I'm curious if 9/11 and the continuing threat of further incidents has affected your survival planning and survival kits. I'm getting a larger sheath knife to augment my tiny Leatherman Wave blade, and heavier duty bandages and compresses for my car kit, and I've added bottles of water. Since the threat scenario is unknown, ranging from radiological, biological, explosive: I feel a bit helpless trying to anticipate what I might need.

The short answer is no.<br><br> It did show some of my more naive friends that I was not as far out there as they assumed. You know the type. They have a pocket full of credit cards, a cell phone in their ear, a subway sandwich in their hand, a soccer ball sticker on the back of their car, 50+ extra pounds on their belts and absolutely no concept of the term "situational awareness".<br><br>Some of these friends are starting to ask me questions along preparedness lines. I have found out that they are not really prepared to accept the answers though. They are still stuck in the " it always happens to someone else" line of thinking. <br><br>Since some of them never actually do anything other than watch television; they may be right.

Rod, In an ancient post I related testing a flashlight with such intensity ( mine, not the light) I almost walked into a skunk. The Wahhabi movement that spawned al Qaida wants us to be afraid, to surrender freedoms. I love the campy trilogy TREMORS. Burt cracks me up. I don't want to be Burt. Your reasonable concerns should grow into reasonable preparations. Then when something does happen; a flood, power outage etc. you will be free. Free from helplessness ;O)

I don't want to be Burt, either. But I sure wouldn't mind having a few of his cool weapons. By the way, in the original Tremors, what was the firearm of last resort Burt smashed the glass panel to reach? It looks like an overgrown shotgun.

Every time I hear an airplane go by, I can't help but watch it, especially when it's an airliner. I wonder if more murderous fantatics are on board, planning another attack. My wife used to grin tolerably at my preparedness gear. Now she asks questions.<br><br>Also, I haven't been in the air since. Can't stomach the thought yet.<br><br>Don't want to be frisked and wanded by someone who may or may not know what they're doing, who is bent on removing any and all means by which I could defend myself.<br><br>Of course my wife wants to travel internationally. I do too, but less so. I have already said I'm going to get a good tranquilizer from my doctor before flying again. Or as I call it, being tossed through the air while strapped down in a glorified sardine can.<br>

That was a double rifle, using huge rifle cartridges. Hunters use them for elephants, rhinos, cape buffalo, and sometimes...gigantic subterrranean worms. Double rifles typically use .50 to .60 caliber bullets with horrendous recoil.

Interesting. Being that I'm 5'11" and weigh 125 pounds soaking wet (I'm afraid I'm kind of a pencil-necked geek), firing that weapon would knock me right over.

It did change how I looked at things. We've always kept extra ammo, food and water around and have the usual camping gear, but it wasn't until the towers came down that we actually looked at what we had and decided to enhance our physical health, skills and equipment. Now we don't go anywhere without some kind of kit either on our person, in our vehicle or both. I've learned a ton from this and a couple of other sites and thank each and every one of you fine people for past help and suggestions and those I'll receive in the future.

Let's see.... Had none prior to 911; now I have plans and equippment. I have gas masks for the whole family, carry two altiods tins, have a radiometer, have a 4X4 with a BOB, got my EMT basic lisence, got my HAM lisence and a decent handy-talkie with receive coverage on all commercial, police and weather channels as well as transmit on 2 meter 1.25 meter and 440 cm wavelengths, more flashlights than my wife can believe and decent woolen clothing for whatever eventuality, enhanced my knife collection quite a lot and got back into shape for mountain hiking (my favorite sport anyway). <br><br>Nope, I guess it didn't make much difference.

I have fine tuned a bit, but actually 9/11 hasn't changed the basics for me. I was prepared for earthquakes before, and I think that therefore I can handle most events in a reasonable way. As I was watching 9/11 unfold (as an early riser, I was tuned to CNN when the first plane hit), I wondered what was in store for us on the left coast as the sun rose, and I reviewed what I had on hand. I went and filled a few water bottles to top off my supply.<br><br>The best way to deal with emergencies would be to develop the ability to foretell the future, but we can't, so the threats will always be unknown. Concentrate on the basics.