Perspective..or…its more than just guns

I’ve been through…let’s see….hurricanes, blizzards, forest fires, pandemics, economic turmoil, and just a generally bumpy existence. Number of rounds fired in total through all those incidents? Zero. Number of skulls cracked with a baseball bat? Zero. Number of gunshot and stab wounds incurred? Zero.

I mention it because, as I stroll through  my library of various ‘how to survive the end of the world’ books it seems like everyone is preparing for the final scene from The Wild Bunch.

I know the world is not a happy sunshine-y place. I know there are people who, even when the lights are on and the water is flowing, will still stomp your skull in for basically no good reason. I know that people, by and large, are dangerous critters. And yet…I’ve got fifty years under my belt and haven’t had to shoot anyone yet.

Yet it seems that a good 1/3 to 1/2 of any preparedness manual is about ‘self defense’ or ‘weapons’ or that sort of thing. Sure, it’s important… but when I think of the ‘disasters’ I’ve been through and what resources were used the number of rounds spent comes to…zero. On the other hand, the amounts of food, water, cash, batteries, toilet paper, radios, gasoline, light sticks, and tools comes out to non-zero.

“But..but Zero, it seems like every other post you have here is about guns and ammo!” This is true.But, to be fair, I don’t post about guns from the perspective of ‘get all you can so you can survive the new Mad Max world’, usually I post about them from the perspective of ‘get them while you can before they are banned’. Not quite the same thing. Guns are the low hanging fruit of preparedness blogging. People are far more interested in tweaked out ARs than they are the newest vacuum sealer or propane lantern. Not everyone, mind you….but most.

It reminds me of cop training…everyone gives cops a hard time for being unable to shoot straight. And while shooting people is part of the job, it is a microscopically small part of the job. Your average cop will use his Bic pen a bazillion times more often than he uses his Glock. Training often reflects that. Resources are directed where they are most likely to be needed, and your average badgewearer shoots people a lot less often than he writes reports, tickets, notes, accident forms, etc.

Guns are a part of any reasonably thought out plan to survive a disaster. However they are tiny part of the overall plan compared to things like water, food, gas, medgear, etc.

You know what I’ve discovered to be The Most Valuable skill for a ‘survivalist’ or ‘prepper’? Not having amazingly fast split times at the range….not being able to consistently ring the gongs at 200 yards…useful, but not as important as: being able to think logically, critically, and objectively. Your mileage may vary but I would say the most important skill I’ve picked up as a survivalist is… accounting. Once I figured out how to allocate, budget, and monitor my financial adventures it put me in a position to have all the other thngs that make surviving a crisis easier. But thats just me… it won’t be the same for you.

My long winded point is that guns are the supersexy common denominator of survivalism but they are not the most important. Don’t get so wrapped up in the boomtoys that you overlook the more used, more needed, more critical things like, y’know, food…money…fuel…water…meds…gear…etc. But don’t take my word for it…go read the AAR’s on the various survival forums for things that have happened over the last few years…riots, floods, earthquakes, etc. There was a lot less shooting than some of these preparedness manuals would have made you expect. Sure, having the Glock on the hip helped, but I have yet to read any encounter (except the classic Harry Beckwith Bullet Party) where someone went through more than a magazines worth of ammo.

Even in times of ‘non-crisis’ I still use gasoline, TP, food, water, clothes, toothpaste, soap, etc, every single day. I blow off 9mm and .223 maybe twice a month. While I stockpile guns and ammo, I probably stockpile just as much of the other stuff.

The classic meme is the survivalist with a mountain of ammo, a trainload of guns, and absolutely no food. An exaggeration, sure, but it makes a point. Buy the ammo, buy the guns, but keep some perspective.

36 thoughts on “Perspective..or…its more than just guns

  1. Truth!

    Along with the normal lists of ‘stuff’, what has saved my bacon, or the bacon of people around me is repair parts.

    The most recent example was the super freeze in TX which had me handing out pipe fittings, pipe wrenches, pipe, glue, hose bibs, and other parts. Those parts were unobtainium within hours of the freeze breaking everyone’s pipes.

    I won’t even begin to bore you with the list of stuff I fix around the house with spare parts picked up cheap in anticipation of need, or that I ordered ‘one extra’ when I got the original repair part. The list is LONG though.

    Along with the parts come the knowledge and skill to use the parts. The knowledge is easy- have good reference material (grid up, youtube is awesome for this, grid down you need books). The skill comes from practice figuring out what is wrong and how to fix it, and what to fix it with. That skill can be applied to new problems, and helps turn the newly acquired knowledge into a successful repair.

    Pretty much any disaster scenario involves lots of things getting broken. And in any ‘close to the bone’ situation, losing critical gear to breakage could be the difference between living and dying. As a plus, the guy who can fix things is more likely to valued than the guy who breaks them….

    n

  2. A good “perspective” type article. I think the older we get the more perspective we have.

  3. The most used useful talents are in plain sight. Car repair, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, concrete, masonry, computer, accounting, etc.

    Worked with a communtications expert that taught LEO trainee’s verbal judo, even when told this would be 99% of their jobs by the head guy, the recruits still couldn’t wait to get out on the range.

    • Yeah, I saw that. I’m counting down the moments until I start getting post comments about “How can you say that the most useful skill you’ve learned is accounting? I was in Fallujah and when my buddy had an unexploded RPG sticking outta his guts we didn’t call a CPA!”.

      • And THAT boy needs to understand PERSPECTIVE!!

        If yer ANYWHERE NEAR the homesite when things go Kinetic, the experiences in Fallujah will only teach you how to keep cover and concealment separate in your considerations, and how to move under non-permissive conditions.
        You also never called for a cook yet you ate, and a whole HOST of “SCHTUFF” got used you never thought of but it was THERE.

        PERSPECTIVE… LOGISTICS… Be(come) a pro.

  4. I read, some time ago on another blog, something to the affect that “firearms in prepping are overrated”. I agree with that, considering how many other assets/skills would be needed to survive (food, budgeting, hot/cold weather survival skills, clean water, etc.). Firearms proficiency is important, but far from the only item to have knowledge and skills in. Thoughts?

  5. So, are you gonna change the name of the blog to “Commander Triple Zero” then? ;-D

    In all seriousness, good on you. Zero here is preferable, if perhaps more boring…

  6. The firearms are important. Living a healthy lifestyle is more important. You can be a crack shot, but if you’re five ten, 290 and can’t run a hundred yards at gunpoint, you’re probably gonna die sooner than later, and your SO will have all your gear left to go a-courtin’ with.

    Same thing with first aid skills. You will use CPR, bandaging, AED use and wound management more than you ever need to shoot someone. And if there’s ever a gunfight you survive, everyone will probably need your skills.

  7. Nick Flandrey above said my first thoughts exactly. I’ve always harped that the most important survival tool is the one between your ears. Repair parts are great, as are the tools and skill to apply them. But there is one more critical skill: Thinking and making decisions under pressure. I do not enjoy practicing that skill, but I have had enough practice to know how to prioritize options, decide what to focus on, and proceed.
    I learned early in pilot training to “Fly The Plane First!” The passenger behind you is barfing down your neck, the engine is on fire, but you fly the plane first; put it on the ground in a condition to walk away from, then consider the next priority. I don’t know if it’s talent, or simply focusing on what small ability I have, but I seem to be able to keep a pretty clear head in a crisis. I think my OODA loop is reasonably fast, if I can keep my situational awareness up in condition Orange.

  8. Best thing I studied was a “Great Courses” (college courses on cd/dvd) called “Argumentation”. Helped organize thoughts, taught logic and reasoning(when you learn to spot logical fallacies/improper reasoning it becomes very hard to be lied to) and how to construct a argument(how to state something to inform or influence) and how to support it with facts or relevant knowledge. Many great knowledge improvers but still can’t get through the higher math courses.
    On the physical side I would have to vote for tools,read a article once that a knowledgeable person with a single tool (screwdriver?) Could make all the other tools to build anything/restart society. A little chemistry is a good thing when it’s McGuyver time.

  9. I don’t know how many times my preps have saved the day… in the kitchen! My wife says “DAMN! We’re out of …whatever. I turn around and say “I have some in the barn.”

    My neighbor cut his water line while trenching in a sprinkler run. He needed two feet of it. There was NO 1″ PVC out there at all! Yup; I had some.

    Fact is, prepping is about being prepared… for whatever!

  10. Commander Z – I like it when you write about the practical day-to-day survival skills. All of my survival-type books are about gardening, raising & butchering meat, cooking, food preservation (my favorite!), sanitation, keeping warm, first aid, and so on. At one time I had a copy of Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson Kearny, but after reading it realized I would never survive & I sold it. But all my other books? Keepers!

    At my age & with my health problems, I probably wouldn’t survive a real disaster, but I’ll have plenty of supplies and information to leave to my kids.

  11. Totally agree with your observations about how often we’ll need to fire a shot if things go South, CZ. When I offer advice, which is seldom and done with great care, it’s water first, food second, meds third, and then a host of things after that, including weapons.

    That said, I also agree with you that diversification/balance is key, and I’m not talkin just about the stock market. You have expounded recently on how you try to maintain balance in terms of food, arms, ammo, at-risk investments (stock market), cash and precious metals. Just in the last 18 months we’ve seen plain old ball 9mm ammo go from 20-25 cents a round to more than 90 cents a round. For PLAIN OLD BALL. If I’d had enough excess to sell some, that’s roughly a 350-400% return on investment. Not bad.

    As a reloader, I think that skill set might be incredibly valuable in a major collapse. If I have primers, bullets, powder, dies and manuals, there could come a day when reloading skills could be a valuable cottage industry.

    Nice, observations, Zero. Odds are great that we may never be involved in a major Apocalyptic shoot-out with bad guys, but when the feces hits the fan, those who have no guns at all will trade pearls of great price for a dinky .380 and 50 rounds of hardball.

    • Force is important, but it might not be the solution to just “f’ing shoot everybody.”

  12. We can’t, nor should we try, to base future events on the events of the past. Just because it hasn’t happened before doesn’t mean it can’t happen in the future. I have responded to several flooding events and no two were ever the same. Be VERY CAREFUL of getting into the habit of planning for disasters based on the latest disaster (don’t prepare for the next war by preparing for the last war).

  13. Commander:
    The Romans had it right.
    “If you want peace – Prepare for war”

    Our leaders are much, MUCH too close to forgetting this…

    Ceejay

    • Nice saying but the Romans did not want peace. They were constantly at war and for most of their history the aggressors.
      The US is not that different from ancient Rome.

  14. This is because most people don’t want to prepare, they want to buy guns and use “preparedness” as justification to spend money they often should be saving on something they don’t need more of.

  15. Heh.

    Guns and related stuff are very certainly the Center Core of the Survivalist Universe.

    But…universes are really, really big places. Lots goes on there.

  16. i always ask the “tactical” preppers just how many firefights do you expect to survive with all that ammo strapped to your chest and weighing down your pack. further, if you’re getting into firefights you’re doing it wrong. third question is you do know there is no dustoff, arty, cavalry, or air support right? yeah, i have shittons of ammo/guns, its my hobby, not my preps. i was infantry, then mechanic, then logistics. yes logistics taught me the most. infantry did teach a few lessons though, like never be a refugee. another one was never stand and fight. shoot, move, communicate instead. notice shooting is only a third of the equation even in combat.

  17. It’s certainly a valid perspective.

    Then I watch the news out of suburban South Africa, and I be like, “damn”.

    • To which, the inevitably obvious answer is, “GTFO of S’Africa”.

      Which was true since…pretty much ever.

      • When whites gave up power in South Africa, there was a segment of their population that wanted to carve out a small portion of the country for them whites.
        That sentiment was squashed by those with kumbaya feelings of wonderful future together.
        Fools. They should had separated
        Conflicts will always go tribal. It’s nature.

  18. New here, great stuff. Recently elected to pass on another boomstick and got a Granberg chain saw mill, 36” bar and ripping chain instead, more importantly it’s all in my possession

    • Now you need sharpening tools, extra chain,oil(fuel and bar),service parts and a store of fuel. You may have even gotten a good side income,lumber prices are down but still high.

  19. Its not needing the extra firepower. We just don’t want to be in the embarassing position of not having enough of it when the Alien Reptoid Zombies break through the wire … :^)

    • Indeed. A core driver for having multiple firearms is the capability to quickly arm friendly forces when the need arises.

      • And when it’s chow time, you’ll feed them…what, exactly?
        And for how long?
        Then what?

        Bear well in mind that the farmers shooting at Redcoats from behind stone walls were, first and foremost, farmers.

        Balance, friend, in all things.

        IRL, the most worthless item I carried in my aid bag at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the Northridge earthquake was a loaded .45.
        Nice to have, and happily unnecessary.
        But still, in the end, totally worthless at the time.
        It won’t always be so, but one doesn’t hunt for black swans. One hunts for dinner.

        • I’ve also never had to utilize the 50 gallons of gasoline I’ve been storing & rotating annually for God knows how many years. Nor have I used any of the very nice fire extinguishers I keep on the property. Precious metals, #10 cans, etc. etc.

          Like firearms, they’re insurance against an uncertain future.

  20. While I do have more guns then I can carry at one time, let alone shoot, I tend to focus on all the other things. For me the most useful prep I’ve found is a fat bank account, they say money doesn’t solve everything but it’s really good at turning big problems into little problems that can be solved.

  21. Harden your hearts The stress and paranoia from the situation and food insecurity will break the minds of at least half of the regular folks out there. Today’s snowflakes lose it when their internet goes down for a few hours. Imagine no power, cell phones or land lines. After a few weeks, mass suicides and anarchy will ensue. Imagine starving children roaming the streets because their drunk or dope head parents checked out. The cops and nat guard will be awol taking care of their own. Even many “tough guys” will lose it when they have to drop a hammer on a woman or 12 year old or turn them away when begging for food. Also best to dig a deep trench early on so when it gets ugly in your AO you have somewhere to immediately put the rotting corpse. I pray to God to give me and mine the strength to carry on.

  22. Problem is, if you aren’t an obviously hard target, all your effort to be self sufficient in food, meds, power, tools, water, etc, can be undone in few seconds by an attack by someone who wants to take what you have by force. I had property in Metairie during Katrina/Rita (just outside Orleans Parish and the NatGuard no-go zone) and had to go back in there. You had an area nearly the size of Europe with no power. No police, no way to call for help, no help would come if you did call. But it was nothing as bad as it can and will get because a lot of people fled. When you have something and others have nothing but a gun and empty belly, you will be a very attractive target.

Comments are closed.