Being prepared is no guarantee that you will survive, but what else will it take?

Hello, my friend and welcome back!  I think that most Preppers realize that simply having supplies stored up will not be enough.  The question is what else do you need to do to ensure your survival and that is the subject of today’s post so grab a cup of coffee and have a seat while we visit.

Having plenty of beans and bullets is a great start to surviving the hell of a post SHTF world. Unfortunately, it will take a lot more than that.  Simply being able to eat when others can’t, will simply mean that it will take you longer to die than the others will and in no way guarantees your survival.  You will need skills to do that, and not the kind that you can learn sitting butt.

Let me give you a few examples of what I’m talking about.  For example, you will need to know how to track wild game, kill, and clean the meat if you want to eat.    You will need to know how to work the ground, plant and harvest a garden as well.  This also includes knowing when to plant and harvest as these are very important.  Plant too soon and you could lose your crop to frost, plant too late and you could lose them to an early fall frost.  Knowing when to plant is one of the keys to survival.

What about your skills to build a fire when you run out of matches because the ones you have in your stores won’t last forever.  Can you treat Illness with just the items that Mother Nature supplies?  Do you know which wild plants are safe to eat?  Can you turn the skin of a deer or other animals into something usable like shoes or pants?  Are you starting to get the picture yet?  It will take a lot more to survive long term than just a room full of dried food and medical supplies.

What about cooking?  Will you know how to make bread without a store bought oven to make it in?  We all need to learn as much as we can now while we have the opportunity and not put it off till later.  Book learning is all well and good, but you need to actually need to be able to do it for yourself.  It takes a little time to learn all of the skills you will need and you will need to practice them often because many of them are perishable skills.

Shooting a Gun is another one of those perishable skills that need to be practiced often.  You also need to learn to shoot standing up, lying down, and kneeling as well as many other situations.  If you think you’re a good shot, then run a hundred yards with your favorite weapon and then stop and fire off 6 rounds at a target as fast as you can.  Most people will be lucky to even come close to the target let alone hit it.  Running caused your body to release a little adrenaline, which makes your hands shake like crazy.  Toke it from me, you’re lucky if you can hit the broadside of a barn the first time you try it.

Other things you need to learn are ways to defend yourself such as hand to hand combat and knife fighting.  When the bullets and gunpowder are all gone, then what will you hunt with?  I hope you have taken the time to master the Bow and arrow or something equally as deadly which can be formed from nature.  Learn how to make a Bow and arrows and not just to shoot them.  Learn to fashion arrows and arrowheads from the things around you.  Become self-sufficient at making the things you need.

Learn to sew if you don’t already know how and then practice it by making something you could use in a bad situation.

The point I’m trying to make here is that there are tons of thing that you still need to learn how to do before SHTF hits so don’t be sitting on your butt looking at all of your supplies and thinking you are ready to go because you are definitely not.  Don’t get discouraged though because a person could spend a lifetime learning how to do all of this stuff and in the end, still be caught unprepared.  Learn as much as you can and use every opportunity you have learned something new that you can use and then practice it every chance you get.

Do you know how to make pots, plates, and glasses from the clay in the ground that are safe to use?   Like I said, there is a lot to learn and before you ask, no, I still haven’t learned it all believe or not.  Yes, I know that’s hard to believe but it’s true.  LOL

I’m sure some of you are thinking that you finally got all of you stuff together and here comes Sarge reminding you that you don’t.  If so then that’s good because that’s why you read my blog.  You want to learn as much and be as ready as you can when it all goes to crap.  I hope this post is a wake-up call for some of you.  If it is then I have done my job.  Until next time, stay safe, stay strong and stay prepared. God Save America!

-Sarge-