I was reading an article yesterday and ran across one about how the US Navy has decided to start training their ships on navigation using the stars and a sextant. This made me start thinking about why the Government would need to revert to such an ancient tool. It really doesn’t take a genius to figure it out and the thought of what it implies is truly frightening. They are preparing for an unimaginable event! In today’s post, we are going to look at what that is and what we as Preppers can do to prepare for it.
Yes, I know that everyone and their brother has written about the chances of and probable impacts of a Cyber attack and an EMP, but what I want to look at is what are the chances of either of these happening and how can we try to protect ourselves from the devastation as much as possible. The article brings up something I hadn’t really thought of and that is a cyber-attack on our satellite navigation systems (GPS). You see many things now depend on GPS systems to work properly and based on what I have been reading, there will be many more in the near future. Besides the one in your car, they are used on ships at sea and airplanes as well. In today’s high-tech world of aeronautics where planes land and take off at an incredible rate, GPS is what keeps them out of each other’s way. Just imagine if you were getting ready to land at a very busy airport and suddenly you had no way to pinpoint your exact location. This would be a true nightmare and it could happen if some nation were to hack into our GPS satellites and either disable them or reprogram them with a virus that would cause them to provide false information. Planes would start colliding midair and ships at sea would be hopelessly lost. Even a lot of modern-day hikers and backpackers rely on GPS as well. What would happen to them with no way to know exactly where they are?
The truth is that in this technological world we live in today, we are more dependent on it than ever before and it will be our ruin. It is not really a matter of if, but rather when and the time is coming soon, you can bet on that. With Iran obtaining nuclear weapons and missiles, and the sun hurling CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections) at us our chances of escaping this fate is slim to none and throw in Cyber terrorism into the mix and if you are not preparing for it then you could wind up in a world of hurt, when the time comes. So just what are the chances of this happening in our lifetime? Actually they are pretty high according to some reports and getting higher every day. While I have not been able to locate any exact estimates on the internet, I know that they must be very high and possibly as high as 1 in 500 or greater when you take into account the 11 year solar cycle and how often it emits a CME that is as strong as the one that caused the Carrington Event or stronger. Now I am no Scientist, and this is just my personal estimations, but the point is that they are very high and even the US Military is starting to get worried about it happening. The way I see it, because it can be caused naturally as well as manmade, that increases the risk tremendously and when you factor in increased tension with Russia, China, and Iran who is openly advocating the use of an EMP on America… well you get the picture. In my opinion, a Super EMP device is almost the perfect weapon and pretty much all of our known enemies are known to have them. They can cause total devastation and reduction of people by up to 90% in some cases, while still not damaging the majority of the physical infrastructure of a nation. I personally expect to see WWIII start with the use of an EMP weapon because it can completely incapacitate a nation or country. That is a terrifying thought!
OK, enough doom and gloom, but what can we do about protecting ourselves from the effects of an EMP whether natural or manmade? The truth unfortunately is really not that much. We can build Faraday cages of all kinds and store backup electronics such as radios and generators, in them as well as batteries and solar panels. Buy paper maps, compass and learn how to use them. Read books on learning to navigate by the night sky. However there is nothing we can do to completely protect ourselves from the devastating effects of an EMP or CME. The very best we can hope for is to prepare enough and store up enough food and supplies to survive the horror following the event. The hordes of hungry people who will come looking for food and be willing to kill for it will be something out of a horror movie. With no electricity and now way to transport food or supplies across the nation, people will begin to die off at a staggering rate from starvation, disease, and violence. This will be the time to hide away for a short while until the sizes of the groups are manageable and it is somewhat safe to move around again. If you can survive the first year after the event, then your chances of surviving after that will greatly increase mainly due to the lack of people left to cause problems. After that period, we should start to see the air and water began to become cleaner, with less pollution to deal with. If it is caused by a manmade device, then what ever country fired the device will surely want to invade and claim its prize. Surviving the EMP or CME would only be the first step in rebuilding our country. We must find a way to produce green renewable energy, in amounts that could replace our aging electrical utilities infrastructure. We must once again become so strong, that no country on the face of the earth would ever dare to attack us no matter what. As for a CME, well, that will happen eventually so everyone needs to prepare for it the very best they can. It’s like running headlong into a brick wall and not being able to stop. You know it is coming and you know that you can’t stop it, so all you can do is brace yourself and prepare for when it happens. May God save our country when it does!
Well, that is it for today and I apologize for this post being so dark, but it simply couldn’t be helped. We are living in dark times and we have to prepare for all possibilities, not just the ones that are more favorable than others. While I favor none at all, I know that it is not to be and we can either prepare or die. I strongly suggest that you prepare for this one so you do not wind up being one of the starving masses when the time comes. I hope in some small way, you may have gotten something out of this post that will help you to prepare for what lies ahead of us. Until next time, keep on prepping and may God bless you and yours.
-The Sargent-
