PREP CHECK (LEVEL 1: THE BASICS)
ARE YOU REACHING YOUR GOALS? ARE YOU MOVING THE POSTS WHEN YOU DO?
The Everyday Marksman put out an excellent article in 2022 titled “Do You Really Need That? A Better Gear Philosophy” and created the graphic below. One that I believe we should all look back on from time to time when it comes to developing our own gear plan and accessing the “need” for items we thing we must have.
GEAR HIERARCHY
PREP HIERARCHY
I’ll let you gauge where you are on the gear pyramid above and adjust accordingly, but this post isn’t about just gear hierarchy.
I do want to apply the same principle to prepping in general though and ask you to consider my pyramid below and evaluate where you are.
You may not agree with my “pyramid” below and that is fine, I’ve only been prepping for 14 years now an have a lot to do still, but I suggest you use this moment to reflect on your place on the “pyramid” below and adjust accordingly.
If you don’t have the BASICS down on the “Prep Pyramid” below, you should not be past the BASIC level on the “Gear Pyramid” above IMO.
Balance is a must, don’t be the guy with 10 carbines and 5K in rounds and only have 1 month worth of food for your family and a basic boo-boo kit for self-aide.
MY PREP PYRAMID
I won’t bother to make a nice graphic like Everyday Marksman did but will list my levels of the “Prep Pyramid” below for consideration.
There is no “plan” to bugout, as all of your supplies are local unless you are advanced enough to have more than one “base” to work out of and few have the resources to setup such a system.
If you must bugout, then likely all is lost, and you are now a refuge. I’ll let you decide if history has been kind to those that fell into this category.
Learn to defend your base.
LEVEL 1: THE BASICS
Below are what I consider the basics given in the order of importance to me. Everyone has to start somewhere, and these are “low hanging fruit” for the new prepper.
BASIC WEAPON
“Yah made man, but S&W made them equal.”
Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as just owning a gun, you have to know how and be willing to use it, but you get the drift!
Having preps without a way to defend against others that would just take them, is like having no preps at all. At the most basic level, you need some sort of weapon to defend yourself with.
The pistol would seem to be the most obvious choice as it’s highly concealable, but unfortunately, it’s exponentially harder to master than a long gun.
My recommendation for a first SHTF weapon is always a used Remington 870 shotgun for the following reasons:
They are built like a tank.
Can be found in pawnshops in every town for less than $200.00
Are the best weapon for up close (<25 yards) shooting of multiple targets.
Can reach out to 100 yards easy with slugs and a bead sight.
Have a very low failure to fire rate if you remember to pump the gun, some training is needed for any platform.
The #1 reason for recommending a used 870 as a first gun is that people will go buy one for ~$200 long before they will pay $400-$600 for a handgun they will never learn to shoot or an AR15 (obviously the first choice) that runs $800-$1200 and requires training also to be proficient with.
If money is no object, then by all means get a quality AR15 (Colt 6290 or BCM Mod 2 come to mind) and take a class!
Every “Minuteman” should be proficient with an AR15 and Pistol, “proficient” meaning able to place above middle of the pack in a 3-gun match and USPSA match for your category, but rare is that bird and most have no idea of what they do not know. As we go up the “pyramid” we will get into this more with training standards.
THE GET HOME BAG
A good GHB is always the first step and if setup right, you can live out of one indefinitely when combined with a food & water source.
See my current GHB for ideas on building your own.
BUGOUT FOOD KIT
Having pre-staged food for bugging out is critical as you never know when that time might come and when a wildfire is approaching, gathering food is not what you want to be doing.
I keep two small totes full of assorted canned goods, some Mountain Home meals, and easy to eat items that will last a few days. They are staged at the entrance to the pantry and labelled as “Grab and Go Box 1 of 2 and 2 of 2” so anyone can find and load them easily.
Water and purification methods are in the GHBs in the cars and cooking tools, etc. The only tool in the “Grab and Go” boxes is a can opener, which is also on the multi-tools in the GHBs.
There are several 5gal Jerrycans of water also staged if room/time permits adding them to the truck on a bugout.
Canned foods are heavy but don’t require water and are much cheaper than freeze-dried foods. If money permits, the Mountain House route is the way to go IMO.
NINETY-DAY PANTRY
Having a well-stocked pantry use to be the norm in America before “just in time” grocery delivery and “dinner” at McDonalds. Having a weeks worth of food on the shelves of many homes is unthought of these days.
If you remember asking “is there any in the back” at the local stores when the item was not on the shelf, then you are officially old. Stores do not have overflow or stock areas anymore, it goes straight from the trucks to the shelves and if the trucks stop, there is no surplus to draw from locally.
For this reason, YOU must be the one who stores the surplus in the form of a pantry.
See my ninety-day pantry post for an idea of things to always have on hand.
CLOSING NOTES
That’s the bulk of the basics in my opinion.
GHB
The real work is getting that GHB to work for you weight wise and comfort wise so you can pack it 50 miles or more.
Just loading up a cheap pack and stuffing it in the car or garage is going to cause you more pain than you can imagine if you ever have to use it.
I spent a year refining my GHB and putting it through the passes to find a comfortable solution, one that can only be found by rucking with it.
Don’t just check the box on this! Get out and use it.
BUGOUT FOOD
Soups are cheap and heavy; Mountain House is light and expensive. MRE’s tend to be both these days.
PANTRY
If you have the $$$ buy 90 days’ worth of what you eat and build the pantry.
If you don’t, buy one or two extra of whatever you are buying weekly at the grocery store and start putting it on the shelf, it adds up fast.
Great article, Mossberg 500, would be a great alternative to the 870. They price out about the same. There's parts, extractors and such, you can replace yourself, unlike the 870. I suppose if you're at the "replacing parts" you probably own more than just a shotgun.