Doomsday Preppers...

Did you catch the new show "Doomsday Preppers" last night on National Geographic channel?

I watched the first one and recorded the second to watch tonight.

Just a quick rundown on the first show.

The first group, the people in Texas with the home made out of shipping containers. Wow. Those people have their shit together. 50,000 pounds of food! 22 seemingly well trained people! A good plan that has been practiced! I think when all hell breaks loose these guys have a good chance.

The hippie in California that will survive on the streets, under the radar, eating weeds. Ok. Ummm. He will be dead in about 10 minutes of any actual SHTF situation. He has no guns and no sense. Sure, knowing which weeds will kill you and which won't is a pretty good skill. Hanging out in Los Angeles in an apocalypse situation is just stupid. I might be a little generous with the 10 minutes.

The big guy with the yapping little dogs and the HAM radio. I think with some help this guy would be ok for quite a while. He has a nice supply of food and resources for growing more. He has a few weapons and practices with them regularly. His health is a huge concern. If he could recruit a few good former military guys or girls, he would be living large.

The chick in Houston with the big back pack. Hmmm, she will never make it out of Houston alive, never. Even when the "experts" reviewed her and said that her evacuation route was jacked up she disagreed. Holy shit, in her practice run she felt unsafe and tempted to pull her pistol. Imagine the streets full of hungry, horny scumbags looking for anybody with anything. Dead.

It was also kind of interesting that each of these groups had a different SHTF scenario in mind in their prepping. The first group would be prepared for about any likely, or unlikely, scenario.

I found it a little disturbing that the "experts" shot down all four of the groups reasons for prepping. You know, it wasn't that long ago that nobody saw the collapse of Greece coming, or the monetary meltdown of most of the EU. For these people to shoot down these scenarios as virtually impossible shows either some sort of a bias or they aren't paying attention to world events. There HAVE been EMP situations on this planet. There have been financial meltdowns. We have had oil shortages. All of these situations could come up, especially with the deteriorating conditions all around the world.

Just my take on it.

But, while I criticize some of these groups, most of them make me realize how inadequate my own preps are. It did give me some good ideas and a little better vision of what being prepared really means.

Preppers beware...

I received an email a couple of days ago from a person I think a lot of. The email was a warning that many of us have heard before and may have disregarded. He has it on VERY good authority that the federal government is keeping a list of those people who are stocking up on food and other necessary items.

If you are stocking up, do so with some caution. Pay cash for your stuff. Don't buy from someone that requires you to show id or wants to document who you are and what you are buying. Check your local area for one of the Mormon Home Storage facilities. Not all of the centers provide services to non-members, but it's worth a look. They sell long term storage food items at cost. Just so we are clear, I'm not a mormon, so it's not like I have an affiliation, just passing along what I have learned.

My Bride and I were discussing this very thing last night. She was stunned that the government would want to keep a list of who has stored food items and didn't understand why they would do such a thing. In the event of an emergency, there will be some haves and a whole bunch of have-nots. The federal government will try to minimize the have-nots with YOUR stuff. Be careful about where you buy your stuff. Don't make it common knowledge that you are stocking up.

My Bride and I figured about how many people would wind up at our house if things were to get bad. We figured the number to be around 30. How many will you have? Our number is immediate family only, and Joe Texan and his crew, but they are family too. How long do you plan to live on what you have stored?

One other bit of knowledge I instilled upon my Bride, out of the 30, with the exception of Joe Texan, I'm the only one that could actually pull the trigger in defense of my loved ones. That's kind of a heavy weight to be carrying around, but one I am willing to do for my family. Give that a thought. How far are you REALLY willing to go when push comes to shove?