Doug,<br> Maybe it is just me, I could be paranoid and confused, but I have noticed an increase in natural disasters like tornados, floods, fires, and earthquakes in the last several years. I lived through the floods of the mighty Mississippi twice in the 90's, Traveled to Northern Florida in 1995 with Home Depot and the Red Cross disaster teams and the one most striking observation that I made was the absolute LACK of preparation of the people we came in contact with.<br> It was amazing that for the most part, homes and businesses were still standing but were flooded or had windows blown out. Few, if any, of people we came in contact with had the three day/ 72 hour package recomended by FEMA much less having any drinking water. <br> There are those here that probably like to brand me as a "Survivalist" for some of my postings here. I keep a 3 day 'emergency' kit in my vehicles, a 15 day 'emergency' kit at work, and a one year 'emergency' kit at my home. For those that need to be reminded an emergency is not just severe weather or earthquakes. Webster defines emergency as; n. unforeseen circumstances calling for urgent action. Maybe I am the only one who has lost a job, or had to be out of work due to an injury or the injury or illness of a family member, how about the death of a member or primary bread winner in a family. Are these not emergencies? A hundred years ago there was not a Kroger, Publix, Winn Dixie, or Safeway on every corner. If you wanted to continue eating(i.e. living) you raised what you ate and you visited town and the general store for supplies a couple of times a year. I doubt that many of the people reading this could honestly say that they could live for 10 days or more on what is in their pantry. Last year in the Atlanta area, we had an Ice storm that lasted for 3 days. It would thaw during the day and refreeze at night for over a week. Travel was very difficult and dangerous. I live in the country and drive 35 miles one way to work but somehow I made it in every day on time, although I did stay at work all three days that were really bad. My three day kit in my truck and the 15 day stockpile at work fed eight of us and fed us good for the three days. Some of those seven other people made fun of Mikey's mini-mart as it was called before but now many of them keep extras around for "emergencies".<br> If a "survivalist" is someone who prepares for all events that could possibly take place then that is what I am. But if a "survivalist" is someone like the m-ass media describes like chicken little, well, thats not me. Survivalism is not a disease like some have written here. I think it is a like state of readiness. It is short sighted to believe no matter what disaster hits that life will resume shortly. If you do talk to those who survived Hurricane Andrew or the floods of the Mississippi basin you might get a different perspective. <br><br><br>Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state. <br>—Thomas Jefferson <br>