Chris-
Just another patriotic prepper that is still learning and teaching what I learn to everyone who will listen. I believe in owning it. Owning it means, “taking responsibility for you and your family’s future!” With recent world and local events, it’s obvious that you can’t wait for help to come.
Whether you lean left or right, you deserve to be able to protect yourself against unplanned events such as natural disasters and man-made disasters. We are all human and need to have the basic human survival skills that our ancestors lived by.
In today’s world, there are far too many men and women that simply wouldn’t make it in a SHTF scenario. It’s my hope that we can teach each other techniques and skills to survive what’s coming next.
Why should you listen to me?
I’ve been living the prepper life before I even knew what prepping was.
I grew up in a small town in northern Florida. We lived on a small farm that was pretty much self-sufficient. My great grandparents owned a larger farm where we learned a lot of the old ways.
We learned planting, growing, harvesting, and storing all of our food. There were hogs, cattle, turkeys, geese, chickens and the damn guineas with their obnoxious sound. We actually raised quail by the thousands as well.
We learned how to prepare our food to store in the humid 85-degree climate with no electricity. We used processes like canning, smoking, salting and grease bathing along with tater banks.
Like the generations before us, we used every resource the swamp provided us. White tail deer, wild turkeys, quail, bass, catfish, water turtles (for gumbo), wild ducks (for dumplings) and the occasional gator.
We didn’t know it, but we were learning an invaluable lesson in survival.
PREPPING 101 GUIDE- WHAT IS PREPPING? HOW TO BE PREPARED FOR WHAT’S NEXT.
A Time-Honored Tradition-
Our family has been fighting for what they believed in for a long time. Our American beginnings were fighting in the New York Campaign for the English king in the French and Indian War. Later, we would fight against that same king to forge a new nation, in the American Revolution.
Not getting enough, part of our family fought the same Union in the Seminole Indian Wars in the 1830’s. Thirty years later, most of our family fought the Union again, with the exception of two brothers who fought for the North.
We’ve been in every major conflict since the beginning of America. WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Korea, the Gulf, and the continuous War on Terror. My grandfathers served and my dad served 30 years in the Army, 15 as a contractor for the government.
It was only natural that I would join the Army. I served 2 years as a 31F, (communications) and another 7 years as an 11B, (infantryman).
Tactical & Survival Training-
The Army was truly the best job I ever had. Since getting out, it’s like I’m thirsty and just can’t quite quench the thirst no matter how hard I try. It’s the brotherhood I miss. I was blessed to serve with some of the best men I’ve ever met and was afforded the opportunity to attend some of the best classes in the world.
I’ve gone to multiple leadership courses throughout my military time. Don’t underestimate how valuable leadership abilities will be during an emergency or SHTF situation. If you get a chance to attend a leader’s course through your job, do it.
When people are down and out, feeling sorry for themselves, you must be the leader that will be able to pick them up and keep them driving on.
Schools I’ve been to:
- Basic Training/ Advanced Individual Training
- Multiple Army leadership courses
- Combat Lifesaver’s Course (medical)
- Light Fighter’s Academy (10th Mountain Division) (leadership, patrolling-wilderness)
- Jungle Operations Training Course (Panama)
- Pre-Ranger School (Sinai) (leadership, patrolling-desert)
- Arctic Survival School (Eielson AFB, Alaska)
- A few wilderness classes at the UAF. (Fairbanks, Alaska)
Training I’ve Had-
Self Defense
I’m really sound at movement and engagement tactics in both rural and urban environments. I’m proficient with all weapon systems of the light infantry and have built everything from ARs, AKs and everything in between when I had a license. I’ve also trained extensively with bushcraft defensive techniques which I hope to share (entertainment purposes only).
Have studied and practiced hand to hand combat in the military, and a little Muay Thai kickboxing in the civilian world.
Land Navigation-
One of my primary jobs in the infantry was land navigation. Getting from point A to point B, whether by aircraft or the old LPCs, leathered personnel carriers (boots). This was all done with the good old fashion compass, protractor, map reading and a pace count.
Medical Training-
I’ve had descent medical training in the military and then in civilian life as a volunteer ETT and EMT. I’ve had real world medical and trauma experience in both the Army and post-Army life.
High Angle Rescue-
Trained high angle rescue with CMC and served on the refinery high angle rescue team in North Pole, Alaska before it shut down. i was basically a dope on a rope! No offense air assault guys and gals!
Confined Space Rescue-
Trained by the same to perform confined space rescue operations and was on the
Where I’ve Thrived-
I grew up hunting, fishing and playing in the swamps of northern Florida and southern Georgia.
I’ve operated in the military in Caribbean countries, Central America, Eastern Europe, Northern Africa, the Middle East and the arctic.
I’ve seen temps as low as -55 degrees ambient and as high as 125 degrees in the desert.
After the military life, we stayed in the interior of Alaska for 16 years. Now we live in Colorado.
The Future-
We hope to start a conversation on how to prepare for anything. We hope to learn from you just as much as you learn from us. Prepping is a constant learning for you and us.
With that being said, we hope to teach you everything we know from our knowledge graph. Our strong suits are castle (home and shelter) building techniques, medical skills, bushcraft, land navigation, tactics, homesteading and urban survival.
We want to share reviews of different survival gear that becomes available on the market. Yes, if you click the link and decide to purchase, we may get a commission from the seller at no additional cost to you.
Unlike other survival blogs and sites, we will not tell you to purchase something without showing proof of purchase and proof that we put our money where our mouth is!
Other survival sites will use Amazon reviews to determine the outcome. Even those are skewed by companies that are brand management companies. If we tell you something is good, it’s because we use it ourselves. Period.
If you walk around asking yourself, “what would I do if this happens right now”; we’ll probably be good friends.
Eventually, as we get this blog up and running, we’d like to give out free gear to our audience. We don’t know what that looks like yet, but maybe we try some different products and choose the best one for our emergency kit or bug out bag. We keep what we think works the best and giveaway what we don’t keep. It won’t be the best, but it’ll be free survival gear and better than nothing.
At some point you could upgrade to better equipment and give your old one to a family member or friend in need. That way we can all pay it forward.
Whether there is something that you want us to cover, review, or you like our content, or God forbid you want to just tell us how bad we are, let us know in the comments on the various articles or contact page. We’d love to hear your thoughts either way!