Being Prepared! Published Oct. 1, 2013 By Lt. Col. Peter Lex 90th Missile Security Forces Squadron commander F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. -- Do you have a zombie apocalypse survival plan? Do you watch the show "Doomsday Preppers" and take copious notes on how to improve your prepping activities? If you have enough ammunition to resupply a small country or currently stockpile meals ready to eat in your basement, you may not be my target audience. Now I don't expect a zombie apocalypse or doomsday to happen anytime soon, nor am I going to advocate you go out and buy an old Titan or Atlas missile silo to hunker down in to ride out a major event. There are things that you can do to make sure you are prepared to deal with various natural and man-made events - you may have experienced events such as an earthquake or tornado, or maybe you got stuck out in the missile complex for a couple of extra days due to a snow. I am sure most of you are aware of the major devastating flooding just south of us in Northern Colorado. Some people lost everything they had and some had to evacuate. You may have even gotten stuck when the authorities closed Interstate-25 for this flooding or sometime in winters past. I ask you, are you ready to take care of yourself, your family and your pets in the event of a natural or man-made disaster? You may or may not have heard that September was National Preparedness Month. This was time dedicated to focusing on getting prepared to better handle various situations. September is not the only month we should be focused on our being prepared. I believe it is your responsibility to make sure that you are prepared to take care of yourself, your family, and if you have them, your pets in the event of a natural disaster or other major event. There are many resources out there to get you started on basic preparation. I suggest starting with the Air Force Be Ready site at www.beready.af.mil. This site provides basic information that highlights why you should prepare. It also offers resources on making kits and developing plans. One thing that I really like on this site is the included child activities to get the whole family involved in the process. You can also download items to help you prepare and you can even download the Be Ready app for your smart phone devices. Once you navigate the Air Force Be Ready site, I recommend you check out www.ready.gov. This site is provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and provides additional resources on being prepared. It is organized into four main areas to help you start or refine your preparations: be informed, make a plan, build a kit and get involved. This site also provides other resources to help you if you own a business or are operating on a budget and want to get started. Take the time to visit this site and see what other information is available. After you have made it through the Air Force and FEMA readiness sites, you are ready to tackle some intermediate preparation research. Now this is not for everyone but you can find some great information that may increase your overall preparedness. Just pick the Internet search engine of your choice, type in preparation terms that you would like to know more about. A few examples are: preparation on a budget, for pets and winter car kits. Now that you have read some basic preparation information, ask yourself a simple question: "Am I ready if 'something' happens." If you are not ready, it is time to start getting ready. Hopefully, this will start you on the path to becoming prepared for a myriad of possible events. While it may seem like a lot of work to get prepared, I believe it is better to be ready and not need to execute your plan than to not be ready at all. Your life and those of your family may depend on it. Ultimately, it is up to you because zombies, or more realistically a blizzard here in Wyoming, doesn't care if you are ready or not!