12 Military Principles That Improve Our Preparedness Plan

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Practical Prepping Podcast

Episode: 12 Military Principles That Improve Our Preparedness Plan
Hosts: Mark & Krista Lawley
Date: June 1, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Mark and Krista Lawley dissect 12 foundational military principles and demonstrate how applying these concepts can drastically improve everyday preparedness. The conversation remains firmly rooted in practical, accessible advice focusing on real-life scenarios—no apocalypse required. The hosts use a mix of personal anecdotes, clear-cut examples, and actionable insights to translate military wisdom into steps for family safety and resilience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Have a Clear Mission

• [01:47] Krista: Every effective plan starts with a defined objective—know your threats and set clear triggers for action (e.g., sheltering in place vs. evacuation).
  • "You need to decide in advance whether the goal is to shelter in place or to evacuate. And what's the trigger? When will you stay or go?" — Mark [02:09]
• Example: Decide personal thresholds for leaving in a hurricane, not just waiting until it's too late.

2. Prioritize Logistics Over Tactics

• [02:59] Krista: Focus on essentials—food, water, maintenance, and resupply—before buying new gear.
  • "Amateurs talk about gear, but professionals...talk logistics." — Krista [04:49]
• Practical tip: Regularly rotate food stores, track expiration dates, and maintain tools.

3. Build Redundancy

• [05:08] Mark: Assume systems will fail. Having backups for essentials (water purification, power, communication) is a must.
  • "The practical rule: two is one and one is none." — Krista [05:27]
• Highlight: Practice with NOAA radios, backup batteries, and spare medications.

4. Train Under Realistic Conditions

• [06:06] Krista: Practice skills under stress—start fires in bad weather, run evacuation drills, operate in the dark.
  • "Skills that are not practiced regularly degrade quickly. If you haven't practiced it, you don't really have it." — Mark [07:52]
• Involve the whole family with drills and first aid practice.

5. Keep Systems Simple and Standardized

• [08:23] Mark: Simplify gear and standardize items (calibers, batteries, fuel types) to reduce confusion and increase interoperability.
  • "The military emphasizes clarity and standardization." — Mark [08:30]
• Advice: Label and organize supplies clearly. Use common battery types and connectors.

6. Maintain Situational Awareness

• [11:14] Mark: Always assess your environment—at the gas pump, when entering/exiting buildings, and monitor vulnerabilities (like flood-prone roads).
  • "Preparedness is 50% awareness...we'll be 50% prepared just doing that." — Mark [14:30]
• Stay observant but avoid paranoia. Monitor weather and infrastructure risks.

7. Invest in Physical Fitness

• [15:01] Krista: Emergencies will test your strength and endurance. Prepare to perform physically demanding tasks with limited sleep.
  • "Prepping without fitness is incomplete." — Mark [16:10]
• Reminder: Strength, endurance, and mobility are all essential.

8. Value Teamwork

• [16:54] Mark: Relying on trusted networks (mutual aid groups) yields better survival outcomes than going it alone.
  • "Small teams beat lone wolves every time." — Mark [16:54]
• Assign roles according to skills and maintain a collaborative approach.

9. Conduct After Action Reviews

• [18:26] Mark: After every event or drill, assess what worked and what didn’t. Adjust plans and stay flexible.
  • "Continuously refine your systems. You've got to be as fluid as the crisis may be." — Krista [19:12]

10. Build Mental Resilience

• [19:15] Mark: Cultivate a mindset for adaptability and emotional control—emulate military emphasis on decision-making under stress.
  • "Calm people survive longer than panicked people." — Mark [19:44]
• Avoid fear-based decisions to improve outcomes.

11. Use Layered Security

• [20:06] Krista: Employ multiple deterrents—lighting, cameras, dogs, reinforced doors, and “thorny” landscaping—to create barriers.
  • "Deterrent often prevents the problems." — Mark [22:58]
• Discreetly manage what you discard and display outside your home.

12. Stay Adaptable

• [23:02] Krista: Plans must change with circumstances—learn to pivot quickly, without ego.
  • "No plan survives first contact." — Mark [23:24]
  • "Stay fluid because flexible may be too stiff." — Mark [23:41]
• Don’t get stuck—they encourage adjusting to reality, even adopting others’ ideas when needed.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Gear vs. Skills:
  • "Equipment alone won't save you. It exposes the gaps in your plan and your skills fast." — Mark [00:00]
• On Military Mindset:
  • "The military survives chaos because they expect things to go wrong." — Mark [00:10]
• On Community:
  • "Community resilience is stronger than isolated individual efforts." — Mark [17:53]
• On Simplicity:
  • "Preparation is a system, it’s not a pile of stuff." — Mark [24:17]
• On Survival:
  • "The person with the training and...intellect to be fluid and flexible, that's a prepper that's going to survive." — Krista [24:53]
• On Adapting:
  • "Mike Tyson said everybody has a plan. Until you get hit in the face." — Mark [23:24]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Start & Episode Framing: [00:00–01:47]
• Military Principle #1–Clear Mission: [01:47]
• #2–Prioritize Logistics: [02:59]
• #3–Redundancy: [05:08]
• #4–Realistic Training: [06:06]
• #5–Simplicity/Standardization: [08:23]
• #6–Situational Awareness: [11:14]
• #7–Physical Fitness: [15:01]
• #8–Teamwork: [16:54]
• #9–After Action Reviews: [18:26]
• #10–Mental Resilience: [19:15]
• #11–Layered Security: [20:06]
• #12–Adaptability: [23:02]
• Summary & Closing Thoughts: [24:17]

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Tone & Closing

Mark and Krista keep the tone approachable, occasionally lighthearted, but grounded in real-life wisdom. They emphasize that preparedness is about systems, training, and mindset, not fear or stockpiles. Every principle circles back to empowering listeners with practical, judgment-free steps, summed up perfectly:

"Stuff happens." — Krista [25:14]
"Stay prepared." — Krista [25:14]

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This episode delivers a comprehensive, actionable guide to bringing military-tested practices into your emergency readiness—making it essential listening for both new and seasoned preppers.

Transcript

[A]

When disaster hits, it doesn't care how much gear you've got stacked in the garage, equipment alone won't save you. It exposes the gaps in your plan and your skills fast. The military survives chaos because they expect things to go wrong. They plan ahead, build systems, train under stress, and constantly refine what works. In today's episode, we're looking at those lessons and how to apply them to make our own preparedness plan stronger, simpler, and more realistic.

[B]

Welcome to practical prepping. Today is June 1, 2026, and this is episode 556. This is the prepping podcast with no bunkers, no zombies, and no alien invasions. Just practical prepping where we teach everyday people how to prepare for life's emergencies, disasters and crises. And we're here to help you get prepared. I'm Krista.

[A]

And I'm Mark. If you'd like the expanded notes for this episode, go to practicalprepping.info 556 and we'll have a couple of links in there that we mentioned in today's show as well. Krista and I were talking the other day and she asked, what lessons can preppers learn from the military? So we started doing some research and we found 12 lessons that we can learn from the military. And we're calling this episode 12 Military Principles that improve our Preparedness Plan.

[B]

First of all, you should have a clear mission. You know, in the military, every action supports a defined objective. So preppers should clearly define their likely scenarios, like doing threat assessments, which for us would be natural disasters or grid failures. Could be economic disruptions or even some sort of evacuation event.

[A]

You need to decide in advance whether the goal is to shelter in place or to evacuate. And what's the trigger? When will you stay or go? The saying is you stay as long as it's safe, and when you can't, you leave.

[B]

Makes sense.

[A]

But what triggers that? If you're in a hurricane prone zone, you need to have your line drawn in the sand. Okay, I'm leaving if it hits a three, or I'm leaving if it hits a four. Whatever yours is. My particular one is if it starts with an H, Hurricane, I'm leaving.

[B]

Yeah, right.

[A]

But we don't have them. Well, we have had one here where we live. But our gear should support a specific plan, not be accumulated randomly. I've done that as well back years ago.

[B]

Sure. And that kind of leads us to the second principle, and that's to prioritize your logistics over your tactics. I'll tell you that military success depends very heavily on the food, the water, the fuel, the medical supplies and the maintenance.

[A]

I think it was Patton that said something to the effect of an army moves on its stomach.

[B]

Actually, it was Napoleon.

[A]

It was Napoleon.

[B]

It was. Well, it had probably quoted him.

[A]

Had a lot to do with the logistics of being able to provide food, water and things like that as they traveled along. But for preppers, this means focusing on our water storage and purification. It means rotating food is necessary, Tracking expiration dates on things that truly have expiration dates. It means maintaining our equipment. We've all been guilty of slacking off on that sometimes. Well, yeah, we were in a discussion with Krista's sister this afternoon about the difference in electric versus gasoline operated tools for lawn men.

[B]

Yeah, we're talking about weed eaters and trimmers and mowers.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Chainsaw.

[A]

Now, I'm going to stick with a gasoline tractor, but when it comes to weed eaters, when it comes to string trimmers, when it comes to chainsaws, I've gone all electric on that and I'm very happy with that. And I can take the battery out, put it over in the corner for a year if I have to and come back and it starts up just as well as the day I put it there. That doesn't always happen with gasoline. They have to be maintained very closely. But we also need to plan for resupply.

[B]

Very important.

[A]

Resupply is very important, especially in extreme long term grid down situations which we

[B]

hope none of us ever has to endure. But hey, that's why we do this. One never knows and realize this, that consumables matter a whole lot more than tools alone. You know, amateurs talk about gear, but professionals, and we can include the military here, they talk logistics.

[A]

That's really who we're talking about.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Now those guys will talk to you about gear.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, sure, yeah, yeah, you got some gear heads there. And they do love to talk about it. But professionals do talk a lot about the logistics. Third, we want to build redundancy. The military assumes that systems will fail.

[B]

You know, it's that practical rule two is one and one is none.

[A]

Yep. So we need to have multiple methods for water purification. We need backup power options. We need more than one way to communicate and that is not just getting messages out, but that's receiving.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

We've talked about having a NOAA weather radio and weather apps for receiving weather information. And the television is a third backup there that we can have. But we also need those spare critical items such as batteries and medications. True failure is expected so backup plans are mandatory.

[B]

The fourth on the list would be to train under realistic conditions. Of course, if possible. Naturally, the military trains repeatedly, so their skills will hold up under all kinds of stress.

[A]

Yeah, but preppers need to practice starting fires in bad weather.

[B]

I'm not sure I've ever done that, to be honest.

[A]

I have.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Years ago.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

It meant staying alive.

[B]

I understand.

[A]

Right. Running evacuation drills, how to get out,

[B]

when and where, and all those different.

[A]

Can you get out of the house in total darkness?

[B]

Can you get out of your house in more than one way?

[A]

Do some night training in the sheriff's department, police departments, we were always doing. We would alternate some with daytime training and nighttime training. Things look a lot different at night and when it comes to weaponry, and there's a lot of difference at night. You also need to practice cooking with stored food.

[B]

Yeah, you need to have those prepper meal weekends once in a while.

[A]

And Krista does this quite regularly. She uses up our stored food and replaces what she's used. So it's rotating and she goes through it at such a rate that we really don't have to look at any best buy dates. I mean, we stay pretty well within that. Run radio checks. Use your radio.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

You know, a lot of people have bought those bail things and thrown them over there in the bag just in case. Well, if it happens, it's a paperweight. If you don't. If you don't already know what you're doing with it and have practiced with it. First aid scenario. These are good. You get the kids involved. You can get the kids wrapping, bandaging each other up. You don't have to have real wounds for this.

[B]

Of course.

[A]

Practice some first aid scenarios because skills that are not practiced regularly degrade quickly. If you haven't practiced it, you don't really have it.

[B]

Are you learning from our podcast? Are you getting new ideas for your prepping? In other words, do you receive value from practical prepping? Would you help us out by giving back a little? We sure would appreciate it. Go to practicalprepping.info support. You will find several ways that you can help support our show.

[A]

Number five, keep our systems simple. The military emphasizes clarity and standardization.

[B]

That's why there's no confusion. Under a stressful time, you know what

[A]

you're going to do at a given time.

[B]

And preppers need to also avoid very overly complex setups. Choose some durable and proven tools, the things that you're really going to use, and really need standardized items, such as calibers.

[A]

That's a Very important thing. Now, a whole lot of folks have standardized on the 9 millimeter, and it's a good round. And I do carry a 9 millimeter quite regularly. But one of the things that the sheriff's department that I worked for here in north Alabama did was they standardized on one pistol and they issued that pistol and they issued the magazines to go with it. You were required to carry so many. But what that did by standardizing not just the ammunition, but standardizing the magazines is if somebody is in a gunfight, running low on ammo and says, throw me a magazine, they don't have to empty your magazine and load their magazine. It would plug right into their pistol. Everybody's was standardized exactly the same, and they've done the same thing now with optics on their. Their handguns.

[B]

Something else you can standardize would be your battery types and the sizes.

[A]

Yeah. And connectors love different quick disconnects for our radios. And I've standardized on one. Anderson Power poles is a great one. That's not the one that I went with back when I started putting so many quick disconnects on equipment. But standardize those connectors so that you can plug in any radio to your backup power system such as that. Standardize your fuel types.

[B]

What does that mean?

[A]

It means go with gasoline. Go with as much as you can stay with gasoline, or go with propane and as much as you can stay with propane. Okay, let's see what you kind of thing. So standardize that. You're probably not going to get away with just having one. One fuel to run everything. Because you're going to have gasoline or diesel in your vehicle, maybe in your lawn tractor, but when it comes to grills, when it comes to auxiliary heat, when it comes to generators, it's great to have those all standardized on one fuel.

[B]

While we're still in this particular topic area, you want to label and organize your things as well. But because clear labeling and good organization certainly reduce confusion during the emergencies when you're at your highest level of stress and you just don't need to be monkeying around with guessing games.

[A]

Yep. Keep it simple. Number six, maintain situational awareness. Military members constantly assess their environment, their resources, and their risks. We talk about it in the prepper community. We talk about it in walking around in daily life. Have that head on a swivel. Preppers need to monitor their surroundings. One of the places that I talk the most about really being aware of what's going on around you is at a gas pump. So many people get out of their Car and they start pumping their gas, and they never look anywhere else. We were driving yesterday, and we had to stop and get fuel, and the man in front of us was pumping his fuel, and he never took his eyes off of the total of the amount of fuel.

[B]

Yeah. He never moved.

[A]

He never looked around. Not at all. That kind of a situation. Somebody can sneak up on you. So keep those surroundings monitored. Do the same thing when you're entering and exiting buildings. You go into the building, look around as you approach that building, look all around the front entrance of that building. When you come out of that building, look left, look right, look center. Scan your surroundings so that you are observant.

[B]

Get off your phone.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

How many times have you seen somebody walking in or out of a building, nose to the phone? They're barely even aware that some people have actually bonked their head on the door.

[A]

There's some cute videos out there. People walking into light poles, people falling into fountains, those kinds of things.

[B]

Get off the phone.

[A]

But hey, you can get hit by a car out there if you got your head in your phone. Well, that's true, but you don't want to become an alarmist.

[B]

No.

[A]

But remain observant.

[B]

You need to monitor some of these weather forecasts as well. Get a little bit better prepared at being able to read the weather systems. Read the forecasting systems. It's going to help give you information on how to dress, where to go, where the risky areas may be for flood, for lightning, for landslide, mudslide. All the types of risks that can happen if weather is starting to kind of tune up on you.

[A]

Yeah. And you need to understand those local infrastructure vulnerabilities. Where we live, there is a road not too far from us, and if we get an inch of rain, it's over that roadway.

[B]

Yeah, it is. They've even closed that road.

[A]

They've closed that roadway, and it's a long way around it, but it sure is better than driving off into it. But understand those local vulnerabilities. What is major to you? Stay informed about regional risks. There are some regional risks, and we just need to keep our eyes on. But understand your neighborhood dynamic. There are things going on, and if you. If you'll pay attention, you can read the neighborhood with the things that are going on in neighborhoods.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

But stay informed without panic.

[B]

The whole reason we prepare is to lessen the effect of panicking or maybe do away with it altogether.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. Not to be surprised by something that causes us to panic and avoid tunnel vision. And that's where we just, you know, we're walking out the store and we put our eyes on our car and that's all we keep an eye on. We need to avoid that tunnel vision because preparedness is 50% awareness, aware of the things that we've talked about here. In the last minute or so, we'll be 50% prepared just doing that.

[B]

That it's better than zero percent. The seventh on the list would be to invest in physical fitness. Now, our military is well known for this. Anyone that's ever been through boot camp or has been stationed somewhere, you know that physical aptitude and physical fitness is pretty much the name of the game. And you don't get a choice on it. You are going to participate. So they work on strength, they work on endurance, and they work on their mobility. I mean, it's nothing for them to be announcing right after lineup that we're going on a 10 mile run.

[A]

Right?

[B]

And they don't mean walk, they mean run.

[A]

When they say run, they mean run. When we get into emergencies, preppers may be required to carry water or supplies or walk long distances or lift heavy objects. And I've done pretty much all of those in some type of disaster situations that we've been in. And another thing that emergencies may require of us is operating with limited sleep, strength, endurance and mobility significantly improve resilience during crisis. Prepping without fitness is incomplete.

[B]

Now, we'll get back to the show in just a moment, but I want to tell you that today's cup of coffee comes from Ralph. He is a longtime supporter of the podcast, a very good friend. We really appreciate him. Ralph is the host of the Financially Confident Christian Podcast. And if you aren't listening, you should be. We'll put the link in the episode notes. Ralph, we really do appreciate your support, buddy. You too can go to practicalprepping.info support. And you can show us some love by buying us a few cups of coffee or even buy a coffee membership. It's only $5 a month and it really helps us offset the expenses of our show. Please consider that go to practicalprepping.info support. Now let's get back to the show.

[A]

Here's number eight, value teamwork. Small teams beat lone wolves every time. Military operations rely on coordinated teams.

[B]

Now, I know some people will naysay this, but preppers do benefit from trusted networks. And it's very important that you find some mutual aid groups. They call them mags.

[A]

Yeah. And it may just be one or two or three other people. Of course you're close to and that you can trust. But going it alone makes it so much harder than doing it as a team.

[B]

Well, one thing you can do is you can coordinate your varying skills because you may have a medical pro, you may have a mechanical pro, communications pro, you may have somebody that knows how to cook, how to sew, how to take care of children, how to do all different kinds of things that no one person can do at all. And having those defined roles within those facilities, families or those mutual aid groups certainly helps you weather the storm a whole lot better.

[A]

Community resilience is stronger than isolated individual efforts. So avoid an isolation mentality. Develop clear roles in family units and mag groups.

[B]

That's exactly what the military know.

[A]

Who's going to do what.

[B]

Yeah, the military is often about, you know, the, the brotherhood and the sisterhood of the action that they're facing and they're just aren't going to go it alone. And when somebody does get isolated, the chances for their coming out positively are far less than if you stick with that, buddy.

[A]

Ninth is conduct after action reviews.

[B]

Oh, now that is important.

[A]

Now we've done that here. Even with a four hour power outage that we said, okay, it got dark and we brought out our lights out kit.

[B]

We sort of went into what we call our exit notes. You know, what did we learn from this experience?

[A]

Exactly what worked, what didn't and what was supposed to happen, what actually happened, what went well and what needs improvement.

[B]

Exactly. So preppers need to review those same responses to the storms, power outages, drills, whatever your crisis might be. And you need to adjust your plans accordingly and be available at being flexible with that. Continuously refine your systems. You've got to be as fluid as the crisis may be.

[A]

Number 10, build mental resilience.

[B]

You know we've done entire podcast on just that word, resilience.

[A]

Yep. But the military trains mindset. They train for adaptability, emotional control, decision making under stress, acceptance of uncertainty. And preppers need to develop some of those same stress management skills. We need to remain calm during uncertainty because calm people survive longer than panicked people.

[B]

That's a proven fact. You need to avoid fear based decision making. You're generally not going to make the best move if you're just reacting out of emotions and fear. So keep clear thinking under the pressure that you're in and avoid fear based decision making if you can.

[A]

Can 11th use layered security?

[B]

What does that mean?

[A]

Well, the military relies on early warning barriers, observation and then response capability.

[B]

Oh, okay, I got you.

[A]

And you look at security team, school security for example, you have layers. You want to keep the threat outside. You want detection before it gets there. You want cameras, those kinds of things that tell you an early warning. Military has got some pretty good early warning devices, but they depend on that early warning. And they have barriers, they have things that you can't cross. Just look at the front of a military installation. Gates going in and out. You don't drive through there.

[B]

No. You're going to be stopped and you're probably going to be stopped personally.

[A]

But preppers can apply this through lighting. We could have outward facing lighting as well as inward facing lighting in our yard. It means not just shining out into

[B]

the yard, but up on the house or the doors.

[A]

Right. But there's some floodlights that are shining back toward the front of the house.

[B]

Yeah. It would make your movements or anyone's movements around the perimeter quite visible.

[A]

Exactly. And even your neighbors could see the shadows moving around there. Sure. Cameras, dogs. Dogs are a great early warning device.

[B]

And it doesn't have to be a big rough dog. If it's a barking dog. It can be an intruder deterrent. For real.

[A]

In hardening our houses, 3 inch screws and door frames and lock strike plates. You know, I pulled ours out when we moved into this house. I pulled the ones out of the striker plate to replace them. And they were about three quarters of an inch. Inch long.

[B]

Yeah. They're just the. The bare minimum.

[A]

The bare minimum to hold the frame up. It held the striker plate where it needed to be. But it. One good solid kick and that striker plate would give way.

[B]

Sure. Not now the frame and everything would tear out.

[A]

You really could. Thorny bushes under windows.

[B]

Yeah. Like a holly bush.

[A]

Holly bush, rose bush, something with lots of stickers, thorns. Someone was talking the other day and said plant BlackBerry bushes under the.

[B]

Yes, a tangle of thorns right there.

[A]

Not going through that. And avoid advertising your supplies. Now what I really mean by that is be is use some common sense when it comes to what you put on the road.

[B]

For one thing, like, for like garbage and boxes.

[A]

Well, 84 inch TV box.

[B]

Guess who just got an 84 inch TV.

[A]

Exactly. That neighbor put the generator box on the street.

[B]

Yeah. You're kind of letting people that do drive up and down in the neighborhood. They're going to have some awareness that, oh, you've got some new expensive toys I might like to have.

[A]

Yep, sure can.

[B]

Just don't advertise that.

[A]

But deterrent often prevents the problems.

[B]

Now the 12th and final military principle that we think is very applicable to preppers would be to stay adaptable. I think I mentioned it before. Adaptable means that you can flex, you can change, you can switch your plan if need be. Because military plans are designed to change as the conditions evolve. You know, no plan survives first contact.

[A]

Yeah. Mike Tyson said everybody has a plan. Until you get hit in the face.

[B]

Yeah. Then sometimes the plan changes.

[A]

The plan changes.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So preppers need to stay flexible. When I was teaching disaster relief, I said stay fluid because flexible may be too stiff.

[B]

That's true. I mean, you really need to flex.

[A]

Sometimes you just have to stay flexible. You have to adjust to changing conditions because circumstances change and avoid the emotional attachment to one scenario.

[B]

Yeah. Don't let your ego start guiding you here. Remember, it's not about ego.

[A]

We say plans fail. So now we need to go to plan B, plan C, maybe to plan

[B]

D, maybe to somebody else's plan. You have to also sometimes bow to the intelligence of another.

[A]

But be ready to pivot.

[B]

Pivot. Some people will know the reference.

[A]

Yeah, friends, preparation is a system, is not a pile of stuff.

[B]

You know why the military survives? It's because of planning, logistics, training, teamwork, discipline, adaptability. And none of this is just equipment alone. This is where you're really training the human being to be the survivor, the one who is going to use these as a tool. But ultimately it's for their good and their survival.

[A]

Yeah, equipment is nothing but a tool. Gear makes things easier, certainly.

[B]

But the person who with the training and the guidance and the intellect to be fluid and flexible, that's a prepper that's going to survive.

[A]

So there you have it. 12 military principles that improve our preparedness plan. We do appreciate you being here today. And as Krista always says, stuff happens.

[B]

Stay prepared.

[A]

And we'll see you next time. Sam.