There are a number of scenarios we think about as preppers where trauma supplies and skills are important. However, as preppers we tend to head straight for “worst case scenario” when thinking about traumatic injuries and large SHTF injuries, and by doing this we tend to miss the other more likely disaster scenarios.

While there are some “getting home” scenarios, and bugging out scenarios, the odds are we will be in our homes in almost every disaster situation we can think about. Because of this we not only need the trauma supplies (and skills to use them) but we also need to protect ourselves and our homes in an effort to minimize the need for them.

Treating bullet wounds is a very popular topic in the preparedness community, but the truth is, few disaster scenarios involve battle lines and trench warfare. Now before I get a bunch of hate mail, I’m not saying there aren’t other scenarios that involve getting shot at, I’m saying there are other traumatic injuries that deserve the same attention.

SPP265 Trauma and Large SHTF Injuries

Today in the show Lisa and I had Brian Duff from the Mind4Survival podcast on with us to talk about the ins and outs of trauma medicine and for preppers. Brain has an extensive background in trauma medicine including his military experience, and his current employer North American Rescue.

We didn’t cover “trauma supplies” because you can find that information all over the internet, or this article here. Today we went over when and why it might be necessary, and ways to avoid having to use them.

Disclaimer: This may go without saying, but this information is for disaster situations where there is no medical help available. Please be smart and seek professional medical help whenever it’s available, especially in life threatening situations.

Preventing Traumatic Injuries

We talked about this in last weeks show, but staying away (whenever possible) from dangerous situations, and preventing the need for these trauma supplies is just as important as the supplies themselves.

Below are some of the topics we covered in this weeks show, as well as our thoughts on the most likely disaster injuries that would necessitate the need for trauma supplies. I highly suggest you listen to the entire podcast because Brian offers some great advice and is a credible source of information on the topic of trauma medicine.

Home Security: Protecting our home not only protects our supplies, it protects us and our family. Home security includes everything from the perimeter of your property, to inside the front door.

Personal Security: Body armor and self defense are the first things that come to mind with personal security. If you can prevent the need for a chest seal or Quick Clot, you won’t have to deal with the issues that follow.

Preventing Injuries: As Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War and I’m paraphrasing “the best battle is one not fought”. Staying away from preventable situations and staying focused are key. This also includes practice, planning, patience, and not being overconfident.

Situational Awareness: While accidents do happen,

Last week at The Preparedness Experience we did a live video and talked about SHTF wound care, sanitation and cleanliness. This week we want to expand on that a bit and talk about SHTF injuries and prevention for preppers.

Some of you may know that I recently had emergency appendix surgery, and while it isn’t a “major” surgery compared to some others, it is life threatening if not taken care or. This led me to think about what I would do in a SHTF scenario when and if surgery was not an option.

The harsh truth is that there are a number of illness, injuries and preexisting conditions that could be game changers in any sort of disaster scenario. Because of advancements in medicine and technology the average lifespan has doubled in just 100 years. In a SHTF situation, all of that changes.

SPP264 SHTF Injuries and Prevention for Preppers

This weeks show isn’t a “how to survive this or that” type show. As preppers we are trying to find the answer to every question, but the truth is, sometimes there just isn’t an answer. These days when we get sick or injured it’s easy to get the help we need, in a SHTF situation we could find ourselves on our own.

Listener Questions

We started off this weeks show talking about the video about SHTF wound care, sanitation and hygiene we did last Sunday and answered a couple of good questions we didn’t get to that night.

* Crystal: What are the items we should probably be stockpiling that we’re just not thinking of? I have soaps but for general sanitation, do we need cans of Lysol? Lots of bleach? What am I probably not buying??

* John: Thank you both for all that you do. I look forward to your new podcasts each week and you’re both by far my favorite prep related podcasters out there. I appreciate your down to earth approach to prepping while still emphasizing it’s importance.  My question for Lisa is, if you could only grab one first aid / medical supply in an emergency, what would it be and why.

Avoiding Conflict…

We hear all the time about all these trauma supplies and how to stop major bleeding or treat major injuries. While all these supplies are important to have, our focus should be getting out (or away) before these supplies become necessary.

Don’t get me wrong, trauma supplies and skills are very valuable, but just like concealed carry, it’s something we need to have, but hope to never have to use. Our best chance to survive any situation is to stay out of it in the first place.

This is why getting critical intelligence, paying attention to how a situation is unfolding, and planning are so important. By avoiding dangerous situations we can “live to fight another day” as they say.

Unavoidable Injuries or Illness

Having my surgery led me to think about how I would have handled that situation if the S had hit the fan. The truth is, there isn’t an easy answer. How much medical help that would be available all depend on how bad the disaster scenario is, and some conditions require professional medical help.

In the show we talked about what some of the alternative might be, and most are less than desirable. If you are able to have a surgeon in your MAG group that would be ideal, but it doesn’t guarantee anything. Other options include having to travel into areas that you were trying to avoid to seek out medical help.

Unexpected Surprises

A broken rib or sprained ankle at home could be no big deal, but if you are bugging out could be a huge issue. While injuries do happen,

Some of the biggest challenges with preparedness don’t involve bug out bags or long term food storage, sometimes preparing your home and family can be a huge challenge. This week we we’re honored to have Lisa Bedford (The Survival Mom) on with us to talk about some of these challenges at home.

For the few of you who don’t know much about Lisa, she runs the website TheSurvivalMom, has published a few books on preparedness, and is all over the place on social media. Her website is a treasure trove of information for preppers, and covers a wide range of topics.

While her website is focused on the female prepping perspective, there is something for everyone at her website. She also has an archive of shows from the Survival Mom Radio Network which is not active at the moment, but could be revived in the future. 

SPP263 Preparing Your Home & Family With the Survival Mom

When disaster strikes, whether it’s a large, a small or a natural disaster, we all plan to stay put if at all possible. Therefor making sure our homes are ready, and we can safely sustain ourselves for an expended period of time is very important.

Today in the show we had more of a conversation with Lisa rather than a structured interview. We covered a wide range of topics this week about prepping at home including sanitation, getting the family interested in prepping, DIY projects, the importance of skills, and much more.

Topics From the Show…

Below are some of the topics we covered this week in the show, and a few questions our listeners had for Lisa. We went into much more detail about each of these topics, so make sure and listen if you’re out driving, working out, or working in the yard.

Preparing for Natural Disasters: Near the beginning of the show we talked about natural disasters and how they are different for everyone.

Sanitation: Because we are going to basically be trapped in our homes it’s important to keep them safe and clean as possible. (DIY ideas, sickness prevention, waste removal etc…)

Hygiene: Personal hygiene is about more than just not stinking up the house. (normalcy, sanitation, sickness, diy ideas, easy storage etc…)

DIY at Home: There is no shortage of DIY projects that can be done to not only save money, but to learn some recipes that might be useful in a disaster situation. There are cleaning products, essential oils, and much more.

The Female Perspective: Us guys tend to overlook the female side of things, and your needs. While I have both Lisa’s on I figured it would be a good opportunity to talk about how preparing means different things for man and women. (supplies, comfort, normalcy, family, pregnancy, self-defense etc…)

Basic Supplies at Home: Most of the basics are the same, but there are also different needs for different disaster scenarios. (food storage, water storage, cooking options, radios etc…)

Family Emergency Planning: Having an emergency plan is great, but if you are the only one who understands the plan, it won’t be very effective. Let’s go over some ideas for emergency planning, practice, binders etc…

The Importance of Skills: We talked quite a bit about how supplies are important, but skills are much more valuable because they will be around after all the supplies are gone.

Talking to Children about Prepping: Denise asked a question about talking to children about pre...

A few times over the last couple of month’s we have talked about the future of prepping, and how things might look in the next few decades. While the basics of preparedness will always remain the same, how we do it, and what we prepare for may change.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. When you look back over the last 30 years our lives have become much easier, and we can be much more efficient with our time. We also have the ability to learn just about anything without even leaving our homes.

On the flip side of that coin we need to ask ourselves what is the cost of this advancement, and what will society look like here in the United States in the next 20 or 30 years? 

SPP262 Long Term Preparedness With Sara Hathaway

This week Lisa and I welcomed Sara Hathaway back on the show and talked about Socialism, Civil War, and preparing for long term disaster scenarios. For those of you who don’t know Sara, she is the author of the Changing Earth Book series and podcast by the same name.

While Sara is a Prepper Fiction author, there is nothing fiction about her living the preparedness lifestyle. Just listen to her podcast and you’ll see what I mean. I out together an outline of the topics we covered in this weeks show with Sara, but make sure and listen because we went into much more detail about each of these topics.

The Future of America

Even though the culture of the United States seems to be moving in a positive direction (considering the alternative) I think we are still moving towards becoming a more socialist society. Our question for Sara today was what does this mean for the future of preparedness.

It’s human nature to want to help people who have less than us, and as the richest country in the world, why does anyone need to be poor right? When you look at places like Venezuela, or any country that has tried to make socialism work for that matter, you see it always turns out the same.

In the show I talked about a documentary I watched a few years ago called Generation Zero. This documentary goes over why we are in the position we are today. In the documentary they talk about how history has 4 seasons, and we are entering winter.

Civil War?

We hear all the time that we are headed for a civil war, but how likely is that really? Our country is more divided than it has been in a very long time, and I don’t think some sort of civil war is that far fetched. The question to me is what exactly would that civil war look like?

The Economy and National Debt

When we talk about the future of prepping, it all depends on whether we actually get there or not. There are many disaster scenarios that could stop us in our tracks including world conflicts, nuclear war, and EMP’s, but the elephant in the room is our economy.

Ways to Become Better Prepared (Long Term)

In the second half of the show we talked about what preparing for long term disaster scenarios might look like. How everything unfolds in a SHTF scenario is very situation dependent, but it all boils down to survival.

I recently had Jonathan Hollerman and

This week Lisa and I have Kevin back on to finish off our list of 16 prepping medical myths. Last week in part 1 of this 2 part podcast we went over myths about dead bodies, suturing, and some snake bite myths.

As I mentioned last week, there is a lot of misinformation out there, and it’s our responsibility to figure out what is correct, and what is misleading. A survival situation is no place to find out the person in that video you watched was full of crap.

SPP261 Prepping Medical Myths Part 2

People Fainting: in the show Lisa and Kevin talked about how to treat someone who has fainted. Lisa talked about the Trendelenburg position which is basically elevating the feet, and Kevin talked about laying someone on their left side may be effective.

Cough When Having Heart Attack: I personally have never heard this myth, but the thought behind it is that is that is sort of “kick starts” the heart for lack of a better term. Always look for the signs of a heart attack, and know what to do.

Drinking Your Own Pee: This is a myth made popular by some of the survival shows on TV. The truth is, if you find yourself in the situation where this becomes an option, you are in dire straights. Drinking your own pee does nothing for hydration, and there is a reason your body is getting rid of it.

Tampons For Bullet Wounds: this is one that I see all over the place, and while some people are bound to disagree, it’s not a good idea. Read this thread on the SurvivalistBoards which explains why.

Be Cautious of Facebook Posts: This may very well go without saying, but I see it all the time, and I know you have too. People on social media post things they have no idea about. If they see something that “looks like it would work” they hit share button.

Something in Mouth For Seizure:  A popular myth about seizures is someone can choke on their tongue. Not only is this untrue, it’s a good way to lose a finger. Your main concern should be protect their head from being injured.

Poke the Finger for Stroke Victim: This seems like old school blood letting to me, but the theory behind this is reducing the blood pressure. The problem with this is that you are wasting valuable time, and it is completely ineffective.

Eating Snow for Hydration: This one isn’t so much a myth as a misconception. Eating snow can cause small cuts and lacerations in the mouth, and also decrease your core body temperature. While it’s a good idea to melt the snow if you can, the pro’s far outweigh the cons in a survival situation.

Lean Head Back to Stop a Nose Bleed: Because I was taught this as a child, it’s almost instinctual to tilt my head back when I get a nose bleed. A more effective method is to apply pressure just below the nose and above the top lip. This puts pressure on the part of your nose that’s bleeding and can make the blood stop flowing.

People who didn’t live through the 80’s and 90’s probably look back and say “how did they ever survive”. Kids drank from garden hoses, we played cowboys and Indians, and when you needed to learn about something, you went to what was called a library and read a book.

These days because of YouTube University and Social Media you can “learn” just about anything. While it’s great that the answer to almost any question is right at our finger tips (don’t believe me? Google it) it’s our responsibility to make sure we are getting the correct answer.

In the 90’s “going viral” meant something totally different than it does today. Today anything can go viral on social media, and how true it is becomes an afterthought. As the saying often attributed to Nazi Joseph Goebbels goes “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth”.

While Goebbels was talking about propaganda, the same holds true on a smaller level when people are passing on information that they just learned. It’s much easier to hit the share button and move on, than it is to do a little research on that topic. 

SPP260 Medical Prepping Myths Part 1

This week in the show Lisa and I have Kevin Reiter on with us going over some medical myths that have made their way throughout the preparedness community. We had such a great conversation that we had to split the show into 2 parts.

This week we go over 7 medical myths, and next week we cover the final 9 we had on our lists. Actually, Kevin had quite a few more, so we may have him on in the future to finish things off.

Snake Bite Myths

It seems that there are more snake bite myths that I thought there were. So many in fact, that we forgot about a couple, and talked about them in part 2 of the podcast. This week we went over why you shouldn’t suck the venom out if someone is bitten, why using a tourniquet is a bad idea, and what to do if you are bit.

Should You Pop That Blister?

Lisa talked about why it’s important to keep a blister intact to prevent possible infection. While this is true, it’s easier said than done to keep a blister from popping. The reason behind this is that the “roof” of a blister is a barrier from outside contaminants.

Silvasorb VS Triple Antibiotics

Anyone who has listened to our show has probably heard Lisa talk about why we shouldn’t rely on triple antibiotics. The main reason is the overuse of antibiotics, and because it is so widely used it’s becoming ineffective. In the show She talked about how Silvasorb works. Silvasorb is a little expensive, and Lisa also mentioned how the lower cost silver jels work just fine.

Dead Bodies & Disease

When we think about large scale disaster we think about disease and sanitation. The truth is, a living body is more dangerous than a dead body. The issues arise when that dead body is allowed to decompose, bringing in pests and other microorganisms. As Selco mentioned in this podcast, he was more worried about the people that were still alive.

At times it can be difficult to explain to your children of family members how important prepping and being prepared is. With the world the way it is today, and all the different potentially catastrophic scenarios we face, we know we can’t afford to sit around with our fingers crossed, but how do we convey that to our loved ones? How do you explain the importance of a situation to someone, so they understand it?

Have you ever gotten that condescending stare from your children when you try to explain why you have so much food and water stored? I have. Sometimes the looks you get from teenagers can drive you nuts because it feels like you are talking to a brick wall, or you get “the blank stare” which basically means they are only listening to you because they must, and they’re probably not listening at all.

The principals of getting someone’s buy in do not just apply to family and prepping, these principles can be applied in business or your personal life as well. It’s important to remember that not everyone thinks the same way we do, and we need to take that into account while speaking to them.

Basically, we need to take a look at ourselves and “teach ourselves” before we can effectively teach our loved ones to become more involved in prepping and preparing for their future. We need to try and understand “why we do what we do.” Why we get so frustrated when they don’t see things the way we see them, something that concerns us like our governments over spending might not be a concern for them.

SPP259 Getting the Family Onboard with Prepping

While there is not exact blueprint to get your family on boar with prepping, there are some things you can do to increase your odds. This week Lisa and I talked about some ways we can bring up the subject of preparedness with our family, and hopefully get some buy in.

We Are the Authors of Our Own Frustration

As Capt. Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean) said “The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem.”

When we let external situations determine the choices we make, we get frustrated, and frustration shapes our behavior. When we get frustrated, without even knowing it we are giving our children control over us (they are good at this by the way.)

A child’s field of experience is much different than ours, and when your young you believe you’re invincible. Children don’t understand what losing a job or supporting a family is like because they have never had to. They don’t understand that we could lose everything in an instant and our lives could be turned upside down. They don’t understand because they don’t have to. Everything is provided for them (like some of the entitleists today.)

Here is an example: let’s say I tell my 8 year old son that he needs to put his shoes where they go and not to just leave them lying around the house. Then he proceeds to throw them across the room towards the front door, where the rest of us put our shoes. Here comes the frustration! I proceed to tell him what the rules are, how we don’t throw stuff around the house, how I pay the bills and do the cleaning and maintenance. Do you think he really cares or understands why I am frustrated? Nope! Because he is 8 he has a completely different outlook on life than I do, he doesn’t care about bills, he just knows the lights work.

But because I got frustrated I lost sight of my main goal “put your shoes by the door” and started yelling about how lazy that was. I ended up getting into a debate with an 8 year old. If I had chosen my attitude and made a conscious decision to not “freak out” in the beginning, I probably could have explained my perspective or “spoke to his listening” a little better.

We control our outlook; we control how we choose to react. Until we make a conscious decision to not let fru...

As preppers, some of us have an uneasy feeling from time to time about how prepared we are, compared to how prepared we need to be. To me this seems completely natural, especially when you consider how things change daily, and how some of these disaster scenarios increase or decrease on our threat radar.

This leads to the age-old question “Is there really a right way to be prepared?” If you don’t have a years’ worth of food stored, if you don’t have a bug out location, or if you don’t have 10,000 rounds of ammunition and 20 guns, should you just give up?

We all hear stories about hardcore preppers online and on TV. Those people that seem to have everything figured out and are working on their next big prepping venture. There are even those that seem to have more money than sense and own fully stocked “luxury” doomsday bunkers just because they can.

While we should all strive to be as “hard core” as we can, it just isn’t possible for most people. That is to say, it isn’t possible short term. Most of us would love to buy a house in the middle of nowhere, with a complete “off the grid” setup, but that usually takes years’ worth of planning and saving.

Another problem with living in a rural area is driving to work. Companies tend to be in urban or suburban areas. Driving 2 hours to work each day would not only be a major hassle, it would be expensive. It also means that for 4 hours a day you on the roads and putting yourself at risk.

For some of us, becoming better prepared is a long process, and a series of small steps in the right direction. Just because we aren’t that “hardcore” prepper right now doesn’t mean we should just give up and stop prepping. Prepping should be a lifestyle choice, and an ongoing process.

SPP258 Is There a “Right” Way to Be a Prepper?

This week Lisa and I talked about why it’s impossible for everyone to get to the “internet approved” preparedness level. Each of us is different, therefore we can only work within our boundaries and become as prepared as we possibly can.

Common Prepping Challenges

Geographic Restrictions: Most of us have jobs we go to everyday, and where we work usually dictate where we live. My guess is that around 70% of preppers live in a suburban environment, and this is because it’s out of the city, but close enough to work.

Legal Restrictions: Depending on where you live there could be zoning laws that restrict your prepping ability. States and counties have laws telling us what we can and cant do, and your subdivision can even tell you how to landscape, and what kind of car you can have parked on the street.

Another legal restriction is felonies. Anyone with a felony cannot legally own a firearm meaning they need to figure out alternatives for home and self defense.

Family Restrictions: There are many factors that come into play when it comes to family and prepping. Some people have very young children, some have many children. Some people take care of their elderly parents, and even family members with disabilities.

Being the only family member interested in preparedness is also a huge problem for many preppers. Being the “lone Prepper” makes makes everything much more difficult. Not only do they have to take everything into their own hands, they need to go even further, and plan for the unprepared family members.

Financial Restrictions: Money plays a role in preparedness no matter how much you have.

With technology advancing on a seemingly daily basis, and with everything being connected to everything, cyber security for preppers is becoming increasingly important. With governments and companies gathering your data, and tracking every move you make, and hackers trying to take every dime you have, protecting ourselves is a full time job.

Last week we talked about how the future of prepping is changing. Technology, artificial intelligence and automation are a major part of that. The problem with how quickly we are advancing with technology, is that security is always one step behind innovation. 

SPP257 Cyber Security for Preppers

This week I had a great guest on to talk about some things preppers should be thinking about when it comes to cyber security. James has been in the I.T. and security field for 15 years, and has some great incites about how to keep our information safe.

Below are some of the topics and questions we covered in this weeks show, and also some questions I received from our listeners.

We went over some of the basic cyber threats like phishing, malware, ransomware, and how these threats are changing. James mentioned that the I.T. field is a constant cat and mouse game where hackers find a vulnerability, and security experts try to fix it.

We hear all the time that apple is more secure than windows, is this true? Or is it because apple has a smaller market share? Basically, is there a “best” operating system to use?

With everything being connected, and everything being computerized, how do you see these threats evolving in the future?

Last week Lisa and I talked about future warfare being different. This week I asked James about how technology and hacking could cause that, and cyber warfare in general.

Protecting your Phone

Shawn asked a few questions about how to increase privacy on smart phones. Should we put tape over our phone cameras? Any tips on more secure internet browsing on smart phones? What’s the best private encrypted messaging app?

Is an antivirus on a cell phone necessary? James’s answer to this was interesting because it seems that an antivirus is more necessary on an Android phone than an Apple phone.

Operational Security online

Towards the end of the show we went over some do’s and don’ts of online browsing, social media, and making purchases online. Some of this is common sense, but doesn’t get done as often as it should.

Listener Questions

Here are a few other really good questions from the listeners.

Jeff: Is it worth paying for anti-virus or is a free one enough?

Andrew: What’s the most secure browser (if there is one)? What’s a good method for secure passwords? Is there any way to better mask my card online?

Brad: With corporations, credit companies and even governments getting hacked, isn’t the term “Cyber Security” an oxymoron? Especially at our level of usage.

Angelo: Thought on TOR (dark web) browsers?

Jason: Do VPN’s really offer secure connections? A VPN is a Virtual Private Network.

Closing Thoughts…

The world we live in these days means there is no way to be completely “off the grid”, but this doesn’t mean we are completely defenseless. While it is almost impossible to be “offline” there are some things we can do for security, and even some things we do that put us at risk.

The game is changing on a regular basis, and it up to us to stay ahead of the curve. This means paying attention to where technology is heading, and being proactive with our online security and privacy.

As things seem to get worse around the globe and right here at home, our urgency to be better prepared escalates daily. With social, economic, and political divides, with world conflicts, and with our national debt, it seems that something is going to give.

Let’s imagine for a second that nothing major happens in the next 20 to 50 years. What does the future hold for the U.S. and the rest of the world? How will A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) affect our lives, and where is the changing culture of the United States heading?

The Face of Preparedness is Changing

As they say “the more things change, the more they stay the same”. When push comes to shove, the basics of preparedness and survival remain the same, how we get to that point could be different in the future. While technology is great, it also opens us up to new types of threats.

We are becoming more and more dependent on technology and automation as the days go by, and this is both a good and a bad thing. Life is much easier than it was 20 or 30 years ago, but at what cost? 

SPP256 Artificial Intelligence, Family Values & Propaganda

This week Lisa and I talked about what the future might have in store for us as preppers. As quickly as people and technology is advancing and “evolving” these days, our culture is changing, and criminals are becoming more high tech.

Creature of Habit

In the show we talked about how easily we fall prey to propaganda, and how propaganda isn’t what it used to be. Gone are the days of political propaganda posters. These days it’s more subtle, and far more effective.

The majority of people are sheep, and will move along with the other sheep in order to not stand out. The media is the sheepdog that moves the herd where it wants it to go. Unfortunately all the sheep thrust this sheepdog, even if it is leading them to the slaughter.

We blame Facebook, YouTube and the MSM (Main Stream Media) for filtering out conservative voices, but the truth is, these are private companies, and have the right to do business as they choose. The issue that should concern us is when the alphabet agencies and government get involved.

Loss of Family Values

These days there is quite a bit of debate about why there is so much violence. Instead of looking for the root cause, people just want to ban this and ban that. These types of things didn’t happen as often 30 or 40 years ago, so what has changed?

In the show we discussed some of the reasons that could contribute to this, and where our culture could be headed in the future, here are a couple things we discussed.

Loss of God in the Family: At the very least, the bible is a great guide book on being a good person, unfortunately people are being told that if you believe in God, you might as well believe in magic. People have the “what’s in it for me” mentality these days, and God doesn’t fit into that equation.

No Parenting: There is a severe lack of good parents these days, and because of that children are learning from other children on social media. Children and teenagers make bad decisions all the time, that’s how they learn and grow, but It’s our job as parents to kick them in the butt when they do.

No Value for Human Life: At the risk of sounding like an old fogy, it seems that social media, Hollywood and video games have made murder seem acceptable. With good parenting, this may not be a huge issue, but when you add loss of God, loss of family and bad parenting,