Born in California and raised in Utah, Missouri and Tennessee, Phil
married
Adria Burns at age 19 and shortly
thereafter, joined the United States Air Force. After serving 4 years,
he and his wife stayed in Utah to raise their family while Phil built a
career as a software engineer.
Having been raised by self-reliant parents, Phil and Adria raised their
8 children in a similar manner; living on a farm and focusing on being
able to support themselves regardless of what happened. Phil has been
teaching preparedness to others for many years and in 2008 helped
create Utah Preppers, a website about preparedness and living a
self-reliant lifestyle. During this time, he produced preparedness
videos for YouTube as well as a podcast for Preppers. His online
efforts to teach Prepping to the mainstream led him to be involved with
and eventually become an owner of the American Preppers Network, the
largest online network of members and sites, and to serve as their
Chief Technology Officer. After working with several television
personalities while teaching preparedness and survival courses with
OnPoint Tactical, Phil developed an interest in working with
television. In 2011 he started working with Base Productions and Animal
Planet to develop what would become Meet the Preppers. After over a
year of working on the project, it was finally aired on Animal Planet
in February, 2012. After finishing work on the show, Phil began working
on a book about Prepping while continuing to create preparedness
content online.
