For a long time I’ve been telling friends, family, and readers how easy and inexpensive preparedness can be. I recently got curious about what a reasonable dollar amount – say $20 a paycheck – could actually do for one’s preparedness. I decided to find out, first-hand, and report the results to you. I’m pretty excited and consider this little experiment a success!
Helikon Essentials Kitbag and My Minimal Survival Kit
I recently wrote about the contents of a theoretical minimalist survival kit. I love the concept of such a kit: the bare minimum stuff you’d want to survive in the wilderness, so I decided to put one together. I’ve walked with it several times now and here’s what I have to report.
Wilderness Survival Books, Part I
I have recently been down a rabbit hole of reading survival-related books. The wilderness survival class I taught a couple weeks ago prompted this reading track and I’m so glad it did. It got me back into a couple books that I have long loved, and introduced me to a few new ones. Here are my favorite wilderness survival books.
The Bare Minimum Survival Kit
Survival kits come in all shapes and sizes, from the junk contained in the handles of those 80s “survival knives” (if you’re old enough to remember them definitely check out that video…or even if you’re not) to Altoids-tin kits to backpacks full of stuff. My last article on wilderness survival covered a very strong survival kit. Today I am going to discuss the bare minimum “stuff” I would want in the woods.
Long-Term Preparedness Heating and Cooling
Heating and cooling in the absence of “the grid” is a subject that seems to get addressed only rarely in preparedness literature. Most of the recommendations are short-term in nature, anyway. This posts is going to cover the most important parts of my long-term heating and cooling system, in hopes that you can learn something and make yourself more resilient on what I feel is an overlooked topic.
Wilderness Survival Basics
I was recently asked to teach a wilderness survival class. Though not specifically in my lane of expertise, I jumped at the chance. No guidance was provided other than “wilderness survival basics” and I was given a three-hour block. This article is what I decided to teach. I am making the full content available here to my readers, and to serve as a resource for my students afterward.
The Instructor’s Burden
Lately I have been seriously thinking about the instructor’s burden: the duty an instructor of life-and-death topics has to his or her students.
EMT vs. Paramedic: What’s the Difference?
I recently had lunch with fellow gun blogger (videographer?) and all-around good guy, Chris Baker. Chris and I were catching up after not having seen each other in quite a long time. I mentioned my EMT/Paramedic training track and at some point he asked, “are EMT and paramedic different things?” This is a really common question I get from people outside emergency services, so I thought I’d quickly run down some quantifiable differences for you.
Hiking Emergency & Recovery Protocols
Last weekend we did a very difficult hike. Actually, to be honest we didn’t complete it. Despite hiking every week, and rucking on our road at least a couple days a week, we were turned back after four miles, 4,000 feet of elevation gain, and some extremely rugged terrain. On our walk back we began talking about what we would do if one of us was injured. We also talked about some emergency protocols we had already put into place.
Beyond the IFAK: Home Medical Gear
The IFAK (individual first aid kit) has become extremely popular. A number of companies sell purpose-built, military-style IFAKs for civilian use. Many more sell IFAK components. Numerous methods of carry, including wallet kits and ankle rigs have proliferated. I think that’s fantastic. Unfortunately I think the twin Gospels of the Tourniquet and the IFAK aren’t the end of the story as far as first aid for the well-prepared is concerned.