What led you to become a prepper?

[Stg1swret]

Some food for thought. What led you to become a prepper? Was it an event that got you on your way, hearing someone else talk about it. A family member, a friend. We all got here for some reason.

I my case it was a number of event that cemented the reason to start preparing. The gas crisis of the 70's was the biggest push. I haven't looked back since.

[Jerry D Young]

The Cuban Missile Crisis when I was 9. A rural lifestyle until I was 14. Read "Alas Babylon" and "How To Survive The H-Bomb and Why" both by Pat Frank that year we moved, in 1967. Been a prepper ever since, though somewhat limited until I reached 18.

[The Stig]

Going to sound crazy but I had a very vivid imagination as a child. When I played army in the backyard it was a serious affair. I could see the commie hoards rolling across my neighborhood.

(Side note: I also used to augment my army wargames with gear from mil-surplus stores, very realistic toy guns, etc. Remember, this was the late 70's/early 80's so getting a very realistic Ak45 was as easy as a trip to KB Toys. I had a fully loaded and accurate Viet Nam era H-harness LBS, so yes, my obsession with all things gear started early!)

Anyway, when I read Red Storm Rising and Team Yankee as a child I became convinced the Commies were about to roll down my street. Toss in a sprinkling of Red Dawn on-top of a Regan Era Stew and you get an 10 year old Stig putting together a backpack incase we had to leave the house in a hurry.

Things died down for collage and my early working days but fast forward to Y2K and the need to "be prepared" returned with a vengeance. I filled the bathtub with water, pulled my load bearing system and waited for the world to end.

Ultimately, my mother always instilled a "what if X happens" mentality into us so the idea of thinking ahead, and trying to minimize the effect of X bad thing happening was just part of who I was.

[ak474u]

Going to sound crazy but I had a very vivid imagination as a child. When I played army in the backyard it was a serious affair. I could see the commie hoards rolling across my neighborhood.

(Side note: I also used to augment my army wargames with gear from mil-surplus stores, very realistic toy guns, etc. Remember, this was the late 70's/early 80's so getting a very realistic Ak45 was as easy as a trip to KB Toys. I had a fully loaded and accurate Viet Nam era H-harness LBS, so yes, my obsession with all things gear started early!)

Anyway, when I read Red Storm Rising and Team Yankee as a child I became convinced the Commies were about to roll down my street. Toss in a sprinkling of Red Dawn on-top of a Regan Era Stew and you get an 10 year old Stig putting together a backpack incase we had to leave the house in a hurry.

Things died down for collage and my early working days but fast forward to Y2K and the need to "be prepared" returned with a vengeance. I filled the bathtub with water, pulled my load bearing system and waited for the world to end.

Ultimately, my mother always instilled a "what if X happens" mentality into us so the idea of thinking ahead, and trying to minimize the effect of X bad thing happening was just part of who I was.

Ha ha, I remember those days when we thought the Ruskies were gonna start something too... I was always into wilderness survival as a kid since hiking was my obsession. My grandmother used #10 coffee cans of silver coins for doorstops in her house she kept them "in case there was another depression" My parents bought 3 residential lots when they bought the home I grew up in "In case they needed to till it up and grow food"
I was brought up in a average working class household with prepper leanings, but we weren't preppers like my wife and I are now, just the fundamentals of looking out for ourselves were taught. My wife grew up dirt poor and remembers wondering as a little girl why her mom always used flour with "pepper" in it.. Her dad didn't have indoor plumbing until he moved into the dorms at college in 1968, so the wife is a bit crazy about having food on-hand. Y2K preps really got me in the mindset I have now, I was in IT and knew it was a non-issue as far as TEOTWAWKI was concerned, I spent New Years Eve Y2K in a data center built in a bunker made to withstand a ground strike nuke within 1 Kilometer funny thing was, we just watched tv all night and drank champagne. A self defense situation that resulted in my prosecution and eventual grand jury no-bill, as well as 9-11 put me in high gear with preps and that's what got me here today.

[Stormfeather]

Well, I have to say, for Y2k, I was oblivious. No if, ands, or buts about it, clueless to the max. I had just came back from a few years in the virgin islands where I was exposed to prepping from the islanders down there, but wasnt really prepping. Most Hurricanes I spent at hurricane parties, where you get drunk and wait for the hurricane to pass, then go clean up afterwards. Folks like myself, basically relied on the goodness of the neighbors for water and other stuff. That should have been my first hint, but no. . .After 9/11, and deploying overseas I met a few guys who were into it, but they didnt talk about it as much around me, so once again, oblivious, but had an idea. Next event leading up to it was Hurricane Katrina. having spent the first few days of Katrina working Private Security and seeing the preapredness level that the company that sent me down there had initiated, it was some conversations on a rooftop in downtown NOLA where we watched people begging for water, food, that was the catalyst for me. I swore on that rooftop I would never EVER be caught that unprepared. Flash forward 9 months after Katrina, and I was spending money like a sailor in a brothel after a year long tour on the ocean! I was absorbing everything I read, purchasing the things I thought I would need, and a lot of stuff I found out was basically useless, but advertised as GTG type of gear. I kind of cooled off with it once I rejoined the military, but then while overseas, the swine/avian flu hit here CONUS in 2008/2009 and it started me back up again. It was a lot of hit and miss til people started talking about TEOTWAWKI, WROL and SHTF more and more, and then forums started appearing and I was once again revamping preps and learning all the newest greatest and latest. Overall, I would have to say the biggest influence was a guy on Calguns.net (http://www.Calguns.Net) named SemiAutoSam who got me thinking mostly about it though. He was more of a Tinfoil Hat type, great guy with a myriad of info to put out, but sometimes you have to separate the wheat from the chaff with him. I got alot of ideas from him, and from other sites, then I kind of flew with what I had and thats what placed me here today!

[Meatman]

Not wanting to rely on anyone in any condition

[TEOTWAWKI13]

Wow, I could give the easy answer and say the floods a few years ago got me really into it, but I have a childhood somewhat like Stig's. I played very vivid war games as a kid. Ruskies were public enemy #1. I also had a mom who panicked about everything. My grandparents were very self sustaining people who gardened and raised livestock. They survived Great Depression I. I always had sort of a be prepared mindset, but to be honest was never really prepared except for having extra batteries or flashlights. 9/11 shook me up. Y2K I thought was a hoax. But then the floods sort of hit home to me. I remembered Katrina in 2005 and how that massive hurricane left total helplessness on tons of people. And these floods were from a couple days of just heavy rain in my area. I almost didn't make it home to my wife. There wasn't much food in the house then. I owned a gun and had some camping and backpacking stuff. But if something really bad happened, and it was more than a day or two, I'd have been screwed. I remember asking myself how my grandfather would have handled things. My dad is all man, but my grandfather was THE MAN, in my eyes, you know? So that really kicked my ass into gear. I'm nowhere near as prepared as some of you guys may be, but I'm way more prepared than 90% of the population, and that gives me some peace of mind. I'm a work in progress, as funds allow.

[Twitchy]

Read a Jerry D Young story, I think disaster in the 'burbs...

[JustAPrepper]

Up until about four years ago I was a Self Admitted Sheeple. Sad, but true. But, I've always enjoyed cooking so I've always kept a large pantry and always had hurricane supplies on hand. After my divorce in '99 I moved in to a condo and the guys that helped me move hauled in almost as much food as they did household goods. They teased me about a Y2K Pantry and to be honest, I didn't get it...it totally flew right over my head.

Fast forward to four years ago and I started getting worried about my job (construction industry). I picked up couponing and learned to master the art. I thought I was just a "couponer" amassing a bunch of packaged foods on the cheap to hold us over if I did lose my job.

Fast forward again to two and half years ago and I knew things were going south so I started researching and found all kinds of things on the web. People who were "preparing" in a big way. Much bigger than anything I had ever imagined. I spent night after night on the computer until one night my husband asked "What the hell have you been up to in here?" I told him how I felt, what I found and what I wanted to do. Like I said in my intro, he's LDS (non-practicing) but I didn't have a clue about their preparedness doctrine so he shared what he knew and I told him about what I had been researching and we literally hit the floor running the next day and haven't looked back.

[panther woman]

It's always been a part of me. I grew up with grandparents/parents that had gone through the Depression and did not ask for help. I spent most of my free time as a child in the East Texas woods. As a teen-ager and young adult my hippie husband and I did everything from scratch. He could make anything.. He's passed away but his attitude still affects me. I read "Alas, Babylon" as a teen-ager as well. I just fell in love with the whole preparation thing. I guess it made me feel safe. Many people have laughed at me, but I still continue to try to stay prepared. I also like the challenge of not being dependent on anyone else to take care of me and my kids.

[izzyscout21]

Yeah well, I never gave it too much thought until I realized everything was going to hell in a SR-71. Like Stig, I grew up playing GI Joe (except I had real smoke grenades and a blank firing M1 Carbine). Dad was in the Army and in law enforcement and my grandfather grew EVERYTHING he ate. Boy Scouts actually nudged me a little farther, then there was the military. SHTF after I got out and the kids were in the hospital a lot. While in the hospital, I ended up playing on the laptop a lot reading the prep forums, and then next thing I know, I get sucked into the vortex and all yall yahoos end up bein my other family.

[bacpacker]

I grew up farming, my grandparents on all sides went thru the depression and still looked at things from that perspective to a large degree. My parents grew up farming for a living. We grew most of what we ate, meat included. Repaired whatever broke and made do with what we had. I was in the scouts and seriously got into hiking and backpacking when I was 10-12 years old. So when I started gettin older I continued with that as I could. I really didn't start prepping much until the mid-late 90's. Just saw things heading in the wrong direction and felt like I needed to start looking back over history to decide what I should do. I went ape leading up to Y2K I thought. then backed off for a couple years after that. But around 9/11 I decided that being prepared for as many secnario's as possible was just the right thing to do.
I found several forums in 2008 and got into reading a lot of ideas on how to aquire skills and material for long term. I guess the rest has put me here. Glad to be here BTW.

[ladyhk13]

I was raised LDS so prepping has been sort of bred into me from day one without really knowing it. I never really thought about it or even followed it when I was a young adult. I remember going to what we called "The Honey House" which was a place the church owned and raised honey bees. It was our duty to go and volunteer out time to help harvest the honey. I remember very little of the process now as an adult but enough to realize how important it is to have them, I know that I must once again do my duty and raise some hives. I joined the Army right out of high school (actually while I was still in high school and my mom had to sign the papers for me), and became a combat medic. I didn't realize even then that I should be prepping for myself. I married, had a couple of kids, divorced, went to college and struggled just to get by and all that time thought that the Dems were the party of the people (except I did vote for Regan).
My mom is an active member of the church and Mormon Temple and also was born and raised in communist Germany so she has always tried to teach me how I need to be prepared, bless her heart. I guess it wasn't until the past 5 or 6 years that I have gotten serious about it. My husband is also prior military (retired after 22 years) and due to his missions and types of training is much more open to the prepping than most men I know even on some of these kinds of sites - many women have problems with their DH not being on board. We listen to Dave Ramsey and have incorporated his teachings into our preps. We pay cash for everything, have no debt except for the house we live in now so it has put us into a position to be able to prep for our large BOL and plan for the future. I guess one of the main reasons for getting totally in gear was the Muslim silent jihad going on here in this country (I am not trying to start a religious confrontation here, just telling you what motivated me the most). After 9/11 I started paying attention to what was going on around the world and inside our own country, I remembered some of the Bible's teachings of things to come and saw patterns, and then when this administration came it was the breaking point for me especially when mt 71 year old mother from communist Germany says to me that America had better open her eyes because she is headed for socialism and by the time we realize it , it will be too late to do anything about it and it will take about 50 years to get out of it. That really scared me to the point that I started buying everything and anything. Every closet and shelf in my house is cramed full of LTS, paper goods, medical supplies, and self protection items. DH is getting a little antsy of where to start putting things. I told him if I have to start using guest bedrooms as full blown storage rooms then so be it. I buy books anywhere I can and one day I will actually get to read them all, I stock up on canning supplies. I don't want people to think I'm paranoid but it's almost like I can't stop buying things. If I see it will help us I just have to get it.
So, I guess my prepping seed was planted as a LDS child, lost for a while until politics and terrorism reared it's ugly head and now I have no choice but to prep or I feel that we shall all die. I am trying to plan for the shortcomings of my neighbors, my friends. They are farmers so I hope they will be prepared but just in case I feel it's my duty as a good neighbor and Christian to help my small community so we can stand strong together.
OK, I'm sure there's more but I'll stop rambling.

[bobthe]

That really scared me to the point that I started buying everything and anything. Every closet and shelf in my house is cramed full of LTS, paper goods, medical supplies, and self protection items. DH is getting a little antsy of where to start putting things. I told him if I have to start using guest bedrooms as full blown storage rooms then so be it. I buy books anywhere I can and one day I will actually get to read them all, I stock up on canning supplies. I don't want people to think I'm paranoid but it's almost like I can't stop buying things. If I see it will help us I just have to get it.
So, I guess my prepping seed was planted as a LDS child, lost for a while until politics and terrorism reared it's ugly head and now I have no choice but to prep or I feel that we shall all die.

I don't mean to be a wiseass in saying this, but remember EVERYTHING can be taken to an unhealthy extreme. Even prepping.

When you are asked 'why do you prep' and the answer is 'i just HAVE to....' - thats a compulsive trait that might not be in your best interest. maybe when examining why you prep it might be prudent to step back and look at the big picture. For example, instead of guest bedrooms full of books you may never have the time to read, might you not be better off paying down that mortgage faster?

Remember a huge bit of preping is planning, and it's hard to stick to a well thought out, logical plan if you are letting impulses or compulsion dictate your preping.

If this is taken as a personal attack please understand it most sincerely is not.

[ladyhk13]

I don't mean to be a wiseass in saying this, but remember EVERYTHING can be taken to an unhealthy extreme. Even prepping.

When you are asked 'why do you prep' and the answer is 'i just HAVE to....' - thats a compulsive trait that might not be in your best interest. maybe when examining why you prep it might be prudent to step back and look at the big picture. For example, instead of guest bedrooms full of books you may never have the time to read, might you not be better off paying down that mortgage faster?

Remember a huge bit of preping is planning, and it's hard to stick to a well thought out, logical plan if you are letting impulses or compulsion dictate your preping.

If this is taken as a personal attack please understand it most sincerely is not.

I understand where you are coming from. It's just like yesterday I was in Tractor Supply and saw a book on Bee Keeping. I have articles in magazines about it and know there is info on the net but I don't have an actual book about it so I thought, that is something I really need to add to my collection. I many not read it this week but before I start the hives I will have this book in my hands that I can read first so when I go to talk to a bee keeper or go to buy a swarm I will know exactly what to do.
The closets are so full. I feel we don't have enoughTP, paper towels, cases of wheat, buckets of sugar...those kings of things take up space so it has to come from somewhere. I can't just throw it up in the attic. We have so many different kinds of BOB's that they take up most of the space in one closet alone, medical supplies takes up another, then there is cleaning (laundry, dish, teeth, soaps), batteries, food - lots, extra canning jars and supplies, cases of wheat, and other items from the LDS distribution center...we are just running out of closet space. I keep thinking that there are going to be others who are not as fortunate as us that will need help near us and I cannot turn them away.
I am not really worried so much about the house, we owe a lot less than what it is worth (about half). We don't want to pay this one off because we'll be selling it in a few years and know we will make a good profit on it. We will be slamming all the extra money on the other property and paying cash for all improvements there. When we decide to sell this place we can use this money to finish up the other place but we aren't in a rush, we want it done right. We are ok on money so far so there arean't really any worries there.

[The Stig]

I don't mean to be a wiseass in saying this, but remember EVERYTHING can be taken to an unhealthy extreme. Even prepping.

When you are asked 'why do you prep' and the answer is 'i just HAVE to....' - thats a compulsive trait that might not be in your best interest. maybe when examining why you prep it might be prudent to step back and look at the big picture. For example, instead of guest bedrooms full of books you may never have the time to read, might you not be better off paying down that mortgage faster?

Remember a huge bit of preping is planning, and it's hard to stick to a well thought out, logical plan if you are letting impulses or compulsion dictate your preping.

If this is taken as a personal attack please understand it most sincerely is not.

So what led you to becoming a prepper?

[TEOTWAWKI13]

I don't mean to be a wiseass in saying this, but remember EVERYTHING can be taken to an unhealthy extreme. Even prepping.

When you are asked 'why do you prep' and the answer is 'i just HAVE to....' - thats a compulsive trait that might not be in your best interest. maybe when examining why you prep it might be prudent to step back and look at the big picture. For example, instead of guest bedrooms full of books you may never have the time to read, might you not be better off paying down that mortgage faster?

Remember a huge bit of preping is planning, and it's hard to stick to a well thought out, logical plan if you are letting impulses or compulsion dictate your preping.

If this is taken as a personal attack please understand it most sincerely is not.

In my wife's case, this is why I want her to get on board. She's OCD, and if she ever jumped on board, we'd make some good progress towards being more prepared and self sufficient. But you make a decent point. I don't want to become so wrapped up in it I don't enjoy life as I know it now.

[bobthe]

So what led you to becoming a prepper?

i honestly cant say. I dont have the live off the land background of many. I dont have grandparents that had to do the walk uphill barefoot int he snow both ways 50 miles to school every day thing. It wasnt any particular series of events although Ive experienced a few hurricanes in my time. after the year florida got hit with all of the hurricanes a few years back I briefly considered moving my business to an old att communications shelter. but that wasnt preping, that was the result of not being able to get affordable insurance while located so close to the water.

I just think that taking reasonable steps to ensure your ability to deal with future problems is/should be a part of every day life.

[mitunnelrat]

Mine was a combination of things. I spent my early teenage years talking to my dad and grandpa about the decline of society and the likely conclusion of the same, which they both felt would likely occur within my lifetime. Then, when I was 14 or 15 (I think I intentionally blocked some memories from this period), my grandpa was beaten to death - on Christmas Eve, in his home. He was the first in his community in 17 years. The police concluded he knew the person and let them inside. I got a refresher course in firearms safety and use after that, since I was often home alone, and was instructed to never answer the door unarmed after dark. This cemented that our safety rests on our own shoulders.

Then there was a few years in the Army out of high school, to include a tour in South Korea. That was my first experience with extreme poverty, and though I didn't think too much of it at the time, the observations stuck. One of my friends also got sliced from neck to navel in a bar there. The guy was going for his neck, and that could have been much worse. he got stitched up and sent on his way instead of being laid out. Check two for being prepared to defend yourself.

After the Army I got a job as an armed security guard/ armored car messenger. That was actually pretty quiet until 9/11.

Following that was the huge regional blackout in August, 2003. I got stuck 15 miles from home, with no cell comms, because my buddy's car ran out of gas and there was obviously no way to fill it. Not his fault, a bad sensor in his car caused it to drain a full tank of gas in just 60 miles. Still, a lesson. A few more came when I saw how the heat and lack of electricity affected so many others - as I relaxed in my tent in a shady spot with a breeze.

Otherwise, its been assorted medical emergencies, layoffs, and reports of events like Hurricane Katrina that prompted me to begin prepping.

[Gunfixr]

You know, I just don't know when. I cannot remember a time when I didn't have the prepper mindset. I didn't really get to exercise it until after adulthood, but it was always in my thoughts.

[ladyhk13]

In my wife's case, this is why I want her to get on board. She's OCD, and if she ever jumped on board, we'd make some good progress towards being more prepared and self sufficient. But you make a decent point. I don't want to become so wrapped up in it I don't enjoy life as I know it now.

we were at Tractor Supply the other day and they had canning jars on sale for a really good price. So I bought 8 cases and about 10 packages of lids. Ok, did I REALLY need more jars or lids? Probably not, but they were on sale and I figure next year I'll use some or if SHTF I'm going to need them and I may not be able to get more especially the lids. Does this make me OC? I don't know but I would rather have them and not need them than the other way around. I guess in the back of my head also is the thought that I may be prepping for others who haven't been as fortunate as we are and if we are to survive we are going to have to help each other. I may not have every skill or all the knowledge but I will have the tools or supplies so we will be able to work together to benefit each other. Does that make sense?

[bacpacker]

Personally I don't see a problem stocking extra stuff as long as all the other bases are covered well. Canning jars is something I will buy anytime we find them on sell, all sizes from jelly jars up to half gallon. They don't go bad and as much as we put up I'm not sure we could have too many.
I have no good idea as to how many jars we would need to have so we could store 100% of the food we need. So I just keep getting them.
I buy lids anytime I see them because they are a throw away item. I am probably going to buy some of these
TATTLER Reusable Canning Jar Lids Home Page (http://www.reusablecanninglids.com/)
The Tattler lids are reuseable for a large number of times, which to me in a SHTF situation could be invaluable.

[ladyhk13]

I don't know what else could be doing first...I thought we were covered in everything, I hope we are anyway. Maybe someone has a list that I can tick off so in case I forgot something in general terms like categories. I think we are pretty well set on everything and I also buy a lot of things with bartering in mind.
bacpacker, reusable lids would be wonderful. That is one of my thoughts....not to have enough lids because once you use one it's no good except for maybe storing leftovers in the fridge so I keep a box that says "used" just in case. Better than throwing them away.

[DisasterGuy]

This is an interesting thread, so I'll add my 2¢.

After we moved to Alaska in the 70s, a young couple froze to death in their car between Anchorage and Fairbanks. It was so romantic, them being discovered frozen in each other's arms. Romantic, my eye! They had seats they could have cut and wrapped around themselves like a sleeping bag or parka. They had a car lighter that could have been used to make a flame. They had a can of oil they could have burned. They could have put snow onto the car to insulate it until the temperature went up. Instead, they ran the car out of gas using the heater, then died. About that time I was learning to fly. One of the requirements was a survival kit in the plane. I adapted the airplane kit to our cars, and we've carried plane and car survival kits ever since. :(

[Grumpy Old Man]

I grew up prepping. I was raised RLDS (think cousins to LDS) by parents that grew up during the depression- father in Montana, mother on the Osage Rez in Oklahoma. Even though we could afford to buy, we raised a garden every year as did my grandparents. We also canned, froze the produce from our garden and fruit from the orchards in Independence, MO where I grew up. Hunting and fishing were our primary recreation.

Then Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts (earning my Eagle in 1967) taught me to "Be Prepared". Various life experiences have helped me to fine tune the mindset as well. I've gardened at every location that I have been able to. My work has taught me the importance of first aid and when I was a young geologist we had to have various certs for training by MSHA. The mines also taught me situational awareness as they are dangerous places to work.

All that being said, my personality is such that I don't like being caught with my pants down, so to speak. So I guess I've been prepping in one form or another since I was old enough to start helping in the garden at age 3, which would be about 55 years as of 9/26 2011. I'm just glad there are forums like this for information and knowledge exchange! It is impossible to know it all, or even just 1/2 of it all!:)

[dragon5126]

I know by definition I'm a prepper, or more correctly in my case, a survivalist it the truest sense of the word, as opposed to the militant definition. For me it's the just because I am reason that fits the most. Both my parents were products of the depression. Dad was urban, mom was farm. Both knew the meaning of being without and self sufficiency kept food on the table. Dad's father died when he was young, and grew up under a stepfather who was a jack of all trades and and an irish mother who was a farm girl. He impressed on my siblings and i that you cant always pay for what you need because money isnt always available. Between my parents backgrounds I learned a massive amount of life skills from young on. Dad was also a career Army Air Corp
armorer. Another set of skills that lit a burning intereest in me. Being someone who dives into things all the way, I submerged myself in all the things that interested me. The family camped so that created a large skill set, with wilderness survival crossing over. hunting and fishing fell right in... before I even knew it I had every skill I needed to be fully sufficient to live without a grocery store or electrical outlet. Then I graduated from highschool and the real fun began and I started develop the specialized skills that lead me even further down the rabbit hole. I learned the "dangerous knowledge" that made survivalist a dirty word. But this also developed my saleable skillset that led me to the crime lab... And that job is only one quarter knowledge, three quarters research, so my skills keep growing, and the irony is that most of what I learn on the job applies to what we are all about here. It's a scarry world out there. And every time I here someon comment on how paranoid people are getting, I am force to bite my tongue and remember that "just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean someone isn't out to get me..."

[Hogleg]

The cold war. Didn't we all think someone was going to push the button back in those days? Does anyone remember duck and cover?

[SmileyTHFK]

My wife says it's because I'm "bat-sh*t crazy". But I think it started back when I was 10 and I read My Side of the Mountain and Hatchet. I loved the idea of living away from the complexities of large societies and knowing that I would be able to survive and possibly even thrive using nothing but my own knowledge and what Ma Nature provided. Also, two deployments overseas have given me plenty of time to reflect on the too-numerous-to-count ways in which our world is going down. I'd rather not be caught with my pants down.

[ravensgrove]

I was raised subsistence farming. I married a then Eagle scout, now senior enlisted Army and worked for the DoD myself for a stint. Having lived all over the world...long about eight years ago we looked around after deployment two and said to ourselves..."a) we need to get home and settle down b) we need to become adept at subsistence again". We moved three times in that 8 years before we bought our place here almost four years ago, he has since deployed 3 more times. For us its truly 1/2 not wanting him to have to have a "real" job after he retires and 1/2 ya just never know what could happen.
We have seen too much in a decade of war, not to be "uneasy" with the world just now.

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.