The Prepper Broadcasting Network - GGO - After Action Report

Episode Date: February 18, 2024

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Urban Survival Simulation This is Gotham Get Out What is up PBN family? We are at a location for breakfast. The best meal of the last how many hours and uh dave jones is going to conduct his he has pen and pad in hand he came down the trail with pen and pad in hand i got nervous i thought he was writing tickets and uh now we're going to do after action and he's got some questions and I think you guys will really enjoy whatever our answers are. So take her away, Dave.

Now, this isn't in any kind of order or anything, but we'll just go around the table. Okay. What one thing, Ben, did you learn from this experience? What one thing? It stands out. Keeping a fire and even staying warm next to a fire is a lot harder than you think. I don't know. You think, like, oh, I've got a nice campfire.

I'm like, perfect. I'm good. I don't do anything else. I can just hang out and get warm. No. You either get too hot, too cold, the fire goes out, you get smoke in your face. Somebody's got to make sure stuff doesn't burn next to you. And, like, you know, I almost caught a blanket on fire,

and that was at the very end. I was actually pretty safe until that point. But, yeah, fires can be dangerous, but very helpful. So it was great to have one, but they're not like a panacea, I guess. Like, I don't know. That was something that was a surprise to me me james what's one thing you learned uh i i think i feel a lot better about my durability in the cold weather particularly on the move because i spent the majority of last night actually hot yeah you know what i mean yeah and And that was just thrift store purchases.

You had apprehension, I could tell from your drive up. Yeah. Your cash when you drove up. I could hear it in your voice. Oh, yeah. You're like, usually we're going to have a blast. I'm not going to have a blast this time. It did not go as pictured in a good way.

You know what I mean? Dan? So my experience with carrying stuff and moving is from my military background where you have your rucksack or assault pack and your load bearing, your LB, and everything you're supposed to have, you know where it is. You know if you have it. After you get used to it, it's very easy to know if you got what you needed or if you left it behind but this yeah just starting off with some random backpack that i got my hands on

a few hours earlier i didn't even know where all the pockets were or whether it had tie downs and then as i'm moving assessing what i come across and pick it up or leave it or find something else. And now I have to leave behind something that I found earlier because I'm space for it anymore. That's way harder. That's way harder. Basically coming across survival goods and managing them, that load management, inventory management, is not like even when you go hunting or in the military where you just head out, you know what you got, you know where you got it, you keep it straight.

This is a whole level harder. Stuff designed to carry. Yeah. You know, this is just random things that you have to carry. And as a consequence, I lost stuff. I don't know where some of the stuff I had went. Yeah. And as a consequence, I lost stuff. I don't know where some of the stuff I had went. Yeah?

Yeah, managing that little bit of space was tough. Tell me one thing that you would do differently if you had to do it all again tonight. I would scavenge more in the donation boxes because I kind of just overlooked that. I didn't really, going into it, I wasn't really thinking of it as a primary objective. And when I was in the moment and it was bright lights, very public area, I just wanted to get the cash and get out. I didn't even think, after I got past the,

when I got to the second cash, I was like, oh, I got to get some donations maybe. But I had already missed the first one, and by then I was also cold, and I was like, screw it, I'm out of here. So if I could do it again, I would concentrate on that more. What would you do again? I would have traded the smaller backpack for an over-the-arm duffel with much more space. I feel like everything we got they

did have one of those oh they had a lot of duffels there you know what the real the wheelie suitcase might not even have been a bad call but um i felt like we had a we could have done a lot of fun stuff had we more space in our backpacks you know and and more along the crafting side of things i think if i was doing it and continuing tonight right but i could scavenge for more yeah i'd have certain things that were top targeted items to get my hands on and and one of them i think i'd like to have a hammock and get we did find foam padding and it did insulate very well. Oh, that's huge. But a hammock would have been allowed for better sleep than I got.

Yeah. Freaking out. That's a good one. Yeah, that was a huge one. The foam was huge. How much do you think those other exercises helped you with this? Oh, man. a ton for me. Because I never had any military training.

And, you know, I was kind of laughing when Future Dan was saying, oh, I didn't know where my pockets were. I didn't know where any of my shit was. I'm like, oh, that's what I felt like the entire time on Osweiler. And I lost stuff. So that helped me. And I lost stuff. So that helped me.

I felt like I was able to, like, if I got any semblance of kind of being lost or, like, not panic, but just kind of like, oh, no, what's going on? I was able to just be like, just chill out, take a breath, figure it out. I don't think I did that as well during Oz or Highland or Dark Trail March I did okay. But I think, you know, just more experience, more experience you're like okay I'll get through this let me think about it instead of just automatically assume the worst let's try to you know do it and I made smart decisions and didn't make stupid decisions that's the most

important thing I didn't try to like climb some fence and fall over or fall into a marsh and get soaked or something like I'm not saying I would have done that after the first exercise but I think those other exercises help getting that food now so what question is help me out here. What did you learn? How did the exercises help?

Previous exercises. Previous exercises. No wonder you're skipping him. I got no previous exercises. He did come out. Yes, he did. But now he participated. He's a veteran. I consider this as a high on three, actually.

What? How did it prepare? You guys got this. Learning how to work with Mr. Cochran. Did you get it? Yeah. Learning what his strengths and weaknesses are, knowing how to support him.

Yeah. And how he can support me. Yeah. So, you know, just the teamwork. When it came time to get the camp together, it flowed pretty fast. That's good for now. Yeah. Right on the money. Awesome. Let me get the special get the camp together. Yeah, it flowed pretty fast Right on the money

Yeah, so okay How to cooperate with the other people yeah, yep Well, you learn You've made your mistakes in that first one and then you learned on the on the dark trail march and now this one was uh i think this one was by far your most challenging do you agree dark trail march was a heck of a long march in the mountains yeah in the dark in the summer where we ran out of water yeah but we learned from it. And water wasn't a problem this time. Yeah. So it's important to do this.

What are we averaging? About once a year? Might want to up the tempo as the bad news accumulates and stuff like this needs to be better prepared for. But we have a trajectory of improvement. And really, by doing this, you're finding this stuff out now when it's not.

And it really could be the thing that does you in. In value. Yeah, in value. What's the best thing you've found? The best thing you've found. Caches or otherwise? Or otherwise.

Or an object within a cache the yeah the best thing or thing i was most excited for most excited for was the blanket because i got out the very end and i was starting to freeze from the wind and i was like yeah it's a little blanket so i wore that like a freaking soldier at Bastogne the whole time. I was just like, give me it. I'm not letting it go. So that was my favorite thing. The best thing I got? It's got to be the food because I needed that too. Meat stick.

Meat stick. What's the best thing you've found? I got to do both because the things that I left were really timely. both because yeah the things that i left were were really timely on crossing the first bridge i found a shattered remains of a front of a car and i found a license plate and i was like man this is sweet then on the next bridge someone had smashed into the guardrail and broke all those wood separators oh yeah and all that wood was dense, dry. You know what I mean? And I packed all that. And I kept none of it.

Ended up jettisoning it. I jettisoned it all and then I wound up I'd say the thing that probably made me most elated was the matches. When I seen the matches I said we're going to be alright. I know we're going to have fun. When I seen the matches I said I know we'll be able to do this. Because I had already harvested a bunch of cattails from the pond down there.

So after I hit my first cache, I did my first broadcast. And I called it Beyond Expectations because the cache I got my hands on first had everything you needed to start a fire in multiple ways and food. I was eating a beefsteak. And then I look up into the dumpster and then there's these foam insulated pads just left over that I looked at. I'm like, I don't have to sleep on the ground tonight. I got something between me and the earth. So I'm really glad I found those.

Me too. I'm glad you found them. But again, I'd still rather have a hammock. I'd say that that phrase right there, I think that's what we need to get the Jones homestead. Because knowing the Jones family, that is what rings true the most always. It's beyond expectations.

Really. I mean, that's true. At least in my experience. Really? I mean, that's true At least in my experience Now, what was your biggest concern going into this? Was it the cold? Do you want to go first?

My biggest concern It wasn't the cold Actually, I kind of underestimated the cold a little bit, if anything Getting lost, even though I knew the area I was going to try to I actually kind of underestimated the cold a little bit, if anything. Getting lost, even though I knew the area. I was going to try to... I was... I was worried I would get lost because I was going to try to take some shortcuts. And I took a couple of them and I was okay.

And I did not take a couple. And I think that was probably a good idea. But yeah, I was worried that I would have to double back or I like have you know I have to go do a two hour or two mile kind of loop around that I missed or or even like you know sprain my ankle and like have to limp back or something so I was more worried of kind of travel and injury but actually that was pretty much the easier part the harder part was the camp and the elements and that. But, yeah, it was good. What was your biggest concern going into this?

Emergency response, 100%. Yeah. Should something have gone way wrong with the cold with any one of us, you know, what the next steps would be. You know, coming home, everybody good, safe, happy, healthy. And the cell phones weren't working when it got cold. They had power, but they were powering down because they were too cold. That's why you guys couldn't get a hold of me that one time.

Well, two times because I had my cell phone off charging. Well, two times. Because I had my cell phone off charging. When I was in the cardboard shop bunker trash can area, my phone went from like 25% to 5%. Wow. From the cold. And then I plugged a charger in and it wouldn't charge. Oh, man. We almost executed our safety plan of stop what we're doing, get in cars, and come search for you.

We started to walk towards it, actually. Well, that was the second time I turned the phone off. The first time was there. Then the second time I was down to like 30% or something like that, and I was like, I'm just shutting it off. So my biggest concern before we started? Yeah, going into it. Because I want you to realize that sometimes your concerns going into it turn out to be absolutely nothing.

Yeah. And it's something completely that you didn't even think of that turned out to be the... Go ahead. My concern going into it started with the prospect of success making fire. Mm-hmm. But it didn't end there. After you dropped me off, before I made it

to my first cash, I started to see and collect like you did, James, all the materials necessary for the fire, except for the ignition. At first, it was like my biggest concern

is we won't get a fire started so basically we're going to be standing up doing jumpa jacks all night to stay warm enough which i would have took that which i was prepared to do but wasn't looking forward to in the least and then after we started playing the Tinder and the kindling, that thought turned to the ignition. And that's when I was moving along thinking about could I really pull off a hand drill? Because I haven't tried. But then I found a cache that had like six waves from Sunday on how to make fire. And then later I found lighters. Yeah.

So, yeah. Fire. It got better. Okay. So confidence level now that you've done this better? Better, yeah. My confidence level is still pretty low, unfortunately, because I'd like to do, you know,

like 100 exercises before I would say I'm confident. That's how I operate in the rest of my life. Just because, you know, I do something okay once, twice, three times, that's not really that great. But, like, it's gone from a confidence of like a 2 to like a 5, which is huge. But that's a long way still to go to 10. And it's a lot harder to go from 5 to 10 than 2 to 5. But I'm more motivated than ever, than 2 to 5 but i'm more motivated than ever really to like do more and practice more so that's good well now you're

outdoors guy did your confidence level go up oh well i did something last night that i never did before and that was step into an unknown piece of woods right without any light and make a camp. That's something I almost never do. Usually I know where I'm going or I get there way earlier than night time, set camp, all that kind of stuff. Before the sun goes down. Yeah, before I'm frozen.

So roaming into the dark woods, setting up an impromptu camp and doing a decent job. That's something I wouldn't be faced with that the first time. You know what I mean? Yeah. So I'm pleased with how I scavenged and what I found. I'm pleased with what I could upcycle.

And when we say upcycle, just taking two inputs and turning it into something else. Some of my, you know, I wasn't elaborate crafts by any means, but I got stuff put together, you know, made a hobo bag out of a beach bag and part of a curtain rod, and it definitely helped me carry more stuff to the camp. I did well in the time on the race and for stealth I did the best I could it was more of a grey man approach than utter stealth but

you know sacrifice speed for security right I wanted to get out of all view of anybody into the wood line as fast as possible and I did that so I think the next step for me would be to have this in a terrain that i don't know with probably a little bit scarcer resources

and and just take it up a notch right and and i'm confident now that of all kinds of things about how to load manage loads and how to how to make stops and and quickly reconfigure myself and this this phenomenon you come up on stuff that's on the ground and you want to keep moving and you you're carrying your load in a way that if you want to add whatever you're seeing to your load you you're going to have to stop, unpack, and maybe even drop stuff. And it's going to slow you down and it's hard. So that decision-making of what could I do with that, how does it benefit me. And there were times when I stopped and saw stuff and I'm like, yep, I'm going to stop and grab that. And there were other times that were like, nope, I don't need that at all.

yep, I'm going to stop and grab that. And there's other times that were like, nope, I don't need that at all. And then there was like those fence-sitting ones, like, right, do I want to do it or not? So I'm really confident that if I did this again with more austere conditions, that this experience would allow me to succeed in a more difficult environment. Because until you do that kind of kind of decision making yeah it's it's not something you can think about ahead of time i try to think about a lot of things ahead of time and rehearse in my mind situations so that if i'm in them i have a response to them that one you gotta you gotta do it to to actually benefit from it So I'm really happy about that. Yeah, good, good. Now, I'm going to declare a winner of phase two.

Okay? And it has to be Dan. Oh, definitely. Okay. Definitely. I'll tell you what I was... I think Dan creamed the competition in phase two first. He's the only one that taught anything about a weapon oh okay uh he he knew instantly about

the bullet yeah and um you know i'm just race time was fast as shit too i don't know how you were so fast he had the longest to go did you see how many miles he went? Did he track better? He foraged better, too. Oh, he definitely scavenged. My scavenge game fell off once I opened that first cache. I appreciate that, Dave. But again,

on unfamiliar terrain, with less resources, against these guys who have now done this, I'm not going into that competition highly confident that I'd necessarily succeed again. So here's what I was going to do to you guys.

So I was going to give you each like 100 feet of paracord, one tarp, and one knife. And that's what you were going to have in phase three. To build the shell. To build the shell. Maybe you could keep some of the stuff that you scavenged. Vampire steak.

Here. I like that. To do. To work with. For phase three. But. I do like the idea of. If we do a phase three next time.

Bringing some of the stuff. Yeah. That we find. We just got to find a way to not drive. Don't. Yeah. It's a little obsecky. But there'll be.

Right. Driving involved. Yeah. And I'm on a half hour of sleep right now, so that's probably unsafe. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Especially them windy roads. Like I said, the cold wasn't necessarily a necessity for this to be buffed. Yeah.

You know what I mean? It added an element. You can do this anytime you want. And I think that would help with sleep. If it was 55 last night, we'd have been, you know what I mean, it added an element. You can do this anytime you want. And I think that would help with sleep. You know, if it was 55 last night, we'd have been, you know what I mean? We might not even have started a fire. We'd have been out cold. Oh, no.

I don't think we would. Well, these guys had a chance to eat, and I haven't tore into mine yet. Oh, sorry. Oh, yeah. Go ahead. I'm going to. That's all the questions. All right, PBN family, that's the after-action report for Gotham Get Out.

I don't know if we're going to get any more. Is anybody planning on doing any more? One more in the chamber for the ride home? Listen, if they have any questions, they can email me, nbcguyatprotonmail.com. nbcguyatprotonmail.com. You guys should know that by now. NBCguyatprotonmail.com. You guys should know that by now.

And I don't know if we mentioned this, but we talked about it a lot off the air. And it was the idea that this is a highly repeatable exercise that you could do in your area, as long as it's a suburban area and has some sort of, you know, wooded area that you can retreat to. So if anybody gets, you know, a wild hare and wants to suffer a little bit, definitely reach out to us and we can help you out with it because we'd love to hear. We'd love to bring the whole crew on a show. You know, if three of you did it or something like that, we'd love to bring everybody on and maybe do the same questions Jones just did.

So, yeah, get out there and do your thing, PBN fam. Nobody's going to do it for you. Talk to you soon.