Pressure Test Yourself – The Prepper Journal

I’ll simply soar proper into this text and say that this isn’t going to be like the traditional kind of tertiary prepping skills I like to write about.  This one goes to be targeted solely on conveying the significance of strain testing your self.  What I imply by that is, though as a prepper, survivalist, homesteader, or bush crafter you might have all the required tools given a SHTF or TEOTWAWKI occasion, and chances are you’ll even have some skillsets you’ve discovered through the years, however have you ever ever strain examined YOU?

In different phrases, have you ever ever created that SHTF or WROL situation and put not simply that bugout or get-home bag equipment to the check, however your expertise, bodily capacity, and intestinal fortitude as properly?  On the finish of the day, you may personal all the newest gee-whiz-gizmo devices, read every prepper book, and watch each YouTube video on the planet, however in case you have solely mentally fantasized about what you’ll do when all of it goes to Hades in a handbasket, you might get critically injured or worse, killed, when that oh-so-lovely fantasy turns into a harsh actuality.

Discover your limits

There very properly could possibly be a worldwide, calamitous occasion sometime the place we’re all going to be examined bodily, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  I feel deep down, we all know that day is probably going to happen in our lifetime.  Due to this, we should all discover, perceive, and study what our limits are no matter what our consolation zone is.  We should put ourselves to the check to make sure we’ve got a baseline of how we are going to or might react to no matter end-of-world occasion happens.  Figuring out and accepting that you’ve limits doesn’t make you much less of an individual, and it’s a good factor to go in search of them now earlier than the world will get much more squirrely.

SCENARIO:

You’ve got been on enterprise journey for every week and in your means residence to South Carolina, you cease to refuel your rental in Waynesboro, PA.  As you climb into the mini-SUV, you sigh outwardly, understanding you’ve gotten a protracted 8 ½ hour drive again to SC and it’s already 4 pm.  Earlier than you may even slide the important thing into the ignition, an emergency broadcast alert comes throughout your mobile phone.  “PRESIDENTIAL ALERT:  The President has enacted martial regulation nationwide efficient instantly. A curfew is now in impact starting at the moment at 6 pm EST.  All vacationers should take shelter now.  All highways may have obligatory navy checkpoints and anybody touring outdoors of curfew will probably be detained indefinitely.  THIS IS NOT A TEST.”

You activate the radio and the identical emergency is being broadcast on all stations.  You grab your portable CB and soar to channel 19 to listen to solely static.  You scan all the opposite channels and once more, nothing however static.  You attain into your journey bag and seize your portable ham radio solely to seek out that every one ham radio stations are silent.  Your blood runs chilly and also you suppose to your self, “They’re jamming each kind of radio frequency so there isn’t any communication.” Earlier than you even get an opportunity to totally comprehend the magnitude of the state of affairs, your mind and intestine each begin sounding the alarm, “MOVE!  MOVE!” 

One thing goes down and you don’t have any means of understanding what that’s.  Economic collapse?  One other pandemic?  A coup?  An E.L.E?  WWIII?  No matter it’s, it should be dire if your entire United States simply went beneath martial regulation.  Suppose.  You strive making a name.  “All circuits are busy presently, please hold up and check out your name once more later.”  The web is down as properly.  You pull up your “Far Out” app (an enormous blessing that this app works offline) and scan the Appalachian Path.  The GPS continues to be operational, which implies the Garmin 66i in your get-home bag and your Garmin Intuition Photo voltaic watch needs to be operational as properly. 

You see that you’re 3.4 miles from Pen Mar Park PA, and you may tie into the path there.  You realize you’ve gotten two decisions staring you within the face: both wait this out and hope for the most effective or seize your bag and get transferring to a crimson state throughout the subsequent 24 hours, which is 44 miles away.  You’ve part hiked previously, so utilizing the path system is way safer than being on the grid at this very second, and motion equals life.

You alter your garments and drive the three+ miles to Pen Mar Park.  You ditch the rental on the far facet of the park, seize your get-home mountaineering bag, and also you shove off attempting to place as many miles as attainable between you and anybody else with the identical thought. 

My Strain Check

DISCLAIMER:  I’m not a licensed physician nor practitioner and I’m not a nutritionist.  Earlier than you tackle any problem just like the one I’m about to explain, you need to first seek the advice of together with your major well being doctor and/or search skilled medical recommendation.

I used the above situation as a result of that is one among my strain assessments for myself this yr.  My objective is to sort out the four-state problem, which is a ceremony of passage for thru-hikers.  Mainly, the objective is to hike from southern PA at Pen Mar Park and end outdoors of Harper’s Ferry WV on the VA border.  The objective is to hike the four-state problem in 24 hours or much less.  The full distance is 43.5 miles.  As a piece hiker, I like to make use of the paths not solely to hike and use my tools however to strain check myself and the abilities I’ve discovered through the years. 

My active-duty days are too far off within the rearview mirror and on the age of 51, I attempt to make my very own coaching gauntlet to make sure I’m pushing myself to my farthest limits.  For me, the Appalachian Path is the proper coaching floor for these kinds of annual strain assessments.  The climate is sporadic and the temperature swings within the fall are simply as wonky.  That is as shut as I’ve been capable of finding for my space that if the balloon does lastly go up and I need to stroll residence, it provides me a implausible thought of what issues might appear like.

The place to start out your strain check

There are lots of methods you may strain check your self.  Perhaps it’s driving to your bug-out location through secondary and tertiary highways or backroads.  Perhaps you might be within the desert, and you employ your cache map and reside solely off what you’ve gotten buried for 3 or 4 days when you stroll to your bugout location.  Perhaps it’s simply getting in your truck and doing dry runs to the place you break down or there’s a roadblock, and you should go at it on foot.  Whatever the situation, you wish to guarantee you don’t inadvertently injure your self.  Additionally, for all intents and functions, you’ll greater than seemingly stroll sooner or later, whether or not you are attempting to get again residence and/or quickly, and even completely, bugging out.  So, the place, and the way do you begin in strain testing your self?  Though this isn’t an exhaustive checklist, listed here are some phases that can assist you graduate by means of to strain check your self. 

PHASE 1:

1. Get an entire bodily and have all the required assessments performed previous to even making an attempt any kind of strain testing to make sure you are wholesome sufficient to problem your physique.
2. After getting been given the inexperienced seal of approval out of your major care doctor, subsequent it would be best to perceive all the things you may about mountaineering.  This half is essential.  Though many former navy people have humped a rucksack for miles on finish (myself included), it’s the hiker group that you’ll glean the most effective practices earlier than you even take into account placing collectively a strain check for your self.  Some channels to take a look at are:
   • Jay Wander’s Out – A CDT and AT thru-hiker, Jay provides a terrific synopsis of what it’s like day after day in thru-hiking.
   • Selfmade Wanderlust (for the women) – Dixie discusses all the things from gear opinions to female hygiene on the path.  She can be a triple crowner. 
   • GearSkeptic – (It will make it easier to higher perceive how one can decrease your meals weight together with the caloric weight of mentioned meals)
3. NOTE:  Take into consideration ditching your MREs out of your bugout / get-home luggage.  You may get the identical quantity of vitamin and energy at a fraction of the load by watching a few of these movies.  Bear in mind, ounces = kilos and kilos = ache.
4. Discover a terrific pair of mountaineering footwear, mountaineering boots, or path runners.  It is advisable to take into account a number of situations of getting to stroll to your required vacation spot and all of it begins with correct footwear.  This isn’t an space you wish to skimp out on. 
5. Buy the correct kind of merino wool socks to your local weather.  Merino wool wicks moisture away out of your ft and can assist in lowering sizzling spots and blisters.  An amazing pair of sock inserts will assist as properly.
6. If you’re new to all of this, begin strolling day by day.  Even whether it is up and down your avenue, breaking in your footwear will probably be one of many first issues it would be best to do.
7. Attempt to stroll at the least a mile a day if attainable.

Part 2: 

• This one could also be tough for a lot of however attempt to kick meals excessive in sugar.  Consuming a nutritious diet and getting in form are one of the crucial vital points of prepping.  Particularly if you will be coaching to stroll/run for an amazing variety of miles in a day.
• Begin growing your strolling distance.  That is going to be a gradual commencement for many as it is advisable slowly strengthen your ft, ankles, calves, thighs and again.
• To keep away from muscle aches and cramping which happens when there is a rise of lactic acid launched into your muscle tissues, begin incorporating chilly showers into your routine. This helps by transferring the byproducts of strenuous train out of your muscle tissues into your physique’s lymph system for elimination and restoration. Additionally, consuming meals excessive in potassium and taking salt tablets with electrolytes, resembling SaltSticks, may also assist your physique if you’re not used to pushing your self.
• Take the bag you’ve gotten able to go and begin off slowly through the use of 5 to 10 kilos of drugs and stroll a mile or two with it.  It is advisable to break in not solely your bag, however your higher physique must slowly get used to the load.  Do that for at the least three to 4 weeks or till your physique doesn’t discover the load anymore. NOTE:  There’s a mathematical equation that your backpack ought to solely be 10 p.c of your complete physique weight.  Though this could possibly be rule of thumb for many, it’s not at all times sensible, particularly throughout a WROL state of affairs.

Part 3:

1. Carry out what known as a “shakedown” of your gear.  That is while you dump all of your gear on the bottom and resolve what you would really want in a bugout / get-home state of affairs.  Do you really want an axe?  A noticed?  A stethoscope?  These are luxurious gadgets that you simply actually can not afford to stroll lengthy distances with.  Attempt to preserve it so simple as attainable.  Within the navy, there’s a phrase, “two is one and one is none”.  It’s the precise reverse within the mountaineering group.  For hikers it’s, one is three or 4.  One light-weight merchandise ought to have at the least two if no more makes use of.  (Ex: A tent stake can be utilized to dig a cat gap, used for cooking, used as a hanger to dry your garments, used as an improvised weapon, and many others.)
2. Buy light-weight tools for those who can.  Your “Massive 3” are your sleeping bag, tent, and backpack.  The extra weight it can save you on these things, the higher off you can be.
3. Be taught what “base weight” means in relation to your backpack weight and set a hardline objective for your self.  Mine was 15 lbs.  My complete weight once I do a piece hike is just below 25 lbs. This stuff are:
   • Backpack
   • Tent with titanium tent stakes
   • Quilt (sleeping bag)
   • Chilly climate sleeping bag liner
   • 8 lbs. of meals (Approx. over 12k energy for 3 days)
   • Sleeping pad
   • Footprint
   • Cooking system
   • Cool climate / sleeping garments
   • First Help / hygiene package
   • Digital cables and photo voltaic charger
   • Garmin InReach 66i
   • Sawyer Squeeze water filter with CNOC bag (additionally a sawyer mini water filter as my backup)
   • Frog Toggs Rain Poncho
   • Swiss Military Knife
   • Backpack rain cowl
   • Waterproof path Topo Map
   • (2) 20 oz. Sensible Water bottles
     • A TK4 tourniquet for coaching functions
4. Begin including extra weight slowly over the subsequent few months together with growing the gap you might be strolling. 

Part 4:

1. Now that you’ve been strolling frequently, and hopefully with a lighter pack, now’s the time to contemplate distance.  Set a objective for your self.  For me, it was 12 miles in beneath 3 hours with a 30lb rucksack.  It was extraordinarily tough at first, however after a couple of months, my physique began to acclimate to the load and distance.  As soon as my physique was used to doing 12 miles, I used to be then capable of improve my distance to fifteen miles, after which 20 miles which is an honest day hike.  (This took about 9 months of normal coaching to attain.)  That is solely an instance. Your objective needs to be reachable over time.  Don’t set a objective that may solely get you discouraged.  That is meant to strengthen your physique for the final word “occasion”. 
2. Go discover your ache. (Slowly to start with anyway.) I do know this would possibly sound ridiculous and masochistic, however on the finish of the day, we’re all creatures of consolation.  When you have by no means pushed your self, the very last thing you wish to do is locate out the exhausting means throughout a grid-down state of affairs or WROL that your ache threshold is minimal.  I’ve my private three-rating system on this division. It’s: 1) uncomfortable, 2) depressing, 3) insufferable.  At any time when I part hike, I shoot for locating my depressing threshold.  That is usually a 20+ mile mountaineering day on the Appalachian Path with quite a few ascents and descents which push my knees, ft, and again to their day by day limits.  These part hikes are usually between 45 and 60 miles and might be performed throughout a protracted weekend.
3. Begin planning in your thoughts what your strain check goes to be.  Maybe it’s a mountaineering path close to your property.  Or perhaps it’s spending time strolling out of your present residence to your bugout location.  Regardless of the situation, attempt to incorporate mini “assessments” for your self to maximise your coaching.  Though this can be a non-exhaustive checklist, listed here are some examples I take advantage of when I’m on the path:
   • Can I learn my path Topo Map correctly and discover extra egresses from the path if I wanted them?
   • Can I discover the North Star by means of the tree cover and navigate if want be if there have been an emergency and I needed to transfer?
   • What number of nut bushes and berry bushes can I determine, and may I discover loads of meals to complement my present meals provides I’m carrying if a state of affairs developed whereas I used to be on the path?
   • Given the streams on the path, can I simply dig a number of coyote wells if each of my water purification programs have been to freeze, get misplaced or simply break?
   • Can I correctly apply a tourniquet alone if I have been too critically injured on the path?
   • Can I correctly determine animal tracks on the path?
   • Can I set up an improvised shelter or discover a right away shelter if the climate activates me drastically?
   • Can I ship textual content messages to my family members through satellite tv for pc with my Garmin InReach 66i given my present place?

CONCLUSION:

So, did I go my strain check?  Nope.  I failed.  Murphy reared his ugly head as at all times.  I ended up mountaineering from PA to the VA border in the course of the remnants of Hurricane Ian.  The full time was 46.5 hours.  Though I didn’t hit my objective, I now know what it’s like mountaineering throughout harmful climate circumstances. So, I’ll take what Murphy threw at me and use it as a constructive.  Use my expertise as a studying lesson.  No matter the way you strain check your self, and irrespective of how a lot planning you place into your check, life goes to throw you some curve balls. That is nice as a result of throughout a TEOTWATKI occasion, greater than seemingly, it’s not going to go down the way in which anybody expects.  Be fluid and you’ll do nice!

Keep robust, preserve engaged on strain testing your self, and don’t cease trying to find your limits!

Sgt. Silverman