the way i should have started....

Long term survival means you need a 3 part system...you need (1) Water, (2) Food, And (3) Security. most people only prep for 2 of the three or 1 of the three. I know too many "preppers" that say "all i need is my AR-15 and a ton of ammo", but the issue with that is obvious. you will have to turn into a bad guy and steal or kill for the other 2. I also know guys who say " i will horde a 90 day supply of food and water, and my neighbors will help me keep my stuff.....right, because your neighbor is the guy with a gun and no food or water. You need all three in combination, or none of them matter.

Another thing to consider is in a SHTF situation how are you going to do some common things? Let's take a few things and look at how we are going to deal with them in the future. First, are you going to bug in or are you going to bug out. Well, a lot of this depends on what is the SHTF scenario.
Take for instance a dirty bomb happens and you live within the danger zone, or the danger zone where the winds are taking the fall out to. In this situation it is obvious you NEED to bug out. On the other hand what if the same dirty bomb hits, but it is far enough away to impact others, but only impacts you in Electric, Water, and other utilities. In this situation I would say you need to bug in.

So you have similar things happening, but totally different out comes. What i am trying to say is you need to be prepared for all types of bugging situations. You need a good 72 hour bag,for each person, a FAK for either each person(level 1) or a FAK level 2 for your family(also, you need to think about taking some first aid classes to go with the tools). I mean what good is it to have a suture kit and i.v. bags of fluid, but not know how to use them? You also might consider a bug out kit for the vehicle you are using, and that also brings up the question, what makes a good bug out vehicle? Now i am not going to tell you the best vehicle, because the area you live in determines a lot of this, but more than likely an older SUV with a carburetor and points will usually be a good choice, for a few reasons. You will be able to haul more gear(including food and water), you can haul more people, most are four wheel drive, and the carb. and point systems are the only sure way to avoid the pitfalls of an EMP.

Continuing the bug out scenario, consider where are you going. Practice the route, all times of the day and night. Know alternate routes to get there, and map these out. Consider alternate locations, you never know where a disaster man made or natural will occur. Store the gear you need at the locations, that way if you are in route and have to ditch the vehicle you can grab your 72 bag, hike the rest of the way, and know that when you get there, you can live.

Do not count on the generosity of others. There will be a few people that will help you, but for the most part civilization will be, well, uncivilized! Don't think my neighbor has a place i have heard about, or, i can go stay with my mom or kids. If this is not what you , and they, have planned then they do not have enough for you and them. (Another thing to consider...it takes approx. 2000 plus calories to live, but in a high stress situation you need more than that, some times a lot more...) So do have a plan, don't rush into things. Think out as many possibilities as you can and plan for all of them. You can not have every possible thing in your possession, but you can account for as a bunch.

A word about bug-out-bags, FAKs and gear. Stock them with what you think you will need for a real world problem. As things in your life or the world change, change the items in the bags. For instance, in summer you may not need a wool sweater, but in winter you might. if you live in Arizona you probably will not need a winter parka, but if you live in Colorado you more than likely will. Be smart when you are prepping, again this is a lot of common sense, but using common sense when you are calm and only preparing for the situation is easier than throwing a bunch of junk together when you a scared because the Chinese have landed on the Pacific coast...Also, one more thing about vehicles. You need to always make sure and maintain you BOV, seems simple, but how bad would it be if you have not driven it in 3 months and go to start it and the battery is dead, or having to head out at night and the headlights being burned out...THINK!!!!

There is so much more to cover on this topic, but we will get to that in a blog dedicated to bugging out.

Now, onto bugging in. If you decide it will be safer for you and yours to stay in place, then do it!! you need to be able to assess the situation and make an informed decision. So now you have decided to bug in and the power is out, natural gas is gone or worse, on fire at the transfer station, Now what? How are you going to cook that 3 months worth of food? Did you think to buy a propane system and propane? Did you think of a solar oven? there are hundreds of things to think of. When you where putting your food and water stores together, did you get all of the meds you and your family will need for the next 90 days, a multivitamin supplement for each of you, and did you go over all of this with your spouse of another responsible person if you are to get hurt or ill?

This is not a complicated thing, but it does take preparation, hence the name of the blog..RangerPrepper. you need to go over this over and over, until you and everyone you are bugging in with know it backwards and forwards...

If you live in the mountains, did you think of how to heat in a no electric problem? You live in New Mexico, did you think of how to have enough water to work in the heat? there are so many small things to think of, you need to really plan for your area and for your own personal needs. I can tell you 100 things to look at, but most of them will fit me and my family, but may be totally wrong for you and yours.

A thing that i did not think about until recently, communication. If the SHTF then more than likely you will not have a working cell phone. Did you plan on it? Did you buy a cb or ham radio? do you have a way to power them? there are solar panels, generators, and wind turbines. So many options, what is right for you? It all depends..Wind is great if you live in Kansas, but solar is better if you live in Florida...I as a prepper can tell you ideas, and problems, but you need to come up the best solution for you.

There a hundred things to consider, rain barrels for extra water for cleaning or boiling for drinking and cooking, food and water for your pets, fuel for the generator,vehicle, and cooking appliances, and so many more. We over the next few weeks and months will hit as many of these as we can. If you have a question, ask, i will get you the answers...We will learn this all together.

A few things all of us need to think about is long term food, water, and security.


( a little note: the point of all of this is to survive. This seems obvious, but if you make it through what ever happens and can go past your 72 hour kit, your 3 month supply of food and water, or if you are very ambitious, make it through the 1 year mark, and you die because you have no skills to thrive after, then what is the point of all of the prep? One thing you need to consider doing out side of the prep most people teach about is learning to live with out technology. Growing your own food, hunting for your own meat, and a trade or skill to barter with. In most SHTF scenarios the govt. will have failed or collapsed and the money you have will be useless. So if you are a stock trader for a living, learn a trade or skill that will be useful in a market that doesn't need a banker....the point is to live on, and take care of those in your family and hopefully help others around you.)

Until the next time...God bless you and yours

next on the agenda...

next on the list of things to prep for...food...now this seems rather obvious, but the whole thing is not as easy or as hard as many make it out to be.

First things first...store what you eat and eat what you store. One of the best ways to do this is simple. Write out everything you and your family eat over the course of a 2 week period. Every meal, every snack, every everything...this list is a very important tool for the entire system. As easy as this seems, you have no idea how much food you will eat over this time period. It is amazing how many boxes of macaroni or how much milk you really use until it is written into a journal.

The next step is the scary one...math...You see you are not going to store 2 weeks worth of food, you are going to need to store 12 weeks worth of food. so if you ate 4lbs of pasta in 2 weeks you need to store 24lbs of pasta for 12 weeks. 10 cans of tuna, then you need 60 cans of tuna...you get the point.

now here is where store what you eat and eat what you store comes into play. If not one time in two weeks did you eat pearl onions, then don't buy them....simple, but that is one mistake a lot of people make. you go to a store see a sale on sardines and buy them, but then 6 months later they still sit on you shelf...don't do it.

i am going to leave off on this...for the next 2 weeks write it down...we will pick up from here int he next post.

a preview of things to come...shopping for a 90 day stockpile, learning the dos and do nots of long term storage, shelf rotation,powdered milk and powdered eggs, and freeze dried verses dehydrated...


until then, may God bless and keep you and yours...

first time at this

So here goes..I am a Baptist minister, former Ranger, and current prepper...so what is a prepper...well it is a person that does just that preps for a SHTF event. I have noticed over the last few months that there seem to be more of us then ever. I feel it is because the world is going down the toilet, and fast. With all of the economic crud going on in Europe, our econimic issues here in the good old USA, and the more frequent "terrorist" attacks.

The latest being in New York in times square...i think this might have been a botched attempt, but i think it was more of a practice run at a dirty bomb, or something just as bad. I feel they wanted to see how we would react, kind of like the failed underwear bomber...no let me say i am not a conspiracy guy, this is a lone feeling...And i might be way off base...those could have just been idiots that failed...

So with that out of the way, I want to start simple. Water. We need water or we die....yes i think we all know it, but i am not sure as to how serious it is. Three (3) days with out water and you are in severe dehydration. The average American does not drink 1 gallon a day, that is the recommended amount, but we instead supplement it with soda, energy drinks, and other sugar filled drinks. Start slow, drink your one gallon a day...drink nothing else..NOTHING else and see the difference it makes.

So start here. 1 gallon a day. the next step is to start storing 1 gal. per day per person. Start with a one month supply. For me and my family that would mean 120 gallons...now this water needs to pure drinking water. This is for a family of 4...for 1 month...

So how do you store it? Well, for a one month it can be as simple as bottles of water, gallon jugs of water, 2 gallon jugs, or the best way, large containers. 30 gal. and 55 gal. food grade containers are the best. I am not affiliated with any company, so when i recommend one, it is because it is the best deals i can find...if i find better ones, i will let you know. So here is my first one- emergency essentials- here is a link-

http://beprepared.com/category.asp_Q_c_E_137_A_c2c_E_tn_A_name_E_WaterStorageandWaterFiltration.

this will take you directly to their water storage. These are food grade, new containers and are the cheapest i can find.

Once you start storing water, i would recommend jumping to a 3 month supply...it's a lot of water, but it is the most important part of long term survival, PERIOD! i know that this may sound extreme, but trust me and a lot of research... you need this...

When storing the water you need to make sure you either rotate the supply or use long term purification..there are many ways of doing this. the finest i have seen is called "Water Preserver"...seems right on the money. This stuff will allow you to store water for up to five years...nice! Another method is shock!, like you would use in a pool. now this took me aback. but in small doses this stuff lasts longer than any other option, and is cheaper than all other options. there is a web site set up by the EPA giving specific amounts of the this stuff-

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/emerg.html

It is safe and effective, plus super cheap.

Other things to consider. Keep you water off of the concrete. Even in heavy food grade barrels chemicals can leach into the water and ruin it. a simple piece of plywood under the barrels is fine. Better yet, a storage rack for the barrels is the best. Also, if you are using 30 or 55 gal. drums, a bung wrench is a required tool along with a hand pump.

No matter how you store it, start smart...start now.

Do this in small steps, start with water, and start small...start buying an extra case or 2 every time you go to the store...

Aldi's sells it for $2.50 a case, Wal-Mart is around $3.00 a case...just start, and start now...


Until the next episode, may God keep you and yours safe