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Prepped to Survive: Prepared or Paranoid?

Prepped to Survive: Prepared or Paranoid?

Released Monday, 2nd December 2024
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Prepped to Survive: Prepared or Paranoid?

Prepped to Survive: Prepared or Paranoid?

Prepped to Survive: Prepared or Paranoid?

Prepped to Survive: Prepared or Paranoid?

Monday, 2nd December 2024
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0:00

Doo-do-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo. DUM!

0:03

Hey, I'm Mike Rowe, and I've got nothing against celebrities. In

0:06

fact, I just interviewed Rob Lowe Jason Alexander

0:08

and they were terrific, but usually I interview

0:10

people you've never heard of. The plumber makes grand

0:12

a year. grand a year, the first responders

0:14

who risk their lives to save complete and

0:16

total strangers, and the mad scientists who

0:18

are about to change the world with a

0:20

better mousetrap. Those are the kinds of people

0:22

I usually interview on the way I

0:24

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0:26

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finance agreement due. I am

1:00

prepping for solar flares, asteroids, government fallout, because

1:02

our government is going to collapse. You're

1:04

not prepping for a power outage

1:06

or some bad weather. You're

1:08

prepping doomsday. I have a fortress where

1:10

I'll be able to survive. I'm

1:13

prepped to withstand almost every

1:15

event besides the end of

1:17

time. You have AR-15s, 15 block

1:19

50 AR -15s, 15 block, 19s,

1:21

AK -47s. When does

1:23

being prepared turn to paranoia?

1:35

Well, well, well, tonight

1:37

are diving into bunkers, sifting

1:39

through stockpiles and discussing

1:43

why America leads the

1:45

world in doomsday

1:47

prepping. Now

1:50

once considered paranoid, cultish, conspiracy

1:52

theorists, doomsday preppers have

1:54

become mainstream. In

1:57

fact, roughly 33 %

2:00

of Americans now identify as

2:02

being preppers, up from

2:04

only 6 % 15 years

2:06

ago. This begs the question,

2:08

with growing political divide,

2:10

mistrust in our government, reaching

2:12

a fever pitch, and

2:15

many who believe that the

2:17

armed conflicts in the

2:19

Ukraine, Israel, and tensions between

2:21

China and Taiwan would

2:23

lead to World War III

2:25

are preppers to smart

2:28

ones. When does being prepared

2:30

turn to paranoia? And

2:32

where is the line

2:34

between practical emergency readiness and

2:36

unhealthy hoarding and fear?

2:39

Now, my first guests, Landon

2:41

and Amanda, say they're

2:43

prepping their family to survive

2:45

these apocalyptic times. Take

2:47

a look. I'm

2:49

not prepping for doomsday. We're not

2:51

gonna be here. I'm prepping

2:53

up until doomsday. I'm surviving the

2:55

end of times, because they

2:57

are coming. Look at Noah's Ark,

2:59

they got on the boat.

3:01

I am prepping for solar flares,

3:03

asteroids, government fallout, because our

3:05

government's gonna collapse. This

3:07

upcoming year, I believe we are gonna

3:09

have total anarchy in the United States

3:11

of America. Look at

3:13

our border, it's broke. We are getting invaded.

3:17

So for about two years, I was

3:19

designing my own bunker for West

3:21

Virginia. I ran across VEVOS shelters. It's

3:23

like a five -star underground hotel. It

3:25

gives us a safe place to

3:27

go, and a peace of mind for

3:29

us and the kids. I

3:32

have a gun room at my home.

3:34

Can't get in there without your fingerprint.

3:36

My gun collection is probably worth from

3:38

about $160 mind $200 ,000, and it ranges from

3:40

pistols to ARs to Oozies. I got

3:42

a Tommy gun, squadron automatic weapon, which

3:44

is a saw that is actually a

3:46

belt -fed gun, so you can shoot more

3:48

rounds if you're going into a large

3:50

crowd. Look at 17 cameras in my house.

3:52

Five are just in the one room,

3:54

and all my stuff's kept together. Everything's

3:57

locked up. I have a military vehicle.

3:59

I'm not going to be driving a Kia

4:01

Soul. I'm going to be driving a

4:03

fortified truck that I can smash through

4:05

things And and to have my family with

4:07

me and other friends and we're all

4:09

going to have AR -15s. If something

4:11

was to happen, we would pack

4:13

up as quickly as we

4:15

can and load the truck up

4:17

and drive to Indiana. Before

4:20

I started prepping I was always anxious.

4:22

Now when I see that I know

4:24

I have a plan. And

4:27

prepping gives me peace of mind. Landon,

4:31

Amanda, thank you both for being here.

4:33

Now, you guys are not prepping

4:35

for a power outage or some bad

4:37

weather. You're prepping doob's day, true?

4:39

True, but there could be multiple events.

4:41

I'm not so much prepping for

4:43

the apocalypse because we're not going be

4:45

here for that. I'm prepping for

4:48

all the events that are gonna happen

4:50

before then. You said I.

4:52

you're with him on this, right? weren't

4:54

at first, but you are now. I

4:56

am now, yes. So body on

4:58

a hundred percent. Yes. Do you think

5:00

that this is going to happen? I'm

5:02

not really sure I hope it doesn't

5:04

I mean something definitely gonna happen. We

5:06

don't know when. We don't

5:09

know the hour, but it's better be

5:11

safe than sorry. Anybody will say that

5:13

at some level you should have flashlights

5:15

and drinking water and certain things around

5:17

your house, but you've gone way beyond

5:19

that. And you say it's not the

5:21

apocalyptic event, like if a nuclear bomb

5:23

has dropped, you say we're not going

5:26

survive that, right? Not if it hits

5:28

our home, no. But let's just say

5:30

a new kits in Israel. Let's just

5:32

say Russia bombs Israel, I'm gone. I'm

5:34

not waiting. And I have

5:36

a fortress where I'll be able to survive.

5:38

So the bunkers in people's backyards, they're

5:40

only going withstand certain events. I'm prepped to

5:42

withstand almost every event besides the end

5:45

of time. And how far do y 'all

5:47

live from the bunker? We're in

5:49

Florida, so that's in Indiana.

5:52

Wouldn't you want to get something a little

5:54

closer? I've thought about it. But these kind

5:56

of bunkers we have, they're built by the

5:58

United States Army Corps Avenger. They were World

6:00

War II shelters that were built. Yeah.

6:03

How long long it take you to get there? 15.

6:06

15 hours probably. could take longer. could take two days depending

6:09

on how bad I mean what I've done is

6:11

I took a map I did three different

6:13

ways to get there. That's why you got

6:15

the truck. 100%, yep.

6:17

My percentages of surviving went

6:19

up tremendously. You got parked

6:22

at the house? That's parked at the shop.

6:24

Oh, okay. You don't want that parked that parked

6:26

the out. yard. your hard drive. ha, ha,

6:28

ha. don't think would go

6:30

for part of the house. You

6:33

have a lot of guns. Yes,

6:36

quite a few. You have to

6:38

50 AR-15s and 15 50 AR -15s and

6:40

15 Glock 19s, AK-47s, bulletproof vests.

6:43

that to shoot at an invading army or

6:45

is that to hold off the neighbors

6:47

who are now desperate? I buy a

6:49

lot of the same stuff, because

6:51

we are going to have a lot of people that

6:53

are coming with us, my family. So everybody's going to get

6:55

a gun. Everybody's going to get a pistol when we get

6:57

to the bunker. not shoots guns. We're going to want to

6:59

train them. We're going to want

7:01

to give them a gun gun because one guy

7:03

can't. survive. You gotta

7:05

be. stronger together than a

7:07

part. Yeah, and like neighbors aren't doing

7:09

all this. No, they don't even know I do

7:12

it. it. They do did now. Not

7:14

at all. ha, ha, ha. cat's out of

7:16

the bag. I I

7:19

hate to tell you, but you see

7:21

these squares around here. ha, is are

7:23

continuing Those are cameras and hooked to satellite. It's actually

7:25

a good thing. I mean, you watch the

7:27

news, look at what's going on on our border.

7:29

We're getting invaded. This is a good plan

7:31

to have. Everybody should have this plan. All

7:33

right, look, look, gonna take a break. before

7:35

we go to break, I wanna ask each

7:37

of our audience members a question. You have

7:39

a voting device under your seat, so grab that.

7:42

So after watching so far, What

7:44

kind of prepper are you? You

7:46

have four choices. One, I'm

7:48

I'm not. Two, I I

7:50

have an emergency kit and

7:52

some food supplies. Three, I I

7:54

have a bug out plan And and four,

7:56

I have a a bunker. Which

7:58

one is closest? in

8:00

describing you. Results

8:03

are in. 51 .6

8:05

are option number one,

8:07

which is I'm not

8:09

a prepper at all.

8:11

Number two was I

8:13

have an emergency kit and

8:15

some food supplies. 40 % of

8:18

you were that choice. 6 .7 %

8:20

says I have a a bug

8:22

bag and a multiple month supply

8:24

of food. And 1 .3 of

8:26

you said I have a

8:28

a bunker. We're talk about this

8:30

more. All right, we'll be right back. Well,

8:33

national surveys reveal that of

8:35

Americans Americans are stockpiling food,

8:37

water, guns, ammunition to

8:39

prepare to survive what they

8:41

see as the inevitable

8:43

downfall of this country. Now,

8:46

and Amanda say they

8:48

shares in a 10

8:50

,000 square foot, two story underground

8:53

shelter that looks

8:55

like a really four hotel.

8:58

I was on the couch and I turned to

9:00

my wife and said, hey, I don't believe it,

9:02

but I found a luxury five hotel underground

9:04

bunker. It's called Vevos, Indiana. Next thing you

9:06

know, we're hotel flying out and doing a

9:08

tour of the bunker. We have a security

9:10

team, we have doctors, we we doing have

9:12

nurses, we can perform surgeries, we can grow

9:14

plants for salads and tomatoes underground. We

9:16

have enough food to feed 80 people for

9:18

two years, but if everybody doesn't come up,

9:20

that could be five or eight years.

9:22

You have to talk to doctors because you

9:24

don't want to get somebody who has

9:26

a mental disorder and they go down there

9:28

and tear everybody apart. We'll

9:31

have a jail down there for that reason. I

9:34

was shocked. Landon kept reassuring me, is gonna

9:36

be okay. You You know, this is where we're

9:38

gonna go if something is to ever happen.

9:40

I put in a total of $172,000 ,000

9:43

to purchase this underground shelter. It

9:45

is expensive, but there's no price

9:48

too high to be able to

9:50

protect our family. Cyber

9:55

Monday is here, and so are amazing deals at Amazon, you'll

9:57

save so much on holiday. it gifts the

9:59

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10:02

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10:04

a sauce pot so you can make

10:06

your mom's famous gravy recipe. Yeah. Or

10:09

at least try to, or that cutlery set,

10:11

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that you have is not just Not

10:59

just... kind of

11:01

a storage facility underground. You're

11:03

talking about four foot walls, right?

11:05

I mean, this is substantial. It

11:07

It this could withstand a

11:09

20 kiloton blast, not

11:11

a direct hit, of

11:14

course, but it could

11:16

withstand a substantial event. And

11:19

you say 80 people would be in this one?

11:21

Yes. If they can get there. If

11:23

they can get there. If they get there.

11:26

They're spread all over over United States. There's

11:28

still shares left. Was this expensive to buy

11:30

a a share? $25 ,000 is

11:32

what I got into it for per

11:34

share. Okay, and per share

11:36

is a person? it's a person. Per

11:38

person. Okay, and are you required

11:40

to bring your own supplies? You're

11:42

not required, but it's it's beneficial. know,

11:44

we can only stock so much,

11:46

but most definitely like you get

11:49

your own room and there's

11:51

families. We want families. We don't want

11:53

single people. We want people who got

11:55

sets. But no single men? No,

11:57

not at all. Why? that

12:00

cause too, That's not what we're looking for

12:02

in there. That would just cause chaos.

12:04

I wouldn't be accepted, right? You

12:06

might. You and your wife. Well,

12:08

you don't like older people.

12:11

That doesn't bother me. But they're

12:13

not preferred in this community. It's

12:15

kind of like Noah's Ark, They had

12:18

the boat. They had they had everything in there.

12:20

We allow the pets. and our goal

12:22

is to repopulate if something happens.

12:24

That is the vision here in this

12:26

exact shelter. And everybody has to bring

12:28

something to the table. Yes, Yes,

12:30

100%. To repopulate and so they're gonna

12:33

have sets and bring supplies

12:35

and have something to contribute.

12:37

Of course. Yeah. What

12:39

made you uncomfortable about this

12:41

at first? I've never

12:43

been into, weapons and, know, weapons

12:45

and I'm not into

12:48

the worldly news and stuff.

12:50

So when I met Landon

12:52

he was into all that,

12:54

it just sorta, was

12:56

nervous. And I was like, okay, how

12:58

am I I gonna with this? But I did,

13:01

we've been together been years years, and just sorta

13:03

came naturally, but it was, you know,

13:05

scary at first. Have you become proficient in

13:07

firearms? Not

13:09

yet, no. no. Not yet? Does

13:11

bother you, scare you? It

13:13

does, yes. yes. And I asked

13:15

are these firearms to fight

13:17

off an invading army or are

13:19

they to fight off people

13:22

that didn't prepare and get in and

13:24

breathe the air and eat the

13:26

groceries and all that you've

13:28

prepared for? Those weapons

13:30

are to fight off any intruder. It could

13:32

be an army. Maybe our army goes against

13:34

this, I don't know. That's in problem. the But

13:36

it could be your neighbors. It could be

13:39

your neighbors. Could be anybody, yeah. Because you

13:41

got 200 guns down there including a

13:43

tripod, belt -fed machine

13:45

gun. I'm wondering who you're gonna shoot at.

13:47

That's more to get to the place. So

13:49

we go through, I mean, if you, anarchy, the

13:51

in New York, you see that kind

13:53

of stuff? Could you imagine our family and

13:55

our children and that military vehicle coming through

13:57

Atlanta and people are trying to get in

13:59

the vehicle. vehicle, that's what it's used for. I'm

14:02

gonna be out of my neighborhood pretty

14:04

quick because our community, we have a

14:06

network and an email network, so when

14:08

things happen, we have people that are within

14:10

the Army Corps that they still work with

14:12

the Marines. So they let us know, hey

14:14

look what's going on in Israel. So

14:16

we can leave when we want. Landon

14:18

says prepping is a man thing and

14:20

he spoon feeds information to Amanda because Women

14:23

do not grasp prepping

14:25

and scare easily. So I'm curious

14:27

what Robin's thoughts are on

14:29

that. I'll ask

14:31

her when we come back. My squadron

14:33

weapon is a belt -fed gun. So if

14:36

you need to do crowd control,

14:38

that is one of my biggest

14:40

pieces in my prepping, my survival. Sometimes

14:43

watch Landon, he'll get one

14:45

of his guns unloaded obviously,

14:47

and then Grayson will

14:49

have Nerf guns they will just

14:51

run through the house and pretend like they're

14:53

in a a war. They're playing but they're also

14:55

learning at the same time. And this

14:57

truck is made to go through

14:59

just about anything. it's not

15:01

computerized, it can experience an EMP

15:03

blast, this big beast here

15:06

will run. for Prepping gives

15:08

me more peace of mind than

15:10

anything else. Tonight

15:13

we're talking about prepping for

15:15

an apocalyptic event. And I'm

15:17

here with Landon and Amanda, who

15:20

recently bought $4 ,000

15:22

worth of food. for

15:24

their underground bunker. How

15:27

much is $4 of food worth of

15:29

food in terms of length of

15:31

time it would sustain? So

15:33

it's MREs that I purchased to bring

15:35

to the bunker you can literally eat

15:37

one and and last you all day.

15:39

Yeah, have you eaten any of these?

15:43

I tried some. It

15:45

It horrible. They're not

15:47

the best. Gag a

15:49

gag a maggot? It was pretty gross, but

15:51

I mean if I had to, you know,

15:53

that was what I had to eat or survive,

15:55

I definitely would. You do it. You say you have to

15:58

spoon this. to

16:00

women in general, because they don't

16:02

grasp this. Would

16:04

you, what? I'm

16:07

already offended. What

16:11

do you think about that? Well,

16:13

I am offended. I I

16:15

really resent the fact that

16:17

you were spoon feeding the information that

16:19

affected our entire family and

16:21

our life and and future. So

16:24

no, I would not like that. You

16:26

wouldn't want to be spoon fed? No, no. Information

16:29

about our future and survival? I would actually want to

16:31

know more than you did, because

16:34

we're in this together. So

16:36

I want to know everything

16:38

that's going on, because, again, we're

16:40

a team, and it affects our

16:43

family, our future. So no,

16:45

I want to know everything. I can

16:47

handle it. Um. I

16:53

bet all I I gather, she's a better

16:55

shot than you are. She's

17:00

very firearms proficient. That's good. I'll ask

17:02

the women in the crowd, would you

17:04

want to know what was going on

17:06

straight up? Yeah. Raise hand if

17:08

you would. Yeah.

17:11

could you handle it? Yes.

17:14

Yeah, I mean, are there specific things you

17:16

haven't told her? Yeah, a lot about the wars

17:18

just everything that makes me do what I

17:20

do. And that's what I, like tried to talk

17:22

to people in my family. This is why

17:24

I have this feeling, because they just don't want

17:26

hear it. Oh, I'm just, I I

17:28

don't want to hear that. Well, you Well, you need to, look

17:30

going on. Well, apparently you don't need to because

17:32

you're not telling her. Well, I've tried to talk to

17:34

her and I just don't want to scare. her. Yeah,

17:36

you have one of those, what do

17:39

you call them? televisions? Yes.

17:42

I watch the every night. And I watch

17:44

a little bit with them too. Yeah,

17:46

because you can gather information and

17:48

you can go to the internet and gather

17:50

even more information. Some of it's even

17:53

true. If I were you, I'd want

17:55

to know what the hell was on

17:57

with it. If you have children, right? Absolutely.

17:59

And you. You're to protect them and

18:01

know what's going on. But of the of-

18:03

stuff is scary that's going on in

18:05

this world with our borders and our

18:07

wars going on and our government

18:10

with each other. She's listening.

18:12

No, No, I know, and I've

18:14

listened and I've learned over

18:16

the years, but but I've I

18:20

mean, do I, I guess more, like I don't

18:22

want something to happen. So

18:24

I'm trying not to believe, you

18:26

know, like could

18:28

happen, you you know. It's real. If It's something's happen,

18:30

we just don't know when. Could be this year,

18:33

it could happen, be next year. It's

18:35

better to be prepared and it's better to have a

18:37

good solid plan. Know where

18:39

you're going. Solid foundation, food,

18:42

weapons, ammunition to

18:44

support your family and where you're going.

18:46

Are you prepared to shoot the neighbors

18:48

if need be? I

18:50

have used a gun before, yes.

18:52

I mean. But But the neighbors. No,

18:54

if I No, if I to, yes, I

18:56

could. Okay, you would shoot the neighbors

18:58

if you needed to. If I

19:00

had to, yeah. Well, you 'all are gonna

19:02

be popular on your street when you get home. No, if I

19:05

know what you're saying. If If comes down

19:07

to it, you have to protect your

19:09

family. Yeah. All right, next

19:12

gonna talk to a former

19:14

military intelligence officer who says

19:16

he started his own survival

19:18

community and above ground bunkers.

19:20

Because if the president and

19:22

Congress kept safe in a

19:24

doomsday scenario, why can't average

19:26

Americans as well? We're gonna

19:28

meet him when we come back. Dr.

19:31

Drew Miller spent over 20

19:33

years as a military intelligence

19:35

officer specializing in threat assessment

19:37

to the U .S. He

19:39

says he started prepping individually realized

19:42

that for his family to

19:44

survive, he needed a community.

19:47

So he started Fortitude Ranch 10

19:49

years ago. Take a look. I'd

19:52

served in the Air Force on

19:54

duty as an intelligence officer. As

19:56

intelligence officer, we track threats and

19:59

the threats actually increasing. We powers

20:01

that can make a threat

20:03

more so in the bioweapons era

20:05

today. That's really a much

20:07

bigger threat than war. Bad guys

20:09

can more lethal viruses. Modify

20:12

H5N1, for example. When H5N1

20:14

becomes human -human transmissible, a a billion

20:16

may die of the virus. More

20:18

will die from the collapse

20:20

that results. When you're starving,

20:22

you'll do what's necessary to keep you

20:25

and your family alive. And a lot

20:27

of people, if necessary, will kill to

20:29

survive. I've

20:32

been a prepper for about years. years.

20:34

I looked into survival communities. so set

20:36

up Fortitude Ranch as an organized

20:38

survival community business. I've been with Fortitude

20:40

Ranch. We started it up a

20:42

little over a decade ago. Our

20:45

staff is largely former military people, a over lot

20:47

of former law enforcement officers. And the collapse

20:49

on that occurs, we'll go through a a

20:51

lot more weapons training and defending behind our walls

20:53

practice. We have now a big group to

20:55

raise food, guard the compound, keep everyone

20:57

alive so we can survive a long collapse.

20:59

The reason we don't like to be all

21:02

underground is because there's a virus going

21:04

around. You could all die from the virus.

21:06

You can't just hide out in a bunker.

21:08

There's really no downside to prepping. And

21:10

the upside is it can save your life.

21:12

There's a lot of bad things that I

21:14

think could happen this year, but you

21:16

need to get started right away. If you're

21:19

not prepared and a collapse occurs, then you're

21:21

going to have to suffer the consequences, which

21:23

could be death for you and your

21:25

family. Drew,

21:28

Drew, you say there

21:30

are over 50 scenarios

21:32

where the U .S.

21:34

collapses. What's on the short Filler,

21:36

Filler is over 50 that we track

21:38

threats, and any threat that's really bad

21:40

could lead to a collapse, meaning the

21:43

economy of not functioning, widespread loss of

21:45

law and order. The one that's worried me

21:47

the most is bioengineering. So H5N1,

21:49

which is still called avian or bird flu,

21:51

you shouldn't call it that anymore.

21:53

Right now, if you were to catch

21:55

H5N1, it's 60% lethal. it's 60 %

21:57

lethal. So it's nothing like COVID -19.

22:00

And when that happens, no one's going to

22:02

work. There's not going to be be food

22:04

production or delivery. People will start starving. They're

22:06

going to start looting and stealing to survive. And

22:08

that occurs, but it's not just bioengineering.

22:11

Our electric system is a disaster

22:13

waiting to happen. It's the Achilles of

22:15

the United States. And all our

22:17

enemies know it. Artificial intelligence. I mean, mean,

22:19

Elon Musk and folks like that,

22:21

every day they're talking about the

22:24

artificial intelligence threat. We have municipal

22:26

water systems and we're highly vulnerable

22:28

to the collapse. And government is doing absolutely

22:30

nothing to prepare for it

22:32

other than protecting themselves. aren't

22:35

even warned that, hey, you need to

22:37

get prepared. Our government is grossly irresponsible.

22:40

So do you think people should do about

22:42

this? One, I

22:44

would encourage your government to require

22:47

them to harden the electric grid. They've

22:49

had decades to do it, haven't yet. There

22:51

was an effort in Texas last

22:53

year to get the Texas grid

22:55

hardened. Those introduced, speaker got it

22:57

killed. This former chief of staff

22:59

is a lobbyist for the utility industry.

23:01

This happens over and over again. Legislators,

23:03

priority is getting reelected, not working

23:05

to prepare us to survive a

23:07

disaster. And I'm in

23:09

favor of term limits as a result.

23:11

We need to stop elected officials focusing on

23:13

reelection. should come in for one term, do

23:16

the job of protecting us and get

23:18

out of office. That's one change

23:20

I would like to see made. One

23:22

of my theories is that we have people

23:24

in charge of solving problems. that

23:27

aren't really interested in solving the problem.

23:30

because they solve the problem, and

23:32

they're out of a job. North

23:34

Korea today could take down

23:36

the US electric grid. All they need

23:38

is one long ICBM. They've got

23:40

them. Necroepin does blast, thermal radiation. These

23:43

were designed to have maximum EMP

23:45

output. So a small yield. weapon

23:48

North Korea growing off basically anywhere over

23:50

the U .S. at a wide range latitudes.

23:52

It doesn't have to be accurate. It

23:54

can take down our electric grid for

23:56

at least a year, possibly several years.

23:58

It seems to me that if we... we

24:00

put real incentives on

24:02

solving some of

24:04

these problems that

24:07

get the problem solved. Well, we're

24:09

gonna take a break, and so

24:11

can all be depressed. We

24:14

We back, Drew's gonna tell us

24:16

more about why he started

24:18

Fortitude Ranch. And I

24:20

also wanna hear why he thinks

24:22

Landon's underground bunker could very well

24:25

be a death trap. Not a

24:27

safe zone. We'll be right back. Drew

24:30

says that Fortitude Ranch

24:32

was built and priced for

24:34

middle -class families as a

24:37

place for people to

24:39

get to to survive. Fortitude

24:41

Ranch is not a

24:43

location. There are many,

24:46

correct? Yes, sir. How many? We

24:48

have seven now operating in the are the U.S. more

24:50

coming We're franchising now to open up more

24:52

rapidly. If there's a pandemic, people aren't

24:54

gonna go to nuclear reactors to

24:56

turn them off and you don't just turn

24:58

the key is, you know, that water has

25:00

to keep flowing. have a lot

25:02

of people to shut them down. so

25:05

So the if people aren't coming in a

25:07

pandemic to nuclear reactor, there's a good

25:09

chance you're gonna have nuclear reactors

25:11

that have accidents, blow up, release radiation.

25:13

So underground facilities for radiation shielding are

25:15

worthwhile. That's That's just show it on

25:17

the video behind you. That's an underground facility.

25:19

And you're concerned about vulnerability of

25:21

living in there. And

25:24

you say these underground

25:26

bunkers like Landon invested in,

25:28

in fact, have great

25:30

vulnerability. Why? So you have

25:32

to defend on the surface. If you don't

25:34

defend on the surface, people can discover

25:36

you underground and you've gotta have

25:38

air vents. They'll cover up your air

25:40

vents. You know, you've got wind mills and

25:42

solar panels, they're on the surface. You

25:44

have to be on the surface to

25:46

protect your facility from a marauder group

25:48

or you won't have one. Okay, so

25:50

somebody can come in, cut off the

25:52

air supply, trap down there and suffocate them,

25:55

and then go in and take all

25:57

their supplies. Correct, but they don't have to

25:59

do that. They can defend. on the

26:01

surface, that's what you should do. So you

26:03

come out and and fight off.

26:05

Correct. Yeah. Is

26:07

this affordable for the

26:09

average American? Yes,

26:11

sir, it it is. So So we're dual purpose. Our

26:14

motto is prepare for the worst, enjoy the

26:16

present. So good times,

26:18

you can come to Fortege Ranch as member

26:20

and vacation there. But in bad

26:22

times, we turn into survival community. But

26:24

the cost is affordable because one,

26:26

our facilities are not, you know,

26:28

deep underground, ICBM silos a very expensive. We

26:31

don't have a lot of fancy equipment

26:33

and our rooms are not, it's not

26:35

fancy rooms. We're pretty rustic. So for

26:37

couple thousand dollars down payment and then,

26:40

you know, a a couple thousand dollars a

26:42

year depending on your family size going

26:44

forward, you can afford to be a

26:46

member. So that's one of the ways

26:48

we tried to design this to be

26:50

affordable for the middle class. Okay, I wanna

26:52

ask you all another question. So grab your

26:54

voting device again and

26:57

the first question is how

26:59

much food do you

27:01

have stored? Two days worth,

27:03

a week's worth, a month's worth,

27:05

three to six months worth, or one

27:07

year or more is worth of

27:09

food. Results are in. So

27:12

7 .3 have two days

27:14

worth, 32 .5 a week's of

27:16

you have a week's

27:18

worth, 38 .5 have a

27:20

month's worth of food, 18

27:22

.4 % have three to six

27:24

months worth of food and

27:26

3 .4 have a year's

27:28

worth of food. So that's

27:30

interesting. Okay, next, we're gonna

27:33

add a prepper who says

27:35

if his community keeps being

27:37

so secretive, people will keep thinking

27:39

they're insane. My next

27:41

guest says he grew up

27:43

around a religion where being self

27:45

-sufficient rather than relying

27:47

on the government is

27:49

encouraged. He says that his

27:51

upbringing shaped his current

27:53

prepping lifestyle. Prepping me

27:55

started on 9 -11. That was

27:57

the day everyone in this country realized.

27:59

bad things happen to people, the

28:01

world is a dangerous place. When

28:04

I was about 14, my father

28:06

gave me a book that was

28:08

about a group of people coming

28:10

together to prepare for the collapse

28:12

of society. It gave me a

28:14

lot of starting blocks of things

28:16

to think about, like how to

28:18

defend myself. I have

28:20

a larger selection of tools to

28:23

choose from, whether it's a

28:25

combat shotgun, long -range rifles.

28:27

For people who aren't prepping,

28:29

having to 3,000 to three thousand

28:31

rounds is really alarming, but

28:33

in more rural areas. That's

28:35

a weekend of target shooting.

28:38

With the MREs I have on hand, they would

28:40

last me two to three months. The

28:42

MRE stands for Meals Ready Eat.

28:44

They are just meals that

28:47

are long -term shelf sustainable, like

28:50

12 to 25 years. 25 years.

28:52

Today my main focus is

28:54

on protection and transportation.

28:56

I studied cultures like the

28:58

Australian Outback, where they have

29:00

to go hundreds of

29:02

miles without any kind of

29:04

resupply. So I bought

29:06

a Suburban and set it

29:09

up following the way they

29:11

set up their vehicles with extra

29:13

gas, extra supplies. I

29:15

feel like it's incredibly naive to

29:17

not prepare to some degree All

29:20

empires fallen. It's inevitable

29:22

that the American

29:24

Empire will fall. The

29:26

best time to start prepping is yesterday. The

29:29

second best time is today. You've

29:32

been listening to everything we've been talking

29:34

about here, right? Yes, sir. this

29:36

consistent with your

29:38

mindset and ideology?

29:41

In general, yes. I

29:43

think it's a little out of

29:46

touch for most Americans. This

29:50

mentioned being able to spend to

29:53

$3,000 $3 ,000 to come to

29:55

his ranch, but 45 Americans

29:57

of Americans don't have $1 ,000.

29:59

that are saved up. for

30:01

their transmission breaks down. And

30:03

you grew up in a

30:05

community, a religious community, where

30:08

self -sufficiency and growing your own

30:10

food, not relying on the

30:12

government. being of insular

30:14

in the community was a way of life,

30:16

right? Yes, sir. And You

30:18

think that serves you well? Oh,

30:21

100%. 100%. Yeah. And

30:23

you talk about something called operational

30:25

security. What do you mean by

30:27

that? Operational security is

30:29

just the concept of. keeping

30:32

your resources and supplies

30:34

secret so that you are

30:36

blending in. in to protect

30:38

those resources. You

30:40

say even so within

30:42

the community, there's a lot

30:44

of distrust? In my

30:46

experience, yes. Like don't talk typically

30:48

within the overarching community. You

30:51

train with the people you're close to

30:53

or practice skills with the people you're

30:56

close to, but there's not a lot

30:58

of cross-community training.

31:01

I think a lot of people or

31:03

a lot of individual communities are

31:05

scared to be labeled like a militia.

31:07

One of the things that you

31:09

two have in common and have talked

31:11

about is. Lots of

31:13

guns and lots of ammunition. They're

31:16

tools just like any other. I can

31:18

hunt with an AK or an AR

31:20

and if I need to protect myself with

31:22

it, I can. Sir, if I could jump

31:24

in. Please. You cannot survive in a a

31:26

big city in a collapse. When the grid's down,

31:28

no municipal water systems, any

31:30

kind of disaster, if there's no food deliveries, you

31:32

can't survive in a city. So you leave. So

31:34

are you gonna go? Everyone's gonna

31:36

think oh, all run to the forest

31:38

and survive there, yeah. Tens of millions,

31:40

hundreds of millions potentially running into

31:42

our forests. You're to be looking for

31:45

deer to hunt. Well, I can tell

31:47

you, as soon as the collapse starts, every fortitude

31:49

ranch, we're shooting every animal we can, deer,

31:51

et cetera, wild boar in Texas. We're

31:53

shooting everything we can. And we're making jerky

31:55

out of it to get more food.

31:57

And a lot of people are going to

31:59

lot that. of So by the time you get

32:01

from the city into the forest, there's not gonna be

32:03

a whole lot of deer left, most likely. And there's

32:05

gonna be a a lot of other people there you

32:08

in the forest with the same

32:10

plan, I try to survive out here.

32:12

And there's just not enough food out

32:14

there to keep people going. So or

32:16

later, you're gonna run into another marauder

32:18

group or other starving people. And so that's

32:21

why he does have a lot

32:23

of great weapons. And the people who

32:25

wanna outlaw AR-15s -15s and military capable

32:27

weapons, you know, from the prepper perspective, they're

32:29

lunatics. They're working

32:31

to help marauder groups if

32:33

they do that. But rather natural,

32:35

our -manipulated means or a laboratory

32:38

accident, Wuhan, for example, it

32:40

could happen tomorrow. And when

32:42

that happens, it's gonna be, if

32:44

it's H5N1, it's the worst disaster

32:46

in mankind's history and massive

32:49

starvation and people trying to stay

32:51

alive through marauding. And

32:53

you say the death rate

32:55

will be what? I think

32:57

most, depending on how long it lasts,

33:00

most of the population will die in those

33:02

situations. They'll start to death or they'll be

33:04

killed by other people trying to get

33:06

food. How is your ranch

33:08

survive a nuclear blast? So we were

33:11

saying nuclear blast by staying away

33:13

from targets. So we're in really

33:15

remote rural areas. You could drop

33:17

a nuclear weapon 10 kiloton, know, Hiroshima size

33:19

over me and with three feet

33:22

of earth, I'm okay. That's

33:24

all I need. Well, a lot

33:26

of people have questioned why would you wanna

33:28

survive a nuclear Holocaust?

33:31

But fact

33:33

is you can survive. You

33:35

can, and you'll read all. I mean, the fallout,

33:37

yes, it contaminates, but it doesn't

33:39

permanently destroy the soil and it's not

33:41

everywhere. All right, next,

33:44

a man who spent three years

33:46

embedded with extreme preppers, he

33:48

says there is one thing that

33:50

actually shocked him about them. We're

33:53

find out what that is after the break. Dr.

33:56

Bradley Garrett three years

33:58

studying extreme preppers. and even wrote

34:00

a book about it

34:02

called Bucker Building for

34:05

the end of times. Doctor, you spent

34:07

a lot of time, three years with

34:09

different groups. And you said that something

34:11

really jumped out that was kind of

34:13

common among these groups. What was it?

34:15

I spent three years, went to eight

34:17

different countries, interviewed about a hundred people.

34:19

Some of them, as you say, were

34:22

quite extreme in their preparations. Others

34:24

were worried about more on the practical

34:26

prepping side, you know, putting things together so so

34:28

could get through a blackout for three

34:30

days, learning how to grow their own food.

34:32

But the thing that really struck me is

34:35

I expected people to be

34:37

anxious and paranoid and

34:39

of obsessed with the idea of being

34:41

able to mitigate these future disasters. What I

34:44

actually found is that is that of the

34:46

preppers that I ran into, they were actually

34:48

full of hope, because if you don't

34:50

believe that there's going to be a future,

34:52

there's no point in preparing for it. So

34:55

when I spoke to them about

34:57

their preparations, they said, look, gives

34:59

me a sense of peace and security,

35:02

but it also is altruistic in

35:04

some in some ways Because if

35:07

you've got your preparations in place you're taking some

35:09

strain off of the system. if

35:11

something does go wrong, you don't need to

35:14

be rescued anymore. and in fact, you might

35:16

be in a position that you can

35:18

help someone else because you've got your preparations

35:20

in place. So So, you know, this is

35:22

the beauty of doing research, especially long -term

35:24

research is often you you end

35:26

up learning something you absolutely didn't expect to

35:28

learn. Yeah, you weren't looking for that, but

35:31

you found out a completely different mindset.

35:33

When you were talking to these

35:35

people in these different

35:37

countries was a consistent belief

35:39

system? in terms of what

35:41

was going to trigger all of this

35:43

preparation they had done. People were prepping

35:46

for a wide range of things. And

35:48

And course, in different countries, you

35:50

might have more of a a safety

35:52

net or you might have more

35:54

influence from the state. And in Switzerland,

35:56

for instance, they've got space in

35:58

their bunkers for every. person

36:00

in the country. And that was mandated by a

36:02

a law in 1963 at the height of the

36:04

Cold War. They started building that infrastructure. In

36:07

the United States, it just, it wasn't feasible.

36:09

know, the country's too big. We had too

36:11

many people. In terms of what they're preparing

36:13

for, it's a wide range. A lot of

36:15

people were very concerned about the climate crisis.

36:17

That's more of a practical prepping day -to -day

36:19

scenario. And others are worried about an

36:22

EMP or war, you know, much,

36:24

much larger scale concerns. In

36:27

of these countries where guns

36:29

are not so prolific, how

36:32

were they going to defend all

36:34

of the things that they had accumulated

36:36

to survive with? Was that a

36:38

concern there the way it is here?

36:40

In many of the places that

36:42

I visited, there was an expectation that

36:44

they weren't just prepping for themselves. They

36:47

were prepping for the community. And

36:49

so the resources that they had

36:51

stockpiled would be shared out.

36:53

And the expectation was if everyone

36:55

is prepping, everyone's in a

36:57

better position to help everyone else.

36:59

Did you come away from

37:01

this being more optimistic or did

37:03

you have more hope after

37:05

being around these people or did

37:07

you think they were overreacting, paranoid?

37:10

How did you come away from it?

37:12

A lot of people were overreacting

37:14

to what I thought were essentially conspiracy

37:16

theories. But tell

37:18

you, I lived in an apartment that I

37:20

was renting before I wrote this book. Now I

37:22

live on a five ranch. There

37:24

was so much practicality in what

37:26

they were telling me about

37:29

becoming more self -sufficient, understanding

37:31

where your your comes from, where

37:33

your water comes from, being

37:36

able to stockpile enough food to

37:38

get yourself through just small period of

37:40

time. I think that's something that all

37:42

of us can take away. And

37:44

I do think that before I wrote

37:46

this book, I had an unreasonable

37:48

expectation that else was

37:50

going to take care of me in

37:52

a disaster. And many Americans have experienced

37:54

this throughout COVID. So I think that was a,

37:57

was a wake -up call for a lot

37:59

of people going through that. and realizing

38:01

that there might not be someone there

38:03

to save you in the event of

38:05

a terrible disaster. That is really interesting.

38:07

I'm so glad you did that. And

38:09

we're gonna put a link to the

38:12

book on our website so people can

38:14

find it and read it and see what's

38:16

there because it's interesting observations. And

38:19

well, I think I wanna ask the

38:21

audience of one final question. After

38:23

being part of this conversation, what

38:25

will you do? So one,

38:27

will you store more food? Two, purchase

38:30

purchase will weapons ammo? Three,

38:32

build a bunker buy into one

38:35

or four? Do nothing

38:37

different. All right, well the results are

38:39

in And 49.4% says, I'm

38:41

gonna store .4 % says

38:43

I'm gonna store more

38:45

food. 10 .7

38:47

is I'm gonna buy some weapons.

38:50

4 .3, I'm gonna build or buy into a

38:52

bunker And 35% 35 %

38:54

of you say I'm not gonna do

38:56

anything. I think that says that this

38:59

conversation has had an impact on

39:01

you and I'm glad. I I

39:03

mean, it's a provocative conversation, right? I've

39:06

written a book called We've

39:08

Got Issues, how Americans can stand

39:11

strong for our country's soul

39:13

and sanity. And it takes

39:15

a much more optimistic view

39:17

of the future of mankind.

39:19

Fortunately, this is not an

39:21

either or scenario. My attitude

39:23

is that we can fix

39:25

what is broken in this country.

39:27

We have issues, there's no

39:30

doubt about that, but the human

39:32

spirit really burns bright. And

39:34

if we commit, if if

39:36

we decide to live several of

39:38

the principles that I set

39:40

forth for a healthy society, I

39:42

believe we can heal the

39:44

divide that's in America. That

39:47

doesn't say that you shouldn't

39:49

be prepared. Absolutely, I I

39:51

think it makes sense to

39:53

do a level of preparedness

39:55

that makes you feel good about

39:58

what you're doing. I say

40:00

be who you are on purpose.

40:02

That's my number one principle and that

40:04

means you live with intention. If

40:07

you want to prepare, if you want

40:09

to do the things that are

40:11

important to you, then do them, be

40:13

who you are on purpose. The

40:15

second principle I have is focus on

40:17

solving problems rather than winning arguments. We

40:19

got too many people trying to

40:22

win arguments and we need to stop

40:24

that and start working on solving

40:26

problems and that is a very different

40:28

mindset. And

40:30

it requires that you do the

40:32

ninth thing I in there

40:34

which is work hard to understand

40:37

the way others see things.

40:39

We really, really have to start

40:41

listening to each other. I

40:43

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