Monday, September 15, 2014

Prepping 101 for People under 18

It was recently brought to my attention via one of my twitter followers, that it is a lot more difficult to be a prepper when you are under 18. He pointed out that it is especially difficult to prep for protecting yourself since they are unable to buy guns. It is also difficult to be a prepper when you are under 18 because I am sure that your parents will not let you do some of the major preps that I have been able to do to my house that my parents probably wouldn't have let me. If you are under 18 you are also probably lacking in the money that it would take to do some of the more major preps. So what I would tell people who are under 18 is to start with smaller preps and build your way up. 

The first thing I would do is start with a bug out bag. For those of you who do not know what a bug out back is, it is a bag that is packed with everything that you would need to survive if you were forced to leave your house and survive on the road. In this bag I would recommend that you include a few things including fire starters, rope, water purification supplies, space blankes, tarps, duct tape, knifes, and an axe to name a few things. I would use a hiking back pack which is what I use, and I still have plenty of room in there for anything else I would stuff in right before I left. 

The biggest question that I was asked is how they can protect themselves without having guns. He asked about pellet guns specifically, and my belief on pellet guns is that they can hurt if you hit them in the right place but there is really know way that this will stop people. Being under 18 there are many other things you are able to buy to protect yourself including a bow and arrow, knifes, axes, hatchets, and swords. What I would recommend is finding something in one of these categories and use it until you are comfortable with it. Now by use it I obviously do not mean to go out and start cutting people with your knife, I mean to practice wielding it, practice against stationary targets, but be careful so you do not hurt yourself or anyone else around you. 

Now since I did not start prepping until I was older then 18 I did not run into any of these difficulties. However, with the recent rise in prepping I believe that it has taken a sharp rise in the recent years because of the new shows on tv and the rise of how popular it has become in common society. 

Other than the fact that you are unable to buy weapons and you are unable to conduct large preps such as a water collection system or solar panels does not mean that you are unable to prep to the best of your ability. You can still do what I have mentioned and make a bug out bag, prep for you and your family, store food and water in your room, practice your skills such as hunting, trapping, or fire building. All of these are great skills that you will need to have in a post apocalyptic world, and the more you practice now the more you will be prepared in the future to take on anything that comes your way. My last note is that you should find other preppers, learn their tips, learn what they know. The more you know the more you will be prepared for and isn't that the name of the game? 


If you have any other questions or topics that I can shine some light on for you please feel free to message me and follow me on twitter at https://twitter.com/preppersgear

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Prepping for an Earthquake

I had a request via twitter to write about what would happen if a large earthquake hit LA. However, I thought I would make it a little more general so I will be writing about what would happen if a large earthquake hit any large city such as L.A. New York City, Paris, Tokyo, and etc.  There are many different factors that you have to take into account when thinking what would happen if a natural disaster hits your city, and really an earthquake is not much different then any other natural disaster and there are a few basic factors that will happen for both, and a few unique ones to an earthquake.

The basic factors that will stay the same is the fact that you will likely lose power, water, stores will close, and normal safety factors such as fire departments and police departments will likely not be able to help you. Some of the preps that I would make for any natural disaster is having enough food and water to last until you believe relief will come. I personally have enough food for a year and you can read about my water preps on one of my previous posts. The next factor I would have is to have a source of your own power, the biggest way I recommend is solar panels that funnel their power into a network of car batteries. That is the way I do it and it works great for me. Now the biggest factor that you should look out for is that fire departments and police departments will be to busy to help you out. There will be people looting and raping and there will be no one to stop it. This is where you come in, you have to have the ability to protect yourself and your family no matter what the cost. 

The only unique thing to earthquakes is the type of destruction that it produces. There will be fires, collapsed building, and roads will be impassable for any cars including those that are trying to provide relief to the area. The biggest thing that this means is that you should be ready to get out of the building that you are in, have multiple escape routes from where you live, and be ready to go without the help of outside sources for months if not longer. We all saw how long it took FEMA to get into New Orleans to help after Hurricane Katrina, and they knew when and where that storm would land. I believe you can expect that it would take just as long if not longer for them to show up after an earthquake especially since they will not know where and when this would happen.

Other then these few factors, if you are a prepper you will know the likelihood of something happening like this. If you believe that this will happen in your area you will know what your escape routes are and you will also prep for it. Personally where I live it is extremely unlikely that a large earthquake happens, but it is more likely that we have a large outbreak of tornadoes that will wipe out a large amount of the country side. 


So the real lesson to learn is to know where you are, the threats that surround you house. Prep your house for any natural disaster that you might think will happen. Know your escape routes. Have everything where you will be able to pack your backs and get out of dodge as quickly as possible.

Like I said before I wrote this because of a request of one of my followers, and you have any requests I would be happy to write about anything that you need to know about. Just follow me and message me on twitter at https://twitter.com/preppersgear

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Biggest Threats to America

With the world today and all the threats out there I thought I would talk about the biggest threats facing the US today. I really only have two major threats with a few minor threats here and there that have always been a threat to the safety of the US. 

The biggest threat that I believe is facing the US is ISIS. Most people know that ISIS is a terrorist group based out of Iraq and Syria. However most people do not know that their influence is being spread much farther and into the borders of the United States. Most people think that we are trying to stop the huge wave of immigrants from the south border because of the Mexicans. However there are increasing worries about ISIS agents being able to slip through and many people believe that they already have. There are also many people in side the US border that have either gone and joined ISIS in the middle east, there have been cases where people have admitted guilt to the plot to join ISIS, and there have been direct threats from ISIS marking targets within the US that are on their list to be attacked. All these factors lead me to believe that ISIS is the biggest threat to the safety of Americans at home and across the world. 

The next biggest threat, which is much less of a threat then ISIS, is a war with Russia. I believe that it is inevitable that the US gets into another war with Russia. I also believe that when this happens nuclear war heads will not be used until it is obvious that one of the two is going to lose. These are the two strongest militaries in the world, and would be one hell of a war between the two where millions of people would lose there lives and it would possibly be the end of man kind as we know it.  We know that the tensions are rising between the US and Russia, and we also know that it appears Putin doesn’t care what Obama says and it is clear that Obama doesn't have the guts to back up his big talk when it comes to Russia. 

The last threat that I will be talking about is other terrorist groups through out the world. Now there are to many to name, but they all seem to have one thing in common, and that is their hatred for the US. This means that we are at the top of their list to be attacked, and they try to attack us all the time. We are lucky that there hasn't been another major attack since 9/11 but that just shows that it is possible for them to do it, and it seems like there will be another one soon. Just like ISIS, many terrorist groups have put out a list of targets that they want people to hit, which gives me the feeling that one may be coming sooner than later.


The United States is facing many threats, with a great diversity among them. We have always faced threats, some bigger then others, and I believe that some of the threats we are facing today are as big if not bigger then the ones we have faced in the past. The only thing we have to protect us is the US military and all their might. Which gives me a large amount of comfort because I have not seen a military that can go toe to toe with the US military in decades. Now some of you may be saying well Al-Qaeda fought us in Iraq and they seemed to do just fine. However Al-Qaeda is not a military and they do not fight like a normal military would. The US destroyed the Iraq military within a few weeks, and they were said to be a rather strong Army. Anyways I’ll stop rambling. The US faces threats on a daily bases, but I believe that our government is stopping and containing them very well and I fell somewhat safe. However it is always best to be prepared for everything. 

If you think that there is a bigger threat at this time feel free to tell me. I will make updates to this every once in a while because of the ever changing threats. Please follow me at https://twitter.com/preppersgear


Friday, September 12, 2014

Top 10 Militaries in the World

Today I will be talking about the top 10 militaries in the world. Some of these might surprise you, and with the growing tensions in the world I feel like everyone should know where the threats come from and how protected you may feel because of the might of your own countries militaries. The top ten militaries are:

  1. United States
  2. Russia
  3. China
  4. India
  5. United Kingdom
  6. France
  7. Germany
  8. Turkey
  9. South Korea
  10. Japan

I will show some numbers that show why these countries are in the order that they are.


United States
Russia
China
India
United Kingdom
Population
316,668,567
145,500,482
1,349,585,838
1,220,800,359
63,395,574
Available Manpower
145,212,012
69,117,271
749,610,775
615,201,057
29,164,233
Fit for Service
120,022,084
46,812,553
618,588,627
489,571,520
24,035,131
Tanks
8,325
15,500
9,150
3,569
407
Armored Vehicles
25,782
27,607
4,788
5,085
6,245
Total Aircraft
13,683
3,082
2,788
1,785
908
Fighters
2,271
736
1,170
535
84
Attack Aircraft
2,601
1,289
885
468
78
Transport Aircraft
5,222
730
762
706
338
Helicopters
6,012
973
856
504
362
Naval Strength
473
352
520
184
66
Aircraft Carriers
10
1
1
2
1
Destroyers
62
13
24
11
6
Corvettes
0
74
9
24
0
Submarines
72
63
69
17
11
Oil Production
8,500,000 bbl/day
11,000,000 bbl/day
4,075,000 bbl/day
897,500 bbl/day
1,100,000 bbl/day
Oil Consumption
19,000,000 bbl/day
2,200,000 bb/day
9,500,000 bbl/day
3,200,000 bbl/day
1,700,000 bbl/day
Oil Reserves
20,680,000,000 bbl/day
80,000,000,000 bbl/day
25,580,000,000 bbl/day
5,476, 000,000 bbl/day
3,122,000,000 bbl/day
Labor Force
155,000,000
75,680,000
798,500,000
482,300,000
32,070,000
Defense Budget
$612,500,000,000
$76,600,000,000
$126,000,000,000
$46,000,000,000
$53,600,000,000
External Debt
$15,930,000,000,000
$631,800,000,000
$728,900,000,000
$378,900,000,000
$10,090,000,000,000
Purchasing Power
$15,940,000,000,000
$2,486.000,000,000
$12,260,000,000,000
$4,716,000,000,000
$2,313,000,000,000
Square Land Area
9,826,675 km
17,098,242 km
9,596,961 km
3,287,263 km
243,610 km
Coastline
19,924 km
37,653 km
14,500 km
7,000 km
12,429 km
Shared Border
12,034 km
102,000 km
22,117 km
14,103 km
360 km


France
Germany
Turkey
South Korea
Japan
Population
65,951,611
81,147,265
80,694,485
48,955,203
127,253,075
Available Manpower
28,802,096
36,417,842
41,637,773
25,609,290
53,608,446
Fit for Service
23,747,168
29,538,413
35,005,326
21,033,275
43,930,753
Tanks
423
408
3,657
2,346
767
Armored Vehicles
7,290
4,279
8,532
2,880
3,057
Total Aircraft
1,203
710
989
1,393
1,595
Fighters
287
190
254
409
292
Attack Aircraft
270
74
254
269
292
Transport Aircraft
531
433
437
322
494
Helicopters
561
401
418
909
671
Naval Strength
120
82
115
166
131
Aircraft Carriers
1
0
0
0
1
Destroyers
0
0
0
12
45
Corvettes
0
5
8
21
0
Submarines
10
4
14
14
16
Oil Production
70,800 bbl/day
157,000 bbl/day
53,000 bbl/day
48,200 bbl/day
133,000 bbl/day
Oil Consumption
1,865,000 bbl/day
2,500,000 bbl/day
650,000 bbl/day
2,200,000 bbl/day
4,455,000 bbl/day
Oil Reserves
85,180,000 bbl/day
254,200,000 bbl/day
270,400,000 bbl/day
6,000,000 bbl/day
44,120, 000 bbl/day
Labor Force
29,780,000
43,920,000
27,340,000
25,500,000
65,550,000
Defense Budget
$43,000,000,000
$45,000,000,000
$18,185,000,000
$33,700,000,000
$49,100,000,000
External Debt
$5,165,000,000,000
$5,719,000,000,000
$336,700,000,000
$0
$3,024,000,000,000
Purchasing Power
$2,238,000,000,000
$3,167,000,000,000
$1,109,000,000,000
$1,598,000,000,000
$4,576,000,000,000
Square Land Area
643,801 km
347,022 km
783,562 km
99,720 km
377,915 km
Coastline
4,853 km
2,389 km
7,200 km
2,413 km
29,751 km
Shared Border
4,072 km
3,790 km
2,648 km
238 km
0 km
I got these numbers from globalfirepower.com

USAF F-22
There are a lot of numbers in these charts, I could have added more but I feel that I got the most important numbers in there. Following these numbers it is pretty clear why the US has the largest and most well equipped military in the world. Since the US is spending more the 100 billion dollars more than the other 9 countries on this list put together. However each of the top 5 have nuclear weapons, and the top 2 have enough to destroy the world hundreds of times over. 

Chinese J-20
If your military is not on here I am sure that you can assume the reasons why. For one I did find some of these surprising, however they do somewhat make sense and the overall top 5 I do believe that they got right. However if you are Russian I am sure that you disagree with this because you guys have more nukes. 

Now that you see the top 10 you will realize that a few of them are allies with your military and others are not. I know for a fact that the US is not allies with Russia, China, and our relation with India is extremely questionable. However, everyone else on that list is someone that we can count on as our allies. The United Kingdom and the US go everywhere together. Whenever the US goes to war with anyone, the UK is right behind them with support. 
Russian T-50 PAK FA
I believe Nukes are a pointless statistic because you can destroy the whole world as we know it with less then 1000 nukes. When both the US and Russia have more then 7,500 and 8,500 respectively, you know that if one country fires its nukes then the other country will fire theres and the world would be over. 

If you believe that these are wrong feel free to tell me why, and follow me on twitter and share it with your friends. Follow me at https://twitter.com/preppersgear