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Nothing Happens by Chance

You are holding this book in your hands for a reason. Nothing happens entirely by chance. I trust that you will soon be ready to embark on an adventure that will result not only in greater logistical preparedness but also in learning valuable skills that you can use throughout your life. These skills will build your self-confidence. When combined with acquiring the requisite tools, it will help you develop genuine self-reliance—regardless of the adversities that you might someday face. By being well prepared and well trained, you’ll also be in a position to share your skills and some of your extra supplies with less prudent relatives, neighbors, and friends.

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PRIORITIES Your List of Lists

First Things First

Survival isn’t about stuff. It is about skills. If you have time and just a bit of money, then you can get some very well-rounded training in skills that are quite applicable to post-TEOTWAWKI living. In my experience, the most cost-effective training opportunities in the United States include:

• American Red Cross first aid and CPR classes

• Local community college, park district, and adult education classes. They offer courses in metal shop, auto shop, wood shop, leather crafting, ceramics, baking, gardening, welding, and so forth.

• RWVA Appleseed rifle matches and clinics. These are held all over the nation. They offer great training for very little money.

• Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) classes and camps

• FEMA/CERT classes (classroom and Internet courses, some with team commitment)

• LDS (Mormon) cannery classes/canning sessions. Many wards have their own canneries, which are generally open to non-Mormons.

• ARRL amateur-radio classes

• Species-specific and breed-specific livestock and pet clubs

• NRA and State Rifle and Pistol Association training and shooting events

• Fiber guilds (spinning and weaving) and local knitting clubs

• Mountain Man/Rendezvous clubs (black-powder shooting, flint knapping, soapmaking, rope making, etc.)

• University/county agricultural extension and Cattlemen’s Club classes on livestock, gardening, weed control, canning, etc.

• Medical Corps (medicalcorps.org) small group classes. They offer great training—including advanced lifesaving topics that the American Red Cross doesn’t teach—at very reasonable cost.

• Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) classes (usually with some commitment)

• Candle and soapmaking clubs/conventions

• Boy Scouts and 4-H. Informal, unenrolled (“straphanger”) training is available for adults—just take your kids to the meetings and don’t leave. Consider becoming a scout leader.

Start with a “List of Lists”

You should start your family-preparedness stocking effort by first composing a List of Lists, then draft prioritized lists for each subject on separate sheets of paper. (Or in a spreadsheet if you are a techno-nerd like me. Just be sure to print out a hard copy for use when the power grid goes down!)

It is important to tailor your lists to suit your particular geography, climate, and population density as well as your peculiar needs and likes/dislikes. Someone setting up a retreat in a coastal area is likely to have a far different list than someone living in the Rockies.

Distinguishing Wants from Needs in Preparedness Planning

My consulting clients often ask me for advice on their preparedness purchasing programs. Some of the items that I’ve seen them purchase in the name of preparedness make me wonder. For example, a family that recently relocated from Michigan to Idaho’s Clearwater River Valley purchased matching snowmobiles for every member of the family. But they now live in a climate where in some years they only have snow that sticks for two or three weeks. In most years they will have to put their snow machines on trailers to get up to the high country to use them.

Most of my consulting clients take a methodical, well-balanced approach to their planning and procurement. It is the people who are clever, methodical,