Strain Check Your self – The Prepper Journal

I’ll simply soar proper into this text and say that this isn’t going to be like the conventional sort of tertiary prepping expertise I like to jot down 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’ll have all the required tools given a SHTF or TEOTWAWKI occasion, and you could even have some skillsets you’ve discovered over time, however have you ever ever strain examined YOU?

In different phrases, have you ever ever created that SHTF or WROL state of affairs and put not simply that bugout or get-home bag tools to the check, however your expertise, bodily skill, and intestinal fortitude as properly?  On the finish of the day, you possibly can personal all the most recent gee-whiz-gizmo devices, learn each prepper e book, and watch each YouTube video on the planet, however when you have solely mentally fantasized about what you’ll do when all of it goes to Hades in a handbasket, you possibly can get significantly injured or worse, killed, when that oh-so-lovely fantasy turns into a harsh actuality.

Discover your limits

There very properly may very well be a worldwide, calamitous occasion sometime the place we’re all going to be examined bodily, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  I believe deep down, everyone knows that day might be going to occur 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 now we have a baseline of how we’ll or may react to no matter end-of-world occasion happens.  Realizing and accepting that you’ve got limits doesn’t make you much less of an individual, and it’s a good factor to go on the lookout for 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 approach 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 have got an extended 8 ½ hour drive again to SC and it’s already 4 pm.  Earlier than you possibly can even slide the important thing into the ignition, an emergency broadcast alert comes throughout your cellular phone.  “PRESIDENTIAL ALERT:  The President has enacted martial legislation nationwide efficient instantly. A curfew is now in impact starting as we speak at 6 pm EST.  All vacationers should take shelter now.  All highways can have obligatory army checkpoints and anybody touring outdoors of curfew can be detained indefinitely.  THIS IS NOT A TEST.”

You activate the radio and the identical emergency is being broadcast on all stations.  You seize your moveable 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 moveable ham radio solely to search out that each one ham radio stations are silent.  Your blood runs chilly and also you suppose to your self, “They’re jamming each sort of radio frequency so there is no such thing as a 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 approach of understanding what that’s.  Financial collapse?  One other pandemic?  A coup?  An E.L.E?  WWIII?  No matter it’s, you already know it should be dire if your complete United States simply went underneath martial legislation.  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 understand you have got two decisions staring you within the face: both wait this out and hope for the most effective or seize your bag and get shifting to a crimson state throughout the subsequent 24 hours, which is 44 miles away.  You’ve part hiked up to now, so you already know utilizing the path system is way safer than being on the grid at this very second, and motion equals life.

You modify 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 doable between you and anybody else with the identical concept. 

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, it is best to first seek the advice of along with your major well being doctor and/or search skilled medical recommendation.

I used the above state of affairs as a result of that is one in every of my strain checks for myself this yr.  My objective is to deal with the four-state problem, which is a ceremony of passage for thru-hikers.  Principally, 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 bit hiker, I like to make use of the paths not solely to hike and use my tools however to strain check myself and the talents I’ve discovered over time. 

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 right coaching floor for a majority of these annual strain checks.  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 improbable concept of what issues may appear to be.

The place to begin your strain check

There are a lot of methods you possibly can strain check your self.  Perhaps it’s driving to your bug-out location by way of secondary and tertiary highways or backroads.  Perhaps you might be within the desert, and you employ your cache map and stay solely off what you have got buried for 3 or 4 days whilst 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 it’s essential to go at it on foot.  Whatever the state of affairs, you wish to guarantee you don’t inadvertently injure your self.  Additionally, for all intents and functions, you’ll greater than seemingly stroll in some unspecified time in the future, 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 listing, listed below are some phases that will help you graduate by way of to strain check your self. 

PHASE 1:

1. Get an entire bodily and have all the required checks carried out previous to even trying any sort 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 the whole lot you possibly can about mountaineering.  This half is essential.  Though many former army people have humped a rucksack for miles on finish (myself included), it’s the hiker neighborhood that you’ll glean the most effective practices earlier than you even contemplate 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 an amazing synopsis of what it’s like day after day in thru-hiking.
   • Selfmade Wanderlust (for the women) – Dixie discusses the whole lot from gear critiques to female hygiene on the path.  She can be a triple crowner. 
   • GearSkeptic – (This can enable you to higher perceive reduce 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 burden by watching a few of these movies.  Bear in mind, ounces = kilos and kilos = ache.
4. Discover an amazing pair of mountaineering footwear, mountaineering boots, or path runners.  You’ll want to contemplate a number of eventualities 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 precise sort of merino wool socks in your local weather.  Merino wool wicks moisture away out of your toes and can assist in lowering sizzling spots and blisters.  A terrific pair of sock inserts will assist as properly.
6. In case you are new to all of this, begin strolling day by day.  Even whether it is up and down your avenue, breaking in your footwear can be one of many first issues it would be best to do.
7. Attempt to stroll at the very least a mile a day if doable.

Section 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 probably the most essential facets of prepping.  Particularly if you’re going to be coaching to stroll/run for an incredible variety of miles in a day.
• Begin growing your strolling distance.  That is going to be a sluggish commencement for many as you’ll want to slowly strengthen your toes, 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 shifting 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, corresponding to SaltSticks, can even assist your physique in case you are not used to pushing your self.
• Take the bag you have got able to go and begin off slowly through the use of 5 to 10 kilos of substances and stroll a mile or two with it.  You’ll want to break in not solely your bag, however your higher physique must slowly get used to the burden.  Do that for at the very least three to 4 weeks or till your physique doesn’t discover the burden anymore. NOTE:  There’s a mathematical equation that your backpack ought to solely be 10 p.c of your whole physique weight.  Though this may very well be a superb rule of thumb for many, it isn’t all the time sensible, particularly throughout a WROL state of affairs.

Section 3:

1. Carry out what is named a “shakedown” of your gear.  That is once you dump all of your gear on the bottom and resolve what you would actually want in a bugout / get-home state of affairs.  Do you really want an axe?  A noticed?  A stethoscope?  These are luxurious objects that you simply actually can not afford to stroll lengthy distances with.  Attempt to hold it so simple as doable.  Within the army, there’s a phrase, “two is one and one is none”.  It’s the precise reverse within the mountaineering neighborhood.  For hikers it’s, one is three or 4.  One light-weight merchandise ought to have at the very 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 so forth.)
2. Buy light-weight tools should you can.  Your “Huge 3” are your sleeping bag, tent, and backpack.  The extra weight it can save you on this stuff, the higher off you can be.
3. Study what “base weight” means in the case of your backpack weight and set a hardline objective for your self.  Mine was 15 lbs.  My whole weight once I do a bit hike is slightly 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 Support / hygiene equipment
   • 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. Good Water bottles
     • A TK4 tourniquet for coaching functions
4. Begin including further weight slowly over the subsequent few months together with growing the space you might be strolling. 

Section 4:

1. Now that you’ve got been strolling usually, 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 underneath 3 hours with a 30lb rucksack.  It was extraordinarily tough at first, however after a number of months, my physique began to acclimate to the burden and distance.  As soon as my physique was used to doing 12 miles, I used to be then in a position to enhance my distance to fifteen miles, after which 20 miles which is a good day hike.  (This took about 9 months of standard coaching to realize.)  That is solely an instance. Your objective needs to be reachable over time.  Don’t set a objective that can solely get you discouraged.  That is meant to strengthen your physique for the last 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.  In case you have by no means pushed your self, the very last thing you wish to do is use out the arduous approach 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, toes, and again to their day by day limits.  These part hikes are usually between 45 and 60 miles and might be carried out throughout an extended weekend.
3. Begin planning in your thoughts what your strain check goes to be.  Maybe it’s a mountaineering path close to your own home.  Or perhaps it’s spending time strolling out of your present residence to your bugout location.  Regardless of the state of affairs, attempt to incorporate mini “checks” for your self to maximise your coaching.  Though this can be a non-exhaustive listing, listed below are some examples I exploit when I’m on the path:
   • Can I learn my path Topo Map correctly and discover further egresses from the path if I wanted them?
   • Can I discover the North Star by way of the tree cover and navigate if want be if there have been an emergency and I needed to transfer?
   • What number of nut timber 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 techniques had been to freeze, get misplaced or simply break?
   • Can I correctly apply a tourniquet alone if I had been too significantly injured on the path?
   • Can I correctly determine animal tracks on the path?
   • Can I arrange 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 by way of satellite tv for pc with my Garmin InReach 66i given my present place?

CONCLUSION:

So, did I move my strain check?  Nope.  I failed.  Murphy reared his ugly head as all the time.  I ended up mountaineering from PA to the VA border throughout 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 situations. So, I’ll take what Murphy threw at me and use it as a optimistic.  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 isn’t going to go down the way in which anybody expects.  Be fluid and you’ll do nice!

Keep sturdy, hold engaged on strain testing your self, and don’t cease looking for your limits!

Sgt. Silverman