Jarhead Survivor regularly blogs at one of my favorite survival and preparedness sites, SHTFBlog.com. He has a great writing style and perspective.
Recently Jarhead was called out to participate in an Internet Meme. These are fun ways to get to know others in the prepping and blogging community. In this meme, Jarhead answered 11 questions from Carolyn at taleweaversramblings.blogspot.ca and then created 11 questions of his own to ask others.
Laura and I were on his list. So here are his questions and our answers.
1. Who’s your favorite author?
I typically read 3 or 4 dozens books each year from a wide variety of authors and genres so identifying just one favorite author is tough. However, I will say that I’ve really enjoyed reading several books by Jon Krakauer recently. He’s tells compelling stories and has a wonderful way with words.
2. What would you do if you woke up and someone was burglarizing your house?
As a husband and father, my first priority would be to protect my family. Depending on the situation, my exact course of action may vary, but my goal would not alter – their safety is number one.
3. Do you believe in using firearms to protect you, your family, and your property?
Absolutely.
4. What is your favorite prepper movie/book?
That’s a tough question as well. Lucifer’s Hammer is a great book. The Call of the Wild also had some good take aways for the modern-day prepper. As for movies, The Book of Eli was a good eye-opener.
5. You’re going back in time to visit. What’s your favorite era?
Ooooh, great question. It’s easy to romanticize an era, remembering only the great things about it but forgetting how tough it actually was. For example, in the 1700’s small cut on your hand could result in death due to infection; child birth was almost as life-threatening as it was life-giving.
But a couple of eras call to me. First it would be amazing to live in Israel during the time that Christ walked amongst us. It was a brutal time in many ways, but it would have been great to see Jesus firsthand.
Another time that calls to me is the early 1800’s of the U.S. when frontiersmen like Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone helped to forge the states.
6. Have you ever thought about homesteading or living off the grid? If so why haven’t you done it? (Or maybe you have!)
Absolutely. Laura and I are blessed with a small homestead where we strive to live as self-sufficient of a lifestyle as possible. We are far from our goal, but we are enjoying the journey.
7. What do you like to do in your off time?
I enjoy learning new skills and sharing what I’ve learned with others.
8. If you could have your dream job, what would it be?
Ooooh, another great question. I’m very happy with the day-job that I currently have. It affords me the freedom to pursue what I enjoy and provides enough monetarily that we don’t have to worry about our next meal.
However, being able to somehow incorporate our homesteading passion into a full-time job would be nice.
9. Why do you prep?
We live in very uncertain times. Well, that’s not actually true. I believe that the likelihood of a disaster is pretty certain. Whether it’s a personal disaster like the loss of a job, or a worldwide calamity like a global economic meltdown, there are many reasons to prepare.
10. Have you ever been in a survival situation or practiced wilderness survival on your own?
We regularly camp and backpack. These are good activities. On occasion, I’ve built primitive shelters and practiced surviving with limited resources. I’d like to do more of that.
For quite some time, Laura and I have talked about having a practice weekend with no electricity, no running water, etc, to find gaps in our preparations. We haven’t done that yet, but we will.
11. What’s your biggest beef with the government?
Two things: 1) It’s intrusiveness into the citizen’s lives. 2) The fact that it seems to believe that we are subject to it rather than acknowledging that they actually work for us.
My Questions
Here are my list of questions. Most are light-hearted while others are more debatable.
- What’s the strangest thing you’ve eaten?
- If you could only own one handgun, would it be a 9mm or .45 caliber?
- What is the most recent book you’ve read?
- Is there a difference in “Prepper” and “Survivalist”?
- Which figure from history do you admire the most?
- What is one thing that you know now that you wish you’d known 10 years ago?
- What’s the most likely TEOTWAWKI scenario?
- Why did you begin blogging?
- If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
- What’s your favorite G-rated joke?
- What’s your favorite quote?
Your Turn
Here’s who I’d like to hear answer the questions.
- Chris at preparedchristian.net
- Jack at suburbansurvivalblog.com
- Practical Parsimony at practical-parsimony.blogspot.com
- NorthernHomesteader at northernhomesteader.wordpress.com
- Rob at offgridsurvival.com
- Prepper at teotwawki.ws
- David at tngun.com
- Jimmy at jimmycrackedcorn.wordpress.com
- Butch at prep-blog.com
- You!
- And you, too!
We’d love to hear from you! What are your answers to these questions? Answer them all. Or just pick one or two. Leave your answers directly in the comments section below or link to your blog.
PreppingToSurvive.com 
September 10, 2012 at 11:43 am
1. What’s the strangest thing you’ve eaten?
Probably Calamari
2. If you could only own one handgun, would it be a 9mm or .45 caliber?
9mm, I believe shot placement is more important than caliber.
3. What is the most recent book you’ve read?
I read the Bible every day, right now I am in the middle of Hunger Games and The $100 Startup.
4. Is there a difference in “Prepper” and “Survivalist”?
While there are many of the same actions taken, I think there are some small differences.
5. Which figure from history do you admire the most?
Jesus Christ
6. What is one thing that you know now that you wish you’d known 10 years ago?
I wish I would have known about prepping and about precious metals.
7. What’s the most likely TEOTWAWKI scenario?
I think a pandemic is the most likely.
8. Why did you begin blogging?
I believe God wanted me to spread the preparedness message to other believers that it is not a sin and why they should be doing it.
9. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
I would love to live in rural prepper community. If anyone knows of one, let me know lol
10. What’s your favorite G-rated joke?
I’m horrible at remembering jokes, sorry.
11. What’s your favorite quote?
“We can sleep sound in our beds at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence to those who would do us harm.” –George Orwell
September 10, 2012 at 12:46 pm
strangest thing i have eaten? rotten fish while visiting sweden, they call it tainted fish, it was rotten. some kind of tradition
i would prefer .45
Amatuer by Klein very revealing of our Complainer In Chief
I think preppers are preparing so that they can maintain some resemblance to their normal standard of living during a catastrophic event. Where as survivalist have taken it to the next level so that they have developed skills and tools to continue their existence in a post apocalyptic world with no electricity or mass transit.
I admire Robert E Lee because he would have been Supreme Commander of all Union forces if he had not chosen to keep his loyalty to his State of Virginia. He was a man of Honor. He was not a man in favor of slavery: he freed his wife’s inherited slaves before the civil war. He did not support succession, but he went with his home state. He was a man of integrity.
If I had known 10 years ago how quickly our society was going to denigrate, I would probably have made other life decisions.
The most likely scenario is a financial collapse, yet I think it will only be a six – twelve month of interuption in trade. We have the finest infrastructure in the world and the Globalists need the United States to be productive. I think there will be a change in our way of government though, and I think there will be lots of violence.
I started blogging because I was out of work and could not find a job. I was caught off guard with the mortgage meltdown. I don’t want to be caught off guard again.
I would prefer to be in Rural Texas and I am currently in Atlanta.
what is invisible and smell like carrots? bunny farts
If everybody is thinking the same thing, then somebody is not thinking!
General George S Patton
ps. you can thank him that your first language is not german
September 10, 2012 at 4:40 pm
1. What’s the strangest thing you’ve eaten?
Cow Tongue Tacos
2. If you could only own one handgun, would it be a 9mm or .45 caliber?
Probably the 9MM due to the availability of cheaper ammo
3. What is the most recent book you’ve read?
I usually have a couple books going at once. Most recent… Bible, Mere Christianity, Hiking Through (Paul Stutzman), and the Power of Positive Thinking
4. Is there a difference in “Prepper” and “Survivalist”?
Unfortunately I think there is. I think the stereotypical preppers are more interested in gear and supplies while the stereotypical survivalists generally focus on skills, training, etc… I think a combination of both styles makes for a well-balanced prepared individual.
5. Which figure from history do you admire the most?
Jesus
6. What is one thing that you know now that you wish you’d known 10 years ago?
Jesus
7. What’s the most likely TEOTWAWKI scenario?
Not really an end of the world scenario, but I think the most likely large scale SHTF scenario will be an economic collapse.
8. Why did you begin blogging?
To inform more people about the subject of preparedness and survival.
9. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
Alaska or maybe just wander the trails.
10. What’s your favorite G-rated joke?
Can’t think of any good ones right now, but on the topic of humor I read a survival quote that I think fits the question….
“Every survival kit should include a sense of humor”
11. What’s your favorite quote?
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
-Mark Twain
&
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. – Philippians 4:13
September 10, 2012 at 8:22 pm
1. I ate raccoon my uncle cooked when I was six. My father and his brothers grew up during the Depression and would eat any meat. Mama said this was the first meat I ever let pass through my lips.
2. I don’t know anything about guns. All I know is that I want a Glock. I don’t own guns. I just hear you can drop this one in the mud and pick it up and shoot. That may tell you something about me. Actually, I would probably fall in the mud!
3. Farm City by Novella Carpenter. I have read portions of other gardening and canning books and reference books since then. I read all the time.
4. Yes. In my mind a prepper is storing food, growing food, raising animals, canning, and generally building a life that might be off-grid. A survivalist is one who is prepping with the intention of using force of any kind if necessary to live and will leave for the woods or caves to avoid detection. Now, the two overlap and sometimes are identical. It would just depend on the person about whom we are talking. It would also be in the perception of the person talking to us about prepper/survival subjects.
5. Eisenhower. He was passed over for active for 20+ years because he was a superb organizer and trainer. He stayed in the military to serve his country in whatever way he was needed and finally got his chance for overseas duty. The rest is history.
6. I wish I had known how fast the last ten years would pass and how many significant injuries would slow me down, I would have gotten my PhD, and moved. I would have bought land and planted pecan trees. Okay, I would have planted pecan trees where I live.
7. UN troops invading the US.
8. I was unhappy on a yahoo group and decided to just blog.
9. North Mississippi
10. scrambo got mine. So, here is another joke told to me by my daughter when she was eight. Why don’t people write Washington anymore?
Because he is dead.
11. “We have met the enemy…and He is us.” Pogo
Look at the cartoon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogo_(comic_strip)
September 13, 2012 at 9:40 am
1. What’s the strangest thing you’ve eaten?
I’m pretty tame when it comes to food. That said, I am sure I would eat what I needed to in a survival situation, but snake is probably the strangest thing to date.
2. If you could only own one handgun, would it be a 9mm or .45 caliber?
Tough question, and here is why (personally). Financially, 9mm is the NATO round, therefore abundant for consumption, and relatively inexpensive to procure and expire. However, .45 is a larger round, and if you’re an accurate shot, obviously has a bit more stopping power… Therefore, .45 is not a bad choice either. Ultimately, it is a personal preference, and I choose 9mm right or wrong.
3. What is the most recent book you’ve read?
Unfortunately, I have a stack of them I am in the middle of. One of the most recent, not a prepper or survivalist text, depending on how you spin it was “How Starbucks Saved My Life,” about a guy who lost a high paying advertising job, his spiral to the bottom, and how he got a job at Starbucks, that changed his life perspective. A true story. Pretty good read…
4. Is there a difference in “Prepper” and “Survivalist”?
I think the lines blur depending on where you are geographically. A prepper in an urban area can be considered a survivalist in some respects. My fundamental difference is that a prepper prepares with goods and gear only. A survivalist adds skills to his goods and gear to further his or her prepper lifestyle…
5. Which figure from history do you admire the most?
Thomas Jefferson
6. What is one thing that you know now that you wish you’d known 10 years ago?
The truth about where our country was headed. I was also at a low point in my life with $3,000 in the bank, and moved to NJ where I took a job making less than 1/2 of what I was making in PA where I was living to start my life over. 10 Years ago, I was caught up in the hype of a recovering economy, getting a “better job,” advancing my career, buying a better car, and surviving in a way where I didn’t even see the prepper lifestyle as an option. I was working at my job (and not so well at the time) and wondering how much money I would have to buy food and a couple beers on Friday. I was in a different place in my life.
7. What’s the most likely TEOTWAWKI scenario?
A few weeks ago I would have said UN Troops as Martial Law Police, and the ever looming natural disaster(s) that seem to be increasing at an exponential rate…
8. Why did you begin blogging?
I had no one to talk to about prepping. I thought I was isolated. It was my outlet to people who I hoped were starting to think like me.
9. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
I’m not sure. I have an affinity for the city (bad, I know), and an affinity for the country. I love the ocean, so it is speculative at this juncture. I have been evaluating several different areas recently.
10. What’s your favorite G-rated joke?
Sadly I am bad with jokes. This guy walks into the bar with a duck…
11. What’s your favorite quote?
Nothing of particular seriousness, but here you go:
Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. — Ferris Bueller
“They all have husbands and wives and children and houses and dogs, and, you know, they’ve all made themselves a part of something and they can talk about what they do. What am I gonna say? I killed the president of Paraguay with a fork. How’ve you been?” Martin Blank
“A man should take away not only unnecessary acts, but also unnecessary thoughts, for thus superfluous acts will not follow after.” Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121–180) Roman emperor
“Let’s cut the shit, Walken! I like killing people as much as the next guy, but I signed up to kill the bad ones! Health clinics, trade unionist, journalists, agricultural coops, catholic liberation theologians, impoverished Colombian coffee farmers, these are the barbarians that are brave opponents of civilization? We turned Central America into a fuckin’ graveyard! Whoever momentarily interrupts the acummulation of our wealth, we pulverize! I’m just not feeling good about that anymore, sir! – Brand Hauser
“When one’s young it seems very easy to distinguish between right and wrong. But as one gets older it becomes more difficult. The villains and the heroes get all mixed up.” Rene Mathis
September 17, 2012 at 11:51 am
Thanks for everyone who participated!
Joe
March 16, 2014 at 9:22 pm
1.Coyote
2..45 I like the knockdown power.
3.I am very new to prepping so the closest Ive come to reading a prepper book is Hatchet.
4.Yes
5.Julius Caesar
6.lay off the fats and exercise(I used to be pretty chubby)
7.Economic Collapse
8. Because I needed help beginning to prep. P.S. your blog has really helped.
9.Right Here in Maine
10.Don’t know any
11.”It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark”