Podcast

  Waiting until disaster season is like waiting for the snowstorm to buy chains: you end up in the same line as everyone else, hoping there’s anything left. I’m Bill Bateman from Refuse to be a Victim Personal Protection Training in Southern Oregon, and I use August to get people ready for National Preparedness Month before September hits and interest spikes overnight.

We walk through what FEMA’s Ready campaign gets right about emergency preparedness: know your local risks, write down a family emergency plan, and build an emergency supply kit you can actually use. I talk through practical questions that make a plan real, like how you’ll reconnect if you’re separated, what happens when roads are blocked, and why your first plan should be expected to fail so Plan B is already built in. We also get specific about go bags, evacuation essentials, and why training like first aid and CPR turns “stuff” into real capability.

Then we zoom out to the bigger shift I’m seeing in the prepping mindset. The old benchmark was two to three days of supplies, then it became two weeks. Now we’re talking about 30 days of self-sufficiency, and that includes the uncomfortable scenario most people skip: what if the caregiver or family leader gets hurt? I also share ways to learn more through structured classes, including OLLI at SOU, a City of Phoenix overview program on September 30, and prep-focused sessions at the range (all with advance registration). We finish with a quick update on USCCA resources, concealed carry training expectations, and how our women’s class scheduling works.

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