work in that scenario.Hard to run from invisible things in the atmosphere.

So when Fukushima happened,who was completely unprepared for that? ME! Dang it,Japan is WEST of me,and gee,that stuff travels the jet stream,BUMMER!

Our answer was load up on kelp and seaweed,and so did the other wise guys in the community,we got the end of the seaweed and only got kelp because a customer at the store saw us looking and showed me where it was also in an obscure supplements section of store.Few bags left there.

They had no Potassium Iodide at all,nor did they expect any more,or seaweeds for that matter.In fact,it was MONTHS before they were able to get any in.

Point is,something from the other side of the world can nail you.

As for bio attack,sure,we can treat anthrax,but really,I see a threat more along the lines of Ebola,a designer version. IMO the next sneak attack of World War will be bio,cheap and easy to disperse,innoculate your guys with the vaccine and set it loose.Thats my guess.

Post away,great discussions and we all are interested in the subjects here.

How do prepare for everything? The answer is you can't. You can only prepare for what you think is the most likelihood of events that may dramatically affect you and your area. Otherwise you might as well pack up and scurry off into the mountains and take on the bunker mentality of "living" that other so called survivalist forums promote and subscribe yourself to their paranoid thinking and mentality of fear from Bio attacks, Terrorist attacks, Nuclear plant fallout etc...

Tes,I dont live in fear,Im not in a bunker.

But Im a realist and can see trends.When I CAN prepare I do,when its too expensive it just cant be done.There does need to be a balance.

To ignore nuke meltdown....not here ever again.

Ive seen 2 now blanket large geographical areas (Yes,fallout on the west coast,and EAST coast even)....to say Im immune because I dont live next to something,no.Not me.

Bio-warfare? Its a reality,the military trains for it and has weapon systems designed to defeat it and still operate,its REAL....and there has never been a weapon system developed that hasnt been used,historical fact.Add in tech,its a very real possibility for the next war.Paranoia,no,reality in a real world,it exists.

100 bucks will protect a family with meds from anthrax and partially from a nuke meltdown

Im going to expand my borders beyond my local area as some threats just dont recognize borders,but can reasonably be prepared for.

And some cant,period.

I was an Eagle scout as a kid, so the whole "Be Prepared" thing always stuck with me.

With that said, I didn't really get into true emergency preparedness until Y2K and then 9/11. 9/11 hit especially hard, as I was living basically right across the Hudson river from NYC at the time. Had a pretty good view of the smoke from the burning rubble of the trade center every time I looked out my window. Made me realize how I was basically living right next to a major target and should probably prepare accordingly.

Life is the best teacher. Every time a problem occurs, I learn what I need do in the event it were to happen again.

I learn to add an additional piece of gear, learn a technique or use a combination of both.

That and I seem to have a first aid “fetish.” I study first aid guides, read articles, practice what what I read or otherwise learn and test first aid gear. I also have collection of first aid kits. Every time I buy a new kit, I have to open it as soon as I get in the car.

Jeanette Isabelle

I was a Boy Scout when I was a kid, and spent most of my time outdoors. Joined the military right out of high school and learned a lot from that experience.

Personally, I just don't like being dependent on anyone or any organization to take care of me in any way. I don't believe that the government should provide for people's care.

And I don't like the idea of being like the folks I see every day who can barely manage to figure out how to put gas in their car or change a tire.

I'm the go-to guy at work for problem solving, it comes natural to me. I spend more time thinking outside the box than inside it.

I had a few rough experiences when I was a young adult, which brought back memories of some smaller lessons my dad had taught me as a child. His "knife, string, and matches" rule for a walk in the woods seemed to make a lot of sense, especially metaphorically, about so many things.

I'm certainly nowhere near as well prepared as some of you, but then things have been a little rough lately. It also gets tough convincing family sometimes why I want to purchase a small camp stove and a few cans of fuel for it, but then if we have an extended power outage they'll be grateful for the hot meals, and that matters more to me than a lot of things. The same applies to the tarp I keep with the spare tire in the car, though the first aid kit is never questioned, and my 'crazy man kits' come in handy for bandages and allergy meds more than anyone else thinks to be prepared for them.

I think I'm wearing them down a little.

I think it helps if you have outdoor interests or your job gets you out. You will wind up with equipment and experience that will help in a lot of emergencies. A lot of what might be termed my 'prepping activities" is nothing more than organizing my outdoor baubles and trinkets so that they are accessible when needed on short notice.

Hang in there - your preps will pay off.

Some level of emergency preparation seems like common sense. A perhaps more interesting question might be: who did you come to decide on your current level of preparation?

For me, the combined concerns of budget, energy, and my area's likely risks have led me to prepare only for the short term threats. This level of preparation seems like something that almost everyone can and should do. However, I don't think this is all a rational process. Why do some prepare for the long term as well, while others worry only about the short term? I think psychology is involved.

Like Izzy and LesSnyder, the hurricane season of 2004 was the tipping point for me. I've lived in Florida my whole life and that season was a doozy. I was moving 150 miles north DURING the first hurricane, Charley, lost my house in the second, Frances, and STILL keep lots of personal items in plastic bins in my garage. Bugged out during Frances, went north toward Georgia. Wound up as far as Valdosta before the parking lot that was I-75 finally made me say enough is enough. Had my mom with us and she went into heart failure while there. Yep, pretty much buggered that year. Since then I've been fairly prepped, but food and stores are my main concern for long term. All that "doomsday preppers" makes for pathetic TV, so stick to this forum and level headed, "we're all in this together", VERY helpful and kind people will make the journey fun, humorous, and enjoyable.

Pathetic is the word.

having kids and 9/11

9/11 (living in the DC area) and then two really bad storms in two years that knocked down trees and left a lot of damage. With the second one I had to learn how to use the chainsaw, and learned I was the only one on the block with one. So now I seek self-reliance and the skills to make it through what life throws at me.

I recall that years ago, while in university, I read an article in Backpacker magazine about how to get out more. The author described how he kept a closet just for outdoor adventuring. He kept all his equipment packed and ready to go, including a pantry full of ready to pack ingredients for camp cooking.

I didn't realize it a the time, but I built my first BOB the night I read that article. I couldn't afford to buy anything new, but i organized all my camping gear, packed it and mad sure that I could grab it at a moment's notice. It included a duffel bag of edibles and cookware that weighed a ton but facilitated some rocking camp meals. I didn't plan it that way, bu it came in handy when the power went out during an ice storm and my cupboards and bank account were bare.

Overflowing into the garage and bed of the truck.

I do the same with pre-packed bags, we have 4 Camelbaks hanging on my closet wall then an Alice pack with more gear, etc.