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NARRATOR: For every person, there's a moment.
ROGER DOUGAN: My wife and I lost our home to a fire.
NARRATOR: When they discover that the world.
CINDY STEWART: When the second plane hit, it changed me.
NARRATOR: And everything they hold dear.
PATRICK TROY: They placed in my arms my first son.
Tornado on the ground.
The phone lines were down...
NARRATOR: Can be taken away.
PATRICK TROY: And that's why I'm a prepper.
LISA ROULETTE: That's why I'm a prepper.
CURTIS WAGGONER: That's why I'm a prepper.
NARRATOR: While some hope for the best, these three.
ROGER DOUGAN: We have uninvited guests.
NARRATOR: Are preparing.
KARISSA BACA: When they're in a worm state, we can eat them.
NARRATOR: For the worst.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Shoot the deer.
NARRATOR: They are Doomsday Preppers.
ROGER DOUGAN: About seven years ago,
my wife and I lost our home to a fire.
I watched a lifetime of work go up in smoke.
We lost our home and everything in it,
including my wife's wedding rings.
And I don't ever want to feel that helpless again.
And that's why I'm a prepper.
I have enough food stocked to last twenty people
for three months.
I have a storage tank, four ponds, and a nearby well.
I have an underground bunker to keep my family safe
for when disaster strikes.
I'm prepping for a terrorist attack on our electrical grid
that will send our society into chaos.
NARRATOR: Evidence collected
by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
suggests that cyber-attacks
on the electric grid are increasing both in frequency
and sophistication.
Roger believes a catastrophic terrorist attack
on our electric grid is imminent
and could send our nation back 150 years overnight.
ROGER DOUGAN: We're literally one successful cyber-attack
away from our worst fears.
An entire country with no electricity.
With no electricity, gas pumps don't work,
trucks that take groceries to your grocery store don't travel.
And in three days, this nation will be in chaos.
And when people cannot feed their children,
they'll be killing their neighbors to steal their food.
It's not going to be a light a candle and wait 30 minutes
for the lights to come back on.
It's going to be a life-changing event for every man,
woman and child in this country.
And everything that we take for granted will be gone.
NARRATOR: The State of Texas leads the nation
in privately owned working farms.
And with three generations of farming behind them,
Roger and his wife, Jenni, live and work on their family farm
just one hour outside of Dallas.
ROGER DOUGAN: My day usually starts off with, um,
feeding all the animals immediately followed by
water the garden and the orchard.
Then whatever time is left in my day is, um, working on my preps.
This is the one I want to use for rabbit cages.
NARRATOR: To avoid Federal regulations,
Texas is the only state in the continental U.S.
that has a completely self-contained grid,
making it harder for the state to rely on its neighbors
if there is a cyber-attack.
Roger fears that when the power goes out,
it will be chaos above ground,
so he's planning to take his family below it.
ROGER DOUGAN: I would absolutely consider the bunker
the biggest project in my life.
JENNI DOUGAN: Fourteen and a half inches tall, 12x13,
12 this way, 13 this way.
NARRATOR: Roger constructed the bunker
out of two shipping containers, each measuring eight feet wide,
45 feet long and 9 feet high.
ROGER DOUGAN: Take that end, unroll.
NARRATOR: And over the past two years,
he spent over 2500 hours making it livable.
ROGER DOUGAN: Okay, that's the final bunk completed.
JENNI DOUGAN: Cool.
ROGER DOUGAN: My wife and I have four children between us
and six grandchildren.
Felicia and her husband, Shane, here.
JENNI DOUGAN: Uh-hmm.
ROGER DOUGAN: The bunks in the dining room, Blake and Sammy.
In the bunker, we can sleep a dozen at the present time.
Shane is getting the top of the freezer.
JENNI DOUGAN: Okay. (Laughs)
ROGER DOUGAN: We have survived a house fire and had to start over
with nothing, so we have a very real appreciation of what it is
to lose everything, and the need to be better prepared
for whatever life deals us.
Mmmm. Mama's home cookin'. JENNI DOUGAN: Uh-huh.
NARRATOR: FEMA recommends storing a minimum of three days
of non-perishable food and water per person for emergencies.
Roger is stockpiling enough food in his bunker to feed
twenty-four people over the course of three months.
ROGER DOUGAN: We plan three meals a day.
Kids get grouchy when they're hungry.
I don't deal with grouchy kids.
I'd rather feed them.
Beans, rice, dehydrated potatoes,
all of those items are in food buckets.
The food safe buckets are all sealed with Mylar bags,
oxygen absorbers inside of them.
They'll be stored underneath the floor.
In addition too, we have individual bottled water.
On my property, we have beef, pork, chicken, rabbits and fish.
I do not anticipate a shortage of protein.
NARRATOR: Although efficient, Roger believes
that housing rabbits underground
could be a major liability as their urine is corrosive,
making them a hazard in an enclosed steel bunker.
So he plans to stock the bunker's 26 cubic foot freezer
with over 400 pounds of butchered meat from his farm.
ROGER DOUGAN: I would consider the bunker 60 percent completed.
I served in the United States Marine Corps for three years
as a diesel mechanic.
So I have a background in maintaining equipment
that we've accumulated for the preps.
So we're developing a system to pull fresh air
into the bunker and filter it.
JENNI DOUGAN: Oh, so that's going to be sitting upside down
ROGER DOUGAN: Yes, the fan is going to sit on top
of this piece.
The air intake system is a crucial step
in the planning of any bunker.
That's looking pretty good.
Anytime you have a large number of people in a small space,
you don't want to be overcome with the carbon dioxide
that we exhale.
Filter lays in here.
So, just like your house, the fresh air comes in,
passes through the filter.
So it forces all of the air out the bottom, into the room.
JENNI DOUGAN: Oh, okay.
ROGER DOUGAN: If there's a problem outside,
somebody finds your bunker, wants to smoke you out,
we have caps right here available to screw in.
JENNI DOUGAN: Oh, okay.
ROGER DOUGAN: To immediately protect you
from whatever is coming in that pipe that's not fresh air.
It's in.
JENNI DOUGAN: Very cool.
ROGER DOUGAN: Now that we have air.
JENNI DOUGAN: Uh-hmm.
(Laughing)
ROGER DOUGAN: Been waiting all day for that.
NARRATOR: Roger's military experience has also prepared him
to always have a backup plan.
ROGER DOUGAN: Every good bunker needs a back door.
NARRATOR: During the Vietnam War,
Viet Cong soldiers built the Cu Chi Tunnel System
as Guerilla fortifications.
U.S. attempts to destroy the tunnels took longer
than expected as the Viet Cong were constantly rebuilding
and expanding,
and included defensive features like trap doors.
ROGER DOUGAN: The camouflage for the escape hatch
is just as important as the air intake and exhaust.
You don't want any part of the bunker to be discovered
from above ground.
If the front door is discovered
and somebody is trying to get in,
you need a way out to go deal with that threat
other than through the front door.
The thought of the doghouse being great camouflage as once
this is installed and the ground is graded off at that level,
the old doghouse that's been chewed on by the dog
just looks like something sitting out behind the building
you didn't do anything with.
It's hiding in plain sight.
All I need is a pistol in my hand when I come up out of there
I believe it's important for all of the family members
to be introduced to the bunker and the experience in advance,
so that when the day comes, everybody is familiar with it
and how it works.
Hello, dear. FELICIA: Hey.
ROGER DOUGAN: Come give me a hug.
In the event of the electrical grid going down,
the bunker will be necessary simply to keep the family safe.
The experience in the bunker will be for 24 hours.
Included in this bug in drill will be my wife and I and our
daughters, Felicia and Melissa; Melissa's two children
and Felicia's husband, Shane, and their two children;
and my granddaughter, Sammy.
I see you brought your camera.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Yup.
A bunker would definitely be necessary someday,
but probably not for a few more generations, I think.
ROGER DOUGAN: Eight, nine, ten.
I hope there's still 10 of us when we finish tomorrow.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: At least he can count.
(Everyone-laughs)
ROGER DOUGAN: I got 15 rounds on me, how many do you have?
SAMANTHA ANDIS: My grandpa, he, uh, can be pretty scary.
ROGER DOUGAN: Everybody ready?
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Who do you think is gonna be the first
to go insane?
SHANE: Probably you. SAMANTHA ANDIS: Hey.
ROGER DOUGAN: Okay, this is last call before we shut the door.
No takers?
JENNI DOUGAN: I think we've got everything.
ROGER DOUGAN: Okay.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Are you scared?
REBECCA THORNTON: A little.
I'm a little worried.
NARRATOR: Roger Dougan fears that a terrorist cyber-attack
on America's electrical grid will leave his family to fend
for themselves.
So for the past two years,
he's been building an underground bunker
that he believes will keep his family safe from the chaos.
ROGER DOUGAN: Everybody ready?
NARRATOR: Today, they are going underground for 24 hours.
ROGER DOUGAN: Okay, this is last call before we shut the door.
The first thing we're going to do is collect
all the cell phones.
The grid is down.
There is no internet.
Shane?
The entertainment that kids grow up with these days
may not be available.
Somebody is outside and the only way they find our bunker
is because they hear your cell phone.
If they're all turned off and put up, we're one step safer.
We want you to keep the video camera,
so we know who tries to escape.
(Everyone-laughs)
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Are we allowed to place bets?
ROGER DOUGAN: Place bets on who goes first?
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Yeah.
ROGER DOUGAN: Um, just don't let me know.
I don't anticipate any negative reaction to my rules.
My children and grandchildren are used to grandpa's house,
grandpa's rules.
Grandpa's bunker is really not any different for them.
All firearms goes in the next box.
We don't want 14 grouchy people armed in here at the same time.
Thank you. I'm betting Melissa's carrying.
Thank you, dear.
The firearms and phones are going under my bed.
There won't be no getting them back.
BLAKE ANDIS: What about the bathroom situations?
ROGER DOUGAN: Glad you asked. Last door on the right.
I built a nice wall for privacy.
Take care of business.
You pump the plunger on the left.
You pull the handle out down here.
It rinses the bowl.
Close it back up so it won't smell up the entire bunker.
ROGER DOUGAN: Is that private enough for you?
BLAKE ANDIS: Yeah.
It seems private.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: How are you liking it in the bunker?
BLAKE ANDIS: I'm not too sure about it.
It's a little weird, not like home.
ROGER DOUGAN: Any other good questions?
It's unanimous, let's eat. JENNI DOUGAN: All right.
ROGER DOUGAN: If we're all living in the bunker,
you can bet everybody has to have a job.
JENNI DOUGAN: If electricity goes out,
we have a generator that we can hook up.
JENNI DOUGAN: Uh-hmm.
JENNI DOUGAN: How is it, guys?
ROGER DOUGAN: Excellent, mother.
I want to see to it that all of the people around this table
survive, and not just survive, but also thrive,
whatever the conditions of the rest of the world.
They're settling in well and pretty comfortable.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: who's the horse?
ASHLEY: I'm the horse, she's the shoe.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: So there's Rebecca, Ashley, Shane, Shane,
who's apparently really hungry today.
They're playing board games.
I'm tired.
ROGER DOUGAN: Bed time.
SHANE: No. (Laughs)
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Blake, how are you liking everything?
ROGER DOUGAN: If I zip you up, do you stay in there better?
SHANE: Yes.
ROGER DOUGAN: Okay, good boy.
Comfy?
It's amazing what you can get used to.
I believe everybody will survive the night.
Some will be more tense than others.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Well, everybody just climbed into bed,
so I'm gonna sign off for tonight.
Uh, hopefully, I'll survive tonight.
ROGER DOUGAN: It's about 20 after 7:00 and everyone is still
sleeping just fine.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Well,
everybody woke up after a crap night's sleep.
So this should be fun for me.
Hi! GG.
How are you liking it in the bunker?
We survived the night, but what do you think?
SAMANTHA ANDIS: You're what?
SAMANTHA ANDIS: What about you? SHANE: It's tiny.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: How are you three liking the bunker?
BLAKE ANDIS: So what y'all cooking?
JENNI DOUGAN: We're going to have pancakes this morning.
REBECCA THORNTON: Being in the bunker is very claustrophobic.
It's a small amount of space with a lot of people,
so it can get pretty difficult.
What's up?
ROGER DOUGAN: I understand you're the artistic person
in the family.
REBECCA THORNTON: You could say that.
ROGER DOUGAN: A doomsday scenario would be at
an extremely stressful time, and anything I can do for the family
to reduce that stress, I want to do.
We would like you to paint grass or trees or something like that.
REBECCA THORNTON: So we can have one small piece of normalcy here
underground?
ROGER DOUGAN: That's the word I was looking for.
REBECCA THORNTON: It feels a little bit like a hospital here
in the bunker.
Everything is white.
I picked this, so it feels a little bit more like home.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: So what's it gonna have in it?
REBECCA THORNTON: Some trees to make it look like it's a view
of outside.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Oh, like a window?
REBECCA THORNTON: Uh-hmm.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: It's like hour 14 in the bunker
and she's painting a mural,
so we all don't go crazy from cabin fever. Yay.
I'm gonna come back and check on this later.
ROGER DOUGAN: We're running off the generator.
During any time that electrical appliances are being used,
we have to turn off all the lights other than the ones
that are necessary.
Hey. Is anybody listening to me?
GIRL: Something about the electric.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: That looks amazing.
ROGER DOUGAN: I think this will be very helpful to not be
overcome with the stress of the situation.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Are you guys having fun?
SHANE: I think it's working out rather well.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: What's the hardest part of this?
SHANE: Uh, I don't know. Being.
Being cooped.
ASHLEY: Oh, my God.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Well.
ROGER DOUGAN: Nobody go anywhere.
(Barking dogs)
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Do you know what happened?
ROGER DOUGAN: The breakers are on down here.
That means either the generator ran out of gas
or we have uninvited guests.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Do you think we're gonna be okay?
ROGER DOUGAN: I certainly hope so.
You have a seat and relax.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Do you know what happened?
ROGER DOUGAN: The breakers are on down here.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Do you think we're gonna be okay?
ROGER DOUGAN: I certainly hope so.
You have a seat and relax.
JENNI DOUGAN: He'll be back now. He'll let us know what happened
and take care of the situation.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Are you scared?
REBECCA THORNTON: A little.
I'm a little worried.
He hasn't shown up yet but.
JENNI DOUGAN: Think positive and not think the worst,
that's how we keep, go through things.
ROGER DOUGAN: None of your preps, food and water, etcetera,
are going to do you any good if somebody kills you and takes
them away from your family.
I don't believe there is a limit to what I would do
to protect my family.
And I would have to, uh, pray for those who did not have
the good judgment to realize that ahead of time.
JENNI DOUGAN: Yay.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: So the lights are back on, that's great.
ASHLEY: Now all we need is papa to come back.
JENNI DOUGAN: I'm sure he'll back down as soon as he can.
Papa's back.
ROGER DOUGAN: It's okay.
Just put gas in the generator.
I learned that what, I should keep the generator full of fuel,
not, not just mostly. (Laughs)
Proud of you guys.
I felt like my family handled themselves very well
in what seemed like a long absence to them I'm sure.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Everybody ready to leave?
FELICIA: Yeah. JENNI DOUGAN: Yes.
ROGER DOUGAN: Can we get an Amen?
ALL: Amen.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: Everybody is just kind of going to flip out
soon because we are all electronic addicts except
for like two people, so.
BLAKE ANDIS: Mom's sleepy.
ROGER DOUGAN: Everybody ready?
ALL: Yes.
ROGER DOUGAN: I thought you might be.
Everybody survived 24 hours in the bunker.
I believe this family will pull together
in whatever scenario awaits us.
SAMANTHA ANDIS: During a doomsday scenario,
I could definitely live in the bunker because it's like,
oh, my God, if you go outside, you're going to die.
I'd probably stay in the entire time.
Wouldn't even try getting out.
ROGER DOUGAN: Well, did anybody learn anything?
REBECCA THORNTON: If something happened,
I would grab anything that I need and hike it on over here.
ROGER DOUGAN: That's what the whole experience was for,
for us to get a better idea of what we can do better.
And we can do anything if we stick together.
Cyber-attacks are an ongoing threat and I don't hold
a lot of faith that our Federal Government is going to save us
from any disaster.
You have the wolf that will be out there capitalizing and
creating more chaos, and you have the shepherd
who needs to take care of the sheep.
I would like to believe that I would be the shepherd
in that situation.
I'm prepared to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes
to see to it my family is taken care of.
NARRATOR: The experts, practical preppers,
have scored your preps in five categories of twenty points each
Food: 16 out of 20 points.
Water: 15 out of 20 points.
Shelter: 14 out of 20 points.
Security: 15 out of 20 points.
Your underground bunker with proper air filtration
and sanitation will be an asset in a disaster situation.
Fifteen out of twenty X-factor points.
Overall, you get a 75 out of 100.
You have 14 months initial survival time.
ROGER DOUGAN: If you think my security is only a 15,
come try to get in the front door of my bunker.
NARRATOR: Cyber-attacks in the United States are at
an all-time high.
However, the government and the electric utility industry
are both taking action to advance the grid infrastructure.
And reduce cyber security risks.
Curtis is stockpiling resources like a pioneer.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Here we go.
NARRATOR: But he believes his most effective prep
will be his large family
and to defend their settlement on doomsday.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Balance on that red timber.
NARRATOR: He's turning them
into an army.
CURTIS WAGGONER: There you go. BADGER: Die.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Man, you got him that time, didn't you?
Back in 1999, because of the Y2K scare that was,
that was approaching, people were talking about how
everything was gonna happen, the grid was gonna go down,
all this stuff.
So we bought a generator, we stocked up on some canned food,
had some water on hand, had a few gallons of gas.
And as the time approached, I realized that we really were not
ready for this because we didn't know what was gonna happen.
We had no idea what could happen.
We're watching on TV that this could happen
or that could happen
and nobody knew what the results were gonna be
when this Y2K thing hit.
But the thing it did make me realize at that point was that
we were not ready.
And that's why I am a prepper.
My farm with various animals
will continuously feed my family.
I make and use primitive weapons
to protect and provide for my family.
I have almost 60 family members who will help each other survive
during doomsday.
I'm prepping for when the earth reaches its carrying capacity.
Carrying capacity is a, uh, biological concept that states
that when a certain population reaches a certain size,
that something is gonna happen to cause that population
to crash.
There are just billions of people on this planet.
There's already problems in several countries concerning
famine and disease.
There's already problems with food shortages.
Once countries start figuring out that their people
aren't getting the food that they need, there's gonna be war
where they're gonna be trying to take resources
from other countries.
And this is gonna lead to even more of a population decline.
You know, we're looking at a domino effect that's gonna be
so multifaceted that it's just going to sweep over this planet
and, uh, who knows how many is going to be left.
NARRATOR: Curtis lives on a 35 acre farm in Missouri
with his wife, Kathy.
KATHY WAGGONER: A couple more eggs should be enough.
NARRATOR: Even though he fears overpopulation,
he has 10 children and 35 grandchildren,
most of whom live no more than 30 miles away.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Let's get the eggs.
Oh, yeah there's still a chicken on there, isn't there?
NARRATOR: A retired environmental consultant,
Curtis spends his days
researching ancient civilizations,
because he hopes they will hold the key
to his family's survival.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Hey, Amanda, can you come in here a minute?
In primitive times, the bigger family you had,
the stronger your clan was.
I may need some help in remembering some of the names of
the grandkids since we have 35.
We got Trenton.
Okay, and then Andy.
AMANDA: Taylor.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Badger and Turtle.
AMANDA: Greyson. CURTIS WAGGONER: Greyson.
That's it. Greyson.
AMANDA: How do you spell that? CURTIS WAGGONER: Uh.
NARRATOR: Curtis believes that one thing
that helped the ancient Maya thrive
was the way they organized their households.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Twelve, thirteen, fourteen.
NARRATOR: So Curtis wants to develop a similar plan.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Twenty-seven, twenty,
how did we come up with twenty-eight?
I thought we had 35.
I got nothing.
NARRATOR: But in order for all 60 family members
to bug out to his home,
Curtis wants to make sure his property can sustain them.
CURTIS WAGGONER: All right, are you guys ready? Huh?
NARRATOR: So, he has carefully selected three types
of livestock with an efficient land-to-production ratio.
CURTIS WAGGONER:We raise rabbits which are great for preppers
because they don't take up a whole lot of room
and they reproduce prolifically,
so you have a steady supply of meat.
Takes care of the bunnies.
We have chickens, uh, that we get eggs from year after year
after year.
There you go.
Uh, we have goats, uh, that we raise for meat and milk.
NARRATOR: The animals on Curtis's farm have 15 acres
of grazing land and consume more than 2,000 pounds
of feed a year.
Today, he's adding another source of protein
that won't require any pasture and he hopes will be completely
self-sustainable.
CURTIS WAGGONER: We have, uh, two ponds here on the property
to start getting a sustainable population of fish
that we can harvest from year after year.
NICK: Curtis. CURTIS WAGGONER: Nick.
NICK: Good to see you.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Got some fish for us today?
NICK: Well, we have 250 bluegill, 50 catfish,
and two and a half pounds of minnows.
Well, just I'll start unloading them into buckets
and we'll walk them down to the pond.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Okay.
NARRATOR: Curtis is trying to create a stable ecosystem
using three different species of fish.
The bluegill will eat aquatic insects
while the catfish will eat the minnows,
as well as any dead material along the bottom of the pond.
Curtis believes this will give his family
a self-replenishing food supply.
NICK: All right, let's get these down to the pond and then, uh,
come back and get the minnows and bring those down.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Okay. Sounds good. I'm cool.
NICK: Alex, you helping us? ALEX: Yay.
NICK: Now, we're just gonna put a few.
Every pond is only so big, so it can only hold so many fish.
You put too many in there then they all end up staying
real small because there's not enough for them to eat.
NARRATOR: For an initial investment of 175 dollars,
Curtis hopes to have enough fish to feed his entire family
of 60 indefinitely. NICK: There you go,
put them in the other bucket.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Kaki's got her worms, she's ready to fish.
NICK: She's ready to fish.
(Laughing)
NARRATOR: Curtis fears that when the earth reaches
its carrying capacity, people will flee
from the cities in search of food.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Take one shot at the pig.
NARRATOR: Believing that guns will be a thing of the past,
he's prepping his family for unconventional warfare.
Curtis fears that the earth's population will reach
its carrying capacity, resulting in catastrophic events
that will set the world back hundreds of years.
So while a typical family might gather for Sunday dinners,
Curtis's weekly family gatherings
are defensive training sessions.
Today, Curtis is teaching his four year old grandson, Badger,
how to build a deadly weapon that dates back
to prehistoric times.
CURTIS WAGGONER: All right. We need to go find ourselves
a nice stick that we can use to make an atlatl out of, okay?
Looks like it could be a good nice branch to use right here.
NARRATOR: The atlatl is an ancient weapon used
from Australia to Central and South America.
CURTIS WAGGONER: About like that?
BADGER: Yeah. CURTIS WAGGONER: Okay.
NARRATOR: And can be used to launch a dart or spear
over short distances with greater force.
Curtis believes
that after the earth reaches its carrying capacity,
the systems for producing and distributing ammunition
will quickly disappear.
So people will have to rely on weapons
they can make themselves.
CURTIS WAGGONER: All right. Want to go try it out?
BADGER: Yeah.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Let's go try it out.
And that hooks in the end of your dart, just like that, okay?
BADGER: Imagine that.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Grab this one, okay?
Now with those two fingers, you hold the dart.
There you go.
Okay, how do you stand? BADGER: Like this.
CURTIS WAGGONER: How do you stand?
There you go.
There you go. Nice.
We are in the process of making sure that everybody has at least
some training with these primitive weapons.
Uh, not, uh, only the men, but the women as well,
and the children.
CHILD: Oh.
BADGER: And I have lots of ammo.
CURTIS WAGGONER: We start our grandchildren off at about
two or three years old on how to shoot a primitive bow.
Are you gonna balance on the log?
You got to line it up straight. There you go.
Get it lined up straight.
Oop, that was close.
Oh, almost got him.
When you pull it back,
pull it back until your hand gets right here by your mouth,
just like that.
There you go. BADGER: Die.
CURTIS WAGGONER: Man, you got him that time, didn't you?
You have to practice on a consistent basis
with these types of weapons.
It's not like a gun.
It's not like you can just pick it up, line up the sights,
and pull the trigger.
There's a lot more to it than that.
And it's the only way to do that is through practice.
There you go, good kill.
We start off with basic training.
They have to get their form and technique down first,
and then they can work on accuracy.
Once you start getting your accuracy down a little bit,
then we start moving onto something a little more
difficult, like what I call tactical bow training.
Amanda, I want to you to balance on that red timber,
take one shot at the pig.
Shoot the little pig.
Oh. One more.
AMANDA: There. CURTIS WAGGONER: There you go.
Good shot.
NARRATOR: Curtis and his family practice speed
and precision drills.
He compares them to police training exercises
that reinforce basic gun handling for quick response
by replicating real life scenarios.
CURTIS WAGGONER: We're gonna try another one.
This one's gonna be a little different.
Drop the marble in, and before that marble hits the can,
you run over to this stake, kneel, and shoot.
There you go, good shot.
This shot you're going to lay down on the bench,
feet off the ground, and shoot the deer.
Nice.
(Laughs)
You have to be able to shoot fast.
That's the main advantage we're going to have with these weapons
is how fast we can get those arrows out.
Line down.
Let's everybody get your arrows.
When this planet has reached its carrying capacity,
I know that our family is gonna be working together
because we have complete and absolute trust in each of us
to do the right thing for the benefit of the family.
Because that's really what it all boils down to is family.
NARRATOR: The experts, practical preppers,
have scored your preps in five categories of twenty points each
for a total possible score of one hundred.
Food: 10 out of 20 points.
Water: 10 out of 20 points.
Shelter: 14 out of 20 points.
Security: 12 out of 20 points.
Your primitive approach to preparedness could go a long way
in troubled times.
17 out of 20 X-factor points.
Overall, you get a 63 out of 100.
You have nine months initial survival time.
CURTIS WAGGONER: The nine months survival time would probably
give us enough time that we can start, uh,
becoming a little more self-sufficient.
NARRATOR: Estimates on the carrying capacity of the earth
vary widely with many experts concluding
that it's impossible to predict.
While researchers caution that people need to make
sound decisions to minimize the impact of a growing population,
many are optimistic that technological advances
and an eventual population stabilization will overcome
the challenges of carrying capacity.
Every inch of Karissa Baca's property is used for prepping
for a new Great Depression.
And she believes she and her pets will have to pay
the price for survival. (Crying-laughing)
KARISSA BACA: I was a city girl working a great corporate job
and I had beautiful things.
And then the economy crashed.
I was laid off along with a lot of my friends and family.
After that, I had to file for bankruptcy
and suffer through losing all of those things
along with my condo.
I then moved in with my parents and that made me realize
how fragile this economy is.
And that's why I'm a prepper.
Our chickens and goats provide for us,
and are a huge part of all of our preps.
Our easy access to mountain spring water
and this 8500 gallon tank means we will not go thirsty.
We planted a quarter acre garden which provides us
with most of our food.
We're preparing for the next Great Depression.
NARRATOR: Karissa and Marcelo believe that
the 2008 financial crisis was just the beginning
of an economic downward spiral that will leave society in debt
with no way out,
sending the U.S. into a second Great Depression.
KARISSA BACA: Stores closing.
People losing their houses.
Food shortages.
People ransacking each other's homes.
Violence.
A shortage of weapons to protect yourself, this could be chaos.
NARRATOR: Just one hour outside of San Diego
lies Campo, California.
Three years ago, Karissa and her husband, Marcelo,
moved here to begin their prepping lifestyle.
KARISSA BACA: This is our mini house.
We have an entire house in about 350 square feet.
We keep the little baby chickens that are just newly hatched.
Start down there with the eggs in the incubator.
And then once they are about getting ready to hatch, um,
then we move them up here to another incubator
and everything's temperature controlled.
This is our newest little guy, he's about two days old.
Yeah, little guy, you were just in an egg, huh?
He's waiting for the rest of his brothers to come out too.
Woo.
MARCELO BACA: I have about 41 chickens here and we should be
getting around 50 to 75 in the next couple of months.
When an economic collapse will happens,
we can sell them and trade them for things that we need.
KARISSA BACA: We grow mealworms, and the chickens eat them.
They're a renewable source.
Right now, they're in their beetle state.
These beetles lay eggs, they become worms,
and the whole cycle just starts again.
When they're in the worm state, we can eat them and feed them
to the chickens.
It's good nutrients.
So we'll keep them in here until they reproduce
and then we get more worms.
NARRATOR: Researchers have estimated that mealworms
are 25 percent protein, more than beef, chicken, or pork.
So while Karissa is growing the mealworms
as a renewable food source for her chickens,
she also produces enough to sustain her and Marcelo.
KARISSA BACA: I'll eat them.
Toast them up, throw a little salt on them.
NARRATOR: Karissa and Marcelo feel they have an ample
food supply, but with 97 percent of apparel in the U.S.
being imported, they fear that after an economic collapse,
clothing will become unavailable,
so they are learning how to make their own clothes from scratch.
KARISSA BACA: During an economic collapse,
we're gonna have to know how to use every part and every piece
of our animals, and that includes their hair.
NARRATOR: Known as Chiengora, dog hair was historically used
by the Navajo Tribe to produce textiles
since before the colonization of America.
KARISSA BACA: Good job. Good job... no.
NARRATOR: With dog hair said to be 80 percent warmer than wool,
Karissa and Marcelo stockpile both dog and goat hair
in waterproof containers all around their property.
KARISSA BACA: We have goat hair and dog hair.
And one of the things to definitely learn
is to make your own clothing.
He's doing pretty good.
So we're getting some local experts out here today
to help us see if we can figure out how to spin animal hair.
VALERIE: What were you guys interested in learning
how to spin?
KARISSA BACA: Uh, goat hair and some dog hair.
VALERIE: So the problem we're gonna run into
with the goat hair is that it's a really smooth,
hairy fiber versus a woolen fiber.
KARISSA BACA: Uh-hmm. VALERIE: Which has a lot of
crimp in the fiber strands
that help lock it together.
We use these. These are called hand cards.
So we're gonna have you take a little bit of the goat hair.
Yeah, that's a really good job.
So the goal of this is to get all of the fibers
in one direction.
Um, and it makes it a lot easier to spin if they are all aligned.
MARCELO BACA: Do you think we can use the dog hair
to make it a little bit better?
VALERIE: Sure. KARALYN: We could try.
KARISSA BACA: It's not working so well.
It doesn't really seem like I can make a roll log.
KARALYN: So, not so good.
VALERIE: This might not work out so well.
KARISSA BACA: The goat hair and the dog hair are too short
to be able to, uh, be woven together to make yarn.
VALERIE: We probably suggest using like a longer,
stable length of something.
KARISSA BACA: Think you can try human hair?
VALERIE: Um. KARISSA BACA: Maybe?
VALERIE: I've never tried it, but it's an option.
KARISSA BACA: We need the longer hair
to put in with the shorter hair.
So, I thought maybe we could use some human hair.
Oh, weave it back on. KARALYN: Oh, there we go. Hair.
MARCELO BACA: Uh-hmm. KARISSA BACA: Good job, baby.
NARRATOR: Once the human hair is carded,
locking the clumps of fiber together,
a spindle is used to twist the fibers into yarn.
VALERIE: Yeah, it works. KARISSA BACA: Cool.
We did try the human hair and it actually worked.
And we made yarn about 6 feet long.
So when the second Great Depression hits,
we'll be able to use our animals and now we know we will be able
to use our hair as well.
MARCELO BACA: It's a nice color too.
KARISSA BACA: Yeah.
I'm not gonna go back to the city and work a 9:00 to 5:00
and rely on that paycheck.
MARCELO BACA: Ready to eat?
KARISSA BACA: Yup.
MARCELO BACA: When our economic collapse will happen,
it'd probably be very bad at first.
The fact is I think it is worth it to prepare.
Fresh eggs.
KARISSA BACA: Uh-hmm.
I don't think we're paranoid.
I think we're just prepared.
Oops.
Umm, thank you.
NARRATOR: The experts, practical preppers,
have scored your preps in five categories of twenty points each
Food: 10 out of 20 points.
Water: 16 out of 20 points.
Shelter: 11 out of 20 points.
Security: 4 out of 20 points.
Implementing self-sufficient techniques like raising
your own livestock and making yarn out of animal hair
is commendable.
Eight out of twenty X-Factor Points.
Overall, you get a 49 out of 100.
You have four months initial survival time.
KARISSA BACA: We're beginners, so we got to start somewhere.
I think we did pretty good for beginners.
NARRATOR: Although the 2008 economic collapse
proved to be the worst since the Great Depression,
employment has increased substantially
and most economists remain optimistic
that the chances of another Great Depression
occurring anytime soon are slim.