Any bug out or "prepared" FGT's?

Shit, i've purchased a few over time and thought they would be good to keep on hand. I'll have to do some research and see whats up with them.

What are your thoughts on "Fish Antibiotics"? I've heard that the stuff you can buy to treat fish is the same antibotics they give to humans. I remember reading a review on Amazon that said "my fish had a tooth ache and this cleared it up" kinda things.

 

Lifestraws are simply an inferior product. "Crap" was probably an overstatment but I was trying to keep the post short.

They do what they advertise but Sawyer Mini's filter better, are cleanable and are much easier to use.

The main issue is the lifestraws you can only use them to drink water, right there from its source, assuming you can get your face down to it. Sawyer minies are designed so you can fill a container and take some with you, and so that you can attach a tube, which makes a huge difference in easy of use. With lifestraw you usually have to actually be standing in the water you want to drink to use them and they only filter so much water before they clog, sawyers can be backflushed and used almost forever.


I have a large stock of Fish Antibiotics and have used them around a half dozen times over the years. Mostly for sinus infections.

They are literally the same pills given to humans, right down to the pill markings.

As such, they have the exact same limitations, risks, etc as human antibiotics. If you know what you are doing, or know how to learn what to do, they work great and save you expensive trips to the doctor. That is an important IF though, IF you do something stupid with them, you will have stupid results.

 

I always enjoy reading threads similar to this. Being prepared is smart, and with a family I feel an obligation to be. With that said, you don't need to be James Reece (great books) to survive. I would be willing to bet in most disaster scenarios your farmer and rancher types are the most successful, not the military commando badasses. The navy seal types will still be in the top percentiles, but shouldn't be the model for survival. For most families keeping some extra food and being able to defend yourself will go a long way. I think the post about being balanced in your approach is one of the better ones to keep in mind. Lots of 400lb guys stockpiling thousands of rounds of ammo for guns they have never or rarely shoot/train with. Concentrate on your health, prep all you want but if you are out of shape or insulin and blood pressure med dependent, you probably won't have very good odds in an extreme situation.

As a side- I was watching one of the prep'r shows with a buddy a few years ago, and he made a pretty good point. If we had some kind of nuclear fallout or similar crazy occurrence, he wasn't sure he had that much interest in surviving in that type of world anyways.

 

A VERY common statement.

But I think for 90% of people, its just an excuse. People very very rarely actually want to die when actually faced with it.

But tell them, in times of safety with a full belly and warm house that in order to survive they have to do a bunch of work and many people will say 'ho hum, well, I wouldn't want to live through that anyway'

Truth is, most people will do ANYTHING to survive when death is right in their face. Or when their five year old says "Daddy, hungry"

These people are what keeps preppers up at night. It's not so much the 'bad' people you have to worry about after SHTF....but all the unprepared people. The 150lb soccer moms with three kids who will stab you in the back with a rusty screwdriver for a bite of food for their kids. The 20 year old kid with 70 year old parents at home that are running out of food and meds...the fifteen year old orphan who hasn't eaten in a week....

Most people will do ANYTHING to survive. The main reason to be a prepper, is so you DON'T have to become that kind of person when SHTF.

 

I have an interesting paperback book on how to survive a nuclear event. I’ll post the name of it if I see it around.

What I found interesting was how to filter radioactive water to make it drinkable. It required 6 feet of clay and sand from what I recall to slowly filter the water.

 

Water itself doesn't become radioactive, it's the stuff in it, so any good filter system will work.

Biggest thing with fallout is TIME.

Seven hours after detonation, radioactivity is only 10% of what it was.

Two days after detonation, its only 1% of what it was.

After about three weeks its down to 1/1000th and generally safe.

Is it this book your referring too?

https://ia800501.us.archive.org/35/items/NuclearWarSurvivalSkills_201405/nwss.pdf

 

Nope. It was a different book. I think the idea was to make due with ordinary items in case you didn’t prep for it originally.

 

Cool you posted the entire book!

 

Ah, well this is also the focus of NWSS, almost everything in it assumes you only have a few hours to prepare and have to use things like the doors in your house etc for building materials.

 

Prepped.

i've got my warhammer and 3ft of stainless antenna in case i'm harassed, dial tire gauge and 12v compressor, (but the original 2001 spare because hardcore mode). First aid kit, and lightweight hammock. Cable runs and extra ropes and leashes, newspaper bags and paper towels for the dog. A hex bit screwdriver kit with a 1/4" squaredrive theough the handle, and a set of 4-15mm drivers and an sae kit i havent opened yet. 1/4" breaker bar. Pens, notepad, flashlight, knife, glasses kit screwdriver. Fire extinguisher, roadside reflectors, flare, jack kit and a piece of 2x6. 2017 tx map and compass, 2 full and an empty waterbottle, a magnetic container that hooks to the frame, quart of oil, quart of castrol transmax, known good sparkplug. Pack of jb weld, 4oz stopleak, 4 oz water wetter, 4oz lucas fuel injector cleaner. Bigger butterfly light, cig lighter 4 way usb thing, usb low draw fan. Phone, light, and rc battery cables... all the extra weight smooths the ride, and the way everything is tetris'd and wedged in stops the squeaks and rattles.

next is a bedside mount for a highlift and shovel, maybe some traction pad things. And when i do sliders, i plan on going full bellypan.

https://youtu.be/xxdpKopak8o

 

imo, bug out vehicles are a waste of time and resources. when shtf, the last thing you want to do is bugout like everyone would be doing.

the important thing is to have your home be your base of operations. stock up on supplies where if shtf, you dont need to go anywhere or have a need for anything.

if you live in the city or a large suburb, move. reliance on utilities and other services is insane.

water, food, shelter, first aid, iodine tablets, medications, protection for your family, etc. your home is the best option 9/10 times.

when the covidiots hit last year and toilet paper, paper towels, etc. were sold out and food was even short my family had zero problems. my neighbors even came to me for toilet paper rolls.

get a costco and sams club membership and stock up on the non-perishables.

guns and ammo and training.

 

When SHTF you need to know where to go for the least resistance and make those plans. Some will have that place be their home, some will have a second home and some will have that place they hope nobody else finds.

Hand to hand combat, gun training and practice practice practice.

Most plans will differ from one another but the good news is, there are many people making plans.

 

I mostly agree.

So full disclosure, I live in a mountain fortress purpose built for prepping, before I ever broke ground I spent two years designing it as a bug-in location. Obviously I am heavily invested in bugging in, rather than bugging out and agree that in general, bugging out is a very bad idea. I've written whole essays on why, and how if you do have to bug out, it will probably be a lot harder than you think (any idea that you have, a thousand other people have had)

However, prepping is...preparing for everything to go wrong. That means preparing for your bug-in location to fail. You need a plan B, C, D, etc.

In addition, as I've hinted at, just because you are bugged in, doesn't mean you don't need to ever leave...there will be various operations you have to preform, maybe supply runs, maybe rescuing your wife from the nearby city where she was working when 'it' went down.

It's not predictable. (if it was, it could be prevented), but having a capable vehicle designed to operate without outside support...is always worth it.

Now, the second big point is, 9/10 as, you would put it, the problem your facing, is not one where you need to bug in, the problem is getting to work during a storm so you can keep making money, the problem is getting home from that trip to costco, the problem is you need a place to stay for a couple days between apartments...etc.

And even more so, if you are lucky enough to live in a mountain fortress.....just living your life day to day requires something that could be called a bug out vehicle, just to get up your own driveway, or to tow home a broken down trailer you go for free....because...you know you live in a mountain fortress and so its not like your working a nice white collar job in town where you can rent a u-haul anytime you need one.

The requirements are not vastly different from your normal farm truck, other than if your not actually a farmer, you may not realize why you need a farm truck.