Being prepared for natural disasters is really just imagining yourself in your home without utilities, or possibly stranded without the ability to resupply yourself and your family. Right? Wrong. Depending on the disaster, first-aid and basic construction understanding may be needed to keep you and your family safe and secure. However, you may not be aware, but according to the USFA, 37 percent of residential fire victims succumbed to smoke inhalation.
Many of those pet owners out there seem to forget about their dogs during a natural catastrophe, essentially demoting them to property during an emergency. This changed for me decades ago when I was introduced to the term "working dog". If you've never worked with a "furry tornado with laser beam focus" before, I am here to say that my canines are my partners. They are not "my kids", nor are they just "my dogs", I have formed a life-long partnership with them. As I learned to understand the mind of my canines over the years, it struck me that many pet owners don't fully understand the responsibilities of being a K9 dog handler. Because whether you considered it or not, the day that little heart stealer came home to your house, you became one. From that day, until he/she passes, their whole world revolves around you. As the "alpha" of your pack, your job is to teach them everything, and responding to emergencies is just one very small part.
As you may remember from the show on October 21 of 2020, called “Survival Mindset” where we talked about getting the mind right for successful survival. One of the points I made was talking about providing activities for kids to do during and after a local disaster, that were within their level of understanding. I explained that these visible actions would allow the kids to build a level of self confidence. Well this same practice applies to adults too. During my tour with the US Marines, we had an unwritten code that we lived, or died, around. That was “adapt and overcome” and it meant that we (Marines) had to be able to think independently, and adjust our plans of attack to whatever dynamic element tried to intercept our forward momentum. I hope that I can help you come to embrace this mental exercise for your own needs.
gotten away with it, while others were not so lucky. Whether it was losing extremities due to extreme frostbite, or losing their lives due to hypothermia. As my older boys were growing up they constantly challenged the Alaska winters, and for the most part, they were a part of the lucky ones. However, I would say that one of the most avoidable injuries are the injuries dealing with hot and cold weather. As a boy growing up in Southern Arizona, I learned, sometimes painfully, that extreme heat can be just as dangerous as extreme cold. Heat stroke, exhaustion, and sun burns can be very dangerous, and painful. But, in the big picture of things, the most overlooked type of injuries are weather related. In my experience, there are really two schools of thought when it comes to weather injuries; first is the “macho man” mentality who foolishly thinks they are tougher than the weather, and the other are the “quick tasks” that underestimates how fast weather can change, or what degree of impact a short dash of weather can have.
In almost all the episodes of “Doomsday Prepper” that was aired back in its day, all of them included the whole family when preparing for whatever they concluded was coming. This was not a design of the producers, as one of the critical elements to any level of survival, is that all members of the team are moving in the same direction. They are working harmoniously to create a defined path forward. In some cases their exists a tension between spouses when one doesn’t support the level of preparedness the other deems necessary, however, as you all know, being part of a family means that sometimes we have to compromise a little when establishing our level of prep. I
I hope to provide some insight into the world of the prepper subculture, and offer ideas and suggestions to help prepare you, and your families, for whatever happens. With the results of our national election still being tallied, and/or lawsuits being filed and dismissed, now is certainly a good time to be prepared for the upcoming aftermath. But, what if (my favorite thought process), the outcome causes the implosion of the experiment we call democracy? What if, this event causes the absolute worst-case scenario? Are you ready? For how long?
As many of you know, I'm pretty involved in surviving and getting my family and I to the other side of whatever Mother Earth may throw at us. With a constant knowledge that any minute of any day, some lost soul in some far-away place could depress the button to send us all back to the ice ages, I work tirelessly sometimes to think of all the "what ifs?"
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