Pragmatic Preparedness: Sunday Blog

It would seem avoided World War Three—so far.

In any case, this week’s blog isn’t about the Fallout Franchise or Zombies. It’s about pragmatic preparedness.

What I mean by “pragmatic preparedness” mostly pertains to everyday life. What sort of emergency are you most likely to encounter? What does preparedness look like based on the data? If you’re looking for a sales pitch on buying all the fancy preparedness or survival doodads, you can stop reading now. What I aim to discuss is more than the occasional social media antics regarding international or even national happenings.

You might be wondering why I’ve decided to cover this topic, and what makes me qualified to do so. I’m not a former special operations guy. I never served in the military.

I do, however, have a decade of first response/corrections under my belt. I also worked for the U.S. Department of State (DoS) as a federal contractor with a security clearance. Prison isn’t appealing to me, so, my description of the job ends there. I am certainly not Jason Bourne, and I’ve never set foot in a combat zone.

I have, however, seen a whole lot, done a whole lot, and spent all of my adult life up until most recently pursuing varying forms of service.

HOUSEKEEPING

Preparedness is not exclusive to the military or the first response crowds. There is nothing more annoying to me than a Veteran trying to tell me he can do everything better than me in the preparedness context because I didn’t serve in the military, and therefore, cannot possibly ever be as good as he is. You can still learn each element within the preparedness path, pursue additional training, and do a lot with a little regarding skills and knowledge development overall.

Are you going to be at the level of a Navy SEAL or Green Beret without doing those jobs? No, absolutely not.

Can you still become sufficiently competent in fieldcraft, shooting, rucking, land navigation, medical skills, and other things across the preparedness continuum without being an operator? Yeah, you absolutely can.

It reminds me of that one time that one medal of honor dude went on a rant about people practicing in their kits at the range or sharing aspects of what they do to practice like they play online. There seems to be a misunderstanding here, because when I go put on my kit to go and ruck, I’m not trying to play pretendsies.

I’m trying to maintain the ability to go long distances with equipment, because if shit ever truly hit the fan, I’ll thank me for the cardio, land nav, and resiliency I’ll have built through maintaining a good rucking schedule. I’m just practicing how I will have to play.

What I am getting at here, is that it is possible to become good at all things preparedness without serving in the military or as a first responder. Those things will certainly give you an advantage so long as you maintain the skillsets because, in all reality, a lot of them are perishable. My experience with DoS gave me some insights and skills, and it informed some of my preparedness game. It doesn’t mean I’m any better than you. It doesn’t mean I get to be the gatekeeper of all things tacticool, and I would never attempt to stifle someone’s pursuit of knowledge because I served in these capacities, and you didn’t.

OPINION: CRITICAL AREAS OF PREPAREDENSS

I could write a fully fleshed out guide, but it would be a bit lengthy for a blog. So, here are four areas of preparedness I found to be most realistic. Preparedness represents a vast spectrum of skills. People write books about it for a reason, because the spectrum is huge, and there are a lot of dichotomies and nuances to consider. In my opinion, the most pragmatic approach to preparedness is trying to mold your skillsets to the environment you primarily occupy.

For example, I’m from the Midwest. You won’t be catching me reading up on high desert survival unless it is for leisure. Don’t get it twisted—it is good to have a wide skillset. If I had the opportunity to go attend a survival training pertinent to the high desert, I’d jump on it. However, I am of the opinion that we should focus first on the areas of preparedness in the common settings we find ourselves in through the course of our day-to-day lives. Work, school, home, in the community, and on the road. The list includes: Mindset, Medical, Physical, and Fieldcraft.

Mindset

It’s easy to get lost in the sauce with how social media tends to stoke the flames of political discontent and subsequent existential angst. We’ve had a lot of unfortunate international events too, which can absolutely stoke one’s nerves. The media loves telling us that we are “closer to civil war” or “closer to World War Three” than ever before.

Your mindset should be a vigilant one, focused initially on what preparedness skills you are most likely to use in day-to-day life. Get fit, get kit and practice your skills/do stuff in it, and pick up an old infantry manual if you want to pursue those skills. You can start sprinkling in the civil war, zombie apocalypse, or nuke talks after you’ve established those foundational and pragmatic skills. The mindset isn’t an extreme one as those who are harmless would label it as. You see the state of the world, perhaps you observe human history, and have since decided you’d like to be prepared for whatever emergencies—small and large—that life may bring.

Things like civil unrest, natural disasters, physical violence, traumatic injuries, car accidents, and human trafficking are all very real. Example: I am of the opinion that if you have small children, you should strive to obtain the skillsets associated with defending, maneuvering, and protecting your children. You should be vigilant every place you go with them. This means you ought to be in shape, learn how to fight, learn how to drive, and learn how to identify shady characters and/or activities. Preparedness does not equal looking for trouble, in fact, it is almost the opposite (until you start getting into the weeds about raiding the neighbors for their goods when SHTF). Jokes aside, violence isn’t good, and the most likely form of violence you’ll probably encounter is physical. As someone who has gone up against lethal force and used violence as a tool in the pursuit to bring order to chaos—violence should always be a last resort. It isn’t always possible, but being prepared does not equal looking for trouble. It’s not good for your lifespan, which is what preparedness works to increase.

We could get more in depth with the mindset aspect of preparedness, but if I were to try to pack it into one sentence, it would be as follows:

Be vigilant, pragmatic in your preparedness in the day-to-day context, uplift the preparedness homies, and be open to further skill development.

MEDICAL

I’d like to inform you of is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States—bleeding to death. “Preventable” because in most cases all it would have taken was a tourniquet and some hemostatic gauze to prevent the individual’s death. It’s one thing to own a bunch of medical kit (TQs, various bandages, hemostatic gauze, normal gauze, rectal thermometer, etc.), but it is another thing entirely to understand how to use them. I know how to use tourniquets because people trained me on how to do it. You should pursue training on how to use them, or at the very least, buy one and play with it. DO NOT SINCH IT DOWN ON ONE OF YOUR LIMBS WHILE PLAYING WITH IT. Learn how to apply it, but do not do the full twisty twist on yourself, please. Grab up an Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) to keep in your vehicle when you’re flying solo and throw in a proper medical kit when traveling with others.

The bottom line is, don’t just own some medical kit. Do your best to pursue skill development with them be it formal or informal training. Dying due to blood loss is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.A. Go attend a Stop the Bleed training event.

PHYSICAL

This one is rather simple. Subscribing to the preparedness lifestyle entails an emphasis on being in sufficient physical condition to put the requisite preparedness practice into reality. If you’re pursuing preparedness because you worry about the prospect of civil war or some significant homeland attack, then you need to be in good shape. Your plate carrier is useless to you if you never put it on and do stuff in it. This requires being in shape so you can safely work out in your kit. Which will prepare you a hell of a lot better than putting your kit on once and then leaving it in the closet for the one day you might use it.

You are statistically more likely to survive a traumatic injury if you are in good physical shape. Fighting people uses up a lot of energy. No, “just snapping and seeing red, bro” in the context of fighting does not translate to not getting tired. I spent some time in a very kinetic public safety environment often going from physical altercation to physical altercation. The mission was to gain compliance. If you’ve spent time in this world, you understand how much each altercation can take away from you, and that adrenaline isn’t always there to save the day.

Get your cardio in. Pursue physical skills be it Jiu-Jitsu, Krav, Kickboxing, or the plethora of other combat sports one can adventure into. Your physical condition plays a huge part in your overall survival, be it due to fighting, sustaining an injury, or simply being able to run, maneuver, or travel long distances with kit on.

FIELDCRAFT

This is the final big area of preparedness we are getting into. I’ll keep it topical. I live in the Midwest, so I have pursued fieldcraft (the skillset pertaining to survival out in the field) relative to my geographical environment. Michigan represents five major geographical features, and in general, they change depending on how far North one travels. The Upper Peninsula represents a very wild environment. Prop planes deliver goods to the bays in some areas, and you can get very remote up there.

However, in order to get there, you must navigate the rolling hills and massive pine forests common in the Northern Lower Peninsula. These areas can get remote, but nothing near how it is in the U.P.

In the southern portions of the state, especially in places like the Thumb, you’ve got a lot of flat ground and farmland. If the seemingly impossible became reality, and a war front was established in the Thumb, the people of the Thumb might just find themselves digging trenches and creating bunkers the likes of which are commonplace on the battlefields of Ukraine.

If I wanted to pursue going North as a pre-established response to a natural disaster, civil unrest, war, or the zombie apocalypse, then I’m going to make sure I have the skills needed in order to survive in those remote areas; as well as the geographical differences I will encounter. Knowing how to find dry wood during the cold months and learning how to start a fire across the seasons. Hunting, fishing, foraging, land navigation, trapping, water filtration/sanitation, shelter building, defensive position building, scouting, etc., etc. Fieldcraft will be the outdoor skills you use. I am of the opinion that the prepared man should be a proficient woodsman.

CONCLUSION

There’s so much more we can get into, but those are some of the areas of preparedness I find to be most important and pertinent to my situation. It is from my situation and experience that I am able to speak to these things. Night vision is great, kit and good firearms are great, but if you don’t have any of these things; they probably won’t be useful when SHTF. Disregard the stigma, become in tune with reality through preparedness.

Speaking of kit, go check out the Vakarian and the Apothecary we offer. Solid pieces of kit, with some real life use behind them.

Some areas we could explore, if you guys like this genre, are as follows:

Financial Preparedness: FEMA notes that 40% of Americans can’t cover a $400 emergency. Basic savings or insurance can prevent small crises from spiraling.

Community Networks: Solo prep is good, you want to become competent in your solo abilities as much as possible, but mutual aid groups or neighborhood plans amplify resilience. A 2024 RAND study found communities with strong social ties recover 25% faster from disasters.

Solar/Satellite: Tools like satellite communicators (e.g., Garmin in Reach) or solar chargers can bridge gaps in remote areas like the U.P., where cell service is spotty.

By Nick Middaugh/nmiddaugh018