Surviving World War III: A Prepper's Reality Check

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Could you realistically survive World War III as a prepper? The uncomfortable truth is that your chances are slim—even with extensive preparations. A sobering 2022 study reveals that a full-scale nuclear exchange between major powers would result in approximately 5 billion deaths within two years, primarily from starvation rather than direct blast impacts or radiation. This episode cuts through prepper fantasies with unflinching honesty while still offering practical guidance.

Modern global conflict presents challenges far beyond what most preppers anticipate. Cities become immediate targets, infrastructure collapses within days, and nuclear winter could render agriculture impossible for years. Rural locations offer marginal advantages at best, while the widespread effects of radiation, food chain disruption, and societal breakdown create nearly insurmountable long-term survival obstacles.

Yet this harsh reality doesn't mean prepping lacks value. The same preparations that might extend your survival during global conflict—stockpiling food and water, learning critical skills like water purification and first aid, implementing basic security measures, and building community networks—serve you exceptionally well during more likely scenarios like extended power outages, severe weather events, and economic hardships. Perhaps most crucially, these preparations provide peace of mind and a sense of agency in an increasingly unpredictable world.

The mental resilience aspect of prepping deserves special attention. By accepting realistic limitations, practicing stress management, focusing on controllable factors, and celebrating small victories, you build psychological fortitude that proves invaluable during any crisis. Whether you're facing a two-week power outage or temporary unemployment, the practical skills and preparations you develop today translate directly into tangible benefits regardless of whether the ultimate doomsday scenario materializes.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Their service has issued a severe thunderstorm
warning.
Welcome to the Common SensePractical Prepper Podcast, where
prepping doesn't have to becomplicated or expensive.
Coming to you from awell-defended, off-grid compound
high in the mountains.
Coming to you from his Floridaroom in Richmond Virginia,

(00:22):
neither off-grid norwell-defended, unless you count
as chickens and cats, here isyour host, keith.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hey, all this is Keith and welcome back to the
Common Sense Practical Prepperpodcast, august 15th 2025.
So I'm going to dive into adeep kind of tough subject, this
one tonight.
Could you survive World War IIIas a prepper?
In the interest of fulltransparency, I'll be completely
honest.
I think the odds of survivingthis are pretty low, and maybe

(00:54):
not for the reasons that youthink.
All right, we'll get into thatin a second.
So a global conflict like thisit's going to be a game changer
More than likely will involvenukes.
It's going to be a game changer.
More than likely will involvenukes, electrical grid going
down, cyber attack, significantsupply chain disruption.
But prepping for World War IIIdoes not mean that your preps

(01:16):
are going to waste.
So tonight I'll break down whyWorld War III is going to be so
tough and what you can do toboost your chances, and how some
of these same preps are goingto be very helpful in the less
than doomsday scenarios likepower outages and economic
strife.
All right, here we go.
So we're going to talk firstabout the harsh reality of World

(01:39):
War III.
So we talk about World War III.
We're not talking about, youknow, in the movies, tanks
rolling through the woods,people jumping out of foxholes.
A modern global conflict willinvolve nukes, cyber attacks,
shutting down the grids and evenbiological threats.
The fallout, literal andfiguratively, is going to be

(02:01):
intense.
There was a study in 2022 thatpaints a very grim picture of
what World War III could looklike.
A full-scale nuclear warbetween two major superpowers us
, russia, china, china versusRussia.
Whomever, this particular warwould kill approximately 5

(02:23):
billion people in two years.
Here's the kicker.
It's not from the nukesthemselves, it's not from the
fallout necessarily.
Most of those people are goingto die from starvation,
primarily because of disruptionin the food chain Already.
From the start, we're fightingan uphill battle, all right.

(02:44):
So why is World War III such atough nut to crack?
First, if nukes are in play,cities are prime targets.
If you live in an urban area,the immediate blast or radiation
is going to be game over.
Rural preppers might have aslight edge, but fallout doesn't
care.
If you live in the woods, itdoesn't care your particular

(03:05):
address, it's going to spreadwith the wind.
Second, infrastructure is goingto crumble very fast.
No power grid means no lights,no power, no refrigeration, no
gas pumps, no ATMs.
Grocery stores, again, likeI've said before, will empty in

(03:26):
days.
So, as we go through this,you'll notice a theme.
You'll notice several thingsthat I've spoken about in the
past couple weeks.
The grocery stores are going tobe empty in just a few days,
even if you have a pantry fullof canned goods.
How do you keep going whenclean water is at a premium?
Keep going when clean water isat a premium.
The bands of people comingthrough the neighborhood,

(03:54):
knocking on doors, kicking downdoors, looking for food, water
and shelter, all right.
And third, the long game isgoing to be absolutely brutal.
Nuclear winter could wreckagriculture for years, make it
nearly impossible to grow food,contaminated soil, disease,
chaos.
So, as a prepper, I believe inbeing straightforward and honest
in giving my opinion as I seethings.
So, surviving World War III,surviving something this big, is

(04:17):
a long shot, even if you have abunker and a decade's worth of
beans and rice.
But here's the thing Preppingisn't about guaranteeing
survival in your apocalypse.
It's about giving yourselfoptions, buying time and being
ready for smaller crises thatare way more likely than World
War III.

(04:37):
All right, so let's go intosome specifics about what you
can do.
All right, so World War IIIsounds like a nightmare, and it
absolutely is.
But let's focus on a littlething.
Let's focus on what you, as abeginning prepper doesn't have
to be complicated, doesn't haveto be expensive, what you can do
to boost your odds in the shortterm and how some of these

(04:58):
preps will help in a less thanextreme situation, like a
hurricane or a job loss.
And I was putting together thescript for this tonight and I
totally forgot about job loss.
We're talking about grid down,hurricanes, tsunamis, severe
storms, supply chain issues.

(05:19):
I never even considered about ajob loss.
What if you live alone and youlose your job?
What if you're a two-incomehome family and your spouse or
your partner loses their job?
That is certainly a situationwhere preps would come in handy.

(05:40):
I'm actually going to do somemore research on that and I may
come back later with an episodeabout that.
So again, I've said a milliontimes so the key is to start
small, practical and keep itaffordable.
So here are the four steps toget you started and you're going
to believe me, what I'm goingto cover here is stuff that I've
covered in the last maybecouple three months Stock up on

(06:02):
the short term For World War III, maybe a couple three months.
Stock up on the short term ForWorld War III, aim for one to
three months of food and water.
So if World War III kicks off,the first few weeks or months
when things like Food storage,power outages will hit the
hardest, you don't need thefancy freeze-dried meals

(06:23):
although certainly an option,and if you can do it it's going
to do a lot for morale, thoughthey're great and if you can
afford them, so go for thebasics canned veggies, peanut
butter.
A 20-pound bag rice at a bigbox store, like at Costco, can

(06:44):
run as little as $10.
And depending on the rice thatyou get, it could be much more
expensive than that.
And that 20-pound bag can feedyou for weeks and your family
for several weeks.
Now, when it comes to storingwater, fema will say one gallon
per person per day.
I say, if you have the room andthe money, two gallons per

(07:10):
person per day.
Now if you go one gallon andyou have 80 gallons and you have
room for it, increase it.
But remember, if you'redoubling it you're doubling the
storage and you may not havenecessarily the room to go from
80 to 160 or 100 to 200.

(07:31):
So a family of four would need120 gallons of water per month
and that's using it sparingly.
So start just with a few casesof bottled water, five gallon
jugs from the grocery store,then obviously you can work up
to the big blue barrels and thatsort of thing.
So rotate your stock, rotateyour food, eat what you store
and store what you eat.

(07:53):
Second, learn a few key skillsIn a crisis.
These will be your lifelineskills In a crisis.
These will be your lifeline.
Water purification, boilingwater works Okay, tried and true
.
But a portable water filterlike the Sawyer, the Sawyer Mini
, there's all these gravity bags, lifestraw there's a million
different options out there.

(08:14):
Learn basic first aid.
I know I sound like a brokenrecord last week talking about
first aid.
Learn how to clean a wound anduse a tourniquet.
Don't die from infection.
Don't make it through World WarIII or make it halfway through
World War III and then you die.
Don't die from an infectionbecause you were not able to
properly clean a wound or use atourniquet.

(08:37):
You can find the tutorials onYouTube Red Cross, stop the
Bleed.
Basic First Aid, cpr.
They're out there.
Go ahead and take them.
And if you have a backyard orbalcony, try gardening Even a
few pots, tomatoes, herbs,whatever it happens to be.
First, it teaches you thebasics.
It's very inexpensive and thisjust it isn't you know for World

(09:01):
War III your little victorygarden Growing food can be used
if you go camping, heavy stormsor just to save a few bucks, all
right.
Third, let's talk about security.
If society gets shaky, youmight face looters or desperate
people.
You will face them.
I'm not saying you turn yourhouse into Fort Knox or go out

(09:22):
and buy some huge undergroundbunker, but very simple steps.
Reinforce your door with longerscrews Covered.
That last week Just a few bucksat the hardware store.
Learn situational awareness.
I preached that for years.
Notice who is around you andwhat's going on around you for
years.
Notice who is around you andwhat's going on around you.

(09:43):
Keep your phone charged andhave a plan to get home safely
in the event there's an EMP, inthe event you have to abandon
your vehicle.
So if you're comfortable andit's legal in your area,
consider basic self-defensetraining or tools.
I'm talking about firearm safety.
I'm not talking about judo andkarate.
I'm talking about firearmsafety.
If you're not familiar withfirearms, if you're not
comfortable shooting a firearm,please go take a class work with

(10:08):
a friend who is familiar withfirearms and get used to
shooting, but something thatI've spoken about before your
best defense is community.
All right, so building anetwork fourth, building a
network.
Going it alone sounds cool andmaybe for safeties or
operational security OPSEC thatmight be the best thing to do,

(10:29):
but in a real crisis you aregoing to need the assistance of
other people.
Talk to your neighbors, join alocal prepper club, if such a
thing exists, or even get toknow folks, even folks that you
talk to friends, family.
You might be surprised aboutjust how a simple conversation

(10:50):
might turn into emergencypreparedness.
Share your skills.
Like I've said before,everybody in your family,
everybody in your group, needsto play a role.
Know how to fix a broken window, know how to fix a generator If
your generator goes down.
Know the basics fuel filter,oil filter.
Know how to fix a generator ifit craps out on you.

(11:13):
So in a World War III scenario,a tight group of people sharing
resources is probably your bestbet.
So invite a neighbor over forcoffee, talk about your
emergency plans and you might besurprised on where something
like that goes.
Stocking up learning skills,securing your space and your

(11:35):
building community gives you afighting chance in the early
stage of this crisis and yourbuilding community gives you a
fighting chance in the earlystage of this crisis.
All of these preps can be usedfor things less than the world
coming to an end.
Let's talk about mentalresilience and realistic
expectations when it comes toWorld War III.
I've talked about this, I think, last week.

(11:59):
Your mental well-being First,accept your limits.
As I said from the start,surviving a full-on World War
III is definitely a long shot.
If someone drops a nuke and theworld goes dark, even the best
preppers might only buythemselves a few weeks or a few
months, and that's okay, becauseprepping isn't about cheating

(12:20):
death forever.
It's about giving yourselfoptions, and knowing what you've
done brings you a peace of mind, and that's what I do A hedge
on inflation, peace of mind, andthat is huge.
When it comes to your mentalwell-being in situations like
this, start practicing stressmanagement.

(12:40):
I know it may sound silly deepbreathing exercises, getting
your chakras and your yin andyour yang aligned, or whatever
you're supposed to do, but TaiChi I think I'm going to try Tai
Chi.
I'm about the mostuncoordinated white guy you've
ever seen.
I can't dance.
I can barely chew gum and walkat the same time, I doubt if I

(13:00):
can keep my balance and do theold wax on, wax off or whatever
they were doing in Karate Kid,but I'm going to give it a shot.
There's always praying.
Well, there'll be a lot ofpraying when World War III comes
along.
Trust me.
There's always folks in church.
There's always people you cantalk to.
Go out, get some fresh air, tryto de-stress as best you can
Because, like I said last week,you, as the leader of your

(13:22):
family or your group, when thepoop hits the fan, people are
going to look towards you foryour leadership.
Only focus on what you cancontrol.
I have no control over theprice of gas.
I have no control over the warbetween Russia and Ukraine, so I
don't worry about that.
I only worry about the things,the tangible things that I can

(13:46):
control in my life.
If I worry about everybody elseand every other thing going on
in the world, I would beparalyzed with fear and I would
not be able to accomplishanything.
Learn how to sew.
Talk to your friends about youremergency plans.
Little wins pile up quickly andthey can make you feel less

(14:06):
helpless in the end.
So here's the big takeaway fromtonight Prepping for World War
III isn't about World War III.
The steps we've talked aboutstockpiling, skills, security,
community mental tough're goingto be without power for 10 days
to two weeks.

(14:42):
It's not going to be prettyvery low chance of survival.
And what I found very tellingwas 5 billion people worldwide
are going to die from starvation.
And once I did the research andonce I read that it kind of
makes sense.
You don't need to drop 32 nukeson the United States or on any
other country to have it make alasting effect and eventually be

(15:06):
fatal to almost everybodyinvolved.
All right, folks, I'm glad Iwas just Mr lollipops and
rainbows and brought a littlesunshine into your life on this
Friday evening.
But thanks for stopping byfolks.
Again, real quick, I am a partof the Augustin Farms affiliate
link.
I'll drop a link in the shownotes.

(15:28):
You click the affiliate linkand when you check out, if you
put in podcast prep all one wordyou'll get an additional 10%
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Again, folks, thank you so muchand, as always, be safe out
there, take care of one anotherand until next time.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
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