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There are all sorts of prepper’s. Some are rank beginners and others have been practicing family preparedness for twenty years or more. Some live in urban areas and some live in the country. And most assuredly, some are young adults in their twenties and other are in their sixties, seventies and eighties.
Given this widely variable demographic, it stands to reason that some preparedness topics will be more interesting and more useful to one group than to another. On the other hand, the basic tenets of emergency food, emergency communications, first aid, self-defense and self-sufficiency are universal. Furthermore, there are no boundaries and no set requirement that a person be interested in each topic equally.
We are talking about family preparedness here, not rocket science. And while we are each unique, we are each the same as well.
Which gets me to the topic of today’s article: The Plight of the Aging Prepper. I have a bit or a rant so please bear with me while I explain.
Senior Preppers Do It All
Being a baby boomer myself (born between 1946 and 1964), I find it a bit offensive to find that many websites refer to “senior” preppers as doddering old people with limited vision to what is happening in this world and limited ability to fend for themselves.
This stereotype is simply is not true. Many in the over-60 crowd walk 2 to 5 miles daily, work at full-time job, and actively pursue hobbies that require strength and endurance. Others farm their land and while living on or off grid, chop wood, feed the chickens and milk the goats or cows, day in and day out, rain or shine. Not only that, most men of that age have served in the military and thus understand and embrace the need for teamwork, discipline and perseverance to get a job done.
References to being an older prepper who may be slow on the draw is just, well, not right and darn disrespectful.
Survival Concerns – Regardless of Age
Regardless of one’s age, the pursuit of survival does come with some concerns. Some of the major ones are listed below:
Nutrition and diet with limited food sources
Healthcare – both treatment and prevention – when conventional medicine and medical facilities are not available
Money for supplies, services, items for barter and the basics of life
Self-defense using lethal, or non-lethal weapons (or both)
Mobility for the physically disabled and those with hearing and vision challenges
Community and companionship when if it all goes to heck
Learning from Our Parents and Grandparents
The current trend within the survival and prepping community is to look back to the experience of those that lived through the Great Depression. Well guess what? Many a senior prepper lived through it, if only as a child. Now might be a good time to ask these senior preppers how they dealt with these survival concerns. It is a forest through the trees thing: if you lived through it, you may not recognize the value of that experience to others.
I don’t want to belabor the point so let me just say this: being old of age does not mean you are weak of mind, weak of body and weak of spirit. Quite the contrary. The older prepper has a lot to offer and is stronger than you might think in at least one of these areas if not all three.
The Final Word
It has been a long time since I have written one of my passionate little essays. Clearly, something set me off and yes, it was another prepper-oriented website.
If I do nothing else today. I want to reinforce that the senior prepper has indeed woken up to what is going on in our country and our world. They are quite capable of taking care of themselves.
On the other hand look around: there are certain able-bodied twenty and thirty something’s who, at the mention of an election, at the mention of self-reliance and at the mention of making a difference in this world look up from their texting and say “huh?”.
So you see, there are all types of people at all different ages. We are a community of preppers and we are strong. Let us drop the stereotype and get on with the business of preparedness. We will remain strong as long as we stand up tall, young and old together.
Enjoy your next adventure through common sense and thoughtful preparation!
Gaye
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Bargain Bin: The current Amazon Top 10 Most Wished for Items was just updated. There are a few new items as well as some old favorites.
ProForce Commando Wire Saw Bulk, Ideal For Survival Kits: This new addition that qualifies for the Almost Free page. Here is what one reviewer had to say:
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Sawyer Products Mini Water Filtration System: This is another new addition. Fans of the Sawyer water filtration systems are evangelistic in their praise.
SABRE RED Police Strength Pepper Spray: This fits in the palm of your hand and is equipped with a convenient hand strap for immediate deployment. SABRE delivers a strong ballistic stream to reduce wind blow back and permits safe distance from your threat with its ten (10) foot range.
BaoFeng UV-5R Dual-Band Ham Radio: These BaoFeng’s are extremely popular with Backdoor Survival readers. I have two. The Baofeng UV-5R is a compact hand held transceiver providing 4 watts in the frequency range of 136-174 MHz and 400-480 MHz. It is a compact, economical HT that includes a special VHF receive band from 65 – 108 MHz which includes the regular FM broadcast band. Dual watch and dual reception is supported. Here is the antenna I ordered: NAGOYA Antenna for BAOFENG UV-5R (thanks to a recommendation from my pal, George Ure).
Blocklite Ultra Bright 9V LED Flashlight: I now own six of these little gems. There is a similar flashlight called the Pak-Lite (which is more expensive) but it does not have a high-low switch like this one. These little flashlights just go and go, plus, they make good use of those re-purposed 9V alkaline batteries that you have recharged with your Maximal Power FC999 Universal Battery Charger.
FordEx Group 300lm Mini Cree Led Flashlight Torch Adjustable Focus Zoom Light Lamp: Here we go with another flashlight. It is super mini sized, bright and waterproof. Plus, it uses a single, standard AA sized battery.
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37 Responses to “The Plight of the Senior Prepper”
It has been my experience as an 81-year-old veteran that I am in much better shape physically than most of my peers. That said, I have also noticed among my friends and neighbors, particularly in inner urban areas, there is a lack of preparedness, not from laziness or not caring, but other things. Many of them aren’t able to move around in some of their neighborhoods because of infirmities, traffic, lack of sidewalks, and other problems. But my urban friends do a number of things to keep fit and even keep up with survival ideas. I, too, will NOT listen to anyone badmouth our older people because the ones who can do, do, and the others want to. Many youngsters could still learn a lot from old folks.. Thanks. LM
I have been going thru some of your older articles since I’ve recently discovered this site and I have to laugh. I have been “preparing” all my life in some form or another from what I have read here and on other sites. We, DH and I, were brought up by parents that were “Depression” babies. We made do, used up and recycled (before it became popular) all my life and I (hope) DH and I have taught that to our sons. Both of them know how to cook good meals from scratch, sew (and knit)and clean,as well as fix things, use hammers saws,etc. Sorry ladies, they’re both married to wonderful women, who are very grateful that we did teach the boys how to take care of themselves.
I don’t talk about what I have been doing because the people around me think “prepping is for those survival nuts”. I too wish I could meet like minded people where I live.So I can actually talk to others, Don’t get me wrong I love the sites I’ve found but sometimes it’s just great to talk to another human “face to face”, know what I mean? Thanks again for the great site!