The Gravity of this Life ( A Prepper Camp 2021 Reflection)

The gravity of Prepper Camp start to finish, and then the return home, hit me hard this morning and I have spent most of the morning listening to Anthony Hamilton and even doing a little crying. Luckily Lady Liberty is home today and she looks ravishing!

This year, more than any before, the aftermath of Prepper Camp has crushed me with Jupiter-like gravity. In the practice of radical gratitude you oftentimes find yourself in tears or just on cloud 9 over the life that you have been gifted and have crafted. Good coffee, good eggs, knee-deep in pitbulls I get to reflect on all of this because you all have afforded me that opportunity.

When I had the chance to reflect on this picture it was clear that no matter what else I achieve in my life, this moment would set in its own frame. The effects of our Network, the privilege of being a member of this inconceivable group of people who have been unapologetically built for this very moment in time has brought me tears. It requires some meditation and reflection.

Dave Jones the unstoppable Titan who brought his whole family and taught 9 classes in 3 days! 

Ryan Buford who walked the walk as hard as any father could by flying across the nation to make this happen with his cohost and son!

Colin Buford, who could have been doing any number of nefarious, fun, and intoxicating things, at his age, stood like a THE MAN in his own right, in the face of this challenge! 

Jordan “JFURG” who has been in true white knuckle survivor mode this whole year showed up undaunted with the same fire we all love and that fuels us all! 

Phil Rabalais got behind the mic like the true Tadodaho and tribe leader that he is! 

Andrew brought Mom and Dad to Prepper Camp and coordinated much of the promotion and extracurricular activity that I was too damned busy or beat or both to oversee. THANK YOU ANDREW! 

Aden Tate brought his face to the light and gave everyone a better understanding of who the man behind The Last American is! 

Sara Hathaway was a machine, as expected, teaching people to be badasses, selling out of books, and offering up her awesome husband and kids for us to enjoy the whole weekend, too! Then she gets an unexpected call from HOLLYWOOD about her Changing Earth Series and somehow conducts a SKYPE CALL in the middle of nowhere! 

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Martin Luther King Jr.

Meeting the listeners, new friends and acquaintances is all so humbling. Seeing the hosts in action as they do the same is basically debilitating joy. I want to weep aloud because it’s all true. They are all great people. You are all great people and we have built this microcosm where life is just FUCKING better. My whole journey in the prepping world has been a succession of making a little progress and then meeting a person that absolutely blows me out of the water.

I owe all of my preparedness know-how and success to people who were patient and helpful and got me squared away while in the process of squaring up themselves.

“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” William Shakespeare, As You Like It

On Saturday nights we gather under the BIG TENT and there are over 100 people there maybe closer to 200. Rick Austin, the Godfather, is up there slinging truth and we are nearly rabid. All 200 people are on the same page and we are at the biggest party for preppers that EXISTS! It’s all so overwhelming but there is a job to do so you answer the call and try to enjoy the moment.

Long story short it all hits me on Monday morning. Seeing people, flesh and bone, that I have spent years interacting with, seeing old friends that I get to hang with only once a year, and meeting new folks, conveying knowledge, breaking bread, BUILDING TRIBE (Phil Rabalias), and just being awash in an overwhelming validity that what we are doing here is not just the RIGHT thing but it is one of the most important things this time.

Every new person we meet is a success and I can see the engines whirring in their brains, every class we teach pushes someone closer to being prepared for this world.

I wanted to post this picture just as a reminder of what it has taken to bring these 8 people together (not even all of us) from 5 different states, spread out across the nation, and that this group has the ability to literally affect the future of this nation. Believe me they are more than prepared to answer the call!

 “I hold that while man exists, it is his duty to improve not only his own condition, but to assist in ameliorating mankind.” Abraham Lincoln

Make no mistake about it. Nothing has changed since 2018 I think preparedness can literally turn the tide and change the world for the better! Love you all.

James Walton

Intrepid Commander, Instigator of Shenanigans, The Man Forever in your Debt!