PREP FAILURE: THE WALL OF SHAME

[shrimpwd]

If you had to sort through 50 keys to find it? Nah. If it had been 1-3 keys, then yes.

[LowKey]

i've been snowed in for 48 hours and i'm seriously considering opening some of my emergency food

the wife and i have got to start shopping more

I can't exactly see the failure in there.

Preps are for turning a catastrophic situation into inconvenience, and major inconvenience into slightly unnerving circumstances, right?

So why do you think you failed? You HAVE emergency food, in contrast to many other people.

Except that being snowed in for two days is not really a SHTF emergency.

To my mind, having only two days of food on hand is kind of fail, even if you have two years worth of emergency grub. Not total fail, or starving, so that is good, but emergency stocks are meant to back up regular stocks, and two days of 'regular' food is a little thin.

My fail is having no reserve stocks of dog food, so in a SHTF scenario, I would have to feed the dog some human food if I wanted to keep it around. That is a difficult choice, because my dog has some utility as a guard dog. If I would just buy a couple extra bags of food one time and replace/rotate every time he finished up a bag, then we would all be set (for a little bit).

I wouldn't see it that way at all.
You should stock what you eat on a normal basis and rotate. There really shouldn't be separate categories of "regular food" and "emergency food", just an accounting of how much food used constitutes a requirement to resupply. You might berate yourself for dipping below the "resupply point" due to short term inconvenience like being snowed in, which would simply be a heads up that you need to either resupply more often or (even better) increase the quantity of supplies you acquire at the same resupply intervals.

[GuNs|iNgEr]

I have the same system of key storage, except for one small difference. I keep the extra key in a hidden location, just in case the battery runs out on the small safe. If it is a gun vault give them a holler and they may be able to help you open it.

After digging though a dozen drawers and sorting about 50 keys, I found the back-up key. In the nightstand. Near the safe. Great hiding place, eh? (does that count as a third failure?)

LOL! Well you live and learn. And if it took you that long to find it, then a thief probably didnt stand a chance.

All's well that ends well.

[yale]

[To my mind, having only two days of food on hand is kind of fail, even if you have two years worth of emergency grub. Not total fail, or starving, so that is good, but emergency stocks are meant to back up regular stocks, and two days of 'regular' food is a little thin.

What gets me is the whole "having only two days of food on hand" statement. So are you saying that someone in your house has to go shopping everyother day for your family to eat? Good grief. I go to the store maybe, MAYBE, once a week unless I see a particular sale which can hit to add to my prep pantry. Most of the time I go shopping on payday every 2 weeks. I load up a basket or two and get everything I need until the next pay day. There is no way I'm going to go shopping any more than that.

[Garith]

Went to Front Sight for a class. I knew that a big rain storm was coming in on Sat so On Friday I didn't pack my light rain jacket (brought two to test them out) and they would not let you shoot with anything that blocked drawing the weapon from the holster (had a nice thick warm water proof jacket). My fail was having to burn $90.00 to buy a wind breaker and a fleece jacket for that day to stave of hypothermia.

[KYZHunters]

From the shallow end of the gene pool: I decided to walk from one artillery battery position to another that was within sight without really knowing how far across the Mojave desert it was. An hour later, as I neared my destination, the unit CSMO'd (chucked shit, moved out) leaving me standing there with two empty canteens and thumb firmly lodged in my ass. It was a very long walk back and I was seriously wobbly when I arrived.
Prep failure: not nearly enough water; not considering you can see really, really far in the desert; not telling anyone where I was going; going alone; no comms (not counting my signaling mirror), and on and on.

[squinty]

Went to the range today, had a blast with the 1911 & the .45 ACP Taurus Revolver (the gun club on base arranged for us to use the pop-up targets on the M9 range, so it was all sorts of fun).

Anyway, on the first iteration, i go with the Taurus. First round *click* *click* *click*. Pop open the cylinder, see light strikes on the primers. Shit, maybe bad ammo. Damn Blazer. Throw in another clip, this time Winchester. Same thing. Think for one sec. Realize revolver is dry, without oil for at least two months. Squirt CLP down the hammer. Now she goes bang.

Anyway, maybe not a big deal, except this is my nightstand / self defense pistol. Scary. Lesson learned today.

*also, practiced holster draws with the 1911. Ripped the front sight out. Guess it's back to the gunsmith.

I uck fupped the front sight on an expensive Sig, by catching the sight on the edge of a metal reinforcement band of an IWB holster as I drew the pistol. This was a Tru-Glo sight, which actually bent and needed replacing, not just adjusting. Switched to an OWB holster.

This from a recent Stephen Wenger Mailing:

From a friend with a Metro-PD in MI:

"Our lieutenant bought a Colt Cobra (snubby, six-shot revolver) shortly after joining the Force. I'm not sure where he got it, but he carried it as a back-up for the last twenty-five years of his police career. He continued to carry it, now as his only gun, during his retirement years.

In all the years he owned it, it was never checked-over by an armorer, nor was any maintenance ever performed on it, nor did the lieutenant, nor anyone else, ever fire it.

Years later, while in his seventies, he was walking in the woods near his retirement cottage. On a whim, he decided to finally fire his little revolver (for the first time) at a discarded pop can.

It did not fire, not the first time he pulled the trigger, nor the sixth!

A local gunsmith examined it the next day and discovered that the lieutenant's revolver did not have a firing pin, and apparently had never had one! A subsequent investigation revealed that the gun had been used as a trainer and had thus been rendered sterile, decades earlier. Obviously, up until that moment, no one had ever noticed!

This officer had been carrying a non-functional pistol for over thirty years, and never knew it, nor, I'm sure, even suspected it!"

Comment: He was lucky to have gotten away with it! Who are that nonchalant in our time, probably won't!"

I apologize for citing someone else's fail instead of recounting some of my own, which are numerous and embarassing.

[SwampRat]

Of course this is kind of the opposite of the "What did you do today to prepare?" thread.

I know we all do things or discover things that make us go "Oh whoops" and look over our shoulder to make sure no one noticed.
I think this way we can learn from each others mistakes.

I'll start things off with something that just happened.

It's dark now and I needed to walk out behind the house to turn on my water and inspect some new PVC pipe work for leaks. I reached in my nightstand for my flash light, and it wasn't there because I left it in the truck. So I went to grab the one off the gun safe and in not really sure where it's at. So I go to the "War Closet" for one of those cheap five dollar lanterns, pop the battery in it and it's broken because I never checked it after I bought it a year ago. It's not the end of the world but it made me realize I'd gotten a bit lax on the day to day stuff.

[christianpiper77]

Went to the gun range and shot 350 rounds of .22 rimfire.

And realized I was not a good enough shot for a rabbit or squirrel or anything small, with irons.. (Standing at least)

Practice time!

Also, I dont know if it is me or the rifle that shoots left....

[BunkerBuster]

I went to work in a suit. And took another family court case. Those cases always make you feel unprepared - for marriage.

[Snapcat]

It happens just about every couple weeks, I look at my fuel gauge and it's on E and I think "Oh, well I'll get it on the way tomorrow.." Then I forget and when I really need to be someplace the red light comes on.

[Glennbo]

I walked home from work in my "work" shoes (ordinary gym shoes), and left my waterproof hiking boots at work. I didn't realize it until I got home and was taking off my shoes. Now it's raining and I may have to drive in instead of walk because I can't walk through mud and puddles without soaking my feet. This will cost me $4 for parking. The only other alternative is to wear my super heavy winter boots in 50 degree weather.

A little thing. But it shows how important the right shoes for the right conditions are. Look at your feet before you leave the building.

[BunkerBuster]

I went to family court for a new client and didn't bring my she-bitch-attorney-slayer. Fucking female family attorneys are the worst kind of human scum you can imagine. Zombies wouldn't even take a bite. I still won, but the bleach and lye still can't get the feeling of dirt off me.

[FlashDaddy]

noticed that my spare propane tank still has not magically refilled itself. Its been empty since August 2009.

[SwampRat]

the bleach and lye still can't get the feeling of dirt off me.

Which is why you should carry Ajax and a green pad in your BOB lol. Or to avoid the whole scrubbing issue I'd say get one of these.

[FlashDaddy]

the bleach and lye still can't get the feeling of dirt off me.

Which is why you should carry Ajax and a green pad in your BOB lol. Or to avoid the whole scrubbing issue I'd say get one of these.

Yeah, show up in court in a full hazsuit. I can hear the judge now "counselor, I see you are wearing a suit, but you don't have a tie."

[offcamber]

Since it was nice weather here the last couple of days and the snow finally melted, I threw on my INCH to hike up my huge hill in my back field (something I do everyday in the summer months) and realized how out of shape i am from sitting on ass all winter.

I just picked up the P90X video series, so I'm starting that this week.

[sql_yoda]

Today was my first full day off work in about two weeks, and I sat in front of the comp playing Company of Heroes all day instead of taking advantage of the beautiful weather and getting some much needed exercise. Tomorrow I'll overcompensate, and Sunday I'll be working sore.

[Doctor Jest]

I'm going to merge the thread "What did you do today that showed how unprepared you are " with the existing "Prep failure: wall of shame" thread. They are on essentially the same thing.

Thank you.

[Blacksmith]

A couple of notes:

- When the babies were babies we seemed to always run out of child acetaminophen at the most inconvenient moment (ie stores all closed, on road trip in the middle of nowhere etc). There are few things more stressful than new parents with a sick baby and no way to bring the fever down. Usually I would then overcompensate and buy many bottles of the stuff, so the spouse would then not buy any till it was all gone. Irritating. But we survived it.

- Built the Harbor Freight 10X12 greenhouse once right in the backyard. Took three days trying to follow the horribly mistranslated directions. Seems the greenhouse was quite light. A windstorm blew through the day after completion and blew the thing down in a big pile. I rebuilt it and then staked it down heavily. Another windstorm took all the panels out and blew them all over the yard (actually this happened several times). Now four years later the polycarbonate panels are brittle from exposure to the sun and elements and worthless. Harbor Freight. They suck.

- Purchased several guns over the years without proper research: .22 Heritage Rough Rider, AMT Hardballer .45, Jennings .380. Don't own them anymore. Enough said.

[AWSMJCBY]

I have no prep.... never thought about it before this froum. but I will be making moves to correct this problem.

[Silent Kube]

I have no prep.... never thought about it before this froum. but I will be making moves to correct this problem.

IMHO, this would only be a failure if you read the forums and decided, "Fuck it, if anything happens, I'm going to Wal-Mart."

[AWSMJCBY]

If you look at it that way, perhaps this is a win, well it could be let's see how long it takes for me to do any actual prep...

[Krustofski]

If you look at it that way, perhaps this is a win, well it could be let's see how long it takes for me to do any actual prep...

Congratulations, you just started.

General mode of action:

1. Think
2. Think again
3. Do something

You're in phase two.