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The Time in Between the Moments, by Paul G.
So you are a prepper. You have trained yourself for survival, bought survival gear, and built up personal survival items not only for yourself, but for your family as well. You’re even thinking about how to improve your plans, modify your techniques, and seek continuing to educate yourself with additional survival skills. Then TEOTWAWKI situation happens and everything goes to heck for a day, a week, or maybe even your lifetime. There could be an economic collapse with looting situations, severe weather scenarios causing mass casualties, natural disasters wiping out the power grid, or you may even be in an unfortunate car accident. TEOTWAWKI may last for weeks or may only last for a minute. Whatever happens, you have to move from being a person in preparation into a person of action in a fraction of a second’s time. Are you ready? What is more important is that are you ready for the time in between the moments one must push him or herself from being a prepper into being a doer?
My experience with “time in between the moments” came as a result of my experience being an Iraq War veteran during my deployment in 2004. I was in the 1544th Transportation Company in the Army National Guard unit out of Paris, Illinois. My job or “preparations” was suppose to be a petroleum specialist, but soon I found myself in force protection, as combat life saver, and a mechanic as the needs of the army determined what I needed to be at the time. Before deployment, I was working as a special education teacher in a small rural community and already had the mentality of always continuing my education like must educators do and try to foster in their students. When called to active service, I spent even more time preparing during winter months in Wisconsin for service in the deserts of Iraq! I dedicated myself to learn more about combat life saving, mechanic skills, physical training, and other land navigation skills. I was prepping. I was a prepper. I thought I was prepared. I made the mistake of thinking that prepping was all there was to do for survival. I was wrong. The life lesson I learned and wish to pass to you the reader is preparing is what is to be done when you’re safe, in times of peace, and there is civility between you and your neighbors. Survival is not prepping. Survival is what you have to do with your preparations, skill set, and God given talents.
My company was not even in country “so to speak” for 24 hours when mortar rounds dropped on Log Base Seitz and we lost a very brave soldier that day. Sgt. Phipps was a great inspiration as he was the one of the few soldiers who preached to everyone that we needed to be ready and prepared for what we had in store for us in Iraq and unfortunately he was the very first casualty (eventually the company would lose four more young and brave soldiers).
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