Bill's Introduction

Today, I am going to let you know a little bit about one of the two moderators whom you are corresponding with on the Washington Prepers Network.

In one sentence – I am an American outdoorsman who loves God and country.

My name is Bill Allen. I am a resident of Washington State.

I want you to know that I have always loved our country with a great zeal, despite it weaknesses and faults, and I am a proud descendent of many generations of Patriots of our nation.

I have spent most of my life outdoors, experiencing first hand, the thrills of family camping, backpacking, hiking, climbing, spelunking, skiing, photography, hunting, fishing, tracking, bicycling, canoeing, running, swimming, survival, edible plants, dirt-biking, orienteering, gold panning, gardening and both disaster and emergency preparedness.

I have bicycled over 4000 miles and hiked and backpacked over 2500 miles through almost every terrain imaginable.

I spent many of my early years learning how to survive and thrive in the deserts of California and Arizona. I learned jungle survival by serving in the United States Marine Corps, and participating in 32 long-range patrols behind enemy lines, deep in the jungles of Vietnam. I was first introduced to cold weather survival in Fallen, Nevada; another courtesy of the Marine Corps. In Arizona and Southern Utah, I learned about the canyon lands and experienced the “rim-to-rim and end-to-end” experience of the Grand Canyon. In California, Oregon and Washington State, I have continued my learning of mountain and woods survival and cold weather, rainy weather and mountain thunderstorms. I have slept in snow caves on the side of Mount Rainier in January and I have crawled many miles deep into the abyss of several caves.

I have studied desert, woods, jungle, aquatic, snow and street survival first hand in my life. I have taught classes in Law Enforcement, in firearms use and safety, in special police weapons and tactics.

Over the last 35 plus years I have taught hundreds of classes in outdoor subjects. Part of this experience was as an instructor teaching year round classes at South Puget Sound Community College for three years on the subjects of Wilderness Skills and Backpacking. These were 200-hour hands-on courses including classroom time and outdoors training for four weekends every semester.

My opportunities to teach survival classes, first aid, camping and backpacking skills have all been supplemented by my attending numerous courses and the reading of hundreds of books on these subjects. I have a personal library of several thousand books. All of my experiences have taught me much.

Working within law enforcement, the Boy Scouts of America, other youth organizations, and hiking clubs have helped me especially to learn my own limits.

I can truly say that I have not lived a dull life. I have jumped at every single opportunity I could to learn more about our environment and this wonderful planet. I have constantly ‘pushed the envelope’ so to speak, in learning and trying out different methods and tools in differing environments.

My greatest achievements in my lifetime are my marriage to my beautiful wife and the raising of our six wonderful children; my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and my burning passion to experience life to it’s fullest.

I love to teach and share things I have learned and enjoy researching subjects on my computer and at the library to gain more knowledge.

Despite my extensive outdoors background, I claim to be knowledgeable,………..not an expert.

I am looking forward to posting, and to your future comments.