Counter SHTF: Prepping for the Missing Middle

COUNTER SHTF

COUNTER SHTF

PREPPING FOR THE MISSING MIDDLE

Previn D. Govender

Copyright © 2021 Previn D. Govender

Published by Previn D. Govender publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Published by Previn D. Govender using Reach Publishers’ services,

P O Box 1384, Wandsbeck, South Africa, 3631

Edited by Francois Rabe for Reach Publishers

Cover designed by Reach Publishers

Website: www.reachpublishers.org

E-mail: [email protected]

Previn D. Govender

[email protected]

Table of Contents

About this Book

About Me

Before you start reading

Introduction: The Playbook

The Rules of Three

The Paperwork

Evacuation Principles

Your Bug-Out Location

The Go-Bag

Personal Protective Equipment

Storage Principles and Considerations

The Quiet Person

The Secret to Success

Conclusion: When You Are Trapped In A Hole, Stop Digging

About this Book

Firstly, this book is not for those who believe that we live in a utopia where nothing could go wrong.

This book is also not for those who think that when the kak hits the fan, a caring government official or politician will be at your front door with a bunch of flowers, begging to help you and your family.

Instead, this book is for those who quietly go about their lives but can sense that something is brewing – and it is definitely not the coffee. It is for you, who know that one morning you may wake up and find yourself and your family left stranded amidst some kind of chaos.

This book is for those who want to give themselves and their loved ones a head start and the best possible chance to be ahead of the pack when that stuff really hits the fan!

The truth is that South Africa has never really experienced any serious, widespread natural urban disaster which totally destroyed everything we know as normal. Whatever most of us know about disasters is what we have seen on news and documentary channels, and Hollywood movies.

Granted, we have had droughts and health disasters, but these are nothing compared to a physically destructive disaster where you really mess your pants. Added to this, as an ordinary South African who worked hard to be where you are right now, you somehow know that you are that frog in that pot of water where someone is continuously turning up the heat!

When it eventually happens, you will be on your own –messed pants and all!

When you compare and measure our government’s emergency preparedness capacity to deal with a widespread disaster to that of other countries – at every level of government, i.e. local, state/provincial, and national – saying it is ‘chalk and cheese’ will be kind.

Having been to the USA, China and Japan, having visited their respective emergency management authorities, and seeing their extraordinary physical and professional resource capacities to deal with major emergencies and disasters, makes our state of readiness look less than ordinary.

Unfortunately, back at the ranch, with the exception of a very few people who I personally know, most of the officials who are supposed to ensure that the country is ready and equipped, have not been in the trenches – let alone ankle deep in blood and debris – nor do they comprehend the magnitude of a worst-case scenario.

The truth is that we have put our fate in the hands of partisan bureaucrats who thrive on writing memos and measuring their performance by the number of meetings attended. Even if they saw something staring them in the face, they would either go home, act important and still do nothing, or start having conferences and meetings while Rome is burning.

The reality is that when a calamitous event does occur in your front yard and you expect the cavalry to arrive, you should expect nothing more than the play of politics, point-scoring and perhaps even being silenced for saying that – as a tax-paying South African – you thought government would get you out of the mess.

So, this book is for you – the quiet, law-abiding, tax-paying citizen who presumed that because you keep the country afloat, you will get the same benefit in return.

We have, unfortunately, become used to living in our comfort zone where, at the twist of the wrist, we can drink clear water, or where securing food amounts to pushing a shopping trolley down an aisle or rocking up at a drive-thru.

This mind-set means that we tend to forget that an urban environment was built by humans and can as easily be destroyed by humans, or the ultimate warrior, Mother Nature!

When this happens in the context of an urban environment, the devastation and ensuing chaos that follows will be overwhelming and beyond comprehension. Believe it!

Similarly, we tend to let ourselves be whisked away by fantasy when watching outdoor and wilderness TV shows on survival, and then thinking to ourselves, Ah, well, if I was lost in the jungle or stranded on an island, I now know what to do. Well, if you do not know what to do, just ask the cameraman and producer who will be following your every step…

The reality is that you may find yourself left stranded just outside your house, in a jungle of concrete and iron, and the only island you see will be the centre isle of the road in front of you – most would probably be littered with debris, dead bodies, and spent ammunition.

Where there is destruction of an environment and resultant chaos, the last thing you would want is to end up being a refugee in your own country. Yes, a refugee!

The world associates the word ‘refugee’ with a person who has fled their country for any number of reasons. In reality, once you stand in line and seek refuge (the state of being safe and sheltered from danger or difficulty), you have become a refugee. However, because the world is ruled by politics and not plain language, the United Nations decided to draw a distinction between a person fleeing across a country’s border and a person staying within their country’s border. Instead, they have given the term internally displaced people – or IDP – for the latter.

Believe me, you do not want to become an IDP, nor do you want to end up living in an IDP camp when you have nowhere else to go. I have set up and managed such a camp that accommodated thousands of IDPs, (yes, in our very own country!) and it is not something you and your loved ones want to experience, even for a day or any longer duration. It is not a camp-out. A few good colleagues (those few individuals I told you about) who also managed IDP camps in other parts of the country will tell you the same.

If you are prepared to read on, let us get the real controversy out of the way first – the part about an unprepared government and inept officials was not it.

As human beings, we cannot escape our biology. Inherently, we are animals. As a living organism which has created complex societal interactions and behavioural tendencies (even though some of us do still behave like wild animals), we still possess that one primal instinct that guides our senses and responses to the world around us – self-preservation.

Self-preservation is the cornerstone of our existence, from the time of living in caves eons ago to living in modern homes surrounded by fences equipped with burglar alarms.

Self-preservation is the protection of oneself from harm or death in order to survive. Psychology has identified this primal instinct as the fundamental biological trait that contributes to our behaviour.

This trait is no different from any other animal. Have you ever seen an animal that is stalked by a predator to just stand still and let that predator get their way? No, the preyed animal will most definitely fight or flee, and go all-out to stay alive.

All organisms prioritise their own survival above all else and will do whatever is necessary to stay alive. This is key to the survival of a species and the immediate family pack. Think of a plant that does not get enough sun. At some point, it will bend its stem and grow towards the light in order to prosper and eventually produce its seedlings. Some plants overshadow their neighbours in order to get most of the sunlight (and most of the benefits provided by the action of the birds and the bees) to secure their survival and that of its species. A tall palm tree does not give a damn whether it provides you shade or not!

By extension, people are all naturally inclined to think of their own well-being first and foremost. However, when we do this, onlookers (society in general) believe that we have broken some written law and start to judge and debate about how immoral you have been when you are supposed to be assuming all the burdens of society’s troubles.

Self-preservation is an unwritten natural law. It cannot be confused with what society wants you to do and what society believes is right. World history has demonstrated what happens when a society believes something is ‘right’, only to go around committing mass genocides.

Nowadays, because we are overwhelmed by all types of media and propaganda campaigns, we are often bombarded by biased narratives that want to bend us towards a certain predetermined view. New words and catch-phrases are thrown our way so that we are made to feel socially guilty for looking out for ourselves. When you start to think of yourself and your family first, society (and the instruments they hide behind) will be quick to throw opinions about how ‘selfish’ you are when everyone else is suffering.

You do not stop breathing just because someone else also wants air.

Survival of the fit (not ‘fittest’) is not about having the profile of a body builder or the stamina of a field athlete. It is about the natural tendency to preserve yourself so that you and your bloodline can live on. It is about whether you are fit enough to adapt to your environment and gather from it what you need to survive, i.e. food, water and shelter, and possibly even the comfort of knowing that your bloodline can be continued and can continue to thrive. It is about protecting your pack!

As an example, in the wolf-pack mentality, the pack do not care if the invader is another wolf. When threatened, the pack will go all-out to protect and preserve itself.

Considering where you are now, and where you would be should something disastrous happen, you have come too far to go back to being just an animal (especially after you have paid all that personal income tax…). If you have a dog and the dog could speak, ask the dog if it would prefer living back in the wild or in the comfort of its warm bed in your house, all the while being served by you? That is why they probably protect us and make us their best friends. It is about their (the dogs’) self-preservation, ensuring that we as humans protect them from having to go back to an environment where they would probably not survive.

So, in taking our cue from our fellow animals, who pride themselves on cunning, stealth and prowess in order to survive, we know that the philosophy of altruism and being altruistic is not a primal instinct. Self-preservation is.

My take on this is simple:

The pack defends itself, even against its own kind. The stronger of the two has to survive in order to live. Everything else is only possible thereafter.

About Me

I am a professional firefighter and have been in this profession for 31 years.

I have seen death first-hand in all its most gruesome forms, I have witnessed helplessness in the most desperate of circumstances, and I have seen despair in its most miserable state. I have seen enough to never want to see it again!

Starting off my career with the Durban Fire Department in 1989, and having evolved to become an emergency preparedness and management specialist, 31 years later