Bill
Howard interviewed Orion Darkwood about the Prepper Movement on his podcast Outdoors with Bill Howard. Podcasting allows you to take the show with
you so to speak. Outdoors with Bill Howard can be heard for free on iTunes HERE
,Stitcher, and BlogTalkRadio HERE.
I
frequently get into conversations about what was the most difficult hunt I have
ever been on and what made it so difficult.
The only thing easy about the hunt I would refer to is the fact that it
is easy to pick that particular one as the hardest. A mountain lion hunt in Arizona back in 2008
consisted of temperature variations from 15 degrees in the morning to the high
80’s by noon. The land was impossible to
traverse other than by horseback, so a situation in which you would be stranded
would become a survival situation in all likelihood.
This
meant the trip consisted of heavy preparation for whatever circumstance that
may present itself. The planning for
such a trip can really enlighten you on what it takes just to live a few extra
days without today’s comforts.
The
United States was built on such principles, and then as our nation became more
and more successful through advances in the free enterprise system, we became
much more specialized in our abilities.
Through cooperation from each other it allowed our nation to succeed as
no other has in history.
That
being said, the curse of our specialized abilities, or careers, has been the
loss of knowledge to basic things.
Recently, I heard a survey that found nearly 40% of Americans could not
or have not made a sandwich in the last 12 months. At first I thought this seemed ridiculous,
but after further thought, maybe not.
Fewer people have the skill to cook with the access to fast food restaurants
at nearly every corner.
I
remember vividly my grandmothers knitting or sewing and my grandfathers tilling
and tending small gardens. These skills
are slowly dwindling from our bag of tricks.
A nation that purchased Alaska for the purpose of self sustainability
has lost the ability to rely only on ourselves in just a couple of generations.
I
interviewed Orion Darkwood a couple of weeks ago. Orion is the president of the Eastern North
Carolina Preppers Association which met at William B. Umstead State Park in
Raleigh on June 8th. He
became interested in the prepper movement while reading the book Lucifer’s Hammer which tells of a comet
striking the earth and the resulting issues.
Orion noticed lots of small groups but no real organized group for sharing
ideas on preparing for whatever may come.
He then took action in forming the group and it has expanded to holding
meetings both in Wilmington and Raleigh.
When
asked about the difference between reality and reality television with shows
such as Doomsday Preppers, Orion explained reality TV is meant for
entertainment, while in reality, true preppers are trying to become self reliant. Prepping is not just about preparing for a
cataclysmic event. It is the preparation
for basically anything that would cause reliance on something other than
yourself. Orion notes preparation may
include the ability to get your own fruits in case of a deep freeze in Florida
that destroys a large orange crop to your well running dry.
There
are so many circumstances in which you could look to and think ‘what if’ that
it can become overwhelming trying to truly understand the full results of a
situation. Just in my lifetime we have
seen in our very own state of North Carolina gas lines a mile long during the
1970’s and extended periods of power loss with hurricanes Hugo, Fran, and
Floyd. We cannot afford to lose basic
survival skills.
The
saying ‘jack of all trades, expert at nothing’ may need to be rephrased as
‘expert at surviving.’
Yeah, I personally think that Americans of all political stripes need to get serious about (at least) short term survival without our transportation system and without electricity. In 2011-2012 we lost power for over 20 days (not at once, but twice were 8 days each) and that got me religion, especially re: our backlog of frozen, shrink-wrapped garden and wild game food. Useless when the freezer goes.
ReplyDeleteAlas I think too many people (of all political stripes) have the idea that they can either 1) depend on the government to save them, or 2) that their F-150 on 6" lift will carry them safely to the grocery store, which magically will be open for business, not looted, and with refrigeration. I see both of these attitudes every hurricane season. Not good.
Bill - look me up when you make it up to the Potomac. Happy to join you.
Kirk