Survivalists 2.0: Regular People Get Ready for the Worst

FORT WORTH – Jack Spirko owns a media company, is married to a nurse and has a son in college. He has two dogs and lives in a nice house with a pool in a diversified neighborhood in suburban Arlington, Texas.

Spirko, 36, considers himself an average guy with a normal life.

But for the past few years, Spirko has been stockpiling food, water, gas, guns and ammunition. He also has a load of red wine, Starbucks coffee and deodorant stashed away.

“I refer to myself as a modern survivalist, which means I don’t do without,” Spirko explained. “I have a nice TV; I have nice furniture. We are not living in the sticks, but I take all of these things very seriously.”

Spirko, an Army veteran and self-described “stark-raving-mad Libertarian,” is part of a growing movement of people who are preparing for a disaster natural, economic or man-made. Referred to as “modern survivalists” or “preppers,” they are taking steps to protect and provide for their families should something bad happen.

Theirs is a different breed of survivalist, far from the right-wing militants or religious extremists who hole up in bunkers, live off the land and wait for the apocalypse.

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April 21, 2009

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