Inventory - Check your stuff

Quite randomly the month of July was the month I put into my phone to inventory and take stock of where we are for emergency preparedness. Best reason I can remember is I had achieved some goal at this point in the years prior.

Having a time you plan to check what you have, replace stuff and see where you want to be is a really good tool. I must admit life seemed to get in the way with my inventory this year. Work, kids, etc etc etc. Honestly there is not a whole lot to go through at the house, no we do not have a bunker full of every item we might need if the aliens invade, but I found enough to work on when I did sit down to go through our get home bags.

I know as our situation at home changes we need to adapt our planning and gear to the new situation. Kids grow, grown folks get older, you move or any of the other things which can change your situation come up and having a day or in this case a month to review your preparedness comes in handy. Biggest thing I found was duplicated items. I have a habit of getting items and just stuffing them inside of the bags. Of course I forget what I already have in them!

Expired or poorly packaged items were the next thing I found. Over the course of the last year I had found higher quality items but had failed to move out the older stuff. (going back to my habit of just stuffing stuff in the bag)

Somethings do not change, expire or need upgrading. Rain cover for the bag, first aid supplies, mirror, whistle and headlamp.

I realized my water purifying equipment had gotten a bit out of hand. The bag is packed to help get me home from work on a really bad day. If I need three types of water filters to get home things have gone way, way bad and the bag is not designed for a really, really bad day. Just a bad day!!! Although having multiple ways of doing something is a really good idea this was kind of a waste of space when I realized what I had done.  

I also realized my medical supplies needed to be revamped. The focus was more on the gunfight and needed to move toward covering regular issues one might have walking home. My background leads me to see things through the gunfighter lens. We should all make sure we look at our planning through the lens of disciplines outside of our own.

I also needed to trade out the MREs which had sat in my car for a year or more. Ok I know people will say you should do this more often because they go bad. Ate on of the ones I took out for lunch that day. Tabasco sauce had evaporated magically somehow but the rest of the meal was good! I couldn't remember if I had water bladder in the bag until I looked. Another good reason for going through the stuff.

I also had recently bought a new pack for everyday carry and decided to move the stuff over to the new bag. Having both bags open at the same time lead me to again find some gear which was duplicated and did not need to be carried in both bags. This bag is the Vertex EDC bag, after I carry it for awhile there will be a review.

One of the first things I did with the new bag was add a tourniquet and extra bandages. With everything going on in the world right now I felt I needed to add more medical stuff to the EDC.

Just inventory of this gear seemed to take up all of the spare time I had this month. Of course I have to still go through some other stuff but this gave me a good indication of where we are and where we need to go during the next year. If you can't deal with situations with what you carry everyday, combined with the gear you have to help you get home than what you have at home might just not matter.

CVS survival pre-pack review

While waiting for a prescription the other day I looked over and spotted this item. Figured I would pick up a couple and see what they might be good for. To start the price was about $6.50 a piece.

Not to be a complete ass BUT.... the package states this is a "first aid survival prep-pack". Guess what is not inside the package? One piece of first aid kit! The packaging does say this contains supplies for emergency survival situations which it does.

The back of the package does have some good advice if you have no prior planning or training and suddenly find yourself in a bad situation. You can not fault the advice to "Stop, Think, Observe and Plan". The direction on how to use the included whistle is accurate also. The directions on the back are a pleasant  surprise considering some of the stuff we have seen being passed off as emergency equipment.

Inside you find two emergency blankets, two whistles, a button compass and instructions. Not much but if we had to pick between nothing and this, this is a good start. The enclosed items come from Adventure Medical Kits. A good company with decent quality products for the prices they charge. I personally have a few of their kits for my own use. Which is probably the reason this kit is of higher quality then some other low priced kits we have seen which are similar to this one. 

The directions are good to go even if the kit does not include items you would need to follow the directions. The whistles are loud, kids tried them out for me. Compass worked, unlike some we have come across. Blankets are the same kind we see time and again. To thin, rip easy and are impossible to fold back into the little bag they come in. Overall this was not bad for six dollars and the Ziploc bag it comes in allows you room to add things.

A suggestion would be to take these items out the package they come in, find you a gallon zip lock bag and throw them inside. The zip lock is thicker and allows for easier opening and closing multiple times. While you are tossing things into the zip lock grab a few others things and toss them inside.

Throw in some band aids. A small kit like this one would fit.

Something sharp, swiss army knife or a multi-tool. Nothing to big or fancy but something with a blade at the very least.

Finish off with something to start a fire with. Odds are you could pick up a lighter at the same time you picked up one of these packages.

This is not the worst kit I have seen sold in stores. For six dollars it wasn't that bad. Given it says first aid supplies a few band aids could of been included. Over all if I wanted to give someone something to start from scratch with, something to throw in the truck or glove box and forget about until you need it, this is not a bad place to start. You would have to add a few things to keep from being really disappointed if an emergency did find you trying to stay alice with this kit alone.

As Always,

Stay Safe!

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

We have all probably heard this at one time or another. When planning for emergencies this is a good saying to remember. Planning will not be done in a day. I was just personally reminded of this earlier in the week.

Out here in California we had a recent warning put out about an increased risk of a major earthquake. Of course earthquakes are kind of normal out here but to have authorities put out a warning is very far from normal. In response to the warning the ‘Boss’ asked me about her Get Home Back while telling me the warning concerned her. With the mission given I went and started to go through her bag. Here is where the saying comes into play.  

Several months or more have gone by since I looked at her bag or mine for that matter. Looking through the bag along with talking to her, I realized the bag was no longer filling the need the bag was originally put together for.  Our situation has changed, such is life, and I have fallen behind on our preparedness! Quickly I found myself reminded there are no one time, fix all answers to emergency preparedness.

Which brings me back to the point of this post.

Little things matter, little things put together make for big things and build a solid plan for responding to emergencies. The extra cup-of-soup you pick up adds to the other items you have bought and increases your food preparedness. Checking the batteries in the flashlight in the drawer means the light will work when you need it. Reviewing, altering and adjusting what you think is already taken care of might allow you to change things as your situation changes. All of these building blocks lead to the building of Rome!

Do not get overwhelmed by your effort to be prepared. Build your plan one brick at a time. Take time to review what you have done to ensure each brick still fits. Adjust as needed. Before you know it you will be living in a fine Roman city!!!

As Always,

Stay Safe!!   

Rock, Paper, Scissors

I am not sure how this works...... When I talk to people about preparedness the conversation a lot of time drifts towards something like this;

"Can you start a fire with sticks?"
"Yes"
"What is your favorite method?"
"A lighter." Usually this gets a weird look in reply.
"Yeah but if you were doing it with sticks, what is your prefered method?"
"Stick matches."

Some people I talk to are focused on being able to do things the hard way. Having a bow drill can be useful and the only option in some cases. Yet why would you want this method to be the one you are going to count on during a bad day? Carry two lighters and some matches as a back up.

Learning how to start a fire with a bow drill is an outstanding idea! Starting a fire this way is not easy, this takes longer and is harder than what you might think by reading a book or watching a TV show. If you and the family are huddled in a shack, freezing and in desperate need of heat do you want to spend time trying to use friction to start a fire? NO, you reach in your pocket, pull out a lighter and lite a fire!

Think of the childhood game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Rock beats Scissors, Scissors beats Paper and Paper beats Rock. Lighter beats matches, matches beat bow drill. Take this idea to other items, house beats tent, tent beats emergency shelter, emergency shelter beats jacket and jacket beats being butt naked!

Let's try another example. Quality beats check the box. You can buy ponchos which are basically one use items and check poncho off the list. They are thin and barely keep the water off you. If we buy a decent poncho, one which is well made, has grommets and is brightly colored. We can use the quality poncho for a temporary shelter, signaling and do this multiple times! Multiple use beats one time use.

Using less time and energy beats showing off skills. Need a shelter from the blazing sun? String the poncho up between two bushes, no need to gather building material to make an emergency shelter. Having thrown up a quick shelter, you now have more time to use toward other needs.

Of course you could take the time to gather up material to build a shelter. Then spend more time carving a container out of a gourd, using a piece of flint stone you napped. After which you could take some time to use your bow drill to make fire, then carefully boil the water utilizing hot rocks from the fire.

Prior planning beats roughing it. Maybe you pull out the extra money you had stashed in your Bail Out Bag or Get Home Bag. Walk up to the cheap hotel, secure a room for the night. Utilize the heater in the room to keep your family warm, drink water from the tap, eat junk food out of the machine down the hallway, while making a phone call to someone to come get you guys in the morning. Those pieces of paper beat quality gear and skills in most situations we are likely to find ourselves in.

Having the skill set to take care of yourself in a worst case scenario is good. Having the skill set to take care of yourself and the proper gear to assist you beats the skill set alone. Having the skill set to take care of yourself, the gear to assist you and the resources to better your position beats skills and gear. Do not let yourself get caught up in the romantic idea of surviving by utilizing primitive skills to answer every situation. There is a reason people invented easier ways to do things.........

As Always,

Stay Safe.    
    

Brussels Bombing

Woke up this morning to the news of a terrorist attack in Brussels...... As I watched the news coverage there were some things I noticed. Situations which seem to repeat themselves every time there is news coverage of an incident. We won't be discussing the reasons for the incident. They are irrelevant to what we are talking about.

Explosions go off, chaos consumes the moment and afterwards you realize you are still alive! What comes next? Your prior planning.............

We talk about having situational awareness, looking for the exits when you enter an area is part of this. Now is the time you can put this to use. Maybe you can lead others to the exit? Maybe everyone is stampeding toward the obvious exit and you can go out a different way? For the photo above, taken in the subway system after today's attack, knowing where the exit is important. If this is your daily commute odds are you know which exit is closer. Is it faster to walk toward the station you just left or head down the tracks to the next one?

Here is also where your Every Day Carry comes into use. Do you carry a flashlight? A lighter? These things might seem like a nuisance until the day you NEED them......... During almost any emergency there is going to be a time period you are on your own. How long this goes on depends on the situation. Your prior planning is all you will have to rely on during this time frame......

Prior planning also includes prior skills building. Skills building includes thinking through "what if's". You're in the situation the lady in the above photo is caught in..... What do you do? What if that was you with your child? Would you seek a position of cover? Would you try to exit the area? Would your next priority be to check yourself and child for injuries? What if this was you or your loved ones? Would they or you have prepared to have options in this case? Thinking through situations gives you starting point, a mental checklist, to start at when things go bad. You already have given yourself a framework from which to operate from and this decreases your time to reaction.

Everyone reading this needs to learn basic first aid!!!! No exceptions and no excuses!!! Everyone in your family should understand basic first aid and I challenge each of you to take a class THIS MONTH! Not next month or maybe when you have more time. Set the goal, within the next thirty days you will take a first aid class. Having this skill allows you to take care of yourself during those moments you are on your own. If you can help yourself medical responders can focus on those who are more injured. If you can tend to yourself and become mobile you can exit the area.

This fundamental knowledge of first aid also allows you to help others if the situation allows it. If the situation is; you are uninjured, there is no immediate threat to your safety, you can put this knowledge to work and help others to survive.

Multiple people with basic first aid skills can greatly increase the number of injured people who survive their injuries. Simply knowing how to secure a tourniquet or apply direct pressure to a wound could be the difference between someone dying or living to see their loved ones again. You can help others and yourself make it home with some fundamental knowledge!

Having skills and supplies could make the difference. If you carry a bag every day some simple medical supplies can be tossed in. These items and skill set could save your life during those moments you are on your own during an emergency.

Time and again during these incidents you can see people without any idea what to do. People waiting for others to do things they themselves could or should be able to do. People being overwhelmed by the situation. People who are becoming part of the problem instead of helping. People becoming victims of the situation, be it from lack of physical skills, mental skills or having never gone through 'what if's'. Bad things happen, the question is what have you done prior to and during the event to help you make it through the bad day. What can you do to help others make it through the bad day?

As Always,

Stay Safe!

Something sharp?

Most folks understand the importance of water, food and shelter during an emergency. What is rarely talked about other than at a surface level is a tool for cutting. Notice I did not say some giant Rambo knife with a kitchen sink, wi-fi hotspot and espresso bar stuffed into the handle? Most of these types of 'tools' are not worth the money you spend on them. What we need to focus on is tools for the situation.

If we need to get a splinter out of a finger using a Bowie knife might not be the best tool. No matter how we try to do this one tool will not cover every situation in this case. If I want to cut a tree down I need a cutting tool which will allow me to cut the tree down, the same tool might not be the best for gutting a fish. The area we live in and the situations we might face also dictate what sort of cutting tool we carry.

A lot of things we might need to do in an emergency can be handled with a simple razor blade. Need to cut rope? Need to open up a package? Need to cut up some plastic sheets? All of these can be done with a simple razor. For safety having a razor in some sort of handle is recommended! You do not want to cause any further issues by cutting yourself.

Swiss Army knives or a simple folder pocket knife like Grandpa carries is what most of us should be looking to own. Small, easy to use and do not take up much room. In most areas you can just put the knife in your pocket and the blade is small enough to not cause you any issues if someone else sees the knife or if law enforcement stops you. Some of you in the UK might have to check local laws on having any sort of cutting tool on your person? These types of tools give you the ability to make shelter, skin a cat and handle most tasks you might need to address during an emergency. If hard pressed you could also use the tool to defend yourself and loved ones.

Larger fixed blade knives are great and allow you to do more things than a folder might. BUT, do not buy one of those Rambo style survival knives!! No! Do not buy one! If you have one take the stuff out of the handle and pack it somewhere else. The reason being the blade will come off the handle when you really need it not to! Do not waste your money on a knife which is not one solid piece of metal, full tang. Save the money and buy one which is a solid piece of metal with a handle mounted on to the metal.

For your get home bag or major emergency packing kit add a knife which is at least nine inches long. Again made of one solid piece of metal. Do not buy one with a saw along the spine of the blade. You know the ones with large teeth which are supposed act as a saw. One, most of these designs do not work really well. Two, if you want a saw buy a saw. In most cases these 'teeth' on the back of the blade weaken the strength of the blade. These 'teeth' also catch if you have to stick the blade into something and make it difficult to pull the blade out of objects.

With a well made knife you can accomplish a lot of task during an emergency. Having a small cutting tool you carry with you everyday is a really good idea. This way you have something with you at all times because you never know what you will be doing when something comes up. Putting even a small folder into your Bail Out Bag is an almost must! Having something bigger inside your Get Home Bag is also a must along with having several types of cutting tools in your Bug Out kit.

As Always,

Stay Safe!

Normalcy Bias - an example

Recently there was a fire on the 5 Freeway here in sunny California. Someone called me and I watched the event unfold on live TV. I found myself yelling at the people on TV as I watched people make some really odd decisions.

NORMAL – “usual or ordinary: not strange”

These folks were driving along on the freeway just cruising down the road, no different than other trips along this route some of them had done before. First smoke appeared blowing across the road and was followed by the sight of flames along the road. Someone decided to stop. Maybe they could not see? Maybe they thought the flames would burn their car? The reason they stopped really does not matter at this point. What does matter is the flow of traffic stopped. People now started making decisions which would affect their lives or the lives of others!

CHANGE – “to make someone or something different”

Some people milled around watching the flames come toward them. Of course cell phones were brought out and video was taken. ‘Selfies’ made their way on to the internet. People did not seem to understand their “normal” had changed…………

Mass panic – “An uncontrolled mass response to a triggering event (e.g., fire, explosion) in which a crowd of people—e.g., on a religious pilgrimage or at a professional sporting or music event—move at once towards a presumed direction of egress, which, if blocked, may result in a mass disaster of human crush injuries and death due to compressive asphyxiation.”

Mass hysteria – “A socially contagious frenzy of irrational behavior in a group of people as a reaction to an event.”

One of the people involved gave this interview;

"Police had come by, calling over their loudspeakers for people to stay in their cars.” Sclafani and her teammates ditched their van, left everything and started running up the mountain in the 95 degree heat of the California afternoon. What seemed like 1,000 people were doing the same, she said. “Including a pregnant woman we helped out,” she said. They stayed up on the hill for about three hours.“There were lots of people crying. Some were vomiting. People were really frightened,” she said."

When we talk about normalcy bias we have to first work on our own. Then we have to take into account everyone else’s bias. Most people do not think about what could happen to change their day. They take no steps to prepare themselves or to give themselves items which could help them when the situation takes a turn for the worst. Instead we see here an example of people’s bias turning into panic and I would add a "out for themselves" mentality.

With the exception of a few of the large semi-trailers on the road, every single one of the passenger vehicles on the road could have put their engine into reverse and driven backwards on the freeway! They could, with a limited amount of cooperation, turned their vehicles around and carefully driven back the way they had come. Instead people thought only of their own situation and reacted in what they thought was the best way to save their own hides.

Luckily, no one was killed in this incident. The Fire Fighters did an outstanding job of dropping water on the burning vehicles right there on the freeway, never seen that trick before! What was unlucky is some people did not have vehicles to return to. They were now stranded on the freeway with what they had with them! Most of them had basically nothing with them………………

There was no group hug and a sharing of resources at the end of the danger. If people returned and their vehicle worked, they left the area. Not sure if the first person to run had a vehicle to return to. Absolutely positive the people just outside of the affected area enjoyed having video, photos and a story to tell but did not stay to help the people now stranded along the freeway. At the end of the day this is a reminder we are responsible for our loved ones and ourselves..... Do not count on others to make the right decision for you or to help you in any way!

The desert around the cities of Southern California is a real desert and most people tend to forget this as they fly by in the vehicles. If these people had been trapped by the flames for much longer than three hours or had been forced to run a greater distance to save their lives how many would have made it? How many people, on a regular day, would say they would stop to help the pregnant lady? How many of these people ran passed her in “real life”?

Remember the actions of others are out of your control yet can greatly affect your life! Have the forethought to pack a Bail Out Bag! Have a Get Home Bag! Make decisions even if the decision is not what the herd is doing! Help those people you can!

As Always,

Stay Safe!!!

Shelter - Clothes on your back

Every day we get up, throw some clothes on and go about our day. Most of us never really think about what we are doing when we get dressed, we put on an outfit and do not think of this layer of clothing as our first line of shelter if a bad day comes. Sure we take into account the weather, if it is hot we wear less, if it is cold we wear more. “Simple, nothing to think about! I know how to get dressed!”

Sure we all get dressed every day, have you ever thought about it? Are you wearing clothes which assist with keeping you warm or cool? Do you know how to use your clothing to assist with keeping yourself comfortable? Are you giving yourself advantages or disadvantages if something interrupts your normal routine?

Our skin is the first layer between us and the outside world. Yes our skin also keeps all of our insides ‘in’ but our skin does more than this. Our skin helps regulate our body temperature by sweating and other mechanisms. When we get dressed we can assist our skin or hamper our bodies’ ability to regulate by what items or materials we place on top of our skin.

Layering is important when you pick your clothing for the day. Being able to add or subtract articles of clothing gives you the ability to regulate better how hot or cold you are. Proper clothing can be the difference between suffering and dealing with a situation. Just having the ability to access additional clothing or the ability to change clothing can be a god send in certain situations. Nobody wants to be cold and wet if they do not need to be.

Mothers understand this quicker than most fellas, especially when little ones are involved. When the bag gets packed for the little one Mom always makes sure there is jackets or a change of clothes packed away “just in case”. As we plan our day we should take a moment to also plan for “just in case”. Take a moment and check the weather. Is there a chance of rain? Maybe we should plan for the chance of getting wet later in the day? Maybe we alter what we wear to what the weather report says could happen?

You can still be fashionable and wear proper clothing to assist you with dealing with the elements. Now days there are plenty of materials both natural and manmade which can keep you cool, warm and dry. Except for in warm climates cotton is something we should stay away from. Cotton likes to hold water and this will just make you colder and miserable if you are caught in a rain shower or snow. You want a base layer of material which whisks perspiration away from your skin. In a hot environment this helps your body cool down, in a cold environment this helps to keep your body warm. Your clothing has to help your skin do what the skin is supposed to do. If your bas layer holds your sweet against your skin you are hindering what your body is trying to do.

Think of clothing as building a shelter around your skin. In cold weather you want more between you and the elements. In hot weather you want to help your body cool down and keep the sun from burning your skin. The same as you try to regulate the temperature in your home. Just like your house your clothing layering needs a tough outer shell or a roof and walls. Your outer layer of clothing needs to work like a portable house. This layer needs to be water, snow or sun proof. This layer needs to be something you can put on or off easily and in most cases is a jacket you have handy. Umbrellas also count in this outer layer group. Remember this is your tough outer shell.

Between your outer shell and your base layer are all the other clothes and options you have. Long sleeve shirts, gloves, maybe a scarf? This is the layer most of us throw on in the morning but do not think much about. Yet this is the main layer which predicts how well we can deal with the elements. Sure you can pack a big heavy jacket and toss this on when the rain starts. But those dress shoes you are wearing as you walk through the rain do not keep the water out. Your cotton socks are never going to dry. The dress slacks you have on soak up water like a sponge. Your jacket does a good job covering you from the neck down but the water coming down is hitting you on the head, dripping down your neck and soaking into the shirt you have on. Then the power goes out and the heating in the office stops working. Of course the power does not come back on and now you have to think about walking home…….. Hope you are not wearing those flats and dress…..

A suggestion is to have clothing available to you if the situation changes and you need to adapt to the weather. Having a spare pair of shoes or ‘real’ boots, not fashionable ones, to put on along with a few other items could make all the difference. We all can stuff a rain coat in the trunk or find a spot in the office to stash one. Pair of wool socks and a good hat also does not take up much space.

Should you ever find yourself in a situation take a moment and figure out if your clothing is helping our hurting your ability to deal with the situation. Finding dry and warm clothes can instantly make a bad situation better. Hypothermia and hyperthermia, getting to cold or too hot, can quickly make you a casualty during an emergency and your clothing choices can go a long way in making sure neither happens.

As Always,

Stay Safe!!!