PRN Episode #26 Critical Incident Stress Management

PRN Episode #26 Critical Incident Stress Management

PRN Episode #26 Critical Incident Stress Management
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Preparedness is about making small sacrifices in normal times so that you do not have to make huge sacrifices in times of scarcity (at least in this host’s mind) – its not just about buying beans, bullets, and bandages – it’s also about learning, training, and building capability.

David has spent a lot of time taking skills and concepts learned in his professional field of emergency management and relating it to his family’s personal preparedness.

One of those things that relates is knowledge about critical incident stress management.  Critical Incident Stress, and Critical Incident Management is directly related to long term responder performance – and un-managed stress can have debilitating effects on the individual and the group.  In his time in emergency management, Dave has had the opportunity to attend multiple training courses in this area and has seen first hand how this sometimes overlooked skill is very important to dealing with emergencies at all levels.

In today’s episode David talks about what it is, how to deal with it, its relation to acute stress brought on by the Fight or Flight response, and introduces the concept of Critical Incident Stress Debriefings.  This show won’t make you an expert in this field, but it is a good introduction to something valuable that is rarely considered in the personal preparedness community.

Now that I went back to corrections, I find I teach classes on this every month.  Critical Incident Stress Management is a big deal, and I imagine it would be have an even bigger impact after a disaster.

The show is scheduled for Monday at 10pm central time at this link.

If you cannot listen on Monday, you can always download the podcast for listening at your own leisure.

Wildfires

Wildfires
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Wildfires stay in the forest only if firefighters can keep them there, so your property can be threatened.  Remember that public service announcement that ended with the echoing words, “I never thought … we were living in the forest.”

  • Outfit your property with fire extinguishers and work up a neighborhood wildfire.

Know where to get emergency information (usually radio or television).

  • When wildfire threatens: clear all foliage within 100 feet of your structure; keep your vehicle parked in the open, facing the direction you would evacuate – and know where the keys are at all times.
  • Much of your structure fire plan will be applicable, like the two or more escape routes from each room.  Know your plan, and use it.
  • As evacuation grows more likely; close windows, vents and doors, turn off gas at main as well as pilot lights and propane tanks.
  • If you have a fireplace, open the damper and close the screens; move furniture to the center of the structure; wear long-sleeved shirts and long-legged pants and have a wet kerchief available to cover your face.
  • If time permits as you leave, wet any shrubs within 15 feet of the home.  This is not just to protect the shrubs; since they will kindle before the home, they increase the risk to the structure.
  • Know where to meet to count heads; your wildfire plan’s provision should be much farther away than the one in your structure fire.
  • Since a wildfire is more likely to take on community proportions than a structure fire, have an out-of-town contact whom all family members who are not together will call.
  • Just as you never go back into a burning building, do not return to the evacuated area until authorities tell you it is safe to do so.
PRN Episode #32 Interview Andrew Morrison

PRN Episode #32 Interview Andrew Morrison

We have been doing a lot of podcasts dealing with alternative construction, and today we continue this trend by hosting one of the leaders in the strawbale building community.  The Shepherd School is proud to get to talk to Andrew Morrison of strawbale.com.

Andrew Morrison has been a strawbale builder for more than a decade and has hands on experience building hundreds of homes using strawbales as the main building material.

Strawbale is cheap, provides awesome insulation, has great sound-deadening properties, and amazing fire and insect resistant properties – I know that sounds counter-intuitive – but listen to the show and here Andrew Morrison explain why.

You can learn more by visiting his blog and store at the links below:

Strawbale Blog
Strawbale Products

We have also embedded a video below from Andrew Morrison talking about his workshops – it is a very good way to get manpower to build as well as help learning about the process.

I have long been interested in strawbale construction, I am very excited to talk to Andrew.

The show is scheduled for Monday at 10pm central time at this link.

If you cannot listen on Monday, you can always download the podcast for listening at your own leisure.

Be Flexible

Prepper Precepts #13 Be Flexible

 

27 Prepper Precepts #13
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Be flexible. Things can be used outside of their intended usage. Things change. You should be able to think outside the box once you understand the reasons for the box.

This is a skill that has to be practiced – you need to learn to break things down into component parts and possible uses.  Can a wheel be a pulley?  Can this wire act as a rope?  You have to practice Macgyverisms in order to Macgyver when needed.

(This is probably my greatest strength, I have spent so much time filling my mental filling cabinet I can pretty much mix and match my way to solving problems.  Maybe that’s because I spent so much time watching MacGyver as a kid – take out all the political indoctrination from that show and its a pretty good teaching aid…)

Be Flexible, Its the Key to Resilience

Rules of Civility: The 110 Precepts that Guided Our First President in War and Peace

These precepts are my creed, and having prepper precepts guides me when I face tough choices.  A wise man once told me that when facing a moral problem, the right choice is usually the action you don’t want to take.
I am not a pollyanna person that is wishy-washy or blindly follows rules, heck I have a little rebellious streak and love to know the WHY of rules, but I do respect and understand the need for law and know how vital it is for a society to have a moral code.

By knowing what I believe in you can know how I will act. This is very important in times of stress.  If you don’t want to read these precepts one by one, the completed list can be found here: Completed 27 Prepper Precepts.

 

The Government Can

 

The Government Can
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I find Tim Hawkins to be a talented and funny man. I enjoy his music, especially this video “the government can”.  It reminds me that a government that can give you anything to you can take everything from you.

Personally I would rather have a limited government with a strong sens that their role is simply to punish theft and violent crime, protect us from foreign intrusion, and mange patents and copyrights and take care of everything else myself or through contracting in a free market.

What scares me is that there are people that think that the government can and should do everything for everybody – this scares me because the government cannot produce anything.  It exists from the power to take.

The government can tax, and I have no problem paying my share, and I do not want children or the disabled to go hungry, but I bristle at the idea that because I work – it is fair to take money from my household to pay those who choose not to work.

I eat chicken thighs and cheap hamburger while my taxes pay for foodstamps so that the “less fortunate” can afford to eat steak, good whiskey, cigarettes, and drugs.

Just because the government can, doesn’t mean it should.