Several years ago, I had the privilege to go to the Amazon jungle. It was a trip of a lifetime, and I have no desire to go back. The experience taught me much that directly relates to prepping.
- ALWAYS Have a Get Home Bag. This is different from a Bug Out Bag. A But Out Bag is something you need to sustain life for a significant period of time. A Get Home Bag has the things you need the moment SHTF. When our plane landed in Iquitos, Peru, we were informed that our bags were removed from the plane to make room for the luggage of the airline owner’s daughter. We were in the jungle for a week with nothing but the contents of our carry-on bags and the clothes we wore on the plane.
- Never Underestimate the Importance of Morale. If you ever get thrown into a bad situation and you have the attitude of “woe is me,” nobody will want to be around you – including yourself. If you have a family, one of your jobs will be to keep the morale high (or at least positive). This is a lesson I forgot until recently. I am now in the process of changing some things in my Bug Out Bag that are primarily intended to make the passage of time more pleasant.
- Move Slow and Check Your 6’s. Your 6’s refer to the six directions around you – forward, back, left, right, up and down. Most of us are accustomed to checking forward, left, right and down. Civilians like me forget to check what is above and behind us. One of the top-level predators in the jungle are snakes. I was not aware that snakes hunted in the trees. They climb trees and wait for their prey to pass underneath when they will fall from the tree to capture their prey.
- Have Mentors. You can call them teachers, mentors, friends and guides. In the jungle, we had guides to teach us what was dangerous and how to pass safely. If possible, surround yourself with others who know more than you about something.
- Be Compatible When Possible. If everyone in your group uses Canon and Nikon camera equipment, don’t be the jackass who brings a Pentax. If something happens to your camera (and it will), you can borrow someone else’s equipment as long as it is compatible. As it relates to prepping, purchase things that most other people will also have. 12 gauge shotguns outnumber 20 gauge shotguns. 9MM pistols outnumber .357s. The AR platform is the most popular rifle now being produced and sold. Bear in mind what other people will likely have when making purchases.
- Go Low Tech or No Tech When Possible. One of the consequences of the automatic cameras made today is that they are physically more difficult to operate manually than cameras that are designed to be operated manually. Even though my camera has a lot of electronics built into it, when I fell into the water, I was able to dry it out and it functioned perfectly. Those who relied on their technology did not fare quite as well. Their cameras worked, just not as designed which created additional challenges. As it relates to prepping, consider the technology in your vehicle. I’ve been told by my mechanic that carbureted vehicles are much easier to repair than modern vehicles that all require a computer to diagnose them. The simpler the engine, the more likely it is to work when needed albeit with disadvantages.
- The Power of Groups Is Logarithmic. The old saying that 2 + 2 = 4 is correct for math, but doesn’t apply to people. When it comes to a group of people, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. With a group, you can have some work on food preparation, others on shelter, and others on hunting detail – simultaneously. Also, you can utilize respective member’s talents and preferences. Also, sharing experiences is just more fun. From my perspective, this is the greatest challenge we have in the prepping community. We are private and sheltered by nature. We are lone wolves. We don’t want people to know that we have resources out of fear we will be targets in the future. A group of preppers in the same neighborhood who could unify around a single plan could succeed against almost any challenge they will face.
- Prioritize Comfort. I had a mosquito get into my net one evening. I quit counting mosquito bites when I reached 50 on the back of ONE leg. I was miserable from that moment forward. The situations we prepare for will be stressful enough without having to deal with physical discomfort. It is for that reason I have placed a high priority on preventing things that currently are minor annoyances such as mosquito bites, splinters, blisters, minor cuts and abrasions.
- Prepare for a Shortened Lifespan. None of us were injured in the jungle – that’s not what this is about. The natives don’t live as long as us. They don’t have the medicine and knowledge that we have. A compound fracture could likely result in amputation. Amputation could likely result in death. One of the snakes there was highly venomous. If bitten, it is impossible to get to a hospital in time to receive an antidote. In the event someone is bitten, they have a horse serum which has about a 50% success rate. How does this apply to prepping? I have a family. I need to be able to transmit the knowledge they will need if I am not around. That means written instructions of relevant things such as deeds, insurance, contact information and so forth. That means create a long-term solution/home/base/support group in the event it is necessary.
- Your Brain Is Your Most Important Asset. The natives in the jungle don’t have shoes. They don’t have clothes. They don’t have guns. They don’t produce metal. They have no running water, sewage or electricity. They have no flashlights, radio nor books. They live off the land 100% (with the exception of trading with visitors like us). They have the ability to kill at a distance using blowguns and darts. They fish with string, shards of wood and spears made of sticks. They make shelters on stilts because the entire land floods during the rainy season. They cook food. They cultivate chickens without pens or coups. They make dugout canoes and use the river as their roads. They have and rear their children. They love, laugh and live yet they have absolutely NOTHING but their brains. They’ve survived for generations this way. “The-End-Of-The-World-As-We-Know-It” is the only world they know, and they are happy with it.
