
If there’s one thing we likely can all agree on regardless of where you stand on the
political spectrum, your age, sex, origin of birth or any other demographic is that we are
living in a very dynamic, anomalous rapidly paced, higher stakes world than any of us
have lived in before.
Despite the headlines, despite the seemingly huge highlighted writing on the wall, we
still find ourselves in perpetual denial. We find ourselves on the spectrum from
arrogance, “that can’t happen to me,” to willful ignorance, simply denying problems
exist. And if they do, they won’t happen to me, it’ll be someone else’s problem. It is easy
to fall into that pit, problems are hard, life is tough. We don’t want physical or mental
discomfort, we just want easy. As a result, we are far less resilient and much more
reliant on the “system” than we have ever been before. Our dependence on technology
has far surpassed our instinctual habits of self reliance and because of that we are far
less capable than we were before. Depression and anxiety numbers are way up partially
due to not being comfortable coping with tough times. Therefore one could argue that
we are far less equipped to handle the inevitable crisis that befalls all of us at some
point in our lives.
Modern society and all of its comforts has made it very difficult for us to stay resilient,
self-reliant, fully capable people that can care for ourselves and our families when
disasters strike. It’s human nature to want it easy, convenient, to not take chances, to
not explore, to want to stay safe at all times but at what cost does that mentality come
at.
We are facing a lot of unknowns this year. We have a severely hardened political divide
in this country, neither side wanting to budge or listen to the other. We are heading into
the hottest and most contested presidential election that any of us have seen in our
lifetime. We have border chaos, increasing crime, civil unrest, a poor economy, inflation
and two ongoing wars capable of igniting into World War III. To top it off, FBI Director
Wray recently testified to Congress that he fears a Black Swan event is likely due to the
open border crisis. He also testified that China has already penetrated our critical
infrastructure systems including the electric grid, water, oil and natural gas pipelines.
Which means likely when or if China moves on Taiwan and we defend them that we
could see a China led Trojan Horse event that could cripple America’s infrastructure.
When these issues are brought up, many will say that it’s just fear mongering, that those
things aren’t real or it’s all hyperbole. Hopefully they’re right but relying on hope is not a
plan. Hope is not a course of action, and hope instead of action is what likely got us into
this situation to begin with. When people don’t believe what their own eyes tell them, it’s
typically because of insecurities. The fact that they aren’t prepared so they don’t or
won’t believe, they make excuses. It can’t happen to them, it’ll happen to someone
else. Being prepared is not paranoid.
The definition of preparedness according to the Cambridge Dictionary is, “The state of
being prepared for a particular situation.” Obviously we cannot prepare for all
eventualities, but we can be pragmatic, reasonable and base our preparedness on the
likely threats you’ll face in your area. If you live in Michigan, preparing for a hurricane
doesn’t make much sense, but a crippling snow storm, tornadoes, or civil unrest sure
does. Likewise Floridians need not spend time on blizzard preparedness.
In today's world, it’s difficult to have the mindset of being prepared. Our modern
civilized, everything at our fingertips world has made it difficult to develop even a basic
level of resilience. There’s almost always power, we have running water, heat and
cooled homes and vehicles, food at every store, restaurants, seemingly endless
supplies at stores, plastic is our currency, no need for cash on hand. We have the
internet, and YouTube, GPS systems to navigate everywhere we go, reliable comms
along with all the other luxuries and technologies available to us. Very few of us have
any idea what it would be like without all the amenities we have on a daily basis, and
clearly no knowledge or understanding of what it would be like to go without. We are
truly blessed to have what we do, but it can all go away.

In the preparedness world there’s a common phrase, “We are only 9 meals away from
anarchy,” meaning the just in time supply chain is stocked for no more than three days
and without a constant resupply the selves will empty quickly. Remember the early days
of COVID, how so many seemed to panic buy, there wasn’t a roll of toilet paper safe.
During COVID the supply chain stayed intact. What would happen in a large scale
terrorist attack? We tend to believe there’s endless supplies in stores, but the reality is
something very, very different.
We are facing internal and external threats, some threats we can control and some we
cannot. Recently Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin and the
Chairman of the U.S Senate on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, testified
with near certainty that when a large electromagnetic pulse (EMP) or a geomagnetic
pulse (GMP) event happens and cripples the electric grid that estimates of American
deaths could reach 60% to 90% of the entire population. Not from the suns energy but an
electromagnetic pulse or from the blast of a nuclear weapon. The deaths are likely to
come from a lack of food and water, disease and civil unrest.
In Amanda Ripley’s excellent book, “The Unthinkable,” she talks about how much faith
we put in our first responders to be there when it counts. She describes the dedicated
brave men and women that respond to our aid, day and night 24/7. After being in public
safety for over 3 decades, I can totally support that. I’ve worked with some of the best
and brightest, but as Amanda points out, they can’t be everywhere at once. The larger
the disaster, the longer the wait. We have to be our own first responders. We have to be
the ones helping first. We have to stop the bleed, do CPR, lift debris off a victim, help
move victims, provide shelter and maybe evacuate the wounded ourselves. Even on a
day to day basis, it’s best to remember our first responders are minutes away when
seconds count. Having the ability to help could very well be lifesaving.
Being prepared, having the right mindset, making that paradigm shift in your life takes
time, it takes effort, it takes planning, and yes, money but it can be done. Take
deliberate small actions now, take an inventory of your supplies, develop a plan, a
course of action and implement it now before you wish you had, The term “preppers”
has an over the top connotation to it due to poorly done TV shows that didn't do the
preparedness community any favors either. They came off as paranoid, unrealistic and
militaristic. It doesn’t have to be that way. It can start with a simple conversation with
your spouse and what your current state of preparedness is and where you can start to
make changes. A good starting point is with FEMA’s recommendations of having at
least 3 days of supplies on hand and then build from there.
Another great step is to look at the likely threats to your area and then plan for the
worse case scenario. Not out of fear but with the mindset of if I prepare for the roughest
situation, then everything else in between our daily lives and a disaster is covered.
America and Americans have traditionally been some of the most resilient, most self
reliant people on the planet. Preparedness is in our DNA, it’s who we are, it’s what we
do. We solve nonlinear problems all the time, every day, we create out of necessity, we
work hard, we improvise and adapt. We aren’t afraid and we shouldn’t be now. No one
truly knows what’s coming. We can hope for the best but prepare for the worst. We can
survive the worst case scenario. We can be mentally and physically prepared if we do
the right things. At the Raven Strategic Group we understand it seems daunting and can
feel very overwhelming but we are here to help you. We offer guidance and training to
help you through the process of becoming the most prepared, most self reliant person
you can be.
Continue to follow Raven's socials and Quoth the Raven to gain more insight as we dig deeper into preparedness on a personal and family level.
*Tim Webb joins us as a contributor. He has an extensive background that we will post in the coming months. Though he's a newer member of the Raven team, he has extensive experience and knowledge that stems from an expansive military and emergency medicine background.
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