The Tactical Household: Building Resilience, Community, and Preparedness

[00:00:00] And I've been involved in a lot of U. S. government operations. And quite frankly, uh, I was, I was disappointed. I felt ineffective. The bureaucracy, I've, I've, I've said this before. I was in the most, elite unit in the least bureaucratic and most effective government agency. And I felt like it was characterized by dysfunction.

And one of the pivotal moments that I had was Being deployed overseas and an embassy and watching my children open their Christmas presents, uh, on video remotely, and also at the same time getting micromanaged by my commanding officer, department of defense side of things. It wasn't the state department.

It wasn't CIA. It wasn't any of those types of agencies that sometimes get a bad rap. It was my own chain of command. Kind of inhibiting what I was doing. And I kind of just [00:01:00] thought to myself, well, if I'm going to be having to travel and not be effective, then I might as well get out. So I got out in 2016, we had been doing some real estate on the side.

I started my construction business and we're now in our 8th year of, of business and my 8th year being out of the military December of this year, I think makes 8, 8 years mark of getting out of the military. So. Um, it was very difficult for me after doing kind of the super sexy things that movies are made out about about or being around some of the people that are doing some of those cool things and then being in small town America with my five children struggling to run a business, over the last year, Almost eight years now, I, I feel like the Lord has been just sanctifying me of some professional idolatry and continue to focus me [00:02:00] locally on what I'm doing here with my family and realizing that that matters, uh, more and in some ways eternally matters.

Over the super sexy missions or the cool guy status that I enjoyed for almost 14 years of my professional life. And, uh, so, you know, this space is now kind of recapping that story is even just reminding myself now that raising my family, loving my wife, uh, building a small business that provides a good service to doesn't even need to be a lot of people.

Just a small number of clients is enough in some sense. I think that the proverb says the fool's eyes are on the ends of the earth. And so , I'm encouraging you here now listening, but also just kind of speak to myself to continue to focus. Locally and what we're doing and originally [00:03:00] intended to do launch right into this space and to start talking about the practical and the tactical things that we're doing on a family level.

But we had prayer meeting at our church tonight and I just was, was reflecting on how I have community, I have other families that I see. Three to four times a week that our kids are hanging out with each other. Our wives are talking with each other. We're hanging out in the lobby of the church for 45 minutes to three, four hours after church, just talking, getting caught up on things, sharing experiences from the week and.

That we have been at this church, uh, since September 2009. So I think we're almost at our 15 year mark here being in the same church, being with a lot of the same families, uh, four of my five children being baptized there. And just kind of that [00:04:00] being all that they know as a community in a sense. And that is their.

Their social time that is that is their friend group That is their their bigger family that they belong to and they they look forward to it. They long to be at the gathering of the church and with their friends and So I would encourage those of you that are listening one of the things I my first deployment to afghanistan We spent Uh, almost the entire time living out of Humvees.

This is way before the IEDs were prevalent or we actually had, uh, plywood, um, zip tied to the roll bars of our, our Humvees, which are the, the Jeeps that the army guys drive around. So off roading and driving around doing kind of mounted roving patrols in Afghanistan for the entire rotation. We were, always essentially outside the wire.

As they say, we were always [00:05:00] out in, uh, open to threat and we were pulling guard 24 seven. So we would kind of do our movements during the day. And we'd come back and we'd, we'd set up a patrol base with the vehicles and we'd, we were sleeping in sleeping bags that we would pull guard. And I can remember, you know, the guard shifts, there's multiple.

Of us on guard at a time watching the different ways that the enemy could approach It was difficult to pull guard for two hours with another guy in the humvee turret for Uh in the middle of the night and you know a lot of what a tactical household Has to have is a community. It has to have a network of people that they can rely on and that doesn't happen instantaneously.

That's not something that you can run down to Walmart and pick up or order on a, On a website building community is hard building community [00:06:00] requires you to be committed For the long haul it requires you to overlook people's flaws It requires other people to overlook yours. It requires you also being willing to Be open and and honest and transparent and when you do 15 almost 15 years with people you can't uh, Keep it covered in a in a thin veneer You If what's underneath is rotten and people will find out your, where you mess up and what, what you're, you struggle with and they will, they will be able to, to know who you really are.

And, and, you know, some people, when that vulnerability, when that veneer is, is no longer able to keep people from seeing what's underneath don't like that feeling. And we'll, we joke about it, they'll miraculously find some minor doctrinal issue that they have with the church or get offended about something and make it [00:07:00] about somebody else and move to the next church down the road, move geographically.

And, you know, the reality is that, uh, getting it close with people is uncomfortable and not, uh, it's, it's that you have to push through. And then the result also needs to be. Fix yourself and to to become a better person to become more disciplined to put sin to death To be able to say that you're sorry and confess and repent and continue to work through issues together and the result of that is is amazing community and so that I think is is One of the longest kind of things that the hardest things to do as a tactical household is to have You You know, the military, we call it is adjacent units.

It's other families. It's other households in the same geographic area that are, [00:08:00] are working towards a common mission. And if you don't have that where you are right now, if you're listening to kind of that description of what I'm saying, uh, and you don't have that, that needs to be a top priority if you're trying to build a tactical household, you need to That group of people for, for, uh, the church that is aligned with your, uh, beliefs, but ultimately aligned with scripture.

And then you, uh, adjust your beliefs and align it to the word of God and, and attend and be there and show up whenever the doors are open and do, uh, all the, the, the functions and be all in. And that's, I think, as I, as I see what is going on around and as I am, uh, it's, it's, it's chaotic and it's, um, it's unsettling at the national, global level, but immediately [00:09:00] I can smile and be happy because I have community here.

Have 300 or so people that i'm around on a regular basis that know me I have. Um, You know a family. Um, that would be I guess even Farther back than just finding a church is finding a a spouse a husband or a wife that um You can be aligned with if you're if you're single and you're out there trying to figure it like that is The greatest thing you're not you're not really building You Your own household without the ability to have kids and things like that.

So it's encouraging that. And that started for me almost 18 years ago. My 18 year anniversary is going to be Monday of when I got married. And these are the kind of, these are the long term strategies that AI and, global corporations in the deep. They aren't able to replicate. They aren't able to replicate a husband [00:10:00] loving his wife, like Christ loves the church, and leading his children, and not provoking them through wrath, and cultivating a godly virtue in his life, and raising them in a way that they want to replicate.

What he is doing, uh, in their own family that they want, they have a, a positive view of marriage that they love their, their family life and that they want to go and find someone to get married and start their own family. And that, um, I've said this before is, is in my mind is kind of like Bitcoin. For society, we have all these independent nodes running on the same standard that is the word of God.

We are replicating. We're building. We're creating other human beings from scratch and enjoying it, enjoying the process and, uh, raising them and continuing to build more households. And as I look [00:11:00] at what's going on, as I see the state of things, um, My children, my children's children, great grandchildren are going to be around and Lord willing, serving the Lord and doing things locally and building families way beyond the powers that be right now.

And that is going to continue to turn over, but faithful families working where they are. Is going to be the thing that outlasts everything. And, you know, being in a network of other families that I trust. And that love our family is is huge and I have a 15 year old son Uh down to eight year old son, so we have have five children That is a long term investment having children raising them Spending and gathering resources so that you can feed and [00:12:00] clothe them and educate them Is a long term commitment That most people are not making, that I am not seeing that subscribe to some of the ideologies and hostile things that are kind of antithetical to what my family and I believe.

They're not happily married and having lots of kids. But there's, there's a hundred and fifty plus children, uh, eighteen and under at our church right now. And that's an incredible capacity for good and for continued growth and continued influence over time. But the, the tricky part is, Living your life in such a way as a husband, as a father, that they don't hate your guts because you're hypocritical and, you know, so making sure that you're around these people that can [00:13:00] call you out, that can actually help you become a person that is righteous and that is living in a good way.

Now, that's, there's a million ways to unpack that. There's a million ways to. Uh, to work that out, but doing that in community, doing that underneath other people, being having mentors, being in submission to God, leader, leadership, and then having a good wife for me that will call out, uh, graciously privately call out where she thinks that, I need to change and me being able to, to listen to my wife's, uh, input and to be humble about that.

Um, my wife being submissive and understanding how to let me lead and also let me take risks to, to let me start businesses, to leave a steady paycheck of the military and start our own business to be in year three now. [00:14:00] Uh, of, of bus life, uh, on, on land so that we could get to. A position generationally where we want to be and to carve out a place for grandchildren, great grandchildren to come back to.

And that, that's hard. Um, that's not going to be easy. That's not going to, you're not, if you're going to build something like that, if you're going to try to, to strike out and try to set a new course for your future generations, it's going to be met with resistance. It's going to be difficult. It's not going to be easy.

Um, to to leave that defense department direct deposit and so just encourage you to after establishing a family after building community. The next thing that you have to be able to do is to gather resources and so getting, you know, those of you that are employed. My, my guidance is to try to devote all marginal [00:15:00] time that you can to becoming more valuable to your employer, to get more skill, to get, uh, more ability in your own time, even if necessary, to increase your value to your employer and to put you in a position to do one of two things, to one, ask for a raise from your employer.

Legitimately, because your employer knows that it's going to be harder to find somebody else that's doing the exceptional level of work that you're doing and and then or three negotiate for the pay to stay the same, but to get more time, especially if one of you, if you're inclined to entrepreneurial activities.

To take that additional time that you can get without a cut and pay because you're now more valuable and one of the examples could be maybe a half day A week and saying hey i'd like to work 36 hours. I'd like to work [00:16:00] 32 hours a week And, and if you're a valuable employee, if you're making yourself invaluable to that employer, then, uh, as somebody who employs people that you are going to be able to negotiate, because they're going to have to try to find somebody else to fill a position and they already know you're honest and good working valuable.

And then you take that additional marginal time that, or that you've gotten or that additional income. And you invest that to get more skill or to get more resources. Uh, for your family. So practically how that worked out for my family and I, I left the military, but I left after cashing out, uh, the equity on a home that we had remodeled.

And I had a 3 percent interest rate on that equity that I cashed out. I got over 250, 000. Um, essentially direct deposited a few months before getting out of the military and so we ended up kind of doing a [00:17:00] pretty risky play and buying a mansion and and that needed a ton of work. And so we. We were basically down, um, posted kind of a chart of our, our family's resources.

The few months after getting out of the military, we went from, you know, 260, 270, 000 in the bank till about 10 grand in the bank and three or four months, just with starting the business, buying additional properties and things like that, and we had two mortgages. I had to pay my bone, my enlistment bonus back to the military.

So. Even though we had a ton of resources and kind of had a plan, uh, some things changed and, and I had to start the business a little bit quicker than I expected and it was harder than I expected. But looking back, um, I would, I would do it again. I don't think I would have had the guts to do it if I would have known how hard it was before.

But with the hindsight being what it is. Uh, um, a hundred times out of a hundred, uh, I'm, I'm leaving the military. Um, you know, people telling me, Oh, just six [00:18:00] more years and you can get a retirement for life. We're having people check in on the, on our short term rental that are, you know, a single weekend stay is the, the a month, uh, retirement check.

And so there's, there's just don't buy the line of Pharaoh that is trying to get you to bake more straw or make more bricks with, with the same amount of straw that's increasing your quota. That's always trying to do it. Now that be a valuable. Uh, employee get trade your time for money, but then be very intentional about how you're investing it.

And ultimately what that has meant for our family is it means that we have 54 acres with animals and we're building a house and we've been in a bus for three years because essentially three or four different times we had the option to play it safe. And to keep the money in the bank and get off the gas and kind of live the comfortable suburban life.

And we essentially [00:19:00] went all in again, and in a sense, it kind of feels really crazy right now with a almost framed house being in the bus for the 3rd year now. But then, you know, walking up this morning with the milk pails as the sun's rising, milking our cow. You know, it's, it's, it's a hard life, but it's a good life.

And our kids are learning how to work and we're applying ourselves and there's actually produce coming from our land. Now, you know, the notes that I would have on those of you that may be thinking about, oh, I want to buy land, I want to do the homestead thing. Realize that you don't need as much land as you think you do.

You know, it is way better to have, I've heard Joel Salatin say this before, it's way better to have a smaller amount of acreage close to town than vast acreage way out of town. That if you're, especially if you're trying to, To do commerce and to do things if you're having to [00:20:00] travel that far to get to the city Now that's not me advocating for big city life.

We are in outside of a small town Uh in a county with a little over a hundred thousand people, but we're five minutes from church We're five minutes from downtown and it's just you know, we initially bought the 20 acres And uh have expanded our border and so I would say for those of you don't And don't think you need land to start trying to grow food, and to start trying to produce, um, you know, uh, I've heard Joel talk about, Joel Salatin talk about just get a tomato plant, like there's a, there is actual learning that is going to take place if you try to grow one plant that is going to bring food, or get six chickens if you're downtown, if you're, you know, get a, you know, If you're in a HOA or in a, in a township that's tyrannical and doesn't [00:21:00] allow you to have six chickens, then go figure out how to get a disability or some kind of social animal, uh, that you need for, you know, and so that you can, you can defy that tyrannical rule of, of not having your own chickens and, and start small.

We did two batches or one batch of meat birds in our downtown. Um, house, and we kept some egg chickens as well, and the amount of learning that has to happen when you first get a flock of chickens, um, you know, and we didn't even get that many. So, where are you right now? What can you do right now that will allow you to start learning to produce something?

That will offset your dependency in a marginal way and will also give you skill and then as you have mastered that skill or where you are right [00:22:00] now at that level, then go bigger and and incrementally get, uh, more land, get more complex, um, where we've been out on land, as I said, almost three years, and we just now got a milk cow.

And we definitely shouldn't have gotten it, gotten it any sooner than we did. And I wasn't even ready. I, I, those of you that follow along in here, I had to put in almost 700 feet of fence and build the barn and figure out how we're going to do water and all that stuff in about two and a half days. And it was, it was some, some break, breakneck speed of, uh, about, amount of work that needed to be done.

Um, but that that's, you know, the, of the flip side of that coin too, is don't let the plan don't let the, the risk, uh, or the perfectness of the plan or the risk be what stops you from taking the risk and going for it, [00:23:00] you are not going to build the legacy that you're supposed to build for your family.

Easily, it is an uphill fight, and if you get off the gas, you're trying to roll that, that stone up the hill. If you, if you slack off, if you step away the hill, the, the tendency of that stone to roll all the way back down to the bottom. So it's not gonna be one of those things that you're like, oh, I just need to rest for a couple months or whatever.

Just you're, we're put here to work, stay on the gas. Do what you need to do and realize that it's it's for the rest of your life This isn't to get to a certain point and then quit and retire. This is to continue to build It's gonna the type of work might change the way that you Use your body or your knowledge and your skill May ebb and flow through time as you as you work through this But keep on that trajectory have that vision, especially with your wife being on the same page You And [00:24:00] continue to push and you know, that's it's we set this trajectory You know, I I said kind of in the post 18 years ago.

We set the trajectory because I committed to Be married to one woman Uh, the rest of my life and to be faithful to her and to lead her and that as a 23 year old is kind of a significant thing to do. And those of you that, that maybe don't know my story, I was in, you know, special operations unit and was vocal about the fact that I was a Christian that didn't cuss and didn't drink and that was a virgin.

And I introduced myself that way when I showed up to Ranger Battalion. And so. Committing myself to living a certain way, being faithful to, to one woman, raising children, that trajectory got set for us 18 years ago. Um, you know, even four and a half, five years prior pursuing her to marry [00:25:00] her. Um, you know, and then continuing having the ability and, and, uh, resolve to, to leave active duty service, even though it was a very good paycheck and dependable and a really fun job.

And to do something that's not really that glorious. I mean, construction and remodeling is, is not what Jack Carr writes novels about, you know? And, and so it can be, be difficult to go from a Jack Carr novel life to construction. But like I said at the beginning, um, that's, I'm focusing on my wife and my children.

But as I see the world continuing to be this way, I'm really glad that I have my special operations service and mindset and experience and the fact that I have been shot at and the fact that I've had to, uh, figure my way out of some pretty hairy situations. Um, I feel [00:26:00] totally prepared, uh, mindset wise and where I am geographically, the community that I'm in, the relations that I have, and also what I have, um, equipment wise, and the way that I've set our home set up, and the way that I've set up the different places around town, real estate, things that we have to be anti fragile.

To be ready for whatever is going to happen Um and to read articles I'm, not sure if you guys saw ray dalio has an article I think in time called the coming conflict And he has some excerpts from his book. Um, you know, some of it's a little bit heady and financial um in nature, but essentially the the premise of things is that And he's he's predicting a greater than 50 chance of civil war now Does that mean it's going to be a [00:27:00] hot civil war?

No he mostly thinks it's going to be a cold civil war and the way that he describes it is that As the the government is not able to finance its debt um You know or to to use debt to finance its expenditures That eventually they're not going to be able to do that anymore. And so we're going to see You In one way or another, uh, the, uh, reduction of government services, um, at the higher levels more so than maybe the lower levels and the fact that you're where you are geographically is going to matter, uh, is going to matter more as you continue to grow.

Seek out places that have the local government services that you need in the local atmosphere. And so he predicts there's going to be some, a lot of movement. We've actually kind of seen some of that, even in the last few days with [00:28:00] Elon Musk saying, you know, the government's doing this in California. So I'm going to uproot and move to Texas.

And so, as I read that article. I'm not, I'm not moving, and it's nice to evaluate the county that I'm in, the church that I'm a member of, the place that I am geographically, where my land is, and what we're doing, and read articles that in some ways may be important. A little bit doom and gloom and be, you know, saying that the sky is falling, but to in a large way say, I've been, I've been preparing for this for 20 years.

Uh, my military service, the fact that I have a wife and children, that we've got land, that we're in community with people that are like minded, we're in the right place geographically, the right County, it's, it's a blessing. It's not something that I mastermind when I was, Was a teenager, but it is something that has, has come about, about by having a vision and being [00:29:00] intentional about where I'm trying to take my family.

So if you haven't done that, if you haven't figured out, this is what we're trying to do as a family. This is why God put each and every one of us together in this unit that is a family. Uh, where we are right now, geographically, and you're not being intentional about how you spend your time and how you're allocating or amassing resources and reinvesting them, you need to make a change and you need to work on that.

And you need to have a meeting. We did, uh, January 1st or 2nd here at the, at the farm, we got a big whiteboard out and we went through, we had every kid kind of say, Uh, something about, or went through each person in the family, youngest to oldest, and had everyone in the family say what they thought, we thought their unique contributions were to our family, and what, how God had gifted them, and why we were, we were glad they were in there.

We wrote them all down, um, and, and I think that's important to [00:30:00] have children understand early that they're They're not just a negative that they're actually contributing. They're part of what we're doing. They're part of this vision they're working. And boy, am I, uh, um, understanding that right now, as I am on, I think day five now of tending the farm while my wife and children are at a music.

Uh, string camp, intensive string camp this week, so milking the cow, moving water and feeding chickens, moving water and feeding pigs, uh, dogs, collecting eggs, you know, doing all the cleanup after milking, before I start my construction job, before I start working on trying to build our house, and realizing how much, uh, our children contribute to the work.

And when I am forced to do all of what my, my five children and my wife helped me do day in and day out to keep the [00:31:00] farm running, I am realizing the amount of, of work power and capacity for work that we have within our own household. And, you know, that is a, that requires a culture of work. And I say to my kids all the time, what's the most important thing?

Besides love, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and your neighbor as yourself is know how to work, uh, and, and, and teaching the children to contribute. And so, uh, you know, look for ways that you can do that now and give them responsibility and, you know, realizing that you have to inspect, that you have to train, that you have to mentor, that they're not going to, they're not going to be able to do excellent work.

And that their, um, their inadequacies in work, their inability to do these things is going to, in a lot of ways, be an amplification of your [00:32:00] own shortcomings and your own sin. And so you can use that as an opportunity to repent for how you've, you fell short and to have a conversation with them about it and to direct them towards capacity for work.

And, you know, in a lot of ways. That's the, that's 90 percent of the battle is, is all those things that I've talked about to this point. Now, uh, I do have on my, my Twitter bio, uh, uh, three, three guns. I think every dad should own free download that I put together. Um, I, I think that we have an in society largely.

Deputized law enforcement to handle security of our family and to a fault to where we don't have the capacity, the skill or the capacity to defend those that are around us. And [00:33:00] so, if you're, if you don't have. Uh, the three guns, uh, and that's just the start. That's just the tip of the iceberg, but that being said Um, you know, I I don't have to I don't have to hide Buying guns for my wife.

I don't have to try to sell her on me buying stuff like that because I It's not toys. It's not a thing that i'm doing Because i'm still a boy and I just want to keep getting more and more toys. I'm i'm buying tools that fit into Part of the system of the tactical household And, um, and in a way that is mature, it's not just a hobby.

Now, is it, is it fun to buy these kinds of toys and tools and things like that? Yes, but you know, if you're trying to build something, you can't oftentimes you're having to be very strategic in how you're allocating those funds. And, you know, [00:34:00] I, I also have a website on my website, uh, free guide for starting blue collar business for me.

That's, that's what I do. There's a huge, uh, void or dearth of, of skilled trades and people that actually know how to work with their hands that are manifesting themselves, uh, concretely in the world. Um, as, um, uh, I can't remember the name of the book. Right now shop craft as a soul craft by I think it's Matthew Crawford Um, you know that we need we need people to do that I feel like there's tremendous opportunities for a side hustle and or main hustle in the trades And i'm counseling my sons to look at it very intentionally And, you know, as a construction business owner, I have to use my technical background with, with web and social media and email and marketing and [00:35:00] systems to be able to do scheduling for clients, uh, all the different things that, that are required to run your own business.

So it's not. You know, in a lot of ways, the actual service and the actual thing that you do is, is, is just a small part. Uh, I would say you have to be a hundred percent competent at it, a hundred percent, uh, skilled, but it's probably only 10 percent of the picture, maybe 20%, 80. The other 80 percent is business.

And so that's kind of the, the blue collar launch guides kind of in my initial offering to help give a framework for someone who wants to start their own business. Um, it's just got a trade based focus, but I think that the beginning about LLCs and S corps and, um, you know, taxation and what professional services and things are, are helpful, whether it's blue, blue collar trades or not.

And, and in a lot of ways, becoming professionally competent and able to earn money is, is [00:36:00] huge. Um, Abraham, we read in Genesis 14, 14, he had 300. And 18 trained men born in his household. And in that day and age, that meant that there was enough agricultural activities to support them and to feed them and their wives and children.

And when, uh, his, his nephew lot got hauled off into captivity, they, they did, uh, uh, expeditionary hostage rescue nighttime hostage rescue, I believe. Um, when even the kings of the land couldn't execute the mission and, and, and that day and age, they understood that there was a need to be most have multidisciplined people within your household.

And so, you know, that's something that you, you get time and you're able to, to cross train in these other things. [00:37:00] If you don't, especially if you don't have a background in special operations where you spent. 14 years shooting and doing jujitsu and lifting weights and all those kinds of things. You're going to have to carve out a lot of time to get a certain level of proficiency and mastery in that.

And you buy that free time with money. You buy it by being a highly paid skilled worker in your job. And by then reallocating those resources and buying the time and the instruction and the tools to do these other things that are going to enable you to protect your family. And you know those Guns could be kind of the sexy thing that we want to go to as as as guys but The food aspect I think is is almost more important the ability to get clean drinking water the ability to Not need to go to the store for a two To three week period of time if there is a [00:38:00] chaos and unrest and viewing every time that there's a power outage a storm or whatever as an opportunity to check and to rehearse and to go through what your systems are in place for kind of a self sufficiency and then, you know, realizing that if it's just you and your bunker.

And your bags of rice that you're probably not going to be able to To to make this work for very long. That's when you're going to have to have your extended community Um, those of you that have ever grown food and done farming understand how many different pieces come into play to be really, truly self sufficient at farming is incredibly difficult.

And so you're going to need other families to work. You're going to need other families with, uh, overlapping and complimentary skill sets and resources that you can rely upon and have a moral framework that you can depend upon in [00:39:00] times of crisis. That they're not just going to kill your whole family and take all your resources as soon as you pass out after pulling a two hour guard shift, uh, like we talked about earlier, um, you're going to need those resources and you need to be in a local area where your local government in leadership.

Is principled and understands, you know, doctrines of lesser magistrate and, and, uh, serious about leading and getting, uh, help, uh, and being able to, to lead in the, in the times of crisis. I think if you do a good assessment of what your sheriff was doing. During the 2020 craze and how they responded to the higher echelons of authority, how they led is a really good indicator of what you, you have, uh, and where you are.

Um, so yeah, so three guns, a guy that I have for [00:40:00] free, the blue collar, um, launch guide. Cause I, you know, you just, this is a longterm commitment. Um, you know, for those of you that, uh, are just kind of getting into the space or that are a little bit, um, you know, what should I do? I'm feeling, you know, my kind of first thing that I did was buy a bunch of the kind of one month, um, One month food packs that are freezer dried.

This is before I had a farm. This is before I had is that my goal was to have, um, you know, two to three weeks of ability to just kind of shelter in place if there is is chaos. And, and I built that framework because I responded to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. I was the security advisor for, um, a telecommunications company down there.

I actually landed in Puerto Rico, uh, I [00:41:00] think two or three days after the hurricane went through, pretty much the entire island was still out of power. And so I got, uh, three weeks, I think I was down there and I got to watch kind of a, a microcosm of how society functions. When there is no power, no cell phone, no, uh, you know, when you can't go to the ATM when power is out, you can't go and get cash out.

You can't, um, the gas, all the gas pumps aren't working, the ability to, to, to make, to, to. Pay for stuff. Um, refrigeration is working for a while, a little while, if you have generators and fuel and things like that, but after a while refrigeration goes out and, you know, the, the shop owners were bringing their propane, uh, griddles out onto the sidewalk and basically cooking all the meat, uh, in at one time and selling it off to people [00:42:00] kind of as fast as they could.

So, you know, that I came in, in the first 48 hours to 72 hours after Maria came through, which is kind of right as right before I got to the Island, they said that's when the looting and the violence and things were pretty intense because there was kind of this initial shock of a storm and this upending of kind of the social norms.

And then after that, things kind of settled in and, and generally. If things are to get, get worse. That's kind of my own personal premise is that, uh, it's, it, it could get, it could get worse, but then it's gonna, it's gonna level out because we still have people that are living next to each other. And there is, uh, you know, uh, a divinely inspired soul in these people.

There's a, a desire for freedom, a desire to continue to, to, um, cultivate. And so communities are [00:43:00] gonna. Going to get reorganized and are going to figure things out, but you don't want to be the one that has to run down to Walmart or run down to the grocery store or Lowe's or someplace to try to get the last generator.

Um, you want to have all that stuff position. And so, you know, they, they actually, there was a power grid attack in my County, um, Moore County here in North Carolina. Um, I think it was a year and a half ago in December that actually took, power out for the entire county. They hit two substations and it's not an isolated thing.

It's going to actually happen a couple different places. Um, and, uh, you know, I, we had just butchered 50 chickens and put them in the freezer and I was in a home in Alabama with my parents for Christmas celebration. And then we got the word that power was out here. And so, you know, I had just been moving chickens around the pasture for eight, nine [00:44:00] weeks, and we butchered them as a family and put them in the freezer.

And, you know, you can't really, I probably could have called and got somebody at church to go and talked them through my system and got them to go run the freezers for me. But I essentially, um, uh, took off and drove through the night and, uh, got here. And I was pretty pumped because that was the first time we had something like that happen.

That I didn't need to go get anything to get all my systems online. Uh, I didn't have it all wired up, but I had the wire, I had the connectors, I had the plugs, I had the fuel, I had the generator and I had the time now. So, you know, I got there and I was able to, to wire up the pigtail into the breaker. Um, get the, um, generator wired up and get kind of all our freezers back on line and go through and keep them running.

Now, we, we got power back, I think, on the fifth [00:45:00] day. Um, so the extended kind of, uh, notes that I had from that particular experience was that I needed more, Uh, more fuel and I also needed, uh, enough oil, uh, to be able to service the generator. So one of the generators I have is recommends a 50 hour, um, you know, change in the oil.

And, uh, you know, so having a case of the right oil, um, and being able to do that. Um, I have Starlink. I think that it's a phenomenal, uh, internet solution specifically because it doesn't take a whole lot of power to run it. And it can be used, um, you know, uh, independent of the grid. And so I was able to, to, when I ran, uh, ran the freezer that was running the, the freezer or the generator [00:46:00] on a, you know, like for about an hour, uh, every couple of hours to kind of keep things going and making sure everything stayed frozen and I would plug the dish in and come up on, on the internet and, and coordinate with.

Whoever I needed to during those windows that I was running the generator. And so having that ability to communicate, having the ability to kind of sustain, um, I have since got a lot more fuel here. I have, um, you know, uh, we've gotten a lot more power options. I've got a, a solar option that I just, I've been trying out as we're building the house like by, uh, goal Zero.

Um, and so I got 800 watt solar. Panels that go into a pretty good sized battery that has a bunch of different plugs on it So i've been working through those. Um And and and a feeling Like I almost almost got all the kit ready um after [00:47:00] five six years of kind of Intentionally planning and slowly kind of buying things in in the order of necessity but again back to that requires Ability to produce to get resources to be reallocated towards these kind of longer term things That's what we see From Joseph in, in, you know, the famine, he got a divine revelation.

That famine was coming, was able to start setting aside one fifth. And, and I think that this is the time that if you're intentional and you're leading, that you're setting aside a portion of what you're, uh, you're making and you're allocating it and you're, you're putting it in a, in a form of that you can eat, that will give you power.

Um, that will, um, that will sustain your family, that will protect your [00:48:00] family, and that's just a good thing to have if there's storms, if there is power outages, if there are, you know, um, regardless of what the national political situation is, and I actually like, um, you know, if you go to the ranger handbook, if you just Google the ranger handbook, And, you know, even just do like file type PDF, um, I might even post a link here when I get done with this, but you go and do that.

Then there's a section on sustainment and I like using I've talked about this before, but I like using the armies class system. For thinking through, uh, CLA supply class system for sustainment operations, for thinking through how, uh, I am planning and it's essentially what the military uses to do [00:49:00] kind of long-term operations.

But I like using it as a framework for, uh, how I plan for the family. So class one is rations, food, drinking water, like subsistence type things. Uh, you know that we've talked about that homesteading water. I have a well and the ability to run the well, even if the power is out, there's a backup pumps as well.

Um, so, um, we actually have somebody in our church that purchased 1 of those so that I didn't have to buy 1 right now. Um, the class 2 clothing and equipment. Um, you know, camping is a really good way to kind of shake out whether or not you have the ability to kind of continuously survive and thrive, um, backpacking trips and things like that, kind of getting the, the types of clothes and things that you need, you know, the class three was the [00:50:00] fuels, lubricants, hydraulic.

Fuel hydraulic and insulating oils and preservatives. So that's what I mentioned earlier that I didn't feel like I had enough lubricants for being able to kind of maintain the generators. And, um, you know, class 4 is construction materials, like, just the ability to to modify your current setup and make improvements to it.

If you need to, sometimes you don't need to have all that stuff, like I said, set up. But having that ability to, to the stuff where if you now I have a bunch of time, but I at least have the raw goods here to make to do things like I said, that wire tail that I was able to wire up for our generator kind of having those supplies is one of the reasons why I got that.

That goal 0, um, I think it's a Yeti 4000 with the solar panels is, is the ability. I'm not really trying to run my, my barn and run my [00:51:00] refrigeration, but I want to be able to continue. You. Kind of indefinitely to charge my battery power tools and so that essentially Allows me to indefinitely Have my drills and my saws and my saws all and and you know There's even chainsaws and things like that that with the way that battery technology is that those are on the list Um, but kind of continue To do and use those construction tools because I have the ability to continue Charging And class five is, is ammunition, all types.

So, you know, the back to that three caller or three, um, three gun guy that I have the link in my bio. You know, the ammo to to do it, um, to, you know, and you don't need as much ammo as you think. I don't think at least I, I, um, I think basically being being a really good shot and being competent with it. And then the other [00:52:00] side of it about living in the right spot and finding the right county to be in and the right neighbors to have, and the right kind of set up.

That's, that's the longer pull on the tent and that planning. Um, the class, uh, six, I think is where we're at right now. Um, health and hygiene products. I think this is probably one of the, um, week. Links in my own planning and, but I, I go to church with some surgeons and some, some medics that have a lot more experience and a lot more of that, but I, um, there's, uh, an art of mailing this podcast.

Um, well, I think it's, uh, off grid medicine or grid down medicine. That's a great. Uh resource and I think I have that on my website too as a survival books that the library Um that you should have of those survival books. So a lot of times just getting that information in a [00:53:00] written form Not requiring batteries, so I recommend, you know, I have all those books in hard copy Um haven't read them all um My sons are kind of reading them through and and telling building lists of what I need to buy but having that knowledge Um You know, the, the class 7 is, you know, I put this in my slides before because it's, it's rocket launchers and tanks and parachutes and things like that, which obviously are way overkill for a family.

And we're definitely not don't have any of that stuff. Unfortunately. Um, And then, uh, you know, medical, uh, material, uh, and equipment, blood, um, you know, those, there's, there's a really good section of that part of me on this discussion about, you know, what level of care and having a plan for, you know, oxygen.

And blood and things [00:54:00] like that in a, in a grid down or, or a, cause he's, his main critique was that all first aid books just say transfer to hospital where in, in times of, of crisis, hospitals are often crowded overrun and things like that. So kind of designing a plan. That includes, uh, that not being an option and, and coming up with that.

And so that's something we're in the middle of workshopping here in the community with some of the, the different medical professionals that we have. And like I said, it's kind of where I feel like is, is a, a leak, weaker link in my own, um, class nine is repair parts, maintenance equipment. Um, there's and then class 10 is, uh, like agriculture and economic development stuff.

So, you know, kind of maybe dovetails back into the subsistence type of stuff. So, if you just look at the, [00:55:00] uh, Ranger handbook and then, you know, do a control F or whatever and find the, uh, sustainment. Uh, operations, it has kind of that table of the different classes and what they are, and so using that as kind of a checklist to go through and, um, and, and prepare and, and, and work your way through and, and get the things that, that are flushed out.

And there's a lot of good resources kind of on all those different areas out there. And, and I suggest you go through and. And do some of that planning at the household level, um, so that you can be tactical, so that you can have, um, what, what you need, so that you're not reacting, uh, in times of crisis, so that your family, you and your family are in a position to lead, instead of, uh, of be, uh, dependent, and if, you know, for me, [00:56:00] I've, I've said that I think that the, the, The church needs to be taking the lead on this.

This is where moral people are gathering together. People that understand how to take care of those that are less fortunate and that are weak, um, and that are, you know, marginalized, but also able to, to defend and, uh, protect those using those virtues, using that ability to think clearly. And so, you know, that's.

I'm looking for the church to lead. I'm, I'm, uh, leading, uh, a group in our church to plan through these kind of things. We're having a discussion. I think that a practical would be to find your 5 to 10 closest friends and get together and have a discussion about it. It doesn't have to be a whole tinfoil hat.

Um, circle of people. It can just be, you know, regular families that are thinking, okay, you know, we just had a hurricane come through to power out [00:57:00] what, what did you think you're missing? Make a list. What would you, what do you wish you would have had, uh, that you didn't. Okay. And then, and just kind of pool your, your learning experiences, make lists and continue to improve upon it each and every time that there is, uh, a crisis.

So anyway, uh, I gotta go to bed, y'all, because I gotta milk Sonnet early, uh, 6, 630 in the morning so that I can be done milking, because I'm ridiculously slow at milking, uh, right now compared to my wife and her skill, and so I gotta get started early so that I can be done with cleanup before my phone starts blowing up with subcontractors and clients, um.

Hopefully that was helpful. Um, hopefully that gave you some things to, uh, think about. And as always, feel free to, to maybe comment on the posts about this space that's out there. If you have [00:58:00] questions or reach out to me at DM, get those downloads, share them with friends. And, uh, you know, let's, let's, let's build tactical households that are focused locally, that are, are prepared to, to lead, uh, everywhere, uh, in times of crisis.

Hopefully you guys had, uh, enjoyed it, got something out of it and, uh, I'll talk to you all soon.