The Survival Weekly Dispatch - Volume 11, Issue 32

Hey folks, thanks for checking out the newsletter this week. I took two days off work last week, one to celebrate our granddaughter’s second birthday and the other to get some stuff done. This means I’ve been scrambling to get caught up, and I’m still woefully behind on email. We have some travel plans coming up and I’d really like to get ahead on a few projects, but we’ll see how it all shakes out.

And it dawns on me now that we’re less than two weeks away from National Preparedness Month. Yikes. So much to do, so little time.

[Note – I forgot to change the numbering of the newsletter last week. It should have been issue 31, not 30.]

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Prepper Tip - This comes up from time to time. Do you need a bug out bag AND a get home bag? Is there a big difference between the two?

Generally speaking, a bug out bag traditionally is supposed to be able to support you for a minimum of three days, a full 72 hours. It’s often stored at home, in a closet or some other easily accessible location.

A get home bag is traditionally designed to, well, get you home from wherever you might be at the time disaster strikes. Typically, the thought process is to determine how long it would take you to get home from work, as that’s the most common place we tend to be if we’re not home, and use that as a guideline when assembling your get home bag. It’s kept in the trunk so you have it wherever you go.

[I’m intentionally not getting into INCH (I’m Never Coming Home) bags as that’s a whole ‘nother mess.]

Could the BOB and the GHB be one and the same? Yep. Should they be one and the same? Maybe. It depends on your situation. For example, I work from home and my wife works about 10 minutes from the house. The furthest we go on a regular basis is about 20 miles away. A get home bag for daily use isn’t really necessary. If we’re going to be traveling, I’ll throw something together to put into the trunk, just in case. We do have bug out gear stored at home, though the odds of us needing to evacuate for any serious length of time are very remote.

The point here is this – don’t look at prepping as though it’s a checklist of steps you need to complete. Everyone’s situation is different. Just because you read or heard somewhere that you need to have a bug out bag at home, a get home bag in the car, and XYZ on your person at all times doesn’t mean that’s ideal for you.

A big part of preparedness is tailoring plans to suit your individual and family’s needs.

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How to Survive 2025 is our new podcast, hosted by myself, Brian Keene, and Dacia Arnold. The first two episodes are available now and you’ll find them at all of the usual haunts, including Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Apple.

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I received a very moving email the other day. It reads, in part: “I truly appreciate your straightforward and realistic view on preparedness. Through reading and accessing your media, my husband and I have gotten our finances in order and we keep a pantry that will carry us for a month, we all have a go bag, and ‘bug in’ supplies. You helped me to think logically and realistically about what my family could encounter.”

This is exactly why we do what we do – to help give people the skills and knowledge they’ll need in order to face disasters down the road. In doing so, we give them confidence and peace of mind so that they can live their lives without anxiety or fear about the future. And that's pretty cool, I think.

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I have two classes coming up, for those who might be in the area.

Prepping with Kids

• September 12

• 6PM-7:45PM

• Matheson Memorial Library

• Elkhorn, WI

In this class session, we’ll be focusing on how to take your children into account as you prep and plan for possible disasters. Among the topics we’ll cover: how to speak with your children about disasters, skills you can teach them, specific supplies to keep on hand. No registration is required.

Prepping 101

• September 26

• 4PM-8PM

• Matheson Memorial Library

• Elkhorn, WI

This one is part of a larger event. They’ll be doing Narcan training, CPR training, and then my Prepping 101 presentation. Registration is required for this event, to ensure they have enough supplies for the training sessions. As soon as I have that link, I’ll share it.

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I stumbled on this late last week. Several years ago, FEMA put out a short series of videos geared toward young people. Titled Disaster Dodgers, each video has a group of kids discussing various types of disasters and basic steps people can take to be better prepared.

There’s nothing earth-shattering here, but these videos could be a great way to open discussions with young people in your life. They’ve been around for a bit, but I didn’t know a thing about them until now.

Here’s a link to the playlist on YouTube.

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For our hike this week, we stopped at a nature trail we’ve not visited in at least a year. This trail is noteworthy due to its clear springs as well as the remains of a marl plant and hotel that are here. Some sections of the trail were pretty overgrown, but still passable.

Survival Tip – Who’s at the Door?

I spent about 15 years working as a private detective before striking out on my own as a full-time writer and editor. One of my primary duties as a PI was process service. Over the course of my career, I served papers on thousands of people. Lots of doors knocked on and lots of people who didn’t want to answer. I got pretty good at figuring out if someone was truly home or not. While we couldn’t force someone to answer, if our client went in front of the judge and explained to him or her that we were being evaded, alternate measures might be authorized.

Here are some ways we’d know someone was home and just not answering.

Sight -- We’d always watch the peephole, if there was one. No, you can’t really make out any details, but you can absolutely see if there’s movement on the other side. We’d also try to keep an eye on windows near the door to see if curtains moved.

Sound – If there was a dog inside, we’d listen for how it barked. This wasn’t any sort of a sure thing, but if the dog barked at the door, then ran into the house barking and returned, it meant someone was probably home and the dog was trying to alert them. If the dog stayed at the door, it meant nobody was home and the dog was protecting the home. Footsteps were an obvious indicator, as was hearing children’s voices.

Smell – We’d often time our service attempts to coincide with the dinner hour, as that’s why people were usually home. Y’know that vent fan is above your stove that you turn on when you’re cooking? Yeah, that usually vents right outside.

Touch – If there was a vehicle in the driveway, we might put a hand on the hood to see if the engine was warm. If it was, that’s an indicator someone just got home. This was particularly useful in the winter, especially when coupled with non-frosted windows.

How can any of this be useful to the prepper? There might very well be times that you don’t want someone to know that you are home. Knowing what they’ll be looking for helps you to know what to avoid. For example, don’t go near the front door. Instead, look from another room, if possible, to see who’s at the door. We’re assuming you either don’t have a doorbell camera or that the camera isn’t functioning. Make sure everyone in the home is quiet and avoid moving around to reduce the risk of tripping or knocking something over.

But, hey, if you do someday get served papers, don’t take it out on the server. He or she is just the delivery person, not unlike UPS or FedEx.

Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide

For those new to my little corner of the Internet, I am the Editor in Chief for Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide magazines. Here are the covers for the current issues that are available in stores right now. Note - for those who might not have heard, Prepper Survival Guide has been canceled by the publisher. The issue shown here is the last one that will be printed. We are still doing Backwoods Survival Guide.

You can find them just about anywhere magazines are sold, including:

• Walmart

• Sam's Club

• Costco

• Publix

• Walgreens

• Rite Aid

• CVS

• Tractor Supply

• Fleet Farm

• Barnes & Noble

Subscriptions to both titles are available here.

Questions, Comments, Complaints, Concerns?

I am always just an email away - jim@survivalweekly.com.