Top 10 Things to do Now for SHTF

What's going on, guys? We are live on the Sensible Prepper channel, and really great to have you guys join us. We're gonna be talking about the top 10 things to do for SHTF, as a lot of this is basic, but there's a lot of new preppers. Absolutely. And so I just thought this is a great one we need to kind of go over. It can be redundant, but even if you're a seasoned prepper, you may pick up some things because we're gonna go into some detail about each of the 10 things. Now, we have Robbie Wheaton with us from Wheaton Arms and GoMedGear medical supplies, but Robbie's been a gunsmith for over 20 years, and he does custom work. He does some of the best Glock aftermarket parts on the market, and the flat face trigger's fantastic. So we really appreciate Robbie for being here, and also his medical side of gomedgear.com. There is a link to that down in the description. There's not a link to Wheaton Arms because we can't do that, but he also does a lot of builds, custom builds, rifles, precision rifles, things like that. So we just really appreciate him being here, not only for the suit side with the guns, but also with the prepping side. Former Marine as well, and of course, once a Marine, always a Marine, like they say. That's just Boy Scouts for big kids. Now, you do have a sale coming up. We do, we've got a big 4th of July sale coming up for both Wheaton Arms and for Gomedgear. It'll start Thursday night at midnight and run through 4th of July Sunday night at midnight, and sign up for our newsletter. We're gonna have some coupon codes going out with our newsletter for both of those, Wheaton Arms and Gomedgear, where you can save some more money on some different items, and then we'll have some regular sales on stuff that will just be posted on the website that you want me to coupon code for. Yeah, so go ahead and check out Wheaton Arms. Mainly, we just really appreciate him being here. So it's just a great way to kind of show support. Also, we really appreciate Sarah Mack. She's over on the computer monitoring questions, and we will be stopping for a few minutes taking some questions a couple of times during this, especially if it has something to do with what we're talking about today. And we do appreciate Sportsman's Guide for sponsoring today's episode, and you get $20 off every $100 or more purchase, which is fantastic. That's a 20% off using Sooch, S-O-O-T-C-H, when you check out, and I use it all the time. Robbie uses it, and also, gotta sign up for their Buyer's Club. Their Buyer's Club, you get free shipping on almost everything they have on their store, and then you get the coolest magazine out there. Once you get that magazine, you're gonna go, oh my God, I can't believe that I haven't got this magazine in the past. And the prices are cheaper on the Buyer's Club, and it pays for itself very quickly, very quickly. So just a great, we really appreciate those guys. Okay, so what we wanna talk about today is the top 10 things that you really need to do, and kinda go priority-wise, they may not be really in order because all of these are important. And so we're gonna kinda just trip through them, and I mean, guys, if you look around, not just because of COVID, which definitely put a strain on everything, but there's a lot of labor shortages because of COVID, and we're already starting to see supply chain problems. We're seeing a lot of times products just aren't available. Sometimes it's things that aren't really, seem to be that important, but they can be. And there was even a Dr. Pepper shortage there for a while. I mean, they're weird things. Chick-fil-A sauce was, my son works at Chick-fil-A, and he's one of the managers, and they had a problem getting Chick-fil-A sauce and other sauces. I mean, those are minor things. There are bigger things coming. Now, have you drove past a car dealership lately? There's almost no new cars on car dealership lots right now, and it's because they can't get a lot of the chips and electronics and stuff that they need to finish these vehicles at the factory to be able to send them out to the dealerships. Well, there is a worldwide shortage on microchips. That's all over. In fact, I had someone in China to get in touch with me, some people I work with that I do, well, actually, yeah, somebody I work with over there, and I'm not Hunter Biden, I'm not getting paid off, but anyway, they were looking for microchips. They said, we need microchips. It was this engineer, he's doing some stuff, and he said, I need microchips. I said, I can't help you, we have a shortage. Cargo containers, the big C containers, those are having a huge shortage, and so it's all over. Plus, guys, and I don't wanna sound like doom and gloom, but guys, it's just real. Also, the drought is happening out in the West. There is a lot of farmland, a lot of food out there, and the temperatures are going up to 115 plus degrees. Did you see Sunday in Portland, Oregon was 117 degrees? Good gosh, and Portland's kinda up there a little bit, and on top of that, and this is from the AP guys, on top of that, they're having a plague of grasshoppers, and this happens whenever they have droughts, and whenever they have problems with heat, the grasshoppers come out. 15 per square yard is what they're measuring at this point in a lot of areas, so they're trying to get rid of that, they're trying to do it, but here's the bottom line, guys. We're gonna talk about things that honestly you should do regardless, but in the times coming up right now, it is imperative for your family and for yourself to kinda put some things ahead and be prepared, and the other thing is, if you never need it, you don't need it, it's great, but if you do, there's nothing to substitute it, so first thing I wanna talk about, which is the top on the rule of threes is water, and of course, with these droughts, that's gonna be a problem for a lot of people out West, but guys, have some water put back, and of course, obviously, these are really cheap, and you can store these up, but what I really recommend is having a way to filter water. We have the big murky, we've been using it for years and years. We use it on an everyday basis. We cook with it, we use our tea, whatever we do, we go through, and we pull it through the murky, and so those are fantastic, the big murky. We have the Imperial, and I'll tell you, guys, it is, to me, the best, most user-friendly, and each filter will filter 3,000 gallons of water. We have a pool. That is one of our preps. If we had to, we can take the water out of there and go through our murky, and we can drink it, and so water is huge, guys. You can only live three days without water, and you need to make sure that you have your water supplies. One thing that I would recommend, if you have the means, is to put in a rain catchment system. We've done that for years, and we've got the big blue barrels. We've got them hooked up to our gutters, and then the water just comes, and it overflows, so we actually have a surplus of water, and we can get that water out if we needed to, but you have to have at least one gallon of water per person per day, and that's really for drinking. That's not including sanitation or bathing. That's right, and if you live in a more urban area, sometimes it's a good idea to have some water stored, much more so than people that live in rural areas. We have the ability to access creeks and rivers and lakes, but a lot of times, if you're in an urban area, you don't have access to the creeks and rivers and lakes and natural water that we have access to, so being able to store some water so you have more water on hand in case something does happen is definitely something to consider. But, you know, a lot of times, a lot of these cities have rivers that run through them, but the problem is is they're not drinkable. It's not potable water, and so you need to make sure that you have, not only do you have a way to filter it, but that you have a way to carry it, and so having something to be able to, even if you store up a bunch of these plastic jugs and fill them up, because water is heavy. It weighs close to eight pounds per gallon, so that's a pretty major deal, but water, guys, a lot of times, we don't think about water. I mean, we think about our water bottle, our Nalgene, our little, you know, different type filters, but we need to make sure that we have it taken care of. You know, I'll tell you, one of the things that really changed my whole mindset was when COVID happened. You know, it put a strain on everything, and food shortages were happening. Still putting a strain on everything. Right, but I had a bunch of long-term food. We have long-term food put back, and so food is the next one that I want to get into because food is definitely vital. You know, we didn't really want to get into our long-term food, and we, you know, we didn't want to do that. We didn't want to go to all the trouble. It's a lot of work. A lot of times, if you're doing things, you know, like these Wise Foods or, you know, the different backpackers' pantry, I think the Patriot Supply. Now, that's a pretty good one if you want to put up some food. These are fairly easy to do. You know, you can just add hot water. One problem with some of this stuff is, beside that it's expensive, is that it's usually not very nutritious in a lot of ways. Now, there's nutrition on here, but it has a lot of sodium, a lot of things with it, and so this is kind of something that I would not want to rely on. What we typically do is canned food. I mean, we have the others. We have the other, but we buy canned food. It's really easy to go to the store. It is. You know, you go to the grocery store, you get your groceries, and you just add a few extra cans in there every week, and you get, you don't buy, you know, unusual things. You buy the stuff that you normally eat. Right. You get your corn, you get your green beans, you can get some canned meats that are really good and nutritious. You just have to watch one of the biggest things, just like with this stuff, that you want to watch out for is the levels of sodium. Right. And if you can find the canned goods that are low sodium or no sodium, those are generally the ones that we tend to buy because it does cut way down on the level of sodium that's in the canned goods. Right, and that can affect your health, which is very important. But, you know, there are MREs, there are, again, these dehydrated, there's freeze-dried foods, there's, I mean, like the Mormon cannery. We went to the Mormon cannery loaded up on food and has a 30-year shelf life. And so, you know, we did all that. But again, one of the things about it, we were just living our normal day. We could cook, we could do what we wanted to do. And so it made it kind of simple. One thing, too, around food is, you know, in case there's a power outage, you need to make sure you have some other way to cook the food. And one of the problems, though, with, like, cooking outside, a grill is nice, have extra propane tanks to be able to heat that grill up, even charcoal. And then, of course, we have this one thing, it's a fire pit, and it has this giant grate that comes over the top. And we cook hot dogs on it. We can cook steaks on it. And so, and we just use regular wood if we needed to. So have some ways thought out. Of course, there are all kind of little stoves and everything else, but they all rely on fuel. So you wanna make sure that you have your fuel for that. That's right. Boiling water, you know, for water. You know, if you don't have a filter, you can boil your water. You know, you can put a little bit of iodine in it. You can put a little bit of Clorox in it. Or bleach, not really Clorox, but just bleach. Put it in there and clean it. But the problem is, is it, especially if you're taking it out of a water source that's out in the wild, is that you're gonna have a lot of sediment. And so you can pre-filter it before you do. But, and it doesn't really take care of the taste. And that's one of the big things about the Berkey. Now, speaking of sodium, you know, while so, we have a high sodium diet, really. I mean, here in the U.S. and really across the world. But one thing that you have to have to live is salt. That's right. So salt is important. And part of the food. I mean, you need to have salt. You need to have a way to, you know, you have some stored up. And so, you know, all these things are interlocking. But I like what Robbie said. You need to make sure it's the things that you already eat. That's right. It's the things you already do. I know the other night we had a big group here and a bunch of kids. And I came in and I missed dinner. And it was after Patreon Live. It was like 11 o'clock or 10.30. And I hadn't eaten dinner. And I went into the pantry and there was a can of Vienna sausages. I popped that thing open. I got me some saltine crackers. And man, I was ready to go. Now there's some survival food for you. It wasn't spam. But, you know, one of the things about it, you know, they had been talking about meat shortages for a while. So guys, you know, and again, this, you get your food, you put it back. If you don't need it, you'll eat it. I like that. If you don't need it, you'll eat it. There you go. So, you know, having those things put back, those are essential. Those are essential. Okay, so that was number two. Number three is medical. Now, one of the things about medical, you know, which a lot of people get caught up in all the trauma kind of stuff and really the action type medical. But a lot of times, just your basic medical supply. That's right. You know, Imodium, Pepto-Bismol, you know, Benadryl, Advil. Yeah, hydrocortisone creams, burn creams, Band-Aids. You know, all of your basic stuff that you need on a day-to-day basis for your little boo-boos all the way up to your trauma stuff. Those are all things that you need to consider when you're looking at putting together medical supplies. Right, and you know, really, sometimes, you know, we've done it before where we've come out and somebody got cut. I'm like, let me see if I can find a Band-Aid. And the box is empty or there's one left. I'm like, oh, thank goodness. You know, make sure that your supplies that you do have are up to date, that you have the supplies. And, you know, that you have things to put back because, you know, it is vital to stay healthy because the thing about it is in an SHTF situation, a small thing today could turn into a large thing. That's right. And so antibiotic ointments, things like that. But with that being said, having some kind of trauma kit, tourniquets, compression gauze, hemostatic agents to be able to stop the bleeding because, you know, the one thing is first responders may be really, you know, very super busy. That's right. Or not available at all. Right. Because of other calls that may be running or the roads could be blocked or whatever. There's, you know, you always need to be, and one of the biggest things that I've found with any of these, like the 10 things that we're talking about today, it's being more self-reliant. You're not depending on other people. You're not depending on other stores. You're being self-reliant to be able to take care of yourself, to be able to take care of your water, to be able to take care of your food, to be able to take care of your medical and everything else that we're gonna talk about today. The, just being self-reliant and not having to depend on someone else is becoming more and more and more critical as we get older and we see things that are going on in the world today. That's right. You know, we look around us and we see, you know, all of this with COVID, everything's happened with COVID, all the civil unrest, all the craziness that's going on in our country and around the rest of the world. And the ability to be able to more, to be more self-reliant, I don't think has ever been more prominent than it is today. Right. Well, you know, one of the things they did during World War II, going back to food is a garden. Yep. Now we have gardens. Both of us have gardens. Guys, you might have seed put back, which is important. You need seed put back. But if you haven't put your hand to the garden, you're gonna find that you can have issues. We have Japanese beetles right now and we're trying to fight them. You know, we have some kind of blight that's attacked some of our squash. We're having to treat it. You've gotta know how to take care of these things because the thing is, right now, it's all fun and games. We can pull the vegetables out of the garden, got these fresh. Well, you know, one of the big things we've been researching lately is natural ways to prevent some of these insects and blights and stuff on your plants. Because if things did get really bad, a lot of the chemicals that you get from the store that you would spray on your plants and stuff to treat them to keep the Japanese beetles and the bugs and the flies and blights and stuff off won't be available. So we're doing a lot of research now to try and find out a lot of natural things that we can do to treat our garden to prevent these things from happening. And then you've got deer, you've got rabbits, you've got all these different animals that come into the garden also. And that is a lot of trouble. One year, we had a huge garden down. I mean, it was huge. And I had it every year. And then all of a sudden, the deer somehow discovered it. Now Robbie's had the same situation. And my zucchini plants were huge. And they ate them to the ground. And we had these big watermelon, they stepped on them. I mean, it was, they just tore it up. We had to fence off the area that now we garden in because we just can't do it otherwise. In the same way with us. Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's critical that we have these things in place. The big thing is, guys, over all this, is thinking ahead of the things that you really need. And if you really think about it, these are things that are basic to survival. And we've been spoiled with the way things are because of just-in-time transportation and everything. We are spoiled. And we need to make sure that we have the essentials, at least a backup. That's right. At least a backup. So medical again, guys, and really, I would highly recommend getting some training. There's a lot of training out there. I know Skinny Medic at Medical Gear Outfitters, they do a lot of training. And they are really great. In fact, I've taken three of his trauma classes. And in fact, the family has. We've gone and taken the class, learned how to put a tourniquet on, learned how to transport someone. And so there's a lot of great things that come out of that. And you can go across. Another great training place, they have stuff available all over the country, is Fieldcraft Survival. Fieldcraft Survival is a great option. I've taken some of their survival classes. And the guys over at Fieldcraft Survival are doing a great job. So there are some resources. Guys, the thing is, your number one is your mind. That is the number one thing. You can improvise and do things as long as you're thinking. But one of the things about your mind is you need to have some things put back. One of the things that's big is, you know, I've always said this, and actually I got this from Southern Prepper, is don't be scared, be prepared. And one of the things about having your preparations kind of put down, and you don't have to have everything, guys. You don't have to have everything. You just do what you can. It gets you that much farther ahead, is that it gives you peace of mind. Okay, so now we're going on to number four, and then we're gonna take a break, and we're gonna take some questions. But number four, this is a vital one, is self-defense. Self-defense, because number one, you need to protect yourself and your family. That's right, I mean, that's number one. Number two, you need to protect your supplies. People are gonna want your supplies if they know you have them. And so you need to be able to protect them. And, you know, for us, we kind of put back a good bit of our supplies for helping others. I mean, and that's a big one, guys. People are your number one asset. Don't discount that. And so people are, you know, it used to be back in the 70s and 80s, it was the lone wolf mentality, and I got mine, and I'm not giving, you know, I understand that. Believe me, we worked very hard to have what we have. Way too many people watched Rambo and took it to heart. Yeah, yeah, just leave me alone. But, you know, the thing is, is people are our assets. And so you need to make sure that you're developing those relationships with people that you can count on. And so self-defense is a big part of that, because, guys, you can't stay awake 24-7, and you need to have some kind of means. Now, what I recommend is these are the firearms that I recommend to have in an SHTF situation, because you need to be well-rounded. Number one, and this is something that a lot of people disagree with, but I believe that a handgun, if I only had one thing, one firearm, it would be a handgun, and it would be a Glock 19. That's just my choice. But something about that size that you could conceal, and yet it would be like a full-size firearm when you're having to use it. So having some kind of self, the good thing about having a handgun, to me, is if I need to go somewhere, I can't carry my AR-15. I can't carry my AR pistol. I've gotta have something small. I may need to be super discreet. And so having a handgun, to me, gives me that option. Now, is that the best in all situations? No. That's right. And one that's really high up on the list for me is a .22. .22s are, I'm huge, huge on .22s, because you can do so much with them. You can defend yourself with them. You can hunt with them. They've got a low report, so you're not making a lot of noise with them. There's just a lot of benefits. Ammunition is lightweight. You can carry and store a lot of ammunition. It's easy to pack it. The firearms themselves, whether it's a handgun or a rifle, cross-compatible ammunition for both platforms. You can use the same ammunition in the handgun and in the rifle. And they're relatively inexpensive for the firearms and for the ammunition. Right. So lots of benefits for a .22. Right. And then number three, I would definitely some kind of go-to rifle, whether it's a lever action .30-30, or an AR-15 AK-47. Of course, you can go up to .308. But having something that gets out and reaches, because here's the thing. We have a prepper group, and I've been talking about this for a long time. And it's not, we're building bunkers and we're hunkering down. We have a network of people. It's a community group. Yeah, and we work together and have ideas, and we get information out. I mean, it's just a really great, almost a family. Well, it is a family, it's a family. And we kind of coordinate. But one of the things that I said early on was a lot of people, all they had was maybe a handgun and a shotgun. That's right. And I said, and a shotgun is on the list, and we'll get to that. But the problem is, if that's all you've got, and someone is 300 yards away, or even 100 yards away, they can pin you down with a rifle. So you need to have some kind of rifle, something that'll get it out there. But obviously, an AR with a 30-round magazine, or an AK with a 30-round, I mean, that gives you a lot of capability. But even if it's a 308 bolt-action rifle, that can keep you, keep them off of you at least. So having some kind of rifle, and then, of course, with the capacity of some of the modern sporting rifles, it gives you a lot more capability, especially if your home's being attacked, and you have four or five attackers, which that's becoming more and more prevalent. And so, and I'm big on the problem. And I see it on the news almost every day. You do. Well, I'm gonna tell you guys, I had a good friend of mine this weekend that witnessed a murder in the parking lot, Rodney. Wow. He was, where he works, there was a ruckus going on, and he went outside. It was actually from another business. And he goes outside to see what's going on. You could hear the gunfire, and he's walking toward it. He's got his phone. He's walking toward the gunfire. Didn't even flinch. I mean, they're just shooting. And these guys got into it, and one guy got shot point-blank, right in the stomach, killed him. And in fact, Rodney was sitting there with him while he called 911, and they kept asking him questions. And he said, well, I can't give him aid if I'm talking to you. I gotta go. And a girl came up and started helping. But the guy died. So, and there was a bunch of people there fighting together. So, guys, you know, it's getting more and more. The more the police are being defunded, which is a big one, then we've got a lot of these leftist groups that are coming out, and they are just, they have no regard for any law or civil obedience whatsoever. And so, we've got a really perfect storm here. So, really, self-defense. And I've always said this on the Suits Channel. Self-defense is your responsibility. Even in good times, even when, before all this started, when we had a break-in here, it took 45 minutes for the police to get here after the break-in. And I thought somebody was still in the house. So, you know, and Robbie's in the same situation. We've all experienced that, you know, where we had different situations where we had to call police, and, you know, their response time was 30 minutes to an hour or more. Well, you experienced that, and you had somebody down on the ground at gunpoint for an hour. That's right. Because they were breaking into his cars. So, you know, that's one of the, you know, one of the benefits of living in a small town is, you know, you're out, and you're spread out a little bit more. You've got a little more room. Generally have great neighbors. The downside to it is, is most of your police departments in smaller towns, the police departments are smaller as well. And they have a huge area that they have to cover. So, you know, if they're having to respond from the other side of the county, they could be an hour, hour and a half away to be able to get to you. So being able to protect yourself, whether you live in an urban environment or, you know, in a rural community, being able to protect yourself and defend yourself and your family is paramount. Absolutely paramount. Because when you need police, a lot of times they're going to be there to take care of the aftermath, not what's happened during. Yeah, they're not there to protect you. That's right. Now, you may live in an urban situation that you can't on a firearm. Let me tell you one of the number one things. There's two things that I would highly recommend you do. Number one, get you a really good flashlight. And of course, the smallest I would get is something about like this. This is a Warrior Mini 2. And I can use this as an impact weapon. I can use it as a light, but that's the big thing. I can use this as a self-defense tool. And people don't really look at this. They go, oh, it's a flashlight. So it takes away a lot of the, you know, the taboo. And yet you've got an effective weapon. The other thing is pepper spray. And I've not always been big on pepper spray, but a lot of times with the riots that were going on, pepper spray was what got them out of the situation. A firearm didn't need them. They'd take it. A knife, whatever, they would take that. But pepper spray, and so, you know, if you can, if it's legal in your area. But a flashlight, typically, you're good to go. Of course, some kind of pocket knife if you're allowed to. So, and then there are some other things, some batons and things like that. But if the police find that on you, it can be some problem. So those are some of the things. But guys, make sure that you have the firearm at least to protect your home and your family. And then if you are a concealed carry holder, you really need to consider carrying every day wherever you go. That's right. Because you're not planning for it. Okay, let's go to, if we have some questions, we're gonna go to a few questions. All right. Water bottles or 50-gallon drums, what do you recommend? Well, the one thing about water bottles is that it's easy to access. Whether it's these gallons, it's just easy. You got them right there, you can get to them. For extended periods, having 50-gallon water bottle or water containers is great. So I would highly recommend both. But if I only had one, I would definitely, I would stock up on some water and then I would have the 50-gallon. Because obviously, it sounds like you might have a choice. I would do both. Because the one thing is you gotta go out, you gotta get the water, maybe in your garage even. And accessing it out, you can have a spigot, do that. But as far as convenience and ease, and I'm gonna tell you guys, and we can say what we want to, but there's no reason to make it harder on yourself than you have to, to a point, real point. And convenience wins. So if things start to get really bad, you're willing to do whatever. But typically, when things start to go sideways, you're not really wanting to go out and do a lot. But I would consider both. But if you only had one, then I would kind of make sure I stocked up on water in containers. Frontier Specialized Heavy Transport asks, how many thousands of rolls of TP should I have? As much as you think you're gonna need, I'm gonna tell you. And I'll tell you something that's kind of funny. I have a buddy of mine who's a big prepper. Been prepping for you, but he just, they just used up all their toilet paper. He wasn't thinking about it. That's the thing, guys. Sometimes you don't think about things. You need to have a running, you have. And so he was like, oh man, you know, he went out to Lowe's and bought a fixture that put a bidet in his toilet. So, you know, there are some other options, which sounds like a really good option, actually. But yeah, I mean, definitely you need to stock up on toilet paper, paper products, paper towels. Kristen J asks, what if water sources get contaminated, meaning rain, barrels, pools, anything? Well, you know, your water sources can get contaminated. They had a number of situations. So having, now rain, you know, if it's the acid rain that we had years ago and things like that, you're in trouble. I mean, you're just in trouble. Water underground, and it soaks down to that. But, you know, I mean, that's a whole nother ball game. It is, but that's one of the big reasons why you want to have a good filtration system even for your rain catchment. So you can get your water from your rain catchment and filter it all prior to drinking it. That way, anything that is contaminated in your water, the filtration system should remove it. Now I'll tell you something beautiful, though, about rainwater. And if you haven't smelled rainwater, you know how it smells. One thing is, you know, you turn on your tap, you know, whatever. You turn on one of those rain catchment barrels and you have that water pouring out, it smells so fresh. It's amazing. It makes you think, oh, I've been drinking this other? I mean, it's really something else. But, you know, having your filter is definitely one of the big ones. And I would recommend, highly recommend having the Berkey in particular. We've had them for years now, probably 10 years. And we love it. So, but yeah, having your water stored up. You need some water stored back as well. Gerald Gothier asks, may I ask a question? Are we expecting some kind of war drums to start beating? I mean, this is all I seem to be seeing lately. Well, it's not about, it's not really about, you know, war drums or anything like that. It's about being more self-reliant and being able, if something does happen, if there is some kind of issue, whether it's a natural disaster or civil unrest or whatever, that you're prepared and you're able to take care of yourself. And you're not having to rely on others, be it the grocery store or toilet paper or gas for your car, that you have these things put back so you're able to take care of yourself and you're not having to rely on other people to take care of you. But I think also, and I'm gonna answer this a little differently, you know, one of the things that you need to watch for is the news. Watch the signs of what's happening around. It gives you a barometer of what's happening. It doesn't, you know, it doesn't mean that we're actually, you know, kind of going to war, that we're even preparing for war. But one of the things about, for Fowle down in Argentina, he wrote a book called The Modern Survival Guide for the Coming Economic Collapse. Pretty long title. Yeah. But he documented and talked about things to do in what happened in Argentina back in 2000, 2001, or something like that. And one of the big things that he said was, he said, it wasn't a day of SHTF. He goes, it was a gradual decline. And one of the big things was inflation. And we're getting ready to see inflation happen. It's already starting. So with inflation, that just means your dollars work less. And we're gonna talk about that in a couple of minutes. But one of the big things was, he said that crime, he goes, things started happening like this, and crime shot up through the roof. We're starting to see that. And what are we seeing right now? You know, crime is up, what, 35, violent crime is up like 35% nationwide. In Chicago, the murder rate is up 500% over last year, over last year, not over the past few years, over last year. So with the defunding of the police, with all these things, these are signs that we need to really take a look at. You know, I've said this a while back, but I'm gonna say it again. Last year, or actually before COVID, 2019, in the fall, I'm walking, I remember where I was walking. I was walking from my shop to the house. And I just thought, you know, I mean, is anything really gonna happen? I mean, really? I mean, I've been doing this for years. I've been planning. I know sometimes some things can happen, but you know, should I really be doing this? Should I be talking about it? I mean, I really had a come to Jesus time there for a few minutes. And it was funny. I just had this really calm resolve to stick with it. And then I started hearing things from China, but ahead of time, Wuhan, and some of the things that were going on. And I thought, there are 300,000 Chinese students that come here every year. And I'm like, we are gonna be screwed. And sure enough, you know, then all of a sudden it hit. Now, as far as what really all about, that's beside the point. But the thing is, that's when I realized that it was the right thing to do. And now I believe it even more than ever. So there we go. Kingdom of God asked, New York City area, any ideas on tips here? Wow, I mean, that is a tough area. And I would really have plans of evacuation of where I would wanna go, because that is, you know, when you're in a high urban area like that, a metropolitan area, that is a very dangerous situation to be in. And that's the thing, you know, food's gonna disappear very quickly. Water's gonna disappear very quickly. What water's left is gonna be contaminated. And having the ability to be able to get out of the city and having a place to go, I think I agree with you 100% would be tops on my list. Not necessarily putting things back other than what you need to get you out of the city and to another place where you can be safer. Well, you know, it's funny because a lot of people in New York, I have a lot of friends in New York. And one of the things that they typically do is they go to the market on a daily basis. They'll just go down and get their stuff. They go up, they fix their food. They don't really keep a lot of food because the spaces are small. That's right. Because the rent's so high. So, you know, they're very limited and there's not like they're storing up food. But, you know, one of the big things that I would suggest, especially for this, is start watching for signs. If things start to ratchet up and you start feeling uncomfortable, plan a weekend at your brother's over in, you know, Pennsylvania or upstate New York. Plan a trip with family, load up, and say, you know what, we're going to take off for a few days. And load up and grab you some supplies and take off. And then that way you're out of the danger zone and then you can see how things go. The worst thing you can do is to leave when it's too late. And here's the other thing, guys, about all of what we're talking about. You've got to beat the curve. Just like with toilet paper. Honestly, when we started hearing about what was going on in China, I told Shannon, I said, we got to get some supply. We got to up our supply. That's right. So we ran to the store. Shannon was loading stuff up. We went to Costco, went to different places, and we got all these supplies. We brought them back. Then as time progressed, the stores were empty. But we just beat the curve. Not that we were hoarding or doing anything else, because that's not what we're doing here. But I'm taking care of my family. And so make sure that you don't wait. So in your situation, coming out of any urban situation, I would have a location set aside ahead of time with family or somebody you can really trust and just say, hey, you know what, they're having a big rally here, some kind of, whatever, some kind of rally. And so we're going to leave for the weekend. You can watch your local news. You can watch your nationwide news and really use that as a barometer to tell you how things are going on a local level as well as on a national level. And use that as a gauge, as a thermometer to be able to say, okay, it's good to stay, or maybe we need to look at packing up and moving away for a few days, taking a little trip. Right, and then if it turns into longer, then at least you're out of the city. That's right, you're ahead of the curve and you don't get trapped there. The Maverick Pepper asks, how do you account for saving seeds with different shelf lives? Putting them in the freezer definitely helps. Keeping them out of sunlight, keeping them locked into a cool, dry area, that helps preserve the seed. But definitely over time, you are, you're going to lose potency, you're going to lose your yield. And so that's one of the reasons why we like to use heirloom seeds or non-hybrid seeds because they'll come back. Last year, we planted a bunch of parsley. This year, we've got parsley coming out of our ears. We've got this giant bush. So, you know, you can harvest the seeds that you have. And that again is a reason why you need to be growing. Because the thing is, it's life. And once it dies, it dies. If you are replanting and it's growing, you can harvest seed that way. Well, and that's the thing, we save our seeds, we dry our seeds every year, and then we have our seeds to replant for the next year, plus a surplus. Right. And then the next year, we do the exact same thing toward the end of the season. We harvest, we dry our seeds, and then we've got our seeds that we can rinse and repeat for the next year. And guys, the other thing is too, is the research. You know, get on YouTube, there's tons of information about how to do these things. And so, you know, and that's one thing we have been really big about is my wife and I both are like, we're studying, we're figuring things out, we're planning, because we don't know everything. And so, it really helps to have that resource. Ryan Jobe asks, Sooch, down the road, what is the best way to determine if your Berkey filter needs to be changed? It starts to get slow. It'll just start to, the water won't pour out like it was before. It takes forever for it to really filter out. We have had to change our filters, you know, and it's funny because the guy that I bought my Berkey from, the Berkey guy, he told me, he goes, you know, people buy these extra filters. He goes, I don't know why, because they're never going to use them all. And we have used them all, you know. So, in fact, I didn't buy filters at the time, extra filters. And then I did, we did, and then we got, but it is 3,000 gallons of water per filter. And, you know, you need to make sure you keep them clean and maintained. You know, but it doesn't take a lot to do that. But all of a sudden, you'll start getting less, it'll take longer and longer and longer. And when it starts to do that, then take your filters and replace them. But I would keep some extra filters on hand, especially when supplies are hard to get. It's just one of the things about all these third world countries. A lot of it is that they just don't have supplies. They can't get the supplies. And so, you know, that is one thing that we're kind of looking toward, more toward what is a third world country dealing with? How are we going to be able to survive that? We're going to take one more and then we're going to go back to our list. Gina Smith asks, question, what is the best state to live in for SHTF protection? I'm just going to tell you, any kind of more conservative state. And the reason why I'm saying that are more of a Republican area, because we really value law enforcement, really value law enforcement. Here in our area, law enforcement, man, they are not playing games and they don't. You know, we have had some issues here and there, but law enforcement comes right in. They're not hogtied by the upper people. You know, whoever it is that's in charge, city managers or whatever. So I would look for an area that is really conservative and that has a sheriff that really stands. I mean, we live in a second amendment sanctuary county. I mean, and our sheriff's very pro-gun and he's very pro-law enforcement and so is the community. And so I would really look for that. And there's a lot of areas that are like that. I'll tell you right now, Florida is looking really good. That DeSantis is kicking some butt down there. But a lot of Texas, Arkansas is a really nice state. So there's lots of really good states like Don said, you know, really look at your states that are more conservative leaning, that have values, that haven't lost their moral compass within their state government is one of the big things for me if I was looking for a new place to move to. But you know, even in the state, and it's like in North Carolina, we're in South Carolina. So in North Carolina, very conservative in a lot of places, but they're starting to get these bigger metropolitan areas that are starting to take on these leftist ideas. And they're hog tying the law enforcement. In fact, Asheville, North Carolina, which is in Western North Carolina, a very conservative traditional area. But over the years, it's gone very left. I say left, not even liberal, it's left. And so, and I know this for a fact because I have a sheriff buddy of mine that's in a neighboring county. And when they had problems in Asheville itself, they were, the police were hog tied. They couldn't hardly do anything. And it was really crazy. So you need to not only pick a state, but you need to pick an area of that state. And you can find those areas. But again, typically it's more conservative, Republican type areas. Okay, so we're gonna go on to our next one. We've talked about water, we've talked about food, we've talked about medical, we've talked about self-defense. One thing that's definitely something, and really you should kind of have this on your radar anyway because of just regular power outages, but having some way for control of like a power loss. What do you do when you have power losses? Now, one of the problems is in the wintertime, it can get super freaking cool. I mean, you can get cold. And so do you have the means? Do you have an alternate heat source? Do you have wood? That's right. Kerosene, you know, whatever you have. Multiple alternate heat sources. Yeah, because a lot of these rely on fuel. That's right. You know, you may have like a big propane heater, but how long is that gonna last? Over an extended period of time. Yep, absolutely. And if there are shortages, how are you gonna have that last? You know, one thing is funny, one thing about, I believe it was in Somalia, in some of the outlying areas, they don't have any water. And they have these big water trucks that drive around. And once a week, they pour the water into your family reservoir that you have in the back. And you've gotta really watch that. And if those trucks don't come, those people don't have water. And which water, we've already talked about, but it's the same kind of principle. But let's just say that you don't have fuel. Let's say that you don't have a wood stove. Make sure you have blankets. A lot of really warm wool blankets are excellent, but there's a lot of really great, yeah, synthetic fibers now. And make sure that you have some of those things set aside. Also, you wanna have some kind of light. Flashlights are great. You need to have those. To me, a headlamp is the number one. Now, for me, every day, I carry just a regular flashlight. But for my pack, that is in the front of my pack. And I can put that on my head. I can do things I need to do. It frees both hands up. So you've got both hands to be able to do things. And that's, a lot of times, that's imperative. There's a lot of things you need to do at night that it's hard to do if you're holding a flashlight trying to do it with one hand. So it's nice to be able to free both hands up with that headlamp, with an adjustable beam where you can move it exactly where you need it to be able to do what you need to do with both hands. Right, headlamps are super vital. In fact, we did some work under the house. My son and I, we were running an ethernet cable. And if it wasn't for those headlamps, even though we had a light down there when we were working on things. But those are just normal things. But having a headlamp definitely is a big one. And having a way to light. You may need candles, little kerosene, lanterns. I'll tell you, Olight has a line they've really been just introducing that are rechargeable little lanterns. It keeps down the fire hazard. They're rechargeable. You can hook it up to a battery backup, which is another thing. Battery backups, making sure that you have some and that they're charged. So if the power goes out, you have some resource. That's right, and a lot of the battery backups now are you can recharge them with a solar panel. So you get your little small solar panel that you can set up outside. You can charge your battery. And then at least you have battery backup to be able to run some essentials like your digital device, your phone, your flashlights, and other things like that. Right, that's right. And that goes to generators. Generators are, if you can afford a home generator where you just flip it on, and there's some that are integrable. When your power goes out, it just automatically shuts off. So being able to have that source, but those are very expensive. Yeah, they are. I mean, because we've been pricing them. And then you still have to look at fuel for those. That's right. That eventually, if it turns into a long-term situation, you're going to run out of fuel, and then you're not going to have that ability. So even if you do have an in-home generator to be able to provide power for your house, it's something that you want to have plenty of extra fuel stored up. And it's also something that you want to ration how much you use it. And you only turn it on and you use it when you really need it. And then it gets turned back off. That way you can really stretch your fuel a lot longer. Right. And two, that is one big thing. Wow, we're already down to 1245. Man, we need to get on it. You know, one thing too is we have a solar generator. It's really nice, it's a Humless. And man, you know, we can charge it, and then we can hook it up, especially to smaller things like a refrigerator and things like that. So having some kind of alternates on top of things and redundancy again is important. Okay, so next is, number six, is your get-home bag. Now, guys, I'm not big on a bug-out bag. Even though I think it's vital, let me get this. Yeah. I would have helped, though. I really want to do what you struggle for. Yeah, and I did. This is my get-home bag. I keep this in my vehicle. All my family has one. You know, we keep these, we try to keep them maintained. And that's probably one of the hardest parts. It's in the back. In fact, we were talking about this in our prepper meeting Sunday night, and a number of people have testimonies of, you know, man, you know, I use this. I needed the, in fact, my son hit a deer one time, and the bumper was hanging way out. And he took paracord out of his bag, and he wrapped it up, and he was able to retain his bumper. I've had to use my bag a number of times. One time, I was actually lost. My GPS quit working, and here's a map. Having roadmaps, guys, having roadmaps, because we depend on that GPS, and there can be issues, but having the basic essentials to get you home. Now, as far as a bug-out bag, and we just did a video about that, that bugging out is a bad idea. There are times where that has to happen. That's right. I mean, your area's compromised. You just gotta go. But honestly, you need to focus on bunkering in, if possible. You live in New York City, that's not really an option. So, you know, you're really gonna need to get out. But here's the thing, guys. You need a bug-out location. You're gonna bug out. You've gotta have a destination, and you need to know where you're going, and make a run for it. Because the thing about being out on the road by yourself, even in a get-home-bag situation, where I'm just trying to get home, you're very vulnerable. You're vulnerable to whatever. So, putting together a bag with the right supplies in it. We have videos out there about that, so if you wanna put it together. In fact, I went to Walmart and built the cheapest bug-out bag you could possibly put together. I think it was $108 with the bag. And then we did one that was the premium items with a bug-out bag. And I call it bug-out bag. Honestly, it was a get-home-bag. And it had nicer items. They were still Walmart items, but they were nicer items. So, putting that together, not only for you, but also for your children. You have children. I'm gonna tell you what, guys. You can get separated. So, you really need to teach your children some basics about whether it's having a whistle, an emergency space blanket, and a few things. We even did a bag with four kids. It's on the channel. There's a little hourglass, I mean a little magnifying glass. You can put subjects in there and find different videos on the channel. So, get-home-bag, super vital. Now, this next one, a lot of us kinda already have. But sometimes we might not have the shoes. Sturdy clothes, clothes that are gonna work, clothes that are gonna last, clothes that you can deal with. And then boots with socks, lots of socks. But boots are some kind of sturdy shoes that you can do working. I mean, for me, a lot of times you have your tennis shoes and you got your flip-flops, and you might have a pair of nice shoes to go out to dinner or whatever. But you need to have some really good boots. And I like to keep them in the back of my car. I like to keep a pair of those because sometimes I do run to the store with flip-flops. But I always keep a complete change of clothes in my car. Shorts, underwear, shirt, sweatshirt, boots, couple of pair of socks, always stays in the back of my car. Because you never know when you're gonna be in a situation where you need a pair of clothes, you need something. And I found that out kinda the hard way probably 15 years ago. A buddy of mine and I, we took a quick trip up to Michigan, and it was toward the end of April. And it was 80 degrees, 81 degrees down here. We hop in the car and we take off. T-shirt, shorts, tennis shoes. Well, we get about, we're probably 200 miles from Michigan, and it started snowing. Wow. And we're in T-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. Wow. And it's snowing. We end up, it's 8.30 in the evening. We end up having to stop, find a store that was open, and go in and buy some clothes for the weather because it was kind of a quick turnaround trip with us. But we had to stop and buy some clothes just because of the weather that we were experiencing. And that was a big wake-up call for me that, hey, you always need to have something for hot and something for cold in your vehicle at all times. I mean, we have that trunk space. You need to use it. That's right. Okay, so this is another big one, especially with inflation coming. I would highly recommend having some cash. I wouldn't have a whole lot of cash because inflation will eat it up. But having a good amount of cash, we like to keep a couple of thousand dollars. But even if it's a couple of hundred dollars. That's right. Because ATM machines can run out. They can be, the power can be down. Sometimes credit card machines aren't working, different things, and cash is king. You saw it in Greece just a few years ago. Their economy collapsed. They shut down all the banks. They shut down the ATMs. People couldn't get money. They couldn't buy things. I mean, it was terrible. And it can happen almost overnight. You see these things, you see these signs, and you're like, oh, it's not a big deal. The next thing you know, it is a big deal. So always having some cash on hand to be able to buy things that you need, especially essentials. You know, it's not for, that money's not for going out and going out to dinner on a Friday night with your wife. You know, that is money that's set aside specifically for if something happens, you have a supply of cash on hand to be able to buy essentials that you need for yourself and your family. And one tip that I'll give you is when you have your phone case, put a $20 bill or a couple of $20 bills back there. I have had to use that before. I forget about it. And then all of a sudden I go, oh, crap, I have it. We've called it for years, the phone hundo. Oh, yeah. Yeah, keep it on hand. Okay, also, this is something that, to some it's controversial, but keeping precious metals. It's not for an investment. It protects your wealth. I have been buying gold and silver for years, but I'm really heavier on gold, even though it's heavier. Yep, I've been heavy on gold. But having that, it gives you a stability. So if inflation happens, typically the price of gold and silver will go up. Right now it's being manipulated. So it's really at a reasonable price and it stayed. About 26 to $30, it actually hit that, but around 26. When I first started buying silver, it was $5 an ounce. I'm telling you guys, silver and gold has been the medium of exchange since man began, since we discovered it. And so it is something that is definitely one of those, kind of take a step back and go, okay, we've got this. In today's society, sometimes you're kind of like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna buy some nice coins. No, I buy junk silver or I buy something. One resource, in fact, I'm just getting ready to do a review on it, is Scottsdale Mint. I love those guys. I've known Josh for years and a very trustworthy source. So if you're kind of looking for something online, Scottsdale Mint is excellent. But what we do a lot of times, if I want junk silver, I'll go up to the local silver exchange and pawn shops and things like that and you can find it. Okay, next is home security, which really kind of goes to self-defense. Make sure that you have your lights, your motion sensor lights, or if you need to put some in, make sure that we have a driveway alarm. Every time somebody passes into our driveway, the alarm goes off. Of course, the dogs know exactly. And it's funny, we have a little pug, and when that alarm goes off in the laundry room, he runs up to the corner window and knows. He knows that people are coming in. Well, and camera systems now have become so affordable that it's for the first time people can actually afford to install camera systems on the inside and the outside of their home to be able to monitor what's going on. The majority of them are wireless now. You can get the ones that are, you can get wired or wireless, run WiFi, Bluetooth. Some have rechargeable batteries that'll last like two or three months or more. So yeah, and they're super cheap. Hook them up, plug them into your phone, and you can monitor everything that's going on around your house. Right, it comes right in on your app. Yep. So definitely there's a lot with security, and we have done some videos about it, but you definitely need to think about security. Also, looking around your house. Guys, when you step out of your house, don't just step out in the oblivion. Come out looking, come out thinking. I come down my steps, and when I do, there's a little area down here that's kind of an area anybody can just stand in. I'd never know it. So I always make a practice of looking down, looking over when I go around a corner. When I'm coming through my car, I kind of look to see. Having that situational awareness is a lot of security. Plus, look at your place. Go, is this defendable? I mean, what are places where people or criminals can hide to ambush? So it's not a matter of being paranoid. It's a matter of just being a realist and these things happen. Just being self-aware. Okay, so we actually did number 10 already, but the bug out location. Know where you're going. Know those areas that you're going to, and go ahead and have that preset ahead of time. Multiple routes to get there. That's one of the big things. And that's another thing about multiple routes. I'm glad you brought that up. My son, his girlfriend, goes to a university, Clemson University, and there's about five or six ways to get there, and I told him, I said, you need to map out these different ways to get there. Not just for your GPS, because it may or may not be working, but be able to get to those areas and have multiple routes. One time, Sarah Mack was leaving the horse. She has horses. She was leaving her barn. It's only about 10 minutes away. She started down the road and they were doing something. It was a big block where somebody had a wreck or whatever. And so she was able to bypass it because she knew the area. But knowing the area, knowing what's around you. Taking trips around your area and just looking to see what's around you. So hopefully that'll help. This was not a definitive on the things you need to do, but definitely, hopefully it'll help you to kind of think about it ahead of time. A couple of, well, one thing I didn't actually mention, this is on the top 10, actually. So it's probably even closer. But having some different, some kind of communications. Ham radio is the top of the chain. I mean, that is the deal. But even if you have some small little two-way radios, in case your cell service goes out. And the one tool I would highly recommend you get for each of your family is some kind of knife. You definitely should have a knife. It's just one of the basic tools and it's something you can use for a lot of different things. So a lot we could go on, actually. In fact, I even have some extra things here on the table, but we need to go ahead and hunker down. So guys, again, get yourself in good situation. There are a lot of warning signs, I'm saying warning signs, that are on the horizon. And you don't have to be paranoid, you don't have to freak out, but everything you do, everything, whether it's go to the store and pick up a few groceries, whether it's picking up a few medical supplies here, whether it's just picking up a couple of tarps at Harbor Freight. That's right. It's something that you are doing, grabbing a gallon of water puts you that much farther ahead in your preps. And if you continue to do that on a consistent basis for long, you're gonna be in pretty good shape. So guys, it's just vital in the times we're in. So we really appreciate Robbie for being here and for just hanging out and being able to add quite a bit, keeping me on track. And check out WheatonArms.com, all the gun, lock parts. I mean, it's just, just check them out. And then of course, GoMedGear.com, if you need some medical supplies, it's a great resource. And the link will be down below in the description. There is a sale coming up. We do have a 4th of July sale coming up. It'll start Thursday night at midnight and run through Sunday night at midnight. You can sign up for our newsletter at WheatonArms.com or GoMedGear.com. And we're gonna have some extra coupons so you can have, you'll get some more savings along with that. And then there'll also be some specials that are available every day on the websites as well. And also we really appreciate Sportsman's Guide, $20 off every $100 or more purchase using Sooch, just S-O-O-T-C-H. And guys, that's 20%. And of course, if you get more, it's just up to past $100. That's right. And then you get, I mean, guys, they have surplus stuff. They have everything you can imagine. They've got everything. It's just a lot of stuff. It's like Toys R Us for us. Yeah, for big guys. But you gotta sign up for their Buyer's Club as well. The Buyer's Club, you get free shipping on all of their items, big bulky items. I think like ammunition is one of the few things you don't get it. But almost everything on their site, you get free shipping on it. And you also get better pricing as well with being a member of their Buyer's Club. Yeah, it's definitely worth it. And we really do appreciate Sarah Mack for being here and helping with the questions and setting everything up. So be strong, be of good courage. God bless America. Long live the Republic.