Text Our Show Hosts

Please Help Us - Support TOPS Bunker as Low as 3$ mo. Click Here...!!!

Tonight, we’re talking about rucking. What it is, how to do it, and why we do it.

You strap on a fully loaded rucksack to your back, and stand in front of the mirror grinning at yourself. Oh yeah. Don’t I look cool? Don’t I look tactical? Now don’t lie. We’ve all done it once or twice. Hell, I'm guilty of it too. Way back when I was a younger man… I got my first rucksack, ran into the house, stuffed it with pillows, and stood there gaulking at myself in front of the mirror for 10 mins. Then the real tragedy happened. After returning the pillows to my bed, I took my new pack to the closet and hung it up next to my other gear… where it stayed, collecting dust, for the remainder of its sad life.

Rucks, backpacks, and kit, aren't trendy. We don’t get them to look cool or tactical. Are they tactical… yes, by definition they are. Tactical - specialized actions or items designed and used to achieve immediate, short-termed, and specific goals. Rucksacks are designed to help your body carry a load from point A to point B. That is their tactical purpose. Though we may not believe this, people are also designed to carry a load from point A to point B.

But we have to practice these actions to get good at doing them. Very few people can load 60 pounds onto their backs and shoulders and complete a long distance hike. It is a fact that I am one of those who cannot do it. I fully concede and admit the tragic truth that I suck, at some shit.

But in a real SHTF situation — when vehicles won’t start and roads are blocked, and staying home is no longer an option… your body becomes your transport, and your strength and stamina become margins of distance.

That’s the reality of it. It’s brutal. It’s tiring. I’m tired just thinking and talking about rucking. My ego says “cool”. My brain says “run away… hide”. Which is why this episode is important to me… and hopefully, to you as well. But we don’t have to hope… cuz there is hope. Ya see, We can train for this. By starting light and slow, and being repetitive, we can build up to where we want to be. That’s the essence of training.

Tonight we’re breaking down why rucking may be one of the most practical, no-nonsense disciplines in preparedness — and why every mile you log now, can make the future less intimidating.

TOPS Bunker Podcast YouTube Channel

SpeakPipe/TOPS

TOPSBunker.com

Refuge Medical Use TOPSBUNKER10 at Checkout for 10% Discount

Please Visit Our Affiliate Links to Find Great Preparedness Products:

• GORUCK SpyRuck - Womens Weighted Vest
• GORUCK Weighted Rucking Vest for Men (weights sold seperately)
• GORUCK Rucker 4.0 - Purpose Built Rucking Backpack
• GORUCK Basic Rucker - Durable Rucking Backpack
• ROCKAGATOR Kanarra90L Waterproof Backpack, Choose a Color
• MARDINGTOP Tactical EDC Rucking Backpack 28L
• MARDINGTOP 60L Backpack w/ Internal Frame and Rain Cover
• FALKO Tactical Rucking Baclpack 50L

Support the show

Text Our Show Hosts

Please Help Us - Support TOPS Bunker as Low as 3$ mo. Click Here...!!!

MIDWEST PREPAREDNESS PROJECT Website

MIDWEST PREPAREDNESS PROJECT YouTube

MIDWEST PREPAREDNESS PROJECT FaceBook

Tonight, we have two very special guests joining us. Patrick Henry and Bobby Spaggs from the Midwest Preparedness Project. Buddy’s been teasing me about these guys for a while now and I've been waiting in anticipation for this episode to hit the schedule. Pat and Spaggs are gonna tell us all about the Midwest Preparedness Project, and how you can take part in the fun this coming May.

Now listen up. There are lots of “prepper survivalist” conventions, events, and shows out there to attend each year throughout the United States. I used air quotes because most of them, not all of them, are highly commercialized corporate-stamped Prepper Industrial Complex driven events to get you in the door, Doomsday.inc the crap out of you, and vacuum out your wallets and bank accounts, before nudging you out the door.

And during that long walk back to your car in parking zone G, your brian sparks back to reality and starts yelling at you… You spent all your rent money and you’re not smarter in the ways of preparedness coming out of the show, than you were going into the show.

The Midwest Preparedness Project has changed all of that. We’re gonna let them fill you in on all the details.

The 26th semi-annual Spring Festival starts at 8:am Tuesday May 5th and ends Sunday May 10th at 12 Noon.

It’s being held in Lawrence Kansas at the Bloomington West Campground. There’s a link in the show notes for the website.

Rhonda and I will be there, Buddy too.

Now let’s welcome Pat and Spaggs of the Midwest Preparedness Project.

Support the show

Text Our Show Hosts

Please Help Us - Support TOPS Bunker as Low as 3$ mo. Click Here...!!!

Special Guest: TJ Morris - a.k.a. Bear Independent

Tonight we're discussing what a modern-day US Civil War might look like with special guest, TJ Morris from Bear Independent.

TJ Morris, known as Bear Independent, is a popular YouTube personality and preparedness expert focusing on self-sufficiency, survival skills, and faith, who also founded Refuge Medical and Grindstone Ministries and Kaleb House. He's a husband, father, ordained pastor, and provides practical prepping advice through his channel and courses, blending tactical skills with strong Christian values.

He's the Unintentional Shepard and the perfect guy to talk shop with when it comes to the fate of our once great country.

Get comfortable... this is a good one.

Bear Independent Website

Bear Independent YouTube Channel Prepper Classroom Series

REFUGE Medical Use Code TOPSBUNKER10 at Checkout

Grindstone Ministries

Kaleb House

Refuge Medical Training

Keith's Top Picks Refuge Medical:

• Boo Boo Kit in Coyote
• BearFAK in Coyote Tan
• OPFAK in Coyote Tan

Buddy's Top Picks Refuge Medical:

• ANKLE KIT in Ranger Green
• SOB FAK in Coyote Tan
• Travel IFAK in Red

Jeremy's Top Picks Refuge Medical:

• BIKERFAK in Ranger Green
• TREK KIT Fanny Pack in Ranger Green
• MASS CASS KIT in RED

Support the show

Text Our Show Hosts

Please Help Us - Support TOPS Bunker as Low as 3$ mo. Click Here...!!!

Tonight, we’re talking about Winter Garden Starts.

I know… it’s January… it’s a frozen tundra out there… it’s below freezing and in some places like here, it’s below zero. I sure as hell don’t want to be working in my garden in ski pants and snow boots… hands all numb and frozen boogers in my beard. Hell No.

And therein lies the beauty of it…

My garden isn’t outside under a foot of snow. It’s inside. In the warmth of my grow-room. A 20 x 15’ area of work space in the basement with shelves and grow lights, seed starting mixes and potting soils, and seed trays sitting on top of heating mats.

There’s a bar-height table with a 36x36” black plastic drain pan that we’ve repurposed as a work surface to keep soil, compost, and water from reaching the floor.

Now don’t be trying to picture some pristine climate-controlled sciency type of space.

Noooo… This is at best, a piece-mealed and frankensteined mash of incompatible interconnected tools of the trade acquired over time and sourced from the cheapest vendors, mostly Amazon and Walmart, and sometimes free… think Dirty Garden Hoe dumpster-diving on the way back from the feed store kind of free… All tossed together and organized into a perfect form of dirty workspace.

Does yours have to be as big as ours? No it doesn’t. It can be smaller, much smaller. Probably should be smaller. We found out last season that our grow-room is actually not big enough. Remember, our garden is 1250 sqf… I’ve lived in apartments that were half that size. And this next season, we’re adding another 1250 sqf to it… though I haven’t quite figured out exactly how yet but, it’s gonna happen. We need that space. But, even if you’re in a smaller space like an apartment or a flat, you can and should have a grow-room, be it a little corner of the bedroom or window ledges in the living room or countertops in the kitchen or bathroom… or all of the above.

Now is the time to start.

And Buddy’s got you covered. He’s got a Top 10 list all about what we need to be doing right now in the dead of Winter, so that our gardens will be lush and plentiful come Spring.

TOPS Bunker Podcast YouTube Channel

SpeakPipe/TOPS

TOPSBunker.com

Refuge Medical Use TOPSBUNKER10 at Checkout for 10% Discount

Please Visit Our Affiliate Links to Find Great Preparedness Products:

• Grow Light - Full Spectrum 4'
• Grow Light - Full Spectrum 2'x2'
• VivoSun Heat Mat for Seedlings 10"x20"
• VivoSun Seed Tray Heat Mat Combo
• HaxNicks 20 Cell Rapid Root Trainer Trays
• VivoSun Grow Tent System 4'x2'
• Surge Protector Strip 1625W 8 Slot +USB
• 12/3 HD SJTW Ext Cord w/3 Outlets 6'Cord
• Happy Frog Organic Potting Soil 2 CF
• VivoSun Worm Farm 3-Layer Kit w/Tools
• Uncle Jims Red Wigglers Worms 500 Count Live

Support the show

Text Our Show Hosts

Please Help Us - Support TOPS Bunker as Low as 3$ mo. Click Here...!!!

Tonight, Buddy and I are talking shop. We’ll hear from a few listeners who sent us voice messages through Speakpipe and play a quasi round of Stump The Prepper with long-time listener and TOPS Bunker Podcast contributor, Casey Lambert. We’ll also hear from Zach from Pennsylvania who’s got us thinking about motivation and spending budgets.

As y’all may know, Buddy has been booking the guests on the show and he’s got some great news about upcoming guests and the very busy schedule for the show this year.

Jeremy is not with us tonight but he’ll be back soon.

So, I hope you enjoy this conversation between Preppers…

SpeakPipe/TOPS

TOPSBunker.com

Please Visit Our Affiliate Links to Find Great Preparedness Products:

• Family Garden Planner Paperback
• How To Grow Your Own Food Hardcover
• Organo Republic 25 Winter Seeds Variety Pack Non-GMO
• OutsidePride Gardenway Cover Crop Seed Mix 5lb Bag
• OutsidePride Gardenway Crimson Clover Seeds 5lb Bag
• Home Grown 12 Winter Vegetable Seeds Non-GMO Heirloom
• Sow Right Seeds Cover Crop Collection Non-GMO Heirloom
• Four-Season Food Gardening Paperback
• The Amish Farming & Gardening Handbook Full Color Paperback

Support the show

Text Our Show Hosts

Please Help Us - Support TOPS Bunker as Low as 3$ mo. Click Here...!!!

Tonight we’re talking with special guest, Dave from Pennsylvania. Dave is a master Prepper Survivalist with a wide range of useful skills to bring to the table and we’re excited to bring him back as a recurring Subject Matter Specialist.Buddy has named this episode Trump Bingo, which is I guess, appropriate but I’d rather call it Trump Roulette.Either way you look at it, it does appear that President Trump has a lot of irons in the fire.From Deportations to the Economy, Venezuela to the Middle East, and Russia, China, and the Radical Left watching every move he makes… President Trump is running the United States of American exactly how he promised, putting America first over the rest of the world…it’s why the majority of American voters elected him… and in doing so, in my opinion of coarse, is reshaping the entire world in the process.Now, some of you listening right now may disagree with me… and that’s great. If you’re an American, that’s not only great, it’s your right, privilege, and even your duty as Americans to do so. The right to have an opinion and voice that opinion, openly without fear, is powerful. There are many places in this world of ours that don’t allow it. The power behind that opinion, that voice, can sway others to see things differently, and then all of a sudden, those voices turn into votes… precious votes that hold real power to make change.It may come as a surprise to many of you, but Jeremy, Buddy, Rhonda, myself, and our guests… we don’t always see eye to eye on topics. Especially politics.But the one thing we all agree on is… America First. For far too long now, weak leaders have turned our country into a stomping ground for illegal immigration, drug and sex trafficking, woke ideology, and the radical far left agenda to get and hold the power and control us into submission like sheep. They’ve taken our immense wealth in the form of taxpayer dollars and squandered it by distributing it all around the world to gain political power and personal wealth for themselves and their friends.So when President Trump says America First… he’s not saying that America is better than every other country… he’s saying that America is more important, to Americans, than every other country.When America becomes weak… all the people of the world become weak by attrition.By making America great again… the world becomes great again through shared strength.Trump is using American might and power to go after the criminals, the oppressors, the evil dictators, the terrorists.You don’t have to like him, and you certainly don’t have to agree with him…But when Trump takes actions that other leaders won’t or can’t, and in some way shape or form helps make your life a little better…You dam-well better thank him for it. And while you're at it… thank those of us who voted him into office.But look… this episode is about Trump Roulette. That is, spinning that great big wheel of power every day, and going after whatever or whoever it lands on.Do you think he’s gambling or a Master Tactician?

Let’s discuss it.

TOPS Bunker Website

Refuge Medical Website - Use Code TOPSBUNKER10 at Checkout

Visit Our Affiliate Links:

• GERBER Gear Ultimate Survival Knife - Fixed Blade
• DRACHENADER - Survival Knife - Full Tang Fixed Blade
• KIZER Cabox - Self-Defense Survival Knife - Full Tang Fixed Blade

Support the show

Text Our Show Hosts

Please Help Us - Support TOPS Bunker as Low as 3$ mo. Click Here...!!!

So, Tonight, Let’s talk about goals for 2026. Every New Year's day, historically, we all get a sense of renewal. Wind in our sales, so to speak. Excitement for the year to come. We close the door to last year, but not before Last Year puts its big’ol foot in the door and whispers… “Not so fast.

Ya see, we all hope for this grand change to happen when the clock turns over at midnight. That’s why we have New Year’s Eve parties, and fireworks, and The Ball Drop at Times Square in NYC.

But if there was no party… no sparkles… no ball.

Would we even know there was a change?

Years turn over, in the same way that seasons change…
Quietly, and without ceremony. Unimpressed by intentions, or by hope.

2026 will be a year of change. It’s almost a foregone conclusion. The Trump Administration, whether you like it or not… has seen to that.

The question is… what changed for you at 12:01am on January the 1st…? My guess is, very little.

At 12:01am on January 1st…

Out there, farm fields and gardens rest beneath cold soil.
Pantries… hold what they hold.
Our hands remember only the work they’ve done before.

Those of us who prepare live closer to this truth.
We read the land, the weather, the cracks in the system.
We know how thin the line can be between order and chaos.

This coming year calls for intention and planning..
It calls for steady hands and minds that will shape reality into a path forward.

Maybe less noise, more focus. Instead of a dramatic entrance, maybe a strategic retreat.

Tonight, we talk about what must be strengthened.
We do that by setting goals…

Reasonable. Realistic. Achievable… Goals

Every goal is as unique as the Prepper who sets it.

We’ll tell you some of our goals, in hopes that it helps you start working on yours.

TOPS Bunker Website

Refuge Medical Website - Use Code TOPSBUNKER10 at Checkout

Please Visit Our Affiliate Links to Find Great Preparedness Products:

• Kaisvin Lock Pick Set & Training Kit
• How To Pick Locks - Paperback
• Garmin Handheld GPS
• BTECH FRS RADIO
• ANKOR Power Bank
• Jackery Solar Generator
• Swiss Tech
• Baofeng UV-5R Ham Radio
• AMAZON Gift Card
• Grayl GeoPress Titanium
• Grayl UltraPress Budget Bottle
• WaterDrop TST-UF 0,01 Ultra-Fitration Whole House
• iSpring UVF8 LED UV Water Filter
• PUREWELL 8-Stage 0.01 Ultra-Filtration Countertop
• VEVOR Alcohol Still
• Water Storage Paperback
• The Preppers Water Survival Guide Paperback

Support the show

Text Our Show Hosts

Please Help Us - Support TOPS Bunker as Low as 3$ mo. Click Here...!!!

So, Tonight, we're talking about…

Regrets and Disappointments of 2025

And 2025 didn’t pull any punches.

It tested our focus… drained our energy…
And for a lot of us with prepared lifestyles, it exposed a hard truth that we don’t like hearing…

We knew better, but we didn’t always DO better.

Not because we didn’t care. But because life got loud and busy.

We talked about expanding skills, strengthening community, and creating plans. We watched the world wobble, felt that familiar pressure in our gut… and still, some of the most important work got pushed off to “later or even never.” Our pantries went unrotated. Training stayed theoretical. Hard conversations never happened. And some of that motivation that we felt in the mornings… went quiet by the end of day.

If you’re feeling accountable… We are too… but that’s good.

Cuz that's a great place to start.

Missed opportunities hurt. Not because we failed, but because deep down, we knew we could have done better.

And that sting? That’s not shame. That’s your instincts reminding you to get back on track.

It's the uncomfortable truth that readiness doesn’t fade all at once… it erodes, quietly, one excuse at a time.

But all is not lost…

Awareness is where real course correction begins.

Let’s talk about that…

TOPS Bunker Website

Refuge Medical Website - Use Code TOPSBUNKER10 at Checkout

Please Visit Our Affiliate Links to Find Great Preparedness Products:

• Nanticoke Atlatl w/3 Six Foot Darts
• Sling Shot - Handmade Premium Quality Powerful
• Steel Shot - 3" Chrome Steel Balls Sling-Shot Ammo
• NedFoss Throwing Axe Tomahawks - Set of 3
• Gerber Gear Gater Machete with Sheath
• Purple Dragon Japanese Bushcraft Machete w/ Wooden Sheath
• Purple Dragon Japanese Splitting Hatchet Premium w/Sheath

Support the show