A Survival Plan

J&J Rules for Prepping #3
Make Lists for Everything

J&J set out to make their additional Lists. To keep things orderly, their initial thought was to build lists based on Threats. But that changed when they started making sub lists. “Messy” wasn’t the problem, it was just the wrong kind of messy. J&J wanted something they felt good about, so they tossed it all out and started again. still, at the restart, Jack was showing some signs of frustration. “I’m not sure how to do this right.” “Honey. Is there a ‘right’ way to do this? Let’s just do what we feel is good and then test it. We should also probably accept that we’re going to screw this up at least once, and not worry about it when it happens. We’re beginners. We’re learning.” He smiled at her and agreed. “Ok. That’s sounds good. Screw ups are allowed. Any ideas on how to screw this up?”  “Jack, let’s work off Rule #2 and build the lists from that information.”

“Skills and Materials” from Rule #2 served as the basis for the following lists.

J&J decided on 4 simple lists: Skills Required, Current Skills, Supplies Required and Supplies on Hand. As they went through the creation of these, they realized that the “on hand” lists were pretty much already in their heads. Coming up with what was “required ” made the on-hand lists seem redundant. As a result, they are not listed here.

Skills Required

All-weather Sheltering

• tent setup and care
• lean-to construction
• camp site identification (location and weather exposure, available water)
• off road driving, and vehicle recovery /repair
• travel trailer maneuvering, setup and care
• reading weather patterns and charts to determine wind direction and fallout movement

Clothing (“Clothing skills? Can’t we dress ourselves?” “Sure, but with what, and when?”)

• break in new boots when purchased, check forums on how to pick them and break them in
• try out cold weather gear and learn to determine when we are too warm or cold while in cold weather
• learn to adjust, load and carry our Mobility Packs designed to support us on foot in transit, and use them to set up camp

Food

• preparing freeze dried and dehydrated foods
• making meals in a camp setting from regular ingredients
• staring a camp fire
• using a camp stove (if we get one)
• putting out fires
• storing leftovers (try to prepare only what is needed)
• identify healthy foods for prep storage
• learn to store foods properly for later use
• hunting /trapping? (Will we do this? Further thought required.)
• cleaning up with minimal water usage

Water

• building an expedient water filter (cloth and a filtered sports bottle setup)
• using and maintaining a commercially made portable water filter
• locating water via a map, or plant life
• using as little as possible for hygiene and cooking, and cleaning
• heating for cooking

Air

• how to build a HEPA filter for home and RV over-pressurization
• how to fit it to the house and RV
• sealing a room for quarantine, or small area safe room for NBC protection
• small battery powered filter for use with the tent? Hmmmm..

Medical

• basic First Aid
• trauma treatment
• identifying shock, hypothermia, internal injury and bleeding
• setting broken bones
• stopping horrific bleeds not covered in basic First Aid
• advanced class in wilderness medicine (Ohio Medical Corps or similar?)

Defense

• basic self defense skills, hand-to-hand
• workout and exercise skills, to safely increase strength and agility (Read up! Or talk to Fred!)
• stun gun usage
• shotgun usage for the home, and maybe hand guns
• cleaning and safe usage of the guns

Energy

• learn to safely store gasoline, diesel, propane or whatever
• how to use fire starters, solar chargers
• how to treat fuel for long term storage
• how to transfer fuel from storage to vehicle or device
• how to store batteries

Mobility

• how to drive the new truck (new USED truck….)
• hooking up the trailer and maneuvering, quickly!
• basic maintenance and repairs to vehicles
• navigation via map or GPS, dead reckoning

Communications

• finding and tuning into shortwave news sources
• identifying emergency services talk on a scanner
• using public Wi-Fi connections for internet information gathering
• getting to more forums for information
• radios, 2, 20 or 40 meter? CB? Talk to users….

Supplies Required

- (includes materials and equipment of all types)

Shelter

• large 6-person tent as part of the truck’s equipment, for long duration stays, 3 season minimum (can be used as outer shell for a smaller 4 season tent!)
• 4 season tent for two (all weather capable – overkill for us, but guaranteed to do the job)
• lean-to supplies; 12′x16′ dark tarp, rope or 550 cord, tent stakes
• pair of 10 degrees sleeping bags
• road and topographical maps of our area, and possible relocation areas, compass, portable GPS unit, information on water sources
• axe or hatchet, saw for tree limbs, hammer or mallet, medium pry bar
• some sort of radiation detector or meter
• 4X4 3/4 ton truck with front bumper winch, spare parts and two spare tires on rims, roof rack and rear bumper fuel can storage
• used 20′ – 25′ travel trailer with good storage, checked out by repair shop
• laptop PC or i-Pad with Wi-Fi connection, loaded with apps for weather, news and outdoor survival

Clothing

• cold weather gear such as long underwear, over pants and coats, rain ponchos, mittens or gloves, caps, maybe some scarves
• all terrain waterproof boots
• pair of large backpacks in dark civilian colors, 4000 cubic inches capacity, clam shell construction or else with multiple points of access to the interior
• insulated sleeping mats
• good underwear and good socks, lots of them!
• cargo pants and shirts in bland tan or light green and brown colors

Food

• freeze dried and dehydrated foods for home
• freeze dried and dehydrated foods for on the road
• home food storage designed to move quickly into a BOV, like in totes or uniformly shaped boxes that can be handled by one person
• cooking and serving /eating utensils
• camp stove (Rocket Stoves look like a good investment, so do solar ovens)
• packaging materials like Mylar bags and 5 or 6 gallon buckets with lids, bag sealer, O2 absorbers or dry ice for packaging (or both), space and racks to store it all
• MONEY (We will have to create a budget and a purchasing plan and schedule)
• garden and animals??? salads and eggs??? “Food” for thought!

Water

• sports or portable filtration like a filtered sports bottle or a Katadyn system
• portable site filtration such as a Big Berkey or Berky Light
• storage barrels
• purification tablets or similar
• water collection system for the winter (roof runoff or hillside collector?)
• WATER, 500ml and 1 gallon bottles
• canteens (2 qt collapsible military surplus)

Air

• box shaped HEPA filters
• filter materials (wood screws and tacks, duct tape and plastic, silicone sealant)
• gas masks? (might need to reconsider and add those…)

Medical

• basic First Aid kit and…
• extras supplies such as “blood stop” (Celox), trauma blanket or “survival” blanket, chemical hand and /or body warmers, splints, battle dressings and tourniquets (sounds like we want military battlefield First Aid Kits, or IFAKS. We can expand on them, or build something like them)
• IFAKs (let’s build a couple)
• any over-the-counter (OTC) or prescriptions drugs we use regularly or seasonally
• natural remedies for this and that (study)
• dental hygiene products
• burn treatment like Hydrogel and burn dressings
• AED “Automatic External Defibrillator” (grandpa had heart issues, maybe we should have one on hand)

Defense (Personal)

• a couple good knives that fits our hands
• a good book on working out and diet
• some basic weights… a couple dumbbells and a chin up bar
• stun gun
• shotgun for home use
• look into a hand gun or rifle (we have some long distance possibilities up here…)
• cleaning supplies for any guns, and recommended spare parts
• ammunition
• a gun safe (no way we’re going to provide a gun to a thief!)

Defense (Material)

• home alarm
• strong dead bolts, maybe even barricade bars to secure the doors when home
• impact film for the windows (8mils – the kind that prevents glass breakage. Hey! That might prevent blow out from near miss nukes!)
• bright outside security lights pointing away from the house
• sprinklers that can hit the walls, and wet the roof, with internal controls
• axe for inside the home, to get out if earthquake jams the doors
• tool to turn off gas and water (maybe automatic earthquake gas shutoff valve… necessary retrofit for some homes sold here in California)

Fuel

• equivalent of an extra tank of fuel for one vehicle stored in 5 gallon Jerry cans
• fuel treatment for stored fuel
• hand cranked fuel transfer pump for can to tank
• siphon rig with that automatic valve that means you don’t have to
• solar charger of some sort, for RV and portable device batteries
• spare batteries
• fire starters for camp (magnesium, “fire sticks”, matches, long lighters, etc….)

Communications

• get a scanner /scanners that provide access to police, fire, air and nautical, government broadcasts… the more the better, even if over 2 or more scanners
• short wave radio for news
• one radio should have NOAA and weather capability
• MURS radios for home and land use
• portable HAM or other such radios for news and personal comms
• laptop for Wi-Fi hookups, or iPad or “notebook”

These, and the prior lists, allowed Jack and Jill to get a good handle on where they stood, and where they wanted to go. Recognizing that they were making mistakes and assumptions as they went along made it much easier to explore their thoughts, concerns and hopes. When they reached the end of the “Supplies Required” list, J&J sat back and looked at each other. Their thoughts echoed those of most start-up preppers: “This will cost us a bit of cash.” It was then that they created a new rule. J&J Rules for Prepping #4: Create a Budget. They knew that they couldn’t budget what they didn’t have. Making what income they did have stretch longer would mean cutting out a few things.

Rules #4 is next….

Here are links to the four previous parts in this series:

• Part I
• Part II
• Part III
• Part IV