This article will only make sense if you have read the Introduction < click here to read >

This question is probably the single most important one since it carries the most risk, the highest threat…and can affect not just you, but your entire family. The question is “Are you ready to protect your family from violence?”

Silly question? I think not. When people are in emergency/disaster situations I’ve found the top 10 reason people turn violent are:

1. Fear and Survival Instinct – When people feel their life is at risk, the brain shifts into “fight-or-flight.” Violence can come from a raw survival response rather than deliberate intent.
2. Protection of Loved Ones – People will most likely become violent if they perceive a threat to family or group, even if the threat is not clear and not absolute.
3. Mistrust of Others – Uncertainty about others’ intentions (“Are they going to take what I have?” or “Are they going to hurt my family?”) can lead to preemptive violence.
4. Misinformation and Rumors – False information or intentional disinformation can escalate fear into desperation…which then usually leads to aggression..which will probably escalate into violence.
5. Scarcity of Resources – Shortages of food, water, fuel, or shelter can trigger conflict, especially if people believe supplies are running out. Especially true is they think their kids will go hungry.
6. Breakdown of Social Order – When normal rules and/or authority (i.e. law enforcement) disappear, some individuals feel less constrained and may act more aggressively.
7. Group Behavior / Crowd Dynamics / Mob Mentality – In crowds/mobs, individuals may lose a sense of personal responsibility making aggressive behavior more likely which can quickly escalate into violence.
8. Frustration and Helplessness – Blocked or delayed escape routes, delayed assistance, or situational confusion can quickly turn into anger leading to violence.
9. Panic and Loss of Rational Thinking – High stress can overwhelm decision making, leading to impulsive, irrational actions…including aggression/violence.
10. Exhaustion and Physical Stress – Lack of sleep, hunger, dehydration, and injury reduces control of a person’s emotions and clear thinking. Tunnel vision is a natural result and could almost immediately result in aggression/violence to “resolve” the perceived issue.

I’ve not placed those ‘top 10’ in any particular order, I kinda grouped them into similar concepts. Also, it is highly likely that in any given situation there will multiples of reasons present. The more “reasons” that are present, the more likely violence will occur and the more extreme it will be. And do not underestimate a source of violence coming from an unlikely source…such as a teenager or soccer mom.

What is the best way to handle violence, or even the threat of violence? Don’t be present in the above situation. Yup, simple as that. Okay, maybe not so simple. But, consider this:

• Fear and Survival Instinct – If you have prepared for emergencies you eliminate, or at least greatly reduce, “fear”. Example: If there is a shortage of food in an incident but you have 6 months of food stored…you probably won’t panic because you know you can feed your family.
• Protection of Loved Ones – If you have properly armed yourself and your family you have a high degree of confidence that you can protect yourselves. That confidence can go up considerably if you remove threats from the situation (i.e. don’t associate yourself with those that are a potential threat) and/or do associate yourself with like-mined people.
• Mistrust of Others – Know who you are dealing with. Don’t deal with, associate with, or even communicate with anyone you don’t know. While we need to be charitable, be very prudent with whom you help. Don’t let anyone know of your preps. Develop and maintain a high degree of situational security.
• Misinformation and Rumors – Don’t believe any information from any source unless you can verify it yourself…or you are 100% confident in the information source. Never trust rumors.
• Scarcity of Resources – Keep your preps situation to yourself, do not tell anyone from any organization, including churches, and especially any government anything. If you choose to be charitable, fine. But don’t reveal the extent of your preps to anyone ever. And yes, if you have prepared as you should have, you are less likely to become violent since you have confidence that you are providing for your family.
• Breakdown of Social Order – This is often the first thing to go in disasters and especially grid-down. Internalize this…”No one is coming to save you or protect you.” Do not depend on police, fire, EMS, FEMA, or any other group is coming to help your situation. Be prepared as a family to take care of yourselves. If you have similar-minded folks around you…work together to establish your own social order.
• Group Behavior / Crowd Dynamics / Mob Mentality – This can get out of hand very quickly! Mobs can go from mildly frustrated to lynching in just a few minutes. Avoid groups, crowds, and mobs…just don’t be there. If one forms, leave.
• Frustration and Helplessness – An easy one…if you have prepared and food is short, there is no power, and the only water are puddles and a stream…no problem. You won’t feel helpless or frustrated…because you have what you need to take care of your family. Don’t get sucked into feeling sorry for someone who is helpless. You can be charitable if you wish…but they are responsible for their situation.
• Panic and Loss of Rational Thinking – I’ve seen panic and have panicked. It’s ugly and quickly taps into our primitive core. Your preps should help you stave off panic. Do not associate with, or even be around, those who are panicking. If you are, watch closely for escalation to aggression and violence…even from friends and/or neighbors.
• Exhaustion and Physical Stress – This can be a tough one. If you don’t take care of yourself you ability to function physically will dramatically decrease; something as simple as mild dehydration can cloud thinking. Lack of sleep is another killer…rotate responsibilities to ensure everyone is getting enough rest. Lack of proper food will dramatically decrease physical abilities…eat enough, eat regularly. Consider this when doing food sorage.

The risk of violence is always present in any emergency/disaster situation. There is always someone that is ready, willing, able, and depraved enough to take your stuff and hurt you or your family doing so. The severity, and potential finality, of the end result. In a matter of seconds your stuff could be taken and/or your life ended. A year’s worth of food storage is worthless if someone steals it or kills your family over it. You must be able to prevent violence from happening to you and your family.

Problem: If you can’t defend yourself, your family, and your stuff…anyone can come along and take everything you hold dear in this life.

Solution: Don’t be seen, don’t be found, and properly arm yourself with the correct weapons and have proper training on how to use those weapons to defend yourself and your family.

For me, I will:

• Review all my appropriate tools, clean them, ensure they are in working order, batteries as needed, and inventory all accessories. Update shortage as needed.
• Make sure that not all of my tools are in one location.
• Practice appropriately with each tool.

What do you need to do?

<- Previous article in this series    |

Articles in this Series –

• Project ’26 – Introduction
• Project ‘26 – Question #1 (Priorities)
• Project ‘26 – Question #2 (Violence)

Related Articles –

• Layering & the Common 7: Part #2 – Violence
• Grid-Down House Security : Strengthen your door…
• Tactical Vests
• Choosing the Right Gun
• Choosing the Right Pistols
• Choosing the Right Shotgun
• Choosing the Right Carbine/Rifle
• Aimpoint Micro T-1 Red Dot Optic
• Konus SightPro 7216 Red Dot Optic

Checklist –

• Check List – Violence

Good Series Related to this Subject –

• Days of September – 9/5/2019 Day #1 Threat of Violence

Send me some ideas and thoughts…

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.

This article will only make sense if you have read the Introduction < click here to read >

So the first question I posed was “What are our top priorities, in order, to prepare for this situation?”

There is a very simple way to set priorities when it comes to preparedness. Actually, not just the “preparing” part, but how to respond to such emergencies as well. There is a tried-and-true method…not just some Internet “expert’s” BS. The system I am referring to is L.I.P.S. Yup, it works every single time, it is that good of a system.

There is a significant need for being able to set priorities preparing for or in high-stress situations which most emergencies, disasters, and grid-down are. Without being able to set priorities consistently and correctly, any task is almost certainly doomed to failure. Priorities are also based on a mutual foundation that the entire family has agreed to. The need for your family to share a common set of priorities is paramount for cohesiveness, consistency, and ability to cooperate effectively.

L.I.P.S. stand for –

• Life Safety
• Incident Stabilization
• Property Conservation
• Societal Restoration

Let’s restate/summarize L.I.P.S. this way –

• The #1 priority is to protect people from death, injury, and sickness.

• The #2 priority is to not make a bad situation worse.

• The #3 priority is not to destroy resources you don’t have to.

• The #4 priority is to restore the situation back to normal.

So now we know how to set priorities, but what about making that apply to what we can realistically expect in the kind of scenario we listed in the Introduction article. Well, there is a proven reliable way to approach that as well. There are 7 Common Risks/Threats that exist in each and every disaster, emergency, and especially during “grid-down”, they are:

1. Violence
2. Injury or Sickness
3. Communications (lack of or poor)
4. Organization (lack of or poor)
5. Dehydration
6. Exposure
7. Starvation

Not only are they an accurate listing of issues/threats to deal with, they are are listed in priority order as well. You might doubt or question their priority order…please hold off on that judgment until you’ve read through the following.

Violence –

The risk of violence is always present in any emergency situation. There is always someone that is ready, willing, able, and depraved enough to take your stuff and/or hurt you or your family. The reason why this is the #1 item…Risk Mitigation principles. The severity, and potential finality, of the end result. Meaning, in a matter of seconds your stuff could be taken and/or your life ended. A year’s worth of food storage is worthless if someone steals it or kills your family over it. You must be able to prevent violence from happening to you and your family.

Problem: If you can’t defend yourself, your family, and your stuff…anyone can come along and take everything you hold dear in this life.

Solution: Properly arm yourself with the correct weapons and have adequate training on how to use them to defend yourself and your family.

Injury or Sickness –

Once again, the risk of injury or sickness is always present in any emergency situation. Think of any emergency…now, think of all the ways you can get injured or sick during that emergency. The outcome to your family can be devastating without the ability to prevent, or properly care for minor and intermediate injuries and sickness. A simple infected cut on your finger could lead to sepsis and that can lead to death if not prevented and/or treated. Same could be true for something as simple as diarrhea.

Problem: Without the ability to prevent and treat injuries and sickness, you and/or family members can become incapacitated…or worse.

Solution: Acquire enough medical supplies and training to be able to treat minor and intermediate wounds and injuries. Learn how to avoid and treat sickness during emergencies.

Communications (lack of or poor) –

Here is something interesting…in every single wildfire emergency that had a serious injury or fatality…communications was a problem, or nonexistent.

There are two side of communications, I call them hardware and software. The hardware are the gadgets; cell phones, radios, batteries, antennas, etc. The software are the skills, knowledge, process, plan, and implementation of communicating. Both are equally important.

Problem: Without the ability to communicate you cannot coordinate your emergency response with your family. That lack of, or poor, communications can leave you exposed to every single aspect of what can/could go wrong.

Solution: Acquire sufficient communications equipment and training to use it effectively. Develop a plan on how and when to communicate.

Organization (lack of or poor) –

At first glance this may sound a bit silly, but trust me…it isn’t the least bit silly. If you and your family aren’t organized you will be wandering around trying to figure out who should do what…at the worst possible moment. Further, if you wait until the emergency occurs to set into place the organization…you will be more likely to fail.

Also, I am not talking about organization in terms of lists, plans, maps, etc. I am talking about “who” does “what”. Who will be the leader, who will handle logistics, who will handle defense, who will do the cooking, etc. If you are fortunate enough to be part of a larger group such as your church’s congregation or any other group, this becomes even more important. Having a way to organize a group of any size is vital to successfully overcoming any emergency. Fortunately you don’t have to invent the solution…it is already there for you.

Problem: If your family or group is not organized to meet the needs of the group you are far more prone to problems of all kinds, especially violence, injury, and sickness.

Solution: Learn and adopt the Incident Command System.

Dehydration –

This topic is virtually self-explanatory. You must have a source of purified water to survive. Water storage and ability to produce safe potable water is vital. Without it, you go from being disoriented to sick to dead in a relatively short period of time.

Problem: You can last 3 – 5 days without water before you will die. Drinking contaminated water assures you and/or your family of an agonizing death.

Solution: Have an initial supply of transportable water storage. Have the ability to purify sufficient quantities of highly contaminated water into potable (safe) water.

Exposure –

Another example of self-explanatory. You need the ability to protect you and your family against exposure to the elements. This applies to your body and to your shelter.

Problem: Hypothermia and hyperthermia can kill…and do so rather quickly in some cases.

Solution: Acquire sufficient and proper clothing for each person in your family. Strengthen your home to be your best shelter. Consider acquiring basic shelter capability such as a tent.

Starvation –

Why is this the last item? Because a person can last 7 – 10 days without food and not be in too bad of shape for the first few days. This is a slower form of becoming disabled and/or dead. However, this is a strange item because it is usually the first thing people prepare for when in reality it should be the last when considering emergencies.

Problem: Without sufficient food/nourishment intake you and your family will starve to death within 7 – 10 days.

Solution: Acquire 30 – 90 days worth of common pantry items that your family eats every day. Acquire an initial 30 – 90 day supply of easily transportable, lightweight food such as freeze dried food. Acquire a long-term supply of food storage capable of providing basic nourishment to you and your family. Acquire three growing seasons worth of heirloom (non-hybrid) garden seed sufficient for your family.

<- Previous article in this series    |    Next article in this series ->

 Articles in this Series –

• Project ’26 – Introduction
• Project ‘26 – Question #1 (Priorities)
• Project ‘26 – Question #2 (Violence)

Related Articles –

• L.I.P.S. (Setting Priorities)
• Objectives and Priorities (Part #1)
• Layering & the Common 7: Introduction

Related PDF Files –

• PDF Files: Setting Priorities – L.I.P.S.
• PDF Files: 7 Common Risks/Threats

Checklist(s) –

• Check List – Introduction

Good Series Related to this Subject –

• Days of September…..

Send me some ideas and thoughts…

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.

                  April 1, 2026
Originally written & edited January 10th - 17th, 2026.
I didn't publish this series then because it was not finished
and current events overrode this project, or at least I
thought they did.
I am resurrecting the series due to its timeliness and
applicability. If you want to read the article that motivated
me to bring this series back to life you can < click here >.

January 17th, 2026…

I was thinking this past week about this coming year, 2026. So much came to mind. Last month my wife and I reviewed our emergency fund and where that money was and how it was performing. We made huge changes based on our vision of the future. Going forward here on the glamstead I have been refining my “To Do” list for 2026, paying particular attention to the first 4 months. Lot’s going on to say the least.

Last Thursday was very rewarding…I pruned the peach trees and the cherry trees. Oh, and my “fruit cocktail” tree. The fig tree won’t need pruning, so all that is left are the 5 apple trees. Bummer is, 3 of the 5 are showing no signs of producing. They were given to us by a neighbor in 2021. They were planting an orchard and had the trees left over; they thought we would appreciate them. Funny part…we have no idea what variety they are. If they don’t produce blossoms this year, they get replaced next year.

Last week I moved the blackberry bushes. They had gone absolutely bonkers! They were taking over the area where we also have raspberries. And my wife didn’t like all the “clutter” of the bushes…safe haven for snakes. On top of all that…they grew so tall that they started shading one of our solar arrays. We now have 13 blackberry bushes in a much better area…and a few starts to give away to neighbors.

Sorry, I got sidetracked. What is Project ‘26?

As I mentioned earlier…I have been doing a lot of thinking over the last couple of months about everything going on. Multiple times I’ve written about people/nations and what they were doing just before there were serious problems in their countries (i.e. Germans in the early 1930’s). Kinda like…if they had known, what would they have done to prepare for it, or what would they have done differently? So the idea popped into my head…Project ‘26.

But, to properly carry out Project ‘26 I had to come up with a “problem” to correctly come up with the “solution”. So here is the imaginary problem we are going to use, the fantasy scenario. Yes, somehow we magically know what is going to happen. Could be reading Book of Revelation, having a dream, listening to a Prophet leading your church, visiting a great website, or whatever else you want to come up with…you just know the following will happen in 2026:

1. As 2026 progresses there will be increasing domestic violence, increasingly violent clashes between civilians and law enforcement (especially federal law enforcement). There is serious talk about the Insurrection Act being used to put military troops on the streets of America to quell the violence.
2. International tensions will rise exponentially, armed confrontations between US forces and other countries will occur in early summer and increase throughout the summer. By mid-fall NATO has all but fallen apart.
3. Energy prices will swing in spring, but will steadily increase during the summer.
4. Inflation will rise rapidly, far worse than 2025, hitting rates of 2022 by mid-summer, then continue rapidly upward in the fall.
5. Stock markets will do well through the spring, struggle during the early summer, enter “correction” territory in late summer and early fall. Enter “great recession” territory my mid-to-late fall.
6. Precious metals will do really well throughout 2026 due to considerable uncertainty in all of 2026.
7. No supply chain problems till early summer, minor even then. By early fall the supply chain problems are leaving empty spaces on the selves but it is still doable. By November 1^st, China is threatening to shut down our supply chain do rising tensions between the US and China over Taiwan.

So here is what we’re going to do…We are asking ourselves three questions:

1. List our top priorities, in order, to prepare for this situation?
2. What can we realistically do between now and fall to prepare for this situation?
3. What happens to my family if we don’t do those things?

What this project ISN’T is an actual “to do” list…unless you feel prompted to do so. Meaning, this isn’t really a project to make you buy, build, move, or perform any task other than answer the questions. Now, that being said, if you feel inspired or prompted to do anything on the list, or all of the list, then by all means do so.

I will be doing the exercise as well. And, just to make it interesting, I will post my responses on-line as I work through it. You can follow along for a good laugh or use it as a guide for your own exercise.

Next article in series ->

Articles in this Series –

• Project ’26 – Introduction
• Project ‘26 – Question #1 (Priorities)
• Project ‘26 – Question #2 (Violence)

Related Articles –

• Patriot: 03/31/2026

Related Series Article(s) –

• 7 Days of September – Introduction

Send me some ideas and thoughts…

 2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved
No reproduction or other use of this content
without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com
No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed.
I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website.
See Content Use Policy for more information.