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What got you started?

3K views 24 replies 24 participants last post by  Gullars 
#1 ·
I know this has been done a bajillion times, but it is interesting to hear what motivates people to prep.

I got started right after Y2K. Like a lot of people I watched the ball drop on TV and went to bed, but in the following days it kept bugging me. Nothing happened, but what hit me was, what if it had?

That realization just floored me. I had an 11 year old daughter I was raising on my own, lived in a big metro area, and was totally unprepared.

I had basic camping and fishing stuff, but no stored food. Even if I did have something, I had nothing but a cheap old .22 mag pistol to help defend it.

I knew a bit more than most since I lived on a farm when younger, but next to nothing about the many subjects concerning survival.

I was really new to the net, but got online and started searching. I found a preppers site and started to read and learn. For a long time I wasn't even a member, but just lurked.

That was 10 years ago, and light years away from where I am now.
 
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#2 ·
I honestly can't remember but I started hunting by myself at 13, packing for an air taxi at 15, guiding at 21 and running my own at 25 so it just goes hand in hand, I guess. I have had enough hard lessons along the way that it makes me look at things differently.

The movie Red Dawn had some influence of course. At 15 or so, I devoured Red Storm Rising, which is about an abbreviated version of WWIII for Russian control of Europe after they had their oil fields decimated in Azerbijan. I bought an AR-15 that year.

California's energy shortage and bankrupt economy scares me as it's the 6th largest in the world; or it was anyway.

Nowadays, I am trying to teach these idiot kids something about self-reliance but they won't put their I-phones down. They truly have no hope.
 
#3 ·
Once upon a time I was a boyscout, and have always loved the outdoors. I have always been interested in wilderness survival, and eventually it introduced me into "bugging out". Then that got me thinkin about why would I need to bug out and stuff like that, and then I started getting on sites like this. And then I just started preparing in any way I can.
 
#6 ·
I did the Y2K prep thing...and looking back, it was a pitiful attempt. A few things have survived since then - like the security bars on the downstairs windows, a good wool Army blanket and a backpack full of miscellaneous items <can openers, wool socks, waterproof matches, etc>>. The rest, both physical and emotional, is long gone.

Until about a year-n-a-half ago, when our family business hit a real low slump. We are totally dependent on this business and it scared the ****ens out of me. We now have children and I couldn't imagine (then) what would happen if there was no money. The idea that I might not be able to feed my kids shook me hard.

So, I started reading, building up a pantry and bringing down our debt. And good grief! Now, the more I read, the more I feel like it will never be enough to become as independent / self-sufficient as I possibly can - for my children's sake, if for nothing else.
 
#8 ·
Being in the service in the mid 60's, previous boy scout, farm life, hunting rabbits etc for table meat as a kid. Then watching the events unfold in this country . The first gas shortages really kicked it off, as I was hunting and backpacking way back then.. Just evolved I suppose from all. Back packing really taught me a lot about what to carry and what you can do without, even though most people take way to much s... with them.
 
#9 ·
Started when I was young.

I am a planner by nature. That is ingrained in me since young.

Y2K was a leap into long term planning and preparation, tho, no guns were involved at that point.

9/11 - like it did for many - confirmed the importance and likelihood of major civil issues/problems that can develop "overnight" (and cripple transportation).

Tho, I didn't need to see it to understand the obvious point - Katrina re-emphasized the fact (served as a clear & strong example) - that the majority of people are unprepared, clueless, and - the gvt is simply unable to care for citizens in a major catastrophy.


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Hoarding, as a human behavior, may be a response to perceived or predicted shortages of specific goods, or …..a compulsive abnormal behavior.
 
#11 ·
unknowingly started 15 yrs ago...

now.. solely to make sure my wife and kids have a life if I'm not around.
 
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#12 ·
Basically, 9/11 got me thinking about it. I was visiting my mom in VA at the time and they are preparers. They built a round house so it could sustain hurricane winds, they put their house on a specific place on their property so they can protect it, they bought guns and rifles, and they grow most of their own food.

Anyway, I was there during 9/11 and got stuck there with my sister and 2 year old son. It got me thinking about how prepared my mom was and how unprepared I was. Fast forward to today, and I'm still not ready for much of anything but at least I'm thinking about it, LOL!
 
#13 ·
I too made a feeble attempt a Y2K. What a joke that was looking back. Became complacent until a couple of years ago. It was the threat of Ike coming inland that made me become more serious. Went to get some water and supplies, and the store shelves were "blown out". People were running over each other...and Ike was still offshore. Told the wife, "uh, uh." Not happening again. Luckilly for us, Ike didn't take the early projected path towards San Antonio and the Hill Country.
 
#14 ·
I just started at the beginning of this year. I had been concerned about the direction the country was heading, especially after the last presidential election, and was always thinking about what might happen but never actually doing anything about it. After returning to college after Christmas break, one of my good military buddies, whom I had had many conversations over these types of things, said he had found a book I needed to read and lent me his copy of Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse, by James Wesley Rawles. I couldnt put it down. I didnt sleep that night and read half the book before having to leave for class in the morning. Haha Im a slow reader. I soon purchased my own copy and while it is a fictional story with how to's built in, it definatly sparked in my mind that while I had been thinking about possible future events, I hadnt been doing anything to prepare for them! I felt like such a dumba**. Needless to say I found this website after searching around for a while and now do as much as I can to prepare for whatever lies ahead...
 
#15 ·
Watching the aftermath of New Orleans go to the dogs after Kathrina!

Moast of the hellicopters in Iraq and Afghanistan as far as I understood. And in the beginning when it counted the moast, REJECT HELP from other countries. And this is was suppose to be the ritchest, and moast powerfull country in the world couldnt even help their own!

This made start thinking of something like that happend near where I live. I also live very close to the sea. I dont want to be one of thoose sitting on the roof dying!
 
#16 ·
I've asked myself that same question many times and I still don't really know the answer. I've always been outdoorsy and had an interest in primitive skills, even as a kid. Me and a friend used to go primitive camping when we were in our early teens. We'd wander up into the mountains and live off rabbit and cactus for 2 or 3 days, then come home.

I can look back into my mind and see that I've always had the survivalist leaning. As a kid, I always kept my backpack loaded and ready to grab. I didn't know why, nor where I would go, and it wasn't very well thought out. But that was just my mindset.

Somewhere in the early 90s I began prepping in earnest. There was no actual triggering event. It's just something I felt I needed to do. My early prepping mindset hadn't evolved to consider everything yet, so I was still in the mindset that equipment was all that was needed to survive.

I decided to get into it in a big way and dropped about $10,000 on gear and freeze dried foods. I learned that freeze dried foods were not a good choice for me, so I reinvested in dehydrated and store bought, plus more gear. Then came another large investment in metals in the late 90s when prices dropped sharply. I also bought a diesel generator that I ended up having absolutely no use for.

I've just kept it up ever since. Learning more, adding more, fine tuning skills and plans, testing my BOB and skills, and in general just working on being better prepared. I'm most definately NOT a scenario prepper, so I'm not preparing for anything in particular. It's too easy to be blindsided by something you don't expect. So I prep for "whatever" and keep alert.

A lot of it has been very satisfying. Learning to garden and preserve food by canning and dehydrating has been especially satisfying. It is one step towards self sufficiency, which is the only true long term prep.
 
#19 ·
Always went camping with my dad and sometimes to excersise with hin when he was still in.first gear was all british mil stuf ands most skills to then serving myself fell asleep for some years but gear was always packed,restsarted after a snowstorm last year when my gf and i got stuck on the motorway
 
#21 ·
A friend got me interested years ago while a LEO. Back then, thought the Russians were coming. The gas shortages in the late 60's or early 70's, a couple of riots, plus a couple of hurricanes and ice storms. Likewise, simply wanted to be self-sufficient should I lose a job or some economic problem.

Last great run was preparing for the flu should it have turned evil and now the state of the country keeps me fired up. I'm an optomist but feel surely, something will come along in the remainder of my life which will make me be glad I prepared.
 
#22 ·
Husband out of work for three months last fall, no unemployment (self employed) We didn't panic, had a well stocked pantry, freezer, bills were current and money in the bank. After ten weeks or so, food gone, savings gone, sense of optimism for the future gone, living our own SHTF. Fortunately, things are better, hanging onto the lower middle class by our fingernails. I am working on having three months of canned food stored, and have the dirty little secret of a hand grinder and 250 lbs of wheat berries stored in the back of the closet. That fact would make me the laughingstock of the family, hubby doesn't even know!
 
#23 ·
I lived in California in 2000, when we were having electricity shortages, followed by electric bills that jumped 100% or more in one month, thanks to Enron. This scared the daylights out of a lot of people. That started me interested in alternative sources of light and heat.

As a Californian, who's lived though a couple of pretty bad earthquakes, and always lived with at least 3 days of food and water and shoes and a flashlight next to the bed, we were always told, take care of yourself for the first few days, then FEMA will be there to help.

After the 1971 and 1994 LA earthquakes, we saw FEMA within the 3 day period we were told they would be there, bottled water arriving shortly, the local officials quickly passing laws stopping price gouging on food and water, and pretty efficient handling of emergencies. In 1994, every building in the city was inspected within a couple of weeks. The freeways were rebuilt faster than anticipated. Everyone worked together.

What happened in New Orleans did not match my earthquake experience. To me, Katrina was a danger sign that the entire US government disaster infrastructure had quietly deteriorated behind the scenes. The lack of rebuilding after the initial emergency was over was the first time I can ever remember seeing people in the US just throw up their hands and say, "It can't be done."

I lived in San Francisco at one time. This is a city that's been completely destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire. They stopped the fire by blowing rich people's mansions up with dynamite. Everybody lived in tents in the park afterwards. People lost everything but their sense of humor. The apartment I lived in was built in 1906-1907. Half the buildings in SF today were built then. Everybody worked together with optimism and hope and threw up a new city in no time, better than ever. There was very little crime.

Katrina just seemed like a demonstration of general government incompetence, accompanied by a populace who did not have pride and optimism about their city. Society had irretrievably broken down. The police running to save their own families, leaving everybody to fend for themselves, was it for me. During the bird flu scare, I read a lot of medical personnel on other sites say, "If the bird flu comes, I'm staying home and taking care of my family. The heck with the job. I'll just quit if they try to make me go back." This attitude of rats deserting a sinking ship was not what rebuilt SF, or Chicago after their big fire. Not that I blame average people for wanting to keep their families safe if there is no police or hospital. But if the law enforcement and recovery authorities are not there for you, it's every man for himself. You can't rebuild anything without law and order. Why bother to stay there if it's going to be Mad Max?

New Orleans could have been repaired better than ever. The problem was, nobody had the will to do it, from the authorities to the general population. That, to me, showed a deterioration in society in general. Sort of the rotting underside of an edifice that looked ok from the front.
 
#24 ·
The first WTC bombing and then the assault weapons ban. Like many of the others on this board, I just one day started keeping a BOB by my bed. No one told me to, I just sort of felt better about having it. I spent a large part of my life outdoors, learning the basics. As I got older, like most people, jobs, responsibility, etc. got in the way of all that.

After I got married and had kids, I knew I could no longer just hop in my Jeep with my BOB and survive. Survival became more complicated. As a result, I started serious prepping, dumping more money than I am willing to admit at this point into BOL, BOV, food, weapons, ammo, etc.

I feel really good now that my family and I can survive through all but the worst possible events. If we keep our heads about us, we have the equipment and supplies. It's just a matter of will and judgment.

I will say that I have really appreciated reading the posts on this Board. The material is truly educational and most folks here really have great ideas on how to make the most of any situation.
 
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