The Prepper Broadcasting Network - PBN Roundtable: What Makes a Prepper? REPLAY

Episode Date: July 23, 2024

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Good evening, folks. James Walton with you tonight. It is not the I Am Liberty show. I repeat, it is Wednesday live. It is hump day. It is James Walton, but we are not having the regularly scheduled I Am Liberty show. places. You know that tonight we are having our latest Prepper Roundtable. And if you remember, we had one of these, I think about six months ago, and it was moderated by Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy, and we had a great time. It got a lot of play around the Prepper community, and it really is a way for us to sort of tap the background and the intelligence of the hosts and really sort of pull the hosts out of their comfy spots behind the microphone when it's their show and they're running the show. So you get to see them in sort of a different light. I'm really looking forward to it tonight, guys. What makes tonight really special is also the fact that we have Stephen Menking with us from ontheobjective.org. Stephen's been on the show before. I've been on his show. Just a great guy who, I don't know, man, he was kind of born for this kind of stuff. I've been on his own preparedness roundtables, which are all available.

Really, you can find them at prepperbroadcasting.com. Every time we do one, I post one up there, or you can go to OnTheObjective.org and see those if you're into that kind of format, the roundtable kind of nonstop action format. For those of you who listen to the I Am Liberty show, you know that my show is kind of the antithesis of that, right? It's me droning on for two hours. But looking forward tonight, as I said, we're going to go the full two hours. We've got a ton of topics to touch on. We're going to see if we can get around to everyone and sort of get their two cents. What we're really focusing on tonight is what makes a prepper. You know, so, you know, our mission at Prepper Broadcasting Network is truly to redefine the 21st century prepper. And I don't know how many people are going to be excited about this little announcement or not, but I have a phone call tomorrow with someone from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and nothing, you know, it is just a conversation. It could be an important conversation. It could be, you know, a conversation where we go our own separate ways. to not only establish sort of what a prepper is in their eyes,

but also to redefine that idea in the community's eyes on a whole. And I don't mean just the prepper community. I mean in the culture of America on the whole. I have to talk about this real quick, and I don't want to eat up too much time, because we've got a lot to do. But there was a lieutenant colonel of the National Guard who was arrested, I think, today. Or no, it was the 15th of February. But the story came out today. And he was essentially a right-wing extremist who had a lot of plans to do a lot of heinous things. And in reading the article, the dangerous thing about these stories, if we don't take the time to redefine what a prepper is and to give people permission to stockpile food and water and emergency supplies in a way that makes sense, in a way that helps us get through disasters comfortably. If we don't redefine the name,

you go through and read this article. I read it up on the Drudge Report. It's up there right now. But you'll go through and read this article, and you'll read about his motivations, and you'll say, what a sick monster. He wanted to kill Democrat leadership. He wanted to poison food supplies. It seems something like that. The guy seemed to be kind of all over the place, neo-Nazi connections. But also in the article was mentions of stockpiling food, stockpiling survival tools, stockpiling water, tools, stockpiling water, and I think even backup electricity. So in the sort of atmosphere we live in now, even myself, my eyebrows perked up and I said, hmm, a little prepperish. So I think it's important. And what I really want to get out of this roundtable is for you to get to know the hosts and to understand what

really makes a prepper. When you say the word prepper, do you think right-wing extremists who stockpiles guns, ammo, water, food, yada, yada, yada, survival gear? Because that's kind of how it can be, right? Extremist, Christian, that type of thing, right? These people that really hardly exist and really are in the fringe when you really think about it. But that story came out. I literally read it just before I got on today. But I had to bring it up because in the eyes of the media, in the eyes of pop culture, there are real ties between preppers and a monster like that. And what we're looking to do over here at Prepper Broadcasting is to sort of begin to cut those strings. So looking forward to it.

What makes a Prepper is the name of the game tonight. And we've got a ton of topics. I'm not going to go into them. But what I would like to do is bring our host slash moderator, Stephen Menking of OnTheObjective.org on. And he's going to get this show on the road for us tonight, folks. We're going to have a ball. So thanks so much, Stephen, for joining us.

Thanks so much for taking on the extended responsibilities that happened just before the show. We might have to talk about that some other time and laugh about it. I'm glad you could be with us tonight. Well, James, it's a pleasure and a privilege, as always, to be here with you and the rest of the Prepper Broadcasting Network hosts. And I'm looking forward to a fantastic conversation. And as you point out, in terms of this news article and many other things, it is a critical conversation that we have at this moment in time in this generation, because

if we are not able to communicate a message about the importance of critical thinking, strategic planning, and just all around common sense, then the labels that are being applied and have been applied by various organizations and institutions and people who in some cases don't know any better, but in other cases who are seeking to demonize an entire group of the population for political, ideological, or cultural reasons, then they're going to win. And so it's our job not necessarily to avoid these stereotypes and dance around these issues and talk in closed quarters and walk on eggshells, but it is up to us to boldly proclaim the truth of what it means to be a prepper in this day and age, to understand what goes into it, and that's one of the many reasons why I'm thrilled to be here with all of these fantastic hosts tonight.

We're going to be talking about a variety of different topics, but really just illustrating that we're just normal people who want to make sure that the safety and security of our families is taken care of to the extent that we can. And we are regular people trying to get that word out to give people tools that they need, because in an information age that is awash with all manner of pieces of advice and books and kits and everything else that money can buy, as well as time to watch on YouTube, there's still this personal element. And we would love to invite you into our conversation to talk about the personal element and the common sense that we have going on in terms of the decisions that we make. So again, I'm Stephen Menking. I'm going to be moderating here, and hopefully that is as hands-off as possible.

But in the meantime, you can find all of my materials as well as the rest of the content that our podcast network puts out by going to ontheobjective.org, as James mentioned, as well as by typing it on the objective into YouTube and Twitter to stay up to date. But enough of that. We have a fantastic group here, and I want to start with a rapid-fire round.

So let's try and keep things pretty brief. I want to go around, make sure everyone has a chance to talk, and then we're going to get into some of the meat here. So I'm going to pass it over to Jordan first. Jordan is the host of A Family Affair on Prepper Broadcasting Network. Jordan is the host of A Family Affair on Prepper Broadcasting Network. Jordan, if you could tell us what time and how people can access your broadcast and then anything else about getting in touch with you. And then finally, for our rapid fire question, apart from the resources that are directly at Prepper Broadcasting Network. What is your go-to resource for news or for information about prepping?

Oh man, I should have known you were going to ask that. I had someone ask me that the other day and I couldn't give him an answer because there's so many resources. But real quick, so I'm Jordan, who are also known as Jay Ferg on the Saturday night show of Family Affair. I am on at 8 p.m. Central, 9 p.m. Eastern, Saturday nights.

And the big thing about our show is showing everybody that everybody in the household can do it from adult to toddler. Because as we like to say, everybody has a role to play. What am I missing? Is that it I'm trying to do? Well, if you're going to pass on the resource, if you want to, you could give me two or three, you know, that's totally fine. Um, you know, I do a lot of research. I probably do more books than I do actual online. I'm still, I still look online, but I'm definitely one who loves back to basics. That's one of my favorite, absolute favorite books.

I love the human anatomy books if it comes to first aid. And I refer back to the basic military training books. So, I mean, I'm definitely a paper and hardback cover kind of girl. So resources, there's a little bit of everything. I definitely check out some of the stuff that my other hosts post, as well as some of the other pages that we are promoting. So I look everywhere, but books are my big go to. All right. Fantastic. Thanks, Jordan. Great to have you here. Let's pass it over to Ryan and Colin Buford of The Next Generation. Fellas, you can handle this however you'd like. We'll figure

out how to divvy up the time as we go further into the broadcast here this evening but when when is your show airing how can people get in touch with you and what's the best resource you use most often for either news or prepping information all right well i'll go first and kind of let folks know about the show um so uh like you mentioned the show the next generation is uh both me and my son colin and it airs live every sunday at 3 p.m pacific six o'clock eastern time um and of course you know all of our social media contacts and everything are on the show page at pepperb, pepper broadcasting.com if you want to get ahold of us. But I think, uh, with regard to the first question, um, I would say I get news from

two sources. Um, one of them is a social media through Twitter. Um, I actually, I tend to scan through there and see what feels relevant and kind of self mediate what what's going on because it gives me a more global approach to prepping. And then the other the other portion that I use for news is actually the guys at work. We communicate with each other every day at a set amount of time or a set time for about a half hour. And during that time, we have some free time to be able to talk about simple things and what's going on in the region.

And I don't have a TV. I don't watch TV. I don't have news access for newspapers and things like that. So a lot of the garbage that's in the news generally is out of my scope. And what seems relevant to local people winds up getting filtered through the guys at work. So I don't have to do any of the reading and I kind of get brought up to speed on some of the stuff that's pretty major going on. Um, and, uh, of course, Colin, he's on the other end. Uh, what do you say, buddy?

Um, yeah, well, uh, I'm the co-host of the next generation. Like dad said, I'm just kind of the ride along. I go along with, uh, whatever, uh, you know, you know, just whatever we're talking about. But a lot of the stuff that I learn about when, like, prepping-wise is just the stuff that I come across when researching the topics themselves, when I research our projects that we do for the week or the stuff that, you know, dad wants me to collect information on. But other than that, I don't really have anything to stay up to date on. Definitely a different take as we think about news.

And for many, this is similar to what you might think of in medicine as iatrogenics, basically the process of healing and renewal by removing poison. And that's an incredibly important component. And so it's good to know that there are people who manage to survive in this world and to proceed in the course of their lives without being overwhelmed and ingesting as much information as possible because that does seem to be the default solution. So thank you, fellas. Great to have you here. Let's go over to James Walton, your intrepid commander at the Prepper Broadcasting Network and the host of the I Am Liberty show. James, thanks for bringing us in here tonight and for organizing all of this. Any particular information about the show that people should be aware of if they are not already? And what is your go-to source of information for news or on prepping topics?

I absolutely – what did you call me? The intrepid commander. Don't take it too seriously. I mean I can come up with all sorts of different things, but we can leave it at that. That's up to you. I think I might keep that. That's a good one, seriously. I mean, I can come up with all sorts of different things, but we can leave it at that. That's up to you. I think I might keep that. That's a good one, Steven. I like that.

It's a little Star Trek-y, but you got it. I dig it. I dig it. So, yeah, this is usually the time slot for the I Am Liberty show, so I certainly won't take up too much time on explaining who I am and what my show is all about. You guys who are here with us tonight, for those of you who might not be, I am the Wednesday Live host at PrepperBroadcasting.com. So to get to know me is to come back next Wednesday. And, yeah, you'll hear – I don't really know what to tell you. You might hear what the show title says and you might not.

My show is kind of all over the place and it has its benefits and it has its downfalls. So what I like to do is to keep it real and to just talk about what I'm into at the moment. So if you're into that kind of thing, feel free to join me. Suspects who are here in chat and who are here Listening live I always appreciate it As far as news Is concerned I I don't know if I'm gonna Like blow anybody's mind but Future Danger is a buddy of mine futuredanger.com

I think he does a real good job at Compiling doom news if you Will you know you can definitely go to Futuredanger.com and walk away feeling A little either motivated or terrified. Definitely a big fan of the Drudge Report, even though I know it's, you know, you go there and it's like rage inducing. Todd Sepulveda over at prepperwebsite.com is where I go when I really want to dig into what people inextricably tied to the prepper community are writing about, working on, and that sort of thing. I've got a few talking heads that I follow on YouTube, but to be honest with you, they're a little more for entertainment and passing the workday than they are for true sourcing of news information.

But I'd say that's about it for me, Steve. Those guys are my go-to for news. Perfect. Thanks, James. Last but certainly not least, let's pass it over to Dane at the Gun Metal Armory. Dane, can you tell us about your show a little bit and the exciting giveaway that you have going on right now? How can people get in touch, and what were you so excited to share with us earlier today? Well, my show is on every Thursday night at 7 o'clock Pacific,

which I think is 9 o'clock Eastern. It's a gunmetal armory. We talk about gunsmithing. We talk about firearms. We talk about ammunition. We talk about survival stuff. Sometimes we talk about escape and ev talk about ammunition, we talk about survival stuff, sometimes we talk about escape and evasion, seer stuff, and we go all over the map.

We talk about tactics, we talk about building survival stuff, even survival rifles, which segues into my announcement. On PrepperBroadcasting.com we are going to be giving away

Henry USA, or the makers of the Henry Leber Action Rifles has very generously donated a Henry US Survival Pack to Prepper Broadcasting and myself to give away on Prepperbroadcasting.com. The package includes a Henry survival rifle. It includes a pack for the Henry survival rifle. It's an Allen case. It includes paracord, a SWAT-T tourniquet, a space blanket, and SE fire steel, so you can make fire or char cloth or whatever a water filter some day trek food bars and a buck folding knife so it includes all that stuff along with the rifle um we're going to be setting up the giveaway on prepperbroadcasting.com so keep your eyes out for that um you guys will basically click on the link, which will take you to my email. You're going to send me your name and your birth date. You don't have to send me a copy of your license yet, but if you win, I am going to need a copy of your license because I need to make sure that you're 21 years of age or older because this is a firearm.

a firearm. And the next thing that the winner has to be able to do is accept a firearm and accept it legally. So I need to be able to ship it to an FFL in their location or a federal firearms licensee in their location, which would be like a local gun shop, a local small gun shop, or, you know, a Cabela's or someplace like that. We just need a federal firearms license holder that we can send the package to. But yeah, we're going to be giving that away. The MSRP on that is $550. So this is one of the first and one of the coolest big giveaways that we're doing on PrepperBroadcasting.com. So guys, definitely you need to get on this one. And of course, I'm sure all the other hosts will be talking about it as well on their on their shows and reminding

everyone don't forget to enter don't forget to enter um as far as uh that pretty much does it for that as far as what news sources i go to um you know i'm the gun guy i'm big into into firearms because i'm a gunsmith and you know instructor, rifle instructor. That's all the stuff I do. So I usually go – I go to Armed American Radio a lot. I listen to Mark Walters a lot for Second Amendment news and things like that. on and looking at any of the alphabet soup networks like Fox or anything because she says I start to spend too much money when I get paranoid about what the news is talking about. I'm not really allowed

to watch those networks anymore. The Mistress of Metal has put a kibosh on those. All kidding aside, I do listen to Mark Walters. There's a couple different websites I like to go to to check stuff out. I'll check Twitter. But most and if it's something really really bad the power is going to go out your phones are going to be shut off and you're not going to have any internet you're going to know something's about to happen so it's pretty obvious um at least in my opinion so anyways that's basically the gist of it as far as gunmetal armory goes that's great dane thanks again for joining us and can you remind our

audience one more time how do you enter um and how do you enter to win this setup? Wait, what did you say again? How do you make sure that you're properly entered to win the setup that you're giving away? We're going to put a link onto PrepperBroadcasting.com. It's probably going to be on the front page or the home page. You'll click on the link and that'll basically allow you to email me

or it'll take you directly to my email and you just send me your name and your birth date. And if you want to in the subject title, you can write giveaway or something like that. But that's basically how you enter and I'll just put everybody on a list and then we'll do a random Excel randomizer to choose the winner. All right, fantastic.

So whenever the Intrepid Commander gets around to doing that, those submissions will be live. And in addition to that, you can find my content over on Prepper Broadcasting Network under the Reliance banner. There are new episodes every Sunday, and I promise at some point in the future, we will make sure that the show page doesn't just redirect back to the homepage. But it's been a great blessing to be invited by James to talk about practical spiritual content and some biblical decision-making patterns and other kinds of things in tandem with my brother in Christ, Pastor Mike Spaulding, and hopefully a larger cadre of hosts moving forward to put that content out. So let's get right into it.

One of the things that I want to do is make sure that we're discussing the day-to-day, the practical, and what actually is done, what goes through the mind of a prepper and what do people do? Are we out doing ropes courses? Are we digging bunkers all day? All these other things. So what I'm going to ask is that people give us a basic rundown of what a normal day looks like.

And I know that's kind of a weird question because for most of us, there aren't any real quote unquote normal days. But what would a daily routine look like and how does that time breakdown sort of work given everyone's individual situation? So let's go over to James first. James, what does a typical day look like for you if that's even possible to articulate? But what's your daily routine, your daily habits? Yeah, sure. No problem. Well, like most Americans, I mean, I work for a living and take kids to school and from school and that type of thing. So I think a lot of sort of what is done during the day is pretty similar to most people. I think it's kind of like the ancillary pieces that go along with those. Well, I guess one of the first things I do, it's not like I wake up and take inventory every day and then nothing crazy like that.

But I think when you're talking about people with a preparedness mindset, there really is a lot to be said about sort of personal awareness and probably some level of EDC. So we most likely, I know I personally leave the house more prepared than probably the average person. You know, I personally, I carry an everyday carry bag and that bag contains a bunch of different things we really don't need to go into in this conversation in particular. And, you know, when you enter the world, it's a lot different, I think, than the average person who has their face buried in the phone or, you know, whatever other method they're using to deal with their life. Many of those, right? Some legal, some illegal. And I think a big part of daily habits as someone with a preparedness mindset, again, is sort of what you carry and how you represent yourself out in society.

You know, another big daily piece for me, maybe not every single day, but pretty much I try every single day to do some form of physical fitness. And I think that's a very important part of – I really think that's a very important part of prepping. And for a long time, it was something that was frowned upon. And I used to take a lot of heat for talking about fitness in the preparedness community. I would always get told that my gun is my fitness plan type of thing. immunity. I would always get told that, you know, my gun is my fitness plan type of thing. And now, naturally, now we know that a healthy body equals a healthy mind in the whole nine yards. So it's kind of a no-brainer. And another big part, another big daily habit, I think,

for those of us who are, this is not limited to those of us who are sort of preparedness minded, but is to take time to appreciate what you have and spend time with the people that you love. You know, it's it's not in a way it's not preparing you for any great disaster, but in a way it is preparing you for great for for any disaster. And that's, you know, knowing how to communicate with your spouse, knowing how to communicate and enjoy your children. These are these are big things. And and for me these are daily habits um mindfulness is a big one and yeah i mean you know i could go down a big i could break out my i have a little phone app that that makes sure i stay on track with all the things that i do want to do on a daily basis but i think we're looking for higher level stuff on this question. So I'm going to end it there. You know, it's sort of not about the tasks themselves, because I think we're all kind of pigeonholed in what we have to

do, right? We all have things that we have to do, but what do you take with you both in mindset and, uh, you know, in gear? Absolutely. So the picture that you're painting is less like doomsday preppers and less like always getting ready for a zombie apocalypse and more like a normal everyday American father who is taking care of responsibilities and making sure that he's planning ahead for the future. So that's what we like to hear. That's definitely in line with what is the making of a prepper. So let's pass it over to Jordan. How about from your perspective, obviously, there's a lot going on in your life, Jordan, in terms of kids and in terms of

farm and everything else like that. So can you walk us through what your daily routine is like and what occupies your attention and your focus throughout the course of an average day? Oh, absolutely. I will say this. It's never dull. I guess, you know, just like everybody else, I get up, get ready for work. I have to juggle. And thank goodness, you know, my children are pretty well self-sufficient enough that they actually tend to their own breakfast in the morning just so we can get everybody out the door at the same time. So, but I guess a big thing for me, kind of like what James said is it's, you know, I have what I carry every day and I have to keep in mind of where I work or, you know, the federal regulations and laws with where, what the type of work I'm in. So, you know, it changes what I am and am not allowed to carry as far as self-defense. But it is something I am always mindful of. You know, I always check my car, even though I know my bag is in my back seat. You know, I have to look back. My bag is there. Double check. You know, my children, they have bags, but their bags are in the house. But it's just one of those, you know, just making sure you have your everyday things. You'd laugh at me, but unfortunately right now I'm actually carrying a purse instead of a little carry bag.

But the one thing I'm always checking to make sure in my purse is not only my wallet, some cash, and my knife, but a bandana. I always have a bandana on me no matter what the situation is. You know, with kids it's a handkerchief or it but a bandana. I always have a bandana on me, no matter what the situation is. You know, with kids, it's a handkerchief or it's a bandage. So as far as like with the tending to animals, I'm fortunate enough that with how my days are, I normally don't have enough time during the week to deal with that, but to take care of that on the weekend. So I really have to try to manage, micromanage my time between work, home, dinner, chores, and then on the weekends, tending to my family and helping my friends with their farms as well as taking care of putting meat and food in my freezer. That's fantastic. And of course, like you said,

there's never a dull moment because when you have so many different responsibilities, there's always things that are going to come up. And to a certain extent, our time is never really our own, but that is okay. And that has to be the way that we're built. because I know for me personally, when I have a plan on how I want my time to go and it doesn't end up going that way for whatever reason, then in the past, I would have gotten very frustrated with that at a low level or even at a high level. But what I've been growing in is this understanding that there are certain things that are outside of my control. And as much as I would love to set time aside to read for an hour and not be disturbed,

sometimes that's just not an option. And so that's a matter of compromise with all of the people and all of the important tasks around us. But it's also a matter of responsibility and something that requires our attention. So thank you for that, Jordan. Oh, yes, sir. Not a problem. Just real quick, though, is definitely you got to learn to roll with it. But, you know, every day I make sure I have an hour for myself as as a parent, as as I'm sure you and everybody here as an adult, sometimes we need just one hour a day just unwind. So you nailed it on the head, man. Yeah, I got it. Got to take some time away. One of the most

relaxing times I had recently was literally just driving around. I was on my way to an appointment with a student because I work as a private tutor. And, you know, usually I'd be listening to podcasts or other things like that. But I just decided to turn everything off and just enjoy the peace and quiet, which is hard to come by because I'm in New York City now. And Lord knows there's not a ton of peace and quiet in my neck of the woods. So let's go over to Dane. Can you talk about your daily routine, any particularly noteworthy aspects? How do you budget your time and what keeps you occupied?

Well, first, when I wake up in the morning morning i do a backflip out of bed and uh impressive fire about 50 downrange tight spread then you know brush your teeth while i'm brushing my teeth that's exactly how i do it forgive me please um no i just i usually get out of bed and this is the god's honest truth i grab my glock or my 1911 and I walk around the house. I make sure all the doors are still locked. My son kind of comes and goes as he pleases, so I like to make sure that everything is locked up. And I get up and I move around the house quite often at night.

There's never any set time. There's never any time of the night that I do it. It's just whenever I get up and go, I better go look around real quick. And that's just something that's been ingrained in me my whole life is always check and make sure that your family's safe. Um, that is one of my habits. Um, when I get up, I do the same thing. Um, but I'm, I'm pretty normal too. When I get up, um, usually I'll have something to eat and I'll sit down and probably watch a little bit of TV while I'm eating. And then I get up and I set out all

my stuff on my bed that I'm going to take with me. Usually I'm a lot like the rest of the preppers on here, but some of the stuff I carry with me might differ a little bit. Of course, I have a firearm. Usually I have anywhere between two and three guns on me every day. I usually have anywhere from three to four knives on me every day. I have an escape and evasion kit on me. I have a fire starter on me, water purification tablets, multiple magazines in my bag. I carry extra ammo. I carry a first aid kit. I carry an IFAC in my bag, and I carry a miniature first aid kit on my person.

And basically everything that I have on me, my bag is basically a get-home bag. But everything that I carry on me, if I lose my bag, it's all redundant on my person. So it's not something – if I lose my bag, it's okay. If I can't get into my truck, it's okay. It's not a big deal because I have all the same stuff on me already. But other than that, usually I'll get up and I'll go to work at the gun range or at the other job that I work. And I'll spend all day telling people how to shoot correctly or making sure that people are safe on the range and don't end up hurting each other. That's it.

And then when I drive home, I'm constantly looking behind me. I'm constantly looking around me. I see probably five or six people almost get in accidents every day. It's kind of like being in condition yellow all the time. It's always thinking about something. That's basically the habits for me. One thing that I guess I'll tell you one of the things I try to do as often as I can when we get to another aspect of the show. But yeah, I mean, I guess that's where I'll end it.

That's that's basically what I do. Yeah, that's great, Dan. And I appreciate the emphasis on situational awareness, just making sure that that, you know, it's great, Dane. And I appreciate the emphasis on situational awareness, just making sure that that, you know, it's not necessarily a checklist, like because then before you do anything every time, you'd be saying, all right, just make sure I'm situationally aware, even though, of course, that might not be the worst thing in the world. But there are these overriding states of mind that could be less described as habits and more properly classified as mindsets and just sort of frames of awareness. So I appreciate the emphasis on that. So let's pass it over to Ryan and Colin.

So gentlemen, you two are obviously a father and son duo here. might be on behalf of our audience that your daily routines and your habits would be wildly different in terms of just the stereotypes. Is that correct? But would we be surprised to see how similar your routines are? If you could walk us through a typical day in each one of your lives, that'd be fantastic. Yeah, why don't you go ahead and go first buddy all right um well my daily routine as a um said pepper could be as boring as it gets because um five days out of the week i pretty much just get up get ready for school and then i go to school for six hours come back do my homework and then you know I just just kind of like repeat it's pretty much it um so there's not a whole lot of different exciting stuff that um happens outside of school um as far as prepping goes

of course you do work on the show on the side and he helps me out a lot i think he's not giving himself quite as much credit as he deserves um you know on on my side uh you know and i think a daily routine uh when it comes to uh you know because colin he's's 13. So a daily routine to someone who's not quite an adult is something that's regimented for them. And as you progress into adulthood, that changes. You kind of set your own routine based on your responsibilities. Um, my daily routine generally starts by, uh, I mean, I'm up at usually four 30 in the morning. Uh, generally check whatever I can, anything that's come through, um, either social media or work contracts. Um, I work with people all around the world and, uh, sometimes stuff comes in while I'm sleeping. Uh, so I kind of take that world approach and just kind of absorb what I can for the first half hour of the day. And then do a little bit of work in the morning before everyone else gets up. And then I'll wind up getting ready, taking care of the dogs, and heading out the door.

taking care of the dogs and heading out the door. Once I'm out the door, I generally pay close attention to this. And this may come off as kind of strange, but I pay really close attention to the animals around me and what they're doing. And for those folks who have heard my show, I mean, it tends to pop up fairly often, this theme of animals and what's going on. And a big part of that is because, you know, I feel like we can learn a lot by paying attention to what the animals around us are doing,

everything from the geese overhead forming chevrons and flying south or north, you know, whether it's fall or early spring, depending on what's going on, the way the sparrows eat their food, whether or not I see an owl in a tree versus a hawk. You know, sometimes I tend to see coyotes where we live, and sometimes I see deer. Sometimes I see dogs out and about. And all these different things mean something different. And when you can tune in into that level of awareness, you will learn more from what's going on in the animal behavior around you than in some cases the human behavior around you or even nature.

So beyond that, what I generally do is check myself. A lot of times I'll obviously go off to work. I'm a, I'm a normal guy. I work a normal job just like everyone else or most folks out there. Um, but I think it's important to note that, you know, I put on my pants one leg at a time, just like everyone else. And, uh, you know, when I turn around to come home, I, I kind of look in the rear view mirror and just kind of check myself and make sure that, um, you know, I've, I've done what I can for the day and I've tried to provide for my family the best that I can. And, uh, you know, by the time I get home, I make sure to be thankful

to the dogs that protect my home and, uh and be thankful to the family that's still there for me when I get there or take care of things like today. You know, we just got six inches of fresh powder on the ground and I needed to get the four-wheeler out with the plow to make sure that my spouse could get in just because that's the way things roll when you live on a homestead sometimes. So, I mean, the routine isn't that much different from a normal everyday person. And I think all in all, with all the other hosts, it's kind of hard to follow some of the things that these guys have said just because of the impact and the truth behind them all. But I mean, at the end of the day, we're just normal people leading normal lives. Absolutely. And thank you both for that perspective. It really is helpful. And I certainly appreciate, Ryan, the emphasis that you're placing on having an approach of gratitude

for the things that are there, the things that you have, and a job well done. Just because when we are in charge of a variety of different aspects in our own lives and responsible for the well-being of others, it is incredibly easy to stay focused on the things that don't go perfectly or the new things that will come up. And this is just things that, you know, these are things that everyday homeowners face regardless of their stance on prepping and those other decisions. And so I thank you for the emphasis on gratitude here. I think that's really important. And another important concept that I think is critical for us to understand and to articulate a bit is that of communication. I know that this has been a continual emphasis of pretty much everyone

here on Prepper Broadcasting Network. And on top of that, you can sort of see that it is a passion because, well, if you're hosting a podcast, then you are, frankly, spending a good deal of time communicating, perhaps more so than a regular person. But I want to pass it around the horn here to get people's thoughts on modes of communication in terms of what works and what doesn't for speaking with people who don't share the mindset, particularly those who are close to you, as well as what works and what doesn't for people who do share the mindset. So this is a really broad category that people could get into, but sort of best practices for communication, take it wherever you want. We're going to start back around with Dane. Dane, I know you have to go at the top of the hour here, so give us your best shot with the communication angle and let us know how you approach this aspect of preparation and how would your tactics differ or change or what kind of mistakes do people make? It's all fair game. It's a wide topic, and so take it wherever you feel. Like any it's all it's all fair game. It's a it's a wide topic. And so take it wherever you feel.

So can you can you kind of explain that again? You want me to tell you how I communicate with people or. So when you're when you're talking about things that are related to prepping, whether and I you know, you presume from the angle of gunsmithing, let's say. the angle of gunsmithing, let's say. So when you're talking about the Second Amendment to people who would not share that ideology, how would your communication approach differ from when you talk with people who do share that ideology? Or from a different angle, if you'd prefer, let's say, what are some of the mistakes that people make in communication, given that it's so important? people make in communication, given that it's so important? I think one of the things that people don't realize, and I'll just use guns as an example, just because it's what I know. I think people fail to realize just how many people out there that are against guns are actually deathly afraid of the gun itself. I think people don't understand that at all. We've had numerous people come into the range, and I've had people come to me privately

and say, I am deathly afraid of guns. I've been a Democrat my whole life. I've been taught that they're bad, but I know that it's getting worse out there and i want the best technology possible to defend myself what is that gun what is that what gun am i looking at what do i need so i mean i don't get paid for this part but i'll spend hours of my off time with them showing them AR-15s, showing them AK-47s, showing them 1911s, Glocks, smaller handguns, smaller rifles. But the first thing I do with them when I'm standing there or when we sit down and we start talking is I take the gun off of my hip. I unload it, and I set it down on the table. I unload it, and I set it down on the table, and I say, what do you think logically is going to happen to that gun while it's sitting there? And they usually kind of look at me with one eyebrow raised, and I say, do you think that gun's going to get up, load itself, and run out the door?

And I'm not trying to make you feel stupid. I'm asking you, honestly, is that going to hurt someone? And they're like, well, guns are very dangerous. And I said, so is your car, but it's not going to go drive itself and hurt anyone. It has to have a driver. It has to have someone behind it. It is not the car's fault, and that's why we don't sue car companies when people are – someone gets hurt. So most people start to understand that, and one of the main driving ideologies behind gun grabbers or people who hate guns is that all guns are bad and that the gun is the problem. And if we just didn't have any guns, well, if we didn't have guns, it would be crossbows. If we didn't have crossbows, it'd be spears. If it wasn't spears, it'd be rocks with a sling.

It doesn't matter what the weapon is. People are evil. Some people are evil, and they're always going to find a way to hurt each other. So when I have to communicate with someone like that, I break that down for them. I say that. If it's not this, it's going to be this. If it's not that, it's going to be that. You've got to realize you can't run and hide from these things. You have to be willing to protect yourself. a firearm is the best technology available. Maybe someday later it'll be lasers or, you know, I don't know, a satellite dish from your phone. I don't know. But, you know, right now this is what's best. Oh, and I have a quick note for Colin. If you're so bored when you get home, man,

if you want to write the gunmetal armory for me, I got nothing better to do, man. So if you want to write my show, if you're that bored, feel free to write mine too. I'm just kidding, of course. I don't know. Colin, do you want to write my show too? We'll see, Dane.

It's a good attempt to get some more time in your day to collaborate here. But I definitely appreciate the common sense approach. And your point about having a visual or something tactile for people to grab a hold of is, I think, important to the idea of communication because you can give people a thought experiment or something else like that. But oftentimes, if they can see something, if they can touch something, that carries a lot more weight. Because when we're just dealing in the realm of ideas, as clear as we may think something is, it could get lost in a mesh of other ideas or different worldview or even propaganda masquerading as knowledge and information. So thank you for that. Let's pass it over to James.

Thank you for that. Let's pass it over to James. I know that communication and unity and community are an important thing for you. My friend, so important that you wrote a book about it. But in this situation, what are maybe some of the mistakes that people make in terms of communication? And how do you, what have you found to be effective in terms of handling communication either with people who are anti-prepping or indifferent or even like-minded preppers? Sure. I should preface this with saying that, and it's embarrassing to say, but for a lot of my, I was most certainly an appeaser and a yes man in the workplace. And I got, you know, it worked. And for a long time, I was that way. And I think

one of the big reasons why I was that way is because I was scared to talk about the things that I actually wanted to talk about because my belief system was dangerous to talk about. You know, just from a conservative, you know, right-leaning person, even before prepping got tied into my lifestyle, I grew up and a lot of my professional life was in that time when that sort of conservative lean started to get people in trouble. But I did learn something from that. I don't have to do that anymore now, which is so wonderful, which is so wonderful.

But there were but so something that's important for those out there listening to this, you can get down on yourself, you know, and you can get down on yourself a lot nowadays because you're not standing up to people the way maybe out in public without getting crazy looks from people if we believe a certain thing or say a certain thing. But that's the reality. And for people out there who are struggling with that, I just want to let you know, I struggled with that for a long time. You know, it was it was this idea that I'm on a I'm on a steadily upward trajectory and I better really watch my words carefully so that I don't mess that up. And the best way to get out of that, obviously, is to change your career and do something you really want to do and surround yourself with people who are like-minded. And that's easier said than done, I'll tell you that. And that's easier said than done, I'll tell you that. But that being said, once you sort of get the preface out of the way, I find that the best way to have a conversation on almost any subject, even if it's one as touchy as prepping, politics, or God, is to find common ground first.

That's always my number one technique. So one of the things that I always like to do is listen first. I might throw a short statement out there and see what comes out of a person. And I'll spend time listening and asking questions. And I like listening. It's funny coming from a guy who talks for two hours straight on Wednesday nights. But to be honest with you, I like really like listening more than talking, especially real people. I mean, podcasts are good, but, you know, a one on one conversation with a real person telling you about their life and their dreams and their hopes is about as it's about as magic a thing as there is to me. and their hopes is about as magic a thing as there is to me. So I enjoy sitting back and listening, and one of the things that I'm always listening to,

no matter what we're talking about, is those things that I can speak to from a commonality standpoint. You know, like, oh, I jive with that, I get that, I can understand that. And of course they're going to throw some things at you that are going to go right over your head or maybe hit you in the solar plexus a little bit. And you've got to be careful of that too. You know, you've got to be, you've got to be not, not afraid to ask questions when you don't understand something. And also not one of the most common mistakes I think that people make are they nowadays, we see it a lot as people people go off the rails when someone makes one statement

that they don't jive with. And I've seen that on both sides. You know, it's easy to say that that's a sort of a progressive thing, because it most definitely is. But I've seen it on both sides. I've seen people go crazy on people after making one, you know, one simple statement that's opposed to their views. So for me, if I'm going to have a conversation with someone about preparedness and about prepping and what it means to me and what benefits it can have, I'll probably start talking about news, about weather, about natural disaster, and then I'll shut up and I'll let them talk. And I'll let them tell me about an experience that they had with a natural disaster. And I'll let them tell me about their fears.

And I'll let them, you know. And then once I find that sort of, once we establish that we're on the same base here, and we're on common ground, then we can start exchanging ideas. Right? Because then you can't look at me and say, well, you're really different than I am because we've got a whole early conversation set up that was, look how similar we are.

And I find, for me personally, that's the best way to communicate, particularly around touchy subjects, but any subject, really. That's kind of my method. I think that's a fantastic point there, James. And in terms of the common ground, I would echo that by talking about something that I discuss frequently, and that is the idea of being able to ask the right question or being able to articulate someone else's position to establish

that kind of common ground. Because oftentimes when people are talking, when they're having a conversation, they're really sort of still just exploring territory in their own mind and they're trying to get to a conclusion. I think that when we have conversations with people, particularly if they can have a tendency to become adversarial, then it's a significant hang up for us because we can often like jump on the first word that we hear that is askance or, you know, and then that sort of derails the rest of the conversation. And when we view it as just a couple people or maybe more in a larger group trying to explore territory and figure things out together, placing everyone on the same team is a great mindset to have more meaningful conversations. So thank you for that.

Let's pass it over to Ryan. And Colin, if you're still here, any thoughts on communication? I'll pass it over to Colin first before you have to go. I know you have to run at the top of the hour as well. So any ideas there? As far as communication on what do you... Sure. So do you have opportunities to talk about prepping or kind of related concepts or the projects that you do with with your friends or with your peers, people around you? And, you know, if not, what might help that out?

I like bringing up the podcast and the fact that I am a prepper, so to speak. And, you know, usually find it pretty interesting but mainly it's my friend's parents that are the most interested that I'm not you know out playing video games I'm out talking on a prepper podcast. That's great. I think it's a, it's a wonderful opportunity. And can you, uh, give any additional insight into how you handle those conversations? Do you kind of just keep it real and try to talk about the things that, the things that you're doing, or do you notice any, any patterns that come up in the things that people are particularly interested in and ask you about a lot uh yeah so for the

people that are actually interested um like i just basically give them the gist and um when it comes up a big thing that kind of like people are interested in are the projects that I do. Um, cause most of the times are pretty cool. You can see all of them on the, on our Instagram page. Um, but yeah, I mean, I just, you know, tell them the website and just the general gist of what it is, what we talk about. Yeah, very cool. And it seems like when you're having conversations about this,

you can't just force the issue. If people ask you about it, or if you bring it up in the course of natural conversation, then who knows where it could lead. But you know, you just got to keep on planting those seeds. So thank you for that, Colin. Ryan, any follow up here in terms of the approach that you have to communication about prepping topics, whether we're talking about people who don't share that worldview approach or people who might even think it's either irrelevant or sort of have an antithetical view towards it? Yeah, I mean, there's a couple things that I wanted to say here. So first off, I mean, I almost teared up when Colin said that because it's really the whole show, The Next Generation,

is about engaging and involving youth in being prepared for the sake of being prepared and to hear that colin is able to go out and talk to his teachers and talk to his friends and spark that same level of interest in adults that I'm trying to spark in kids, that just blows my mind. I mean, that deserves a mind-blown emoji right through the radio. So, I mean, I got to say that's, to me, what the whole point of our show is. And when it comes to communication, we can do that to a certain point on a podcast. Uh, we can demonstrate it with the projects that we do. We can talk about it with the subject matter that we bring up every week and we're talking and it's almost like we're preaching to the choir because our podcast

asks, go out to folks who are already preppers or they're interested in being preppers or they're just interested in being prepared or engaging their own families. So as a podcast, we're able to do that at a very isolated level. At a real world level, I can give you an example for like when I go to work. And I mentioned earlier, I sit around with a handful of guys I think there's eight of us that we sit around for about a half hour every day and just talk you know just talk about what's going on in the world what we're doing what you know who's handling what what kind of life things that people are going through and stuff like that and I'm generally pretty excited when I make changes around the homestead. Um, you know,

this summer we're going to be, uh, uh, getting engaged in, uh, chicken, uh, rearing and animal husbandry. Uh, we've already started an aquaponic system and we have, you know, 42 fish live, full grown tilapia at my, uh, in my my one of my outbuildings that we're going to be using for an entire aquaponic setup and when i start talking to people about these things obviously i'm excited about it but um there are comments like oh wow well i guess if there's an apocalypse then i know where to go and to me that kind of it kind of does nothing but raise a brow because the idea that what i'm doing in just being prepared or taking an extra um you know taking a different taking preparedness to a different level on my own in my own personal life uh is something that other

people could learn from um it it kind of changes the game for me at a personal level. So when I try to have conversations, I guess I attempt to communicate by what I'm excited about and what I'm doing and allow other people to either demonstrate interest or not. If people aren't interested in the plants that i'm growing or the animals that i'm raising or the projects that i'm doing with my family or you know the things that i do just to keep a home and keep things safe and secure um i generally don't bother with it um and a big part of that is because I don't, the thing is with preparedness is it's not something that I feel needs to be sold. I'm not here to sell a product or an idea

or an ideology. Preparedness is to me a lifestyle. And if someone wants to learn or mimic the lifestyle that I'm leading because they want to better or mimic the lifestyle that I'm leading, because they want to better their own families, then I'm happy to help them. But if they decide that that's not their path, or that you don't want to get involved in it at all, I mean, I might let them do their own thing. It's it's not something that is a two way conversation at that point. So absolutely, I I appreciate that, Ryan. And the point that you're making about like, look, this is a it's a lifestyle, not a product. There are certainly things that people can do from a material perspective to increase the preparedness level and increase

the resilience to certain outcomes in certain situations. Like that's, that's always part of it. But thank you for, for mentioning that and for taking, taking that kind of approach. It's a, it's critical for these ideas to be communicated and for people to be more cognizant about making practical, practical solutions. And, you know, it doesn't, it doesn't take an apocalypse for making a few extra correct decisions and thinking about things in a, in a practical and common sense kind of way for that, for that really to, to pay off. And so, you know, it's, it's, it's a good thing to have yourself and like-minded people all around this table thinking about things in that same way. So let's pass it over to Jordan. Jordan, your thoughts about communication styles and what works and what doesn't when talking to people who either share the prepping mindset or don't.

Any context from there? Oh, absolutely. You know, the one thing I've ran into with my life being the vast different fields I've worked in, I've never been able to water down my personality for anybody. What you see is what you get. I'm loud, I'm straightforward, and I don't have a very good edit button, and I have never been good at sugarcoating. So I have ran into where sometimes that can be a conflict, but a lot of times it works to my favor. I've ran into a few people who are very, very set on the fact that the fact that I do kill my own food or I help a friend out and kill and end up with food in my freezer to them is uh outlandish and old-fashioned but that's how i grew up you know it is like exactly like ryan said it is a lifestyle this isn't a fashion or a faux pas this is really a way of living um knowing that you're you can be self-sufficient and self-reliant and and be able to take care of your family. I feel like for us gives us that extra level of security that other people I feel have a false sense of security of, if that makes sense. But as far as communication, I have never really had a

difficult issue of talking to anybody. I am a stranger to no one at times, which can or cannot be a good thing or a downfall. Prime example, I won't say where I talked to two young gentlemen, but I had to make a call dealing with some stuff. And I came across two young men, very approachable, very nice, very, very Southern. And not because they're Southern, I'm talking to Northern people this way too. We got onto it. I asked, my simple is an emergency bag. What happens being where they lived with the flooding or the hurricanes or wherever it be? And bringing up a question of how do you handle that situation brought more questions. And I'm pretty sure I have those two young men now being listeners trying to, to do things for themselves. And, but you also, as a prepper or as someone in,

in my situation, or as any of the other hosts, we have to also know when to fold our cards. I'll have people who will try to argue with me and say that it doesn't make sense. We don't live in the stone age and I'll tell them, well, you know, we can agree to disagree. I have my lifestyle and you have yours. And I'm not criticizing someone for their high tech age of self-indulgence. You know, I'm not going to cut them down. I ask for in return the same amount of respect. Now, whether or not that's given, that's neither here nor there. But yeah, I feel like being able to be open about who I am and not sugarcoat it in my favor shows that I'm not going to back down from my personality or my way of life just

because someone doesn't agree with it. I'm not going to try to start a fight, but I am going to stand my ground. And that's what I want my children to be, is confident in who they are in our lifestyle and the way we live. I mean, it's just like with our faith. We stand behind our faith, and we're not going to let someone falter us from that because they don't agree with our views. You know, I think that's a big problem with today's society is everybody wants everybody else to bow down, but no one wants to, to understand that, Hey, we're different people in a vast world, you know, a big world with vast amount of people in it. So nobody's two decisions are alike. And, um, I wanted to point out, you know, Ryan had mentioned that people look at you and I have had the same thing said is, Oh, well,

if the world ends, you can take care of yourself at absolute. Well, I would hope that I can, I believe in enough confidence that I could get further than most. Um, I have had people ask me, well, I'll come to you when stuff happens. And I've had to actually, I'm the kind of person I've even told my best friend. No, if you can't contribute to the community and help, I can't take care of someone when my own children are pulling their own weight so I mean it's it's very for me it's very blunt and very forward um oh thank you okay but uh I don't know did did I cover that or is that a little too harsh? Oh, no, no. It's a great perspective because it points us to the idea that in terms of communication, your personality and your confidence play a huge role in it. note because we have to understand for ourselves if we're introverted or extroverted and and how we can handle these situations and we have to build up our own confidence so that we can be

more comfortable in in our own skin so that our words can carry the weight of authority because we walk the walk in addition to talking the talk and it's easy for people to see someone who is communicating from a standpoint of inauthenticity and if you can you can smell you can smell someone who's just faking it and particularly if they're if they're in your face talk talking things you just know like this is this isn't real this isn't something I should pay attention to. And most people are sort of tuned out until they see something that is different. Like, okay, this person has the courage of their convictions and they're doing things that they believe in and they're not like deliberately harming other people. And so maybe there is something there. So the communication style and personality is

definitely something that is important. So thank you for that, Jordan. Right. I'm going to add in there real quick, if you don't mind, but being confident in what you believe in who you are, will actually open the door to a lot of people approaching you with questions. I mean, that is a very common occurrence, whether it be the last job or this job and being surrounded by people who are comfortable and willing to ask you questions shows you that you have the ability to teach others, even if it's something small. So I just wanted to throw that in there. That confidence does expand to the people around you. And if they see that, then they will actually start

asking questions because they want to learn. Yeah, absolutely. And I can contribute another idea to this from the five years that I've spent as a tutor. When people have questions, perhaps many different times throughout the course of their life, they have been used to asking a question and then being made to feel like the question was either stupid or unnecessary or it doesn't matter. And, you know, that can unfortunately come from teachers and parents and other people in influence. And it creates a significant trust issue even if that's not the intention of the person who's sort of brushing them off. And this starts from an early age where kids will ask why, why, why over and over and over again. And it gets obnoxious to the parents to the point where those questions just start getting shut down. And so when you demonstrate that you are capable of hearing a question, handling it with the understanding that other people are not operating with the same base of information and you handle

it confidently and appropriately, that can open a door that people are really thirsty for information and knowledge and the truth and to do things better and to take on responsibility. And it's keenly lacking in our society. So if you're one of the rare people who can communicate in that fashion and be welcoming in terms of your answers and identifying these questions as important and validating people while perhaps even steering them in a better direction. That's going to be a recipe for effective communication. So thanks for all those answers there, everyone. That's an important part.

We're through the halfway point of our roundtable discussion here. I don't know, Dane, if you're still with us, but I wanted to go to you first on this next question. And it essentially just concerns our title here. I'm just going to ask everyone going around, what makes a prepper? Is it a stockpile of material goods? Is it a mindset?

Is it a firm belief that the world's going to end tomorrow? Is it a community of like-minded people? Dane, thanks for sticking around. But in your mind, what does, what makes a prepper? Well, first I got to say, I do have to sign off after this. So this will be the last one for me. But, you know, I think what makes a prepper is drive. It's a drive to learn things that you don't know. It's drive to want to provide for your family beyond what you're already doing. I mean, bringing home a paycheck is awesome, and that's a really good thing. But you're not just looking at your next paycheck you're looking at a year from now you're looking at two years from now you're looking at when your

kids grow up and teaching them skills now you're looking at the entire scope of your life instead of just a small aspect of it okay what groceries do i need this week i think a prepper is somebody who even if you haven't started preparing you're someone who does think about the future and i think a prepper is also somebody who even if they don't have the money to train you know at like i do at the range i mean i'm sending anywhere from 300 to 400 rounds down range every month. But if you don't have the money to train like that or the sponsors or whatever, one of the biggest things that I do that makes me a prepper is I train as much as possible. And one of the biggest things that I do that almost no one else I know does as far as training goes is tracking. If you learn to track, not only is it going to be useful for hunting, but it's also going to be useful to check the perimeter of your property.

When you are on your retreat property, it's going to be useful for finding an animal that might be injured. It's going to be useful for finding any kind of animals that might be free range or eating around your property. I mean, there's just so many reasons to do that kind of training. But, you know, that's just a general aspect and one of the things that I like to do as far as training goes. But I think, you know, a brepper is somebody who trains a lot, who thinks about the future all the time, and who takes action to make sure that that preparedness is not in vain. That's my personal opinion.

But I am going to have to sign off, guys. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. I'll see you guys. I'm not going to have a show tomorrow night because we're going to be getting 8 to 12 inches of snow. So I'm not going to be on tomorrow night, but I will see you guys next week. Okay? Thanks so much, Dane.

We really appreciate all of your contributions and for joining us here. And for those who are interested in Dane's giveaway, keep an eye out on the Prepper Broadcasting website, PrepperBroadcasting.com. You'll see a link there, and you can get in touch with Dane and make sure that you're properly entered for that drawing. So thanks again, Dane. Really appreciate your time here tonight. Thanks, guys. I really appreciate you. I'll talk to you all soon. Thanks a lot. All right. Take care. And let's continue our conversation here by passing things over to Ryan. So Ryan, in your mind, your mind, from your, from your standpoint, what, what makes a prepper? What makes someone a prepper? Well, you've got the standard definition. Um, I don't

have it in front of me. Um, I'm sure someone out there could recite it if they had to, um, essentially someone who expects that there's the potential for something to go wrong and takes precautions to avoid it or to live through it. And, I mean, prime example about, I think it was actually last week. I sent out a message on social media. And this is what it said. In whiteout, day four, power held out until a few minutes ago. My house is warm from the wood stove. My belly is full from food stores.

My devices allow contact because of backups, and my family's safe because we are prepared. This is why I'm a prepper. Ices allow contact because of backups and my family's safe because we are prepared. This is why I'm a prepper. And I was shocked at how many people responded to that one message. To me, I think the idea of being a prepper or being prepared is simply taking care of your family what makes a prepper is the heart behind that and kind of like dane was saying you know you've you've you've got your it's that that spirit that goes behind it and i think when you, as an individual, recognize that you are responsible for another human being, or whether it's yourself or your wife or your kids or whatever that may be, you realize in that moment that you have to take care of something other than yourself.

You have to grow beyond yourself. You have to be able to sustain and survive and for some people that's as simple as going to work for other people like you know the preparedness community it goes well beyond that into something that's you know some people might take to an extreme level, but in all reality, it's just a matter of knowing certain things and handling things appropriately so that you can wake up and look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that, yes, I am prepared. I am prepared for the day before you start. And before you go to bed, you can look at yourself in the mirror and say, I'm prepared for tomorrow. That's what makes a prepper.

Thank you for that, Ryan. And while you were talking, I figured I'd look up the dictionary definition. Merriam-Webster says that the definition of a prepper is a person who prepares something or prepares for something. That's the kind of generic thing. So we always need to be preparing for who prepares something or prepares for something. That's the kind of generic thing. So we always need to be preparing for something because something is going to happen, regardless of whether it's the status quo and its continuation, or it's going to be a disruption in what we would consider our normal everyday routines and the things that we often take for granted. Now, more specifically, they do provide additional context for a person who gathers

materials or makes plans in preparation for surviving a major disaster or cataclysm. And so a major disaster or cataclysm is certainly one of the things that can be prepared for to a certain extent. There are certain things that regardless of your level of preparation, you won't be able to fend off or deal with properly. But to your point, Ryan, I think this idea about having a solemn responsibility for the well-being of not just yourself, but for other people, those you love, whether it's your family, your friends, your community, that that requires you to think about the risks and to think about the threats and to think about the potential things that can be done in an efficient and a manageable way in order to take advantage of the resources that we have,

that we work for, and that we're given to make sure of those things. It's a frame of mind. It's all of the above. So I really do appreciate your perspective there. So I really do appreciate your perspective there. Yeah. If I could say one thing, what makes a prepper is not the guy that James opened this entire show about. That guy, in my opinion, is absolutely in no way a prepper. Yeah, true. For those of us joining us or for those who may have forgotten, it took me a half a second to click back into the story about someone who was stockpiling things and was arrested with all sorts of different threats and other things. I'm not 100% familiar with the story, although I did hear the headline. It was to use the materials that have been presented for the purpose of harming

others. And I would agree with you, Ryan, wholeheartedly. And I know that everyone else would hear would as well, that that is completely antithetical to preparation and to the prepping mindset, because it's just the exact opposite. Instead of, you know, to try to bring harm and disruption to others, as opposed to create an environment where people can be preserved and to flourish despite obstacles and challenges, it's just so far against the mindset. And we want to make sure that here on this broadcast, we're drawing that line definitively and distinctively. So thanks for bringing that up, Ryan. Broadcasting Network to retake the pragmatic, down-to-earth, adult, responsible, just common sense version of the term, what to you makes a prepper? Oh, wow.

See, everybody else has explained it so good. I don't think a prepper is necessarily someone who has all the gadgets and the training. I think it's, it's definitely a, you know, part mindset, part action, definitely where you want things to go. Uh, for me being prepared is something as far as making sure that my children can survive without me. I'm not saying in a catastrophic event, because God forbid, I would hope that doesn't happen. But if it were, you know, at least I know they can make it. And hopefully to prepare them enough as adults that they'll be decent human beings that will respect what they've learned, that they will learn a sense of pride and joy out of the hard work

and laborious work that they've done. For me, prepping was not a word I grew up with. It was being country. The first word I ever heard and heard the most criticism for being prepared for anything was survivalist. And that right there, when it first came out, was a word that meant you were willing to break the law by any means. And, you know, that was something I even had an argument with my mother is no, unless I have to absolutely protect my family, I do not plan to go to lengths of breaking the law.

absolutely protect my family. I do not plan to go to lengths of breaking the law. So it's teaching my children that there are ways to do things right, whether it be, yeah, we do, we do store food. And my biggest argument with that for people who try to say prep and, oh, you're waiting for the zombie apocalypse. I said, no, I, why should I have to wait for that to prepare? I tell them, what happens when your power goes out? Not uncommon here to get storms that knocks people's power out for over a week or two. Tornadoes are very common in this area. What happens if you have a fire or you're hurt and you can't work? Where's that money and food going to come from? You know, these are things you want people to think about is I'm not preparing for the world to end. I'm not preparing for the next civil war. I'm preparing for everyday life. For me, it is a matter of living every day and making sure, because I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. I don't know what next week is going to

bring. You know, prime example, I tell everybody and I repeat over and over. My child was hospitalized for a week. My husband received second and third degree burns the next week and was out of work for several weeks. If it weren't for the little bit of money I put up in the extra and the month or two extra amount of food I put up, I don't know how we would have made it because without his check and without my check, because we were tending to everybody, you know, that's stuff people don't think about. You know, yeah, you can have a savings, but if the bank goes down or the power goes out, you know, it's good to have a little cash on you. I keep a little $20 in my car every day. So, God forbid, if I forget my wallet or I break down, I have enough money to get gas so I can get home.

You know, it's stuff being prepared is thinking at a level for every day that people just don't consider or think about. I mean, it's that simple. Yeah, it really is. going for here quite well because when the definition I read talks about preparation for a major disaster or cataclysm I mean that doesn't have to be of a global sort and perhaps we've been inoculated by Hollywood and by entertainment to view all disasters as being sort of the day after tomorrow or apocalypse now or, you know, the walking dead, these different kinds of metastatic disasters that are, you know, global in scope when, in fact, the grand majority of meaningful impact events could be just the kind of things, Jordan, that you mentioned, someone getting sick in your family, someone being out of work, a car accident. And all of these things are

to the people who are experiencing it a major disaster or a cataclysm. And so it really is incredibly important there when we talk about the mentality and when we talk about just making the practical decisions because there are there's only so much you can do to you know get ready for a hypothetical nuclear war god forbid but there are things that you can do to get ready for situations when your power goes out or when there aren't as many financial resources or when there's a disruption of one form or another. And chances are those things are all going to happen at one point or another. And so it's incredibly important here, incredibly important to think about things at that level, the everyday, the practical, the things that families and individuals and even communities deal with.

So when we think about this, I want to emphasize here from the prepping standpoint that just think back over the last five years in your life. Was there ever a time when things were disrupted? Was there ever a time when you had to change your plans or things got disrupted for one reason or another. And I mean, if not, praise God for it. But it just means that there's always that possibility. And by the law of large numbers, it becomes inevitable that you'll have to deal with something like that, something unexpected, if you don't actively make the common sense decisions to get ready for it. James, pass it over to you. You are the ringleader of attempting to reclaim the label of a prepper. So I'm coming to you last so that hopefully you've been able to think of the world's

most articulate answer on this subject, my friend. But James Walton, what makes a prepper? Well, first off, Ryan had a proud father moment with Colin's answer earlier in the show, and that was very cool. I think I'm having a proud, intrepid leader moment with all these great answers about what a prepper is not just not just because i mean naturally with the hosts on the network i know i know they're very passionate and very thoughtful in this pursuit not just of redefining the 21st prepper but also of their individual shows but to hear it uh i i think what's hitting me hardest right now is the fact that the message that we're looking to convey here at the network, it was something that we talked about and it is something that we talk about. But it's clear now more than ever that that mindset and that's sort of what makes a prepper is it's a shared mindset here at the network.

And yeah, those answers were about as perfect as could be. I mean, even Dane hit it off with drive. You know, what makes a prepper? There's no doubt that drive is what is definitely a piece and a big piece of what makes a prepper. And you could say that the large majority of people who are unprepared simply don't have the drive after work and after everything that we all have to do. I mean, we all have schedules that are maxed out. And, you know, that little bit of extra drive is often what sort of divides us. But my turn.

my turn so the word the word is kind of like something that's been changed out over time and the reason i i stuck with prepper and and why i wanted prepper to be sort of what we believe in is because i think it's the word of the time that takes us furthest to whatever it means to be what we've always been anyway. So this prepper phenomenon that gets these crazy cross looks and these questions and even this infatuation, I mean, I think Colin really spoke to an infatuation with this idea that, I don't know that it's wasted on the youth, but I think the youth don't, it's hard for the youth to have the sort of vision of why it's so important. You know, I think in Colin's case, he has a great father who's, who's really molding the idea around his, his mind. And he's sort of understanding that at a very young age, but I think,

and from a demographic standpoint, you know, if you're really targeting the prepper market, you are targeting people who are further along in the game of life for that reason, I think. But what we're talking about, the things that we're talking about, many of the things that we do on a regular basis and the things that we attribute to prepping are ancient. They're ancient ideas. You know, they are really what a prepper is and what makes a prepper is what made humanity and what kept humanity around forever. That's what really blows my mind about this whole thing. You know, we're talking about doing the things that our ancestors did maybe two to three generations ago and forever before that.

You know, we look at preppers and we look at people who are self-reliant nowadays because we've been inundated with convenience. Only 60, 70 years or whatever, and maybe a little longer. Not much, though. And we look at those people who are doing it the way that humanity has always done it. We look at them with crossed eyes, as though they're the weird ones, right? Not the guy who orders his groceries from Amazon and never leaves his house, right? That's something that like, you could definitely understand that. I can understand that person easy, but I don't know about this guy who cans his own food. I don't know about this guy who generates his own power.

You know, I don't know about this person who goes out and kills animals and eats them. It's like what it means to be a prepper. And trust me, I could go on a diatribe about short term and long term disaster preparedness and the journey of prepping and, you know, how it starts as a sort of a checklist and evolves into this, this truly a journey, right, of rediscovering what a human being had to be from its inception. You know, in order to overcome the dire wolves and the hyena dons and all the monsters that we had to face right from the time we decided we're going to climb out of the trees and do this thing on the ground from that time forward all the building blocks of what it is to be a prepper maybe not everyone because certain things weren't around but most of those building blocks and most of those belief

systems of winter's coming we better be ready or we're going to die. You know, we better have weapons and we better have a means to protect ourselves from the threats that exist out in the world. You know, I can't think of anything more human than that. Right. It literally is the story of humanity. It's how we're sitting here talking through microphones to people who are spread out across the entire nation, literally. And it all starts from that sort of readiness mindset. Only in the last, like I said, 70, 80 years have we lived in this fog where we believe that we can get up every day and really think about as few things as we want, maximize our pleasure time, and fall into a pattern of sort of meaningless endeavors day in and day out, resting on the comfort of convenience in our society. So what makes a prepper really is what makes up humanity. I think those who are

deeply ingrained in homesteading, in prepping, in survivalism, they're all drawing from the same fountain, Stephen. They're all drawing from the same thing that has kept us going as a civilization since the dawn of time. Well, James, if I am hearing you correctly, you might just be part of the resistance to the technological utopia that our gracious leaders are attempting to bring in over us. I got a lot of, well, I got a lot of thinking to do about that. Well, that's an appropriate answer, my friend. I would echo your sentiments entirely. And I would say that in order for someone to be a complete person, you have to have enough of the traits that we would identify with preparation so that you might as well call yourself a prepper. And I will go so far as to say that a complete person has to be a prepper. A complete person is someone who has taken responsibility for their lives and those around them. A complete person is someone who has constructed and has

tested and has built their worldview through study and experience. Someone who has dealt with a variety of different circumstances and who is battle-hardened in a metaphorical or even a literal sense, someone who understands their place and their purpose and who derives meaning from taking care of making the decisions that are necessary for the perpetuation not just of their own lives but of society as a whole, I would say that without any predisposition or regret that in order to be a complete person, you have to be a prepper, not just in one form or another, but in a complete form. And so I think that what everyone has been talking to here is a combined set of ideas and principles that are critical for us to take with us. And so we're into the final furlong, so to speak, not necessarily the final sprint just yet,

but I want to go around the horn and talk about something that is personal. And I want to ask people about the biggest mistake or the biggest misconception that you made when you were new either to prepping or to whatever you're doing in terms of a homestead or the role that you're currently filling. And I'll do everyone a favor to sort of get this ready and I'll start with myself. When I made the change from being an agnostic that I had been for my entire life and became a born-again Christian by placing my faith in Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in May of 2014, coming up on five years now, it was at that time that I was simultaneously having a veil pulled back from my eyes about the way that the world functioned. And it was at that time that there was a lot of hoopla about a variety of different scenarios that could or many would say would be coming to pass in the near future.

And so for me, I went into making decisions in overdrive. I made serious and significant changes to the way that I approach things. And I would say that all of those changes that I made in that time were positive with a couple of exceptions. OK, so the first the first thing that I would say is that my course correction in terms of evaluating the probability of what was to come in the future went from sort of default status quo. And then we'll see what happens to there's guaranteed to be a hyper major disruption. And there's no way that the status quo can continue even for another six or 12 months. And so, you know, for me, that was a jarring kind of conclusion.

And so it spurred me to action. And as I went through this process and certain things that people said was going to happen didn't actually take place, what I had to do was I had to recalibrate to adjust the level of my thinking as well as the perspective I was taking to rely on the discernment and guidance of the Holy Spirit. And so that doesn't mean that those things that people thought could have happened, that they were impossible or that they were even out of the question or that they weren't being planned for in many cases, but by people who wanted to orchestrate these different things, whether we're talking about economic collapse or war or deep cultural divide

or civil war here in the US or biological outbreak or natural disaster, all these different things. My point was I essentially said, all right, I'm going to go from a 99% status quo, 1% rare outcome event to a mindset that said status quo 1% in an immediate time frame and rare event that I don't know about 99%. And so that time frame and that approach was, it forced me to make some decisions and that was good, but it was a bit too jarring. And so it changed the way that I level set my expectations about things in a way that was difficult. But it's the kind of thing where if I hadn't gone through that kind of a transition, maybe I wouldn't have made those other kind of changes that are largely positive. Like nothing

overly negative came out of that as a result. But I can recognize that the extreme nature of a change in viewpoint can create a situation where your thoughts and anticipations about what's going to happen changes significantly as well and maybe overshoots in the other direction. So that was a mistake that I made. And a misconception I had was that when I'm speaking to different people about a variety of different issues, whether we're talking about faith or the way that the world works, of different issues, whether we're talking about faith or the way that the world works. I had all this information that I had learned and I felt a profound duty to share it and to spread the word.

And I did and I still do. But perhaps for some, it was shared in a way that wasn't designed or wasn't engineered to have the greatest impact. wasn't engineered to have the greatest impact. It was me sort of sharing forth of what I had learned and what I had developed when, in fact, it was kind of me assuming that because I had gotten to a certain place in my understanding of the world, that other people would be aware of that same information or would be able to get to that same place. And so, you know, you have a couple conversations with people about faith and the world and different things like that. And then all of a sudden, everyone's like, well, you must be nuts. And so it takes a

little bit to recalibrate those sorts of things. So I made some mistakes in my own expectations, as well as my own communication style. But for me, it was all part of a learning experience that has led to a course of maturity where I can say that I've been led into a place of healthy contentment and balance and decision making. So I wouldn't trade it for anything because I've been able to learn from those mistakes. But just in case someone is new to this whole thing and you can learn from the mistakes that I made, then more power to you. And I pray that you would be able to avoid those

so that you can make different mistakes of your own and learn from those. The best thing we can do is to learn from other people's mistakes. And with that in mind, I will pass it over to Jordan for a conversation there. So Jordan, was there a particular error or misconception that you had when you were new to what you were doing?

Anything that stands out in your mind in particular? I'm just trying to, I was trying to think back as you were giving your example. And I think the biggest misconception that I can refer back to, and it wasn't necessarily my mistake, but the mistake of my mother and those around me, because we all remember Y2K, right? That was it. Computers and everything was going to stop.

And I believe to a point, she believed it was going to happen. You know, I'm trying to think back because that's been a little while now. And I kept thinking, well, nothing's going to happen. Nothing's going to happen. And then seeing all these people flip out over this huge, you know, we were going to go be set back what? All electronics were going to stop and the age of technology was done or whatever that hype

was. And, and it didn't happen. And for me, it was, it was a thing of, okay, well then you had, uh, what was it? The Aztec calendar. Now they're saying it was wrong and it's 33 years more away. And, and it, to me, I think it's kind of like you said, is I'm not looking at the big event. I'm not saying that a big event isn't going to happen or isn't imminent. But I don't I'm not going to run on the theories of what was it in grade school? Oh, my God, an asteroid is going to hit the year and hit the Earth and year, we'll say 2020 or something like that. You know, if you think about that, you'll never actually be able to get your mind in the right situation of being prepared on the same level. Because for me, it's almost like an imminent death sentence for those who focus on that.

I did do like you did. I had to look at the smaller picture. I had to look at day-to-day life. There for a while, being a young woman working in construction, then a single parent working in construction and then being a married woman, you know, it's, it takes a level to, to step back. Don't, don't plug that in. Sorry. Uh, it takes a level of stepping back and realizing that, you know, starting small, start small. You don't have to be take a big, giant leap into it. Start small. I mean, that's something I tell people from my own experience. Start with an emergency bag. Start little. Don't go for the biggest, military grade. Not everything has to be military spec. Believe it or not, go simple. Go low tech because most of the time that will work in your favor better than the big picture.

I mean, I kept MREs in my car, but I also had to look at realistically a case of MREs is anywhere from $60 up. So, okay. is anywhere from $60 up. So, okay. Uh, you know, I remember canning as a child, helping making jellies, taking that as an adult and expanded that to canning vegetables and soups. And so you got to look at what's within your means. And that was definitely something that as, as a parent and as a young woman, um, fending for myself, I had to look at what I was capable within my means and my tight income. So I think that's what it took for myself was learning, hey, you can only do so much. So start where you can afford it, but make it efficient, make it reasonable, but make it work. reasonable, but make it work. Absolutely. I really do appreciate that mindset. And just to echo this idea from the hype cycle perspective, Y2K or otherwise, oftentimes we'll buy into

something in an explanation that is in an area that we don't understand very well, that we don't have an expertise in. So we'll look to others to explain it. And when we look to others to explain it, it's hard to evaluate their level of expertise and those motivations because, frankly, generally speaking, people don't have time to do all of that research. Or if they do, the research goes in a particular direction, and then you get sort of locked into this viewpoint and to this false sense of certainty about a variety of different things just because simple things add up to creating this apparent mosaic of information that leads you to see any other kind of approach or any other kind of way to the point where you end up in a cognitive dissonance trap and all of the above. But don't want to spend too much time on that. But thank you so much, Jordan, for that perspective. James, back to you,

a mistake or a misconception that you made or that you had when you started getting involved in prepping? Just one? Well, you know. Give it a shot. Man, I was so lost. You know, coming in, I think I was about 27. What was it, around 2011 or 2012, I was just, I wasn't really even a man yet, Stephen, to be honest with you. I didn't have, I didn't, like, when you get, I always imagine now that, like, when a man figures out how vulnerable he and his family are and starts down this journey of preparedness, that they have a base that they've built already.

starts down this journey of preparedness, that they have a base that they've built already. I mean, to really sum it up best, when I moved into the house that I live in now, the home that my wife and I purchased, my father-in-law gave me a hammer. And it was my first real tool that I ever owned. He's like, you're going to need a lot more than this, but here's a hammer. And I remember, you know, at the time it was like, okay, whatever, a hammer. What am I going to need this for? And looking back, it's like I was so far behind the eight ball. So then, you know, going from that sort of standpoint and rushing forward into, now I need everything.

Now the world's coming to an end in a week, and I need everything. I need silver. The biggest thing that I would warn new preppers about or people who are considering getting into pro, whatever. The biggest mistake that you can make early on is what I call the panic purchase, right? And it's reading articles, it's listening to podcasts, it's reading news and freaking out, getting that adrenaline rush, and then rushing to make a decision. Because I did that. I did that on several things, you know, things I read in books, things I read on the Internet, and became scared, terrified, panicking,

and feeling like if I don't have this by next week, then, you know, we're going to be eating wood. So I think the biggest mistake, and I made a bunch of them, but to sort of categorize them all is be very careful about panic and be very thoughtful about spending money and planning because these things require thought and time, and it's not just let me hurry up and fill a hole. That can be very dangerous.

And it's not just let me hurry up and fill a hole. It can be very dangerous. It sure can just because if we make decisions based on our emotional state of being and our, you know, particularly when it's driven by fear, then we're not going to have the proper conviction. We're not going to have the proper confidence. We're not going to have the proper understanding. So even if we get something right directionally in terms of where we need to be allocating our resources, we're going to make a mistake somewhere along the road. Even if it's just like you're doing the right thing, but you're freaking out and so you're upsetting the people around you and not communicating it properly. And so that can damage the relationship and it requires things to be done about that sort of set you back. And so being more methodical and thoughtful and all of that is an incredibly important piece of advice, James, that I would

echo from my own experience. So let's pass it over to Ryan for an answer on this question. Same concept, same idea. What was a meaningful or important or even valuable mistake or misconception that you had, Ryan, previously that you've learned a lot from and that would benefit our audience here? Yeah. And I think, you know, it's kind of hard to follow James and Jordan on this question because both of their answers were pretty much spot on. And I don't know, you know, what more I could add. locked to a clock like a doomsday clock or whether you're locked to that kind of time concept or the iphone that you're staring at every minute of every day while you're getting on a bus or train or getting into a taxi or making sure that you get to work on time or whatever or if you're actually paying attention to the sundial.

And to me, you've got that concept of time that has been kind of evaded in a lot of ways in modern society. And then here's James talking about the tools. The hammer was an excellent example because how many people are handed the actual tools that they need? Well, when you combine these two things, you can have a concept of time and you can have a concept of, uh, tools, but if you don't understand the experience that backs those two things, you won't be able to deliver what you need to when it comes to preparedness. And here's what I mean. So I decided five years ago, four years ago, something like that, to leave an urban environment and set up a homestead in the middle of a farm field. And I have a small garden out back and every year we've planted a garden and every year i've

failed to some extent the first year i was able to harvest some things the second year i was able to harvest a little bit more and now this year i'm looking to harvest even more and be more efficient and be able to make some long-term preservation meet some long-term preservation goals but that missing piece that missing piece of experience is something that uh is something that had a huge misconception on because I figured, well, you know, I'll be okay. I can go and plant a garden and three months later, I'll have all the food that I need. Sure enough, I had all the food that I would need, but I didn't have any of the experience to be able to can it or preserve it properly. And much of it went to waste. I might've had the soil. I might have had the tools i might i'd had the time i might have seen the recognition or had the recognition that these two things working

together would produce something for me but without that little bit of experience without that little bit of knowledge backing it i was lost and i've had to relearn a lot of these things and i've had to try and preserve some of this thing these uh thoughts and these skills and it's when it comes to preparedness recognizing that your ability to survive may be limited to the amount of experience that you have which means the majority of folks out there who do not have the experience of whether it's harvesting an animal or harvesting a plant, they may not be able to do it. And you can't really just go out there and expect to go into the woods and survive for a year by yourself. Because if that's your survival plan, chances are you're not going to last very long. If gardening is your survival plan, if you've never planted a garden,

you don't have four years to figure it out. And I think, you know, for me, that's the biggest misconception that I've had in trying to, you know, wade through the options and what's going to work best for me and my family, I am fortunate to, to have the land to be able to experiment. And I've also been fortunate enough to be able to have resources like a grocery store to go to when my experiments fail. Um, and I think when it comes to long term preparedness, Um, and I think when it comes to long term preparedness, the ability for someone to step up and really take care of their families, like James mentioned, you know, 70, 80 years ago, that experience is all but lost. And recapturing that is really at the heart of what we're trying to do as preppers.

Recapture it, share it, spread that knowledge for as much as we can. Amen to that. I think the idea is that even if the learning curve isn't super steep, it's long because it does take experience and trial and error to deal with your local situation and to figure out how to fill in all of those gaps in experience. It's tacit knowledge. You have to learn it on the ground. And so we are now officially in the home stretch here. So I'm going to pass it around to everyone for another rapid-fire round. If you could keep it to a minute or so, that would be great. And then I'll take it out.

I'm going to pass it to James, the intrepid commander here, because this is going to be a tough question, James. So usually preppers are associated with the worst case scenario. What's the best case scenario for our country and our nation in a, let's say, five year time frame? Best case scenario for America in its current state. Is that what you're saying? Well, I assume that we would say that the best case scenario would be that there would be changes from the current state, but yes, in general. Okay. So if the starting point were today, that's a good one. Well, the funny thing is that the trajectory of the world is on and up and up to begin with. So I want to start with that.

of the world is on and up and up to begin with you know so i want to start with that right as far as i mean yes because of our reliance on convenience and things like that we are more susceptible to getting whacked by something big and it having a serious effect right but what's what's happened like the potential for that is real but what's's happening is, you know, it's better than it's ever been. out of the kind of cubicle lifestyle that we've been bred for and designed for, and use technology and use this incredible reach that we're using right now to find out how to make a living and make a life doing what it is that they love and what it is they're passionate about. I mean, that's an opportunity in the age when we spend so much time talking about equal opportunity and equality of opportunity and equality of outcome.

That's an opportunity that nearly every person has at their fingertips. So I think best case scenario is that, you know, endeavors like ours at PepperBroadcasting.com, endeavors like On the Objective, push people to realize that they can follow their hearts and their dreams and hopefully make a living and more importantly, make a life doing those things. I like it. I like it. Ryan, back to you. What's the best case scenario for this country in a five-year time frame? I don't know if you've heard of a book called The Tipping Point, but I think if America and really nations around the world reach that tipping point where the citizens recognize that they need to be self-sufficient and prepared is, you know, once they reach that point, I think that would be the real drive for everything. You know, the fact that you can sit and enjoy the product of what you not only have either collected or set aside, but you can actually

share that with other people. And I think the idea of being prepared is something that people, if it gets going to a point where people recognize it as a way of life, things around the world will change because there won't be as much of an impact on, you know, services or, you know, a need for overarching government or whatever it may be. And I think reaching that tipping point would be, you know, the kind of the, what do you call it? The utopia, I guess, over the next five years, if everything were to go perfect. I'll take it. That would be that would be a magnificent thing indeed to behold. Jordan, on your end, what would the best case scenario look like for a five year time frame for America?

Honestly, more tolerance. honestly, more tolerance. The fact of maybe our nation getting out of being so self-indulged and so intolerant of each other is, I think, really what makes it difficult as a nation to be able to become unified or have that sense of camaraderie. I think I agree with both Ryan and James that we do need a sense of more self-sufficiency self-sufficiency because we don't know what's going to happen we don't know what's going to happen but I mean what's what's going to change tomorrow so in five years I would like to see that there's more tolerance and understanding and more people trying to be efficient in a way that they can take care of their family regardless of the situation.

But honestly, my biggest thing I would love to see in the next five years is a nation reunited with that camaraderie and tolerance. That's the biggest issue I think I see as a proper now is there is little to absolutely no tolerance. Mind you, your point of view or your perspective as a human being. Absolutely no tolerance, mind you, your point of view or your perspective as a human being. So I would like to see us join together again as a front. Thank you, Jordan. I certainly appreciate that. And it does seem like we have to be in a better situation if we can have conversations with each other that are based on respect and the mutual dignity of the person. So in addition to this idea of self-sufficiency, I'll add five things that for me I think is honestly the best

case scenario. I would say spiritual awakening, the removal of corruption, sound money, school choice, and no more abortion. If we could see those in five years, man, I would give all the praise, honor, and glory to God for what must be a succession of incredible miracles. So with that note, we are going to bring our broadcast, our round table to a close.

Again, this is What Makes a Prepper on the Prepper Broadcasting Network. I have been your moderator, Stephen Menking. You can find me at ontheobjective.org. Just go to YouTube and type in On The Objective. That's the best way to get in touch with me and our channel. On behalf of Dean at the Gun Metal Armory, Jordan at A Family Affair, Ryan and Colin Buford at The Next Generation, and James Walton, who I actually will pass it over to to close out this broadcast. So take it away, Intrepid Commander.

The Intrepid Commander has arrived. Listen, Stephen, I want to thank you first and foremost, man. You did an incredible job tonight. Yeah, well, when I thought about this thing from the get-go, I said to myself, I have a lot of good ideas and I have a good vision on how this could go. But I think there's a man who could make this thing go smoother and better than I ever could. And that was you, Steve. And you hit the nail on the head tonight. So thank you so much for everything tonight, first and foremost. My pleasure. Always a blessing to be here with you

and your audience. I thank you for the opportunity. It was a great conversation. I learned a lot, and I hope everyone else did as well. So thanks again for that, James. Take us out, and we're kind of over time here, but I guess it's your network, so we can do whatever you want. Yeah, we can do whatever I want. I do like that that freedom uh secondly i'd like to thank the listening audience guys you i know i say it a lot but uh this is this is your show you know what i mean that you are the reason that we do this as long as you keep showing up and keep sharing things and please do me a favor and share this because these are rare in the prepping community they really are and and it's a format that i absolutely love. And I'm a little biased with this one in particular because it's all my friends. But please share this thing around the best you canables with some of us and some people you need to get to know.

And you really need to check those out if you enjoy this preparedness roundtable. And finally, thanks to the wonderful hosts, you know, the cogwheels in the engine that drive the Prepper Broadcasting Network. I can only convince Lady Liberty to let me do one night a week for two hours. So without the hosts, we have no network. I can only convince Lady Liberty to let me do one night a week for two hours. So without the host, we have no network. So I thank all you guys for taking the time. Again, after your busy life is already all stitched up and you're here with sunken eyes, I'm sure, doing this for me, I really do appreciate it. And we'll do another one soon but thanks so much guys we'll talk later and i'll be back next week with joe prim from vigilant wolf.com uh that's what the i am liberty show will be next week we'll be talking about edc and workplace preparedness from the standpoint of a

man who uh who has quite the commute to deal with each day so it'll be an interesting take on that but thanks again steven and everyone and we will uh see you next time guys