The Survival of Your Family in Times of Emergency

Here are five of my favorite survival items. I would not want to be without any of the five. After initially wading through the 181-page Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack, I began ramping up our already beefy personal survival program. The report recommends that the Department of Homeland Security should play a leading role in spreading knowledge of the nature of prudent preparations for EMP attack to mitigate its consequences. The physical consequences of a high altitude EMP attack on the United States, according to the report, would likely include the failure of the electric power grid and degradation of telecommunications systems, computers, and electronic components over large areas of the country. The country would almost certainly be engulfed in total chaos in a matter of days.

Take a few minutes and jot down a checklist of personal vulnerabilities. I don’t think you will like the look of your list. To downplay the threat of a massive infrastructure breakdown flies in the face of all I have read. It is time to get started on your full-scale family survival program. What is the downside of being prepared? As a helpful rule of thumb, I would target 1% of your liquid net worth to survival planning. If this sounds like big money to you, my guess is that you need to focus on your vulnerability a little more.

On that happy New Year’s note, here are five of my favorite survival items. You can add all to your survival program quickly and for light money. (1) Fresh Water. If you find any, how do you easily transport the water home? The simple answer is with the Reliance Hydroller (bought mine through Amazon) (2) Preserving Water. Water Preserver Concentrate is registered by federal and state EPA (also ordered at Amazon) (3) Self Defense. You don’t want to be without a shotgun (I have Mossbergs), and low-recoil ammo is a must. I buy Federal low recoil 00 buck online from Cabela’s. (4) Morning Joe. If you need your daily coffee jolt, you will soon have the shakes if you cannot fire up your electric coffee pot. Deb and I own a number of French presses. Water from your well, for example, can be boiled on a Webber or Green Egg. We love our French press. (5) Personal Protection. Now for the piece de resistance, the Travel Wrench. Yup, it looks like a plastic bike wrench and is clearly labeled Travel Wrench, but the TW is a first rate self-defense weapon. Mine is always in my side pocket. A single, well-aimed crack with the TW and a problematic attacker is out of the game (Check out the Travel Wrench here). Once again I bought these through my Amazon one click shopping account.

There you have it—five cheap-to-buy, easy-to-use and easy-to-order survival preparation must haves. Make a New Year’s resolution to get yourself on track with survival preparation. I am going to greatly expand on this theme in my monthly financial/personal security reports. You will be able to click here often and download my most recent updates. Coming to you soon: my next five survival favorites. You will want all! So Happy New Year to you all. Make it a good one.

Warm regards,

Dick