The first answer I’m sure I’d get from most folks is, “I don’t play the lottery so your question is moot.”  If that’s your answer, you can stop reading here unless you just enjoy mental exercises.

The second answer I’d most likely get is, “The question doesn’t matter; I’ll never win.”  Okay; I acknowledge that.  The chances of any of us winning are pretty slim but don’t we prepare for as many eventualities as we can?  Shouldn’t we at least consider, even if it’s only for a few minutes, what we would or should do if we win?

With that in mind, as I cooked breakfast, I considered the possibility.  The first choice made, if you win it all, is whether you want the annuity value (currently estimated at $350M) or the cash value ($223M).  That’s a significant difference; a difference of $127M.  Many folks argue the wisdom of taking cash NOW over annuity payments promised across the span of years.  Some folks argue the life-changing impact of receiving the cash value NOW versus the annuity payments over a number of years.  So that I could reasonably judge the pros and cons of each, I had to find out how the annuity payments were made.

The CASH amount is paid within a specified time frame in each state MINUS the required federal and state taxes.  For the sake of simplicity I’m going to use a 40% tax rate on every calculation herein. That means if you won it all and chose the CASH prize ($228M) you’d end up receiving, after taxes, $136.8M ($137M for easier computing purposes here).  Obviously, $137M is “life changing” money… but it’s still a finite amount unless you invest it somehow and manage it properly.  Being human and having a few things I’d like to buy outright, I decided I would keep $7M of that $137M on hand to spend freely and invest the other $130M.

At even just a 1% return rate, the $130M would earn me $1.3M each year.  Of course, I’d have to pay tax on that amount (remember that 40% rate I mentioned?) so the “take home” amount would be $780,000 ($780K) or about $65K per month.  I could break it down farther than that but don’t see the need.  If I can’t survive on a measly $65K per month AFTER I’ve bought outright the things I want or need, then I have serious money management issues that no amount of money will fix.

That’s not bad.  If I can secure a better return then I can actually grow the amount I have on hand, “the principle” if you will, and let the money I can pass on to my children and grandchildren continue to increase.  Now let’s consider the other option: taking the annuity payments.

The $350M would be paid out over 29 years in 30 separate payments (29 years because you get the first payment immediately and then 29 more, one per year).  $350M divided up into 30 payments is $11.7M per year.  Each annual payment is taxed as you receive it, so after deducting the 40% of taxes, each payment works out to just over $7M per year or about $585,000 per month.  That is a VERY significant difference compared to $780K per year or $65K per month.
Of course, there are two follow on questions:

First, what says you can’t divide up the $137M across the span of 30 years and take an annual payment out of your own money?  Nothing says you can’t.  If you did, then the payments would be $4.6M per year minus taxes leaving you with an annual payment to yourself of $2.76M or about $230K per month.  That’s still less than half of the amount you’d receive from the annuity payments if you chose them up front.

Second, and the most important question any survivalist/prepper has to answer to make these decisions: Do I have enough faith in the economic system to believe that I’ll be able to dependably collect the annuity payments for the next 30 years?

And therein lies the rub, my friends.  How much faith do I have in the government and the economic system?  I can’t say I have a whole lot.  However, do I believe in a pending economic collapse sufficiently to potentially give up $355,000 per month?  I can’t honestly say that’s an easy answer.

The next question for me is, how much is enough?  When I look at “giving up” $355K per month and ONLY having $230K per month ($57.5K per week or about $10K PER DAY), I have to ask myself if I’m just being greedy.

I submit to you that if you are truly a survivalist/prepper, then taking the annuity payments denies the probability of the very events you are preparing to survive.  Think about it…

First, let me tell you, I was astounded by the number of apocalypse movies that have been made in the last 70+ years.  Here’s how the numbers look:

What’s to be learned from a man’s cross-country trip on a mission from God?

Pre-1950:       4 movies

1950s:            7 movies

1960s:            13

1970s:            23

1980s:            30

1990s:            29 (small dip there)

2000s:            55!

2010s (so far):           18 + those in production. That puts on us track for over 60 in this decade.

That’s a total of 179 so far.  Sure, a lot of them are about zombies or some type of biological disaster, but a fair number of them are about weather disasters or astrological (comets/meteors) end of world scenarios.  Then there are those that offer no explanation about how the world ended as we know it, but are simply about life after an apocalypse.

No matter which type we are talking about, there is always a hero (or collection thereof) and man’ heroic struggle to survive or overcome. The ones that offer us any insight, and probably the best entertainment, are the ones about individuals or small groups; not those that focus on government solutions.  Some of the movies that come to mind are:

• Dawn of the Dead – a small group surviving a zombie outbreak
• Mad Max – a man seeking vengeance on the motorcycle gang that killed his family
• The Day After Tomorrow – a man braves the next ice age in an effort to save his son and those trapped with him in the new frozen tundra of New York City
• I Am Legend – a single man living in Manhattan trying to find the cure for a man made zombie outbreak
• The Book of Eli – a man travels cross country to carry an inspired message, having to survive gangs and cannibals along the way
• Zombieland – spoof of sorts about a small group coming together to survive and thrive in a zombie infested world

Mad Max was a popular character and movie franchise, but were there any survival lessons of value in the movies?

When you look at that list and consider the movies, I don’t consider the first two, in any way, of value to find any good survival ideas.  Sure, with Dawn of the Dead you get the seemingly great idea of securing yourself in a mall and having all the resources therein to survive on.  My challenges with this scenario are threefold:

1. Malls are HUGE when you consider the perimeter you have to secure.  If you don’t have a dozen people or more (at least) there will be gaps.
2. Malls are either ovens or refrigerators.  If you don’t have power, you don’t have comfort.
3. Once the resources run out, which takes time and gives every threat in the general area time to focus on your, you have to escape through all those threats.

While the storyline about a widowed husband and suffering father is compelling in Mad Max, it’s more a story about revenge than survival.  Survival for that movie franchise really started to kick in with The Road Warrior and then tipped over the top with Beyond Thunderdome.  The bottom line, for me, is that no decent or realistic survival skills were presented beyond being creative with your weaponry.

In The Day After Tomorrow we got a glimpse of how politics might play a role in the increase (or decrease) of the survival rate of large segments of the population.  When one or two people can make decisions that potentially impact millions, it’s not hard for the millions to be out of luck.  Ultimately, you have to accept responsibility for your own survival and safety.  That was demonstrated two ways in the movie, as was the mandate for making hard decisions.  As far as actual survival skills go, there were some decently demonstrated tactics for winter survival as well as some scavenging hints we could all learn from (vending machines, shipboard medical supplies, etc.).

There’s a lot to scavenge in any city, but what are the dangers? Will Smith in “I Am Legend” delivers a peek at some of both.

In my opinion, I Am Legend and The Book of Eli probably presented some of the best survival skills practiced in movies.  The Book of Eli finds the hero (who is blind, by the way) traveling across the wasteland that used to be America on a mission from God to deliver his memorized copy of the Bible to a bastion of hope just off the west coast.  We see that hero hunting feral cats for food, defending himself against common highway robbers, being careful about fresh meat he is offered (it’s human) and having to barter to get his electronics charged.  Everything he needs to survive he carries and there is no shortage of weapons on his person.  For a post-apocalypse nomadic existence, this movie may be closer to the mark then any of us would like to believe.

In I Am Legend, Will Smith portrays a lone Army Colonel, living on Long Island, able to go out only during the day because the night is ruled by zombies.  In this case the zombies are man-made, having been mutated by the virus used to carry a “cure” for cancer.  Will Smith’s character is immune to the virus AND he is an Army virologist.  While the plot may seem over-the-top (or very realistic, depending on your point of view), the tactics he uses actually seem practical.  His residence is secured by locking steel shutters; he covers his scent trail by spraying bleach behind himself; he stores food and uses it oldest-first by checking expiration dates; he never goes out without at least two guns – one long gun and one handgun; and he uses two watches to track sunrise and sunset times so he doesn’t get caught out after dark.  All of his equipment is carefully prepared and he obviously scavenges fuel from all the vehicles sitting unused.  (Spoiler alert!) Eventually he finds out that he’s not the only surviving non-infected human on the planet (although he has felt that way) and he helps some other survivors find their way to a safe compound along with a cure for the virus that created the zombies in the first place.

That brings me to Zombieland.  Easily the most fun of all the movies listed, I’m not sure that it brings a lot to the table from the survival standpoint.  Sure, some of the rules quoted actually make sense (Cardio, double tap, etc) but beyond that it pretty much makes fun of surviving a zombie apocalypse.  One adolescent young man is chasing love, two sisters are chasing survival at the expense of anyone they encounter along with a trip to fantasyland (Pacific Pallisades) and the most lethal character is chasing Twinkies.

So, of those listed I recommend paying attention in The Book of Eli and I Am Legend.  As you watch other apocalypse movies (and more are sure to follow), recognize the difference between what’s written in simply for the sake of the plot, entertainment, etc., and what’s actually of any potential value.  We all know (hopefully) that not everything we see in movies makes any sense to emulate – so don’t. Be smart about it – but enjoy the entertainment as you can.  Movies will be a thing of the past in any post-apocalyptic world.

Which brings me to the point of this article: preparing for a weapons ban and/or seizure by those in our government who have repeatedly proven themselves to be anti-gun.  Because guns were used to commit murder, a new call to ban “assault weapons” has come out of the gun-control crowd.  They are well-known lot and are recognizable by their decision to place blame on the inanimate gun used rather than the person who used it.  They are further identifiable by the fact that guns are the ONLY inanimate objects they display this animus toward.  When cars, hammers, bats, knives, etc. are used to commit heinous acts of violence – all of which have happened in the past twelve months – the anti-gun crowd blames the person who controls those tools.  Only when a gun is used do they blame the inanimate object, as if, somehow, the gun seized control of the person, removed all semblance of self-control, and forced that person to commit acts of violence.  If we used that logic and applied it to world peace, it would make sense that if we just disarmed all of the world’s militaries, countries would never want to make war with one another again.

Black powder rifles are not likely to be banned or further controlled. Do you have one in your armory?

Because an AR-15 style rifle was reported as used in the commission of these crimes, a further call has come from the anti-gun crowd to ban “assault rifles.”  I still find it humorous that this term “assault rifle” is used by a bunch of folks who can’t really distinguish one type of rifle from another, but it becomes aggravating when they attempt to apply definitions to the term which are applicable to pistols as well.  For example, one politician described an “assault rifle” as a weapon using a “clip” that held more than ten rounds and had a pistol grip.  Hmmm…  that definition WOULD apply to the large majority of semi-automatic handguns EXCEPT that they are fed from a magazine, not a clip; yet one more example of the stupidity of a politician and their general lack of common firearms knowledge.

A lever-action rifle is an excellent hunting and defense tool. Do you have one in your armory?

Still, that won’t stop them from attempting to pass more gun control laws.  What’s even more worrisome is that if the House of Representatives won’t go along with the creation or passage of more gun control laws, our current president might choose to simply issue another Executive Order prohibiting the sale of whatever weapon HE decides the common citizen doesn’t “need.”

If that occurs, although there would surely be a lengthy legal battle, what’s most likely left to be legally purchased and possessed are weapons that are no longer viewed as “military style firearms.”  Such weapons would include black powder rifles and revolvers, lever action rifles and pump action shoulder arms (rifles and shotguns).  Bolt action rifles in calibers that aren’t commonly used by our military (so anything not .308 or .50 caliber) might be left alone.  My question therefore becomes:

There’s likely little chance that revolvers would become restricted with an “assault weapons” ban. Do you have one in your armory?

What do you have in your personal armory that would remain “legal” if the current administration found a way to ban semi-automatic weapons and/or weapons fed from a detachable box magazine?  Perhaps it would behoove the more forward thinking among us to make sure we have, or soon acquire, rifles and revolvers that are more likely to be left alone.  Such would include:

• Pump action shotguns
• Pump action rifles
• Lever action rifles
• Bolt action rifles in non-military calibers
• Black powder rifles
• Black powder revolvers
• Revolvers in all calibers

Break-open and single-shot shotguns would also likely be left alone.  Now think about this for a few minutes – and yes, I’m going to sound completely like a conspiracy theorist:  If the government finds a way to insure that civilians – non-military and non-law enforcement personnel – can only own the types of weapons listed above, doesn’t it follow that it would also find a way to confiscate all other weapons?  Further, it would only make sense that if they’re going to ban “military style” weapons they would also ban common NATO ammo, right?  Say “so long” to 9mm parabellum, .45ACP, .308/7.62mm, .223/5.56mm and more.  So even if you found a way to keep weapons in those calibers, you’d only have whatever ammo you manage to keep on hand for them.  Yes, it sounds to me, when you follow the logic, that it looks like an attempt to disarm the “common people” sufficiently that their resistance to tyranny would be minimal.

Because it’s only chambered for .22WMR, this rifle is not likely to become restricted, but would still serve well as a hunting tool for small game. Do you have one in your armory?

Still, any resistance to tyranny is better than no resistance to tyranny.  Any ability to hunt for food is better than no ability.  Any ability to defend yourself and your family is better than no ability.  While I doubt any serious gun control laws are going to be passed as a result of all this hype, you just never know.  I take heart from the fact that court decision after court decision, coast to coast, supports the individual citizen’s right to keep and bear arms.

First, I felt sympathy for the father.  No parent should have to suffer the loss of their child and certainly no child should be lost to violence – no matter what tool is used to commit that violence. My prayers and condolences go out to every surviving family member and friend of all of the victims who lost their lives in Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Second, I wondered about the ethics and morality of a political group having to buy advertising time in order to convince people to support their agenda.  Think about it: Mayors Against Illegal Guns paid for an advertisement aimed at increasing support for a “gun control” law that obviously doesn’t have much support.  “Gun control” is in quotes because nothing in the “universal background check” law controls guns: it controls people who want to purchase guns.

I don’t know how it is in other states but I live in Maryland and in Maryland, for well over a decade now, it’s been illegal to sell a gun without the recipient having had a background check UNLESS it’s an immediate family member.  That means that dealerships have to do background investigations for every gun sale.  Dealers AND PRIVATE CITIZENS who sell guns at gun shows have to do a background check on the buyer.  Private citizens selling a firearm to another private citizen have to get a background check done on the buyer (this is done by the state police via the local barracks).  If the sale is of a rifle or shotgun, once the background check is performed, there is no waiting period for the buyer to take possession of the weapon.  If it’s the sale of a handgun, the buyer must wait ten days before receiving the firearm.  I’ve often commented to my local gun dealer that the stamp that comes back on the state application to purchase a firearm is NEVER stamped “APPROVED.”  It’s instead stamped “NOT DISAPPROVED.”  The clear statement is that the state of Maryland NEVER approves of the sale of any firearm.

Why can’t every lawful adult citizen carry these daily?

So now I see an ad from the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, founded and led by Mayor Michael Bloomberg – the same guy who feels the need for NYC to control a citizen’s diet by legislating the sizes of consumable food items – garnering support for universal background checks.  I guarantee you that “universal background checks” is NOT the only thing in that law.  The law was given a nice simple name, picked by a team of politicians, I’m sure, to make it easily identifiable, short and somehow emotionally catching.  But a law about “universal background checks” will no more be only about background checks than “Obamacare” (see? Just one word) is ONLY about extending health insurance to those too poor (or lazy) to afford it.

Now, I know I’m going to upset a few folks, but I am all in favor of a law that says every Federal Firearms License holder (FFL holder = gun dealer) is required to make sure that every potential buyer goes through a background investigation prior to selling said buyer a gun.  Wait… that law already exists.

I am all in favor of a law that says there should be a SHORT waiting period before a FIRST-TIME gun buyer takes possession of the firearm.  I believe SHORT should be three to five days maximum.  I believe that first-time buyer waiting period should apply to all types of firearms.

I am all in favor of a basic safety training requirement for all first-time gun buyers BUT I also believe that the buyer should be able to “test out.”  In other words, if your family has educated you about firearms all your life and you can pass the given gun safety test without having to attend the state-mandated or state-provided training, then you should be able to, thereby saving yourself the cost of taking the training.

I am all in favor of qualification requirements before a person can carry a handgun (or rifle) with them everywhere they go.  I also believe that the “firearms ID card” several states require just to BUY a firearm should be proof that the person HAD a background check, MET the training requirements and HAS QUALIFIED with the given weapon, thereby mandating that they not be harassed or bothered by any authority when they choose to exercise their 2^nd Amendment recognized right by walking around armed.

Notice that I didn’t say that the card “permitted” them to do so.  No government should have the power to PERMIT or DENY a lawful citizen from exercising their God-given Constitutionally-recognized rights.  What my intention for that Firearms ID Card (FID) is that when a law enforcement authority has reason to contact the citizen, during the normal course of his or her duties, the lawful carrying of firearms can be confirmed IF NECESSARY.

Now, I know folks who believe that no law enforcement authority should ever have any lawful ability to question them about their possession or carrying of a firearm.  While I understand this outlook and believe it would be highly appropriate in maybe the early to mid 1800s, I don’t see how it could be feasible today.  In most places our density of population has grown too high for law enforcement officers NOT to have contact with a great many lawful citizens who would be armed (if things were as I described above).  There’s just no way police officers or sheriffs’ deputies wouldn’t interact with armed citizens and sometimes that interaction would necessitate verification that the citizens were who they claim and armed legally.  (Imagine this: an officer gets dispatched to an armed robbery and is given a description of the suspect.  When he arrives near the scene he sees someone who matches the description and has a holstered handgun on their hip.  The officer’s job requires them to make contact and ascertain that the person is NOT the suspect but part of that process is to verify identification.  If that much interaction is going to occur, then it’s reasonable that the officer will also verify that the person is carrying the firearms legally.)

Having read through all that, what’s YOUR outlook?  Please share so we can discuss.

First, let’s recognize that, thanks to the popular movies and television shows, most of us consider survival as having a combat/defense component.  Sometimes it’s against a hoard of shuffling zombies and sometimes it’s against a well-organized pack of cannibals.  Either way, and for all the variations in between, I don’t know a single survivalist / prepper who doesn’t include weapons in his (or her) planning and preparations.

Your vest can be “survival” or “combat” or both.

As I considered it I realized that almost all of us plan and prepare for both – pure survival (staying alive) and combat/defense scenarios (which involves us fighting for our lives or supplies).  Then I came to the realization that the balance between the two is really what we end up making decisions about.  My own decisions are reflected in what I’ve chosen to pack where.

In (or on) my backpack I keep my major survival supplies: shelter, food, water, first-aid supplies, etc.  On my vest, although I do have a pouch for emergency survival supplies (minimal shelter & warmth), I keep my supplies for combat – extra ammo for my weapons, a knife, a multi-tool and a flashlight.

Thanks to my layered and redundant approach, I have survival supplies at every level of my preparation: home, vehicle, pack, vest, gun belt.  But my vest and gun belt are given over far more to combat/defense purposes than survival.  Why would that be?

Because if circumstances have gotten so ugly that all I have left is my vest and gun belt, then everything really has gone to hell in a hand basket.  I’ve been forced to leave my residence and all supplies I normally have there.  I’ve been forced to abandon my vehicle and all of the supplies I packed in it to bug out.  I’ve either lost, been forced to abandon, or used up the supplies in my backpack.  When you get that far into the sh*t storm, what you have left better allow you to hunt and keep you alive in the face of other predators.

So, the question becomes, what do you load into/onto your vest, if you even use one? Most preppers I know don’t.  They maintain a well-stocked bugout bag and simply never plan to be without it.  While I’ve seen some truly creative, imaginative and fantastic planning/stocking go into bugout bags, I’ve yet to find a single person, or even group of people, who can plan and prepare for every circumstance that might be faced in the long term.  Why?  Because we simply can’t.  The unexpected happens.

How redundant is your load-out planning?

Think about it: if nothing unexpected ever happened, why would we ever need to plan or prepare in the first place?  Being prepared for the unexpected is what being a survivalist and a prepper is all about.  If you start out your planning with the false assumption that you can adequately prepare for virtually every situation you’ll ever experience, you doom yourself to failure from the get go.

Accepting that, my first thought is, don’t put all your eggs in one basket; or in this case, don’t consider your bugout bag the end all be all answer to all your survival needs.  You may lose it, be separated from it or deplete it.  It may be stolen or damaged.  Plan and prepare so that what you have left on your person after the bugout bag is taken out of the equation is still sufficient for you to survive.

Most equipment vests today incorporate or can hold a hydration system.  Get one.  The 100 ounce/3 liter bladders will get you through a day or two.  An inline filter will sufficiently clean the water you refill your bladder with – but use your head about the source.  Use or attach a pouch for a couple snack/survival/food bars and another small pouch for two emergency blankets: one for shelter and one to wrap around yourself.  Include a few lengths of paracord or some old boot laces.  Add in four small aluminum tent stakes and you can make your shelter, as well as wrap yourself in a heat-insulating blanket.

No survival kit, which is what you’re turning your vest into, is complete without a knife.  Fixed blade or folding blade, is entirely up to you and the need you perceive.  I recommend putting a multi-tool on there somewhere and a means of creating fire.  Neither of those items take up much space.

What’s on your gunbelt? Besides the gun, that is.

The entire rest of the surface area of your vest can be dedicated to carrying extra ammo for your weapons.  Or, as I’ve seen at least one survivalist do, it leaves plenty of room to put a handgun on the vest, extra magazines for it, and then the rest used for extra ammo for your long gun.

“Two is one; one is none,” is a preparation protocol common to many military units.  Redundancy is good.  For those items that you absolutely don’t want to live without, “three is one; two or one is none.”  Unless it is weight prohibitive, carry three guns: a long gun and two handguns. Put one handgun on your belt and the other on your vest.  Divide your spare ammo for your long gun and your primary handgun on your vest and belt.  The goal is to make sure that if you lose the vest, you still have spare ammo for the two guns remaining.  All spare ammo for the handgun on the vest can stay on the vest.  While you hate to lose it if you lose the vest, it can be sacrificed if it must.

A good knife is one of the two most important survival supplies you can have. The other is WATER.

Carry three knives: one on the vest, one on your belt and one in a pocket.  Even the smallest of knives can be a fantastic survival tool and you should take precautions to insure that you always have at least one – unless somehow you end up without your pants.

Carry a means of making fire on your vest, on your belt and in a pocket.  The “in a pocket” could be nothing more than a bic lighter.  Do what you can to insure that you always have the means of starting a fire.

At each level carry water or something you can put water in and a means of purifying or filtering it (or both).  If I had to pick the two most important things I’d need for survival, water and a knife would be the two – without any doubt or hesitation.

Think about it: at the most basic and simple level of preparedness there are probably several million people just in the United States.  These are the folks who have a week’s worth of food in their freezer and/or pantry.  They have some candles (that they can easily put their hands on) for a power outage.  They might even have a battery-operated radio and a non-internet based phone that’s hard wired (not cordless) so it’ll still work even if the power goes out.

How big does your survival kit NEED to be to offset your lack of knowledge and/or skill?

At the other end of the spectrum are those folks who have constructed a “survival” or “doomsday” bunker complete with an independent power source, water source, secure access and bio-chemical filtration systems in the air control units.  If they’ve gone that far there’s also likely an armory in the bunker and a healthy stockpile of ammo.  There’s probably an even larger stockpile of vacuum-packed long term storage food stuffs.

There are also folks who exist at both ends of that preparedness spectrum: they have a primary residence and are prepared, at the most basic level, for emergencies but they also have a redoubt someplace that they intend to bug-out and head for when the stuff hits the fan (SHTF).

Some “preppers” don’t believe that a fixed location will be good for survival after the SHTF so they plan, practice and prepare for less comfortable nomadic existence, living off the land as they move and carrying all of their survival supplies either on their person or in their vehicle.  Honestly, most folks I know who plan to bug-out of their primary residence in the event of a severe emergency or disaster also recognize that their vehicle may break down, run out of gas, etc. and they plan to shoulder their gear and continue on foot to their destination.

Some folks prepare for an economic collapse.  Some folks prepare for a governmental collapse (although I happen to believe that one wouldn’t happen without the other).  Some folks prepare for what they see as the inevitable invasion of the United States by countries that hold our debt OR those folks prepare for what they see as the inevitable 2^nd civil war as patriots rise up against the growing unchecked spread of federal power.

Are you a “carry everything on me and be a nomad” kind of survivalist/prepper?

Then there are the whole slew of people who all in between all those categories, mix and match them and prepare at some level they feel is sufficient.  Others might criticize their preparations as insufficient.  Others might call them crazy or say “they’re going overboard.”  There will ALWAYS be people who are critical of you what you do, how you do it and why.  Then there’s the rest of us: people who agree that being prepared is necessary and capable of holding a rational conversation about what level of “prepared” is enough.  Most of us realize that “prepared enough” is as much a personal choice as the selection of a self-defense handgun or a person’s favorite knife.  In other words, no one can be critical of my preparedness level; I’m the only person who has to be happy with it.

That recognized, let’s recognize one other thing though: no matter what your level of preparedness is it needs to address a few basic needs or it simply isn’t complete.  Yes, I know I just said no one can be critical of your preparedness and if you make the conscious decision to ignore an important facet of your necessities as you plan and prepare, that’s on you.  You’ll be the one paying the price – and hopefully you don’t have any family or loved ones who depend on you to help take care of them even as you knowingly choose to ignore an identified need.

Protection from the elements is a basic need. If you can’t build a shelter out of natural items, make sure you carry what you need to do it artificially.

So what are those identified needs?

• Shelter – protection from the elements.
• Water
• Food
• Self-defense
• First-aid

Those truly are the most basic of needs and they CAN be provided for without stocking a “doomsday bunker.”  Of course, redundancy is good so if you CAN stock your bunker AND your primary residence AND your vehicle AND your go-bag… all the better.  As long as you cover all five needs as much as you can, given the limited space of each location.

One last thing: as each of us prepares we balance out our needs. The balance is achieved as we perform an unconscious self-assessment.  We assess our own knowledge, skills and equipment.  Bear in mind two things about this self-assessment:

It needs to be a brutally honest assessment.  Don’t delude yourself even in the smallest way about your knowledge, skills or equipment.  Lying to yourself does you no good at all.

The better your knowledge and skills are, where survival is concerned, the less equipment you need.  If you can construct a good shelter with a knife and twine and what’s available in nature, then you don’t NEED to carry a shelter tarp, tent, etc.  If your knowledge and skills aren’t up to the task of constructing such a shelter from what’s available, then you’d BETTER be carrying a tent or tarp to make shelter out of.

Everyone has their own perceived preparedness level need.  Everyone has their own perceived survival ability level.  Combining the two, which is what we all do, creates a lot more than fifty different shades of preparedness.  What’s yours?

Every “fitness guru” I’ve ever talked to – those folks being people who make a living from fitness in some way – agree that there are a couple basic items you need to focus on to maintain a good overall fitness level.  They include:

• Cardiovascular health
• Strength
• Flexibility

Of course, it’s also important to keep your weight relatively proportionate to your height.  I know there are plenty of standards out there about what is “obese” and what’s “overweight,” etc.  There are military standards for maximum allowable weight as calculated based on gender, height and age.  What’s rarely discussed is that the military weight standard is a guideline that isn’t fixed in stone.  It can be easily waivered provided the individual who measures overweight can demonstrate a sufficient fitness level and acceptable levels of body fat.  THAT is the overall goal of the height/weight standard: to insure the individual is maintaining a HEALTHY body weight, meaning they are over the weight limits purely due to the fat content of their body.  So the military height and weight standards are a good place to start but should not be considered absolute.

That recognized, let’s recognize this as well: body building is not performance fitness.  Sure, body builders may have a great physique and they may be strong as compared to the average person, but how well does all that muscle perform in the long term?  What most people don’t realize is that body builders are at their weakest point when they compete and their body fat levels would be called unhealthy by many doctors.

The human body NEEDS fat to be healthy.  We need it not only in our diet (to some extent) but we need to have it making up a portion of our body.  While it’s true that a body fat content of 25% is unhealthy, it’s equally true that a body fat content of 5% can be equally unhealthy. Why?  Because fat is our natural shock absorber AND it’s where we store extra water.  I’m like plenty of other people in that I don’t like to retain water (which occurs any time your sodium intake goes up enough) BUT I recognize that an appropriate level of fat is a good thing.  So, what’s “appropriate?”

It is generally accepted that a body fat percentage (for men) under 8% is unhealthy while a “healthy” fat percentage is between 8-19%.  For women a body fat percentage under 21% is considered “underfat” with a healthy fat percentage running between 21-33%.  Those numbers look drastically different between genders but they readily demonstrate what all of us inherently know: There are big differences between gender physiologies.  Again, these numbers are not etched in stone and what one doctor says is healthy, another doctor may disagree with.

Body fat chart for men showing BLUE as underfat, GREEN as healthy, YELLOW as of concern and RED as unhealthy. Same color scheme/code for the women’s chart below.

Once you have your height and weight proportionate and your body fat in a decent range, what else do you need to worry about?  Oh, yeah… those three things we listed above: cardiovascular health, strength and flexibility.

What does each body fat percentage actually look like? What’s your goal?

Cardiovascular health is often compared to or equated with endurance levels.  Most people assume that if you can run ten miles then your cardiovascular system must be in great shape.  That’s not necessarily true – as is demonstrated by the number of people who have heart attacks while they’re exercising and those who have heart attacks while they’re just sitting still.  Cardiovascular health is a combination of maintaining your system in a relatively “clean” and healthy fashion while also exercising it to maintain function.

Keeping your cardiovascular system “clean” means keeping your whole body clean internally.  It means eating healthy, limiting junk foods, excessively fatty foods and contaminants such as tobacco, alcohol or other toxins.  It means drinking enough water each day.  It means breathing enough fresh air (do you have any idea how many toxins you inhale on a city street each day?).  As you maintain your system in a clean fashion, you also need to exercise it to strengthen or maintain it.

Your heart is like any other muscles in your body: if you want it to get stronger, you have to exercise it.  If you neglect exercising it, you risk having it cramp or fail upon exertion.  You exercise your heart by exerting your body, thereby creating a demand for greater blood flow.  This also works your lungs/respiratory system by creating a greater demand for oxygen.  The question that comes to mind is: how fast do you want your heart to beat when you exercise to get optimal increases in performance?

To figure out your target heart rate for exercise you start by identifying what your maximum heart rate is.  To find out, subtract your age from 226 (for men) or 220 (for women).  That is the number you don’t want to reach.  It identifies the heart beat rate at which your heart is operating at maximum levels and you risk it failing.  Your target is to get your heart at 50% (if you’re just starting out) or 75% (if you’re already in great shape).  SIDE NOTE: for optimal FAT burning exercise, aim for 65%.

So, as an example: a 50 year old man wants to do some cardio exercise.  He finds out his maximum heart rate is 176 (226-50).  He’s just start out so he aims for 88 as his target heart rate.  As he gets in better and better shape he ups that percentage.  A year later he’s aiming for that 75% number but his maximum heart rate has dropped to 175, so now his target is 75% of 175 or 131 beats per minute.

As an example based on experience to help put that into perspective, I’m in my late forties and do regular cardio exercise.  I target that 65% range of my maximum on purpose I’m currently trying to lower my body fat percentage.  Doing the math, my target heart rate for exercise is 115 beats per minute.  Although that’s my goal I often catch myself getting my heart rate up to about 125 or 130 beats per minute.  That’s up closer to 72-73% of my maximum.  Even so, and although I do work up a good sweat over the course of an hour, I can maintain that exertion level for two hours or more without feeling overly fatigued. In other words, this isn’t hard – you just have to invest the time and effort.

With your cardiovascular system being maintained in a clean and healthy fashion, you need to also work on your strength and flexibility.  Often the exercises we do to increase our strength serve to decrease our flexibility.  As we perform resistance exercise – any exercise that uses weight to work the muscles in a repetitive fashion – we tear the muscle tissue down so it can rebuild stronger.  The rebuilding causes the muscles to tighten and become more rigid.  Stretching exercises are important so that you don’t stress the muscles to the point of injury and so you can maintain a healthy level of limberness.  What is a “healthy level?”

While I’m not sure that can be quantified, I can give you an example of how being flexible saved a man from injury.  The gentleman I’m thinking about is a lifelong Tae Kwon Do practitioner.  He stretches as part of his martial arts practice and teachings and he does so at least six days each week.  This man was in a head-on car collision resulting in his body being impacted by the steering wheel, the seat belt, the air bag, and various other parts of the car around him.  The collision occurred when he was traveling approximately 40 miles per hour and the car that ran into him was traveling in excess of 60 miles per hour.  That’s a closure rate of, and impact occurring at, over 100 miles per hour.  The man walked away with a sprained wrist.  Every other joint in his body that was impacted was flexible enough to bend without injury.

Take that story and relate it to an activity that is commonly associated with survival: hiking.  How many times do people sprain an ankle when they turn their foot on a loose stone? Or trip over an unseen root? Or simply miss their footing and end up putting their weight down wrong?  The more flexible ankle receives less injury from such events.  So the flexible man doesn’t slow down his family or team in travel.  The guy whose never done anything to maintain his flexibility either sprains or breaks his ankle causing everyone he is with to have to slow down.

Now, let’s revisit strength.  Each of us has our own level of it.  Each of us has to operate within our own limitations.  You can increase your strength levels, as discussed, with exercise.  To do so you can lift weights, perform calisthenics, etc.  Any exercise that works a muscle group in a repetitive NON-impact fashion (like hammering or punching) will help the muscle grow without risk of injury.  That’s not to say that hammering or punching won’t increase the strength of muscles used in those tasks; I’m simply recognizing that punching risks injury to the hand and wrist while hammering risks injury to the hand, wrist and bones/joints of both.

To be “survival fit” you must attain a sufficient fitness level to be able to perform all day each and every task you can reasonably assume you’ll have to in a given emergency situation.  That may mean walking all day or it may mean walking all day with your fully loaded backpack on.  It may mean chopping wood for a couple hours.  It may mean hunting, cleaning, butchering and preparing food.  Whatever YOU anticipate your survival actions to be, insure that your fitness level will support them.

My question is: how do the rest of you deal with folks who think there’s something wrong with YOU for preparing, all the while ignoring real potential problems that can occur day to day?

My first issue was the label: “all you doomsday preppers.” Lumping every prepper together as a “doomsday” prepper seems silly to me. Not all preppers plan for or prepare for doomsday, the end of the world as we know it, or the biblical apocalypse. Some of us prepare for the inevitable weather disasters, man-made crises and other events which will change how we live, even if only temporarily, our day to day lives. NOT preparing for such is just ridiculous, especially if you’ve lived through numerous weather disasters (as this person has). But why lump all preppers together? Most likely, I’m guessing, because it’s easier to be insulting that way.

The comment went on to suggest that, due to an unexpected natural event, all us “doomsday preppers” would load up our “assault weapons,” centrally locate our food supplies and lock ourselves into bunkers. Consider the imagery of that collection of preparedness actions as stated. It implies that all preppers own a select-fire weapon and suggests an eagerness, at any excuse, to load them up and tote them around. Yep, that’s me: just can’t wait to load up my M4 (don’t have one) and go around committing acts of senseless violence for no reason at all (never have, never will). I don’t have a bunker; don’t intend to build one and wouldn’t lock myself into it simply because of a natural disaster half way around the world. That said, if I had such a bunker it might be a nice, secure place to be the next time a tornado or hurricane comes through. Wait… a practical seasonal use for a “doomsday prepper bunker?:” YES. Think about it.

The person further suggests that the spouses and children of us “doomsday preppers” suffer because of our outlook on preparedness. I find it interesting that for over a hundred years now the Boy Scout motto has been “Be prepared,” but no one has been feeling sorry for a troop leaders spouse or any of those boy scouts, yet a person decides to be reasonably prepared and all of a sudden there’s a reason to feel sorry for the “prepper’s” spouse and children? Yeah, they suffer so much. They directly benefit from the preparations made, potentially survive life-threatening events, don’t go hungry, stay warm and dry… on and on. They suffer SO much, right? Obviously the only way that they could suffer is if the prepper is abusive (I’m not; never have been; never will be) or crazy (same clarification here).

Finally this person concludes with a statement about how the rest of the “sane” world will react, a clear implication that “doomsday preppers” are all insane since they aren’t included with the sane world. I take a fair amount of umbrage at that statement. What is sane and what is insane? Is it sane to know that potentially lethal weather events occur but to take no action in the face of them? Is it sane to know that violent crime happens every day and that you may potentially be a victim but to willingly accept that rather than taking any action or making any plans to avoid it? Is it sane to know that any one of several events can occur which will interrupt your food supply for up to several days but you take absolutely no precautions in food storage? Is it sane to know that you can’t live without water for more than a couple days but you take no action to store any?

True insanity is knowing that emergencies happen but making no plans or preparations to limit their impact on your life. True insanity is surviving, by pure luck, several dozen weather disasters and continuing to count on luck for your survival. True insanity is insulting the very people in your life who can help you plan and prepare because it’s apparently easier and more fun to laugh at them rather than facing your fear caused by your total lack of preparedness in the face of any emergency, crisis or disaster.

Therefore… I’ll continue in my ways preparing. I’m not preparing for doomsday, but should it arrive I’ll be better off than my neighbors – as will my spouse and children. I try to stay prepared to limit the inconvenience weather emergencies/disasters cause in my life. I try to stay prepared to limit the impact a fluctuating economy has on my bank account. I try to stay prepared because to do otherwise seems entirely foolish to me.

What’s your outlook?

If it rains one inch, that means if you were using something with straight sides to catch and measure the rain, you would end up with one inch of water in your container. If your container is one inch square and fills one inch deep then you have one cubic inch of water. If your container is one foot square (twelve inches on both sides) then you have 144 square inches of water, one inch deep, or 144 cubic inches of water. There are 231 cubic inches of liquid in a gallon, so 144 cubic inches of water equals (approximately) 2/3 of a gallon. I applied this math to the square footage of my roof to figure out how many gallons of water would run off through each downspout.

Rain barrels are not difficult to set up and can provide a good amount of “free” water for your survival use.

My house is approximately 2,000 square feet and I used the same number for my roof. I know it’s actually greater due to the slant, but I really didn’t want to get into the necessary geometrical calculations to figure out the exact square footage: 2,000 square feet was close enough to satisfy my curiosity. Further my house has four downspouts servicing different sections of the roof. To know which downspout would be of greatest water collection value, I had to approximate how much roof was served by each one. (yeah, I know; this is boring. Bear with me another couple lines and you’ll see the value.) What I figured out was that my downspouts served as follows:

Downspout 1: 1/3
Downspout 2: 1/4
Downspout 3: 1/6
Downspout 4: 1/3

Downspout 1 and 4 service about the same amount of roof space, but Downspout 1 is located in my backyard while Downspout 4 is in the front of my house. For the sake of “hiding” my rain barrel and not potentially uglying up the front of my house, I chose Downspout 1. Remembering that my roof is about 2,000 square feet, Downspout 1 (servicing 1/3) services about 667 square feet. At 144 square inches per square foot that’s 96,048 square inches. One inch of rain equals 96,048 CUBIC inches of water. That’s just under 416 gallons of rain water – and that’s just from one-third of my roof space. According to my water company the average person uses 70 gallons of water PER DAY, so 416 gallons is six days’ worth of water for one person. Bear in mind that is NOT “survival” usage. To SURVIVE a person needs one gallon of water per day (according to experts) so 416 gallons is over a year’s worth of water for one person, or over three months’ worth for a family of four.

Another example of rain barrel set up.

Since the average rain barrel holds about 60 gallons of water, that one rainfall would have been sufficient to fill a rain barrel seven times (about). When I thought about all that water simply running off into my yard, as nice as my grass may look now, my thought was, “Holy crap! I’m letting a lot of free water just flow away.” Then I gave some thought to my water preparations prior to weather disasters wherein I was worried about losing my water supply. My family has six 5-gallon water jugs that we fill (30 gallons total), we fill both bath tubs (another 80 gallons total) and I count my hot water heater as well as all three toilet tanks (another 59 gallons altogether). That gives us a supply of 169 gallons of water. One 55-60 gallon rain barrel is 1/3 of that, but one 1″ rain fall on just 1/3 of my roof provides nearly TRIPLE that. Given all that math and thought, here’s reality:

It is simply foolish to let all that rain water flow away, especially since it’s SO easy to capture and store it.

Once I had decided to set up a rain barrel my question became, “Why set up just one?” Thanks to the power of the Internet you can do a search for “rain barrel” and find directions on how to set up daisy-chained systems that link more than one rain barrel together. The flow comes down your downspout, through whatever filtration you set up (discussed momentarily) and fills your primary barrel. When that barrel fills then it begins filling the next barrel. When the second barrel fills then it begins filling the next barrel. The last barrel in your chain has to have an overflow drain to allow excess water to run off. There are a couple good points about having such run off. First, it indicates that you’ve captured your maximum capacity of water. Second, you can direct the overflow drainage as you see fit, saving your yard from naturally occurring puddles, etc.

Now, let’s talk about filtration for a moment. Whether or not you intend to ever use this captured water for human consumption, you still want to filter it at least a little. Why? Because if you think about everything that comes off your roof such as leaves, gumballs, acorns, twigs, pollen clusters, etc. it’s easy to see how all of that would quickly build up at the bottom of your rain barrel. That would both make your captured water nasty AND eventually block your tap. If you buy a commercially produced rain barrel, shop wisely. Many of them come with filtration kits. If you choose to build your own rain barrel or buy one without a filtration kit, do yourself the favor of at least setting up a wire mesh filter to capture the big stuff you don’t want in your water/barrel. A section of window screen properly secured will work just fine.

One sample filtration system. The author describes another. This one obviously would not handle the volume generated by your downspout. The bottom line is that filtering is not hard but does require maintenance to the filter system.

If you want to filter your water farther than that, first understand that the water will likely never be “drinking” clean. After all, bird poop, squirrel waste, etc. all come off your roof, into your gutter and down that downspout. You can, however, filter it pretty thoroughly. If you’ve ever owned a fish tank and set up a multi-stage filter then you already know how to do this.

Start with a 3- or 5-gallon construction bucket. Cut a hole in the bottom 3″-5″ in diameter. Put a piece of that window screen over this hole INSIDE the bucket. On top of that put one to three inches of fine mesh type material: cotton balls, sponges, or purpose-manufactured filter mesh that you can get at your local pet store. On top of that put another section of wire mesh / screen. Next put in a layer of fine gravel two or three inches thick. On top of that put another section of wire mesh / screen. Next put in a layer of rough gravel two to three inches thick. Put a final section of wire mesh / screen on top of that. If you put a lid on the bucket, cut a hole 6″-8″ in diameter in the center of it and attach a section of wire mesh / screen ON TOP of the lid. The whole filter “system” goes on top of your rain barrel below the downspout from your gutter. You need to insure that the top of your rain barrel will support the weight of the filter system AND make sure the drain hole from the bottmo of the filter lines up with the input hole at the top of your rain barrel. Additionally, make sure there’s not a gap between the filter edges and the opening in the rain barrel where miscellaneous blowing debris can get in.

If you use this type of filter system you can be assured of relatively CLEAR water being collected. If you intend to cook with or otherwise consume that water you need to purify it first by either using water purification tablets or by boiling it. The filtration is not a “forever” system. The materials inside have to be removed, cleaned or replaced, and restacked inside at least once per month during rainy seasons. Off season (usually fall and winter) you can cut that back to every-other or every-third month (quarterly).

Some final notes: Build your rain barrel up on a platform at least two feet off the ground. That makes it far easier to get a watering can or other container under the tap. Additionally, make sure the rain barrel is sealed if it’s at all possible. Stagnant water is a favorite breeding ground of mosquitoes and you don’t want to help those potential disease carriers reproduce.

If you have ideas, comments or questions about rain barrels, please share them below!

Most of my friends know that I’m an NCIS fan. Before that I was a freak for Walker: Texas Ranger. On NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs is a former Marine (Gunnery Sergeant) Scout Sniper and he just so happens to have a rule for darn near everything. If you’re a fan of the show then you know why he developed those rules and you appreciate the humor when so many of them are cited. If you’re not familiar with “Gibbs’ Rules” I invite you to do a Google search and you’ll find several reference sites with them. In the Borelli household we have a set of rules as well, but never before had I tried to actually list them. I could cite them, but they weren’t numbered like Gibbs’. SO… it was suggested to me that I do precisely that. Here we go.

1) Just don’t quit. Easier said than done at times, but this is simple none-the-less. As I told both my oldest children when they enlisted in the service (and as I’ve repeated to my younger daughter as she contemplates a stint in the service), the only person in the world who can make you quit is the person in the mirror. There is no good reason for that person to give you permission to quit or to ask you to quit. Sure, you might fail sometimes, but if you view each “failure” as a learning experience then the next time around you’ll do better. As long as you keep trying then you haven’t quit – and you haven’t lost until you’ve quit. Life hasn’t beaten you until you give up.

2) You don’t have to like it, you just have to do it. Anyone who’s ever been in the service is familiar with this one. Sometimes the orders you’re given just suck but that doesn’t excuse you from following them. Cleaning up behind your dog in the backyard isn’t fun. You don’t have to like it – you just have to do it. Often the thing you don’t like but have to do anyway is the next hurdle you clear in not quitting.  Sometimes you make a commitment and then find that fulfilling it is occasionally inconvenient or difficult.  It doesn’t matter.  You made the commitment.  You have to follow through.  Be as good as your word.

3) Focus on the mission; ignore the distractions. When I enlisted in the Army and entered Basic Training my father was, shall we say, less than supportive. He had plans for me that involved college and doors in law firms with my name on them. That outlook from him was expressed in his letters to me during Basic Training and Military Police School. Those feelings, on his part, were a distraction to me. They misdirected my attention and made me think about things that weren’t pertinent to my successful completion of my training. Successful completion of that training was my mission at the time. I had to learn to ignore the distractions and focus on the mission. The lesson applies throughout life.  Emotions, hunger, discomfort, missing home, etc.  They’re all distractions.

4) Always be charitable but never be a victim. My father once told me that if a person asked for my help I should always give it if I could. He also told me that if a person ever demanded something of me that I didn’t want to give then I should refuse it and fight to maintain my position. Later he “fine tuned” this message to be more specifically financial. “If a man asks you for a dollar and you can afford to give it, always give it. If the man demands a quarter and you either can’t afford to give it or don’t want to, fight to keep the quarter.” He went further to say, “Make that man be willing to die for the quarter, because you should be willing to fight to the death to keep what’s yours.”  All of my children have been taught to be compassionate, but also to never be victims.

5) Never leave the house without a knife, a gun and a lighter. These words came from my Uncle, Don Ingram, a USMC Vietnam Veteran. Of course he added all the proper caveats about only doing so legally. When I inquired as to why I needed these three items he explained that with them I could catch food, clean food and cook food (hunt it, skin it and make a fire to cook it over). It made sense to me and to this day I don’t leave my house without – at a minimum – a knife and a lighter. Usually there’s more than one knife and most of the time, there’s also a gun… legally. (My family has compared this to Gibbs’ Rule #9: Never go anywhere without a knife. It’s a rule we’ve observed for as far back as I can remember.)

6) Always have a flashlight. Yes it may seem a strange thing to take with you every day everywhere you go, BUT… especially with today’s LED technology and small batteries it’s all too easy to carry a compact light comfortably. I’ve been in more than one place when the power has gone out for whatever reason and I’ve pulled out my flashlight. It’s always entertaining to see the looks on people’s faces. The first expression is, “Why do you have a flashlight?” The second is, “Thank God you have a flashlight!” We humans are (usually) inherently afraid of the dark, so why put ourselves into it?

7) It’s always better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Doesn’t this apply across the spectrum of life? It’s an axiom I’ve heard throughout my life and I can’t sort an original source.  This is also one of my most basic arguments against any kind of gun control.

8) There’s no peace without justice. Just because there is no conflict where you are at that moment in time doesn’t mean everything is peaceful. Peace requires that no conflict exists AND that people live in a fair and just manner with respect to their rights and liberties. Many tyrannies have been peaceful because the dictator or tyrant was viscious in his discipline or “law enforcement”. The presence of justice requires fairness and impartiality in peace keeping and respect for every person’s rights and liberties.

9) Family should never fight alone. Neither should your partner. This is similar to Gibbs’ Rule #15: Always work as a team. I have six brothers and two sisters. Four of my brothers are US Marines (former). Two of them – out of the blue one day – told me to remember something: “We can fight amongst ourselves, but we’ll brook no one else fighting with any of us. We always stand together.” Right, wrong or indifferent, family should never fight alone.

10) Never miss a chance to tell your family you love them. My father died quite unexpectedly in relatively good health. It was a freak accident that occurred while my mother was in the bath. She never heard him. By the time he was found he had passed. My point is that the unexpected occurs all the time. I don’t espouse saying “I love you” just so someone can hear the words, but take a minute and think about it and really let your family know you love them when you have the chance. You may not get another one.

11) Always try to be the person your pets see when they look at you. My son read this one and looked at me with that “huh?” look on his face. Every time I came home, my dog came trotting over to the door to greet me (if only our family was always this delighted to see us?). Every time I walked by him he’d raise his head and wag his tail. Our pets know we care for them and give them love. Even when we’re grumpy or sour (and hopefully we don’t take it out on them) they still love and adore us. They view us through innocent eyes that see us only as the people who control their world. I hope that I’m always as good as the person they see when they look at me.

12) It’s always easier to learn from someone else’s mistakes but the lessons never sink in as far as learning from you own. I wish I could see every reader as they read this – because I’d enjoy watching each of you chuckle and nod your head. I WISH I could have learned from every mistake my father ever made. I tried to pay attention to the lessons he taught me. Still, sometimes you just have to find out some things for yourself and when you bear your own pain, penalty or punishment for screwing up you learn in a vastly more efficient fashion than you do listening to someone else tell you about their experience.

13) You can never tell just one lie. When we talk to the people in our lives, whether it’s family, friends or workmates, we inevitably answer questions about various things. If you lie to any one of those questions, you will have to lie to virtually every related follow on question that is asked. The ONLY safe lie you can ever tell is the answer you give when your wife asks how that dress makes her butt look… and you’d better be darned convincing then!

14) Work smarter; not harder. My son asked me about this one too. I tried to give him an example of a simple task that you could work hard at (digging a 10 foot square ditch five feet deep with a gardening spade) that you could complete more easily and quickly if you worked smarter (by getting a bigger shovel or a Bobcat). He was twelve at the time and he understood immediately. It’s not rocket science or brain surgery folks. If there’s two ways of accomplishing the same task in an equal fashion, choose the easier way. Why wouldn’t you?

15) Never assume; never take anything for granted. This combines Gibbs’ Rules #3: Don’t believe what you’re told; double check and #8: Never take anything for granted. This is one that, when we ignore it, has bitten us ALL in the butt. The most inocuous example is when we get an email that has some horrendous message in it and, without verifying the contents and veracity of the email info, we forward it on. Usually one of our friends WILL check out what we’ve sent and send us back a message that says, “Maybe next time you should check this kind of stuff out before forwarding it.” And we learn because we just made ourselves look a bit foolish. There are much larger examples of life experiences this can apply to and anyone over 21 will admit to them. Those under 21… well… they just won’t admit to it because they are often still too busy knowing it all. Not all of them, mind you, but a good number of them. Eventually, as we grow up (or grow old, one or the other) we learn this lesson all too well.

16) It’s easier to seek forgiveness than ask permission. This is Gibbs’ Rule #18. Of course, this applies to a lot of situations but never one that involves my children and their need to seek permission from their parents! Quite often this rule can be applied to situations wherein a person is trying to decide whether or not to take the initiative; to do something without first getting permission. In such situations, the only time forgiveness is needed afterward is when the effort fails or doesn’t produce as expected. Those are the “A for effort” situations we all have. We get past them. Take the initiative. Do the right thing.  A secondary phrase often heard and related to this is, “Lead, follow or get out of the way.”  If you’ve ever had that thought or said that phrase, THIS rule is one you need to remember.

So, those are the Borelli Rules as we thought about, collected and noted them. I’d love to see any you all might see fit to add!!! Email them to me: frank@newamericantruth.com or post them below.