TACTICAL WISDOM: Short Notice Readiness – Minuteman

Originally appears on Tactical Wisdom and authored by my friend Joe Dolio.

Friends, it’s been a rough couple of weeks. We still don’t know the extent of the deaths in Maui, and here locally, we woke up flooded one morning, then were struck by a tornado the very next night. This had me re-evaluating my immediate readiness. I’ll be honest – I was not where you would expect a preparedness author to be. I thought I would let my self reflection benefit us all, so that you can learn from my mistakes.

Even God says you need to have a Get Home or Bug Out Bag ready:

Gather up your belongings to leave the land,
you who live under siege.

Jeremiah 10:17

I know, some of you will say “nope, I’m bugging in.” If you had that attitude during the Maui incident, you would be dead. It’s silly to not have at least a TEMPORARY bug out plan.

In evaluating my own readiness, I always have a Get Home Bag in my car, so that was good. If I was trapped out when the flood came, as many were, I could get home. Mine has the basics as outlined in my Baseline Training Manual, including some shelter, some rain gear, water purification and treatment, some self-defense tools, fire gear, medical, and light. Just the basics for 24-48 hours, along with a little food.

My problem was that at home, I didn’t have a bug out bag prepared. What if the tornado had done enough damage to require us to leave home immediately and walk somewhere? I had unpacked it after a training event and said, “I’ll get it set back up tomorrow”. And then the next day, and then the next day. You see, without an imminent threat, it’s easy for us to let our guard down. And we might have paid dearly for it.

I also realized that while I had radio gear with me, and I know that our son always has his radio with him, I hadn’t made sure that the others had radios. We have already corrected that. Remember, your emergency communications plan only works if everyone carries a radio all the time, because you don’t get to choose the time or place. I had been so focused on making sure the rest of my network had their radios on, that I forgot to ensure that my immediate family did. Zoom back out once in a while and check on those whose preparedness you take for granted.

The biggest win for us though was that all our cars were full of gas. A lot of people (our youngest included) were caught the morning after the tornado with almost no gas and no gas stations open because there was no power. There is no excuse for this – fill your car every day.

On that note, the rough weather here and the Maui situation all reinforce the idea of the Area Study. In Maui, there were roadblocks on the main artery (just like I warned in TW-01), and an area study would have given them other options. Here, every major intersection was now a 4 way stop, which should be easy, but most people have no clue on how to do that. If you doubt how fast society can collapse, watch people sit at a major intersection when the lights go out. It gets ugly fast. The lesson from this is know every route around town that avoids these snarls. Do that homework now.

Also, after flooding or a tornado, get out quick and do an area recon. Find out where you can get through, what is open, and how extensive the damage is. Don’t put yourself at risk, but get out and see, in case you need to leave in a hurry or get to medical care. In a disaster, it may be easier and better to drive yourself to the hospital than to wait on an ambulance. On that note, ambulances aren’t exempt from disaster – a good friend (Mustachioed Medic on X) was working in an ambulance during the tornado and a tree ran into the ambulance.

While out there, have some basic supplies in case you need to help an injured person, pull another vehicle out of a ditch, or cut a tree out of the road (our own tree fell into the road – thank God it didn’t hit the house). Have a section of rope that you can toss to someone trapped in a car, so that they can use it to get out of the water. When you come across a vehicle stranded in flood waters (we had some all the way up to the roof), tell the people to get out of the car and get on solid ground. Many people sit in their cars, not realizing that flood waters will keep going up for about 24 hours after heavy rain, and many drown.

When me and some other security folks responded to Hurricanes Sandy and Irene, we carried cases of water in our vehicles and handed them out to folks as we found them. After Sandy, we encountered an elderly couple trying the doors on all the stores while we were doing some anti-looter work and we checked on them, they hadn’t had water in 2 days, and nothing was open. We gave them a case of water and checked on their apartment to make sure they were safe to stay there. Help your fellow man when you are able, but don’t put yourself at risk to do so. Check on your elderly or less-able neighbors.

Have a plan – scout out your local area. Your plan is only good if you have current information. The only way to gather that information is to get out.

On that note, tend to your security as well. During a crisis like this, the police are tied up protecting infrastructure and working on rescuing stranded drivers. Your burglary in progress or armed robbery call may take a lot longer for them to respond to, if you are even able to call them.

Speaking of phone service, many of you may have noticed that I was absent from social media all day on Friday. That’s because my entire township had no cell service beyond short text messages and absolutely no internet service until late in the evening. Have a plan for that. Radios come into play again.

After this event, I’ve decided to embrace our history and put “Minuteman” practices back into place, like I had during the turbulent 2020-2021 era. Every person must leave the house with a Get Home Bag and a radio at a minimum. Each person’s Bug Out Bag will be fully packed and staged in a closet, so that it can be grabbed in a few seconds. Each trained adult will have their “782 Gear” as we Marines call it (belt kits and chest rig) and defensive tools ready to be grabbed at a minute’s notice. This way, within one minute, everyone can be fully kitted out, armed, and ready to move.

A great item to help with this is the USMC variant of the 6-magazine bandolier. Standard Army ones have a blank rear panel, but the USMC ones have MOLLE webbing on the back. This makes it easy to attach a radio pouch and first aid kit. This way, rather than grabbing a full belt kit or chest rig, you can toss the bandolier on, and you are fully prepared. Find them at military surplus stores on Ebay, but make sure you get the USMC coyote brown ones. They make a good vehicle preparedness option as well.

Learn from the recent disasters and the trend towards civil conflict or global war and be ready, every single day.

Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves.

Ezekiel 33:5