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December 20, 2025 4 mins
Scenario Saturday turns lessons into lived experience. Today’s story reminds us that small oversights can expose big vulnerabilities—and that steady, consistent testing keeps you ready when it counts.
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Episode Transcript

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(00:23):
It started as a quiet Saturday morning.
The Johnsons were making breakfast when the wind picked up outside.
Storm watch turned into a warning, and the alert never really came through into Ryan's phone.
The family's group chat stayed silent. By the time the first branches started
snapping, they realized no one had checked the weather radio since last spring.

(00:47):
The network was strong, but their end of it wasn't.
That tiny gap that one forgotten battery meant they were 15 minutes behind the storm,
preparedness gaps don't always announce themselves with
sirens or headlines they show up in missed messages expired batteries dead radios

(01:08):
and routines that slip through the cracks the good news the good news is that
every mistake becomes a teacher if you let it after that storm the johnsons made a new rule.
Every first weekend of the month, they test comps. The signal app,
radios, text thread, everything.

(01:28):
They even looped in a few neighbors. It's simple. Takes five minutes and fills.
A gap that could have cost them much more.
Preparedness isn't about predicting every problem. It's about catching the small
failures before they turn into big ones.
That's what finding your gaps really means, staying curious enough to ask what

(01:49):
could fail here, and disciplined enough to fix it while the sun is still shining.
So tonight, test your comm systems. Just as an example, make sure your alerts
work, your radios connect, the backup power is charged.
If something doesn't work, fix it before next weekend.
All right, tomorrow we're going to wrap up the week with prepared,

(02:11):
not perfect, a reflection on progress, learning, and how filling gaps builds confidence.
Thanks so much for listening to your ReadyCore Daily Brief. If you're already
a member, we appreciate it. And if you're not, just head over to AmericanContingency.com.
Click on Join to get started building your resilience today.
I'm Tom Regsby. Stay alert, stay ready, and I'll talk to you again tomorrow.
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