Posted: 9/3/2011 12:06:52 PM EDT
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I'm sure its been covered before, but are there specific disasters in your past that motivated you to want to prep?
We all know about FerFal and how his experiences lit his interest in the topic. What about you. For me, as I mentioned in another thread, http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_10_17/649810_Hardening_a_home_from_attack___.html&page=2 it was a combination of the after-effects of Hurricane Agnes in '72 and my experiences as both an LEO and as a National Guard guys who responded to the Ice Storm of '98 that hit the eastern seaboard and Canada, the windstorm that same year that hit central NY. |
| I started at/for Y2K. We were in school and living in an apartment in East Cleveland ($380/mo. for 1400 sq. ft.) and I knew my neighbors didn't have two cans of beans to rub together. I just made sure I had enough water and food and cooking fuel and stuff to get us through a week - and the means to protect it. Luckily, it was all hype but I never felt silly for being prepared. It's a lot easier to sleep when you know you've got your bases covered. |
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2.7 years in SE Asia
experiencing the fall of Rhodesia first hand and watching 3 years of my life burned to the ground, friends murdered,raped, pillaged...by feel good commie bastards.. Hippies.. the growing entitlement and resentment from a particular personage in America.. the icing on the cake, when I bought my first BOL and stocked for war,,the MUSLUM murder of UNARMED Iraeli teenagers in Munich and the general acceptance of it by much of the world... ohh.. and hippies.. |
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Formative events? How about a real bitchy step mother with a 9mm S&W? Whatever works for you, if thats what set your mind on preps. Seriously, for some folks it IS a generational thing thatw as passed down from an older generation that recalled harder times and being ready. So if that was your stepmom and her 9 mm, all I can say is I hope she knew enough to squirrel away a case or two of quality ammo for that 9 mm. |
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Formative events? How about a real bitchy step mother with a 9mm S&W? Whatever works for you, if thats what set your mind on preps. Seriously, for some folks it IS a generational thing thatw as passed down from an older generation that recalled harder times and being ready. So if that was your stepmom and her 9 mm, all I can say is I hope she knew enough to squirrel away a case or two of quality ammo for that 9 mm. No she was short on ammo that day, she pointed the gun in my face, and dropped the hammer twice Click Click, I went out my bedroom window, age 17. A formative moment. |
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No she was short on ammo that day, she pointed the gun in my face, and dropped the hammer twice Click Click, I went out my bedroom window, age 17. A formative moment. Guy I work with was napping on the couch one day years ago and woke up to find himself staring down the business end of his duty revolver ( yeah, it was that long ago) as his wife was pulling the trigger. Only reason he is still with us was he managed to get the webbing of his hand between the hammer and the weapon as she pulled the trigger. I think I'd be moving out that night, but they're still together all these years later. |
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9/11
I was a younger guy and always have been into camping, hiking, and other outdoor activities. I remember wishing I had a place to go wait out the attacks and began working for that place on 9/11/01. Passing of my father in law. MIL/FIL were in their 50's and fairly active healthy people. FIL passed away unexpectedly and I discovered how important it is to prepare for this eventual and sometimes unexpected outcome financially and mentally. Make journals, audio and video recordings for you family members on a regular basis. Tell them the important things you want them to know, be and do. Tell them how much you love them. Back these up and make sure there is easy access to them. |
| I read Survival Guns when it came out(around 1976), and one thing I try to remember is that it's good to learn from other people's mistakes when possible. Learning from other people's mistakes and experiences is usually much easier than having to pay the costs yourself. |
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since i was a teen i had a bob...it progressed from there. Ive gone through every cane thats hit or missed or skirted fla. and survived one tornado...We've had the 98 fire's that came with in 3 miles of my house... Ive been stuck at sea for 1/2 a night in a major storm and had to be rescued....ive had 3 knives pulled on me and 1 gun.... then me and my wife had 3 miscarriages.....and finally she gave birth after a c section on try # 4........ once the kid got here....it all changed. Hurricane,tree's falling all around and now power for weeks on end.angry guy with a knife........No problem, not a worry. The arrival of my child is what put me into over drive more than any other event! YMMV of course, but once it got past ME...it all changed. |
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My parents always had saved for a rainy day so I had developed that habit from when I was young. My dad was always looking for a better investment and did very well for himself. My trek to prepping started after I recovered from an expensive divorce. I had a student from UCLA as an intern when the Rodney King riots broke out in L.A. All he could do was watch the videos and point out where he had been mere weeks before going up in smoke. Y2k wasn't a big deal to me (although I did take out some extra cash since I knew a lot of software hadn't been tested very well).
When 9/11 came along, it changed my perception of "disaster" from one of a natural or localized issue to one that might involve widespread panic and an almost total shutdown of the US for some period of time. When Hurricane Isabel came blasting thru in 2003 and I was without power for 5 full days, that was when I really decided that I needed to kick myself in gear and get ready. We were not at all as prepared as we should have been. So, from that point on I decided "never again". "Never again" would I be stuck in my house with no power unable to sleep because it was too fracking hot. "Never again" would I be stuck with having to cook and eat everything in the fridge before it went bad. "Never again" would I be stuck without knowing I had enough water to get thru a week (even though we didn't actually lose water, we were under a boil alert for a couple of days). After Katrina hit LA/MS area in 2005, I finished out my plans/preps to deal with a hurricane strike because not only was the hurricane a disaster in itself, the aftermath made it worse. In the summer of 2008, when it became more clear to me what was going to happen in the fall election, I switched gears and started getting my other acquisitions in order. Good thing, too, because after November, availability of virtually everything firearm related went to crap. I had no idea that there was so little excess manufacturing capacity in gun making and especially ammo factories. God help us if we ever get into a real shooting war. Before the economy really tanked in 2009, I had seen the handwriting on the wall and started buying silver on a regular basis. Wish I'd bought more now. 
I've had to live on very little money and I've been very fortunate as well in my life. I'm not so disconnected from the lean times that I've forgotten what those were like. And, depending on what you read, we may all be headed for those lean times in the not too distant future. As such, as is said so often here, I'm hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. |
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I wanted to be a Marine ever since I was a little kid. I read everything about WW II in the early 1960's. How the US Navy went off and left the Marine Corps on Guadalcanal with over half the supplies still on board.
I thought I knew what I was getting into. Landed in Viet. in late Sept. 68 as an 18 year old private. The first day, "Supply"nojungle boots, no jungle utilities, only two canteens to issue, and only four twenty round magazines for my M16. Went about two hundred yards down the interior base road where some Navy Seabees were building hootches, with plans to steal mags. Started shooting the shit with them and ended up telling them what my intentions were and that I just couldn't do it(steal mags). The Petty Officer in charge called his on site detail over and each one gave me one or two twenty round mags. Went back to my Company area for the next formation and the 1st Sgt announced that with the monsoon starting in a few days the USMC had decided to stay out in the mountains for the monsoon for the "first time in this war", what ever that meant. Started my first big operation in the Mts. (not colorado mts.) and two days later the rains started. Rained for nineteen days in a row without ever stopping, from a waterfall to a drizzle the whole time. Helicopters couldn't get to us for resupply or to get us out. Went the last ten days with one meal per day, and the last three days there was nothing. (had plenty of water, ha). Finally the clouds broke and we got flown out. My first pair of jungel boots came off of a casulty on the first day of that op. Thank god that the jungle boots were a size or so to big, instead of a size to small. I swore I would not go hungry again. Needless to say on later ops the USMC made a policy decision since "they" didn't have enough helicopters, that we would only get resupplied with two meals a day, because the C rations had lots of calories per meal, ha. I ended up my tour carrying six canteens, and 25 twenty round mags. We stole extra chow when ever we could when we were back in the rear(rarely) Used to want to ambush the US Army mech 113's when they went by us on route 9 with those five gal. water cans and cases of C rations stacked on top. Found out that the rear was stealing supplies, we would put in an order for socks and would be told "no socks". By the time I left V. I wanted to kill everyone who worked back in the rear, fucking pogues!!!!! Firefights, we don't need no firefights, our own side is trying to kill us(starve us to death) On one op we couldn't find any water. Battalion said "they" would fly out one quart per man per day. First day the assholes back in the rear didn't inspect the water containers they sent us only 3/4 full and the last thiry guys in the Company didn't get any water. Fucking assholes should have been shot! We drank out of bomb craters when we could find them with stagnant water. Hell half of our packs and 782 gear was enemy stuff. NVA packs were better then the WW II USMC packs anyway. I'm in heaven now, hundreds of magpul magazines, and lots of socks. I got fucking socks coming out of my ass. Only got about ten pair of those merino wool socks though. If that Company supply clerk that pulled out his foot locker full of socks when I was leaving for R&R ever comes to one of our reunions you will see my name in the headlines, because I'm going to water board his pie hole. Semper Fidelis, Tippy |
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Nothing in particular for me. I've always been "healthily" paranoid about the world. Been in it (the world) for 25 years now, seen some dead people, abuse victims of all ages and genders and orientations, I decided that I'd never be a victim God willing. So I try.
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2.7 years in SE Asia experiencing the fall of Rhodesia first hand and watching 3 years of my life burned to the ground, friends murdered,raped, pillaged...by feel good commie bastards.. Hippies.. the growing entitlement and resentment from a particular personage in America.. the icing on the cake, when I bought my first BOL and stocked for war,,the MUSLUM murder of UNARMED Iraeli teenagers in Munich and the general acceptance of it by much of the world... ohh.. and hippies.. I wish you'd quit beating around the bush and tell us how you really feel..... 
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After the Good Friday Alaska 'quake, my Mother packed two surplus Airforce foot lockers with canned food and blankets and called them Bug Out Kits. Although they were heavy enough I can't imagine bugging them anywhere. and they were on the floor of the garage, and would have been completely burried in an earthquake. They used some of the contents after the Loma Priata (World Series) earthquake after they moved.
I did a grocery run for my Grandparents and a gas run for my parents immediately after the Loma Prieta earthquake. I started my own 72 hour kit the next week with flashlights and some cans of ravioli 
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When I was around 6-7 we had a really bad ice storm around christmas time. My mother in her zeal to load the car to get to the grandparents for the festivities slipped and conked herself well enough she got a concussion. She spent a couple of days in the hospital, and me and my two younger sisters went next door to stay with my aunt and uncle. As dad was skidding and bouncing to the hospital with mom, the transformers were exploding along the road. Electricity was down for more than a week.
We spent that time first at my uncles, then at home camped out in the livingroom using the fireplace for heat, and a coleman 2 mantle propane lantern on a 20lb bottle for light. cooking was done in pans on the hearth, and roasted on metal clothes hangers bent into roasting sticks. My parents were on a well, with a septic system on site. No generator ment that snow melted on the hearth was our only source for drinking and bathing water. I remember the ice that had frozen on the ceiling from the steam of the bath water in the tub falling and scaring everyone in the middle of the night. Mom and Dad had a garden, and canned, and had a large chest freezer that stayed frozen just fine, so I doubt we were ever in danger of starving to death. Living in tornado country we knew how to access the crawlspace under the house for protection at an early age, and by age 7 I had my own bag of stuff I was to take under there. |
| I grew up on a family farm, and living in NH I was no stranger to ice storms, blizzards, and long power outages. I realy didnt get into the preping thing seriously until 3 years ago when I was laid off in this abismal economy and started seeing the writing on the wall. |
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Ice storms in Colorado from 2003-2005 got me started down the road, then back in Texas hurricanes Rita and Katrina got me really going. Sent to Iraq '07-'08, got back and had hurricane Ike, went into overdrive at that point. The loss of one of our sons (10 months old) in early '10 opened my eyes in other ways, showed me there was more to prepping than food, water, and bullets.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could have our eyes opened without disaster striking? Seems we've got to experience something to really get it. |
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My grandparents started prepping during the gas crisis in the 70s. They bought a BOL, silver, gold, all that. I was with them all summer, every summer. We lived all over, dad was in USAF. So summers were spent at the BOL with the cousins, also AF brats, planning for WWIII. Since then it has always been in my subconscious. I've always had a couple guns and way more ammo than I needed. Kept at least some extra food and a BOB(never called it that till I got here).
After college, marriage, kids, 9/11, I have become more like my grandparents. It is more in my active, day to day thinking. More than Survival Magazine I guess is what I mean. I'm here right? This is what we do. |
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I grew up in NYC and until the age of 29 (once I had left NYC for good) I never gave survival or prepping a second thought. Right before the whole y2k thing I started prepping, buying silver (Still have it as well as much more) buying guns and learning. Kept right on prepping after when nothing happened. 9/11 was a real wake up call, had to learn so much more about terrorism, NBC stuff, nuclear weapons.. and so on.. but I kept on prepping and staying ready. And thats where I am today. Well prepped, always looking to rotate out food, add to the preps, its become a lifestyle now. I do stuff without eve thinking about it. During the whole ammo crisis, I just looked at the neatly stacked ammo cans and smiled :) |
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I went to NOLA 2 weeks post-Katrina. I saw first hand just how bad things can get and how quick they can get there. After I got home, I swore to myself that I would never, under any circumstances, be in a situation where I had to 1) rely on anybody for help when the world had a melt down and 2) visit the Superdome for any reason other than a ball game.
That's why my wife and my kids can now almost out shoot me...... Almost. 
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I started prepping after watching Katrina on the news. I also started paying attention to the news and the world at the same time.
It's been slow going thru college but its picking up since I graduated last year. Even my limited amount of supplies is better than most people I know. |
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grew up in earthquake country with the soviet threat still had some meaning, only saw riots, hurricanes and twisters on TV, but had not just one, but two fire chiefs for the small town i lived in on my street. got to do a decent amount of camping as a kid, but never enough. local power outages were common, usually from some drunk idiot taking out a power line. they never lasted long, but we always had backup ways to cook a meal and povide some light.
was near the epicenter of a 6.2 quake in '83 and near the 7.2 in '89... the 7.2 caused widespread damage and what was usually 1 1 hour dirve home took me 3 hrs, and probably a lot longer for anyone in anything with more than 2 wheels. watching the LA riots and seeing Reginald Denny get beat simply for being the wrong race in the wrong place at the wrong time and Korean shopkeepers shooting looters from their rooftops was interesting. in the '90s the Y2K threat was a motivator to get better prepared. didn't actually expect anything serious, but wanted to be better prepared just in case. seeing prices on "pre ban" guns and mags skyrocket anytime there was the threat of new legislation against them and dealing witht he AWB from '94 to '04 showed hpw volatile the prices on some things are. was fairly well prepared when 9/11 hit, but could only watch the events unfold. still trying to improve things and prepare for the most likely events in my area. |
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Not a damn thing.
About the closest example I can think of is having snow tires helped me when it snowed ... having extra batteries helped me when my flashlight died. Nothing exciting at all. Honestly it's been 5 years of prepping on principle and never having to use a damn thing, by and large. It's a strange situation to be in ... it's optimal to never be in a crisis obviously, yet frustrating that I've put tons of time, money and effort into something that I've yet to receive any "return" on. I don't need positive reinforcement to know that it's a good idea to prepare, but it still irks me somehow. I think I'm impatient, and that I know bad times are coming but the suspense is killing me. I probably won't have to wait much longer though, at the current rate of decay. It's quite the balancing act we all play ... preparing vigilantly for the day you hope never comes, spending hard earned money on expensive things you pray never to have to use, struggling to stay committed to preparing when all those around you fare just fine (thus far) without putting a thought into their survival. Incredibly frustrating at times ... at least for me. |
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Growing up gardening, canning, hunting, fishing. I didnt know we were "preppers", but we were. Actually we were just independant. More recent events, since moving to Florida on the Gulf coast, were Erin, Opal, Ivan, Katrina, etc.
It still amazes some of my friends and family when I get out the canning supplies, make jerky, smoke fish, the things we grew up doing. Its like "How do you know how to do that?" I didnt think twice about spending a week in the woods when I was younger. It warms my heart to read some of the posts on SF and know some folks still teach their kids how to really live. 
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The cold war. I remember hearing about the movie "The Day After" (didn't even see it, my parents wouldn't let me) in 1983 and being so scared. My parents had fallen victim to the "no nuclear war is winnable" propaganda spread by the communists and they were apathetic about it. I remember being so mad at them for doing nothing to prepare for what I saw as inevitable. |
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I've always had a love of guns, hunting and being self reliant as possible. I've found over the past 15 years or so, that I can be more self reliant than I would have ever thought. I've lived through tornadoes and several hurricanes, the worst being Hugo after which we didn't have power for several weeks. I bought my first generator prior to another hurricane, my wife and I had a 1 month old and I just couldn't see them sitting in the house with no comfort in the Georgia heat. I started putting food away post 9/11 and I can see the writing on the wall, I want to be able to take care of myself and my family.
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I just seem to have a natural predisposition towards survivalism. I always thought it was cool, and now it gives me a measure of peace of mind. |