Those of us who are part of the prepping and survival community tend to look down our noses at the government’s emergency response agency, FEMA. Granted, there’s plenty of reason for this, as FEMA doesn’t exactly have an exemplary record for quick response and cutting through government red tape. In fact, they seem to carry the red tape with them wherever they go. But one thing we forget is that we owe our own movement, at least in part, to FEMA.
While there are some of us who have been living the survival and preparedness lifestyle for years, most have not. It really wasn’t until FEMA developed the ready.gov website and started promoting the idea of being prepared for a disaster that the idea began to get widespread promotion. They’re also the ones who made the idea of a bug out bag popular, as attested to by the fact that most people talk about having a three-day supply in your bug out bag, an idea that originated in the offices of FEMA.
So, while they aren’t perfect, FEMA have been a help to us. They still are, as they are one of the most widely recognized sources of information about disaster preparedness and strategies for survival. While you can quickly go through all their information and want for more, they do provide a good starting point for people just getting into the prepping movement.
Related: Find Out What Areas Would Be Targeted by FEMA When SHTF (they’ll take your supplies)
One of the things that the ready.gov website has is a list of basic disaster supplies that we should all be sure to have. Some of those are even things that those of us in the prepping movement don’t regularly talk about. So it’s a good idea to review what they are saying and way they are saying it.
On their Basic Disaster Supplies Kit list:
- Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert – The most common disasters to strike the United States are weather-related ones, especially hurricanes, tornadoes and snowstorms. Good information is critical to surviving these, as well as knowing when it is safe to come out of a bunker or other shelter. The advantage of the hand crank type is that you never have to worry about having dead batteries.
- Whistle – There are countless situations where you could end up awaiting rescue, from an earthquake destroying your home to getting lost in the woods. Three blasts on a whistle is a universal call for help, which can be heard much farther than your voice. Not only that, it’s a whole lot easier on your throat and energy level than yelling all the time.
- Dust mask – Whether you’re talking about dust storms or pandemics, a good dust mask will help protect you and your lungs. Spraying that dust mask with a small amount of disinfectant will go a long way towards protecting you from airborne pathogens. Just be careful not to spray too much.
- Plastic sheeting & duct tape – As with the dust mask, this will help protect you if you have to shelter in place from an epidemic or even a chemical spill. While it is difficult and even unrealistic to create a totally sealed environment, the more you can seal off, especially around doors and windows, the better. These simple materials can save your life in such a situation.
- Manual can opener – We all stockpile food, but do we stockpile can openers? More specifically, do you have a really good quality can opener in your stockpile? I’ve gone through many a cheap can opener through the years, proving to me that the money for a top-quality one is money well spent. In a long-term survival situation I would get awful tired of using the P-38 on my key ring.
- Local maps – We tend to keep maps in our bug out bags, but what about for sheltering in place? A good topographical map will show you lots of useful information, such as where to find water and where to go to find high ground to escape flooding.
Related: 24 Food Items To Hoard
On their Additional Emergency Supplies list:
- Prescription medicines – If anyone in your family needs prescription medications, especially maintenance doses for a chronic condition, you’ve got to have these medicines on-hand. They may not be available in an emergency situation.
- Glasses and contact lens solution – For those of us who need some help to see, this is essential. A spare pair of glasses is a good idea, as they can easily get lost or broken.
- Pet food – Don’t forget your four-footed friends, or you’ll end up feeding them food that you need for yourself. Pets can be a great comfort in the midst of crisis, especially for children.
- Cash – Few of us bother keeping much cash on hand, even those who prepare. We’re more likely to keep silver around for bartering with. But cash is important too. Even in the worst of TEOTWAWKI events, cash will be useful for some time, until people realize that it is worthless.
- Important family documents – If you are forced to bug out, having documents to prove home and car ownership, as well as insurance policies and bank account information may be essential for recovering financially and getting your life back on track. Medical and school records are important as well. It is best to save these electronically for ease of carrying; but hard copies are better in the case of an EMP.
- Sturdy shoes – The shoes that most of us wear on a day-to-day basis are impractical for walking long distances. If you are forced to bug out on foot and have to walk 100 miles to get to shelter, you’re going to want some sturdy but comfortable hiking or work boots.
- Fire extinguisher – Probably one of the most basic pieces of emergency equipment, but one that you never see talked about in the prepping community. Get a commercial one, as it will be larger and rechargeable.
- Feminine supplies & personal hygiene items – It will be bad enough having to bug out and live in a survival shelter, without forgetting the most basic items to keep yourself clean. This is important for maintaining your health, as well, as infection spreads much more easily in a dirty environment.
- Paper plates, cups, towels and plastic utensils – We use these all the time, but don’t think of them as survival supplies. But if water is limited, having something that you can use and throw away saves that limited water for more important things than just washing dishes.
- Paper and pencil – Something else that should be considered a basic survival item, but is often overlooked. I have a basic rule, “If it isn’t written down, it doesn’t exist.” That’s because I don’t trust my memory to remember things like names, dates, addresses and phone numbers. Better to write it down, especially if it is something critical to your survival.
Related: 30 Survival Items You Forgot to Buy
One Final Note:
The same page on FEMA’s ready.gov website that lists their recommended emergency kit items, also mentions where you should keep your kit or kits. According to them, that is home, work and your vehicle. That pretty much covers it. Basically what they are saying is to always make sure you have an emergency kit available to you, no matter where you are.
This will require having multiple kits. Ideally, you want one in each of your vehicles, one in each family member’s workplace (although vehicle ones can double for this, assuming you can get to your vehicle) and one at home. Don’t depend on just one kit for everything. Not only do different situations present you with different needs, but your family will probably be scattered in different locations. Each family member will need to have emergency supplies available to them, in case they have to shelter where they are.
The hardest family members to do this for are children. If your child has a locker at school, you can prepare them a kit to keep there. But if not, they’ll be limited to their backpack (unless they drive to school). That means you’re going to have to think carefully about what you have them carry, as you don’t want to burden them unnecessarily. Besides, doing so merely guarantees that they’ll take the kit out of their backpack and leave it home.
Finally, make sure that each kit is appropriate to the number of people it must serve. Your home kit will obviously need to be the largest. One kept in your office merely needs to take care of one person, like the ones in your kids’ lockers. Car kits will depend on who uses that car and what they use it for. A car that is only used by one or two people won’t need as big a kit as the primary family car will.
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It’s about time someone on here isn’t insulting FEMA by insinuating that they are a wicked organization just waiting to steal your preps, or that they are largely incompetent.
There are two sides to every coin. Think about it. They are part of our government.
I think it remains to be seen what FEMA would become in a SHTF scenario. Hopefully we never find out. In several instances, however, they have been unprepared for recent disasters. And in several they have done a good job. Like many of us know, ultimately, it is up to the INDIVIDUAL to be responsible for his/her safety and well being. And FEMA is an organization…only as good as the people making decisions. And those people change.
My personal disaster plan does not include seeing or hearing anything from FEMA. I plan as though they don’t exist.
Jay, my guess is that what FEMA would become is an overloaded, badly coordinated mess. I don’t really share the view that it’s an evil organization; like most people, the majority of FEMA employees probably mean well. The trouble is they’re not usually all that good at what they do.
….but both those things are true.
The thing that always impresses me is, FEMA would have to be able to get to you before they could steal your preps.
Read the extremely overreaching powers FEMA potentially could have in an emergency. It is all written down through the years in presidential executive orders from Kennedy to Obama. They have done nothing but expand. I can personally testify of a FEMA official that told a distribution center we were taking supplies to that they were going to return and confiscate all the supplies that were freely and lovingly given by good citizens wanting to help flood victims last summer in south Texas. The folks in charge(local citizens from the area also homeless but helping others) had no idea what to do. I just happened to walk up to a friend of mine while they were on the phone talking about it. She filled me in and I told her to call the sheriff and tell them the situation. Don’t call the local police department they have no authority in the situation. She called the sheriff, the sheriff called FEMA and told them to not touch anything in that center and the fema official never bothered them again. That is how they overstep their authority. If martial law is establish they very well might pull this stuff.
If you want to see what FEMA would look like in an EOTW situation all you need do is look at the TSA. Overriding incompetence — have they ever had a satisfactory security test — coupled with an extreme lack of good judgment. Is an 80 year old lady really a terrorist suspect that she needs “extra security precautions”?
There is FEMA in a nutshell.
Chuck, as much as I would like to say, “we need FEMA”, the truth of the matter is we (preppers in general) don’t need them at all, but most of the country need somebody to hold their hand when things go from normal to something else. I am happy for all the non-preppers to call FEMA when the SHTF.
True, that, Auckland. On a local level, every time the city government decided to “help the local businessman,” I cringed. Everything they did to “help” me wound up costing me more money than if I had paid to have the work done myself. I certainly would have been on the contractor to not interfere with my customers’ ingress and egress as much as the city contractor did, blithely ignoring repeated entreaties to do things so as to not impact access to my business as much as they were.
When another businessman who had retired from the Navy as a civil engineer, pointed out to the city project manager for one of the “helpful ” projects that the grading they were doing was going to cause rainwater to drain into one of the business. He was haughtily told “We know what we are doing.”
You guessed it. The first time it rained water drained into the business and every time it rained after that they had to sandbag their entrance. The retired Navy guy, told me, “I’m fairly sure that the laws of nature still provide that water runs downhill and not uphill.” But they “knew what they were doing.”
Hey Chuck, wasn’t it Reagan that said the 10 most scary words that you will ever hear is, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you”.
Yes, Reagan definitely said this.
Not once on here is ammo for your firearm suggested. I would include that for sure.
Regarding can openers, if you are unaware of this trick it’s a good one to know. No tools necessary, just some flat concrete, (ie a driveway or cinder block) although using a knife (or similar object) to lift the lid at the end requires less ‘grinding’ and would save more of the juices inside the can. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu73pzkOlBY
Perhaps a little off the subject but as long as we’re talking supplies I would like to share a survival tool with everyone.
One of my first jobs as a kid was training as a meat cutter in a small grocery store. Thinking about that one day I thought antique meat cleavers would be a unique thing to collect and hang in the kitchen as a conversation piece. I began buying cleavers off of ebay and yard/garage sales and refurbishing them as needed. Some just required cleaning but other required rust removal, sharpening, and new handles.
Daydreaming during yard work on day I wondered how a cleaver would work on small trees, limbs, and batoning kindling. To make a long boring story short. I do not see ever picking up a hatchet ever again. There are many different sizes and shapes of cleavers. The one I find most useful is larger that the typical kitchen cleaver and is what you would find in a old butcher shop. The size of the blade, weight and balance of a cleaver is far superior to any hatchet I have ever used.
Maybe not for everyone but if you get a chance I think you will be surprised how versatile a cleaver is as a wood tool.
Maybe an old thick cleaner. Thinner New ones Break chunks out of The blade. Plus an axe can be a hammer. Remote people Choose a medium axe.Estwing camp axe, steel handle, good steel. You can cut a tree down or beat somebody to death.
Yeah the thin kitchen sizes is little more than a big knife. It’s not for everyone just another tool to consider.
JakeTP said that he began looking in a variety of places for ANTIQUE cleavers, not recently produced ones
Great tip, Jake! Thanks for sharing. I have never thought of that.
Perhaps a substitute for a cleaver is a shingle maker. It has a blade about 10 – 12 inches long. The blade is nearly 1/4 inch thick and it handles nicely. The Japanese make an especially elegant shingle maker, that an aficionado of cold steel especially appreciates. I have one and it does work quite nicely on wood of all types. While it won’t replace the 3.5 pound ax with a 28 or 30 inch handle for felling large trees, it does quite nicely on saplings and trees up to about 3 to 4 four inches.
JakeTP: I’m fairly certain that here, on a preppers blog, that nothing pertaining to prepping is ever off topic.
Good information. I’ll look into getting a cleaver.
Are there any advantages to a cleaver over an ax or hatchet?
Weight, cost, etc?
I pretty much have all that list cevered. I have added flashlights with very bright and softer settings, red and flashing red or flashing blue lights for different situations. I
For my husband with dimentia I’ve added easy snacks and single serve flavor packs for bottled water. He won’t drink much water otherwise.
For me most of my preperations were just to meet life as it came and as gardeners, storing food and saving seed was just something you did.
As for a good meat cleaver, I miss mine. I used it at butchering time for quickly dispatching rabbits or chickens and cutting up and splitting fowels for cooking. Today I’m back to a good sharp hatchet. The weight of a good clever could be useful outside but I use heavy pruning sheres or a machety for a lot of my yard work.
I think a 3 day bug out bag is a wast of time. In seeing movies of World War II, I always see refugees pulling large hand carts that carry what looks like the equivalent of about 9 or 10 back packs that are currently used as bug out bags. Now thats a good amount of supplies that can get you through some trouble times.
Three day bag is good to get you home or from home to BOL. If it’s four days, four day bag.
Jose, these refugees would know they would never return to their home again, so they really loaded up their handcarts, you know all the stuff you need in troubled times, silverware, family photos, furniture, bedding and maybe a piano as well, the handcarts were completely overloaded and often broke wheels or axles, these refugees could only move very slowly and travelled in large groups. Have you ever wondered why you never read about these people in prepping sites like this one, the answer is simple, they had no idea what to do, and that is why most of them died a miserable death.
If you are forced to leave your home in a bug out situation and have no fallback, isolated 40 acre farm with a stocked fish pond and a running stream just chock full of trout but you have to leave your home because of civil unrest, you will want to take as much with you as you possible can and while you may hope to return at some unknown future date, the chances of your home still being inhabitable will be next to nil, you will want to take as much of your possessions as you can.
I intend to try to cover some alternative modes of transportation capable of moving more items than a back pack in future articles.
I guess Fema does not want us to eat. If we get hungry then eat the pet food and when that runs out I guess we could eat the whistle. Lol. I know food is automatically part of it but it didn’t make the list.
Hey, Wannabe, some pet foods are more expensive than Dinty Moore Beef Stew.
It just exemplifies what I said earlier about FEMA and incompetence. Sure you can go three days without food. Actually a person can go much longer than that but you will not be operating at peak performance. You will be lethargic. Your thinking processes will be slower — basically you will exhibit all the symptoms of zombie hood. You will have a shuffling gate. Your speech will be slurred. You will be slow to react. If you haven’t eaten, you probably haven’t washed either. Your clothes will be dirty and perhaps ripped and torn, you skin will be dirty and you will smell. Sounds like a zombie to me. I don’t think it will take a shot to the head with a high-powered rifle to put you down, however. I think a shot from a .22 will probably do the trick, although in your lethargic, slow thinking mode, it may take a while before you realize you are really, really dead — shades of zombie hood.
That’s funny LCC
Late 2018, tranny went out on my truck (tranny cost more than truck value), had to get another vehicle because my fed gov’t job required I drive in 4 counties, used car needed tires,10 grand for all gone; then water heater went out, another grand gone; then another unfortunate equaled all of savings gone by 12/1/18. After telling family ‘no Christmas this year,’ the gov’t shut down & I was furloughed. Out of money, out of groceries, out of hope I ate my pantry food once every third day, not knowing how long the shutdown would be (3 months passed before my next paycheck). Lethargy YES; gait, speech, thought processes unchanged (far as I could tell), loss of nearly 40% body weight – 5 clothing sizes – was substantial since I couldn’t return to work naked. Nothing fit, not under or outer wear, not even my skin. Had to borrow outer wear from grandchild until I could catch up financially & then buy clothes that fit. Two years later, health issues are showing up from it & have gained back only 10#. Take away: I can survive adverse conditions (but I wouldn’t call it living), and I would not WANT to do it again even though I know I can. Preps are different now than they were before!
Agreed, zombie hood (even bathed & brushed).
for kids… either one of these..or even for yourself
https://www.redcross.org/store/safety-tube/20-07100.html?cgid=preparedness#start=6&cgid=preparedness
or
https://www.redcross.org/store/personal-safety-emergency-pack/321362.html?cgid=preparedness#start=2&cgid=preparedness
Well, it is better than absolutely nothing at all but I would suggest that 4 ounces of water is just one drink and done. I wouldn’t waste my money on such a kit. It is just a fund raising scheme by the Red Cross.
People used to live rough.There’s an old Bob Will’s song with the refrain “Workin on the railroad,sleepin on the ground, eatin saltine crackers 10 cents a pound.” Great Depression days my Grandfather and his friends used to set up fish camps along the Rio Grande in the Big Bend country and stay out for days. I have 2 keepsakes from him, 2 small waterproof brass containers, one with wooden matches, the other with various fishhooks, I open them every few years just to marvel at these small items that have been in there a good 75 years.Good things to keep close,but the one thing you just have to have is a stainless steel spoon.
And then from the anthracite mines there is, “You load sixteen tons and whadda you get? Another day older and deeper in debt.”
Or from Old Man River: “You an’ me, we sweat an’ strain
Body all achin’ an’ wracked wid pain,Tote dat barge! Lif’ dat bale! Git a little drunk an’ you lands in jail. Ah gits weary an’ sick of tryin’. Ah’m tired of livin’ an’ skeered of dyin'”
Life for the working man prior to WWII was no bed of roses.
I didn’t realize our family was working poor until much later in life. That was even though my father was considered a skilled worker as a master pipefitter working at an oil refinery.
I think they are missing some important things. No water purifiers, whether life straws or something bigger. Small packs of baby wipes, come in handy for cleaning up when water isn’t available. Also, hand sanitizer. If you have kids, a deck of cards or small hand games (no electronic ) small box of crayons.
Nothing can be more difficult than a bored child. Crayons can be used as a candle in a pinch or leaving a message or marking a trail. Cards can also be used as markers. Small pack of tissues.
There’s a big difference between stockpiling and a BoB.Everything they listed, I carry in my BOB that I have carried in my car for over 20 years. One thing I carry that most don’t think of. I have 3 glucose test strip bottles full of my 3 favorite spices. It sure helps and they stay fresh and brighten up dull or repetitive meals. They weigh almost nothing.
CJ: Remember, this is a FEMA LIST. don’t expect too much.
Jose, these refugees would know they would never return to their home again, so they really loaded up their handcarts, you know all the stuff you need in troubled times, silverware, family photos, furniture, bedding and maybe a piano as well, the handcarts were completely overloaded and often broke wheels or axles, these refugees could only move very slowly and travelled in large groups. Have you ever wondered why you never read about these people in prepping sites like this one, the answer is simple, they had no idea what to do, and that is why most of them died a miserable death.
Seriously? No food, water, knife, gloves, garbage bags or first aid? Yikes!
Good article, and lots of helpful comments.
I would amend the “dust masks” to N-95 surgical masks. A dust mask will have limited utility against airborne diseases, but an N-95 surgical mask will also be useful against dust. We’re not even necessarily talking about pneumonic plague here, but we don’t want to lower our functioning by catching a cold. Things will be tough enough as is.
Lucy: An N-95 mask isn’t a surgical mask, it is a mask that will filter 95% of dust particles in the air. I haven’t studied up on “surgical” masks to know if they filter dust particles or what size microbes they filter. I know in Japan anyone who is sick or who doesn’t want to get sick wears those ubiquitous masks that you see in every photo of the public in Japan. I don’t know how effective they are at preventing infection either going out or coming in. Again, never made any study of it.
I wore an N-95 mask during the recent fires in SoCal every time I went outside. I don’t know how effective it was at filtering smoke particles but I do have a couple of real life takeaways if you are interested.
A couple of times I went out briefly without the mask when smoke was in the air and immediately started coughing. I returned to either the car or the house to get my mask and when I went back outside I didn’t cough. The N-95 mask was effective enough to eliminate coughing.
During the time the smoke was in the air I ran the A/C in the car because the air goes through a filter before it enters the cabin. After the fire was out and smoke had cleared the air I had the cabin filter, the engine air filter and the oil filter and oil changed in the car.
The only real exposure I had to smoke was the morning of the fire when I first went out to see what was happening and a couple of very brief instances before I put the mask on. However, I have noticed since the fire that I have significant shortness of breath upon doing anything that requires any sort of activity on my part. My daughter also commented when we visited her at Christmas time that my breathing was very loud and noticeable. I have to consult a physician to see if I have some lung damage from the fire or if it is just plain old age suddenly roaring up to grab me.
We evacuated to my daughter’s house in NorCal during the fire. She wanted us to stay through the end of December, but like the hard head I am, I insisted on returning. I hate to tell her she that knew better than I but it looks as if she might have been right. I do think an N-95 mask is essential for an EOTW situation as there will be many fires all of which will be burning out of control and the air will be filled with smoke for quite a while. I don’t know if the N-95 mask filters out all of the smoke particles. I guess I will find out when I see the doctor. I do know that it helps at least somewhat because wearing it in the smoke I didn’t cough.
I like the mask with the one-way valve that allows hot moist air to escape the mask. Without the valve, my glasses fog up.
Yikes, that’s hard, Chuck! We all hope your lungs heal fast, and that this is a temporary condition! Glad you had the N-95s at hand. Hope your pulmonologist is knowledgeable and helpful.
I know that the N-95 filters out 95% of the particles. 3 M (888-364-3577 for customer service) sells them as “particulate/surgical” masks, so maybe there is some variation in labeling or use. This is what came up when I first googled “surgical masks,” to be sure of what we were talking about:
Surgical Masks
Manufacturer
Respirator Surgical Masks — Face Mask, 3M Respirators, N95 Respirators, Surgical Face Mask
Surgical masks and respirators come in a few styles: reusable and disposable masks; earloop and tie-on masks; N95 molded and pleated masks. 3M Masks come in all of the above styles, and all of the pre-molded surgical styles are 3m respirators. Properly fitting masks are imperative for maximum protection for you and the patient. When determining if your N95 respirator fits correctly, try a Surgical Mask Fit Test Kit.
It would probably be too hot and steamy for some conditions, but I can imagine the utility for the masks with the attached plastic face shield.
Your use of the N-95 in those smoky conditions remind me that they are imperative in a smoky environment.
Appreciate your filling us in on that whole story!
Well, as a follow up on my message, I found out that it wasn’t smoke inhalation, but my carefree life had finally caught up with me. I needed two stents placed to roto-rooter my badly plugged aortic artery. Got to watch them do it live. Only black and white though, no living color. The cardiologist jocularly said, “Yeah, we call that the widow maker.”
Not blowing like a breached whale any more but have to face the fact that I am not twenty anymore although my mind keeps lying to me telling me that I can still do all the stuff I used to do. My body is the realist and reminds me the next day that it is all a mental fantasy.
LCC: Too bad, 5 years and Covid 19 later, you can’t get N95 masks at all. Only kn95, which aren’t the same, from Korea. I think, maybe somewhere in my preps, I do have a few of them, but you’ll never be able to get those again, IMO.
@Chuck, in Japan & China the facemask is a leftover of the SARS outbreak of many years ago, I like you had the same problem of my glasses fogging up, the one and only time I tried wearing one, but on a particularly cold morning I donned my hat, scarf, coat and mask, but as soon as I went outside, I couldn’t see a thing, so that was the end of the mask for me. We sometimes have pollution so bad here that it looks like a “pea soup” London fog, and you will see some people wearing masks, but you will see more masks when the weather gets really cold, strangely enough, you see many people here wearing a mask, but with their nose exposed, and some with the mask, just covering their chin. The American company 3M make a mask that has a replaceable 2.5 micron filter and the valve that stops your glasses from fogging up
Thankyou for sharing Shijiazhuang
And of course they are not going to recommend firearms or any personal protection because if and when they do try to come get your preps they don’t want to be shot at.
Wannabee, they are following the old creed, “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”, they don’t know if or when they will come for your preps, but they would rather steal from the lambs, and not the wolves.
I think we all know the shoes should be broke in. Don’t want to get there and have to treat blisters.
Also, feminine products are good for bad cuts & bleeding since they absorb well.
You make a good point on the feminine products. My go bag is them instead of large bandages (I’m a male). They are much cheaper than bandages and do the job well. The dollar store sells packages of them or my wife finds them really cheap with coupons.
After Katrina it took them 5 days to get water to the Superdome. They have stockpile of hollow point style ammunition…a type of bullet banned by the Geneva Convention as it it too lethal..their explanation is for qualifying and practice for their agents. That’s what full metal jacket is for and much much cheaper…and what do they need armed agents for?!?!? To disarm the public like what happened after Katrina in New Orleans….except the roving armed gangs that were then free to murder and take whatever they wanted…
They are part of the government .. A government that can give you what you need is also able to take from you anything they want…
If you all think FEMA is being dissed by the conspiracy nuts, download a free copy (even avail from the Gov Printing Office) of “FM 3-39.40 Internment and Resettlement Operations”, Then, ACTUALLY READ THE WHOLE THING! I did. I really thought FEMA might be a little off the way most gov agencies are nowadays. NOW, I am scared shitless. Period. Just about everything the conspiracy “nuts” say is the truth, in the Gov Printing Office’s own words! Don’t believe anyone, including me. READ it yourself. It might be your life you save, because they don’t plan to.
@Paul, you don’t seem to care about the consequences of telling the truth, unless you have bugged out to some far away country, and you feel secure. I personally know ( or knew) people that spoke the truth, but then had a nasty car accident or a silly accident at home that killed them. Be careful, Be safe.
Paul, if you think the government will take your comments lightly you would have to be crazy, they most likely know exactly who you are and where you live. If you are still in the US of A, do not trust anybody that you haven’t known for at least a year, new friends are not to be trusted, please be aware bad things happen to good people
Paul, almost 10 years ago, I mentioned publicly a major flaw in the then governments logic, it seems like they had forgotten a couple of basic fundamentals, I mentioned them because I felt the people of America should know that what was told to them by the government was not exactly true, I was not trying to overthrow the government, all I was trying to do was to point out that they had misquoted some information. Within 2 days, I and my wife would hear clicking on our cell phones, the next day our home phone seemed to have an echo when talking, I personally thought I was getting a bit paranoid, why would my government want to spy on me, I was in no important position, I had no connections with any terrorist group or any political party, I was just a normal guy. I told this to a friend of mine, and he had a suggestion to see if I was just paranoid or if there was something really going on, I started a new free email account with false details, then I sent an email to myself that contained blueprints of a 5 storey office building and engineering drawings of a helicopter rear propeller right angle drive unit, this email took 4 days to go from one of my email addresses to the other, it was then I decided we needed to move house. I put the house on the market, sold many household items, sold my wife’s car and was getting my car ready for sale, my car was a 2 year old 500 series AMG Mercedes Benz that my neighbor had fallen in love with when I first bought it, I offered it to him first, he had to take a second mortgage, and while that was happening, I had the car serviced at the local MB dealer, the service took 3 days and cost over $6000, it was very thorough, on a Saturday morning my neighbor come to pick up his new car, I watched him drive from my home to his, about 100 ft, he looked so proud, that afternoon he took his wife and kids for a drive in the countryside, he never returned. On a lonely stretch of road about 80 miles away the car blew to pieces and the whole family were killed, there was no sherriff’s office inquiry, that was taken over by DOJ, the MB dealer was never asked anything, and the fact that I had not yet posted in the change of ownership papers was not noticed, my family was out of our house by midday Sunday and out of America before nightfall Monday. If you are ever going to rattle the government’s bucket, make sure you are not where they think you are, they don’t have a sense of humour
Please post a link to this. I’ve searched and cannot find that publication from a government source, only from sketchy finge sites.
It’s an Army Field Manual: https://info.publicintelligence.net/USArmy-InternmentResettlement.pdf
I read 123 pages of the 901 the downloaded pamphlet co two s. I essence if they corral you they supposedly have 72 hours to charge you and 14 days to “try’ you. Now remember the ” speedy trial” bit in our Constitution and Bill.of rights? Nowadays a speedy trial could take years. Apply the same to the 72 hour, 14 day rule and once you are held, there you will stay. Till death do you part. Paul is right, it’s a terrifying document.
A lot of comments have been made here about FEMA. I would like to add that I was a volunteer for CERT (community emergency response team) for ten years, the last few years as an assistant team leader, I quit CERT when a leader wanted me to sign a waver making him not responsible for anything and he wanted me to indemnify him. Since I was a field assistant leader, it ment that I would be responsible for any lawsuits. ie, I would not have any back-up. The only thing those people care about is to cover their own butts. So, I’m out.
I took the CERT training that our local FD offered. I did learn some interesting things, like how to triage and mark folks who qualified for immediate care, care later on and don’t bother wasting your time. I did learn how to crib to lift debris off of folks which was helpful. I had always used timber and levers to move stuff I couldn’t move but the lessons were helpful. Playing with the fire extinguisher was fun. I always wanted to do that but at 25 bucks to recharge was too cheap to satisfy my urge. The thing that really turned me off was that we spent one whole session, three hours, on WHO IS IN CHARGE. My theory throughout life has always been you either lead, follow or get the hell out of the way. If you are the nominal leader but are dithering, I am not going to wait until you finish your CYA act to do something. I always quote Patton incorrectly, but a poor plan vigorously executed is better than no plan at all.
I was taught my parents my mother and father the best help is the one you can give yourself you can help yourself and do things instead of crying and going to the government you’re better off
I would like to correct you on the fact that FEMA came up with the idea of a B-O-B. The BOB originated with our forefather long ago. FEMA only cane up with the name and updated the naterial, that is all.
It’s not a matter of IF FEMA is going to to take our preps when the SHTF but WHEN they will. It will start in the areas closer to their offices and bigger cities and roll out from there. I don’t intend to bug out as I believe staying put or “bugging in” is the best way. I have a basement which I consider essential to my preps and survival but that’s all the information I care to give out. Yes a BOB is in my truck but it’s to get me HOME not to leave. Obviously that COULD change but I am betting I will stay put. FEMA isn’t just going to take your food. They will take ANYTHING they deem to be essential to whatever they are directed to do. So the diabetes meds you have carefully saved and stored WILL be stolen er confiscated as will any other medical supplies. Same with guns,seeds,water,ammo and pretty much anything you have saved for such a time INCLUDING things on lists that FEMA has put out. By YOU keeping and storing them it frees up space in their warehouses for other things. Once they take your stuff then they get to say what you can and can’t have. Diabetes meds will be given to those THEY deem to be “useful” but if you are old and diabetic you are likely dead. If you suffer from any kind of long term or chronic illness you are likely dead as well. It’s called “culling the herd”. It just happened with the covid “pandemic” but wasn’t AS successful as they had hoped and tried for because so many finally decided to fight back against the jab. FEMA didn’t mention weapons because they don’t want you to fight back WHEN they come after your stuff. Why do you think the democrats are so insistent about “gun control “? It has nothing to do with YOUR safety. It has to do with the fact that it’s easier to CONTROL an unarmed population than an armed one. The first thing EVERY dictator has done throughout history is disarm the public. That is a fact. They also like to control virtually everything you do. Kim Jong Un anyone?