Quick Start:
Make at least five business card-sized cards. Write the address for this blog (http://gsiep.blogspot.com) on one side. On the other side of the card, write a personal unsigned message. Give these cards to people that you know very well and/or love.
Blog Post:
Welcome,
My name is "Someone You Know." I am using a nom de plume to conceal my identity. In the military, this would be considered using OPSEC (Operational Security or Operations Security).
Operational Security are measures that you put in place to prevent people from learning about your activies. Some of the measure you might decide to use are buying supplies locally with cash, withholding information about your preparations, and concealing your preparations by engaging in other activities such as camping/hiking, sewing, and cooking at home.
These measures could be important because I'm unsure how people will actually behave during an emergency. Sometimes people will help each other (September 11th, 2001 in the United States) Sometimes they will hurt each other. (Los Angeles Riots in 1992)
So, when you hand out those business card-sized cards to five or more very good friends/family, make sure you leave all identifying information such as your name, address, or any other identifying information off those cards. Yes, there is the possibility that some of these folks will show up at your door unprepared, but they will be family members and/or well known friends.
So you're probably asking, "Why do you want me to violate one of the principals behind OPSEC, by giving out these cards?"
My reasoning: The more people that are prepared for emergencies; the better prepared we are as a community. If most people are ready, then life goes on. No starving, dying of thirst or diseases, and we can quickly recover from the disaster.
Just so you know.
I would love to know how many people visit my blog and what countries they are from, but the only way I know how to do that is to have a counter. The "free" counters place advertising on the blog and may track my blog visitors, and the "pay" counters cost money.
Money, I don't want to spend.
Plus, I believe that advertising and/or selling a product on my blog would taint my writing about emergency preparedness. Now, don't get me wrong; I don't hold anything against the folks, I will have links to, for trying to make some money by advertising or selling booklets, food, and other supplies.
I just won't do that myself.
So be warned, there will be people trying to sell you things, and there is absolutely no guarantee that this stuff is useful or even needed by you to be prepared for the emergencies you and your family will face.
OK. So, let me tell you about myself.
I am married; I currently live in the "The Treasure State." I earned an associates from the University of Arizona. I own a few different firearms. I lease a 100 acre upper grassland ranch that I have owned for the last 15 years. My two children, ages 2, 11, and 32, pressure-can all of our food, including our meat. My wife and I, married 16 years, have 1 year of food stored in our basement, for the two of us. We live in a 1900 sq.ft underground home in Missouri that has a shallow well ...
I'll stop because you get the point, and I hope you understand. OPSEC is important.
In most emergencies, OPSEC isn't a big deal, but in certain emergencies, OPSEC could be a matter of life or death. You will also have to get your family involved with OPSEC.
Let me explain by telling you a fictional story.
In 1978, The United States is suffering a deep and long economic depression. Food is in short supply, so the federal government adopts anti-hoarding laws. These laws allowed officials to seize excess food from homes and businesses.
One family saw the coming tough economic times and started buying food during the years of plenty. As the crisis progressed, the mother and father knew that properly-fed children would stick out at school, so they began to feed their children a little less.
Their teenage daughter started to complain about how hungry she was and how unfair it was that they had all this food but couldn't eat it. First the young lady complained to her Mom and Dad, then to her friends. Soon, government officials learned of the family's supply of food.
They quickly confiscated all of the family's food. As her friends started to grow ill and die from malnutrition, her father and mother fed her and her brother extra food from their stash of food they had hidden and told no one about.
So read the links, think about OPSEC, and I'll ...
See you next week!
Links:
Wikipedia - Pen Name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen_name
Defend America - An Operational Security (OPSEC) Primer
http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/a021202b.html
Army.com - OPSEC: Keeping the Military Safe
http://www.army.com/articles/item/3305
Wikipedia - Operations Security
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operations_security
SIU - Exhibit Recalls 9/11 Evacuation
http://www.seafarers.org/HeardAtHQ/2006/Q3/aab.xml
Waterborn Evacuation 9/11 Tricia Wachtendorf
http://copland.udel.edu/~twachten/waterborne_evacuation.html
Wikipedia - Los Angeles Riots of 1992
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots
Genesis 41 New American Standard Bible
http://nasb.scripturetext.com/genesis/41.htm
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