Gear Fetishism

Like a consultant’s report before it, a just released state study indicates Virginia lacks the shelter capacity it would need in the event of a mass evacuation from Hampton Roads. For instance: Virginia assumes that most of the 500,000 people expected to evacuate from the region ahead of a catastrophic hurricane would find shelter accommodations on their own, while 50,000 evacuees would seek public shelter. Yet the state managed shelter program wouldn’t even be able to take in half those people, according to the report prepared for the Office of Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security.

A little about me: I am 27 years old, I have been married to my wife for 7 years. We have two boys, ages six and 22 months. Both my wife and I are school teachers; I also coach football and power lifting. So, we are the epitome of the American middle class. I have always enjoyed hunting, camping and the outdoors. So I have developed some basic “outdoorsman” skills throughout my youth and early adult hood. As a young child and early teen, I was very interested in survival, homesteading, and living off the land. I remember reading Foxfire books with my grandfather and dreaming of becoming a true mountain man. I wanted to be a real Jeremiah Johnson. My grandfather passed away when I was thirteen and I subsequently lost interest because it was something we talked about together. It was just too upsetting to think about without him. Shortly after his passing, I began high school and eventually college and “got caught up in life”. In the last several months, I have become very interested in emergency preparedness for my family. I was truly overwhelmed with the amount of information I discovered; some of it very good, some so-so, and some just plain off-the-wall. I am writing this in hopes that it will save others in the same situation I was in some time. Just like in any other survival or preparedness situation, time is of the essence. This article is meant as an introduction for someone who has little to no background information on the subject. This article could also be useful to the serious prepper who never thought about how they would get back to their shelter if a disaster struck while they were “out and about.” This is a “primer” to get people thinking about survival situations. Are there some better choices out there? Possibly. Did I say my suggestions were the cold, hard, fast rules?  No. Take this article as it was meant. I have run across several three tier survival models in my searching. I have also discovered several good sources for emergency preparedness for bugging out and sheltering in place. I have combined the information in what I am calling 4-Tier Survival. The tiers are as follows:

TIER ONE: This is your everyday carry (EDC) on person. You should have this with you 24/7 or as close to 24/7 seven as possible. Basically, if you have pants on, you should have these items with you.

TIER TWO: This is your EDC bag. You should have this with you or within reach 24/7. Take it with you to work, the grocery store, running to the gas station, etc. If you walk out the door of your house, it should be with you.

TIER THREE: This is your 72 hour kit, bug out bag, SHTF bag, or any of those other catchy names for them. At a minimum you need one. If you only have the funds for one, so be it. But, eventually I would suggest having one for the house, the vehicle and possibly at work if you have the space to store one.

TIER FOUR: This is for long term preparedness. This is long-term food and water storage and procurement methods. Always prepare your home to shelter-in-place first. Then, if you have a secondary bug out location, prepare it. Depending on the disaster or emergency you may or may not be able to bug out. On the other hand, you may be forced to evacuate or bug out.

Steel strike on flint in slow motion.

‘The Space Gun’

The TP-82 pistol (Russian: ТП-82) was a triple-barreled Soviet firearm that was carried by cosmonauts on space missions.

It was intended as a survival aid to be used after landings and before recovery in the Siberian wilderness. The upper two smoothbore barrels used 12.5×70 mm ammunition, or approximately 40 gauge, and the lower rifled barrel used5.45×39mm ammunition. The pistol could be used for hunting, to defend against predators and for visible and audible distress signals. The detachable buttstock was also a machete that came with a canvas sheath.