Survival | Prepping Philosophies

What Is SHTF And Prepping | Emergency Response Plans

Exploring SHTF

In this article we start our exploration into emergency preparedness. To start, we will discuss a couple of popular terms in the prepping community and do an overview of the hierarchy of emergency response plans and how they fit into the variety of emergencies you could be faced with. Now for many of you this subject is old hat and you can feel free to move on to something else, or stick around and see if there is anything you can add to the discussion. For those of you have just started waking up, and you are starting to realize that there is something horribly wrong with this country, and maybe you are aware that you need to start taking some kind of action to protect yourself but you just aren’t sure where and how to start, This article is for you. I’m going to start at the beginning, explain some things and hopefully lift the fog. So, let’s get started.

What Is SHTF?

The first thing we should be clear on is what does the acronym SHTF mean? You may already have an idea. The term does get used a lot and for many different situations. However, as our country is falling more and more into the hands of tyranny, SHTF has taken on a special meaning. SHTF is an acronym for “Shit Hits The Fan”. I’m sure that conjures up many different visuals for you when you hear it, and probably the most common visual is the one that it got its meaning from poop hitting a spinning fan and the resulting effects of that event! It’s gross, it destroys things, everything in its path is ruined, and pretty much messes up your day.

Prepper Slang For Disasters And Catastrophes

SHTF has become a popular term to describe a natural or manmade catastrophe. You have to admit we have seen an ever increasing rate of natural catastrophes such as Katrina, Japan, and so on. As scary as a natural disaster may be, the really frightening possibilities arise out of mans insatiable need for power. The economic tightening around the world while governments waste money, grow fatter and fatter, and raise taxes higher and higher is certain to reach a point where liberty and tyranny collide. This will surely result in the ultimate SHTF scenario. People rioting in the streets, SWAT teams tracking down patriots, energy sources such as fossil fuel and electricity sky rocketing in cost or just not available anymore, broken supply chains no longer able to deliver product to your local grocery stores, and the list goes on. The worst part is most people especially most Americans will not be prepared or even have the stomach to survive in an SHTF situation.

Hurricane Katrina

Katrina is a good example for us to consider. Many people climbed on their roofs and waited for someone to help them. They weren’t prepared or even had the mindset to be one of those going out and helping. Others who were on dry land and even stocked with supplies and weapons to defend those supplies weren’t ready to defend themselves when thieves in uniform came to take their weapons. Think about that for a minute… In order to really survive an SHTF situation, a person needs to get prepared. A person needs to make preparing a lifestyle. In essence, they become a prepper.

What Or Who Is A Prepper?

This leads us to the question, what or who is a prepper? Now preppers have been around all throughout history, they just haven’t always been labeled “preppers.” The reason for this is that for the majority of history, a prepping lifestyle was the norm. Before the industrial Revolution people either owned land or worked for someone that owned land and they depended on each other for their survival. The land owner needed the worker to work the land and in one way or another, the land owner provided for the worker. Either way, neither one could just run to the grocery store or nearest home center for supplies and the evenings dinner. People knew how to create, produce, and store up the things they needed to survive. They produced it from the land with their own hands. They didn’t just run to the store when a need arose.

Just In Time

To all hunters who kill animals for food, shame on you; you ought to go to the store and buy the meat that was made there, where no animals were harmed. I don’t know what paper this was in or when it was published and that’s not really the point. The point is to illustrate just how many people are so far removed from reality that they actually believe that meat and probably even vegetables are made in a grocery store.

Prepper, A Modern Moniker

Anyway, “Prepper” is the modern moniker given to an individual that understands just how fragile the infrastructure is and is preparing to survive when the system breaks. There are many reasons the system could break including anything from a natural disaster to an economic collapse. While some catastrophes seem more possible than others, the point is that the odds are in favor that something will happen and probably sooner rather than later. The bottom line is that a prepper is an individual that prepares to survive a catastrophe.

What Does A Prepper Do?

A Prepper stores food and water for long term. A Prepper learns and develops ways to be self sufficient and live off the grid in a self sustainable way. Their purpose may not be to live off the grid but if an SHTF situation takes place they are preparing for the worst. A true prepper must become a student of many disciplines. These disciplines, as a whole, must be geared towards 4 basic skill sets that are required for a human being to survive.

Shelter

The first skill set needed is constructing and maintaining shelter for security and protection from the elements. All living things need some sort of shelter but humans need shelter for so many more reasons. Reasons like storing our trinkets, and having some level of security while getting the sleep that our body requires. However, in a survival situation we need the shelter as protection from the elements, dangerous animals, and possibly even staying hidden in an escape and evade scenario. If there is an SHTF situation your home may take on a whole new level of protection requiring many new and well planned security embellishments. It’s best to have these planned and ready ahead of time just in case.

Water

The second skill set needed is procuring and sanitizing water. I’m sure everyone is aware of the importance of water. The human body is made of up to 60 percent water and must replenish around 2 to 3 liters of water a day. Additionally, we can only survive around 3 days without water. So, once you have your shelter in place you need to make sure you have water even before food.

Fire Making

The third skill set needed is the ability to make fire for cooking, warmth, sterilization, and etc. You may not realize just how important fire is for survival. In fact, many survival experts will teach that fire is the first thing that should be acquired if caught in a survival situation especially if it is during winter. It will keep you warm, ward off dangerous animals, sanitize water, and cook food.

Food

The fourth skill set needed is foraging for, producing, and storing your own food. Food, although very important, takes the fourth spot in the list because we can live 3 weeks or more without it. That gives us ample time to get some food but without the other skills in place, hunting, gathering, and stocking food will be all the more difficult if not impossible.

A Student Of Everything

After the 4 basic skill sets, there are more skill sets needed to enhance the basics such as first aid, medicine, and self defense to name a few. The best thing for you to do is to sit down and think of all the things you need or use on a daily basis. Then, consider how you acquire them. If they come from the fragile grid and not from you personally gathering the materials and producing these things then it is time to decide if you can do without them or need to learn how to produce them. If you can’t do without them it’s time to get educated.

Survival Response Plans

There is no way to know exactly what SHTF scenario could arise for you. However, with some good old common sense critical thinking you can determine that there are about 7 ways you can respond to an emergency. It all depends on the type and severity of the emergency as to which of the 7 response plan you will use. These plans start with the basic bug out system and progress to a totally off the grid lifestyle. In this session we will summarize each plan and what kinds of emergencies may set them in motion. In later sessions we will delve into each plan with more detail.

#1 INCH Bag

The first response plan is to develop the INCH bag. INCH being an acronym for “I’m Never Coming Home”, pretty much sums up the purpose of this response plan. This is a system that needs to be developed for an event that will force you from your home and there is no possibility of coming back. A sudden economic collapse followed by riots and martial law could force you to leave your area. Fear for your life may mean you can never return. You could be forced from your home by an earthquake or flood. Even though you may come back to the property someday the home and your belongings are destroyed. In any number of cases like these, all you would have left is what you were able to leave the house with. Preparing an INCH bag should take considerable careful planning. I put this plan first on the list because it assumes you won’t be able to return to an intact property whereas, the other 6 plans assume you will be able to return to or not have to leave your home. This is the worst case scenario, and most people don’t want to confront it, but if you are really going to be prepared and have peace of mind, you must consider it.

#2 GOOD Bag

A GOOD bag or “Get Out Of Dodge” bag is a system designed to sustain you for a few days in an evacuation situation when you are sure you will return home after a threat has subsided. This bag will mimic the INCH bag but may not have to be as complex. An SHTF situation requiring a GOOD bag could be something like a train derailment that spills chemicals and the area must be evacuated for a day or two. However, you will be able to return home shortly. An INCH bag can serve as a GOOD bag but a GOOD bag will not be comprehensive enough to serve as an INCH bag. However, I wanted to distinguish between the two in order to solidify the two concepts in your mind. If you have the resources go ahead and develop and plan for both systems. Otherwise, be sure that you at least have an INCH bag in place ready to serve either purpose.

#3 Bugging In Short Term

The third emergency response plan is designed for a short term bug in scenario. A short term bug in emergency would be something like a major snowstorm that shuts down the grid anywhere from a couple of hours to even a couple of weeks. You don’t need to or can’t leave your home nevertheless, the emergency conditions will eventually subside and things will be back to normal. This kind of emergency is something even SHTF deniers should prepare for. Things like this happen every year around the country and even FEMA designs their emergency preparation literature around these kinds of emergencies. If you are interested, you can find the FEMA “ARE YOU READY” pdf at: http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/. This document does cover many topics and is very comprehensive from a “what the government wants you to know” standpoint. However, I wouldn’t rely on it alone and I would also “read between the lines” when it comes to some of the advice they give. We will discuss these topics at a later time but for now, they are beyond the scope of this session. This response - #3 begins the bug in version of the response plans and the rest will be variations on that theme. Each progressive emergency response plan will build on the previous one until you reach the point of total self sufficiency.

#4 Coupon Prepping

Coupon prepping, as I like to call it, is basically short term bugging in on steroids. It’s not that you would necessarily base it on couponing but that your trips to the grocery store would have a larger mission in mind. This is where you start to think beyond being supplied for a couple of weeks but rather 2 to 3 months. You need to be more aware of food storage and places and techniques for that food storage. Additionally, you will start exploring and practicing the concept of storing what you eat and eating what you store. Although security should be a continuous thread throughout all your plans, this is where security starts to take on a larger role in the planning process. Remember, it is safe to assume you can survive up to 3 weeks without food but after that, all bets are off, and people will start searching out your stores. You will need to be ready and willing to protect yourself and your stores at any cost. So, self defense and security concepts will become much more prevalent and increasingly more important as we progress through these emergency response plans.

#5 Prepping Short Term

Emergency response plan #5 is full fledged short term or 6 month prepping where you are preparing for an extended emergency but you will be able to remain in your home. This SHTF scenario could include things like extraordinary ice storms that take out power lines and power plants for an extended period of time. Perhaps there are extended union strikes disabling the supply chains to grocery stores. The point is our grid system and economic systems are becoming more and more fragile by the day. Social and political climates are destabilizing at an accelerated rate and with all the inability to make decisions and corruption in our governmental structures, it won’t take much for these things to become interrupted and fail for longer periods of time. The hope here is that although chaos has taken over these systems, smarter wiser people will fill the gaps and eventually get things back on track. Frankly, it is my opinion that in the event that these things start to happen, 6 months for things to begin to normalize is a best case scenario. Developing your short term 6 month response plan is going to open the doors to even more comprehensive food storage and prepping techniques.

#6 Prepping Long Term

Response plan #6, long term 2 year prepping really becomes an all encompassing system that will sustain you and your family for 2 years without any outside acquisitions during that 2 year period. At this point you will need to just go all out and make your prepping a lifestyle. All of the techniques and things that you will learn in the previous plans will come to play here as well as new techniques and methods. Really understanding your survival needs will be paramount because the whole idea is that you are on your own for at least the next 2 years and the level of comfort that you survive at is completely in your hands.

#7 Prepping For Off Grid

Finally, we come to emergency response plan #7, prepping for off the grid survival. Reality would suggest that the previous 2 year plan is basically setting yourself up to be able to get plan #7 up and running. Here is what I mean. If something devastating enough happens to require you to live on a 2 year prep system, then the odds are that at the end of those 2 years you are still going to need to fend for yourself. Basically it’s the end of the world as you knew it and it’s time to move on. Your 2 years worth of preps will give you sustenance while you are learning to really live off the grid or fend for yourself. You will need to learn how to grow, hunt, process, and store your own food without any viable economic system in place. Whatever the event was that caused the collapse of our system was bad enough to send us back to a stone age type of lifestyle. So society is left on its own to survive without power grids and distant farming supply chains. Bottom line, your 2 year supply provides for you while you are learning and developing survival systems for the rest of your life.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is imperative to understand that not only is the infrastructure that we all depend on dangerously fragile, but that there are those that actively seek to break it. There are powers that will benefit from collapsing our infrastructure and taking advantage of the ensuing chaos to imprison and/or enslave the general population. They train and plan for this 24/7. It is a lifestyle for them and they have been at it, in a sense, forever. The general population has not been preparing a defense. In fact, most will scoff at the idea and will blindly follow what they are told by mass media and cultural mores. This leads us to probably the most important theme that should run throughout all of these response plans. Be a teacher, be a voice of warning. Warn others and provide factual information. Most of all, build a network of like minded individuals. The one thing that will make your security the strongest is the cooperation of a community. The bigger the force is, the better your chances of survival when SHTF happens.

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References

FEMA (2011) ARE YOU READY? GUIDE. An In-Depth Guide To Citizen Preparedness. Retrieved November 6, 2011 from http://www.ready.gov/are-you-ready-guide