I will survive...

I've always considered myself to be a survivor. My friends would probably say that about me, too. I've gotten through some hard times, and I'm still here kickin' it, so I guess it's true, as far as emotional/mental well-being is concerned. However, I'm also interested in the survival of my physical well-being, and lately I've been reading up on the topics of disaster preparedness. No, I'm not a paranoid crazy person. Well ok, maybe just a little bit, but we'll see who's laughing when the zombies come...anyhoo, it's not such a bad idea to be prepared for a crisis, especially considering that the Gulf coast is still recovering from hurricane Katrina, not to mention the 9/11 terrorists attacks, and so on. No matter if its natural or man-made disaster, what would you do if you were suddenly without power, water, food, shelter?

So I picked up this book, When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need to Survive. It's not bad. The authors sound like they know their stuff. The first half of the book covers the whole survivor mentality, and the second half gets down to the nitty gritty with tips on how to do stuff, like make water potable. The book focuses on taking care of your immediate basic human physiological needs when the comforts and modern conveniences of civilization might no longer be available to you. It doesn't go into long-term self sufficience, or fending off a ballistic attack or anything like that, but the information it does provide is very useful.

I also picked up this one, Build the Perfect Survival Kit. This book is more specific in that it practically gives you a recipe for how to prepare and pack a kit for when that disaster-occasion finally comes. It goes into all types of survival kits, from small sewing kits that you can carry in your purse, to duffel bags full of stuff you'd want if you had to leave town and lay low for a while.

This kind of stuff has always fascinated me, especially the clever gadgets and compact camping gear. I just hope I would never need to actually use it!

D.I. and I are actually putting together some basic survival kits for out loadouts. We got a bunch of medical supplies to stock our medic pouches. Photos will be forthcoming!