Merry Christmas! at 3:36 PM

Hope everyone has a safe and joyous holiday. Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

From Guam Prepper Network

Book Review: "Patriots - Surviving the Coming Collapse" By James Wesley, Rawles at 1:16 AM

Another new series to the blog, book reviews. This first book, I hope to be the first of many, in my library.

I am not a professional journalist or critic, and I am definitely not the best at putting my thoughts into words. At best, I can let you know if I enjoyed the book and if I would recommend it. I will not try to analyze the writers stlye or pretend to have any literary knowledge.

Patriots was a good experience for me. The story was interesting because of how closely it relates to what is happening in the world right now. I found myself searching for my notebook and pen many times, because there is so much good information woven into the story.

If you are completely new to prepping, this book will provide a lot of good info for you to start thinking about your preps. If you're not new, then it could have you thinking about your setups and maybe improve them. If nothing else it'll provide a few hours of good reading.

Prep Tip: Flat Roll at 9:01 PM

Hey guys, I wanted to start a new series where I introduce a tip on anything related to survial or preparedness. This week's tip is nothing fancy, and a lot of you might already know of it. It's one of those things that give you a "palm-to-the face" moment, because it's just so simple, you wonder why you never thought of it before. Flat rolling - I'm not sure if it is called something else, but I call it flat rolling. What it is, is taking a roll of duct, gorilla or what ever kind of tape that you have and transfering it, to make it smaller and more compact and easier to store.

Items needed:
Tape

Old platic sturdy platic card

Step 1: Place tape on card lenghtwise and start to roll.

Step 2: Continue to roll the tape onto the card until complete.

Congratulations, you now have a smaller and more compact roll of tape. What prep will you add with all that extra room you have now?

EDC/GHB Bag at 7:06 AM

In an earlier post I mentioned an Every Day Carry Bag (EDC), and you may have already heard of the Bug Out Bag (BOB) , Go Bag, Get Out Of Dodge Bag (GOOD), or the Get Home Bag (GHB). There are many great resources that explain the BOB or GOOD bags in great detail. You can even find examples of bags and their contents. These bags are for situations in which you are forced from your home and have to leave in a hurry. My theory behind an EDC/GHB is similar to a bug out bag, except that its purpose is to get you to your family and where your Go Bag is or home to your long term preps. My bag is also and everyday carry bag, meaning I always carry it with me, every where I go. If not with me it'll be in my vehicle that I'm using at the time, never more than a couple of minutes away.

There are many "kits" or bags that are sold already assembled for you. These would be a great start, but I would suggest building your own bag with gear that you know and trust. Won't do you any good to start learning how to use something when you need it, or have a piece of gear break down on you because of poor quality. I suggest starting with a good quality bag. For good, quality bags that will take a beating a surplus military ruck or military style packs such as Camelbak, or Maxpedition would be a great pack. But for those that don't want to stand out and blend in there are also packs out there designed for hiking and camping that are of good quality, suck as Kelty, Oakley, or JanSport.

The contents of your bag depends on you and your situation. I don't have to pack for cold weather here on a tropical island, but I better have some rain gear, bug repellent and sunscreen handy. Keeping in mind that this bag is designed to get you home, it should contain just the right amount of essentials to do just that. Depending on how far you often travel everyday from home is what you should be planning for. If you had to walk on foot from where you work, how far and how long would it take you? Using this distance as a guide will give you a good idea on how much food and water you will need. What routes will you use to get home? If things are bag, you'd probably would want to stay away from main roads. Will you encounter any bodies of water? If you do, think about waterproofing your gear. A good cheap way is to stick everything that can't get wet into ziplock bags or if you can afford it a good dry bag, such as SealLine. Ultimately the contents of your bag will be determined by weight, size of the gear, price, and priority.

Weight - If you don't mind humping around a 80lb. bag be my guest, but your bag should allow you to move quickly, and over great distances comfortably. You'll also be carrying this every day, if it's too heavy you just might "forget" it at the house a lot of the time.

Size of the items - If you have a piece of gear that is shaped weird and is hard to pack in your bag without it taking up too much room, it better be worth the wasted space.

Price - You get what you pay for. It's better for it to hurt the first time you buy a piece of gear, than for it to hurt you when it fails and again when you have to purchase a better one. If this is not a problem for you, then I want you to know that I accept donations.

Priority - Your gear can be separated into three piles: Essential gear you can't do without, gear you think you need, and stuff you'd like to have. Be truthful with yourself when you do this, it might save you from a back or shoulder ache and a few blisters later. Basically all the gear you really need would be in the first essential pile. Everything else would be just added weight.

So, if you can afford it, don't mind carrying it, can fit in your bag and will help get you back home, then its a winner. The gear that you eventually choose to pack in your bag will fall into one of several basic categories: food, water, health, shelter/clothing, and tools. When choosing and packing gear remember a common saying, "One is none, two is one". Due to Murphy's Law your gear will either fail, get lost, or will be destroyed. So plan in some redundancies or back-ups, it might save your life.

The bag I chose had to be black and non-tactical looking. For everyday carry it could blend in and if SHTF, I hopefully wouldn't draw any attention or worse become a target. It had to be of good quality and rugged, to stand up to everyday use and field use if necessary. Medium sized, with ample compartments for storage and organization. Large enough to carry everything essential, but not too big to move quickly and comfortably. Fortunately I had a Jansport bag that I bought before, that fit all my criteria.




This is an example of my EDC, which I try to add to whenever I can. I just bought a little bottle of alcohol that I added to my little first aid kit. I think a 99 cent prep is better than no prep at all. Let me know what you think, I welcome any input. I'd love to hear and see what you carry. Take Care. "Prepare. Survive. Live."