Intermission...

I apologize for the delay in posting to my blogs.  My mother recently had a stroke and I've had to prioritize my activities as I do whatever I can to care for her.  Things are slowly settling in to a new normal kind of routine.  I plan to tackle some new subjects in the very near future.  Thanks for reading! 

Chapter 2: You've Gotta Have A Plan, Man!

When I was a kid, our church children's ministry worked on a musical play.  One of the songs in that play had the same title as this post.  It almost sounded like a chant, with a group of kids saying "ya gotta have a plan, man."  Periodically, that chant comes back into my mind as I'm facing the daily issues of adulthood. (Some people call those earworms, but in this case, it's a good thing!)

Throughout my schooling I took courses in architectural drafting and design.  It's always been a fascination of mine to put pencil to paper and create the basis upon which a building could be built.  A few years ago I needed to build some heavy gates at my mom's farm.   Mom decided she was going to help me build them.  So I returned from the local lumber yard with a stack of two-by-fours and two-by-sixes, a bag of nuts and bolts, a measuring tape and a pencil.  I set up my miter saw and started telling my mom, "OK, make a mark at this measurement.  Make a mark at that measurement there."  Mom looked at me skeptically, but did as I asked.  I started cutting and drilling until I had gone through all the wood.  I began laying pieces down and, low and behold, all the drill-holes lined up!  We dropped the bolts into the holes and cranked them down.  In a very short time we had large, heavy, solidly-built gates.  Mom was stunned that they'd gone together so easily!  What she hadn't seen was the time I'd spent with a pencil and paper the night before.  I had drawn out how I wanted the gates to be laid out, written down the sizes and the locations of the holes, and marked locations and angles of cuts.  After that it was about as complex as putting together a simple puzzle.

Throughout this blog, you'll notice one overarching theme.  You've got to have a plan.  Difficult times are coming.  It's inevitable that at some point in your life, difficulty will arise.  Regardless of your financial status, social position, or location in the world, hard times will come.  As I discussed in my last post, it could be for many reasons.  In a society built around comforts and conveniences, a massive number of people have completely forsaken self-sufficiency.  Yet, there is very likely to be a time in which our ability to take care of ourselves will be tested.  Will you be ready to stand the test?  Let me ask you a few questions.  Answer them honestly in your own mind, and see how prepared you really are.

1. If all of your money was gone as of right...NOW...how long would the food in your house provide for your family's nutritional needs?
2. If you had no electricity, phone, or fuel, how long could you manage your family's needs?  How would you stay warm in the winter?  
3. If local emergency services are overwhelmed or unavailable, and someone is badly injured in your home, would you know what to do?
4. You find that an organized group of people, intent on doing violence, is sweeping your area.  Do you have a place to go?  Do you have a route planned?

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake struck Japan.  It registered a massive 9.0 on the Richter Scale.  It triggered a powerful tsunami that reached 133' high and traveled over six miles inland, bringing with it unbelievable damage and destruction.  The combination of the earthquake and tsunami triggered a major nuclear emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, causing a dangerous series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and the release of radioactive materials into the air.

In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina crossed southern Florida and slammed into the coastline of Louisiana, causing destruction from Florida to Texas.  More than 1,800 people died and countless families found themselves homeless.  Looting was rampant in inner-city areas of New Orleans, and acts of violence were common.  Emergency services were virtually nonexistent and people were left to fend for themselves.  The federal government, though prepositioned by the President, was legally unable to respond without the request of the governor, who, embroiled in political standoffs of her own, failed to include some of the most heavily impacted areas in her initial request for assistance, which legally tied the hands of the feds.  In short, this left people on their own in the wake of the deadliest hurricane since 1928.  Martial law was declared to attempt to control roving bands of miscreants who were preying on other victims of the storm and subsequent flooding.

As of the time of this posting, Queensland, Australia is currently suffering massive flooding, forcing thousands from their homes and cutting off entire communities from the outside world.  Flood waters carry sewage and disease, placing the entire population at risk.  Agricultural areas are in ruins, raising concerns of food shortages in the region for a long time to come.  Businesses have been destroyed with little or no hope of recovery.  People's lives are in a turmoil.  The emotional stress is building, as many had no preparations in place for eventualities such as this.

Around the world, sudden and intense military conflicts occur.  It is nothing new, and will go on as long as humans inhabit the earth.  Heightened tensions among nations spiral out of control, and innocent citizens are forced to face a new reality of foreign, or sometimes domestic, troops controlling their every movement and activity.  Whether it's martial law enforced by one's own government or an invasion by foreign forces, the ultimate effect on the citizenry is often the same.

Let's face it, our lives are run on electricity and oil.  Remove those elements and chaos ensues.  Remember the power grid failures in the northeast in recent years?  The photo to the right shows the pandemonium that followed a major power outage in New York City.  Think about it.  You're in a city where everything is automated, from ventilation systems to elevators, from telephone systems to trains.  No power means everything shuts down.  Are you prepared?

It doesn't just effect urban areas, either.  In 2007, southwest Missouri experienced a severe ice storm.  Having lived in Alaska for nearly seven years, I thought I was prepared for anything old man winter had to throw at me.  I was wrong.  The kind of ice I saw during that storm was unlike anything I'd ever experienced.
Ice covered every exposed surface.  I'm not talking about frost.  Thick, clear, hard ice coated everything.  Trees three feet in diameter snapped under the sheer weight of the ice.  Power lines stretched and sagged until they were lying on the ground.  Telephone poles snapped under the strain of the added weight.  The sound was unlike anything I'd ever heard.  It literally sounded like a battle zone.  The nearly continuous thunder of trees crashing down sounded like cannons being fired.  With temperatures in the single digits and no power, it was a dire situation.  Emergency services were all but nonexistent because of the impassable roads.  Power crews were trucked in from all over the Midwest to assist, but the damage was so severe that many of us went without power for weeks.  It was a real wake up call.

No power, no water, no stores.  What do you do?  Do you have a plan?  You've got to have a plan!

So, what do you do?  This post and the next two are going to follow the steps in the graphic at the top of this page:  Think - Prepare - Act.

The first thing one must do is think and plan.  Here are a few questions you need to consider to be prepared for difficult times.

• Does anyone in your family require special medications or have special dietary needs?  In a scenario like the ice storm above, where stores were closed and travel was severely restricted, would you have enough of the medications you or your loved ones need?  How about foods?  Do you have enough stored up to last?  Is there a diabetic or heart patient in your immediate circle?  Certain health conditions require strict attention to food intake.  Plan ahead! Don't be caught in a position of desperation when stores are not open or ATMs are not functioning.  Make a list of special items you'll need in a worst-case scenario.  Speak to your physicians and try to get prescriptions filled for longer terms.  Allowing yourself to run low on necessary medications is about as good an idea as allowing your car to run empty before refilling the tank.

• How much fuel is in your vehicles?  If you woke up tomorrow and there were no gas stations open, how far could you drive?  Do you allow your vehicle to get to empty before refilling it?  That is not a wise idea.  There may come a time when the amount of fuel in your tank can spell the difference between success and failure.  Play a mind game with yourself:  As a rule of thumb, consider half a tank to be the same as empty.  Whenever your vehicle reaches half a tank, fill it up.  Yes, you'll have to stop for fuel more often, but when and if something bad happens you won't be stuck in one of those famous gas lines before you can leave town.  Believe me, that's a hopeless feeling.  It's really a matter of self-discipline.  Just consider the second half of the gas tank the reserve fuel.

• Do you have a rendezvous point? Reality dictates that the average family does not spend twenty-four hours a day gathered in the same location.  Parents typically work outside the home.  Kids typically attend school or other activities.  So let's say an earthquake happens in your town.  Where does your family plan to meet?  My family has a list of multiple rendezvous points, and an understanding of the procedure we will follow if we ever need to gather there.  What if there are no communications?  Those who can quickly make it to Rally Point A know to wait a certain amount of time and then check Rally Point B.  If the stragglers haven't arrived at Rally Point B by a certain time, the first arrivals will move to Rally point C, but will check the first two locations according to a prescribed schedule.  This plan works regardless of the kind of emergency.  Weather, armed incursion, it's really irrelevant.  Another thing to think about is the availability of transportation.  My wife and I share one vehicle.  Therefore, if I'm away at work, we have to have a rally point within walking distance of our home.  We also have a code phrase that will instantly trigger a planned move to our rally points, should security be an issue.

• How much food will your family require in an emergency?  This is a difficult question.  In a time when most of us revel in our national tendency for gluttony and excess, planning an emergency food cache is tough.  The Mormon church has been way ahead of most of us in training its people to store up food and supplies.  I do not want to get into a philosophical or theological discussion about the Mormon Church.  That is completely off-topic and although I strongly differ from them theologically, it does not negate their great work in preparing their people for difficult times.  The LDS recommends a year's food storage.  That may seem extreme to many, but it's far better to have too much than too little.  You can plan in any way you wish, but remember to rely on non-perishable items that can be stored for extended periods.  My family and I have set food storage goals.  We first began to collect enough food to last a week, then a month, then three months, and so on.  This way we had a starting point that didn't seem as overwhelming.  Then we began to purchase just a few extra items with each shopping trip.  By concentrating on nutritional value and reading labels, a family can quickly amass a stockpile of food.  In upcoming posts, I will be adding links to other sources of reliable information on this subject.

• How will you protect and defend your family and your essential supplies?  This question is much more complex than it might appear.  As a Christian, I am commissioned to love my neighbor.  At the same time, I am responsible for the safety and security of my family.  I know that I must determine how far I'm willing to go to protect them and to make sure they have enough supplies in an emergency.  You must ask yourself these questions as well.  How will you handle those around you who are also in need?  On the other hand, how will you handle someone whose intent is to take your family's supplies by force?  Will you meet force with force?  Will you let them take the very things that are sustaining your family?  Those are questions no one can answer but you.  However, once you answer those questions, you must commit yourself to that answer.  

Until you answer some basic questions, you have no plan.  Give these questions, and any others that stem from them, some serious thought.  Get a pad and paper and begin to formulate a plan for a worst-case scenario.

My next post will address the second item on the opening graphic:  Prepare.  

As a believer in Christ, I refuse to live in fear.  My faith in God precludes a lifestyle of fear.  However, preparation is one tool that helps me to have the peace of mind it takes to think clearly in a crisis.  A desire to prepare does not contradict your statement of faith.  As the scriptures say, faith without works is dead.

Chapter 1: What's The Worst That Could Happen?

Right wing, left wing, or centrist: regardless of which part of the political bird you identify with, you have to admit that these are volatile times.  Anyone who is at all politically aware will, if they're honest, admit that there's a lot of uncertainty ahead.  With skyrocketing national debt, millions out of work, protestors active in nearly every major city in America, and seesawing economic forecasts, many are nervous as to what the near future holds.

Let's take a little look at some of the current events that might effect your daily life.

1.  Natural Disasters -- Weather patterns can be erratic.  Over the past few years we've seen tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes worldwide.  One never knows when a natural disaster will strike.  Natural disasters often create even more dangerous man-made disasters such as the nuclear radiation leaks in the Fukushima Prefecture in Japan after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011.  When I lived in South San Francisco in 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake toppled building facades and collapsed roadways, but the most frightening damage was done by the ruptured gas lines that caused he further destruction of homes.  No matter where one travels or lives, natural disasters can occur.

Whether you live in Tornado Alley, along the American West Coast where earthquakes are common, in dry areas where wildfires can rapidly consume large swaths of land, or along the gulf or east coast where hurricanes commonly come ashore, no location is immune from the ravages of nature.  Often, countless people are left without homes in the wake of these disasters.  Whenever there is a disaster, there is often a portion of society just waiting to add to the misery by looting and pillaging whatever remains.

2.  Civil Unrest -- Look around you.  The past year has been a year of civil unrest all over the world.  We've witnessed riots, government crackdowns, sit-ins, and toppled governments.  Entire political systems are crumbling before our very eyes.  Major cities are brought to a standstill as protestors take to the streets in what often ends up as violent clashes with law enforcement or military personnel.  No matter what side of a political issue you inhabit, these are difficult and often frightening times.  Innocent bystanders are caught up in the melee, often experiencing injuries and fear.

3.  Economic Collapse -- One common cause, at least recently, for civil unrest is the faltering economic policies of governments around the world.  Greece is a current example of a place where a nation's failed economic policies have led to riots and strikes.  Many other countries are seemingly marching toward similar fates.  Uncontrolled spending, skyrocketing unemployment rates, and  little hope for economic recovery often leads to panic and rage in citizens.  Think it can't happen where you are?  You might be surprised.  People are people, no matter what their national or ethnic identities.

4.  Political Strife -- What might start as a clash of words in a nation's capital can easily morph into soldiers marching the streets.  Policy differences among politicians can quickly create deep divides among the citizenry, leading to violent conflicts and attempts to rework the political system of an entire society.  It happens all the time in nations around the world.  Thus far, the United States has escaped, though often narrowly, these conflicts in most cases.  However, with the rising level of venom and vitriol on all sides of each disagreement, many believe the US is ripe for major upheaval.  The most alarmist among us believe we could descend into a civil war scenario, while others foresee the collapse of federal and state governments, which would necessarily effect every citizen from the poorest to the wealthiest.  When governments lose their ability to govern, they always result to force.  Don't believe me?  Beginning in October of 2008, the US Army began fielding units on domestic soil that were being trained to handle civil unrest with tasers, rubber bullets, and live ammunition.  Ostensibly, these forces are available to help assist in the event of a terrorist attack, but the non-lethal techniques would seem to indicate an expected role in crowd control and domestic conflict.  Need more evidence?  Research the deployment of UAV surveillance craft within the US.

I tend to steer clear of conspiracy theories.  However, I am not naive enough to believe that the elite political class in Washington DC or in whatever state capital that happens to have jurisdiction over me always has my best interests at heart.  With the open hostility displayed toward anyone who disagrees with the political opinions of particular leaders, I am surprised violence has not yet spilled into the streets.  Conflicts along the US southern border, the growing tension within our inner cities, increasing hostility emanating from those who resent the financial success of others with larger bank accounts, and the surging desire of some to redistribute the wealth of the workers to the non-workers, all could easily combine to create the perfect storm of social disintegration.  

This is the reason for this blog.  This is why I feel an urgency to be prepared for the worse.  While I hope to never need to put my plans into motion, they serve as a form of insurance in case the worst happens.  Could things deteriorate and dissolve into chaos?  Yes.  Will I be prepared?  Yes.  Will you?

Introduction

As a firm believer in what the Bible says, I am convinced that we stand at a precipice in history.  Things are about to change, and change dramatically.  Though this blog is not necessarily about biblical prophecy, I would not be intellectually honest if I did not mention the scriptures as a huge part of my frame of reference.  I will mention biblical references periodically, but readers of any (or no) religious persuasion should find this blog useful.  Should you have questions of a theological nature, you may certainly contact me and we'll discuss them.  However, I hope to keep this blog focused on the topic of emergency preparedness and planning.

I have a family that depends on me.  I believe I have a scriptural mandate to provide for and protect them.  I believe that my first responsibility is to my Creator, and my second is to my family.  I am a proud American who is deeply troubled by the current state of affairs in my country.  I was raised in a very patriotic family, and still get choked up when the National Anthem plays.  I still doff my hat and put my hand over my heart when the flag comes by.  I readily and sincerely thank veterans and current military members for their service, for it is their sacrifices that have made my lifestyle possible.

Much has been made of the Mayan calendar and the fact that it seems to end in 2012.  Others have jumped onto the bandwagon, predicting cataclysmic changes at the end of this year.  Eschatologically speaking, I disagree with them.  However, one would have to be deaf, blind and not very bright to not recognize that the world is changing at an ever more rapid pace.  I do believe 2012 will be a turning point in human history.  I believe the geopolitical and moral turmoil in which the world finds itself will soon make the world almost unrecognizable from the one in which I grew up.  Political strife, wars, failing economies and natural disasters make it vital that we should be prepared when disaster strikes.

My senior year in high school was interrupted by a long stretch of heavy rains and flooding in the state in which I lived.  The small towns that surrounded our home were inundated by water from an overstressed levy system, and many people lost their homes.  During that time we were evacuated to a nearby air force base where the military had set up temporary shelter.

A couple of years later while living in South San Francisco, we experienced the Loma Prieta Earthquake.  This large quake, along with the fires from broken gas lines, caused massive damage and more than 3,700 injuries.  The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge's upper deck collapsed.  The Interstate 880 Cypress Viaduct pancaked on top of countless vehicles and commuter traffic, trapping folks in a space barely eighteen inches high in many places.  Major League Baseball's World Series came to a screeching halt just a short drive from my home as Candlestick Park groaned, swayed and cracked with the rolling of the earth's surface.

I know the fear of natural disasters.  I have experienced violence, as well.  I have vowed that I would not be caught unprepared when difficult times come.  For the past few years, my family and I have been setting in motion a series of plans that we can follow when things get tough.

Some will call us paranoid. Some will say we're fearmongers.  Some will laugh or ridicule.  One thing is certain.  We will be prepared, as best we can, for any eventuality.

The purpose of this blog is to discuss preparedness in the face of current events and conditions, and to help readers form an action plan for their own lives.  I hope you'll come along on this journey with me.  Whether the disaster be economic, political, or natural, together we can be as prepared as possible.

The time is coming!