Dripping Survivalism to Neophytes

I was talking to a friend of mine this past weekend. He knows generally that I am a prepper but he does not know to what extent. He (we'll call him Bill) said that prior to the Presidential election he was concerned about the country falling in anarchy. So much in fact that he bought a gun. Bill told me he had inherited a 12 gauge "bird hunting' shotgun from his father, but never had plans to buy another gun until he got 'scared' - for his family and himself. So he went out and bought as Glock 9mm handgun. He didn't even know what model number.

Bill is some sort of a financial planner, trust funds or something, I really don't remember and could not give a shit less, but I could not pass up the opportunity to educate him and used that angle to get him thinking:

UrbanMan: Well Bill, having a gun, several guns in fact, are a good idea for protection especially when the security situation becomes worse, but you need training and well as have some ammunition stocked up for the time when it gets scarce. Ammunition, as well as food, batteries, water, etc., will be the first to fly off the shelves - and before it flies off the shelves the price will raise dramatically.

Bill: I guess you are right. I have a box of 50 bullets for the Glock.

UrbanMan: Bill, if I were you I would buy another 150 or 200 rounds of ammunition and continue to buy at least a box a month until he have 1,000 rounds minimum. Plus you need to have some 12 gauge bird shot and buck shot, as well as some slug shotgun shells also.

Bill: That's a lot of ammo! Do you really think I need that much? Although you are right about the shotgun. I don't have any ammunition for that.

UrbanMan: Yes, you need plenty of ammunition. You don't want to wait until you need it. At that point it will be expensive, maybe very hard to find and you will expose your safety going to gun shops trying to find it. Go buy two boxes of bird shot, which would be 50 shot shells, five boxes of 00 buckshot (total of 25 rounds) and two boxes of one ounce slugs (10 rounds). Buy a couple boxes of each, every month until you have two to three hundred of each load. Get an old Army metal ammunition can and keep it in your closet. It won't take up much room and it'll give you peace of mind.

Bill: I don;t know. That's a lot of money.

UrbanMan: Jesus Bill, you make a lot of money, so stop buying beer or ice cream or movie tickets of whatever else you don't need every week and invest in your survival insurance. Also what are you going to do if the banks close or the dollar tanks or the ATM stops working or the government says you can only withdraw $100 a day and food prices go up 1000%.

Bill: Well, I think we'll have more problems than money if that happens.

UrbanMan: That's right, hence the guns. And the food you have stocked up in your pantry and garage. And the safe place you have a plan to get to rather than staying in the suburbs.

Bill: I am really uncomfortable planning on the world to collapse.

UrbanMan: Uncomfortable? How about not being able to protect or feed your family? That in my book would be a lot more uncomfortable. All I am suggesting is a modicum of planning and preparation. You deal in the financial world. Is diversification of investments generally a good thing?

Bill: Generally, it is. You don't want to have all your assets in one area, say stock funds.

UrbanMan: Well, consider a little prepping as diversification of your survival portfolio. Do you track the precious metals exchange?

Bill: Yes, I have clients who own gold and silver stocks. And come to think of it, I do field questions from existing clients on adding that to their portfolios. I really don;t recommend too much resources devoted to that investment.

UrbanMan: You are talking about 'paper' gold and silver, which will do you no good if everything collapses. You should think about buying at least some silver each month and put it away as a hedge if the dollar collapse or hyper inflation hits. Silver is about $16.75 an ounce right now, but if you research it, you'll see that U.S. silver production is declining significantly over the past couple of months and expected to decline further. So solely as an investment I'll think you see silver increasingly around $3 to $5 an ounce within the next three months. Just a few months ago it was around $21 an ounce and remember it wasn't too long ago when silver hit $48 an ounce.

Bill: You may be right, but the precious metals market changes from time to time under forces we never fully understand,...everything from price manipulation to large purchases by various countries.

UrbanMan: Exactly. That's why you need to protect yourself. I am not advocating an 180 degree change in your financial planning or monthly spending. I am just talking about small changes, re-directional really, that plug holes in your ability to survive.

Bill: Okay. Well I'll think about it.

UrbanMan: Ok, you think about it. In the meantime, I'm going to send you some website and recommended reading. Don't be the dumb ass left out.

Prepare for Zombie Apocalypse? No. Prepare for National Crisis? Yes.

Preparedness is becoming more and more mainstream. However, some people will get spooked should you really lay on the Prepper routine.  Instead, print this article and hand it to them.    Tell them that Glenn Beck recently hosted Justin Wheeler on his nationally syndicated The Glenn Beck Program Tuesday December 1st to discuss a preparedness plan should a national crisis unfold.

Wheeler, the brother of Beck’s chief of content, recently asked his family members in an email to do these things: fill the car with gas and check the oil, withdraw $500 cash from an ATM and buy one case of bottled water and some canned food.

“Probably nothing, but run this as an exercise tonight if at all possible — tomorrow, early, if you can’t get that done — and, above all things, remember, remain calm, be at peace. We’re Americans. We’ll always win because we believe and defend liberty and freedom, so no worries,” Wheeler wrote at the end of the email.

Wheeler told Beck that preparedness is part of his “heritage” and that, as a child who grew up in the 1970's, he remembers going through nuclear preparedness drills in school and having food storage at his childhood home.

“As I increased my education level, an increased level of preparedness just became a rational response,” Wheeler said. “I think it is a very rational response. Very much the same way that if a weatherman said, ‘Hey, it’s going to rain,’ you would walk out of the house with an umbrella and no one would think twice about that.”

According to Wheeler, the reason people have difficulty preparing for economic crisis is because, as a whole, the U.S. has not experienced that level of instability since the Great Depression in the 1930's.

So Wheeler created a list of supplies necessary to cope for 30 days amid major national instability:

 

1. 30-day food supply

2. Five days water and water purification filters to last one year

3. Vehicle toolkit

4. Hatchet or machete

5. Shovel and sledgehammer

6. 50-foot extension cord

7. Arctic-rated sleeping bags

8. Eight-person tent

9. Flashlights and batteries for the vehicle

10. AM/FM weather radio

11. Three wool blankets

12. Winter coats

13. One tin cloth coat

14. 18 toilet paper rolls

15. Ranch clothes

16. Five gallons of gasoline

Wheeler said he devised this list when he decided he wanted his family to be prepared for “more than just an earthquake.”

“All the experts will say, ‘You probably don’t want to be in a major city in a disaster scenario,’” Wheeler told Beck. “So we want to be one of the first on the road, and that means being able to pack up, get ready to go, and go rapidly.”

Wheeler added that it is important to have a plan as an entire family so everyone can meet up in a pre-determined area. Additionally, he said it is crucial to have out-of-state contacts, should the phone lines go down.

Wow!  Someone finally talks about a P L A N.  A predetermined met up area is a contingency linkup in any other language.  Have a contingency plan.  Employ the two man rule for everything and if a group leaves the main group have a plan:  Where you are going.  What you are doing.  When you will be back.  What to do if you don't come back.  It's only common sense.  

[Source: Glenn Beck Show]

~Urban Man