I find that when I’m learning something new, I tend to jump in with both feet. This sometimes makes it difficult to process the (almost) overwhelming tide of new information that swirls around inside my head. I’m in one of those times now, as I assimilate the self-reliant/prepper/“modern survivalist” concepts into my life.

Taking advice from my wife, Sarah, I decided to start a blog. I will document my path from listening and reading about prepping ideas to actually putting them into practice. This will allow me to sort them out and keep them organized, as well as share them.

Prepping, though we didn’t call it that then, has always interested me. In my life–in the military, as a police officer, and a paramedic–preparedness and survival were key elements. If you didn’t plan well, if you didn’t bring it, you did without. That being said, you can only carry so much in your ‘ruck sack’ before it becomes full. I found what I didn’t bring was as important to consider as what I did.

My first venture into non-military prepping was before Y2K. Yes, I believed that it was a viable risk. We built our stores to the level we could before The Date, then of course nothing happened. We did continue building our storage for a time afterward, but the concern and the drive dissipated. That’s the problem with prepping for a specific incident or date: when that time passes, the prepping seems unnecessary and you lose the motivation, or worse, regret what you did (money spent, ridicule endured, etc) and swear never to be that foolish again (or be “that guy”).

I picked up the prepping ball again this past fall (2010). In the last two years my personal world has changed for the positive: including getting remarried, and moving closer to my kids to be in their lives on a daily basis. Because of this I felt a certain urgency to protect and defend my “cave.” Some balance and stability had finally returned to my life, and that was important to maintain. When you’re on your own you don’t worry much about being prepared. But when we have people we love who we are responsible for we tend to want to protect and keep them safe. Motivation is important when we start something new.

My Family & I

My goal is to become more prepared with my family, both gathering needed items and learning new skills. I’ll share my successes and failures, what I learn and what I wish I had known.