Picture this:
The worst case happens. Trump wins, the Dems create complete havoc, and the country loses large portions of its infrastructure. Unknown agents provocateurs have managed to take down the cell system and the power grid. The grocery stores are empty, and what’s left of the government is having issues getting FEMA where it needs to be. Basically, the world is shit, and once that big ball gets rolling, it takes a long time to stop. You can tell your area isn’t getting any better, anytime soon.
What do you do?
All too often, I hear weekend warriors talk about how they’re going to play soldier in the woods with their friends. I was once scoffed at because I said in a dire emergency, I would be home in my comfortable bed and not traipsing around the forest living off worms and beetles. Apparently I’m not a Real Rebel [tm]. *shrug* That’s fine. I let them know it was perfectly acceptable for them to sleep in the dirt and be uncomfortable, but my family wasn’t going to do that.
There are lots of reasons we’ve decided to bug in. First and foremost, at least two members of my family are probably not going to be able to keep up with a long hike. They just aren’t physically able to do that anymore. I might be able to sustain several miles in questionable terrain, but not everyone could. If the rest of my family is alive, I’ll be with them. Therefore, I’ll be bugging in. Another reason I’m bugging in, is that I know how to do that. There’s no reason for me to go fumble around in undergrowth. I have a house that runs just fine with no power, food stored up and hidden away, medications and first aid supplies, and other things to make life here tolerable. I know my area. I know how to get water. I know where I can hunt quietly and swiftly. Why would I leave?
If your plans include bugging out, you MUST begin planning for that today. You should have been planning for it since last year or last decade, but we’ll start with today. You need to be fit enough to walk for 8 to 10 hours with your full pack on, carrying enough food and supplies for yourself and anyone else in your party that you may be helping. If you can’t do that, you need to be assessing other options. If you think you can do that, you’d best go practice it.
Even though I plan to bug in, I will often go for hikes (winter and summer, I might add) while carrying my full pack (just over 40 lbs, it’s a MOLLE backpack with lots of things added on). I didn’t start that way. I started with a quarter of the things in my pack that I expected to eventually carry. I did that for a long while. Then I added another quarter of my stuff. Then another. And finally I was able, after many months of practice, to walk for a long time while wearing my gear. It was not something I could have done right off the bat, without practice. It is not something YOU can do without practice.
To be ready for an emergency means more than just having supplies on hand. It means actually trying out each and every item you have in your stash. You need to know how to use an Israeli bandage before it becomes necessary to do so. The same goes for the foods you have stored up, the equipment you have, even the clothing you’ve set aside. You need to use it all a few times, and familiarize yourself with how it works, so that you aren’t adding a steep learning curve to an already dangerous situation.
If your plan is to hunker down in the forest for a month, go try it for a weekend first. If you are going to stay home, try turning off your power at the main breaker, and living that way for a week. There is always a way to give this stuff a try, and you SHOULD be doing that. It’s just not enough to have the stuff. You have to know stuff, too.
I learn passably well by reading about things. Still, nothing beats physically practicing. So practice going out and hiking. Practice building a shelter, if that’s what you intend doing. Practice cooking over a fire. Practice sewing your own clothes. Practice grinding your own corn and grain. Practice growing your own corn and grain! Practice, and then practice some more. Create muscle memory for physical tasks so that, if the SHTF and you are exhausted and need to get things done, your body just knows what to do. The middle of an emergency is NOT the right time to begin learning a new skill.
Comments
9 responses to “Prepping – Being Ready”
I never understood the “bug out” crowd, especially where I live way outside big towns.. alot of those here have YUGE egos and tiny…. err, brains.City folk need to bug out way before bad shiite happens but thats thier problem. I live 790 feet above sea level, 16 miles from the coast. I have everything we need on my 5 acres.. I don’t see a need to drive 40-60 miles thru indian country to go live in the woods when I already live there..
I understand some people choosing to live in cities. If I were on my own instead of with my family and extended clan, I would probably live in a city. It would be easier to work, to get around, etc. But I’d have a bug out plan for getting out of dodge if SHTF.
I much prefer my current life, though. I live close enough to a city to visit if I want (about an hour to any middling city, and 2+ to a big one), and there’s a big box store within 35 minutes of home. I have choices for groceries, and I’m in the middle of the places I reenact. My only real concern right now is that we don’t have a well, and I believe we need one. Other than that, everything’s going fine. 😉
yes, city folk need to be hyper aware and have a plan. many don’t and its on them. if I had to live in a “city” I would own a big on-off road bike and a heavy duty 4×4 truck… Im glad I live where I do. I used to get down yalls way for work once in a while but not so much now.
Bugging Out requires a place to go to.
The question is: Do you have one?
If not, you’re better staying in.
This is very true. I have several places I could bug out to, if necessary. I’m lucky. 🙂 There are places that are “relatively” near to me that I could take my family, too, if there were an emergency of that nature.
When we first developed the “prepping” mindset, the plan was to bug out.
Then we had a couple more children, and suddenly bugging out is FAR less practical.
Bugging in, especially where we are now, is a vastly better option for us. (Note that: “for us”. YMMV based on your individual and family/clan needs.)
What I don’t understand about the hard-core “bug out” crowd is, your home is a ready-built semi-hardened shelter you already have access to, presumably with on-site storage space for items and supplies you’ve already acquired.
While I can understand the desire to learn and practice wood-craft and wilderness-survival skills, one’s home is a HUGE asset in a SHTF scenario. Even a suburban or urban home can offer a lot of advantages in terms of prepping for SHTF.
I can even understand the “PACE” mindset (multiple levels/plans: Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency), and leaving one’s home should always be an option, but for most people it should be the Emergency one, for when all other options have failed.
Why would anyone’s primary plan be to leave their biggest asset and walk away (sometimes literally)?
Then we had a couple more children, and suddenly bugging out is FAR less practical.
Exactly. I have older people with bad hips and knees that don’t move to factor in, as well. Our kids are now off to college; they’re largely responsible for their own plans (while knowing they can come home if they want/need). They can hike. I can hike. There are others in the household who cannot, at least not for the length of time that would make bugging out actually work.
While I can understand the desire to learn and practice wood-craft and wilderness-survival skills, one’s home is a HUGE asset in a SHTF scenario. Even a suburban or urban home can offer a lot of advantages in terms of prepping for SHTF.
Hell yeah, to both parts of that. Do I *know* how to deal with the woods? Yes. Do I *like* doing it? No. Frankly, if I were to bug out (meaning our home is burned either literally or figuratively, and the people who don’t have the ability to hike are dead… a sad thought no matter how you approach it), I would likely stick to roads. Maybe not ON them, but near them. They’re passable, and will be for many years to come. I know how to read a map, unlike many young people today. I know how to get from here to there. Honestly, though, my bug out locations are all but one very close by (ie within a hundred miles).
I totally understand multilevel plans, and love that acronym! I have plans for at home, plans for temporarily leaving home but coming back, and plans for leaving home. All are different. And while I’m not terribly paranoid, I have stashes in places to allow me to do that. I learned a lot when we played with geocaching. 🙂
Things might become a tad unpleasant for a while of Trump succeeds….the odds of course are massively stacked against him.
But that would be hugely preferable to the living hell the left has planned for us after they install Kameltoe the Ho into the White House.
Wisdom is knowing when it’s appropriate to “bug out”, and when it’s appropriate to “bug in”, and being prepared to do either.
If there is a chemical or radiological disaster in your area, or a massive fire, or an extreme weather event for which you have warning, bugging out is usually the best strategy.
For things like pandemics, or civil disturbances, bad but not extreme weather events, etc., staying home and lying low is usually your best move.
If you plan on one to the exclusion of the other, you’re failing to plan, which is another way of saying “planning to fail”.