I've read the whole series, met "Heavy G" once in person and a couple of the characters as well. Very enjoyable read overall.
Reading stuff being "real"...
To be more accurate, 3/4 of Book One may be "real", and a good number of the characters are based on "real" people from what I understand.
Given that 9.25 of the books are set during a political/economic collapse that has yet to happen, I take some objection to calling it reality.
"Pow" is an actual dude, and a very nice guy at that. However, last I knew he hadn't raided any meth houses, cleared rooms with a real threat of hostilities - let alone had to kill another human in anger.
I mention all this because, as preppers if we convince ourselves that these things will eventually take place, we risk it becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.