Smart Prepper - Analyze your environment - Series 1 Part 1

Smart Prepper
 Analyze your environment
 Series 1 Part 1

     
         Being prepared is not always prepping for the end of the world, a smart person is prepared for as much as he/she can be given their individual situations.  Be a Smart Prepper.

    Before I start let me add something about myself, so that you can have some faith in the source and truthfulness of this knowledge.  i am a retired Air Force all source analysis. One part of that job was being the Threat Warning Group Intel Member.  This group was there to assess potential threats to our installation and all of its inhabitants.  The group had 4 primary members that reported to the senior leadership of the Wing to which we were assigned.  The commander of Security Forces (the police chief for the base), The Force Protection NCOIC*, (Security Forces Intel), the Counter Terrorism OSI* agent (the Air Force equivalent of the FBI) and the Wing Intelligence Member (Me). Part of being a member of this group, afforded me the opportunity to get training as a Vulnerability Assessments by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Anti-terrorism Assessments Division, Further as a member of US Special Operations Command Intelligence Directorate I was able to get more training on Counter Terrorism from the Joint Military Intelligence Training Center.  So that being said, i have a slightly different way to look at threats than say a retired Police Officer or even a Special Operator like a SEAL or Ranger, many because I would be the one that trained those guys on how to do this type of work. So to begin....
     
         What is a Smart Prepper - In short its a person that takes responsibility for his/her own safety and well-being above and beyond just putting a roof over your head and food on the table.  With the constant threat of severe weather or increasing crime, everyone should be that much more prepared.   I am not talking about going off the grid, withdrawing from society and living a completely different lifestyle. If you want that then I can recommend some educators that can help you in that journey. What i am talking is in place prepping.  In your home or apartment, what can you do to make yourself and your family safer and able to ride out or know when to get out of severe weather incidents.

       To be a smart prepper you need to understand your own environment.  Use the big to small approach for your environment, start with your Critical travel Area*, then move inward to your neighborhood, then look at your home (this includes your family), finally yourself. To do that you need to answer a few questions and this may require some research on your part. Each Ring will have a number of questions you need to answer to better understand and plan against.

1. What is the general state of the area you live in?
2. How far is the nearest store that can provide Food and Water? Can you walk there?
3. How far to the nearest gas station for Fuel? 
4. Who are your neighbors?
5. What is crime in the your surrounding area?
6. What happened in the last 5 years for weather?
7. How many power outages in your Area, and How long do they last ,were there spikes in crime during that time frame in your area?
8. Finally what are the routes out of your area, and what is the expected travel time to safety (we will discuss travel safety and evac in future posts)? 

These are a sample of questions to ask yourself. The longer you have lived in an area the less you will need to research, you should be aware of most of the answers to these questions. If not, its not to late.

Step 1 - Analyze your environment 
   
What is my surrounding area like?
     
        Next up, my surrounding area. First define your area.  This would be how far do you need to go from home to resupply (food, water, fuel). In my case, its defined as a 3 mile circle. So I look at everything within that circle. I need to answer these questions.  How accessible is my source of food supplies?  Is it a grocery store or a Walmart type store? Is it reliable in natural disasters and outages? Is there anything between my home and it that could prevent me from walking there if needed? Are there choke points*?  Does your neighborhood have only one entrance or many, is it gated, is so does your community have generator backups to operate the gates. Do you have guards, are they armed, do they patrol? How offend does a patrol car or police car drive by your house. (this is important to know, because it tells you how much time does a potential adversary have to execute a plan without fear of being discovered.)

What are the crime stats in the area?

      This brings us to Crime in the area.  When you drive around your area, look for signs of neglect, this is a good indicator that the local government has taken their eye off the area, and are not enforcing codes or patrolling as much. Also look on local Rental sites for rentals in the area, an increase in rentals and a increase in neglect can provide you visual indicators of trouble spots to be aware of.  Make note of cars in your neighborhood.  What cars belong to what house, more importantly any vehicle that has a line of sight to your property should be on your radar, especially when you see signs of increased crime being reported.  Criminals case homes and look for the easy targets, IE ones with no outward signs of counter surveillance (how to protect your property will be covered in a later post)

What are my evac routes?

Example  Florida State Evac routes

         Evacuation routes all depend on your area. Are you close to a highway, or major road system,  is it marked as a Evac road (Theses routes will have increased level of traffic, but are the safest as they will have more police presence on them), Your route also depends on the when, where and how of evac.  First, when do you evac from your home.  That depends on a few critical factors.  What kind of incident, the how strong is your home, how much warning, are 3 good factors to consider.  Take the case of Hurricanes.  #1 if its a cat 1-3 then depending on #2 and have you stocked up and prepped your home, then you might stay.  if #1 is a cat 4-5, Get out.  Not worth the risk.  Know where your local authorities posts mandatory evacuation notices and how offend they update them.

      So if you must leave where do you go and how.  This is where you need to be prepared. Next where are you going to go? Do you have a fallback location, or maybe more than 1, this should depends on the path of the storm.  I have 4 locations, that includes 1 out of state.  How will you get there.  Most likely will be to Drive. Can you fit you family and pets and food and cloths in one vehicle? I made sure that my primary vehicle fits all of these needs and that All routes are within a 8 hr drive.  Have you routes planned and if you have the time monitor them, to see how traffic is,  in very bad weather, you wont be able to depend on GPS navigation or live updates on traffic other than radio.  If you are going to evac, go early.

Who are my neighbors?
 
     This is an important first step. This is a bit deeper than a who lives where, and more do you have any neighbors you need to be concerned about. Who are sex offender, violent felons, thieves, drug abusers, yes this sounds nosy and paranoid and maybe even cruel, but ignorance can get you hurt or worse. When conflict arises, stresses increases, and individuals with poor impulse controls have an increased likelihood of being a source of danger to you and your family.   Ask yourself, in a power outage situation is my family safe in the neighborhood, or to go the store?

Know Your Limitations

      A key aspect of any preparation is knowing yourself, more specifically, know your own limitations. I can't count the number of times, I hear people brag about what they can do and thing they are smart, but when pushed to actually do something, they have no clue.  While reading a book or manual or watch a You-tube video might help, unless you have actually done it and been successful at doing more than once, you don't know how to do it.  I am teaching myself how to carve wood spirits, Seen a ton of videos, i know they basics, doesn't mean I can carve one. Don't brag or delude yourself.  Be honest.  If there are things you don't know how to do, LEARN.  Get the tools, find sources of knowledge to learn from, teach yourself or take a class.  Not knowing is an excuse for children not adults.

       Things you need to know, and I know this will sound weird, but I know "adults" that can not do some of these things.   Cook, beyond using the microwave.  You need to learn to cook from scratch.  Use a Hammer, Screwdriver, Drill, and saw.  You may need to board up windows or fix a door. Change tires on your car, check the oil, change an air filter.  split wood, Start a fire with kindling,  Dig a trench (to drain water away from your house in the case of flooding), Sew.  You need to know the basics of survival no matter where you live, You never know how long you will be in a less than normal situation. I have been places where a blizzard has knocked out power for weeks, same for Hurricanes.  Think about the damage from sudden flooding or a Tornado.  What will you do if your local area is in a blackout for days, and you have no access to fast food or gas?

What Resources do i have or need to learn about my environment?
      To answer some or maybe all of the questions posed above, you need to have resources. The Internet is your #1 resource. Next is observation, lastly, get out and meet your neighbors. First off, the internet.  There are 100s of places to search for that can provide you information.  Start first by just searching the whole question, then sections of the question, then key words.  Each of these search will give you different results.  Bookmark the sites that provide you the best information(most updated, recently updated, provides sources of their information.). Now you can start a file, or a journal, depending on how you want to store your data. I prefer a journal, something small like a hiking journal, that i carry on my person at all times.  I can make notes and keep  a record.  When its full I can transfer the data to a bigger journal that is part of my bug out planner. 

     You can get to know your neighbors better and judge them for yourself, you can use the internet to help fill in the holes.One resource that I have found helpful is the neighborhood app "Next Door" (Full disclosure, I am not sponsored by, nor trying to get sponsored by anyone mentioned in this blog post).  I really like this, as it provides a way to communicate with your neighbors, know who is watching and who is not.  People that post to these sites, should rate a bit higher on your trust scale, as they demonstrate community well-being. Additional there is a nice crime and safety section that provide a bit of neighborhood watch for you.  Just remember to take in all information with a bit of skepticism.  remember knowledge is power, and the more you have the better off you will be in any situation. Local news usually have sections on local crime and problem areas. 

  One Word, YOU TUBE.  Great source to learn how to do things.  Anytime i am doing anything for the first time or I need a refresher on something I have not done in a while,  even something simple like say change a fuse on my truck.  I will check first on YouTube, to see if anyone has a video on it, just so I dont need to spend 30 minutes hunting done the location of the fuse.  Need to know how to cook a meal, check videos and then watch and follow along.  This is great training.  Knowledge is what makes you a smart prepper.

*Choke Points: A point of congestion or blockage. In terms related to safety, a Choke Point is a place were a person or persons wishing to do you harm have an increased advantage.

*NCOIC: Military term for Non Commissioned Officer In Charge. This a position not a rank. This is usually but not always the senior ranking Enlisted member in a unit.

*OSI: Office of Special Investigations. This is a agency within the Air Force, that was designed after the FBI. They are federal agents that all attend both the Federal Law enforcement academy and the OSI school.

*Critical travel Area: This is the area around your home that you need to Travel to for Food, gas or supplies. This does not include the mall or entertainment locations. Food would be restricted to grocery stores or super stores like Sams, or Costco. The closer the better.

Next Up: Smart Prepper - Scoping out your Critical Travel Area - Series 1 Part 2