In 2021, given the
daily headlines, the need to prepare (prep) for natural and manmade disasters for you and your family is even more clear than it has ever been.
And there is a cottage
industry of books, websites, social media, and YouTube videos out there offering to advise you and your family on how to do so.
Not
all are worth reading, but The Provident Prepper: A Common Sense Guide toPreparing for Emergencies is worth buying, reading, and applying to the benefit to your family.
The authors, parents of many children and husband and wife team Kylene and Jonathan Jones, have put a lot of
thought into what prepping really involves, and their hard work and careful
thought is evident in this store of knowledge of the core knowledge required to
know the essence of prepping for your family. All of the information in this tome is family driven and family friendly.
Prepper
books fall into one of two broad categories: those that speak to other preppers
and those that speak to the larger community.
The Practical Prepper, A Common
Sense Guide to Emergency Preparedness by Kylene and Johathan Jones, speaks to the larger community, primarily families.
For most of
us when we look at this cottage industry of
prepper books, however, it is difficult to separate the Biblical wheat
(nutritious food or valuable, worthwhile prepping) from the chaff (scaly
protective casing that is not nutritious and is worthless prepping).
The Practical
Prepper offers nutritious, worthwhile, common sense, easily done prepping
instruction, plans, strategies, and steps you and your family can take to
prepare for, cope with, survive and triumph over natural and manmade adversity. What I
especially liked about this work is that it really is practical prepping as it
says in the title. I found examples from my own life in every chapter.
For ease of
use and quick reference, it is divided into the following chapters:
1. Where Do
I Begin?
2. What Are the Odds?
3. Survive or Thrive
4. Family Emergency
Plan
5. Survival Kits 
6. Communication
7. Water Storage
8. Water
Disinfection and Purification
9. Sanitation, 10. Designer Food Storage Plans
11. Food Storage
12. Fuel Safety and Storage
13. Emergency Lighting
14.
Emergency Heating
15. Emergency Cooking
16. Shelter
17. Keeping Cool
18.
Home Protection and Security
19. Personal Safety
20. Medical
21. Community
22. Financial and Legal
23. So What Now?
For those of
you who are just beginning to get into prepping, you have much worthwhile wheat
in each chapter. And even for those of you who have been at this for decades,
as I have, there is much worthwhile wheat in each chapter.
This is a guidebook
to how to be self-reliant when disaster strikes, because if you can get past
the first 72 hours, you are in very, very good shape. As the
authors say in
Chapter 1. Where Do I Begin? “While prepping is important, we
recommend that you always strive to keep balance in your life. Do not allow
fear to motivate your actions. Preparing and making steady progress is
critically important, but take time to enjoy the present while preparing for
the future.” That common sense approach is why this book matters.
Many prepper
books and websites, with the media piling on, use fear as their reason to
prepare.
This is wrong, and the The Provident Prepper establishs early on that common sense,
not fear, should motivate your prepping planning, activities, and family time.
Chapter 2.
What are the Odds? offers resources to help you identify the risks and hazards
you face in your neighborhood and region, as well as the basic steps you can
take to be ready: family emergency and communication plan; food and water
storage; survival kits (home, vehicle, work); backup (water, sewer, natural
gas, power); and emergency saving account.
Take care of those and you are on
your way.
Using a flow
chart, they provide an excellent matrix (event, probability, consequence = risk
score of the threat matrix (natural:
earthquakes, tsunami, hurricanes, winter and summer storms, landslides, heat,
tornado, etc.); manmade (terrorism, pandemic and epidemic, atomic, biological,
nuclear, chemical, hazmat, electromagnetic pulse (EMP), civil unrest, economic
collapse, house fire, debt, societal
collapse, etc.).
Most of these you will know, but it helps to quantify them so
you know what to concentrate on when you create a plan, supplies and strategy
for your family.
In Chapter 2
they also describe what could happen (much of it not pleasant to think about)
in a matter of fact way. They describe what you can do about it (also often not
easy to think about because it involves work) in very practical terms. As
importantly, it is written in Plain English so it is a good read. Here is a
sample:
- Consider purchasing gold and silver coins after
you have built your food stores.
- Practice the art of provident living and
self-reliance.
- Learn to work.
- Be wise, frugal, and prudent. Get out of debt and
live on less than you earn.
- Learn self-defense skills and acquire weapons of
choice.
- Secure your home.
- Work on becoming physically fit and healthy.
Access to medical care and medications may be limited. If you have
disabilities, explore options and develop a reasonable plan in the event
medical care is unavailable.
Among the dangers
they highlight is a house fire. “The most common disaster is a house fire. One
in every 320 households reports a fire annually.” Having experienced our own house
on fire in 2003, I agree.
See: It Was Nothing: Our House Fire
Another
Plain English bit of wisdom is found in Chapter 2 is, “Your best teacher is
real-life learning experiences. For example, turn off your power for a few days
and see how prepared you really are.”
That’s stone, hard fact. My wife’s family
has an orchard in West Virginia. They get week long power failures. They know
how to cope with it. Granted, my
brother-in- law was Delta Force besides operating the orchard, but most of his
survival skills are from surviving for years on the orchard, well removed from
any assistance. Most Americans live under the illusion that power and services
are always on.
A power failure teaches them otherwise, and practicing for that eventuality
is truly learning the lessons of history, even if most Americans choose to
pretend otherwise.
If American only knew their own history, they would know
that The Practical Prepper is a continuation of our long historical struggle
against man-made and natural disasters, not an aberration as the main stream
media likes to posit.
Chapter 3.
Survive or Thrive, Loving Life opens with:
“You have
just completed a comprehensive evaluation of the possible hazards you may face
in your future. You have a reasonable plat to reduce those risk factors, and we
are going to explore exactly how to execute that plan. But first we will
discuss the most important aspect of that plan: your personal attitude,
resilience, and emotional fortitude.”
“Quite
frankly we dislike the word survive. By definition, to survive is to continue
to live or exist in spite of danger or hardship. The word gives little hope of
a bright future. Our goal is to thrive in the face of adversity. We gain
confidence through our preparations and fully expect to embrace the challenges
ahead and find joy in the journey. Bad things happen --- it is an inevitable
part of life. But we are determined to thrive in the face of adversity.”
Amen.
That
is a core value in my own life. In the multiple near-death experiences I’ve
had, I’ve survived because I refuse to die, and then always make it better
after the survival experience. I never thought about it, but the three “Thriving
Through a Disaster” phases they list are spot on: denial, deliberation and
decisive moment.
For example, I have had multiple moments in time when I have had to execute the strategy they posit to blast past denial, deliberately act, and act decisively to live.
When fifteen predator felons brought down baseball bats on my skull in
Georgetown, in Washington, D.C. the night before Marion Barry, a former DC
Mayor went on trial, through my blood and sweat I saw my wife and son. I made
the decision in nanoseconds that this was real, I was not going down, I would
see my wife and son again, and I went fighting mad until I had 14 of the 15 down
(according to the waiters at the restaurant where it happened).
Most people
think this will never happen to them. Many told me afterwards, “I don’t go in
those neighborhoods.”
Until it happens
to you, why would you think it can happen? The media calls it a “random act of
urban violence.”
But it is random...not rare.
The same
applies to any manmade or natural disaster.
No one
thinks it will happen...until it happens.
I’ve been
through my share so I have no difficulty accepting that it can happen...and
fast.
I believe
this knowledge should be shared with children, because sadly our schools do
not.
And Kylene and Jonathan agree. They have an entire section in Chapter 2
called, “Preparing Children to Thrive in a Disaster.”
That is the
best thing you can do for your children, and their practical steps in this 345
page tome will assist you.
Chapter 4,
Family Emergency Plan: We Can Make it Together, lists how to create a family
emergency plan. They are clear about what I’ve observed for years: this is a
parental responsibility that will pay off when the event happens, and it is a
thankless task like many thankless parental tasks.
They cover
all the basics: primary meeting place, secondary meeting place, out-of-area
meeting place, higher ground meeting place (i.e. off the flood plain), evacuation plan, money, the
map, communication and communication devices, vital documents, prep lists,
things to grab, precious items, transportation, emergency shelter options, and
the family emergency action plan.
Now, although
this all seems obvious, as with so much of this information, this family
emergency plan has uses you cannot imagine. For example, an active shooter at a
mall, school, play of employment, or at a random setting. All of these tools
would have been useful had there been an active shooter at my son’s school,
rather than a sociopath who sought social media attention. (See: http://poetslife.blogspot.com/2014/03/active-shooter-bomb-threat-of-just.html) .
Chapter 5:
Survival Kits: Living out of a Backpack presents the reality that in order to
survive, you need certain essential elements in your backpack...or, more
importantly for any parent, in the backpacks that will keep your offspring
comfortable and alive.
Water, high protein food, shelter, sanitation (too often
overlooked), sleep, comfort, and all the things that makes living possible when
living is threatened.
- They include
a section on:
- Workplace Survival Kit
- Vehicle Emergency Kit
- Emergency
Survival Kit
- School Survival Kit
- Pet Survival Kit
- Young Child
Comfort Kit
- Infant Survival Kit
- Wilderness Survival Kit
- Family
Survival Kit
- Fire Kit
- First-Aid Kit
All are critical but often neglected. Here, each survival kit lists
the essential that need to be included.
Chapter 6:
Communication, Now We’re Talking explores the hardware (AM/FM radio, NOAA
Weather Radio, shortwave radio, Internet, two-way communication, phones, cell
phones, family radio service, general mobile radio service, citizen band radio,
amateur radio) and the process (power, equipment protection), and the
communication action plan.
Chapter 7:
Water Storage, Got Water? Details the basics of water purity and storage. My
preference is water bricks.
(See: http://poetslife.blogspot.com/2013/09/waterbricks-for-emergencies.html
)
Chapter 8:
Water Disinfection and Purification, Is it Safe to Drink explains exactly that.
There are many dangers in contaminated water that we are unaware of due to our
easy access to pure water. They have a water purification and disinfection business
and are experts in this area. They elucidate those dangers and explain how to
prevent them.
Chapter 9: Sanitation:
What is that Smell is a detailed discussion of one of the most overlooked areas
of prepping: sanitation.
They cover personal sanitation, showers and baths
(gravity, garden, sponge, tubs, and containers), human waste disposal, bucket
toilets, port-a-potties, bedside commodes, potty chairs, chemical toilets,
composting toilets, septic systems, deep pit latrines, solid waste disposal,
pest control, basic sanitation supplies, laundry, and a sanitation action plan.
Chapter 10:
Designer Food Storage Plans: What’s for Dinner covers the fact that
just-in-time food delivery a wonder of modern life, until it is interrupted. You had better have certain kinds of food,
and the right amount, on hand if that happens.
Chapter 11:
Food Storage: How and Where explores the best storage methods and space for
foods supplies.
Chapter 12:
Fuel Safety and Storage, Come on, Baby, Light My Fire catalogs the kinds and do’s
and don’ts of fuel storage and use.
Chapter 13:
Emergency Lighting, I Can See Clearly Now presents the wonders of light, its
sources, types, benefits, and uses.
Chapter 14:
Emergency Heating, Baby, It’s Cold Outside explores the methods, uses, and
impacts of a variety of heat sources and the dangers of the lack of heating
(hypothermia, frostbite, etc.) and how to maintain heat when the power is off.
Chapter 15: Emergency
Cooking, Now Power, No Problem presents the practical steps and alternatives you
can take during crisis cooking. 
Chapter 16:
Shelter, Come In out of the Storm rethinks a basic we take for granted: shelter,
a roof over our heads during extraordinary circumstances.
It examines multiple
shelter situations: disaster-related home repairs, sheltering-in-place,
self-imposed isolation, sheltering against radiation exposure, portable
shelter, and bug out locations.
Chapter 17:
Keeping Cool, I’m Melting explores another basic of modern life we take for
granted: air conditioning and the results of not having it readily available,
especially for the vulnerable...the elderly and special needs people.
Chapter 18:
Home Protection and Security, Safe at Home examines the wider world of keeping
your home safe in your neighborhood.
Specifically, it looks at operational
security, know your neighborhood, home safety, organizing your domicile, home
intruder inspection, home security, home appearance, lighting, sound,
deterrents, landscape, doors, windows, secure valuables, tips for apartment
dwellers, and creating a
home protection and security action plan.
Chapter 19:
Personal Safety, Don’t Mess with Me analyzes the particulars of keeping
yourself protected. It looks at self-defense training, child safety and
self-defense training, weapons, command voice, firearms, and creating a
personal safety and security action plan.
Chapter 20:
Medical, the Doctor is Out examines the complex matter of health. It examines
physical health preparation, protecting your health during a crisis, health
education, , creating a current medical information sheet, first-aid supplies, general
storage of medications, over-the-counter medications, antibiotics, medication
storage and shelf-life, hydration, medical equipment and supplies,
self-quarantine, bringing it home, and creating a medical action plan.
Chapter 21:
Community, We’re All in This Together opens with the line, “No matter how well
we prepare for possible hazards, if our community is not prepared, we are in
trouble.” This is a core value for all prepping and one that bothers me most
about many prepper websites, blogs, forums, and preppers themselves. Many
preppers posit that they are totally “self-sufficient.” That is impossible. We
connected. We make it or fail individually, but also as part of a family,
group, church, army, corporation, or nation.
Kylene and
Jonathan recognize this truth by quoting John Donne’s famous line, “No Man is
an island” and then prove it in the book.
“The benefits of the group might mean the
difference between life and death” they state. Having just this month depended
on state police, first responders, nurses, doctors, technicians and others to
keep my 18-year old Eamon alive when he went from a horrible accident to an
intensive care unit, I would have to agree. 
They examine
how closely we are tied in sections examining: successful communities,
relationship building, formal neighborhood organization, the first meeting,
identifying group needs and resources, follow-up meeting, mock disaster,
someone has to standup, community emergency response teams, and creating the community
relationship action plan.
Chapter 22:
Financial and Legal, Getting It all in Order analyzes the legal and financial
aspects of prepping. It is divided into the following sections: organization,
finances, building financial security, legal, and creating a financial and
legal action plan.
Chapter 23:
So Now What closes the book with a request to spread the word and encourage
others to take up prepping while there is still time. Kylene and
Jonathan are experienced, socially-savvy preppers.
Before they wrote this book,
they have posted for years at their prepper blog:
http://www.yourfamilyark.org/yfa-blog
The Provident Pepper http://theprovidentprepper.org/the-practical-prepper/,
Our Family Garden Container Potato Harvest 2011 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuLCmXmfmHg
Visit their prepper website and blog and you will see even more practical
suggestions for how to prepare to survive whatever comes our way.
Here is just one of hundreds of prepper videos they have created on Youtube.
Like the
book, their social media is positive, practical and prudent.
I wholeheartedly
recommend The Practical Prepper to anyone who wants to know how to prep and for
those who have a deep knowledge of the field.
When I worked on a biohazard
detection system to identify anthrax back in 2003, we created a “store of
knowledge” manual that included everything anyone 50 years in the future would
need to know about how it worked. 
Practical Prepper is a “store of knowledge” for prepping. By using it judiciously, you will dramatically increase your chances of being around 50 years from now, and you will still find it useful then
on the gentle Shannon River
