“Their safety equipment took the search out of search and rescue.”

We preppers sometimes let ourselves go down the garden path thinking that prepping is about big emergencies like hurricanes or economic collapse. But stories like this one, about 3 guys who were rescued from a sinking fishing boat by the US Coast Guard in just over 90 minutes, should drive home the need to be prepared when ever we go out–or for that matter are just walking around our own yard. Sure, we can say “Hey they were out on the ocean, of course they should take all the precautions,”, but you’d be amazed at how often you will need things “out of the ordinary” as you go through your daily routine.

Let me give you one to think about. It hasn’t happened to me, but it’s something that I’ve had to consider. I’m not going to sit around the house all day until someone comes home so I can do the “dangerous” stuff where having someone around would be a good safety precaution. Take running a chain saw for instance. Even with appropriate safety gear, a chain saw is a dangerous tool. You can quite easily amputate a limb.

So there you are, looking stupidly at the bleeding stump. You have a cell phone, but you’re going to bleed out before the ambulance gets there. Not, however, if you can keep your head (admittedly difficult) and you have a tourniquet on you. You can, with just a little practice, put a CAT or SWAT tourniquet on yourself with one hand. It’s called self-rescue. If you work with dangerous tools or carry a gun, it’s one of those things you should practice.

Because at its root, prepping is about saving your life. And the lives of your fishing buddies on a dark night on the ocean, along with surviving other bad days.