About Us

TruePrepper was founded in 2016 as a blogging experiment and rapidly developed into the fastest-growing prepping site thanks to our loyal subscribers. We take time to dive deeper into prepping topics in our guides and thoroughly review survival gear.

The Mission

Our mission is to spread and normalize prepping by getting more people involved with their own preparedness. We do this by looking at prepping from unique angles in our guides, thoroughly reviewing survival gear, and providing giveaway gear to our readers.

Importantly, we also strive to clarify the difference between the public perception of preppers and what preppers actually are and do.

The Writers

Writers are the backbone of TruePrepper, and we have several good ones. Each brings a unique perspective and years of individual experience to their guides and reviews. Check out the bios below and click their portrait to see all posts they have contributed.

Rusty, Founder & Head Writer

I am an engineer, Air Force veteran, emergency manager, husband, dad, and experienced prepper. I developed emergency and disaster plans around the globe and responded to many attacks and accidents as a HAZMAT technician. I have been exposed to deadly chemical agents, responded to biological incidents, and dealt with natural disasters. Check out my full story here: Rusty’s Story.

FJ

I have experience from years of prepping, including survival food, tools and weapons, and even a buried bunker. I am an Air Force veteran that began thinking about surviving disasters during the Cold War when the Soviets threatened mutually assured destruction. I am trained in Red Cross disaster assistance, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), and radio communications.

AC

I am a scientist that studies how human activities affect water quality and quantity. As well as being a science and technology enthusiast, I am also an avid hiker, camper, and outdoorsman. My love of the outdoors was fostered through my participation in the Boy Scouts of America. I bring a scientific and environmental perspective to TruePrepper to help practical preppers utilize their natural environment during emergencies.

Evan, Camping Gear Reviewer

I am an expert in all things nautical, an avid urban prepper, and a camping fanatic. I used to serve in the United States Coast Guard saving lives and protecting high-value assets. Now you’ll find my wife Kim and I camping all over the US and sharing on our site campgearguide.com.

Subject Matter Experts

Our team at TruePrepper doesn’t know everything. When we need to learn about subjects outside of our knowledge zone, we go out and find subject matter experts (SMEs). This helps our team scale and provides trusted information on articles our team writes and stand-alone SME articles. We do not accept submissions or biased reviews, and instead, hire SMEs that actually know what they are talking about- from niche bug out vehicles all the way to specialized equipment.

Why Gas Masks?

What’s with the masks? Yeah, we get it- you don’t see too many people with thumbnails of themselves in masks (well, up until the pandemic). The masks serve a few purposes:

We use pen names for anonymity, reinforcing our gray man principles. Protective masks are topical to prepping and help us remain anonymous and reinforce the importance of protecting your information and image on the internet.
Protective masks serve a purpose in prepping. While gas masks are not needed for every prepper, it is a strong image of preparedness. They are often associated with ‘crazy’ doomsday preppers, but we emphasize that gas masks can have a place in practical preparedness.

Thank You

Our most important asset is our reader base, and for that, we’d like to thank you. I assure you we learn more from all of you than you do from us. We are thankful for the chance to serve our readers in a way that will help them be more prepared for the toughest times in their life.

This website and the community that supports it are a blessing we don’t take for granted.

Updates, Contact Info, and the Fine Print

Occasionally we publish kind of ‘state of the union’ updates, so you can look out for the latest here. This also details the various ways you can support our team and the website.

If you’re trying to get a hold of us, it’s simple. Email us at [email protected] to request a review subject, or to chime in directly with our team. You can also grab a hold of us at any of our social handles:

Lastly, we have our affiliate disclosure, privacy, and terms of use listed at the bottom of every page and/or on the side. Like many review sites, we make a small commission if you buy something from a link we suggest here on the site.

We are vigilant about privacy and will not spam your email. We hate spam as much as you do and prioritize our subscriber’s trust. If you haven’t subscribed to get a free weekly update of our guides and reviews you’ve been missing out.