9/18/12

Prepper Ponderings

New Kent Preparedness Town Hall Agenda

Looking forward to meeting some local readers tomorrow night and helping some new folks learn about prepping with my static display.

Date: Sept. 19, 2012
Location: Fire Station 1
4315 North Courthouse Rd
Providence Forge, VA 23140
Time: 6:30pm

Welcome (3 min)
Delegate Chris Peace

Local Safety and Response Panel Presentation (10-12 min)
New Kent Fire and Rescue: Brandon Jenkins
New Kent Sheriff Office: Sheriff Wakie Howard and Chief Deputy Joe McLaughlin,
New Kent Board: Supervisors ________________________________________________________________________________

VDEM: Presentation (10-12 min)
George Urquhart, Dir. of Preparedness, _________________________________________________________________________________

VDOT: Presentation (10 min)
Mike Cade, Residency Administrator, Ashland Residency

Service Provider Panel with Q&A (10 min)
Dominion, Cox, Verizon

Wrap Up Remarks:
Delegate Peace (2 min)

Vendor Tables:
New Kent Co-Op Extension
Home Depot
New Kent Habitat with Walmart
Red Cross
VDOT
VDEM
New Kent Sheriff’s Office
New Kent Fire and Rescue
Service Provider Table
Donald Green: www.ifithitsthefan.com
Terry Mixer: Shelf Reliance
Providence Forge Volunteer Rescue


Check Out These Videos

Reader VT Paladin has been putting up some YouTube videos related to prepping.  He's got some on canning (I'm fascinated by his corn cob jelly - never heard of that), some sales and deals, and some general thoughts on preparedness.  Pretty good information.  Check him out here.


Dr. William Forstchen's Talk at the Self Reliance Expo

Dr. Forstchen is the author of One Second After, a New York Times best selling novel about life in a small North Carolina town after an EMP event knocks out power and generation across the country.  He spoke briefly about the book and how it came about, and then took questions from the audience.  Among some of the highlights...
  • Writing the book took a huge emotional toll on him.  He may write a sequel, but hasn't decided.
  • The nation as a whole has done nothing to prepare for or combat EMP.  There has been talk about having an entire city do a drill, but it never came about.
  • He believes the threat of EMP is real.  Iran has test fired missiles straight up and publicly called it a failure, but in reality the tests could have been for an EMP producing nuclear payload.
    • a "perfect" threat would be three missiles exploding - one over the East Coast, one over the Midwest and one over the West Coast.
    • The missiles could be smuggled to our coasts on shipping vessels, in shielded containers.
  • He is a big fan of the mid-60s VW Beetle or van as an EMP-proof car.
  • He said he is a prepper, and really wishes that everyone would be... not just for an EMP, but for any of life's disasters that might get thrown at us.

5 comments:

  1. If it hits the fan-YOU are a man of your word...Thanks for the bits and pieces of Dr.Forstchens briefing. Did he say when a sequal to "One second after" would take place? Did he give any advice on preps that should take priority?...[ Can you tell that I wanted to be there..} Again my thanks, Joe.

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    1. Joe, he mentioned that IF he does a sequel, it would probably be a continuation where One Second After leaves off, perhaps going into recovery. He also somewhat tongue in cheek said that he might do a contemporaneous story of how a Senator or Congressman fared as a result of the EMP.

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    2. He mentioned that the three days preps promoted by the government isn't good for much, and encouraged folks to prepare for at least a month or so... not so much for an EMP, but for whatever disasters might get thrown at us. He is a fan of having an EMP proof vehicle.

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  2. One of the things to be concerned about with older, hopefully EMP-Proof, vehicles is the wiring. ALL of it should be ripped out and replaced with new wires, because many cracks in the plastic covering can and do occur in older vehicles (heat and age do this), leaving it vulnerable to the EMP. Other than that, WF is a very sharp guy with lots of common sense. I'd far rather have him as a leader than most others, as he clearly would take his duty to protect this country seriously from a wide variety of scenarios.

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    Replies
    1. Good suggestions! I'm switching out all of my hoses just for normal driving, and wiring would certainly be good, even if an EMP never happens.

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