When did you get started? Poll

[hua man]

Mid-90's. Found "Life After Doomsday" by Dr. Bruce Clayton. Opened my eyes a little. Played around with "Backpack Survivalism" (I was a young soldier.) Moved back home and found the video game "Fallout." Fun, but opened my eyes more. Not where I want to be now, but getting there.

[Sorcerer]

I answered the 1980, but it is something I grew up with my entire life. My parents were depression era children and insisted on having between 1 to 2 years of food on hand and the means to produce more at all times.

What convinced me was when my dad broke his leg and we lived off what we had stored for over 4 months, practical first hand observation. It also taught me about diversification, prep for your livestock as well as yourself.

[WiseOwl]

@ Protus, I saw Red Dawn when I was about 6-7 years old I think (late 80's) and it prompted me and my brothers and neighborhood friends to invent a game called " Search and Destroy" It was like Hide N Seek but one person hid, and everyone else "seeked"....boy that we hung out with had a dad that was SF in Nam and taught us "evasion" at a young age.....Still love that movie...I guess he was getting us "ready" at a young age....


I guess my prepping timeline started in 99 when the restaurant I worked for shut down because they thought y2k was real. I went to their house to help "unload" one day and saw their basement which was food and gear for 25 people for 4 years....I was amazed and realized it was a movement...I was 17 at the time.

Then in 01-02 after 9/11, it really opened my mind up to the possibilities of being attacked and invaded. I started reading a lot of survival fiction and doing a lot of backpacking and trying to learn the woods better. I didn't really care about food or water at the time because as a 21 year old....I WAS INVINCIBLE!!!

Fast forward to 06....I read Behold A Pale Horse by Bill Cooper and I was hooked on learning about the world, the gov't and conspiracies. Started going "off the trail" on hikes and looking for hiding places or really secluded spots up in North GA.

2010.....now with a sharp mind and a good bit of skills and a family to protect and support, I started reading into a lot of stuff on the net, checking out forums and the such. Got a pistol and a shotgun...stocked bullets, started keeping at least 1 months worth of food in the pantry.....then I found this place and with all of the ideas and knowledge floating around it has really kicked me into 2nd gear.....

I am now getting to were I want to be for my current situation...and I believe I am ready to take it to the next level, just need a lil push in the funds department to get there.

God bless each and every one of you and your families!!!

AHO

Wise Owl

[Cimarron]

Middle to late part of 2009.
I had a lot of time on my hands since I was on medical leave. At first I thought I "fell" into seeing the signs and felt lucky to have seen a deeper problem and how to react "prep" for what was really happening in the world but with the timing and my spiritual beliefs I now believe it was also devine guidance

[brokedownbiker]

I got serious about prepping for the future in 2007-2008 when I watched the financial meltdown and realized how fragile our society and economy are. Once my eyes opened, I began to see more and more symptoms of decay and corruption in every facet of our society. I'm still behind the power curve on my preps but getting close to the final phase- stepping off the grid and putting some distance between me and the masses. I am working on building up my cash reserves to purchase the BOL, once I buy it I'm gone.

[Briar Wabbit]

Well, I have been shooting and riding enduros since I was in my early teens ...
Had my own LB-Belt and ALICE gear by the time I was 17 ...
I suppose that the USN/USSS really re-doubled my entire outlook, preparedness, redundancy.
(The Navy is all about Murphy's Law and Redundant Systems and Training and Prepping and Maint.). ...
The first time I really started laying up hard foodstuffs was leading up to Y2K ... Moving around, before that. ...
I am going back to the "Migration Theory" (Hunter Gatherer) ... Sheltering in Place has many probs. ...
... I do plan to shelter-in-place, for the first ~60-90days (if conditions permit) ... but going mobile, after that.

=e=

[Jeep]

Back in the mid to late 70's after reading Mel Tappan's "Survival Guns". By the way, I still have that copy.

[goatlady]

1959 was when the "seed" was planted by reading Alas Babylon. 1963 began and 8-year sojourn living in the Far EAst and Europe as a military wife and realizing how dumbed down the US was with heavily controlled news even back then. In Germany hooked up with a multi-national group with similar outlooks/thoughts and spent many a pleasant evening figuring out how we could "rebuild/what we could individually contribute" to regenerating a civilization. Back in the States in 72 and onto my first "homestead". Been going forward from there ever since and never looked back so to speak. Prepping is my way of life and extremely satisfying to know I CAN feed myself and keep my animals alive without outside resources and it sure saves lots of $$ everyday.

[CLT46910]

It was an extension of my grandparents and parents. We always had food set back for bad times. My grandparents lived through the great depression. They brought the mindset into the family to always have long term food and always grow a large garden every year.

So I been in that mindset as long as I can remember. I can remember from the 50's about being told to always have long term food and supplies.

[Grantmeliberty]

Your poll doesn't give the option of going back far enough. I would say about 1959 was when I could see that this country was following the course of Rome and would come to a bad end. I started thinking in terms of homesteading Alaska or British Columbia and living far enough away that the collapse wouldn't reach my family. Mind you I was about 10 at the time. From then on I read and studied survival manuals and learned everything I could to build a knowledge base for the future. The only thing which surprises me is that we have held off chaos for as long as we have. I believe that the enemy expected to have complete control years ago, but that he has been delayed, and that that delay has allowed more to awaken and prepare. I believe that is the Mercy of God towards this world.

[Javin]

I "got started" long before I had the "wake up." I really took the boyscout's motto of "Be Prepared" to heart, even at a young age. When stationed at Ft. Drum New York during the ice storm of 1997, when the entire base was without electricity for weeks, and the surrounding towns without electricity for months, I very literally had a party in my barracks. I had enough food, alcohol, blankets, pillows, oil lamps, oil, and even a kerosene stove stuffed in my wall lockers (I had an 8 man bay to myself, gotta love the veterinary field) to keep 20 people quite comfortably for more than the two weeks we had the "down time."

It wasn't until getting into the civilian sector and seeing the rapid down-slide of the state of the nation that I became concerned and depressed over the inevitability of the direction we were headed. It was at this time (around 2001) that I read George Orwell's 1984 and became truly concerned. The parallels there are all to obvious. I became a card carrying member of "Oath Keepers" and began to study in earnest to learn how to survive if it came down to an all out "EOTWAWKI" situation. Until finding this site, and a few others like it only recently, I sincerely thought I was in such a small minority that maybe I was overly paranoid, and maybe even going crazy. I consider myself a realist and a cynic, but not a conspiracy theorist. (Most conspiracies are easily disproved.) Yet the math, the history, and the science all point to a single inevitable conclusion: One way or the other, whether through sudden food shortage, civil war over a president that takes away enough rights too quickly to get the people stirred up, a pathogenic outbreak due to dense populations, or all out war sparked by overspending to the point that other countries are left with only the option to try and collect on our debt by taking land, one way or the other, the end of the U.S., and possibly the world as we know it is simply inevitable. But what bothers me more, is that a part of me is looking forward to it...

[sardog]

I actually grew up in the back yard of a noted survivalist of the 60s and 70s. Squirrel, deer and coon hunted on his ground. I always got along with him as a youngster and later on as I became aware of the world situation, I started attending his seminars and get togethers. Kinda went down hill from there. Read "Alas, Babylon" in '76 and that sealed the deal.

[1Admin]

That's awesome Sardog. Care to mention who it was?

[Rmplstlskn]

I am going back to the "Migration Theory" (Hunter Gatherer) ... Sheltering in Place has many probs. ...
... I do plan to shelter-in-place, for the first ~60-90days (if conditions permit) ... but going mobile, after that.

Curious if you will have family members intow... Or lone wanderer? If family intow, would like to read more on your thoughts on how to best accomplish that mission keeping security, mobility and stealth...

[SCinPNW]

I really got started around 1996. My husband was working outside of the country and I became worried about pandemic flu and natural disasters and decided we needed to be prepared. After beginning to prep in earnest, I began to see the importance of being prepared for other reasons, such as global unrest, financial system collapse in the U.S. etc. So that is when I really got started, but if I think back over the course of my life, I had seeds planted early on. My parents and I lived off the grid for many years up in the mountains, not because they were survivalists but just because they liked it up there. Plus both of my parents are depression era generation so I learned lots about gardening, food storage, making do with very little, etc.

My dream is to have a family compound on large acreage with several extended family units living on the property with a large shared garden, orchards etc.