February 20, 2019|SUPPRESSED, SHOTGUNS, RIFLES, PISTOLS, OPINION, PREPPING
Many of you may not know that I am of the Emergency Preparedness mindset. I would not call myself a Doomsday Prepper nor say that I am ready for the Zombie-Apocalypse, but I am a Prepper. What does this mean and why is this something I practice? Let’s talk about it.
Prepping is something that makes me feel safe, it makes me feel like no matter what happens I will have less to worry about than the rest of the unprepared folks out there. It means that when the worst possible thing happens we have relief and our needs met, for now. Now that we know why I do it you might be asking; What is prepping? It is simple, preparing for anything that YOU fear might happen. It could simply be a hurricane in the South or a Wildfire here in Arizona. I focus mostly on short-term, grid down, without rule of law scenarios lasting up to a year involving numerous strategic locations and stash spots. Options are your friend.
I typically keep a year supply of food for my family along with guns, ammunition, antibiotics, medical supplies and nearly anything else you could think of including 2000 gallons of constantly recycling water as my emergency water supply. I also recently spent the money to put together a “near EMT” level kit, which has nearly everything a paramedic would have minus the controlled items.
Additionally I have an internal knowledge base that I keep growing. Lately I have been slowing down on my solar preps and thinking about moving on to gardening and maybe even bee-keeping. I have a long list of skills I want to attain but these items are all off-topic for today.
As far as EDC (every day carry) is concerned, I always wear two ankle kits (below) which include nearly 70 items, everything from life saving Emergency Medical supplies to zip ties. What I am going to discuss today though is what I carry daily in my truck as it relates to Emergency Preparedness. My truck EDC is completely separate from my ankle and home kits and I treat it as such, it’s a different operation.
The first thing I always keep in my truck is body armor. I typically keep two sets, the set in the photo below is my personal go-to, while the other set (not shown) is a simple plate carrier with steel and meant for a passenger. The body armor I run is ceramic and housed in a quick-detachable rip-cord-style plate carrier by Condor and all “topped” off with an Ops-Core helmet. My on-rig handgun is a Kimber Custom 1911 and, additionally, I have a back mounted IFAK which is geared more toward an Active Shooter event.
Second up, are my long guns. I keep a Benelli M4 and a Daniel Defense MK18 in my back window. I typically carry about 20 rounds of 00 Buck for the shotgun and I always have 1000 rounds of 556 green tip on board. Why do I carry these two long guns? I feel that the Benelli M4 is one of the most high end tactical shotguns out there and I bought it at a great price in a “bundle” of about 20 guns. The Daniel Defense MK18, although I haven’t approved of DD’s 2A stance at all times, is one of the nicest shooting Armalite Rifle platforms out there, and their 10.5″ barrel is simply a BEAST.
Third item on the list is the Uncharted Supply Seventy2 pre-packaged bug out bag. I consider this kit to be an Urban Survival Grey-man style pack the way it sits. The way I’m using the system is by adding a firearm, ammo and medical pack; It is now a truly good Bugout or Get Home Bag. They run about $350 without my additions but they have thought of everything. I would buy one again, and I may for my children as they get a little older. I may look into carrying these products in the store as well.
Fourth item is food. I am a fan of freeze dried foods over any other Emergency Food for one reason, it retains its nutrient levels much better than any other solution. I typically store 2 weeks worth of freeze dried food in my truck along with a water purification system. I do own a Harvestright Freeze Dryer so we are able to freeze dry everything and anything.
Lastly are tools. The tools I carry in my truck are pretty specific to the truck. My truck is very large and weighs around 16,000 pounds so changing a tire can be a bugger on the side of the road without hydraulics and pneumatics… So of course we now have those on-board. But to get back to the preparedness tools discussion; How do you know what you’ll need? Well, what I did was go camping and pay attention to what tools were needed to keep an off-grid camping spot habitable. Some things I never knew I needed were a Bowie Knife and a seed bank! Get outside, practice, have fun and bring your kids!
For those of you interested in learning a little more about prepping, please contact me via email or submission form on the website and I’d be happy to talk! Prepper Services will be coming soon to the Prescott Caliber Club!