Surviving Emergency - Part 1 - Preparing!

In regards to the current situation in New Orleans, my next several posts will be covering topics that can serve more than just your average revolutionary. We've all seen the nightmare unfolding on television and in the news, and we've watched dozens of movies ... but what do we do if it happens to us?

We prepare in advance. Be like the ant, not the grasshopper. When the fecal material hits the rotary air circulator, it is too late to start gathering up food and survival related goods.

What you will need
There are essentials to your survival that you should procure beforehand when all you need to do is order them online or at your local shops. Every individual or family should maintain what's known as a "bug out bag". This is where all your essentials will go in a handy-dandy carrying device. There are a lot of starter "checklists" or inventories to put one together, but the contents will be highly personal and situational. Here's a sample checklist so you understand:

1. money -- cash and checks. (As much as you can reasonably afford to keep on hand)
2. two sets of warm and rugged clothes, including extra socks and underwear
3. toilet paper (3-4 rolls)
4. maps of the local terrain, roads, and a pre-plotted course to a safe place (safe place may be a cabin in the woods, another town, or grandma's house in Wisconsin)
5. first aid kit, including antibiotics (if you can purchase them)
6. small set of collapsible cookware (camping supplies come in easy to carry sets)
7. canned and prepackaged food
8. water and water containers along with an easily portable purifier
9. compass, fire starting materials, a good utility knife
10. a weapon (one you know how to use but can afford to lose if you absolutely have to)
11. passports and/or other legal documents (useful if you need to cross the border in the middle of the night)
12. short-wave radio and batteries, as well as multiple light sources

Now you get the point?

Store it in a safe place and every couple of months, refresh any perishables and change the water in the water containers. Size accordingly ... I have a large family, so there would be two adult bags and several smaller "kid packs". Everyone pulls their own weight in an emergency, but the gotta-have items go in the adult packs. If you end up traveling a long distance on foot, you'll more than likely be carrying a kid and ditching their little pack.

Having a plan
If you live in a major city, there will be certain reasons that you must evacuate. Civil unrest, natural disaster, nuclear or biological attack ... these are a few reasons you might need to use that bag we mentioned. But the key thing is to have a plan. Without it, you're a refugee. With a plan, you're a survivalist.

The thought process goes through an escalation like this:

In the event of a disruption in services ... non-life threatening, we'll stay at home and use our own resources and stockpiles inside our house. It's the most defensible position, and keeps us together and in a safe place.

If the disruption becomes life-threatening ... such as food riots and looters, rampaging National Guard units, or spreading toxic waste ... then be prepared to leave your home. It is not worth staying in until the looters burn it down, or the nuclear fallout eats the paint off the walls and the skin off your kids. Use local media to find out which roads, bridges, etc. are still open, but be prepared to hoof it out on foot if you have to. (This is why your bug-out bag must be easy to carry!) If you're taking the family car, then you can load up everything you want in it, but if you're cutting out through the woods to avoid the looters and street gangs, then just the bag will be as much as you can manage.

Make sure you know where to go. Discuss with your family where the safest place to ride out a long-term problem would be. Is it the old family farm where grandpa lives out in Wisconsin? Perhaps that nice cabin you visited on vacation last year by the lake. Wherever it may be, know how to get there, both by road or cross-country.

And last, know when it's time to go. Don't wait until the National Guard has shown up in a truck to bodily remove you from your home and take you to a refugee camp. Don't wait until the crack addicts are starving and willing to kick down your door and face the semiautomatic weapons fire in order to get at your wife, kids, and canned food. Choosing your time to leave means you get to choose what to take with you. If that time is chosen for you, then you may be doing all you can just to get you and your family out safely, with or without possessions. Information will be your key to successful decision making. Use the radio and any other means at your disposal to determine if the situation is getting worse rapidly, and if so, declare it's time to go. It's better to be wrong and show up on Grandpa's doorstep at 3am for a surprise visit than to wait until you can't get out. Besides, Grandpa is always glad to see you.

Remember, the only goal in these situations is to survive. Be willing to abandon your home and belongings if you must. Be willing to break apart that antique chair to burn and keep yourself from freezing to death. Be willing to do whatever it takes to get you and your family to that safe location. Write a hot check, spend all your cash, use your weapon ... whatever it takes. If there ever comes a time when you need to pick up the bag and go, do not enter into the situation with fuzzy morals and goals.

Next ... the proper mindset for what you will face.