Our government has designated September as “ National Preparedness Month ”. This contrasts with the FBI’s profiling preppers as potential terrorists . I imagine the message is “be prepared”, but don’t be too prepared. We still want you dependent upon the government, so don’t become independent! 😉
So, what skill do you want to develop for National Preparedness Month? Here are some thoughts on skill development instead of mere gear accumulation:
1) Medical skills — is your CPR/AED/First Aid training up to date? Do you have a plan for “ Collapse Medicine ”? Are aware that fish antibiotics are the same antibiotics used for people? [I am not a doctor, so don’t take this as medical advice] Do you have an Israeli battle dressing and know how to apply it?
2) Security — when was the last time you went to the gun range and practiced clearing a misfire?
3) Water — have you actually tried those Katadyn water purification tablets ?
4) Fire — sure, you have three different methods to start a fire, but how many have you actually tried in your back yard or at the camp site?
5) Power — Have you tried out that solar power setup and deep cycle batteries to provide power to part of your house?
6) Cooking — What would happen if all power and natural gas were cut off to your house? Have you started that camping stove you bought 5 years ago? Do you have recipes using all those stores of beans and rice?
7) Growing Food — Even if you are in an apartment, growing food at least a little food is a valuable skill. What have you grown this season? What do you plan to grow next season?
Those are my ideas and suggestion for skill building. What are you doing?
I think you’re straying too far from being prepared and leaping right into independent with all your suggestions… better take it down a notch or several. Uncle Sam only wants you to buy a flashlight and few extra cans of beans, not able to perform CPR or shoot back. 🙂
In reply to Arsenius the hermit .
Arsenius, sorry about that… I think you could have used the back arrow button on your browser. When that happens to me it sometimes keeps the content I just typed. I would get rid of the captcha code, but the spammers and viagra ads they post are relentless…
Isn’t that interesting… The US Government now wants you to be prepared…? I wish that here in The Netherlands the government would pay some attention to that and inform the people!
Anyway, I’m very busy with prepping this month:
— Just finished a weekend of basic survival training. It focussed on water filtering, creating fire and building shelter. A lot of fun and extremely useful. Not to mention the boost in self-confidence you get. The thunderstorm that hit us made it all the more “real”: it added the element of stress.
- I’m doing some homestudying on EFR: Emergency First Response. Starting this Friday I’ll have a weekendcourse EFR which is focussed on wilderness first aid. Starting end of September I’ll be following a basic first aid training that lasts four months.
- I’ve been getting new gear: a new Maxpedition Monsoon for EDC use. My current home-modified Messenger bag just doesn’t do it anymore for me.
- I’m reading this blog on survival and about 10–15 others. I scan the daily posts, read the interesting ones fully and apply techniques and tips where I can. Thanks for running this blog Suburban! 🙂
- I bought a couple of firesteels so I can make fire anywhere. I’ve added it to my EDC as another way of making fire next to having a lighter.
Anyway, most of my prepping this month up to now is focussed on survival-skills and first aid. I intend to brush up on the regular skills next month when I have some more budget available.
Keep on prepping everyone! 🙂
Cheers,
Stealth
I just lost my painfully typed out profile because I used the wrong cpatcha code. Well, at least you know I stopped by.
Ugh… I hate typing a huge long thing and then discovering I entered the CAPTCHA wrong and have to write it all again. LOL
1. I definitely need to do another CPR training. Mine expired probably 25 yrs ago. A woman who owns the local produce stand and has bees told me that she makes antibiotics from her beehives. I can’t remember what part she uses. I’ll need to ask her about that in more detail.
2. I have very little shooting experience and have never cleared a misfire or cleaned the gun. Definitely a skill I need to learn. I am a good shot though despite my lack of experience. The gun shop owner says all my shots are “kill” shots. In fact hub told me the last time he was cleaning the guns that I needed to learn next time.
3.Being in the city, water is a real concern. After hurricane Isabel we had to boil water for 3 days. Right now we have about a 3 days supply of water plus the water in the water heater for drinking and 3- 55 gallon rainbarrels for washing/cleaning. Hub and I were discussing just the other day about the need to add a well.
4.I can start a fire with charcoal with no starter fluid but haven’t tried with wood yet. Hub was an Eagle Scout so he knows how. Something to practice definitely.
5.A generator is in our future for here. We have no fireplace or wood stove so heat would be our major concern. No power would be inconvenient but no heat could be deadly. Our retirement home will have an alternate heat source or two.
6.I can cook all sorts of things well on a charcoal grill but haven’t done it with wood.
7. My garden went kaput this year so I wasn’t able to put much by. Hopefully next year the garden will be more productive.
Additional skills to develop..
Knitting- I have a couple of people lined up who will help me to learn
Pressure Canning — I afraid of pressure cookers so this one might take a while but my aunt will teach me.
Women on Target class — next time its offered in my area I want to take it.
I’m considering taking an archery class.
I also want to learn to make soap and candles.
Hub recently did a tactical shooting range(not well but not horrible either), so he wants to work on that.