Author: Pat Henry

For many of us it is back to work or school today. No more days of sleeping in and staying up too late for me. It’s funny how easily I can ignore the dawn when I don’t really have to get out of bed but the alarm clock and a return to normality this morning put an end to all of that. The dog even looked at me strange as she too had become accustomed to sleeping in way past our normal rising time, when I opened her kennel this morning. It will take a few days of getting back…

One of the many questions we seem to encounter on the Prepper Journal from people new to prepping centers on tips for how to deal with our detractors. You all have at least one of them in your life; those people who for one reason or another think your idea of prepping is stupid. Either that or they believe some aspect of what you are preparing for or perhaps how you are prepping is out of phase with their version of reality. In some cases, these people who don’t feel the same importance we place on prepping are our loved…

I believe that all things being equal, the best defensive weapons you can own are firearms and with that I mind I want to discuss what I recommend everyone have if you are considering a firearm as part of your preparedness strategy.

I want to thank everyone who entered the EDC Gear contest and apologize for being tardy on announcing the winner. The winner of this contest is Vagabond received their Amazon gift card already. Look below to see what Vagabond carries every day. Gear List by Vagabond  Wallet by Dickies, It can include a wallet chain in less desirable areas.  Maui Jim sunglasses  Button compass  Gerber Paraframe knife  Glock 19, used with a Hot Shots holster (not pictured)  Keys to the Bug out Jeep  ResQMe car escape tool and seat-belt cutter  Klarus Mi10 flashlight (AAA batt).  This thing is bright…

In just a couple of weeks a lot of you are going to be making New Year’s resolutions and according to our good old government (not sure why they have to have a web page to tell us this) the most common resolution is to lose weight. This is a great goal for a lot of people but as preppers we can look at this another way too. Maybe it’s time to trim some pounds off your Bug Out Bag and save your back in the process. For a lot of us, the mythical – perfect bug out bag is…

Since I started prepping officially back in late 2007 I have made quite a few purchases. Some of these have been incremental, single purchases, and some have been raids of the local Walmart or Sam’s Club to buy a ton of items in one trip. When I do get to make trips like this I usually come out of the stores with bags of items and have to put them somewhere. In the past, I would try to incorporate my prepping supplies into the rest of my household items thinking that by doing this I would enable a good rotation…

The UN’s Arms Trade Treaty which covers everything from small arms to battle tanks, combat aircraft and warships – will enter into force on 24 December 2014, Christmas Eve. This treaty has not been ratified by our Congress but has the support of our Secretary of State, John Kerry who signed it and our President, who without expressly mentioning the treaty, said in a speech at the UN in September that all nations “must meet our responsibility to observe and enforce international norms.” The problem with that statement and this treaty is that we the people aren’t in control of…

“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.” – Winston Churchill Imagine a world in which you are unable to sleep soundly in your bed at night. Imagine those rough men are gone, perhaps they are too far away, or are no longer able or willing to visit violence on your behalf. What if the rough men are no longer standing ready to protect you, but instead are standing by ready to incarcerate you? What if a government agency has labeled you as a…

Have you ever uttered these words or simply thought them to yourself? Have you maybe been talking to someone online or reading the comments on your favorite prepping site’s latest article and thought that the person commenting was an idiot for what they said their main concerns about the world were and their reasons for getting prepared? From time to time I will write about a topic and although the comments are 99.5% positive (almost unheard of nowadays) there are times when someone will mock either a commenter on an article, or what I wrote specifically. They will essentially say…

I love the cooler weather and I have been asking for the temperatures to drop for what seems like several months now. Almost without exception when I pine about wanting to see snow or looking for temps in the single digits everyone within earshot tells me I am crazy. Now, don’t get me wrong; I like the spring too and summer in the right situation is great. Lounging by the pool, lake or ocean is nice and I enjoy warm nights where you can go outside in nothing but shorts and short sleeves. I do not like Mosquitoes though and…

Editors Note: This video is courtesy of InfoWars.com and discusses concerns with Facebook’s planned privacy policy update that is going into effect on Jan 1st. 2015. Yes, I am on Facebook and their are links to Facebook on this site for liking and sharing. For a very long time I resisted any connection with Facebook. Most of my friends and family are on Facebook but I do not have a ‘personal’ account. The only reason I opened a Facebook account was to share the Prepper Journal posts and hopefully reach a larger audience. The announcement from Facebook highlights additional ways…

The 5th Edition of The Preparedness Review (Winter 2014) has been released!  TPR5 contains 18 articles, 67 pages of great preparedness content!!!  The file size is a little over 2.4mb. The Preparedness Review is a quarterly magazine filled with great articles from prepper bloggers from all spheres of influence and schools of thought. TPR is run by Todd Sepulveda who also runs the excellent PrepperWebsite.com which features dozens of the best prepper articles every week. Here are the articles you can download in PDF format for free: How to Make a Live Capture Box Trap and Trigger System Box –…

In my quest to think of creative (hopefully) ideas for articles on the Prepper Journal, I try to pull inspiration from a lot of places. Certainly my own efforts at prepping give me experiences that I can use to share information but I also read books, magazines, watch movies and TV shows and anytime I see something that I think would make an interesting or useful post idea, I write it down. There is a note page on my phone specifically geared toward post ideas I have had over the last almost two years now, and as I write on…

Jack Frost nipping at your nose? Well, it’s that time of year to worry about getting nipped too hard by our cold natured friend. The colder weather makes me think of issues that I have to watch out for and one of them is frostbite. Frostbite can affect anyone and you don’t have to hike all the way up Mount Everest to feel its effects. As we think of prepping, one aspect we prepare for is bugging out or being without shelter due to societal collapse, natural weather event or some other calamity that causes major upheaval. With winter temperatures…

This post might get some push-back from my military service friends but I welcome the comments. I have been meaning to write about various holster options for a while and what I believe based upon my experiences with holsters I own and my perceptions of various factors in a grid down situation. I decided to pull out three holsters I own and give my ideas behind their strengths and weaknesses as well as where I see them most likely being used in a grid down situation. This might help you select the right holster for your prepping needs. A Tale…

Bugging out to the hills is a plan during a SHTF event for a lot of preppers and we spend hours planning out what items to pack in our bug out bags. In the arc of prepping; after procuring food and water, it seems the natural focus of many preppers is the bug out bag. I think this is because the idea of having a bag filled with supplies that you can throw on your back and run out the door makes sense for most people. You can envision the last natural disaster you watched unfold on TV and picture…

Preppers and Survivalists. We throw those terms around to describe two very different groups of people. At first blush, the people who seem to align themselves with the term survivalist are seeking ways of living with virtually no assistance whatsoever. Survivalists of today and even the more distant past pride themselves on being able to make fire from primitive methods, create snares to catch small game or recognize edible plants that can be eaten or used for medicinal purposes. These are tremendously valuable skills. Our forefathers who set out to claim virgin land for themselves in the untouched wilderness of…

As we head into another weekend I am burdened by the same thoughts I have had for years when confronted with the latest political news pouring out of the media. The President has just declared an executive order that will allow for up to 5 million illegal aliens to stay in our country. I won’t debate the legal issues with this proclamation. I won’t argue over the times other presidents have signed executive orders and I won’t blame one side of the political fence any more than another. What I will say is that our country is doomed and this…

Bug Out Essentials to help you survive during and after any disaster If I only had a … Have you ever caught yourself saying that? I don’t mean when you are sitting in the living room watching a football game and the commercials for the Big Screen TV sale coming up on Black Friday start to play non-stop. No, I mean when you are out away from home or in a situation where you can’t just walk down to the basement or out to the shed to grab that special tool that you need. When you are out hiking in…

As a Prepper, I am constantly looking to see how my gear can support me in various situations and whether what I have should be rethought or improved upon in some way. Over the years this process of evaluating and reevaluating options has taught me lessons about what works and what doesn’t for me at least personally. My Bug Out Bag has been the main source of churn for lack of a better word in my prepping efforts as I tried various items on backpacking trips. When you haul the gear you think will save your life around for a…

It is the sound that almost everyone fears at some point. ‘That noise’ you hear while you are in bed that doesn’t sound right. I don’t know how many times I have been in bed with my wife and we will hear something and she will say ‘What was that’? Already, my ears are perked up and I am trying to figure out mentally what that sound was. In some cases it is perfectly normal like my daughter dropping what sounds like a 50 pound brick on the floor upstairs. Other times it may be outside or isn’t something I…

Everyone makes mistakes, but when it comes to Prepping, all of our efforts are directed toward actions that are designed to either keep us safer, prolong our lives or stave off some disaster that could be prevented with a little foresight and planning. When it comes to survival, mistakes can kill you and that is the last thing we want to happen isn’t it? In this article I wanted to discuss some common prepping mistakes that I have seen over the years and ideas I have that I believe will help the person new to prepping avoid them. I do…

EDC or Every Day Carry is a term that I first heard about years ago to describe the tools and implements one could carry with them every day to either assist them with some of life’s minor inconveniences or in a worst case scenario, to help them survive. It’s the tools that each prepper should have on them at all times so they can deal with whatever Murphy in his insane cruelty, throws at you. I might have first been exposed to the term EDC, by Nutnfancy who has a very interesting video that covers his own take on what…

I am a veteran. I served my country honorably and was discharged from service after fulfilling my enlistment term many years ago. I never saw combat although I served in a combat MOS and was enlisted during a period of active engagement on foreign soil. I know veterans as friends, both my father and grandfathers served and now I have a son-in-law who is proudly serving today. Veteran’s Day was created as a way to remember those who have served and in many cases sacrificed all for their country but in some ways, this day seems to allow us to…

I was recently hired by Overstock.com to write an article for their new site O.info. The goal of O.info is to be a source of user-generated how-to guides on all manner of subjects. The category that seemed to fit me best was Emergency Preparedness due in no small part I assume to the work here on the Prepper Journal. I guess I could also write about Pets or Outdoors in some capacity, but you would never want my advice on something like Fashion. I will leave that up to others. The first topic I wrote about was Pandemic Preparedness: Simple…

With the approaching winter season and headlines like “Monster Storm on the Way” it’s time to consider your auto preparedness with a winter survival kit. I am not talking about your bug out vehicle, but I guess that is relevant. If you are stranded in your car like thousands were last January in Atlanta, will you have basic supplies to stay alive? Granted, these motorists could have had it a lot worse, like maybe Boston, but by taking simple steps now you can ensure that no matter where you live, you are better prepared this winter season if you are…

Everyone has a personal bias they bring to any situation they are placed in. Your mental baggage is formed in part by who you are (your life experiences, how you were raised, personal beliefs or principles) and what you think you know (skills, training, history, and evidence) combined with the various factors of the situation or how it relates to you in terms of personal risk/reward. Put 6 people in a room and catch the room on fire, you will have 6 different responses at least internally to what each individual is thinking and is capable of doing. Or at…

If you are reading this article, I would imagine that you have never eaten an MRE before. Why do I say that? Well, for anyone who has eaten MREs you probably already have a strong opinion about them or at the very least, your experience might be based upon military service years ago. That is the perspective I was coming from when Meal Kit Supply approached me about reviewing their MREs that they produce. I had eaten more than my fair share of MREs when I was in the Army, but things have changed as you would expect with the…

With a budget of almost 14 Billion dollars in 2013, you would expect that FEMA would have the resources at its disposal to really be able to assist the public prior to any disaster. If you haven’t already; I recommend going out to the FEMA website to see what their recommendations are for getting prepared. FEMA, through their Ready.gov website is the government’s office that addresses most of the specific topics of the prepper movement so I was surprised at the information I found on their site. Actually, I wasn’t completely surprised because I did write about National Preparedness Month…

For all its faults, I still really enjoyed watching Doomsday Preppers from National Geographic. No matter how bizarrely the antics of the preppers who appeared on this show actually were or (in most cases I believe) were framed to heighten the entertainment factor; I was able to pull information from each episode. Each prepper was engaged in more or less what I strive to do every day, but with different resources, approaches and rationale. I really only had two complaints with the show and these are admittedly superficial but tainted the overall experience for some people I think. The first…