I learned a long time ago that you should only have enough prepping supplies to fill up a large rucksack. If you can't carry it, you don't need it. I can't carry a 60 lb. ruck anymore like I used to do in the Army but I still have my absolutely bugout essentials standing by. Nowadays, I plan my bugout supplies around what I can carry in my RV. I plan to see what's coming long before it gets here and bugout before it arrives on my doorstep. I want to avoid choked highways full of refugees. With the weather events I can do that. Also for violent rebellions. Those I can see ahead of time and get out if needed.
For the unforeseen, well, I guess I'll be like everyone else. Deal with it and pick up what's left. But that's only if all else fails. Ideally I want to be able to get out of Dodge before the bad things come. I'm ready.
Yeah, that's me. I don't have the young soldiers body anymore than can handle a 12 mile ruck with a SOC load in it but I can sure pack up and figure out an exfill plan in case I need it.
Sorry for the Army acronyms. I get carried away sometimes. It stands for Special Operations Command. A SOC load was a plus up from what regular infantry soldiers would carry into battle, such as extra ammunitions, and survival equipment up to 60 lbs. or more. Usually more, which is why so many of us have lower back problems and arthritis in every joint from the waist down.
Fortunately, I had a 12-step sponsor in Wisconsin, who got sober living in his midsized car in Hollywood while he was trying to make it as a standup comic. He was a farm boy who had run away from the farm and travelled through south Asia. He learned to travel and live light, ready to move on at a moments notice. I was living in 7 BR 7 BR mansion in West Michigan when I retired from medical practice and moved back to my once beloved Wisconsin and met Jim in a small town 12-step mtg, where neither he no I "fit in". I'm over 14 yrs. sober now and live in a 1 BR 1BR student apt. in a small Ohio city, where i still don't "fit in", but don't really give a good damn. I have my books (600, not the 23,000 I had in the mansion) but I have accepted the fact that I will NEVER "fit in" and enjoy every moment. Jim's parents have died and he's back in LA with his Israeli love interest and I no longer attend local 12-step mtgs, because, yup, you guessed it, I don't "fit in". I now understand that I am a childhood sexual abuse survivor and only child of two profoundly narcissistic parents, who were that way due to the deaths of their parents. I, also, know from experience that most 12-step attendees are afraid to face their own abusive childhoods. So, I take my walks down to the Muskingum River, in spite of the incessant loud vehicular traffic, I've written and published my "Stress R Us" tour d force after a 42 yr. career as a physician/psychiatrist, and at 80, I'm ready to transition back to star dust whenever my Better Angels decide I should join them. Have a blessed day and checkout "Greeley's Newsletter" on substack.com for psychoanalyses of Hitler and Tramp, etc.
P.S. The "Twelve Steps" don't work either. Statistically if one is addicted - to anything - there is a MUCH higher rate of recidivism if one attends AA groups then if one does nothing at all.
Aa is a cult.
That said, it is the sense of community that has the greatest allure.
Something we all desperately need.
Always have.
Always will.
The absence of which drives the cult of consumerism.
I learned a long time ago that you should only have enough prepping supplies to fill up a large rucksack. If you can't carry it, you don't need it. I can't carry a 60 lb. ruck anymore like I used to do in the Army but I still have my absolutely bugout essentials standing by. Nowadays, I plan my bugout supplies around what I can carry in my RV. I plan to see what's coming long before it gets here and bugout before it arrives on my doorstep. I want to avoid choked highways full of refugees. With the weather events I can do that. Also for violent rebellions. Those I can see ahead of time and get out if needed.
For the unforeseen, well, I guess I'll be like everyone else. Deal with it and pick up what's left. But that's only if all else fails. Ideally I want to be able to get out of Dodge before the bad things come. I'm ready.
I'm right there with ya. Still got my Ranger ruck, but not the Ranger body I had almost 40 years ago.
Yeah, that's me. I don't have the young soldiers body anymore than can handle a 12 mile ruck with a SOC load in it but I can sure pack up and figure out an exfill plan in case I need it.
Sorry, what is a SOC load?
Sorry for the Army acronyms. I get carried away sometimes. It stands for Special Operations Command. A SOC load was a plus up from what regular infantry soldiers would carry into battle, such as extra ammunitions, and survival equipment up to 60 lbs. or more. Usually more, which is why so many of us have lower back problems and arthritis in every joint from the waist down.
Fortunately, I had a 12-step sponsor in Wisconsin, who got sober living in his midsized car in Hollywood while he was trying to make it as a standup comic. He was a farm boy who had run away from the farm and travelled through south Asia. He learned to travel and live light, ready to move on at a moments notice. I was living in 7 BR 7 BR mansion in West Michigan when I retired from medical practice and moved back to my once beloved Wisconsin and met Jim in a small town 12-step mtg, where neither he no I "fit in". I'm over 14 yrs. sober now and live in a 1 BR 1BR student apt. in a small Ohio city, where i still don't "fit in", but don't really give a good damn. I have my books (600, not the 23,000 I had in the mansion) but I have accepted the fact that I will NEVER "fit in" and enjoy every moment. Jim's parents have died and he's back in LA with his Israeli love interest and I no longer attend local 12-step mtgs, because, yup, you guessed it, I don't "fit in". I now understand that I am a childhood sexual abuse survivor and only child of two profoundly narcissistic parents, who were that way due to the deaths of their parents. I, also, know from experience that most 12-step attendees are afraid to face their own abusive childhoods. So, I take my walks down to the Muskingum River, in spite of the incessant loud vehicular traffic, I've written and published my "Stress R Us" tour d force after a 42 yr. career as a physician/psychiatrist, and at 80, I'm ready to transition back to star dust whenever my Better Angels decide I should join them. Have a blessed day and checkout "Greeley's Newsletter" on substack.com for psychoanalyses of Hitler and Tramp, etc.
P.S. The "Twelve Steps" don't work either. Statistically if one is addicted - to anything - there is a MUCH higher rate of recidivism if one attends AA groups then if one does nothing at all.
Aa is a cult.
That said, it is the sense of community that has the greatest allure.
Something we all desperately need.
Always have.
Always will.
The absence of which drives the cult of consumerism.