One bad choice. One second of inattention. One small decision.
One thing… and you are dead.
The worst part? You may not have even been the person who made the bad choice. You may not have been the inattentive one.
Doesn’t matter, you are still dead.
Many of these choices, these distractions , these decisions are avoidable, and the act of “being safe” is a form of prepping in and of itself.
People who will work countless hours preparing for low-probability disasters will die in auto accidents going to the grocery store because they didn’t put on their seat belts. Think about that for a minute.
Spice and I are divers. We aren’t just regular, every day “jump off the boat onto a reef and look at the pretty fish” divers (although we certainly enjoy looking at the reef and its inhabitants very much). We are technical divers, and we dive in overhead environments like caverns and caves, underwater springs and rivers. If you have a problem, you can’t just “go up” like a non-technical (i.e. no decompression) diver can.
Divers die in caves. LOTS of divers have died in caves. Personal friends of ours have died in caves… without exception (and this hurts the heart to say) they died doing things they darned-well knew they shouldn’t.
Sign in underwater caves… diving untrained into a cave is a really easy way to die…
Even for the trained, going outside of your training or pushing the outside of the envelope can kill you. Spice and I don’t do that. We are preppers who dive, and we fully intend on finishing every dive alive and well.
Salty, coming out of Jackson Blue Spring, Florida… not your typical tropical scuba gear…
Our extensive diving training has taught us a great deal about being on-land, every-day preppers.
Here are some of the things that translate from technical dive training into daily prepping.
- Redundancy of mission-critical gear may well be the difference between death and life. Two is one, one is none.
- Check everything, multiple times, if your life depends on it. On dry land, this means things like your vehicles. Have good tires on them at all times, make sure your brakes are in great repair, make sure all of your suspension is in tip-top shape, etc.
- Have appropriate weather gear whenever you travel. Thermal protection is critically important.
- Limit distractions while doing stuff that can get you killed if you are not careful. Turn off your danged phone when you travel. Salty has his set so it will not operate when he is driving (and Spice isn’t tempted).
- It’s not all about the stuff. Practice important skills to keep them sharp.
- Don’t just carry your safety equipment, USE it. Wear your danged seat belt, always.
- Be properly dressed and fully geared up when in action. Wear your helmet and leathers.
Those last two things probably has a few of you growling “mind your own business” but, to me, it’s patently stupid to be a prepper and not do anything about the single thing that is, by far, most likely to kill you.
A prepper dying in a crash on his way to the gas station because he wasn’t wearing a sea belt is a Darwin award winner.
Salty & The Reaper at some spring in Florida (I believe Morrison but I’m not sure)
The truth is, we are far more likely to die getting hit by somebody texting and driving than we are by being mobbed by the ravening hordes during TEOtWAWKI.
Prep first for the high-probability events.
This article is dedicated to the loving memory of my friend and mentor Agnes Milowka, pusher of envelopes and a kind hearted woman.
(quote) “The truth is, we are far more likely to die getting hit by somebody texting and driving than we are by being mobbed by the ravening hordes during TEOtWAWKI. ”
Got that right. Just the other day, I avoided being T-boned by just such a distracted driver. When I drive, I don’t see it as an opportunity to be immersed in some form of entertainment, but a defensive challenge. Too many distracted (or just bad) drivers to relax. Instead, I read the other cars’ body language — a sort of situational awareness. With that other guy, I could read no deceleration as he approached the yield sign (to a busy four-lane road). He wasn’t going to stop. I slowed down enough to make room for him to blow through the intersection. He did. Good thing one of us was paying attention.