Disasters, like the release of the Communist Chinese Party (CCP) bioweapon, are experienced differently by everyone. What each person goes through determines the lessons they learn from the event.
Here are mine. I hope they help you and your family during the next disaster. Please take the time to read this and reflect on other lessons you and your family learned. Then take action to prepare for the next disaster and the one that will follow.
History teaches us that as humans we have always experienced disasters. At any given moment, someone somewhere in the world is in the middle of a disaster.
Huge worldwide disasters like the recent pandemic are more widely known and studied because they impact so many, but all disasters have lessons that must be learned to be better able to handle the next one.
For your health, safety and survival, as well as that of your family, take steps now to ensure that you can successfully overcome the unique challenges each disaster creates, including the recent pandemic.
Here are some quick and easy steps you can take to protect your family now. Go to the TACDA Survival Store. I recommend three items in particular.
- WaterBricks: Pure water is essential to survival. Buy WaterBricks to ensure you have pure water for you and your family during and after a disaster. Purchase at least three times the WaterBricks you think you need as pure drinking water disappears very fast in any disaster.
- EMP-Hardened Waterproof Thumb Drive: Most small business go out of business after a disaster not due to the fire, hurricane, flood, etc., but due to a loss of data. This waterproof thumb drive has our disaster courses on 5% of the memory. The other 95% is for your use. Backup your data daily to ensure your business survives. Moms, back up your family medical data, financial records, and all other vital data on a device you can keep in your purse.
- Go Dark Faraday Bag: The Go Dark Faraday Bag for Cell Phones and the Go Dark Faraday Bag for Tablets offer one vital tool to blind the unwanted, intrusive power to monitor, track and control your daily life.
American Disaster History Past
For most of American
history, Americans knew they were on their own when it came to disasters.
As a nation of farmers,
small businesses, and craftsman, they were highly independent problem solvers
in their thinking and lives, including when disaster struck.
They depended on themselves,
their families, and their faith to meet the challenges of feeding, sheltering,
healing, comforting, creating, and building the American Dream.
Even when the American
Dream was an American Nightmare, as when hurricanes, fire, flood, disease, war
and other disasters that hit them hard and fast in the New World, they
responded by rolling up their sleeves and getting it done.
They did what was
necessary not only to survive, but to prevail.
And they instilled the
same philosophy, work ethic and beliefs in their children and grandchildren.
What was the result?
The most freedom,
prosperity and highest living standard ever created.
Americans traditionally
knew they were on their own.
For the past few decades,
the myth that the government would handle the disaster and its impacts for you gained
widespread currency among the American people.
Nothing could be
further from the truth.
You are on your own.
Now, with the pandemic
in the rear-view mirror, you hopefully have figured out that you are on your
own.
Prepare now that supplies
are abundant to prepare yourself and your family for the next disaster.
For a good podcast on the history of civil defense in the United States and especially children, listen to Civil Defense Radio here.
The Big Lessons of the Pandemic
Think back to life in
the United States in December 2019 when the Wuhan Flu was taken by five million
infected Chinese citizens taking flights all over the world spreading it to
millions in over 200 countries.
Your world changed
forever.
Americans woke up to the
reality that a catastrophic disaster, once viewed on their televisions and
smart phones in other nations since World War II, was now in their reality
daily.
Toilet paper, clean
water, abundant food, even their assumption that their health was good and
their lives were long, was suddenly no longer guaranteed.
Americans learned in a
matter of days what the rest of the world knew from birth…that their safety and
security was fleeting, and their safety and security were vulnerable.
As their local, state
and federal governments cast about without a clear direction out or even a cogent
explanation of what was happening, they began to panic.
The elderly were dying
in great numbers and the panic worsened as the media highlighted the worst
fears and provided no solutions.
As just one of many
examples, in Mount Airy, MD where I live the media provided round the clock
coverage of a nursing home nearby where 28 patients died due to incompetence in
the pandemic (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/maryland-imposes-70000-fine-on-nursing-home-where-nearly-all-residents-contracted-covid-19/2020/06/26/a0ece6ee-b7cb-11ea-a8da-693df3d7674a_story.html).
Tools to fight the
pandemic were in short supply.
I know because I had to
take $3,000 of my emergency funds to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE)
from North American Rescue (https://www.narescue.com/all-products.html) for the Mount Airy
Police Department, the State Troopers at the Frederick barracks, and for the
priest who said Last Rites for 28 elderly who died at the nursing home in Mount
Airy.
The governor of
Maryland was before the cameras daily saying he was supplying all the needs for
the public employees and medical community in my state.
He even claimed he went
to South Korea and purchased “South Korean” PPE.
I knew differently as I
knew the people he claimed to be helping and they had nothing at the time.
And when he went to
South Korea, he purchased CCP PPE that had been bought up by the overseas Chinese
buyers who purchase baby formula for Chinese parents as they do not trust the
government providers there given they added table hardener to baby formula over
22 years ago and killed thousands of babies.
Therefore, to this day
baby formula is more valuable than gold or heroin in Red China.
When the governor of
Maryland returned and proclaimed he purchased all the PPE required for the
citizens of Maryland, he was lauded in the media.
But within weeks
reports began to surface that the PPE he purchased from the CCP was highly
defective.
The story quickly went
down the memory hole.
But Americans in
Maryland, like Americans in New York and California and all over the country,
began to question their pre-pandemic beliefs.
They began to learn
that it was a myth that government authorities were:
·
Competent
·
Ready
to care for you
·
Knew
more than they did
·
Would
take care of you
As the months dragged
on and the chaos increased, many Americans came to realized that they were on
their own when it came to their survival.
And that is a good
thing.
For 45 years I have
been trying to educate Americans that good times can become bad times very
quickly.
Maybe 1% of Americans
were previously open to preparing for their own survival.
Now, far more are
willing to do what is necessary to increase their chances of surviving a
natural or manmade disaster.
This has been the
purpose of TACDA since it was founded in 1962.
History and experience
have taught me and many the basic fact although survival is never guaranteed,
it is more likely if you prepare.
When the 2020 pandemic
hit Americans, most had forgotten that fact.
With the pandemic, they
had to adapt and overcome their fears and prior ways to survive.
Many did so in a highly
positive way.
As someone who has
studied disasters my entire adult life, I saw average Americans rally to save
their families and their civilization.
Despite the constant
fear porn the media spews out, Americans made massive strides learning,
adopting, adapting and implementing survival skills.
Some follow.
Americans Realized Supply Lines are Tenuous
Before the pandemic,
most Americans assumed supplies like toilet paper, meat, baby formula, diapers
and other basic necessities would always be abundant.
When the shelves were
stripped in days of such items in early 2020, they were in shock, but quickly
found ways to find what they needed.
They shopped online.
Instead of going to
stores like Cosco that hoarders frequented, they went to a Dollar General and
bought what they needed for their families.
Because no supply chain
can keep up with the endless demand of hoarders, when people were able to find
their basic supplies, or alternatives.
And as for the toilet
paper shortage that everyone experienced and was talking about back in March of
2020, many Americans realized there are alternatives. In other words, they
adapted (for an example, see: https://theprovidentprepper.org/no-toilet-paper-no-problem-14-emergency-alternatives/).
Supply Lines Bent but did not Break…This Time
I did video supply line
testing of grocery stores for the first 7 months of the pandemic.
Initially, there was
total panic. Shoppers cleared out the shelves quickly, much as they do before a
hurricane.
At the retail end,
there were five layers to the supply line pyramid that were subject to extreme
pressure.
First, big box stores
were hit hard. Hoarders stuck hard and fast and cleared out their immediate
inventory in days. Even when the big box stores resupplied, the hoarders
returned and cleaned them out again.
It took them many
months to return their inventory to pre-pandemic levels, but they eventually
accomplished that end.
Second, panic buying by
shoppers cleaned out grocery store shelves. With most items on a three-day
resupply timeline, it was hard for grocers to keep up with inventory. For the
four grocery stores I monitored and filmed, most had serious shortages on
numerous aisles.
Like big box stores,
they could not provide enough basic supplies as each time them did the hoarders
would clean them out. But eventually the grocers were able to restock to meet
the demand.
The third level was
convenience stores that provide so many basic survival items in addition to gas
(coffee, drinks, chicken, refreshments, toiletries, snacks, etc.) to a very
large number of Americans.
They were hit hard
initially until so many Americans began to work from home and ordered food via
apps. (Although food ordering apps can be a quick solution to feeding yourself
and your family at times, they are vulnerable to shut down during disasters.
See, for example, https://tacda.org/chinas-dependence-on-digital-cash-exchange-for-goods-causes-suffering-amidst-power-outages/.)
The fourth level of the
supply line is what I call specialty stores. For example, near me is a well-supplied
meat and fish market (http://www.wagnersmeats.com/) and a fruit and
vegetable factory store (https://mccutcheons.com/factory-store/) .
Both have been there
for decades and supply abundant food basics at a reasonable price. Both,
perhaps because they are family owned, were able to keep up with the increased
demand when shoppers went to them after the big box stores and groceries ran
out of supplies.
The fifth level is the
general store. I monitored the Dollar General (https://stores.dollargeneral.com/md/frederick/11988/) nearby. Perhaps many
shoppers do not know they exist as they have never shopped there, but
everything you need to survive is found there. In my several months of monitory
the supply lines and shelf items at the Dollar General they never ran out of
anything.
Your supply chain will
be unique to your location. Get to know it before the next event so you do not
waste time trying to find items that will only be purchased at another
location.
WARNING: Increasingly,
we are dependent on Red China for everything from critical rare elements for
cell phones and military hardware to inner tubes for our tires to microchips
for our electronic devices. They have been clear that they will cut off our
supply at any time for any reason if they want.
Government Does not Know Best
I worked for many years
to create an emergency operations plan, disaster exercises, continuity of
operations plans, memorandum of understanding and other planning tools for the
mayor and town of Mount Airy, MD.
When the initial panic
hit back in March of 2020, he created a “Disaster Response Team” and put police
tape around the children’s playgrounds.
Despite all my
volunteer work in this area, I was not invited to be on the “Disaster Response
Team” by the mayor, and I figured he had enough going on and did not question
him about it.
However, when I saw his
team wrapped police tape around all the children’s playgrounds and posted
multiple panic warning signs at these playgrounds, I called him.
Keep in mind this was someone
I had written many 9/11 ceremony speeches for, created campaign strategies that
helped him win elected office, and considered a friend until then.
Up to this point we had
even been discussing me acting as a ghost writer for a book we planned called,
“The Best Small-Town Mayor in America.”
“Mayor, what are you
doing to the children? They need sunshine and exercise to get Vitamin D and to
build their immune systems. They need to play and laugh and run around and
enjoy each other socially like normal children. Why did you shut down the
children’s playgrounds? That is the opposite of what they need.”
“That is what the
governor ordered.”
“Why would you listen
to him? He can’t even get PPE to the local police or state troopers. I know
because I just used up my $3,000 emergency funds to buy it from North American
Rescue and gave it to them. And he lies. He said he got PPE from the South
Korean’s but bought it from the CCP.”
“That’s what the
governor ordered.”
“OK. Can I come over
and we can talk about it?”
Remember, this is
someone I knew and worked with and enjoyed for 12 years.
“Not necessary. The
decision has already been made.”
Then he hung up.
Afterwards, he would
not take a call from me or answer my emails.
I bring this up for two
reasons.
First, it is a small
example of how government leaders, local, county, state and federal were making
decisions in a panic mode without thought to short- or long-term consequences.
Such consequences
include that many Americans gained 30 pounds during the pandemic due to lack of
physical activity which in the long run will kill more Americans than the few
who were killed by the pandemic.
Sadly, this includes
our precious children.
Second, it is
representative of millions of government mandatory policies, plans and
directives that were destructive to the health of American children and their
families.
For example, gargling
each day with hydrogen peroxide kills germs, bacteria and viruses and thereby
prevents any coronavirus.
Washing with goat milk
soap, as it has the highest fat content of any soap, melts the coronavirus (https://tacda.org/how-soap-destroys-covid-19/).
Simple solutions like
this were not only censored by Big Media, Big Tech, Big Pharma and Big
Government, but such solutions were mocked and the reputations of anyone who
suggested such easy solutions were destroyed.
Two years into this
pandemic, more and more Americans now realize that their government leaders
failed them.
I believe many
Americans have gone through many of these kinds of experiences during the
pandemic.
As I said…you are on
your own.
Small Changes that in Total are Huge
Think of the plastic
splash guards that are everywhere from convenience to coffee stores these days.
They are just one of
millions of small changes that have happened due to the pandemic.
And many such changes
are positive.
For example, recently I
was at a Mother’s Day dinner with my wife and son.
They had a plastic
barrier between the booths that also acted as a sound barrier.
Where before the loud
diners to beside us would have drown out our conversation, the plastic barriers
allowed us to hear each other and resulted in a more pleasant dinner.
Think about it and you
will identify many such small, but positive, changes due to the pandemic.
Rather than listen to
the continuous negative impacts of the pandemic Big Media pushes 24/7, think
for yourself and you will discover many positives of the pandemic for you, your
family, and your community.
It just takes the
effort to do so.
Independent Schools Grew Exponentially
Because so many parents
of school-age children had to rapidly adapt when the schools closed and the
teachers refused to teach during the pandemic, despite the scientifically and
data proven fact that children do not get or transmit the Wuhan flu, many
decided they could no longer rely on collectivist public education systems.
These parents have
created charter, Christian, private, and home school options in remarkable
numbers (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK5iEkPw0bM).
This is a permanent
change that will have a huge impact on this nation.
What is to be Done
These are a few changes
I noted during the pandemic.
You no doubt have many
others you observed.
The pandemic was a
massive event with many lessons.
I have detailed a few I
learned.
You and your family no
doubt learned others.
What is important is
that Americans were shaken from their belief that disaster on a scale we just
experienced could not happen here.
It did.
I know as I have
distributed over 5,000 business cards to moms, small business owners and others
to help them adapt.
Only 5 people have
refused to take my TACDA business card in the past two years.
That is 3,995 out of my
sample of 3000 who now realize we all must adapt and are open to learning how
to do so for themselves and their families.
TACDA will help you do
that.
TACDA has been
educating Americans about multiple disasters since 1962.
We uploaded four
decades of the Journal of Civil Defense and added search terms in a search
engine optimization field that make it easy for you to research them (https://tacda.org/journal-topic/journal-of-civil-defense/).
Current and recent
issues of the Journal of Civil Defense, like this one you are reading, are full
of ways to learn and prepare for natural and manmade disasters (https://tacda.org/product/the-journal-of-civil-defense/).
We carefully vet and
offer a limited number of survival items in our Survival Store that will help
you and your family (https://tacda.org/the-survival-store/).
To start, I highly
recommend the Waterbricks and the EMP-hardened thumb drive.
With Waterbricks, you
can easily preserve and stack water, the essential survival element. As they
stack, you can use them to create furniture or shelter in an emergency. They
can also be used to store bullets, gold, silver, grain, and other survival
items (https://tacda.org/product/standard-waterbrick-blue-10-pack-3-5-gallon/).
When disaster strikes,
many small businesses go out of business due to data loss, not due to fire,
flood, chemical spill, etc. To store your data daily, try our EMP-hardened
waterproof thumb drive. A perfect gift and great insurance. Comes pre-loaded with all the TACDA coursework resource essentials. (https://tacda.org/product/emp-resistant-waterproof-usb-drive/).
So, prepare now for the
next disaster that is as certain to arrive as the sun tomorrow.
She kept raving about their variety and beauty. She brought me to seem these unusual flowers. Her female capacity to see beauty, as here, stuns me. And seeing the beauty of these flowers led me to write this Christmas letter to my fellow American Veterans.
Flowers can heal. I know this because my wife has taught me this over 38 years of marriage. 
Lessons from Viewing these Poinsettias
Continue your Tradition of Service
You were just a kid when you were in the service.
For example, when I served in the USAF, I did extra duty in emergency management exercises helping to get patients out of the massive hospital at Eglin AFB once a month for hurricane drills.
I have been writing articles for their Journal of Civil Defense for 16 years, suggesting products such as WaterBricks for the Survival Store, and providing leadership, strategy, and guidance.
To honor my MIA Uncle Frank J. Curley, on the back of the card I have a photo of him and his B-24 Braesher Crew that was shot down off HaHa Jima on February 10, 1945.
Forty years ago when I left the USAF, I could not have imagined I would one day be the volunteer vice president of a civil defense charity, but I am. 
When I walked into the nursery, I had a mystical, spiritual revelation about the beauty of these flowers and the beauty of my wife's love bring me there.
I do cyber work. It is hard, and frankly, scary at times knowing the cyber threats this nation faces.
But, lately, I have been writing our Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan. It is hard work as I have to keep many spinning plates in the air while writing the 12 documents that feed into the master plan and they all must relate to each other in that bigger plan.
Sometimes I get too far into it, live in my head, and disconnect from the outside world. And that is where my wife and her ability to make me see the beauty of flowers comes in.
Enjoy Christmas
Keep Christ in your Christmas. Shop, decorate, and give gifts, yes, but mindful that it is Christ's birth and willingness to sacrifice his life for us that creates this beautiful season. Most importantly, take care of your health, mental, physical, and spiritual.
I am tired of early burials of Vets who had so much to give to their families and themselves and this nation still but are no longer with us due to poor decisions. To avoid going early, one tactic you can use to keep yourself young, spry, and intellectually challenged is to do volunteer work. Maybe join me at TACDA. By helping others, you help yourself. It has done wonders for my life. And really look at the flowers.
