What is your strongest prepping area?

[prepguide]

Was working on the sequel to my first prepping book and the section I was working on got me to thinking about this question so wanted to toss it out there.

What do you feel is the area of prepping you are strongest in?

For me it the network of contacts I have all over the country. Not all of them are preppers of course but many of them are. I speak to preppers around the country every week as well continue to stay close with the ones in my more immediate area. I try to build relationships where I can and have a good list of contacts and associates all over.

Heck the reason I live where I do (working farm) is due to some of those same contacts.

So for me that is my strongest area.

[bacpacker]

My strongest is my ability to grow food stuffs. Garden, livestock in the past, chickens right now (which has been a relearning experience), orchard is underway, and a small vineyard.
Second would be comms skills, having been a HAM operator for around 15 years. 11 of those as Emergency Coordinator for our county EmComm group.

[Sniper-T]

Mine is my mind. I can work out most any problem, I can do, and have done a whole crapload of stuff. If I don't know how to do something I can learn it from a book, talking to someone, or trial and error. Every plan I make has a backup plan, and each of those has two more. My wife always says that I have the perfect job for my mindset... I'm a Production Planner!

[apssbc]

It would be fair to say medical is by far my strongest asset, along with that comes staying calm in uber high stress situations. Being a firefighter/medic sure helps with this ;)

[Echo2]

The ability to keep going in face of adversity.....And do what has to be done.

[4suchatimeasthis]

Great thread, and responses so far!

I guess mine would be my upbringing. I lived in a log cabin with a poured cement floor and no indoor plumbing, till I was 13. It was on a farm, where my mom ran the farm/gardens, and my dad was a logger. So, I learned about animal husbandry, gardening, wood heat, hunting, fishing, picking rocks, shoveling snow, etc. I also learned a fair bit about general construction, because they build their own house, garage, barns, outbuildings, etc. It took them 7 yrs to build-save-build-save, but dad cut the timber, they sawed and dried it on the farm, and built the entire thing themselves, with help from my grandfather, and a few uncles. They raised us to enjoy and take pride in hard work and a job well done, to be creative and resourceful, and to put it frankly, how to go without. And that goes hand in hand with having a farm now, continuing that simple lifestyle.

[AlphaTea]

Analytical mind.
I can fix anything.
McGyver was my understudy.

[Baker]

I've been thinking about this for a while, and I don't think I really have a strongest area. I mean, I have a knowledge in a lot of things. I can assist people who know more about things, for example in building things, growing food, working on plumbing, doing medical stuff, etc.

What I'm trying to get myself to be much stronger at would be electrical and mechanical engineering. From being able to operate amateur radio, build antennas, make circuitry boards and repair em, to set up solar panels and battery banks, fix motors, and take "scrap" items like old cars, strip em of things like wiring, alternator, etc, and MAKE a generator.

Couple that with more basic things like farming, hunting, trapping, building, and medical stuff, I'd like to be a jack of all trades, and master of some ;)

[Evolver]

My utmost desire to help loved ones and friends to have the four basics... Food, water, shelter and comforts. :)

[izzyscout21]

Ummm............I'm really good at killing things and blowin stuff up...................just sayin..............

[Gunfixr]

Hhmmmm, shooting stuff ??

I would say I think pretty well outside the box, but for me, there is no box.

[Foulball]

My brain. I do not mean that in a conceited way or anything, but if your brain isn't in the right place it doesn't matter what preps you have or how much knowledge you have, you won't be thinking clearly enough to make use of it.
Second would be my "fight or flight" mechanism, it works pretty damn well. : )

[robsdak]

prep, i don't know............. i mean i read all the responses thus far, all good by the way. i have the skills i need to survive be it hunting/fishing, gathering foodstuffs, growing foodstuffs, cooking,shelter,security,etc.

but i can tell you my weakness. my health. i have been disabled for almost a year and it has slowed me down a lot.

[cwconnertx]

As far as materials go, probably security, I have spent and trained a lot for securing my property. Guns, ammo, armor, night vision, reinforced doors and windows, glass break and motion detectors, cameras

As far as skills go, probably fixing things

[Katrina]

I think one of my strengths is being able to create meals from scratch with few ingredients for a group and have them well fed. DH's growing things. He's the gardener here as I have two black thumbs LOL.

[mitunnelrat]

I have two black thumbs LOL.

I've had that happen before, but mine usually come from hitting the wrong nail!

My greatest strength is probably perseverance. Life has ups and downs, preps come and go, as do many other things, but... any setback is nothing more than a setup for a comback. At least how I see things.

Shelter/ warmth and water are probably my strongest material preps though, between the firewood I have stacked and the presence of a large body of fresh water almost within spitting distance.

There's a pretty decent community network here too. I'm just not plugged into it yet. I don't get out enough. ;)

[ladyhk13]

Buying stuff....yup, buying stuff. So as long as the economy is still going I'm gonna keep buying - so I guess stocking up on everything I can imagine is my strength at the moment. I'm a good shooter but to be honest I think I would have an easier time shooting an intruder than an innocent animal. I love to sew but I've not done it for such a long time that I suck at it for now so I really need to practice, I'm a problem solver - I have common sense but not always the patience to deal with stupid people. I can sew ya up after I shoot ya. I can can the hell out of meats...yabba dabba doo!
I am not crazy about tromping around out in the woods (I have to be careful about falling - been diagnosed with severe osteoperosis, lost at least 40% of my bone mass and at my age that is really bad, very young for this).
I like to create things, work with power tools - build and do construction type of things. I'm a Gemini so I love all things creative.

[LUNCHBOX]

Well, aside from the normal prepping items....I'm going to say that I hope my friends/family are my strongest prep area. If they're not then we are all in trouble.

[GunnerMax]

I am balanced, but not perfect in any area. The budget allows for very little of anything right now. I have been working on increasing my vehicular knowledge the last couple months, from military vehicles, doing self repairs on mine.

[Taz Baby]

My strongest would be having the right people around me to protect and defend what is ours. Having faith in the Good Lord to only give me what I can handle, and having my health to still live now (at old my age) like they did in the 1900's

[The Stig]

This is a very interesting question.

I can honestly say I am stumped.

I've got my fingers in a lot of different pies but wouldn't really consider myself master of any.

[Stormfeather]

weapons and tactics.

[Onestep]

This place and you people because of the knowledge shared and learned from ya'll (done brown-nosing now :))

Probably my ability to solve problems. It's what my job curtails so I've become pretty good at it. Mainly in being able to see things in 3 dimension and break it down into a 1 dimension format so it can be fabricated.

Also my gardnening skills have evolved over the years plus I can fish with the best of them and kill my share of game (even with my truck lol) so I think I can provide for my family.

[carolinasurvivalist]

Farming/Gardening is where my knowledge and experience are. Not to shabby with the boom stick either.

[deanathpc]

Medical. Paramedic for 8 yrs give or take and an EMT for longer than I'll ever admit to.

Not bad with a rifle too

[greg48]

yea, me also izzy, uncle sam encouraged me to destroy things, on the up side my defensive mind is likely my best asset...

[greg48]

my strongest point would be taking what i learned from uncle sam and working on well defended home, i spent this past weekend working on range cards...

[realist]

I guess anything that goes boom......... I do love my guns and other things. It doesn't hurt that I grew up on a ranch and was paid in 22's for my summer work. I thank the government for my finishing school.

[spirit]

My strongest area is probably security. I have worked OPSEC/COMSEC in the Navy, physical security in the Army, Navy, at a nuke plant and at a detention center. I have a security plan set up for my home since I plan to bug in unless my home is compromised, (like a hurricane or earthquake). If that happens I do have a bug out location and have physical security plan in place for that too. In the case of a total SHTF scenario I would love to head into the mountains, but with my wife is disabled, so that is out of the question. Of course prayer is always part of the plan. Thanks for reading my humble ideas.

[rentprop1]

my strongest areas are arms and ammo, comms , and first aid, but you can't eat bullets or bandages......I can't grow anything to save my life and suck at fishing...that said I do have some canned sutffs, MRE's and packed rice..........there is a ton of water around me , oh ya and about 3000 head of cattle ............:cool:

Not really into the seed thing or long term food storage discussions , those are 2 areas of prepping that I just can't wrap my head around, actually I can't bring myself to read topics on it either, I guess thats why I hate some of the other on line discussion groups ??

[Sniper-T]

So if you cannot grow, and do not store... what is your plan for nurishment long term SHTF??

[Echo2]

So if you cannot grow, and do not store... what is your plan for nurishment long term SHTF??

This.....big time.

[Jimmy24]

I like to think I'm fairly well balanced, Jack of all trades master of none...:p

I have been through quite a few SHTFs through my life, 1st being Camile in '69. Was 15 and we lived 7 miles inland...no lights for 3 weeks, washed clothes, took baths and gathered water from the little creek that ran about 1/4 miles behind our house.

Been through Fredrick in '79, 3 days no power, Elana in'85, 5 days no power, Georges in '98 2 days no power, Katrina '05 12 days no power...had a couple of more since with no loss in power for me.

Also in the line ofwork I was in for 30 years, I have been on power restoration trips to 4 ice storms and 12+ (lost count) hurricans, and two F5 tornados.

I have seen SHTF many times, some minor, some major. Some with folks staying pretty much calm and some people turning into pure stupid.

So having said that, I think my strength lies in knowing something about S hitin' the Fan and what it looks like....and then getting through it.

Jimmy

[spirit]

I forgot to mention killing. The Army taught me that and sent me where I could hone that skill.