Preparing our families is one of our duties as Guardsmen
– to put all on one form and keep with your kit. Perhaps not surprisingly, these government forms tend not to mention plans for family firearms, but clearly one should have a plan for that as well. All of these plans, and all of this equipment, must take ould you be prepared if gravity suddenly reversed into account that I am a Guardsman and almost certainly itself? I know being prepared for emergencies will not be available in case of emergencies. That means I is part of being a good Guardsman, but every won’t be there to carry heavy over-packed bags, and will time I approach the topic of getting my family ready for need a way to know the family’s plans if they evacuate. emergencies, it seems like I eventually get into such a series Understanding that basic fact and allowing it to permeate of what-ifs that it becomes harder to visualize exactly what our plans is the most important thing about our third point: I should be doing to prepare. What checklist do I use? What changing our attitude. emergencies should we prepare for first? How do we keep We’re a relatively active family and pretty well spare change from falling out of our pockets if gravity really disciplined. But we know that an emergency will stress both does reverse? our attitudes and our bodies. So we’ve started camping more I’ve considered where we are as a family, and what we as a family. We continue to hike, and expect our children should do immediately to meet basic readiness guidelines – (everyone three and over) to carry his own weight. and what we can do continuously to improve that readiness We’re practicing simple stuff, too. Like what to do in case over time. So we’re going to follow this plan: assemble basic of a fire. Where to go if there’s a tornado. Where to assemble emergency supplies, confirm some basic emergency plans, if a tornado damages several homes in the neighborhood. and set our family’s proper attitude toward preparedness. That sort of thing. GEMA’s Ready Georgia site proves a good basic It doesn’t even need to be obvious or stressful the first resource for recommended equipment and supplies. Their time. While getting ready for a camping trip recently, we standard checklist will get you started, and pages provide gave the kids simple marching orders: “Your backpacks are basics on planning for emergencies. (They also have a nice in the living room. Get your clothes from your rooms, add app that adds functionality like finding shelters.) one water bottle and two granola bars each, zip everything Unfortunately, their checklist, like so many I’ve seen, up, and be back in 20 minutes. Big kids help your little is necessarily vague and does not cater to peoples’ personal brothers. Get back in line here so we can check you before needs. To help with this, GEMA shares what members of you get into the van.” their organization keep in their personal emergency kits. And it worked. We figured assigning roles (filling water You can also visit the FEMA site, which adds useful details bottles, taking light loads to the van) comes next. Like like types of food to store, and how and when to purify anything else, I think systems and drills are the secret; so water. Once the GEMA site gets you started, the FEMA we’ll practice accordingly. site’s details help significantly. So that’s how the Alderman family has tried to be more While this is a great start to building an emergency kit, deliberately prepared for emergencies by working on basic I’m concerned with how to transport all this stuff because equipment, plans, and attitudes. We expect that housewe have five kids and, well, one day of supply turns out to specific checklists are next, as well as methods to keep food be a lot. So we added to the list a backpack for each. The stocks rotated, and new tools to help. We’ll share more in younger kids get book bags, which keep them from packing the next installment as we continue to refine our plans. too much to carry. I also stopped by the BX to pick up a The bottom line is that we as Guardsmen have to prepare few light duty (and therefore cheaper) duffle bags to help our families for the zombie apocalypse. Or whatever. transport group supplies. Because I know that if I am grabbing my own ready kit With some basic supplies gathered, we knew we needed to report for duty, but at the same time I’m worried about to make some plans as well. The FEMA site includes a great my family’s safety and readiness, it will feel as bad as the family emergency plan to prompt you for all sorts of things zombie apocalypse. – from rally points, to medicines, to SSNs, to usual hangouts So it’s my duty to prepare now.
By Maj. John Hazel Alderman IV Public Affairs Office Georgia Department of Defense
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17 | The Georgia Guardsman