JASON CHARLES: If it’s a couple of nuclear bombs go off in this country, who are you
going to rely on? People think that the country could save you no matter what happens.
You don’t want to be relying on the government. This is what this is about.
JASON CHARLES: My name is Jason Charles. I am 40 years old. I am a firefighter in New York City.
JASON CHARLES: I am the organiser of NYC Preppers Network. I am also a prepper myself. I have
been prepping for seven years now.
INTERVIEWER: If you were to put it simply, what are you prepping for?
JASON CHARLES: I am prepping for everything, right. So it’s not one thing anymore: financial
crisis, hurricane, tornadoes, bad winter storms, you know. So these are the things that we
get struck with all the time. The alien invasion is going to take us out? No! You know, Zombies
are going to rise up out of the ground? No! That’s… you know that’s fantasy. That’s
(censored) people want to happen. Is a nuclear bomb is going to go off in one of the cities?
More likely! That’s how you navigate. You try to stay within the realm of reality. Most
likely scenario would probably be like a pandemic, complete collapse of civilisation. Cold War
was the reason why people started prepping. ‘What if they drop a bomb? What if they
do this? You know, what if they cut off our food supply?’ That sort of prepping. It became an American thing.
So this closet right here is what I refer to jokingly as the, 'end of the world closet'. Jokingly.
JASON CHARLES: We have vitamins and some medical supplies here, little hatchet here, have a
two-way radio here.
INTERVIEWER: What is the most important thing in here?
JASON CHARLES: Water. Everything else is just, you know, I mean food is important. There
are MREs in the back.
INTERVIEWER: MREs?
JASON CHARLES: Yeah, meals ready to eat, right. So we have freeze-dried food up here, we have
beans, we have rice, we have a lot of that the food will last us probably nine months.
Well, other than that the Christmas stuff that is not preppers stuff. It’s just somewhere to store it.
JASON CHARLES: I got there before the towers collapsed. Getting down there, thinking that
I was going to help out, it didn’t turn out that way, right because then the buildings
came down and it all went to (censored).
JASON CHARLES: When it all went down, you were just, you were focused on your job,
to help people and see what needed to be done and where you could be of most use.
JASON CHARLES: I was standing in front of the tower one and tower two went down. Being
where I was, I was a 100% sure I was dead and then the building just came straight down
instead of leaning over. Had the building tilted over, I would have been toast. Everybody
there would have been toast. Right before I took off running, I watched five guys die.
JASON CHARLES: And then I remember that breaking my trance and then I took off and ran.
JASON CHARLES: All the supplies and equipment I bought over the years, I think I have spent
probably over ten grand. The bug out bag or bail out kit, whatever, like, many names for
it, started in the military with fighter pilots. If the plane was still intact or the helicopter
was still intact, they had a compartment where they had this like emergency gear.
JASON CHARLES: The main is the food, that’s freeze-dried, tuna and here is the most important
thing you need to have - a first aid kit, right, multi-tool knives, two of them. This is a
carpenter’s axe and it’s sharp, it’s also light, it’s almost tad bigger than
the hatchet but too small to be a full-sized axe and my son would carry this just because
he could. Not saying he would use it because he can’t swing it yet. I don’t think he can.
INTERVIEWER: How old is your son?
JASON CHARLES: He is 9.
JASON CHARLES: I do have specific bug out plans for specific bug out scenarios. Nuclear
warhead goes off, we stay in the home to see where the fall out goes and if the EMP goes
off, we strap on our hiking shoes and we start walking out of here.
JASON CHARLES: The NYC Preppers are a network group. It is a meet up group
where preppers talk about different things.
JASON CHARLES: Like how to build a bug out bag; how to make laundry detergent; how to
make deodorant, toothpaste; natural things like that. How to read maps? How to read compasses?
Anything prepping touches, we touch on.
JASON CHARLES: Today we are going to have a bunch of events. So we are going to do a
fire safety, knife safety, how to organize your bug out bags, stew making.
MARLON SMITH: My name is Marlon. I have been prepping probably for about 15 years. You
go to Manhattan and New York, there is eight million - where do you put eight million people
in a disaster? So you have to sort of fend for yourself and to fend for yourself you
have got to learn these things. 9/11 taught us that, Hurricane Katrina taught us
that. There is no cavalry coming.
MARLON SMITH: I run a women’s fashion company. That and this don’t rhyme at all but that’s
what I do. So you have to have that bounce in your life and a lot of people don’t see
prepping as that, they see prepping as you know, people who are nuts .
JASON SANBORN: People have gotten a little lax, a little lazy when it comes to their
own survival. They do depend on other people, government, the police, this and that to be
their constant protectors. But when it comes down to it, you are your own guardian, your own survivor,
your family's protector.
ARIADNA PHILLIPS-SANTOS: I was at the Barcelona attacks. I have, you know I have been like
witnessed to some of the things that have happened in New York city and elsewhere. Earthquakes
in Mexico like, and I think that when you live those things you start thinking to yourself
I have already experienced this.
JASON SANBORN: Makes it real.
ARIADNA PHILLIPS-SANTOS: Right, it makes it very real.
JASON CHARLES: Carbon is good. Where they are made is even better. So this is a Swedish
knife, right? This is a very good knife. Always short strokes and controlled strokes. Femoral
artery is here. That takes you seconds to bleed out before you’re dead. Even at home,
even if there is nobody home but you put it back in the sheath.
JASON CHARLES: People who don’t prep, they’re naive. They just think that help is always
going to be there. Sucks to be you if you think like that, Should something happen,
I am ready to rock and roll, whether it’s to stay here or leave, it’s like having
insurance. You buy insurance for a lot of (censored word) you don’t use it half the
time. You know, we still have, just in case you drop your camera, you drop your phone
in the toilet, right? It might not never happen, but you still have insurance on it. In society,
it’s definitely getting worse with, if you look at history. You look at all the wars
we have been in as humans; it has never really been a stable place or anything. I hate the
city you know, I mean it’s not, umm… this living on top of each other and when I go
up my house, my neighbours are right next to me you know, and the city it sucks, it’s crowded.
JASON CHARLES: It’s enough you know, it’s just too many hipsters, its liberals. I want
to go somewhere where those people are scared of the outdoors. That’s where I want to
live. I mean, actually it would be nice to just be completely reliant on your own. I
mean the downside of living off the grid is you're by yourself and I think that people need
one another to survive.