Preparing for the worst (Part 1)

Every student learns the magic number 3. Whether you’re an F-15 fighter pilot or a single mom, in a car accident or taking a walk in the park, the number 3 will keep you alive. The Rule of 3 states that you cannot survive:

• 3 SECONDS WITHOUT SPIRIT AND HOPE
• 3 MINUTES WITHOUT AIR
• 3 HOURS WITHOUT SHELTER IN EXTREME CONDITIONS 3 DAYS WITHOUT WATER
• 3 WEEKS WITHOUT FOOD
• 3 MONTHS WITHOUT COMPANIONSHIP OR LOVE
  -The Survivors Club

Now that that "Hurricane" Irene has passed, I think it's time to talk about preparing for bad situations. I got a bunch of questions during that time, so I figure it would be good to put that info out there for everyone. I don't know about most of you, but I've been preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse* for quite some time now. Most of you probably aren't ready for something on that level.

At all.

In fact, most of you probably aren't ready for anything that alters your day-to-day routine or removes certain normally used structure from your lives.

The best survivors understand that normal is just a fleeting state of mind. Indeed normalcy may seem steady and constant, but it’s really just the intermission between the chaos and messiness of life. Survivors accept that life probably won’t ever return to the way it used to be. So they let go, adapt, and embrace the “new normal.”
-The Survivors Club

The first thing to remember is that you CANNOT plan for every eventuality. It's impossible, and trying to do so will leave you unable to do anything, because you'll have too much to deal with. I recommend that you become familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. For a disaster, you need the bottom 2, self-esteem, and problem solving & creativity. We'll get back to this in a moment.

The next step is to build up your level of preparedness from small problems to large. Don't try to plan for a hurricane if you can't tighten the screws on a chair. Amazingly, you'll find that all the things needed for a light emergency are also useful in big one. My first idea for preparing for small problems is to get:

• A hammer
• A Screwdriver and/or a Leatherman
• A flashlight (get more than one, and put one in your car) and spare batteries
• A small, battery powered AM/FM radio.
• First aid materials. At a minimum, be able to deal with small cuts, large wounds, and pain. Tampons can plug small bullet wounds.

For non-prolonged problems and disasters, those items will tide you over until help or emergency services can be obtained.

The next step is to prepare for prolonged problems and disasters. Take the things that you can't do yourself and try to mitigate the effects of what happens when they are gone.

• Can you make electricity? That's what the flashlight is for (maybe you need a generator).
• Have a cow to slaughter? Might want to get a few days worth of food. Technically, if there is a chance of power loss, refrigeration will be lost, so get food that doesn't need it, and requires little to no preparation. A fridge can keep stuff cool for a day after losing power, but only if you don't open it.
• Do you have a well? Get a gallon of water per-day per-person to tide you over. I recommend gallon bottles, and use that to fill a smaller container, rather than but a bunch of bottles, which drives up the cost, or the giant 3-gallon bottles which become hard to move.

Next, prepare for the specific disaster, especially if you know it is coming. You don't need to be an expert, but you need to understand what dangers are there, especially if you know what disaster is coming. For example:

• Wind related? Beware of flying debris and branches that will break windows.
• Water related? Flooding. Evacuate to high ground early.
• Earthquake? Get under a table (Avoid the doorway).
• Fire. You can go the fire-extinguisher route for a kitchen fire , but you're probably better off just getting out of there for forest blazes. Also, regularly clear brush around your house.

Also, as much as the Zombie Survival Guide may seem like a joke, it is actually a very informative book on disaster preparedness and survival, even if you ignore the zombie part.

Another small point is to think of what you need to do in order to be mobile. Occasionally, a disaster will force you to move. Figure out what you will definitely need, what you can actually move, and what may be available on the other end. Don't bring 8 gallons of water if you're moving to somewhere with running water. That's partially why I advocated gallon bottles, and not the huge 3 gallon ones. Also, you probably use sensible footwear (not Army shoes and golf shoes, Andrea).

Lastly, mitigate the chances of problems should a disaster arise. If you have a family, at least make sure basic ideas of the plans are understood. If there is potential for danger, you should at least be aware of it so your brain isn't completely shocked should something go wrong. For example, you know what I do every time I get on a plane? Locate the nearest exit, and listen to the damn flight attendant. You may think they are there for just drinks and peanuts, but they actually do a lot:

When you board a plane, you’re probably accustomed to some friendly banter from the flight attendants. They welcome you, ask where you’re from, and make idle talk about the weather. It may seem like empty chatter, and you may wonder how they can stand saying “Hi, how are you?” to three hundred travelers. But this is serious business. They’re not just being friendly; they’re profiling you. For starters, they’re checking to see whether you’re fit for flying or whether you’re under the influence. They’re also looking for suspicious behavior including clues of terrorist activity. One of their other main objectives is to identify ABPs. In the parlance of flight safety, that means “able-bodied passenger.” In an emergency, ABPs are the ones they call upon for help. Flight attendants are trained to identify ABPs as they board and to keep track of where they are on the plane. ABPs are typically solo travelers. They’re alert, healthy, and physically fit. They’re often wearing clothing that suggests some kind of military, law enforcement, or firefighter training. They’re likely to be in the top 10 percent on John Leach’s 10–80–10 scale.

She’s crunched the numbers on who gets out alive and who doesn’t. When I ask her the bottom line—who survives?—her answer is blunt: “Young, slender men.” Agility and strength make the biggest difference when you’re trying to wriggle through airplane wreckage or slip through a twenty-inch-wide emergency exit.

For instance, most passengers believe you can survive an hour without an oxygen mask after a plane decompresses at high altitude. In fact, you’ve got only a few seconds. They also believe you’ve got thirty minutes to flee a burning plane. In reality, as you’re about to see, you’ve got only ninety seconds... That’s all. Ninety. Any longer and a fire could burn through the aluminum skin of the plane and the cabin temperature will soar to more than two thousand degrees. Soon after, a flashover fire will consume everything. In just ninety seconds, the cabin turns into an inferno. That’s less than the time it probably took to read this page.

You should never drink a beer or a martini before getting on a plane. You should never pop a sleeping pill before flying. You shouldn’t nap or listen to your iPod when you’re rolling down the runway. And you definitely shouldn’t wait for the thud of landing to wake up.
-The Survivors Club

In Part 2, there will be more on situational awareness, and I'll discuss one of the hardest things to be prepared for.

*Just as a quick disclaimer, you can look at the idea of "Zombie Apocalypse" to mean some type of catastrophic, world-altering disaster, in which most infrastructure breaks down. It's easier to think of a "zombie," than it is to imagine that your fellow human has entered a state of survival such that they would be willing to kill you without remorse.

Flashback Friday: Trip to Verona (Italy)

One of the best things about living in Italy was the ability to travel. I wish that I had taken advantage of it more. Maybe later in life, I'll go back to some of these places. Verona was a nice place. Not too touristy. It's also the town where Romeo and Juliet took place.

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Okay, so I've been in for around half an hour, and I am still shivering from my trip to Verona. It was not a bad trip, but sweet Jesus, was it cold. There's an organization called Information, Tours, and Registration (ITR) that runs trips for military personnel, to different places. For all of you that don't know, Verona is the place where the historic story of Romeo and Juliet took place. More on that later.

First off, here are some random pictures of the things that I saw. These really came with no explanation to me, so I'm giving no explanation to you, because I'm too cold to make stuff up.

Okay, so enough random pictures. Now for ones that I can say at least a few words about:

Okay, so it's not historical or anything, but I just had to get a picture. I mean, it's baby yogurt. Probably made from the finest babies available. Soylent Green has nothing on this.

This was just some statue that was around. The guy looked pretty pimped, so I took a picture. Pimping ain't easy.

Okay, these are pictures of the Square and the Coliseum. This coliseum is the fourth largest in Italy, the largest one being the one in Rome, and was constructed in the first century A.D. They hold an annual concert here in the summer. Like the coliseum in Rome, it was designed with an outer wall that surrounded the inner wall, but most of it collapsed due to an earthquake in 1117. Rather than clean it up, the rocks were left there, and it became a quarry for the town, which is why there are no stones there now. The design of the coliseums is such that even if people are screaming and cheering inside, there is almost no noise that can be heard in the Square, which is right outside.

This is the clock tower in Verona. It is the largest tower in the city. It's also pretty close to where Romeo lived. I would have taken a picture of his place, but because of the angles and tight places, all that I could get was his door, and it was a damn big door.

Okay, now for the Juliet stuff.

This is Juliet's balcony. Actually, it is a recreation of the balcony, due to the fact that the actual balcony had been destroyed. This balcony was taken from a similar building and used in the restoration. The girl in the picture on the left was just there.

This is interesting. People come here and stick small love letters and notes up on the wall. Unfortunately, they do it using bubblegum. So it's kind of romantic, kind of unsightly. There's going to be another restoration, where I guess that they will remove all of the gum and stuff.

These are close up picture of two of the letters. The one on the left is sweet, but the one on the right says "Spud, I want your rear." How loving.

This is a side by side shot. On the left, you see a woman writing a note on the wall, along with a bunch of other notes that people have written. On the right, you see a painter, painting the opposite wall white. It was just so funny to see. I mean, I don't know who should feel that their efforts are more futile.

Closeups.

Okay, last but not least, in the courtyard, there is a statue of Juliet. Now the statue's right breast is extremely shiny compared to the rest of the statue. This is because they say that your are supposed to rub it, and it will make you lucky in love, or if you are married, it will strengthen your marriage. Yeah, nothing strengthens a marriage more than rubbing a statue's breast. I assume that it makes single people luckier in love because they now have to justify copping a feel on a statue. And so, it's time for teh gorping pictures:

And that concludes my trip to Verona. Maybe I'll do it again when it's warmer.

Get with the Program

There was a time when I couldn't be bothered to sign up for a store's program. I still have no idea why. We've all bee there:

Cashier: Do you have a Store Program card?

Me: No.

Cashier: Would you

Me: No.

Hell, sometimes I say "Nope" in the correct tone for the first question, and I don't even have to bother with the second.

I mean, it's one thing if you have to pay to be in a program. Rarely is there a program that I will use enough that cost of entry will be greatly eclipsed by the savings (BJ's and Sams Club are examples where you win). Also, at some of these places, the prices are so high that even with the discount, it's cheaper to shop somewhere else. An example of this would be GNC (I recommend shopping at http://www.advantagesupplements.com) or Best Buy (only if I need something right now, otherwise online, get your cables at MonoPrice, and do other shopping online).

My thinking now is, if I'm going to spend money, I might as well do whatever I can to stretch the value of my dollar. I use only my credit card, and shop through links from my bank's website, because I can get more cash back. I'm currently working on a free trip to Japan, thanks to frequent flyer miles (and would probably be there if I had joined the programs earlier).

Anyway, now I'm part of so many programs that I have trouble keeping track of them. The hardest part is all of those stupid cards. If I could find some way to consolidate them into one easy to carry item, I would. Maybe I can create a card of bar codes just for that purpose.

Wayback Wednesday: National Strike Day & the new apartment in Italy

This post originally appeared on November 30, 2004. It was my introduction to the lazy life of the Italian in Italy. I mean, this is just the tip of the iceberg, because over the next 3 years, I would suffer to many more mildly inconveniences. This also contains the first pictures of my apartment.

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After a workout that enhanced both my abs and my abs, I went to the chow hall to get some breakfast, and found that only paper plates and plastic utensils were being used today. Why? Because the Italians are taking a day off for, (stop drinking anything) NATIONAL STRIKE DAY!!! I have yet to visit a lazier country than Italy. Seriously, this country should have a national Go do your damn job day, in which work actually gets done. In case you missed an earlier post, let me enlighten you. The typical Italian business opens at 1000, and stays open until 1200. From 1200 until 1500 (that’s 3 hours or 300 hours for you military people), most businesses are closed, except for restaurants. That’s because the Italians like to take their time for lunch. I mean, you have to since every meal is required to have a minimum of 4 courses, plus wine. So the store reopens at 1500 and stays open until 1800. That means these people have a 5 hour workday (unless you work in a restaurant, in which case, you stay open for long periods, because people take forever to eat). Also, never count on a business being open on a Sunday. Lastly, businesses are required to be closed for one day of the week, which varies from business to business. So that comes out to being open for 5 days a week, 5 hours a day, for a 25-hour work week. I think this country needs a National “We lost World War 2, so we should speak English” day.

Okay, so then it rains all day. Surprisingly, this is also the day where I have to do a lot of walking outside. You feel kind of bad when you have to walk to a place in sideways falling rain, and notice that one half of your uniform is a lot wetter than another side. However, you feel better when you realize that it will all even out when you walk back in the other direction. Damn Infantry. I'm a man, who can't wear rain gear because of my branch. Most people in the Infantry don't acknowledge that it exists, unless you have to spend a long period standing in the rain. Also, if it’s just YOU that have to be in the rain, you don't wear the wet weather gear, or you'll be called various 4 and 5-letter words, mostly in jest.

I was promoted today to First Lieutenant (1LT). Technically, my date of rank is 1 December (and so is Eddie's, Heather). It just means that I get a pay raise ($343.40 per month, plus the 3% pay raise at the start of the year thanks to cost of living) to spend money on new rank, and that I've been commissioned for 18 months. No real changes. 6 months until my next pay raise (2 years in the army means another raise of 362.40 a month, or $705.80 more than I currently make). Combat will mean that I'll have to pay no income taxes for a year.

Lastly, I had to go out to my apartment to have it inspected before I move in, so I took some pictures while I was there:

This is my Kitchen area. Note that the stove is kind of small. That’s just how it is in Italy. I have no idea why, especially when they cook such large meals. The fridge hides away, looking like a cabinet and tricking hungry thieves into thinking that I have no leftovers. The last picture is the view from the Kitchen.

This is my large bathroom, and the shower. I didn't include a view from the bathroom, because no one really looks out of the bathroom window. Maybe I should have checked to see is there might be someone looking in. Maybe I could charge for shows.

This is the small bathroom. And,... um,... yeah.

This is the small bedroom. It is where other will be sleeping, unless there is some reason they want to share the large bed (lightning, etc.). The last pic is the view (in case your perspective is off, that is not a wall behind the trees. It's an open field or something. Look at the distance on that view.

This is the big bedroom, aka My Room. That is my bed, and a picture of me taking a picture. Once again, the view. There's a third room, but there was nothing in it, so I took now pictures of it.

This is half of the living room. I forgot to take a picture of the other half of it, which is where the couch and two comfort seats (I think that's what you call them) are. Finally, this is the view from the window. The first pic is what's to the left, the second is straight ahead, and the last is what's to the right. Now you may be asking, "How much does this cost?" 850 euro a month, which is a little over $1,000. Now, guess how much the Army give me for rent, ON TOP OF my paycheck: 850 euro (non-taxable income). Can you say free housing? I know I can.

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Flashback: Inprocessing in Italy

Like I said last time, I would be reposting some of the best stuff from my old blog. I'm going to make this on Monday's (Memory Mondays?). Honestly, the day of the week that this will happen will be based on what say I believe will give the best name (e.g. Time Machine Tuesdays, Wayback Wednesdays, Flashback Fridays). I'm actually trying to figure out which day is the most boring. Ok, I've decided. Once a week, in the middle somewhere, with one of those names (also Time Machine Thursdays).

This was originally posted on November 8, 2004, and was around the time that I arrived at my first duty station in Italy. After 3 years there, I can't say that my perception changed much. However, if you got away from the base, you could partake of some fun stuff.

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Holy crap, I'm tired. And it's only 1355 (that's 1:55 PM for you civilians). The jet lag must be hitting me pretty damn hard. Either that, or it could be because I didn't go to bed until 0130, and then woke up at 0525. Maybe it's because I had that Grande Soft Taco from Taco Bell, and my body doesn't know how to deal with that much food.

Today was pretty interesting. We started it off by having a health and welfare inspection for knives. Apparently a soldier went downtown with a huge knife on him, and there was some kind of incident. So all of the leadership had to go and search all of the rooms for knives, which would then be tagged and stored in out arms room. Can you believe it? Thy're taking knives away from the Infantry. It's funny because my platoon alone is issued 40mm grenade launchers (imagine a machine gun that shoots grenades), 50 caliber machine guns, 7.62 M240B machine guns (7.62 or .308 for you civilians), Squat Automatic Wapons, and enough ammunition to level a small town.

BUT, we can't have knives. I mean you should see the stuff that some soldiers had. There were a couple of tomahawks, switchblades, and my favorite, knives with blades 8 inches and larger. Hell, I heard one guy in Iraq basically carried around a katana on his back.
On a lighter note, today started the first day of official inprocessing. This is a huge part of why I'm sleepy. Some of the classes are interesting. I've learned that in Italy

1. Recycling is part of the law, and the fine is HUGE.
2. Italy is about one-third the size of Florida, yet has a population of 60 million, and it's very packed.
3. The Pope is apparently mad with Northern Italy for having lots of sex for purposes other than procreation.
4. Apparently, this place is the "World capital of fashion", which is supposed to explain why the guys dress like they're gay, and the women refuse to wear anything except pointy shoes with heels (apparently some refuse to wear a pair of tennis shoes).
5. It's not uncommon to see women walking around holding hands, or walking arm in arm. Apparently. the Italians are very physical, and have no idea about what personal space is. Apparently, it's not uncommen to see a father-son combo walking with arms linked, either. This seems to go "hand in hand" with the way that they dress.
6. Italian drivers SUCK. Seriously. Imagine the worse driving you have ever seen. No imagine a whole country drives like that. Welcome to Italy. There are almost no lights for crossing the streets. Pedistrians just eventually cross when the chances of death are minimized.

If there's one thing that I have definately learned at these briefings, it's that if you're married, you have a whole assload of paperword to do. This has led me to a couple of conclusions about a few choices in life:

1. While in Italy, don't get married to someone in the US who will want to come over to Italy and live with you.
2. Don't marry a native Italian woman, because that will only lead to more paperwork.
3. If you are married and your family stays in the US, you can bank off pretty well on the fact that the army will pay you to compensate for rent back in the states where your family is, AND what your housing costs here.

Lastly, I learned not to make a Voltron reference when the Company Commander is talking about Brigade Combat Teams and says "and it's all modular, so you can combine them and they form together," all while making some kind of combining motion with his hands.