Community Member Highlight: Graveyard Fields

This episode is another in our community member highlight series. Today we're focusing on Justin "Graveyard" Fields, who is very active in the community and is himself a prolific blogger. Among other blogs he runs, he most recently set up Swift | Silent | Deadly, a blog focused on full-spectrum individual security. In this interview, we talk a bit about how Justin got interested in writing about this particular set of topics as well as his thoughts on the lessons we should all be taking away from the COVID-19 pandemic. Related Links * Swift | Silent | Deadly * Peace is the Exception by Sunshine_Shooter * Survivor's Club by Ben Sherwood * Lights Out by Ted Koppel Key Takeaways If there were to main things I took away from this discussion, it's this: * People have a long history of getting things wrong * The best way to prepare is gradual To the first point, there are an awful lot of pundits and internet personalities saying that this new pandemic is the new "Black Plague" or some other notorious disease. There's also a lot of people who were absolutely sure that a societal shutdown would look a certain way. The truth is that they were wrong. In fact, humans are almost always wrong about these things. When it comes to the societal friction we've seen, most people (including me) assumed "the event" would be like a light switch. We'd wake up one day and we'd find ourselves without rule of law (WROL) and it would be boogaloo time. But, in reality, there are many steps along that ladder from daily comfortable life until the apocalypse.  If we ever get "there" at all. The other major point was the correct way to prepare and think about self-protection. We've found ourselves in this difficult boom/bust cycle of panic buying and then not buying anything. It's particularly detrimental to the firearms industry, but the negative effects are far-reaching. Panicking people tend to overwhelm supply systems, and then those who are in actual need of certain items find it impossible to locate them. The correct way to do this is gradually over time. As one example, when it comes to ammunition, rather than buying three cases of ammo all at once you should consider buying an extra box or two every time you go to the range. Store away those boxes and then build the stash over time and for a lower initial investment. Justin also pointed out that now is not the time to be out and about trying to find rice and beans. The stores are not in danger of running dry, so don't expose yourself to the risk. That was another major topic, which ties back to the earlier point about humans often being wrong. In general, we are poor at evaluating risk. We are more afraid of novel things than the seemingly mundane. So, aside from the obvious risks of the virus, we should also be concerned about getting ourselves injuries in common daily activities where we consider emergency healthcare to be a given. These days, it may be a little more difficult to get an ICU bed- so you should evaluate if you r...