Shave Ice And Bug Out Bags

Smoke in the air changes how you think. We’re watching a major Southern Oregon brush fire grow in real time, and it becomes a blunt lesson in emergency preparedness, wildfire evacuation planning, and the mindset it takes to actually leave when you’re told. We walk through the Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 evacuation system and why “they don’t mean right now” is the most dangerous story you can tell yourself. We also share the practical tools that help you make better decisions sooner, including the WatchDuty app for wildfire alerts and the MyShake app for earthquake notifications.

From there, we get concrete about go bags and bug out bags: not as a pile of gear, but as a plan. The old three-day standard is not enough for many real scenarios, so we talk about building toward longer self-sufficiency, organizing multiple bags, and tagging priorities so you can load fast without thinking. We cover simple but high-impact items like sturdy shoes by the bed, a flashlight that actually works, and why glow sticks can be safer than flares for marking hazards without sparks.

We also shift into personal safety for summer. Our Women’s Self-Defense Series is back with a multi-day format that blends live-fire training, non-ballistic self-defense, and the confidence to act when something feels off. Finally, we share why we’re excited to be part of the USCCA family and how the USCCA app can make summer road trips less stressful by helping you understand carry laws, reciprocity, and duty-to-inform rules across state lines. If this helps you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review. What’s the one thing you’re adding to your go bag today?

Cha Cha's Shave Ice
310 N Main St    Ste F Phoenix, OR
(Across from the Subway)

Sign up for Women's Self-Defense Series

Watch Duty (Fire Information)

MyShake (Earthquake Information)

Jackson County Emergency Management

(Google  in your own community area for similar programs)

USCCA (Information)

Class Information: Refuse to be a Victim Personal ProtectionTraining

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Transcript

Smoke On The Horizon

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It's really easy to tell it's summer. The traffic accident has resulted in a huge brush fire in what we call Sam's Valley, but is technically known as East Evans Creek here in southern Oregon. And if that is not a Zen lesson in prepping, I don't know what is. We're going to have more on that. We're going to have some good news too. Phoenix has shave ice, not shaved ice, shave ice. That's how they say it in Hawaii. More good news backed by Popular Demand, Women's Self-Defense Series classes are once again on the menu. We're part of the U.S. CCA family, and it's time to talk about getting ready for summer trips. I'm Mr. Campers. Come on in and let's talk about it. Well, hi everybody. I'm Bill Bateman, part of the team here at Refuse to Be a Victim Personal Protection Training. We are located in the Medford, White City area of Southern Oregon, and we look forward to seeing you either for a day at the range to improve your skills or to come on out and take a class with us. We're talking about what's going on at the company and what's going on in the community. And the big news in our area is a, as I mentioned at the top, a 7,000-acre brush fire that's east of Evans Creek, or what we call Sam's Valley, and that's just a little bit north of Medford, heading towards the Shady Cove area. It is uh doubling. It's it's quite scary. If you haven't watched one of these actually happen, from where I'm sitting, I can see smoke. It's oh my goodness, I just checked the most recent update. It's 7,843 acres. Uh it they have both level one and

Evacuation Levels And Alert Apps

SPEAKER_00 2:05

level two, and sadly enough, some level three evacuations. If you're not familiar with that system, one is one to get ready, two to get set, and three to go. When you hear a three, you should be looking in your rear view mirror. It's uh it's serious business, and if you don't have an app called WatchDuty, which I got initially as a just a basic freebie, but I refinance my car and actually spending the $10 or whatever it is to get the full version of the app, and I'm very glad I did. I'm going to put the link for the Watch Duty app in the login area. You can follow up on it, get it on your phone, or check it on your computer. And as part of prepping, as part of getting ready for the, oh my gosh, uh, I'm also going to add the My Shake app. That's the one for earthquakes. Uh had some uh quite the flurry of earthquakes off the coast, and that's the fault line that we're going to have to worry about uh when a whole lot of shaking happens. And I'd had an interesting talk with somebody. He said, You know, there's not a whole lot you can do about an earthquake? Well, sure you can. You can prepare. Now, during an earthquake, you can hang on to something, uh, duck and cover, get under something. Don't stand in the doorway, because the doorway's gonna swing back and forth like a gate and slap you around like you're in a bar fight. I'd recommend some just basic things for earthquake safety, and then the same things I'm gonna recommend for fire preparation safety. Have a good pair of solid shoes next to the bed. Have a flashlight that works. You see, a flashlight that doesn't work is a paperweight. Have a flashlight next to the bed that works, and uh, we have just completed a firewise training here, which is a whole nother episode, but the idea of having a fire extinguisher in the bedroom is a really good idea. So we're looking at uh watch duty, we're looking at the Evans Creek fire, and as I mentioned at the top, this is just a Zen lesson in prepping. Uh, in our house, we can smell the smoke, we can see the ash falling. It is uh, we're not in

Go Bags As A Real Plan

SPEAKER_00 4:33

the area yet, but it makes it really, really relevant to check up on your go bags, check up on your preparations, check the contents, uh, make sure you've got the the big things, the food, the water, the that type of stuff. Maybe refresh your water, make sure it is current, up to date while you've still got water pressure. Uh looking at uh a go bag beyond just a pile of stuff, looking at it as a plan. And go bags are just that plural. It used to be, and you know, I I used to be 25, but I'm not anymore. It used to be that three days stuff was all you needed in a go bag. Well, then they changed it to two weeks supply. Be ready to be independent. That's a critical point. Be ready to be independent for two weeks. And really, FEMA now says it's a month. Be ready to be self-sufficient for one month. This is not widely touted because it scares people. And actually, it should scare you. Uh that's a whole nother issue that we'll talk about uh down the road as well. But the fact that doing CPR on someone, we've just had this conversation. I was talking to another uh prepper today, and he was saying, you know, he's CPR certified, and he's done it, and I've done it, and uh you're good for but I think the most I was able to go was 45 minutes before somebody had to relieve me. Physically strong, heavy physical exertion, and the key to that is somebody's coming, or you've got an AED, you've got a defibrillator coming. If you are out on the street and you don't have anything, and the nearest ambulance is a day away, six hours away, two hours away, CPR is a wonderful thing to try, and you may find your efforts are limited and your success doesn't happen. So looking at bug out bags and looking at things that go in them and looking at all the things that go as part of this evacuation and this first aid is building a mindset. Getting not just one bug out bag, as I mentioned, now you've got to be ready for a month, which means a series of bug out bags. I'm currently, because I had a good meeting with a good friend of mine, putting the bug out bags I have in numerical order with color tags. The red are gonna go first. The green are gonna go second. The blue, the yellow, the blue is water, uh, the red is vital stuff to have in first aid. I have my own code. I suggest you make up your own. I have a collection of, I think right now I'm trying to look across the room and talk at the same time. Could be above my pay grade. I've got eight bags so far, and they're gonna have to go in the car. Uh things will go in the bag at the last minute. Uh for example, my firearms. I do have firearms for when we have to evacuate, and I'm not going to be leaving those just lying around the house, obviously. That's very bad. I want to make sure they're secured, they're properly uh stored, and they're properly ready, and then when necessary, they can go into their appropriate spots in the go bag. The point is you're gonna need more than one bag, you're gonna need supplies for more than three days, you're gonna need to have a month's stuff put aside, which means ideally, you're gonna have some stuff at the house, you're gonna have something at the home base. It may not be actually your home, it could be a storage unit you have that you have access to. It could be you've shared space on someone's property and you have their permission to uh be storing things there. The idea is that this waiting until the last minute, and I'm actually seeing people now with you know smoke on the horizon and smoke in the air, and we're talking to them about, yeah, we're getting our go bags ready, and we're what's a go bag? And I have real problems not believing that, but understanding it. Uh folks are still sitting there, it won't happen to me. It's denial, it's a common thing. Uh, when the police come to knock on the door and say you gotta go, some folks, well, uh they don't mean now. Well, yes, they do. They really, really do. Look at the expression on that officer's face. He or she really wants you to get in the car and leave. Uh but folks, will it's human nature, it's human psychology. Oh, well, you know, it's only happened. It happened here five years ago, but it'll never happen again. Sure it will. Uh, it could very easily be happening in the next 96 hours. When you put your mental state, state of the union together, your mental state of the union, you have to be very, very direct. Don't give the good version. If you were, especially if you've got family, it's okay maybe to say the little kids, oh yeah, everything's gonna be fine, but you have to have that real conversation with the family about uh prepping, about evacuation, make those calls, reserve those motel rooms, fill those water bottles, uh deal with your pets. All of these things are things you should be doing right now if you're in a scary level one, level two. By level two, you should have the car packed. Level three means get in the car, shut the door, kiss the wife or husband, the dog, or whatever you're gonna kiss, and go. It's uh it's time to plan before you get to level one. And so that's what I'm urging you to do right now. Okay, uh, it's just whenever we have these fires, having been through the uh Alameda fire, having been through a couple of these things myself, I really get bristly, I get prickly when people tell me, Well, it's not gonna happen. You know, you know, I'm really tired of hearing about this. And uh frankly, at this point in my life, I God bless, I'll do what I can to help, but I'm not gonna burn because you won't leave.

Women’s Self-Defense Series Returns

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Okay, uh back by Popular Demand, the women's self-defense series. And this is really good. We had this for a time. It's a uh multi-day event. It includes live fire training, it has non-ballistic self-defense, it has refresher basic pistol, either an excellent class for a new user of a pistol, or for someone who hasn't used it in quite some time. It's been in the safe uh once a month, once every six months, every Christmas you go to grandpa's house and shoot out in the backyard. You may need some refreshers. And then there's the concealed carry mastery, which is kind of like advanced techniques in carrying your firearm. What to be aware of, how to carry, what to expect, problems you can encounter. Now, this is a three-day series taught by experienced professionals, and the goal, and I I like this idea a lot, is to help uh help you ladies unleash your own personal mama bear. Because, folks, everybody knows the only thing in the only thing in nature scarier than a bear is mama bear. And that's what you want to do. When somebody starts following you through a parking lot, you want to be able to turn and give them that mental growl. Let them know back up. That means you have the skills, the confidence, and uh the tools in your possession. And tools don't necessarily mean you have to carry a gun. I know some people are fearful of that. Uh, you come fully equipped, men and women, with uh outstanding self-defense tools elbows, hands, fingers, knees, feet, forehead, teeth. Vicious bite. So you have the ability to defend yourself, and it's not so much just tools and uh techniques, it's the psychological awareness. It's scoping out a situation, it's learning to evaluate what things mean, and overcoming that little voice in your head, oh, it's probably nothing. Oh, okay. It could be. And being I saw read a very good article. It's not a case of having your radar on and picking up a blip, it's being able to react to the blip. Kind of like the people on the Titanic with the iceberg. It's important to know it's out there. It's more important to be able to respond and react appropriately. So this is a great class for a single person, especially for single ladies, uh, or a couple. If you and a partner want to take this course, it's very, very useful. In fact, if you're in a relationship and and then you can make this part of daily conversations and daily examples, thinking about potential problems. So the course is $250 per person, multiple days with live fire training. It's popular demand, and we're hoping to make sure that uh you get an opportunity. So singles and couples are welcome. You can give us a call or stop by the website. Refuse to be a victim of personal protection training. We've got this set up for you. Uh it's it's tried and true. We've had some good luck with it, and it's also a cornerstone of some of the programs we have, like for houses of worship and for uh realtors, persons involved in the real estate industry. So this is these are troubled times. Be ready, be alert, be aware, and know how to the best of your ability, unleash Mama Bear if you have to.

USCCA Membership And Travel Laws

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Okay, we are now part of the U.S. CCA family. I don't know if everybody knew that, but yes, uh, we have uh the undergone the process to become a part of USCCA, United States Concealed Care Association. I am a member, I uh have the insurance program, I have the app on my phone, and it is a program I'm really excited about. We're still doing our classes, but we're also sharing information and you can find out an awful lot about what's going on from us right now when you come out to the range. So it's it's part of a class will include information on the USCCA family and the benefits and values you can get for it. I do I did purchase the insurance. I'm not being compensated in any way to say this. It's uh something we're excited about, and we hope you will be too. And talking about summer trips in the USCCA family, they have a phone app and it is great. Uh, you enter your information, what permits you have, what training, any certifications, or uh, like you may be ex-law enforcement, uh, anything that applies to you and your status as a gun owner. And when you're on that summer vacation, when you're ready for summer trips, the app is really, really useful. My wife and I drove to uh Yellowstone. In fact, we got married in the Grand Tetons, so we drove from here to the Grand Tetons. Uh, this was five years ago. As a matter of fact, happy anniversary to us. Uh, we drove all the way through and it showed us as we drove. You've gone into uh Idaho, how are the laws different? You've gone into Montana, how are the laws different? What are the carry regulations? Is your permit valid here? What is the duty to inform if an officer pulls you over? Uh the different things you need to know. Uh it helps you when you're at a rest stop, it helps you when you're trying to check into a hotel, it helps you make that trip stress-free. Because the last thing you want to have on any kind of travel is difficulty with your permits, with the law. Uh, that can be very serious. Some states are uh like going into California. If you don't have the proper documentation and follow the rules, you're going to get into trouble. So plan accordingly. Know what's happening, use the app. And it's something that I think uh I'll put the link up there for the USCCA stuff as well. So, what else do we want to talk about?

Rest Stop Awareness And Final Gear

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Summer trips. One thing I've noticed, and I've seen this at rest stops, uh, everybody gets out of the car, they've been riding for several hours, and they kind of just they head for the restrooms first thing. Then the kids go off running around, uh, sometimes with the dogs, sometimes not. And there's a lot of opportunity for bad guys, uh, for thieves, for uh folks to uh grab stuff out of your car, uh grab stuff out of your pockets. So those are some thoughts. The Zen lesson on prepping is important because we're heading towards 8,000 acres since the time I started this uh this podcast in uh Sam's Valley here in southern Oregon. So consider your preparations now. If you're just getting started, today's a good day to do it. If you have done it, stop and look at the little things. Like one of the things we have added to our bag are the uh glow sticks. The illumination sticks, they're you crack them, you break them, they come in white, they come in red, they come in green, and we are using them more and more for our emergency training here in the mobile home community and for when we are on the road. If something happens, yes, a flare is great, but some of those red glow sticks are also good to mark off dangerous things. The white is good to see by, they last a long time, they're non-toxic, and they don't cause sparks and they don't uh create a fire hazard. So just start thinking long term. Go back through some of our earlier podcasts. You can do that for absolutely no charge. Ease on down to see what's uh some of the earlier suggestions are. They're all good ideas. Water is our next topic for next month, or next month, for next week. Uh I'm gonna leave you with one thought on water. The rain that fell on the dinosaurs is the same water falling today. There is no new water. Think about that. And forever chemicals. Okay, that's it for this week. Thank you. Come on out. Uh click the link for get more information on the women's self-defense series. Uh, check out your go bag and be ready. But have fun. Have a shave ice. I put the address there in the login. That's it for this week. Be safe.

unknown 21:19

Ciao.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

The preceding program was a presentation of Retired Guy Productions.