Good morning.
We were going to dive into Midterm analysis and predictions today but I cannot help shake the feeling that we’ve more than likely got something major brewing underneath the surface.
Take a look at the headlines of the last two weeks:
United Kingdom officials told residents to stock up to nine litres of bottled water and three days’ worth of food in new government guidance designed to ensure that households can survive a weather, cyber or other serious emergency (The Guardian)
Quietly over the last two weeks 18 or so governments and regions have now issued eerily similar warnings
A massive wave of cyberattacks hit the global internet last week after artificial intelligence models uncovered critical memory safety vulnerabilities in PHP. Hackers immediately deployed automated AI agents to exploit the flaws, causing exploitation attempts to jump into the millions within hours of public disclosure
According to a report by the New York Post, the US military is preparing for the possibility of a major conflict that could cripple power grids, disrupt supply chains, and threaten critical infrastructure on American soil (The Strait Report)
The above came just after Fox News reported Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered US military bases at home to prepare to operate on their own for 90 days
FEMA came out and announced a nationwide Emergency Alert System test across the United States set for November 17 at 2:20 p.m. ET.
Emergency protocols were activated after reports of a fire and radioactive material release at a nuclear research facility in South Carolina, United States last night
Reports indicate North Korea fired around 10 ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast this morning
This is starting to look like pre conditioning for a major happening and I mean that completely. I’m not being a doomer or larper.
I am getting early Covid vibes.
Are you ready if something goes down? Majority of people have no clue.
We already did a timely deep dive on prepping with Sam Havelock, a former SEAL Team Commander and founder of The SOFX Report. In this post we talked about a variety of different components to being prepared including:
Financial considerations
Security and self defense
The information you consume
What to do if you’re caught in a riot, protest, etc.
Mental and physical health recs
If you haven’t read it yet, you’re missing out on some great pointers and tips from someone who has operated inside war torn countries and non permissive environments. It’s excellent information to have in the year 2026.
Today however, given the fact it definitely feels like something is brewing, we’re going a step deeper into my personal preps, what I carry, use, and store in the event of an adverse event or black swan.
As I have stated before you don’t need some Cloverfield type underground nuclear fallout shelter to be prepared if some of these events come to pass.
It takes some forethought, common sense, and effort to plan out how you or your family would be able to try and operate NORMALLY in abnormal conditions in society or the world.
For new subscribers or those curious I’m a 34 year old suburban dad with a wife and two young children under 5. I am not a red neck in the woods or a 23 year old tech worker in San Francisco or New York. Yes, my typical content is financial markets, memes, and geopolitical analysis BUT since Covid I have started to focus some time and energy on the best ways to be prepared for any outcome in this wild world we now live in.
Here is the reality.
Nobody thinks about prepping or contingencies until bad things happen and then many people have an “oh shit” moment.
Normies panic, people do dumb shit, and you get swarms of unstable crowds in public running around like do-do birds. You also get bad actors and scumbags who were waiting for the first chance to do evil shit.
This is where things can get unpredictable and dangerous. Where you might find yourself without what you need, in a situation where you are in danger, or worse, unprepared for the worst.
You can avoid that all by simply planning ahead and not wearing the rose colored glasses (you know the ones your normie coworker can’t possibly take off?).
You hedge in financial markets and when you make trades so why not for real world events? In this day age? Come on brother.
We have wars raging, high inflation, scumbag politicians, corruption all around us, rogue AI agents swarming the web, and repeated warnings emerging left and right.
Do not let the tech heavy synthetic world we live in stop you from remembering lessons of history or applying common sense. You do not need to go overboard but everyone should be able to weather a short term storm and come out on the other side okay. And to be clear that’s all we are doing today.
I am not qualified nor inspired to attempt to give you a “Last of Us” or Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” guide to the apocalypse. I’m not even sure those are world’s I would like my family to spend any amount of time in at all.
Before we get into specifics, people have asked me before “what is your everyday carry” or “what do you have for if shit really hits the fan”. I am happy to oblige off the rip, but bear in mind this is a snapshot depending on where I have gear, what I need more of, where I store stuff etc.
Disclaimer* - I am also a gear nut/tactical slut.
Yesterday afternoon I briefly pulled a.) everything on my person and in my truck and b.) what I had in my safe that I could deploy for an actual shit hits the fan scenario in my neighborhood in 5 minutes.
The top is everyday carry or what was in my truck and the bottom is a tasting (if you will) of what I would carry in the unlikely event my town or neighborhood turns into a war zone within minutes.
Only thing missing from the top is a flashlight, though I have one on my firearm. As a suburban dad you will notice this showing is pretty simple and straightforward. The top gives me what I need to deal with 99% of day to day ((plus maybe water and my phone).
The top probably runs (I am spitballing) somewhere around $600 all in.
The bottom somewhere around $1,500.
My doctrine for prepping is straightforward - I have capability everyday if things go wrong and I’m not a soft bellied soyboy American either if things go really south…..
Adjust your level of preps for what you are comfortable with, where you live, and the scenarios you might face. I live in the ruralish suburbs.
Will it be AS chaotic as the big city if the grid goes down? No.
Will acquiring essentials in the first 48 hours of a prolonged crisis be important? Yes.
Will being able to protect my residence from intruders or protect my family if we need to relocate be important? Yes.
I fully recognize both of these setups are unrealistic for someone living in New York City. Adjust accordingly.
Morale patches on your plate carrier are optional but if you don’t have them you lose immense amounts of aura……..
That’s a snapshot. If you have questions on specifics drop em in the comments.
Enough sidetracking into my tactical toys, what do you absolutely need considering world events right now and the general unease that seems to be spreading?
It varies and I am not the end all be all source on it, luckily there is TONS of content online to sift through.
Today though I want to give you an idea of basics you can begin to start getting in order in a few days.
So let’s dive into the list of 25 items I think every single man and woman should own in the year 2026 when it comes to preparedness.
19 Items You Should Have in 2026
Below is a list of 19 Items that I feel everyone should have when it comes to being prepared for the range of threats and events we might face in the near future. Again, bear in mind these are BASICS.
You can decide how deep you want to go on prepping, but without these basic items, you have no foundation to build on in my opinion.
Are any of these events guaranteed to play out? Of course not, but when I keep seeing preparedness guidance given out, concerns about critical infrastructure, very real AI And cyber threats, and geopolitical tensions cropping up across different parts of the world I think it’s reasonable to take stock of your own situation.
Number one is something most people don’t even think about.