Together, we do a little time travel to learn lessons from the past. I’ll share 5 lessons I’ve learned from 15 years in survival preparedness. These are the things I wish I could go back and tell myself. And even if you've been at it a while, you may find some helpful insights and mindsets from these prepper lessons.

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As a side note: The title of this episode is 5 lessons from 15-Years. I can’t say when I really got serious about prep. The show started in 2010, but I think this all started in 2003. By started I mean where this started to be something I thought about and engaged in daily.

Comment on this episode and let me know if you’d like a part two. I came up with 15 in total, but we’re just going to do 5 today. Again, comment to let me know if you liked this episode and want the other 10 things.

1. You can't become a Swiss Army knife; you'll just wear yourself out
2. Answers need context and nuance
3. Planning and Prepping For TEOTWAWKI is a recipe for disaster and burnout
4. You can't force your partner into prep
5. Everything needs immediate ROI; in the beginning

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Author Arthur Bradley drops by to share with us how and why he made The Survivalist series for you.

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Arthur Bradley is a NASA engineer by day and a prepper author by night. (A real NASA engineer, not like the sort of nonsense Jonathan Jason and myself used to tell women.)

This isn't just a cool side-note. His vocation shapes the fiction he writes: Facts and realism play a key role.

And there's a much deeper reason Bradley has all the potential to be a great prepper author. But we'll get into that in the episode.

Beyond NASA and the fiction books, he's also written a several non-fiction survival related book. And he's something of an expert on EMPs.

From his bio:

His "Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family" has been featured in the New York Times, Money magazine, the Toronto Sun, Popular Mechanics, Men's Journal, the Costco Connection. The handbook is widely recognized as the gold standard of family preparedness manuals.

• How he came to preparedness
• How he came to writing before The Survivalist series
• The authors who influence him
• His favorite books
• The disaster type that keeps him up at night
• The inspiration for The Survivalist series
• Is he telling a great story, teaching through a story, or both
• Why he chose to write a Pandemic scenario book rather than an EMP book
• His most important piece of survival gear
• His go-to rifle of choice
• The heartwarming story about the best $100 he never spent

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We discuss whether or not arming teachers with guns is the best answer to stopping school shootings. The question is more complex than it appears. And, so is the answer.

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• Why Samuel L Jackson should stick to what he knows
• The red herring argument against arming teachers
• How many teachers would really be up for arming teachers
• Who's going to pay for training and ammunition
• What if a teacher leaves a gun where it's accessible to students
• How do we handle teacher liability in an accidental shooting incident
• Developing intelligent ways of disarming the mentally disturbed and incompetent
• Employing less lethal ways to deter and defend schools from mass shooters
• All the ways we protect things with guns, so why not the kids
• Why complex problems cannot be solved with singular solutions

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Michael Bazzel drops in to discuss Open Source Intelligence. He shares with some extremely creepy things people can find out about you from the internet. And we’ll discuss how to cleans them.

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Open Source Intelligence, or OSINT as it is often referred to, is anything information openly obtainable. Now, this doesn't sound very sexy. But this might be because you haven't heard just how much personal information about you can be pulled off the internet.

It's downright creepy and terrifying in some cases!

Imagine using deadly force to defend your life. Then, after, by the time you get home, the media is camped out on your lawn and won't go away.

And image someone wanted to track you, your spouse, or even your children down. Everything they need to know to plan and execute something bad may be already floating in cyberspace without you knowing. Are you so sure you're safe?

We'll cover what's out there and what you can do about it in this episode...

• What is Open Source Intelligence?
• How is it different than say a general searching on the internet?
• Why should us normal people care?
• When we say sensitive details, how sensitive are we talking?
• Why do the upfront work and not just take care of cleansing the web if something comes up?
• What can we do to protect ourselves from people using OSINT offensively on us?
• Can you remove all personal information from the internet?
• What skills are required and how hard is this for the everyday person with a job, kids, dog, and zombie platypus apocalypse to plan for?
• Can you use this vulnerably of personal information to an advantage and say do offensive research?

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Rhodes of Iron Edison drops back in. He shares with us the fundamentals of an off-grid solar system. You'll get the basics of what you need to know to start planning solar power for your bug out location or "vacation cabin".

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Retrofitting or building an off-grid home can be very confusing, especially when it comes to how to get electricity. (And don't we have enough to fool with preparing for whatever comes next?)

There's so much to consider preppers often threw up their hands in frustration. And they then put the entire topic off for another day. This then holds them back from they're goal of getting a bug out location or bug out vacation home.

And done incorrectly, whether to large or too small, can be a budget killer. Building a battery-powered home with solar or other alternative energies is already a big expense. The project requires care and careful planning.

But the fundaments of an off-grid solar system are relatively easy to grasp. It just takes someone with in-depth knowledge to break it down into bite-sized easy to understand parts. And they need to be someone who can keep us out of the necessary weeks.

Fortunately, we know a guy.

So Rhodes is back to give us just that: An easy to understand fundamentals episode.

• Building a bug out location or viewing this as a vacation cabin, which is the best way to think about this
• Breaking off-grid solar systems down into it's three major parts
• The one major mindset that will change the way you understand off-grid homes
• The process of determining loads
• How to size batteries
• The upside down lease with bad math
• Lead Acid Batteries
• Lithium Iron Batteries
• Nickel Iron Batteries
• Determining how big of a solar system is right for you
• Estimating loads

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Jill Powell of Remanent Canine 360 drops back by to share with how to take care of your SHTF Dog should the world go mad. You learn all about seldom discussed food storage and medicine for dogs.

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Your SHTF dog could be one of your top assets in a world gone off the rails. Their senses are way better than ours for finding and warning you about a danger. Many will fight to the death to protect you and your family. And, let's face it, they're more loyal than anyone in your prepper group.

Preppers spend endless hours and dollars putting things away for themselves. And we've discussed training your prepper SHTF Dog to be an asset in the past.

But what about storing food and medicine for them?

Our lack of preparation for them could turn an asset into a liability. So let's dive into our companion's needs a bit more to ensure they're survival too.

• The crazy truth about storing dog food in the original bag
• How long does dog food stay good for when properly put way
• The best way to store dog food for short and long-term use
  • Dry Kibble
  • Canned Food
• Their three most common first-aid needs
• Basic medical supplies to pack away for your best friend and personal protection dog
• Alternative medicine and first aid items for your SHTF dog
• Other items to consider for your dog's BOB

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Jonathan Hollerman stops back by to discuss his book series Equipping Modern Patriots. We cover everything from him as an author to his biggest prepper fiction pet peeve.

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From the episode 237, you know Jonathan as the former Air-force SERE instructor turned survival retreat consultant. He takes a hard look at preparedness and judges strategies and techniques against his experience seeing some of the worse human traits in action.

And he's made it his personal mission to teach others how to prepare for the worst-case scenarios. As we covered previously, he's written a nonfiction manual.

But he's also written a fiction series titled Equipping Modern Patriots. In his book series, he takes you on a journey in order to teach readers survival lessons. These are the aspects of survival he feels are most important and overlooked. Most notably is human desperation and how good people can do horrible atrocities.

• How he came to writing
• Illustrating the hard choices people must make in a collapse
• Lessons learned as a SERE instructor and woven into his fiction books
• Hollerman's thoughts on what's wrong with most prepper fiction
• What one piece of equipment
• The biggest thing he believes most preppers get wrong
• Aspects of his preparedness that changed after writing this series
• His prepper fiction author pet peeve
• His go-to rifle and why

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Justin Carrol drops by to discuss several tinfoil hat ways to protect your identity and make you safer for 2018. We cover buying and setting up anonymous phones, cars, mailboxes, and land. And that's just the start.

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We often speak of becoming a hard target. There are past episodes on guns, martial arts, mindsets, physical security, homes, and bug out locations.

In addition, we've also spoken a length about hardening your life against the black swan events. These include everything from your financial life to life after a societal collapse.

But what about marking your data a hard target to protect your identity?

Did you know you're leaving a trail everywhere you go?

Identity protection isn't just for the paranoid. But remember the old expression: Just because your paranoid doesn't mean no one is watching you.

If you're new, Justin is a privacy and security expert with a long history of government service. As a result, he's made it his life's mission to become, as he says, impenetrable and anonymous.

Some of these will seem right out of a Jason Bourne movie. And they will all be just as much fun. So it's time to dig in and erase yourself from the system.

• Securing your cell phone to protect your identity
• Getting an anonymous phone
• Using Faraday bags to protect your smartphone
• Using "burner" phone numbers
• Getting nomad status
• The only states you can get nomad status in
• Using mail forwarding services - PMB (Personal Mailbox) Services
• Making your driver's license safe
• Buying property anonymously and without your name being tied to it
• Using a land trust
• Buying a vehicle anonymously and without your name being associated with it

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Rhodes Carter of Iron Edison stops by to discuss the basics of solar power. We cover everything you need to know to start your journey and one big scam you should avoid.

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Alternative energy is all the rage these days. Buring the liquified or charred remains of dead dinosaurs is so last century.

Preppers have wished upon a star to give them energy production for a long time now. The reason was simple: We want energy independence and self-sufficiency! And it's just about the only way we're going to power our BOL when the zombies march, right? (OK... there's that cold fusion reactor, but that's not happening tomorrow.)

Solar power simply wasn't realistically a viable option for the last few decades, sadly. The equipment to build a system to juice up our power hungry lives was too expensive. The efficiency didn't make sense. And it didn't produce enough electricity to meet the demands of most people.

However, things are rapidly changing in the world of solar power. And we may be at the point where this type of alternative energy production verges on what most people hoped it would grow into.

But figuring out the different types of systems and what you need is as confusing as a football bat. You'll need to figure out your loads, wire sizes, volts, watts, amp hours, batteries, battery chemistry, panel sizes, and on, and on.

The worst part is most of the information reads like drunk engineers hastily wrote it. (English may also be a second language just to make things more exciting.)

Fortunately, Rhodes joins us to give us a primer and promise to take us all the way... 

• Are we there yet with solar
• Where do the real costs come in
• Grid-tied Solar Systems
• Off-grid Solar Systems
• Hybrid Solar Power Systems
• Are batteries getting cheaper?
• Use in remote Bug Out Locations
• The upside down lease with bad math
• Lead Acid Batteries
• Lithium Iron Batteries
• Nickle Iron Batteries

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James Price drops by the studio to whip you into shape for the new year. We discuss what the habits that the best shooters and professional chefs both share.

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Many people watch in awe and wonder as the best shooters in the world work. These top performers seem to glide through courses of fire with ease. Long time listeners will often hear us refer to this as tactical ballet.

And if you ever watch the best chefs in the world, you'll notice they seem to dance around a kitchen. All their movements are fluid, efficient, and purposeful.

But there's more than a surface-deep correlation between the best shooters 'dumping mags in fools' and chefs baking a perfect soufflé.

The commonality is this: They attain unconscious competence by turning skills into habits. And it all starts with a mastery of the basics.

James explains in more depth with some great takeaways for you in this episode...

• The surprising origins of the CIA (Culinary Institute of America)
• The only way to reach skill perfection
• Innovation through refinement
• Weird trivia about the movie To Catch a Thief
• The stupidity of muscle memory and what unconscious competence really is
• Why the basics of any field are crucial to learn and commit to the point where they are a habit
• Being able to pull out the best parts and adopt new skill from trainers
• Cooking fish while running and gunning
• Mise en place - everything in its place in cooking and tactical applications
• The finite ability to think while in a stressful situation
• How cleaning up saves lives
• Always ending a day and training correctly
• Lessons from that time a co-worker of James' yawned during a shootout
• Making and using tactical recipes
• How back briefs - repeating information back - saves lives
• Learning the value of showing respect and keeping an open mind in order to learn
• Taking responsibility to the extreme

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