DomAviator
Posts: 1253
Joined: 4/22/2008 Status: offline
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I think that survivalism is critically important, and not just for armageddon. I carry survival kits in all vehicles and am WELL equipped in my house.Sliding off the Thruway between Buffalo and Batavia during a lake effect snowstorm can leave you just as dead in the morning as a nuclear holocaust! I am prepared for just about anything... Ive got potassium iodide, a dosimeter, scintiallation counter, respirators, tyvek coveralls, and decon supplies in case something happened at the South Texas Project nuclear plant or there was a dirty bomb attack. Ive got a complete medical kit - including IV's, intubation supplies, oxygen, and a LifePak5 monitor/defib and the knowledge to use it. (Join the volunteer fire dept and you too can get a free paramedic course :) I've even got atropine to inject in the event of a nerve gas attack (or more likely an organophosphate poision leak from one of the refineries / petrochemical plants) I can hold my own through almost everything and if need be I have a bug out plan and the tools, supplies, and know how to egress from just about anything. As I mentioned in another thread I even have an aircraft transciever and smoke flare to contact and signal a helicopter. No waiting three days for me. The Coast Guard would have me off the roof in 20 minutes... (and dont think for a moment that the guy who is contacting them on 243.0 and using proper military SAR terminology and techniques isn't getting preferential pickup. The pilots will fly by 1000 waving screaming people to pick up one of their own! The rescue swimmers like the ones they dont have to get wet for. LOL) That was a huge part of the Katrina problem. If a hurricane of equal devastation were to hit Houston I would NOT be in the plight of those people because I am prepared. In fact, I am probably better prepared than the first FEMA/ Red Cross units in. Ive got plywood, nails, barbed wire, tools, tarps, food, water, water purification, etc... Pretty much all of my neighbors (mostly current or ex-military pilots or survival trained merchant sailors) are equally prepared. If Katrina were to hit my neigbhorhood, we would have security, emergency power, potable water, sanitation, medical care etc immediately and we would be out cleaning up debris and fixing our landscaping before the unprepared got their first meal... Then again my neighborhood is full of civic minded people, volunteer fire / ems / police, who would pull together instead of rioting or looting and we invested in preparedness instead of relying on the govt. Dont knock survivalism - all it takes is one storm, industrial accident, terrorist attack, or unexpected incident and the average american is 100% throughly fucked.
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