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Mark Ducati
08-09-2010, 05:15 PM
Would it really bother you that much?

I have no desire to see any fellow Americans, friends, or family (including my own) to suffer... but let say we got a multiple EMP attack somewhere in the country, you are not at ground zero, but the power is out in your area all across the grid...

How would you feel about that?

I've got 2 small children, a wife, dog... enough food for a year, and clean fresh water isn't an issue...

Me, living in the mountains... we'd live off the land as long as we can before we break into our food reserves... this means eating squirrel, possum, etc.. before we break open the Ramen noodles. That'd be no fun...

But I'd enjoy not having to go to work the next day, week, month, year, decade!

Moebrown20
08-09-2010, 05:51 PM
I have a wife & two small kids myself.
Low on ammo, but food water & medical supplies are good(could be better).
Plenty of deer & possum around. Over an acre of land so heat, cooking & hotwater is good for a bit. I have a few solar panels that aren't installed yet. I need to protect them. I would be nice to have a little vacation, but I know if the shtf tomorrow, I would end up working twice as hard. :crying_small:

Dr. Gonzo GED
08-09-2010, 06:01 PM
I live less than an hour from one of the largest urban sprawls on the planet.

Things would get bad here.

I'd pack my gear and head north, trying to contact my friends and family on the way. The ones to the south would be SOL, as I would be cut off from them by literally millions of barbarians. To attempt traversing the bay area would be suicide in such a situation.

And yeah, it would all SUCK.

ubersoldate
08-09-2010, 06:41 PM
I think it would be AWESOME.

But then again, I only have half a dozen rambo bandanas, so Im not sure how I will be able to make it too long without a washing machine.
That or stock up I guess.
Stinky headwear is just unacceptable when Im running around a destroyed world ya know?

AKTexas
08-09-2010, 06:51 PM
Um well if I told you I'd have to kill you and take your stuffs.

I'd have to go loot me some chaps and football shoulder pads.

sisyphus
08-09-2010, 07:11 PM
... this means eating squirrel, possum, etc.. before we break open the Ramen noodles.


Hey.......possum/ramen casserole! Sounds like a great SHTF meal to me.

sisyphus
08-09-2010, 07:12 PM
............... I know if the shtf tomorrow, I would end up working twice as hard. :crying_small:

More truth there than many realize.

old Grump
08-09-2010, 08:55 PM
I have a wife & two small kids myself.
Low on ammo, but food water & medical supplies are good(could be better).
Plenty of deer & possum around. Over an acre of land so heat, cooking & hotwater is good for a bit. I have a few solar panels that aren't installed yet. I need to protect them. I would be nice to have a little vacation, but I know if the shtf tomorrow, I would end up working twice as hard. :crying_small:Double the work is just a start. Try from sun up to sun down every day, no days off. There would be no vacation here unless you broke a leg and were laid up for a couple of weeks. Even then you would be mending shoes, fixing a gun and peeling potatoes. At night you sleep with one eye and both ears open. This is why not many old timers didn't make it to 90, they got tired and fell asleep once to often.

hawk1911
08-09-2010, 09:20 PM
I, being the father of 3 small kids, Im terrified. Not for myself but the fact that my children's future if I do something stupid (ie: get killed) then what will happen to them? There are sick people in the world now, imagine without the restaint they hold themselfs back with now.

btcave
08-09-2010, 09:37 PM
Not so keen on it. Human beings are terrifying when hungry. (Yes, even Americans.) I live in the country but only a days walk from a metro area.

HDR
08-09-2010, 10:05 PM
I would be nice to have a little vacation, but I know if the shtf tomorrow, I would end up working twice as hard.

Yeah, I'd have to carry water from the stream in the valley.


Stinky headwear is just unacceptable when Im running around a destroyed world ya know?

It seems fungi can grow better when you wear underwear.

Those that believe it is a glamorous life will have an educational experience. Regulars are nasty dirty and guerrillas make Regulars look clean.



Stinky headwear is just unacceptable when Im running around a destroyed world ya know?

Soap has a standout smell so think of the stench as a kind of camouflage.

El Jefe
08-09-2010, 11:11 PM
To be honest I'm not set that well yet. If the SHTF tomorrow I'd only have about a months supplied as far as food and water went. If we had no juice it'd truly suck till it cooled off. I can heat the ground floor with wood, but I'd have to get a lot more chopped. Plus with the wife and two boys, keeping them safe and fed would be trying I'm sure. In short I think it'd be awful. :embarrassed:

ubersoldate
08-09-2010, 11:34 PM
Yeah, I'd have to carry water from the stream in the valley.



It seems fungi can grow better when you wear underwear.

Those that believe it is a glamorous life will have an educational experience. Regulars are nasty dirty and guerrillas make Regulars look clean.




Soap has a standout smell so think of the stench as a kind of camouflage.

I figure Ill be fine, I have 3000 rounds for my SKS, and Ive got alot of years on message boards discussing the fine art of combat:biggrin:

In reality, I have two small children, and this scare the living snot out of me. What would happen to them if I wasnt around? Dont wanna find out.

Broondog
08-09-2010, 11:56 PM
if it happened tomorrow, so be it. we would just have to deal with it in our own ways.

i still need to get the genny hooked up to the well so i can have unlimited water. that's my biggest worry. i have food stores and could learn to hunt (yeah i have land and don't currently hunt). and then there's the option of raping and pillaging for more food. ;)

but i do have a few old tires around for making shoulder pads and such!

old Grump
08-10-2010, 01:38 AM
You won't have an unlimited amount of water till you get a manual pump on the well operated by you or wind power or a bio fuel generator because diesel and gasoline are going to get scarce and expensive. Natural Gas will be history.

Shoulder pads???

NewbieAKguy
08-10-2010, 01:56 AM
Shoulder pads???

Like in the Mad Max movies :biggrina:

az_paul
08-10-2010, 02:06 AM
It's the wife and I, along with a good sized dog and four cats. We're on ten acres in the high desert and pretty well set with three months of supplies. We should be OK for awhile providing friends with no supplies don't show up. It would be difficult to turn them away, but it might have to happen by necessity. That would be a tough call. Any thoughts?

Broondog
08-10-2010, 03:10 AM
You won't have an unlimited amount of water till you get a manual pump on the well operated by you or wind power or a bio fuel generator because diesel and gasoline are going to get scarce and expensive. Natural Gas will be history.

Shoulder pads???

when you're right, you're right. and you know what? you're right. :biggrina:

maybe i should have stated that the genny would be interim power. right now it's for storm outages and such and i just think of it being available for longer term use. infinite use would be like you said...wind, solar, human.

i wonder if squirrels running a wheel would do the trick? i have lots of those around. or a mule walking in circles running a gear wheel (or does that only work in western movies)? i'm being serious here. low tech would be the way to go because high tech may not be fixable post SHTF.

one has to consider such things for a long haul situation. how many spare parts can you hoard? how long would it take industry to fire back up, if ever? i suppose that would depend on the original cause of the SHTF. what if it was like the movie Waterworld where all the tech was at the bottom of the ocean. most of us would be fish food but the few survivors wouldn't have shit. even the Exxon Valdeze was running out of "juice".

Broondog
08-10-2010, 03:11 AM
Like in the Mad Max movies :biggrina:

i don't think that Grump gets out much! :lool:

Moebrown20
08-10-2010, 09:56 AM
Out of all of it, water is the toughest.
For my family, it would be 25 gallons a day until things are restored, if ever.
That's just under 10K gallons for the year. I'm not too far from the amish. I should pay them a visit to see how they run things. Most of their life ia a type of post-shtf area.

Bluntforce
08-10-2010, 12:20 PM
Out of all of it, water is the toughest.
For my family, it would be 25 gallons a day until things are restored, if ever.
That's just under 10K gallons for the year. I'm not too far from the amish. I should pay them a visit to see how they run things. Most of their life ia a type of post-shtf area.

If you are on good terms with them, they would be the ones to go to for medical care. They may be a viable medical option to Obamacare as it is.

My brother lived in western PA and didn't care for them, I don't know why. They are good to go to for leather and wood work from what I hear.

Moebrown20
08-10-2010, 01:38 PM
My brother lived in western PA and didn't care for them, I don't know why. They are good to go to for leather and wood work from what I hear.

Yes, they have farms and good with building. They seem to pretty much make it without alot of todays luxuries.

Dr. Gonzo GED
08-10-2010, 02:40 PM
Yes, they have farms and good with building. They seem to pretty much make it without alot of todays luxuries.
Healthy lifesytle too.

You ever seen an overweight Amish?

Lysander
08-10-2010, 02:55 PM
I would be a merciful God Emperor, and only demand 364 days of slave labor from you lessers.

You may think that you're prepared, and hell, you might even be right. It's completely different when someone stronger/smarter/better organized/with more muscle than you kicks down your door, rapes your wife and then kills her and does the same to your children just so they can take your supplies, and then kill you. You think you're going to hold up that well when the 3m+ people from the Metro area all "head to the mountains"?

Blue Ridge ain't that hard to get to Mark, not even in the winter.

No, if tomorrow was just as boring and uneventful as today, and remained so for the rest of my days on this Earth, I could die a happy man.

Those who fantasize and look forward to the end of the world for whatever reason, be it religious or other, are either deluding themselves or have some serious psycho-social issues.

ATAK, Inc.
08-10-2010, 03:05 PM
I would be a merciful God Emperor, and only demand 364 days of slave labor from you lessers.

You may think that you're prepared, and hell, you might even be right. It's completely different when someone stronger/smarter/better organized/with more muscle than you kicks down your door, rapes your wife and then kills her and does the same to your children just so they can take your supplies, and then kill you. You think you're going to hold up that well when the 3m+ people from the Metro area all "head to the mountains"?

Blue Ridge ain't that hard to get to Mark, not even in the winter.

No, if tomorrow was just as boring and uneventful as today, and remained so for the rest of my days on this Earth, I could die a happy man.

Those who fantasize and look forward to the end of the world for whatever reason, be it religious or other, are either deluding themselves or have some serious psycho-social issues.


Lysander, I'm with you!

I know I could be lots more prepared, but also know that I'm at least part way there; Go to house in Idaho, fair amount of food and lots of wild game, my own well (just need to have alternate power supply for it), a good pile of guns & ammo.

Getting family up there would be a deep concern, just hope that things don't unravel all at once. The folks up there are pretty like minded and not real receptive of outsiders, so that helps, but all it takes is someone wanting what you have to ruin the day.

If SHTF never happens, then that's a good thing! If it does, I know me and mine won't fall with the masses.

NRAJOE
08-10-2010, 03:20 PM
I'd have to deal with the urban landscape but I do have my trusty milled SLR101...9,000 rds of 7.62X39.

I figure I'd head for where I work which is only 3 miles away.

I work security in a cookie packaging factory...could live on cookies/granola bars/Ritz cheese crackers...etc the rest of my life.

Whomever controls the cookies controls all! :piggy-bank: ;)

AKTexas
08-10-2010, 03:25 PM
I'd have to deal with the urban landscape but I do have my trusty milled SLR101...9,000 rds of 7.62X39.

I figure I'd head for where I work which is only 3 miles away.

I work security in a cookie packaging factory...could live on cookies/granola bars/Ritz cheese crackers...etc the rest of my life.

Whomever controls the cookies controls all! :piggy-bank: ;)

Cookie security?Too many funny things to say about that.You would have a hard time keeping all those cookies with all the obese Americans coming for you goodies.

Moebrown20
08-10-2010, 03:27 PM
I'd have to deal with the urban landscape but I do have my trusty milled SLR101...9,000 rds of 7.62X39.

I figure I'd head for where I work which is only 3 miles away.

I work security in a cookie packaging factory...could live on cookies/granola bars/Ritz cheese crackers...etc the rest of my life.

Whomever controls the cookies controls all! :piggy-bank: ;)

I wish that was the case.

NRAJOE
08-10-2010, 03:30 PM
Cookie security?Too many funny things to say about that.You would have a hard time keeping all those cookies with all the obese Americans coming for you goodies.

I could eliminate at least 9,000 of them...;)

AKTexas
08-10-2010, 03:32 PM
I could eliminate at least 9,000 of them...;)

That kind of thinking get stuff done.:fighter2:

NRAJOE
08-10-2010, 03:39 PM
That kind of thinking get stuff done.:fighter2:

:ylsuper::ylsuper:

old Grump
08-10-2010, 03:45 PM
You need a pump capable of pulling water up from a deep well because the shallow water is often contaminated by ground water carrying chemicals and nitrogen from heavily fertilized fields down to it.

There are a lot of companies out there including some that can be retrofit for a windmill later if you choose that route. here is a sample of what is on the market. You want a pump that can be place with your already existing electric water pump so you can use either.

http://www.bisonpumps.com/

Broondog
08-10-2010, 04:29 PM
You need a pump capable of pulling water up from a deep well because the shallow water is often contaminated by ground water carrying chemicals and nitrogen from heavily fertilized fields down to it.

There are a lot of companies out there including some that can be retrofit for a windmill later if you choose that route. here is a sample of what is on the market. You want a pump that can be place with your already existing electric water pump so you can use either.

http://www.bisonpumps.com/

very interesting. do you have more links?

the deep well hand pump is a bit pricey but not that bad. my biggest question would be how to determine the static water level. what, like lower a plumb bob in until it gets wet? the specs on my well say it is 360' deep with the pump set at 340'.

i'm open to education on this subject from someone smarter/more experienced than me.

El Jefe
08-10-2010, 05:16 PM
http://www.survivalunlimited.com/waterpumps/sppricelist.htm

http://www.do-it-yourself-pumps.com/handpumps.htm

old Grump
08-10-2010, 06:39 PM
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/ec/ec1368.pdf

aliceinchains
08-10-2010, 06:55 PM
Not something i would like to see. Getting medical help or medicine ! That would be a joke in its self. The elderly and the sick would be the first to go.

O.S.O.K.
08-10-2010, 07:06 PM
Try an experiment. Go off the grid for a while and only eat that stored food and what you can grow in your garden - if the fruit makes it to harvest...

Try "practicing" for SHTF - even w/o the comando shit, you will find it to be very interesting...

If I were totally and I mean totally prepared, well I might welcome it, but even then, I realize that the modern medical care that we all enjoy would no longer be available. Get a cancer tumor on your back and not realize that its cancer.... good by charlie.

And Lysander's point about the gangs that would form up is very valid. Are you confident that your community will band together in mutual security? What if they're hungry? And if you're isoltated... how many determined, hungry attackers can you hold off?

El Laton Caliente
08-10-2010, 07:39 PM
I'm now 45 miles from the nearest town of any real size (larger than just one Walmart), 100 miles from anything that could be called a city and 150 miles from the nearest metropolitan area. I have a deep well, a shallow well and a large lake on property or in bucket carrying distance. I'm in the middle of 300,000 acres of national forest. I've lost count of the ammo, but need reloading supplies. I still need better back up power, expanded food supplies and have a few more ideas. I need to look into biodiesel some more as almost everything I have is diesel. I am looking into putting in a 500 to 1,000 gallon diesel tank anyway. I need to put a solar power system in place, modest at first. I have plans for "a tornado shelter" ;) in the near future.

Basically, I really need two more years plus to be at a mid-term level of prep, for a one to two year duration... I'm not sure that anyone but daddy long pockets can afford to prep well for long term except at basic survival level.

Broondog
08-10-2010, 07:45 PM
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/ec/ec1368.pdf

most excellent! thank you.

hawk1911
08-10-2010, 08:36 PM
[QUOTE=Bluntforce;17602]

If I'm alive in three days I'll be surprised.

QUOTE]

Thats exactly why I dont collect 10 million rounds of ammo. The way I figure I have 1K rounds for every firearm, depending on how many guns you have and how you use them then that could hold out for years. Exception the 22lr at least 5k of that stuff isn't unreasonable. Way I figure if I live to see the end of the ammo then I will have either found more, nobody left to shoot, or Im dead! And if Im dead dont plan on leaving years worth of anything for the bastard that killed me!

hawk1911
08-10-2010, 08:43 PM
Try an experiment. Go off the grid for a while and only eat that stored food and what you can grow in your garden - if the fruit makes it to harvest...

Try "practicing" for SHTF - even w/o the comando shit, you will find it to be very interesting...

If I were totally and I mean totally prepared, well I might welcome it, but even then, I realize that the modern medical care that we all enjoy would no longer be available. Get a cancer tumor on your back and not realize that its cancer.... good by charlie.

And Lysander's point about the gangs that would form up is very valid. Are you confident that your community will band together in mutual security? What if they're hungry? And if you're isoltated... how many determined, hungry attackers can you hold off?

Kinda just did this, went a month without AC cause I refused to add anything else to credit and dint have the 7k to replace the unit off hand. So as I saved the rest up we lived pretty much sweaty and tired of staying home and not going out to eat, and bored out of my mind with the kids on the weekends. So just that little taste tells me that the rest of my life like that and worse would definatly suck.

old Grump
08-10-2010, 10:32 PM
A/C and TV is why we don't have neighborhoods anymore. Used to sit on the porch and visit while us kids played in the yard or in the street. Everybody that walked by got in on the visit. Pretty soon even newcomers were part of the clan. Even now my house has a wrap around porch and a lot of our visiting is done out there in the heat just because its good to be in the fresh air. Lose our power grid and everybody who doesn't have a porch will wish they had one.

Things get tight and you have to depend on your neighbor and he on you that visit time you don't get now will be crucial. Sitting in the local Burp and slurp just isn't the same thing. Helping each other dig out a cistern or repairing a fence shoulder to shoulder is when we get back to civilization again, even if we do miss 'The Price is Right'.

swampdragon
08-10-2010, 10:38 PM
If the SHTF tomorrow, I'll probably go outside and cry like a lil bitch cuz I know the whole thing will really suck.

Then...once that's out of my system, I'll just do whatever I have to do.

Lysander
08-11-2010, 06:42 AM
If the SHTF tomorrow, I'll probably go outside and cry like a lil bitch cuz I know the whole thing will really suck.

Then...once that's out of my system, I'll just do whatever I have to do.

Being a city dweller, I wouldn't have time to cry. Just do.

I will continue to do everything I can prepare and make sure my family is safe. Moving has really made this a challenge; being away from so much of my kith and kin has forced me to rethink several things. That, and now having to possibly take on an aging pacifist preacher (though an excellent farmer) with several health issues.

Analyze, adapt, and overcome.

Moebrown20
08-11-2010, 08:53 AM
Yeah, if it happened today, I would be screwed.
I commute 100 miles one way to work in the city. I only know a handful of people around my house. Most of my hand tools are sold off or traded for power tools. Food/water/medical is only a 70 day supply tops. I'm only in my mid 30"s, but i'm not 100% fit or healthy. If it lasted a year or two, I could pull it off.

I'll end up crying myself, because I know I would end up losing at least 60-80% of my family that live in the big cities.

Crash
08-11-2010, 11:56 AM
I figure my area would be similar to what happened in New Orleans after Katrina hit. You'll have the haves and have nots running around trying to scrounge. The local government totally clueless and ineffective and making things worse. I'd have to team up with my neighbors and try to get by but my major issue is finding clean drinkable water.
I'm somewhat set for a limited time as it's common practice to stock up on some supplies due to hurricanes and other events. We had power outages for 1 month (Hurricane Wilma) and it sucked. No A/C was a biggie for me, frigging hot and no refrigerator made it tough. Funny how you become acustomed to the creature comforts.
But seriously I'm getting to old and busted up to go Mad Max so I figure eventually I'm toast.

ready
08-11-2010, 11:58 AM
I'm smack dab in the middle of Philadelphia and Trenton A.K.A. the proverbial "rock and a hard place". I just hope traffic wouldn't impede my bugout.

Survival isn't as cool as it seems on TV. Ever see how ripped those bushmen are on the Discovery Channel? That's because they work all day, every day. They don't need a gym membership.

You know what else sucks? Winter. Waking up in the middle of the night to put more wood on the fire, if you're too close you wake up with your pants on fire, too far away and you wake up freezing.

Moebrown20
08-11-2010, 12:27 PM
You know what else sucks? Winter. Waking up in the middle of the night to put more wood on the fire, if you're too close you wake up with your pants on fire, too far away and you wake up freezing.

Yeah.... i'm looking forward to my first PA winter.

ready
08-11-2010, 01:31 PM
PA's got some screwed up weather. You could be wearing a T-shirt one day and shoveling snow the next.

ATAK, Inc.
08-11-2010, 01:40 PM
PA's got some screwed up weather. You could be wearing a T-shirt one day and shoveling snow the next.


Same goes for north Idaho! The motto is, if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes. 2 and 3 winters ago were epic in coldness and snowfall, last winter was 8-10" of snow, total!

FunkyPertwee
08-11-2010, 07:50 PM
I get pneumonia about once every two years, but get a bad sinus infection at least once a year. I'm not looking forward to the doctors office closing. Or of running out of disposable contact lenses and fluid.

Step one: buy sturdy glasses.

I've got a nebulizer that could be used if there was no medicine, but if the power is out I can't use saline either.

I'm a strong young man, but when I get sick, I get real sick.

Batwing
08-11-2010, 07:57 PM
PA's got some screwed up weather. You could be wearing a T-shirt one day and shoveling snow the next.

Michigans worse,you can do that in 1 afternoon,and the snow will never stop falling,,lake effect for hours

Ol Dirty Bastard
08-11-2010, 08:03 PM
If TSHTF tomorrow, the only thing that would bother me is that my wife isn't very good with shooting yet, & I need to know she can protect herself while I go hunt down some food. Otherwise bring it on!

HDR
08-11-2010, 08:38 PM
Survival isn't as cool as it seems on TV. Ever see how ripped those bushmen are on the Discovery Channel? That's because they work all day, every day. They don't need a gym membership.

They work at surviving all day which keeps them lean and hungry. Their weapons are light and never out of ammunition.

The aborigines are a testimony to no matter how much you stockpile in time it will run out and there will be plenty of time.


You know what else sucks? Winter. Waking up in the middle of the night to put more wood on the fire, if you're too close you wake up with your pants on fire, too far away and you wake up freezing.

How about heading out to find something to eat?

Lysander
08-12-2010, 08:44 AM
If TSHTF tomorrow, the only thing that would bother me is that my wife isn't very good with shooting yet, & I need to know she can protect herself while I go hunt down some food. Otherwise bring it on!

You say that, yet you'd probably be among the second wave of casualties.

Partisan1983
08-12-2010, 09:31 AM
Great thread.


Who knows how long any of us would last.....that's like predicting next week's lotto drawing.



In the end though we'll all die, it's inevitable ;)

Ol Dirty Bastard
08-14-2010, 04:38 PM
You say that, yet you'd probably be among the second wave of casualties.

You say that, yet you know nothing about my personal capabilities. Being a pessimists myself; I won't let it get me down.

sevlex
08-14-2010, 05:20 PM
Whomever controls the cookies controls all! :piggy-bank: ;)

No THAT'S a T-shirt!:amen:

JTHunter
08-14-2010, 11:34 PM
Even now my house has a wrap around porch and a lot of our visiting is done out there in the heat just because its good to be in the fresh air. Lose our power grid and everybody who doesn't have a porch will wish they had one.

My house has a nice spacious carport that is actually under the roof of the house. This is where I hang my laundry to dry (weather permitting).

Ready and Moebrown20 - it is always easier to put enough on to stay warm, but you can never get enough off to get cool!

Ol Dirty Bastard - if your wife isn't that good, leave her the shotty which will be more "forgiving" if poorly aimed. That will also make them reconsider while she then gets the rifle or handgun after emptying the shotty.
:eyebrows:

swampdragon
08-21-2010, 03:05 AM
You say that, yet you know nothing about my personal capabilities. Being a pessimists myself; I won't let it get me down.

Even the most incapable opponent can still have a lucky day.
This usually happens on one of your worst days for some reason...no matter how good you are.

HDR
08-21-2010, 07:22 AM
You say that, yet you know nothing about my personal capabilities. Being a pessimists myself; I won't let it get me down.


Don't be so focused on your own capabilities that you forget the enemy has capabilities also. To play the game one must accept either he dies or you die. Too many seem to be sure only he dies and that isn't war.

Lysander
08-23-2010, 07:30 PM
You say that, yet you know nothing about my personal capabilities. Being a pessimists myself; I won't let it get me down.

Murphy doesn't give two shits about your capabilities.

HDR
08-23-2010, 08:02 PM
Murphy doesn't give two shits about your capabilities.


Murphy is one mean spiteful dude and I don't dare mention what Mr. Murphy will do in your Cheerios.

lol

old Grump
08-23-2010, 11:57 PM
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Cheerios and powdered milk. Yummy. Now that would turn a feller into a homicidal maniac. Especially if mice got into the box and rendered it stale and full of little turds. Rambo get outta my way, I'm agonna take my little Red Ryder and my $2 survival knife with the broken compass and the missing fishing line and go kill me a boogerman.

NewbieAKguy
08-24-2010, 12:06 AM
If it happened tomorrow I'd be pissed that I plunked down $500 bucks to take physics 101 this fall semester, which started yesterday. After that it's getting my wife home ASAP and hooking up with family as fast as possible. I'd love to be able to make it to NE Mizzou where most of my family is, but got two big rivers in the way and no idea the conditions/cost to get across both. Basically, I do what I have to do to keep my wife safe and hope I don't get offed by some punk-ass bitch from behind.

HDR
08-24-2010, 05:42 AM
hope I don't get offed by some punk-ass bitch from behind.


When you add the "other guy(s) to the equation it puts the reality of the experience on the table.

When GunsNet was down; I did a lot of surfing and too many preppers don't give the "other guy or guys" enough of the right kind of considerations.

jjeez
08-24-2010, 12:24 PM
I am NOT ready for that. I have enough guns and ammo to get me food and more guns and ammo but I do not want it to happen.
i have 3 kids, and I am starting my own company in Sept...

HDR
08-24-2010, 02:13 PM
Anyone who believes they are ready for the insanity is only kidding themselves.

Moebrown20
08-24-2010, 02:22 PM
Anyone who believes they are ready for the insanity is only kidding themselves.

I never will be.
No matter how much I shoot, stash, buy, study and/or train.
I never want it to happen. Now saying that, it's back to the prep-work.

El Jefe
08-24-2010, 02:26 PM
I never will be.
No matter how much I shoot, stash, buy, study and/or train.
I never want it to happen. Now saying that, it's back to the prep-work.

Anyone who would want it to happen, is either an armchair Rambo who isn't thinking things through, an idiot, or both.

NewbieAKguy
08-24-2010, 10:26 PM
When you add the "other guy(s) to the equation it puts the reality of the experience on the table.

When GunsNet was down; I did a lot of surfing and too many preppers don't give the "other guy or guys" enough of the right kind of considerations.

I completely agree.

HDR
08-25-2010, 07:35 AM
I never will be.
No matter how much I shoot, stash, buy, study and/or train.
I never want it to happen. Now saying that, it's back to the prep-work.

Ask anyone who was in the Infantry how long they were trained before they were assigned to a unit. Then ask them, how often the unit trained.

Last but not least:

Army training has one purpose: to develop a combat ready force that is physically and psychologically prepared to fight and win America’s wars (AR 350-1, 1983, p. 1). For much of the Army’s history, training has been accomplished by individual units focusing on those tasks that are essential to the completion of their wartime missions. Training was, and for the most part still is, accomplished at duty stations around the world. After completing Basis and AIT, the Army states training was, and for the most part still is at the unit level. After months of training; you still aren't ready.


At the vast majority of these Army posts, however, the resources required to conduct realistic, simulated combat training under stressful conditions are simply not available.Months of individual training are followed by unit training and they train full time; not part time. All that totals up to be a lot of time. Twenty years ago the Army admitted they can't do what some "preppers" and others claim to have done working at it part time.


'Nuff said.



Anyone who would want it to happen, is either an armchair Rambo who isn't thinking things through, an idiot, or both.

They are either into personal heroic fantasies or are brain dead.

Moebrown20
08-25-2010, 02:03 PM
Ask anyone who was in the Infantry how long they were trained before they were assigned to a unit. Then ask them, how often the unit trained.

I know. I joined the Army in 93'



I picked up a few cases of water(canned) and need to check the dates on my MRE's & dehydrated food.
Training never stops, ever.

sisyphus
08-25-2010, 08:45 PM
I know. ............. and need to check the dates on my MRE's & dehydrated food.............

You probably have more experience than I do with MRE's, but expiration dates on those things might not be reliable............meaning the contents might not be "optimal" after the dates shown, but are likely to still be good for many years after them. I have some from the early 90's that are still good, but they've been stored properly. I hear those early meals weren't all that great anyway and that they probably don't taste much different than when they were new.

HDR
08-26-2010, 09:27 PM
I know. I joined the Army in 93'

Imagine duplicating the time and effort with the neighbors. lol

Moebrown20
08-27-2010, 07:32 AM
Imagine duplicating the time and effort with the neighbors. lol

Ha, I have 1 house to my left on my side of the block, I own the rest.
Across the street, there is 6 houses. Mostly single older women & a couple of white collar guys that came from hippieville.

I'll keep quiet.
They wouldn't make it if SHTF & would look for me to save them and their pets too.

I'm in the process of learning how to make I.V.fluid and some meds from a pharmacist at my job.
Very interesting stuff. I might have missed my calling.

NewbieAKguy
08-27-2010, 07:50 AM
Ha, I have 1 house to my left on my side of the block, I own the rest.
Across the street, there is 6 houses. Mostly single older women & a couple of white collar guys that came from hippieville.

I'll keep quiet.
They wouldn't make it if SHTF & would look for me to save them and their pets too.

I'm in the process of learning how to make I.V.fluid and some meds from a pharmacist at my job.
Very interesting stuff. I might have missed my calling.

Very cool about the IV! :thumbsup:

Moebrown20
08-27-2010, 08:19 AM
Very cool about the IV! :thumbsup:

Yeah, stuff we can't store for a long time has to be made when needed.
It's not very hard, just need measuring equipment and mix to a 0.9% NaCl or 154mmol/L

If sugar is needed(electrolyte replenishment), add Glucose/Dextrose 278 mmol/L or 5000 mg/dl

printerman
08-27-2010, 08:58 AM
Would it really bother you that much?

I have no desire to see any fellow Americans, friends, or family (including my own) to suffer... but let say we got a multiple EMP attack somewhere in the country, you are not at ground zero, but the power is out in your area all across the grid...

How would you feel about that?

I've got 2 small children, a wife, dog... enough food for a year, and clean fresh water isn't an issue...

Me, living in the mountains... we'd live off the land as long as we can before we break into our food reserves... this means eating squirrel, possum, etc.. before we break open the Ramen noodles. That'd be no fun...

But I'd enjoy not having to go to work the next day, week, month, year, decade!

So many people thinking the same way ! The mountains would be stripped bare in days ....

HDR
08-29-2010, 07:01 AM
So many people thinking the same way ! The mountains would be stripped bare in days ....

People coming to the mountains would mean the people who live there would starve to death; so there is a real potential for trouble/

h311bi11y
08-29-2010, 09:34 AM
I won't go into detail about what i have in reserve. But if SHTF tomorrow, i may not welcome it, but i would try to take it in stride. Do my best to survive and become an asset to my friends, family, and community. IMO, it's a good idea to be a valuable member of the community, so people won't be so apt to try and take everything you have. My philosophy about my job is about the same, make myself as indispensable as possible.

Often i think people overlook such things, i mean it is one thing to have barter items stored away for trade, but it is another to have hard to find skills. Honestly, depending on the situation, i'm not too worried about my survival either. Not because i'm that cocky either. Mainly because how i see it, when my time is up, it's up. I'll do my best until that time comes.

arcangel
09-03-2010, 08:09 PM
I dont welcome the thought of collapse in any way. The GF and I are not prepared, we have like maybe a weeks water, and 2 months food maybe.I have a few thousand rounds in 4 calibers combined. The nearest river (Kalamazoo) had an oil spill recently and I dont think the Katadyn would purify that. I moved almost 300 miles south of my parents, Lansing and Flint north, and Detroit east, getting up there would very well be suicide. Her parents and sister have no inclination that SHTF is even possible and are supporters of the black king. My girlfriend, her mom and my mom are diabetic and insulin would be gone. My family nor hers have any knowlege to survival, and become dead weight. They have no supplies. My friends are all over the place and regrouping also would be impossible. Im very alone in this matter, they all think Im nuts cause Im trying to help them prepare. I've considered leaving to get to my family if they dont want to go, thats on them. Or wait till the insulin is out and offer them a pistol if there was no forseeable end to the situation.

HDR
09-03-2010, 08:50 PM
I dont welcome the thought of collapse in any way. The GF and I are not prepared,

No one is prepared for shtf.

insider
09-03-2010, 10:45 PM
Plan for the worst, hope for the best. Our country survived the Great Depression, and many wars, we will continue to survive...unless it's all out destruction. Then it won't matter.

HDR
09-04-2010, 06:21 AM
Plan for the worst, hope for the best. Our country survived the Great Depression, and many wars, we will continue to survive...unless it's all out destruction. Then it won't matter.

That is about it in a nutshell.

If shtf would be a lasting event; a group with supplies could easily be forced to leave everything behind. Unless they are so well supplied and fortified that a large group could not overrun them. As history is full of examples of Armies being forced to retreat after facing a superior force; the we're so good it can't happen to us is only kidding yourself.

Now, the 20,000 rounds per weapon and a couple of years worth of isn't much good. I am not saying a person should not be prepared; I am saying war, disaster and other events can flat ruin your plans.

O.S.O.K.
09-04-2010, 06:16 PM
That's the nail on the head - you can't prepare for all contingencies. You can try but the resources required would mean that most people would be giving up everything for "now" to try and be ready for what "could" happen.

Doesn't sound like much of a life to me.

HDR
09-05-2010, 08:54 AM
That's the nail on the head - you can't prepare for all contingencies.

I must have read over 10,000 posts by people who are quite certain they not only can but they already have... lol


You can try but the resources required would mean that most people would be giving up everything for "now" to try and be ready for what "could" happen.

Resources are more than edibles and consumables; resources would also include the means of protecting it all. Or figuring out how to carry it all to avoid fixed positions.. ;)


Doesn't sound like much of a life to me.

True, war is hell and combat is the mo'fuka. And that is the good news; a shtf world would make combat look mild.

308
09-05-2010, 09:55 AM
I wounder how much toilet paper one could pack.
Personally, I like my ass to be clean. So SHTF is not something I'm hoping for.

HDR
09-05-2010, 01:37 PM
I wounder how much toilet paper one could pack.
Personally, I like my ass to be clean. So SHTF is not something I'm hoping for.


You'll probably have to learn Middle Eastern hygiene methods.

I've heard once you learn it; you'll never need toilet paper again.

lol

MeanzMagnum
09-12-2010, 07:03 PM
I have taken a serious concern into SHTF planning in the recent year. My buddy and I are slowly trying to build up our own supplies. I have a wife and 2 small children also so it does scare me but the greatest reassurance I give myself is that my family has alot better chance of surviving just by researching and planning/buying for a SHTF event.

Besides the dilemma of being unemployed and not having the funds to go out and purchase what I would really like to purchase, I've been doing as much preparing as I possibly can by research, buying a few extra cans of goods each grocery purchase, and joining a group here in Vegas that has a like-minded approach.

The only problem I am having is trying to figure out where bug out in this desolate desert called Las Vegas. The Spring Mtns/Mt Charleston(highest peak near Vegas) will surely be over ran. I'm tossing the idea of No.Nevada up but hate the 4hrs of travel associated with it, even though it would be a pretty secluded drive.

Anyone interested, there is a great DVD series available:
Hoods Woods: Woodsmaster and Urban Master DVDs
http://survival.instantestore.net/default.cfm

Here's a little short video from one of the DVDs you can watch on YouTube if your interested in the series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY-JEctyHOs

Bick_Sastard
09-14-2010, 02:14 PM
I am in much better shape for it than I would have bee a year ago when my only focus was on food/security procurement.

Most folks would say they lead an active lifestyle, I thought I did, right up till recently I thought I had little to be concerned with in many areas that I was wrong about, the main one being health and sustained activity.

I have been working to fix that and now feel far more confident that if it went down tomorrow I would be in far better position to get what I needed done in short order.

Its hell getting old and these computers have taken away a lot of different activities from a lot of folks. I can say with a high level of confidence that is likely a good thing, at least in my case. My computer time has all but eliminated watching the idiot box aka TV. I think that is a true fact for a lot of folks, the computer in many cases stimulated the desire to learn and forum junkies are kind of on a quest to constantly learn from each other.

I believe that no one "list" or plan can fit all. My water issues are different from others outside my region etc. My security needs will differ etc. I am sure there are holes in my plan, I can not think of everything and I know some folks leave significant holes in theirs and are of no service in reviewing mine.

The best thing I think one can do is strongly consider ataking themselves so to speak. Try and figure out how you would take your own supplies or steal your own supplies and it will review the holes in your own plan.

sisyphus
09-14-2010, 06:53 PM
It astounds me the number of people who tell me "I got my .30-30 and a box o' bullets. I'll just head for the mountains and harvest the meat I need". They take no thought of the tens of thousands locally who are thinking the same thing. There are also the relatively few who think they'll just carry that .30-30 and the box o' bullets over to their neighbor's place and take what they need........not understanding that his neighbor probably has the same equipment on hand to keep his houshold safe.

Bick_Sastard
09-15-2010, 11:01 PM
It astounds me the number of people who tell me "I got my .30-30 and a box o' bullets. I'll just head for the mountains and harvest the meat I need".

Forgt that part, it is real plain and simple, wild deer, rabbits and squirrles are extremely lean meats, they do not have enough fat to meet a humans dietary needs, let alone the vitamins required for good health. Frankly most of them would be better off with a garden of only greenbeans, corn and tomatos than they would what their 30-30 will bring them.

A vast majority of those arm chair folks have no idea how to field dress a deer let alone how to butcher, just smile and move along as their pride has indeed become deadly.

HDR
09-16-2010, 05:48 AM
Without a means of long term storage just how did the colonists and others way back then survive?

Bick_Sastard
09-16-2010, 05:22 PM
Without a means of long term storage just how did the colonists and others way back then survive?

Well there is a story about how the Indians introduced them to edible plant life and things like corn, but the bottom line is, they did not survive well at all, they died off really fast. Diseases were simple things that wiped out entire areas and the average life expectancy was very very low.

old Grump
09-16-2010, 05:23 PM
Without a means of long term storage just how did the colonists and others way back then survive?
Salt, smoke house, ice house, drying, canning and spring house. Advantage to growing up in the north woods you learn about things like that. I just wish I remembered half of what I saw being done by my grand parents and great grandparents. Like making sausage. I remember how to make butter and canning venison and beef and pork was just normal fall routine. Great Grandpa made everything from boots to horse shoes to parts for his steam engine sawmill. I cannot match that but my brother who lives with me comes close

I have my smoker but it only does small amounts at a time, not the same as the smoke house where hams were cured. It was a hell of a lot easier when the family stayed together as a unit instead of being scattered all over the country like we are today. We were younger then too come to think of it. My stove is natural gas and so is my furnace, lose power and I get cold.

Grew up when there were Chicago lanterns in every room and we heated with oil on real cold days but mostly the wood kitchen range provided the heat and hot water. Electricity was a desirable thing to have but we got along without it. I was 6 before the old homestead got wired and the highway in front of our house got paved. I don't remember feeling poor or deprived back then. I will admit that flushing a toilet is a lot nicer than wading out to the woodshed where the outhouse was built into it with snow up to our armpits and when we had toilet paper you could see chunks of sawdust in the paper. Old Monkey Wards catalogs were easier on a tender rear but made the underpants turn funny colors. Newspapers did not work well, don't ask.

HDR
09-18-2010, 07:24 AM
Well there is a story about how the Indians introduced them to edible plant life and things like corn, but the bottom line is, they did not survive well at all, they died off really fast. Diseases were simple things that wiped out entire areas and the average life expectancy was very very low.

You missed my point.

Let's assume everyone in this thread is in a group surviving SHTF. Although no one can prepare for SHTF let's pretend we did; we have everything even horses to pull the plows in Spring.

To enjoy summer's edible plant life in winter a group would need to store it to have something to eat during winter. In summer food is plentiful however they could not store it well back then so surviving was a challenge. As we can can food we are more fortunate than people back then.



Salt, smoke house, ice house, drying, canning and spring house. Advantage to growing up in the north woods you learn about things like that. I just wish I remembered half of what I saw being done by my grand parents and great grandparents. Like making sausage. I remember how to make butter and canning venison and beef and pork was just normal fall routine. Great Grandpa made everything from boots to horse shoes to parts for his steam engine sawmill. I cannot match that but my brother who lives with me comes close

Sounds well prepared to me.

We have everything we could possibly ever need stockpiled.

However, as we have everything it sounds like a big camp. In past discussions I have read a quote from Patton:

Fixed fortifications are monuments to the stupidity of man. If anything made by God can be overcome, anything made by man can be overcome.

To have what is needed to survive and keep it in a SHTF world we would need to know how to build and defend a fixed position.

swampdragon
09-26-2010, 12:26 AM
It's the wife and I, along with a good sized dog and four cats. We're on ten acres in the high desert and pretty well set with three months of supplies. We should be OK for awhile providing friends with no supplies don't show up. It would be difficult to turn them away, but it might have to happen by necessity. That would be a tough call. Any thoughts?

Yes. I have a thought.
Tell them to come back when they have something to trade or contribute.

O.S.O.K.
09-26-2010, 12:57 PM
I would never turn my immediate family away (nuclear family and my and my wife's families) but beyond that.... it would be iffy, but I'd probably take the nearby cousins and in-laws in too... and I'd make it damned clear that they need to come up with food to cover themselves within a period of time - I have enough of just about everything else to share without endangering my own family and we would gain from the additional defensive players...

But really, in a really bad situation - just how far are people going to be able to travel?

We take long trips on the highway for granted... but without resupply, the trip would be one tank full of gas in your vehicle plus whatever fuel you had along.... if you can hold onto it.

swampdragon
09-26-2010, 03:05 PM
I would never turn my immediate family away (nuclear family and my and my wife's families) but beyond that.... it would be iffy, but I'd probably take the nearby cousins and in-laws in too... and I'd make it damned clear that they need to come up with food to cover themselves within a period of time - I have enough of just about everything else to share without endangering my own family and we would gain from the additional defensive players...

But really, in a really bad situation - just how far are people going to be able to travel?

We take long trips on the highway for granted... but without resupply, the trip would be one tank full of gas in your vehicle plus whatever fuel you had along.... if you can hold onto it.

Depending on how bad things were...you might have to forget all about travel by vehicle completely....even if you do have fuel.
I can quite easily envision bad guys laying ambushes on the roadways.
Pop your tires, disable your vehicle and shoot you all up really badly before you even had a chance to react.
It's just a typical military style tactic.
Mountain passes, blind curves, bridges and over-passes/under-passes and wooded areas are just beautiful for this.

Steal a tow truck and you are all set.
Swipe everything of value from the vehicle, siphon all the fuel, then tow it off out of view and set up your next attack all over again.
Yep. Don't make me that desperate. I don't play well with others.

Schuetzenman
09-26-2010, 03:18 PM
Face it unless your home is made of poured rebar reinforced concrete 2' thick walls and roof, solid steel doors with 2" hardened security rods engaging all 4 sides and windows that are 2 foot thick laminates of Polycarbonate and tempered Pyrex glass you're screwed.

A simple moltov tossed against your house or through the windows and they'll burn your ass out or down in under 10 minutes. You can't cover 4 sides of your house with 2 peeps to prevent it.

HDR
09-26-2010, 05:51 PM
Face it unless your home is made of poured rebar reinforced concrete 2' thick walls and roof, solid steel doors with 2" hardened security rods engaging all 4 sides and windows that are 2 foot thick laminates of Polycarbonate and tempered Pyrex glass you're screwed.

Even given such a bunker it seems most don't know how to set up a defensive perimeter to defend it. Other than sit inside and look out. The same as survival waging war takes knowledge. In war or shtf that knowledge is precious.

As I said earlier, to have what is needed to survive and keep it in a SHTF world we would need to know how to build and defend a fixed position. Without that knowledge one's ass is dead meat.



A simple moltov tossed against your house or through the windows and they'll burn your ass out or down in under 10 minutes.

That works if there isn't anything you would want from inside the house.. What about if it is a prepper's house filled with food, medicine, guns, ammunition and other supplies; I'd want is in there more than to listen to them making those cooking noises.


You can't cover 4 sides of your house with 2 peeps to prevent it.

I'd hope that would be so blatantly apparent people would know better than to try it..


Yep. Don't make me that desperate. I don't play well with others.

Don't make me remember or I'll do it again the same as the last time.

LAGC
10-09-2010, 11:13 PM
Depending on how bad things were...you might have to forget all about travel by vehicle completely....even if you do have fuel.
I can quite easily envision bad guys laying ambushes on the roadways.
Pop your tires, disable your vehicle and shoot you all up really badly before you even had a chance to react.
It's just a typical military style tactic.
Mountain passes, blind curves, bridges and over-passes/under-passes and wooded areas are just beautiful for this.

Steal a tow truck and you are all set.
Swipe everything of value from the vehicle, siphon all the fuel, then tow it off out of view and set up your next attack all over again.


I think a lot of it depends on how soon after SHTF we're talking about. It's not like all of society is just going to collapse overnight. It will likely happen in stages. General unrest in the bigger cities, police being unable to handle it, re-supplies not making it to stores & service stations, power outages for more than a few days, military being called in to try to restore order, more lawlessness, police/military eventually leaving their posts to return home with their families, all hell breaking loose, mass exodus out of the cities... Alot will depend on how soon people realize the writing is on the wall, whether they "bug out" before everyone else realizes the same thing. I don't think you'd really have to worry about ambushes until rather late in the game, when things have really gotten so bad that police is completely unresponsive. If you had the foresight to flee to a rural retreat before everyone else did, you'd have far better odds of making it, one would think.

HDR
10-10-2010, 09:38 PM
I think a lot of it depends on how soon after SHTF we're talking about. It's not like all of society is just going to collapse overnight. It will likely happen in stages. General unrest in the bigger cities, police being unable to handle it, re-supplies not making it to stores & service stations, power outages for more than a few days, military being called in to try to restore order, more lawlessness, police/military eventually leaving their posts to return home with their families, all hell breaking loose, mass exodus out of the cities... Alot will depend on how soon people realize the writing is on the wall, whether they "bug out" before everyone else realizes the same thing. I don't think you'd really have to worry about ambushes until rather late in the game, when things have really gotten so bad that police is completely unresponsive. If you had the foresight to flee to a rural retreat before everyone else did, you'd have far better odds of making it, one would think.

Once the shipping hubs breakdown; the food supply will slow or stop. That is when mass hysteria will kick in.

Its fine if you want to flee to a national forest where you'll discover living off the land takes a lot of skills, a lot of time and a lot of land. Now if you want to flee to places where others live and have lived there would not be enough food. The people who live there want to stay there; folks who show up, kill everything and then leave won't be welcome. That is what will happen.

All hunter gatherers spend most of their time hunting and gathering which takes a lot of land.

What skills do you have to survive?

That is a question for everyone to think about not just Lefty.

AKTexas
10-10-2010, 09:52 PM
Don't forget the tactical toilet paper...You are gonna need it when you all shit yourself.

Look at history for a clear understanding of the real shit hit the fan scenario.Eastern Europe the last 25 years comes to mind.

LAGC
10-10-2010, 11:51 PM
All hunter gatherers spend most of their time hunting and gathering which takes a lot of land.

What skills do you have to survive?

My particular skill-set doesn't extend far beyond things that require electricity. I'm not trying to pretend it would be easy, or that I'd make a first-class Survivalist, by any means. But my extended family on my mom's side is better prepared than most, I like to think. If a SHTF scenario extended to our small city (200,000 pop.) my uncle has a retreat (lodge, cabin, and trailers on a 13-acre spread surrounded by Federal land that can comfortably shelter a couple dozen people from the elements) just 50 miles outside the city, a couple days hike if vehicle wasn't an option. There's enough small game (more efficient to trap, than to spend energy and waste ammo on hunting -- save the ammo for feral animals of a human variety) and edible plants, nuts, and berries, that I think we could live off of for most of the year before we had to resort to eating bugs and the like, and enough food stored for a party of 24 to last through a winter. I can't imagine most SHTF scenarios lasting more than a year, unless we're talking about a nuclear attack or massive meteor strike or something that blocks out all sunlight, in which case I think I'd rather die in the initial blast than try to survive the long-term aftermath of that, as all life on Earth slowly chokes itself out... but any man-made SHTF scenario (a total collapse of the financial system being most likely) would eventually be replaced by a new economy, as we are social creatures and won't stand for living like Neanderthals for long. A new currency will arise, things will get settled, and we will rebuild. I figure if you can survive for a year off-the-grid, then you can make it until society reboots itself and the supply chains are restored, and stores and business pick back up, and a new government is formed. Might just make us stronger, as a people, if we had to live through something like that, not that I hope for it or desire it by any means...

I mean, life would kind of suck without the Internet. I imagine I'd be playing a lot of cards between gathering food and chopping wood each day...

El Jefe
10-11-2010, 04:43 PM
Yeah, cause as everyone knows, bushes and trees bare fruits and nuts year round. :laugh:

HDR
10-11-2010, 09:12 PM
My particular skill-set doesn't extend far beyond things that require electricity. I'm not trying to pretend it would be easy, or that I'd make a first-class Survivalist, by any means.

No it is not easy; however OJT is not recommended. At minimum buy some books which show what plants you can eat.

I mean, life would kind of suck without the Internet. I imagine I'd be playing a lot of cards between gathering food and chopping wood each day...[/QUOTE]

Hunter-gatherers hunt and gather to survive. Although they have survived almost forever none of the remaining hunter gatherers of the world have any body fat. No matter how much a person or a group have it runs out sooner or later.

old Grump
10-12-2010, 01:43 AM
Yeah, cause as everyone knows, bushes and trees bare fruits and nuts year round. :laugh:

Uh, that is a big no. Bare trees bear neither fruit nor nuts. Most trees bear nothing most people would recognize as edible. If it doesn't come wrapped in white butcher paper, cellophane, in a cardboard box or a tin can with clearly marked labels a lot of people will not be able to identify a food product. How many people on this forum have ever milked a cow, goat or sheep. Even horse manure will grow edible mushrooms but get the wrong one and you will be taking a trip to inner space, right next to lala land where all the good dreams are. Wild onions can really spice up a dish as can asparagus and horse radish if you can recognize the plant.

The last thing I would worry about is the city folks coming to the woods and stripping them bare of wildlife. Most won't make it to the woods and most of those who do won't be able to harvest anything because they won't know how. It will be the houses and farms in the countryside where they will try to do their shopping. They will walk right by box cars full of corn and grain bins full of wheat and oats because they won't know what to do with it but they will kill for a bag of doritos and a can of Campbell's vegetable soup.

I'm not even talking about foreign invasion or civil war where the government falls, I'm talking major floods, earth quakes, power outages and the resultant fires in the cities because there won't be any way to put out the fires. An asteroid hit could wipe us out as a civilization for a long time, let alone a nation united under common leaders and laws.

swampdragon
10-12-2010, 01:58 AM
Uh, that is a big no. Bare trees bear neither fruit nor nuts. Most trees bear nothing most people would recognize as edible. If it doesn't come wrapped in white butcher paper, cellophane, in a cardboard box or a tin can with clearly marked labels a lot of people will not be able to identify a food product. How many people on this forum have ever milked a cow, goat or sheep. Even horse manure will grow edible mushrooms but get the wrong one and you will be taking a trip to inner space, right next to lala land where all the good dreams are. Wild onions can really spice up a dish as can asparagus and horse radish if you can recognize the plant.

The last thing I would worry about is the city folks coming to the woods and stripping them bare of wildlife. Most won't make it to the woods and most of those who do won't be able to harvest anything because they won't know how. It will be the houses and farms in the countryside where they will try to do their shopping. They will walk right by box cars full of corn and grain bins full of wheat and oats because they won't know what to do with it but they will kill for a bag of doritos and a can of Campbell's vegetable soup.

I'm not even talking about foreign invasion or civil war where the government falls, I'm talking major floods, earth quakes, power outages and the resultant fires in the cities because there won't be any way to put out the fires. An asteroid hit could wipe us out as a civilization for a long time, let alone a nation united under common leaders and laws.

Lol.....

My horse poop grows some killer shrooms in the barn.

Dr. Gonzo GED
10-12-2010, 02:07 PM
Yeah, cause as everyone knows, bushes and trees bare fruits and nuts year round. :laugh:

I am personally NOT looking forward to using insects and grubs as a primary source of protien...

El Jefe
10-12-2010, 02:27 PM
I am personally NOT looking forward to using insects and grubs as a primary source of protien...

Um, no, me either. :dammit:

Moebrown20
10-12-2010, 02:32 PM
Uh, that is a big no. Bare trees bear neither fruit nor nuts. Most trees bear nothing most people would recognize as edible. If it doesn't come wrapped in white butcher paper, cellophane, in a cardboard box or a tin can with clearly marked labels a lot of people will not be able to identify a food product. How many people on this forum have ever milked a cow, goat or sheep. Even horse manure will grow edible mushrooms but get the wrong one and you will be taking a trip to inner space, right next to lala land where all the good dreams are. Wild onions can really spice up a dish as can asparagus and horse radish if you can recognize the plant.

I have..... Well, I didn't grow mushrooms.
I live on 1.5A, but if a shtf..... I know everyone around me would leave which would give me more land to work with.
I know how to make some meds, so that's a plus. The sad thing is that I would end up like swampy since my family depends on me.

Dr. Gonzo GED
10-12-2010, 04:40 PM
I dunno man. It wouldn't really be "the end of the world".

We wouldn't be set back to the stone age. Just the early 19th century or so.

Granted that would be a death sentence for a LOT of people. No doubt about that. Live would be hard, and the first few years would be a nightmare.

But stills would be built for clean water. Gardens would be tilled. Animals grown for food. People would band together for mutual support and protection, and the old trades like carpentry and blacksmithing would slowly be relearned.

And life would go on. Albeit at a much simpler pace. And after choking down a LOT of BBQ'd crickets...

...hell, if there's anything my generation really needed, it was to starve just a little and work towards something together...

...anything...

HDR
10-12-2010, 04:52 PM
I figure Ill be fine, I have 3000 rounds for my SKS, and Ive got alot of years on message boards discussing the fine art of combat:biggrin:

I've gathered some of the keys to survival or combat are being able to identify any firearm at a distance and being knowledgeable about gear. :rolleyes::rolleyes:


In reality, I have two small children, and this scare the living snot out of me. What would happen to them if I wasnt around? Dont wanna find out.

I fought once and I don't relish the thought of family being there.

Moebrown20
10-12-2010, 06:29 PM
I dunno man. It wouldn't really be "the end of the world".

We wouldn't be set back to the stone age. Just the early 19th century or so.
Maybe, most of the fat kids that play games would be gone, so in tech terms...... it would be the end.



Now I have to go clear some land before snow starts and get ready for spring.

Dr. Gonzo GED
10-12-2010, 06:44 PM
Maybe, most of the fat kids that play games would be gone, so in tech terms...... it would be the end.

Oh noes! I'm done for! :lool:

HDR
10-12-2010, 07:45 PM
Maybe, most of the fat kids that play games would be gone, so in tech terms...... it would be the end.

They'd lose weight and if they didn't learn to get by that would be it.

The good news is "shtf" ain't going to happen; however, in time mother nature will most certainly pee in your Cheerios a few times. lol

binky59
04-23-2011, 04:12 PM
Yes. I have a thought.
Tell them to come back when they have something to trade or contribute.

I know that the people around me generally don't know squat about survival. I'm in an apartment complex with 1300 units, alot of east indians and orientals, we're in the suburbs, near water. I know that they are not prepared and would probably be looking to my buddy and myself to help them out. Everyone can contribute something.
Can you carry water
Can you cook
Can you clean
Can you gather
ect.
I can teach these people in a very short amount of time skills that will make things easier for everyone.
Now if they don't want to do any of the above, don't come knockin' on my door.

romak10/63UF
04-23-2011, 04:29 PM
I would post up ontop of my house an have the kids fill sand bags an pass the sand bags up to me... I would go rambo to protect my family an friends. expect me to show no mercy to who ever trys to take our supplys.

Viking350
04-23-2011, 04:39 PM
Not something i would like to see. Getting medical help or medicine ! That would be a joke in its self. The elderly and the sick would be the first to go.

Check this out. She talks about this very thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el7wje02wOY&playnext=1&list=PLBD9EDF171642F545

Viking350
04-23-2011, 04:46 PM
I'm smack dab in the middle of Philadelphia and Trenton A.K.A. the proverbial "rock and a hard place". I just hope traffic wouldn't impede my bugout.

Survival isn't as cool as it seems on TV. Ever see how ripped those bushmen are on the Discovery Channel? That's because they work all day, every day. They don't need a gym membership.

You know what else sucks? Winter. Waking up in the middle of the night to put more wood on the fire, if you're too close you wake up with your pants on fire, too far away and you wake up freezing.

Ready, in a serious and rapid collapse od society, in a large metro area like yours, the roads will be swarmed and impassable. I plan on hunkering down for the first few weeks to a month to let the odds even out a bit.

O.S.O.K.
04-23-2011, 04:49 PM
I like this one... maxipads for gunshot wounds :lool:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7p2P-ibR7A&feature=related

Viking350
04-23-2011, 05:02 PM
But really, in a really bad situation - just how far are people going to be able to travel?

We take long trips on the highway for granted... but without resupply, the trip would be one tank full of gas in your vehicle plus whatever fuel you had along.... if you can hold onto it.

In a slow decline, you may be able to get out of the metro areas if you decide to bug out early. The problem is how can you tell early that this is the big one and things are only going to get worse over time? In a rapid decline, forget it. All the roads will be jammed and impassable.

Viking350
04-23-2011, 05:10 PM
I like this one... maxipads for gunshot wounds :lool:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7p2P-ibR7A&feature=related

I've watched quite a few of her vids. A lot of information I never considered.

old Grump
04-23-2011, 06:20 PM
I like this one... maxipads for gunshot wounds :lool:Don't laugh, they have been in my big kit for years. They were cheaper than what I could get in the dressing section of the drug store and they work.

First time I used them was about 2 years after I started boxing. I had a trainer in Long Beach show me how to put Kotex over my knuckles when I taped my hands and they made a heck of a difference to me. One thing about being one of only 2 heavyweights in the locker room, nobody laughed when the big guy with the handle bar mustache taped up.

Flinter
04-23-2011, 06:21 PM
If it were simply an EMP that wiped out all electronics, I think I'd be fine. I have spent a lifetime preparing for that. There are very few neccessities that I can't make for myself...assuming I still have access to my regular household supplies.

However, the idea of people shooting at me scares the shit out of me.

old Grump
04-23-2011, 11:26 PM
However, the idea of people shooting at me scares the shit out of me. Especially when you are a large slow moving target like I am. That's why I favor keeping my head low and my big ass lower. Let the young Rambo's with the tactical carry vests, armor, 170 pounds of ammo and bayonets for the 11 guns they carry make all the noise and do all the fighting.

ready
04-23-2011, 11:43 PM
Don't laugh, they have been in my big kit for years. They were cheaper than what I could get in the dressing section of the drug store and they work.

First time I used them was about 2 years after I started boxing. I had a trainer in Long Beach show me how to put Kotex over my knuckles when I taped my hands and they made a heck of a difference to me. One thing about being one of only 2 heavyweights in the locker room, nobody laughed when the big guy with the handle bar mustache taped up.

That and tampons. I've used quite a few back in my fighting days to stop nose bleeds.

old Grump
04-24-2011, 01:41 AM
That and tampons. I've used quite a few back in my fighting days to stop nose bleeds.I guess I must have been lucky, or all the screaming at me to keep my hands up helped. I only got pasted two good ones on the nose, a Mexican kid from Lubbock Texas and a State Trooper. The Mexican kid beat me on points, the trooper didn't last 3 seconds, he hit me, I hit him and he went through the ropes. The big sissy wouldn't get back in the ring.

Viking350
04-24-2011, 06:40 AM
Especially when you are a large slow moving target like I am. That's why I favor keeping my head low and my big ass lower. Let the young Rambo's with the tactical carry vests, armor, 170 pounds of ammo and bayonets for the 11 guns they carry make all the noise and do all the fighting.

Amen brother. I'm too old, fat and slow to fight and run.

(AK)1000shots
06-08-2011, 05:13 PM
Since we're all AK fans, maybe it would make sense for us all to link up in this sort of event, organize, consolidate, and get shit going how we see fit. There's a lot of scumbags in this country of ours, and they outnumber us, but if we have overlapping fields of fire... we just might make it out of it.

Justin
06-08-2011, 05:33 PM
SHTF would bother me a lot. I like rule of law, and being able to call a fire department or EMTs in case of emergency. I won't even go into hygene, I like going to the store and getting TP.

Richard Simmons
06-08-2011, 05:51 PM
Would it really bother you that much?




Not really. There ain't shit on TV right now anyway.

O.S.O.K.
06-08-2011, 06:06 PM
Once I get set up on my land, it would bother me less. But it would still bother me. For all of the reasons cited and more.

I would be very upset if I couldn't get my kids back home...

rahatlakhoom
06-08-2011, 06:40 PM
I've got 10 acres +
I'm ready.
White tail deer in the backwoods, wild turkey.
I think in SHTF it will all be like a bad dream regardless of what you have.
I would miss my job. My distant family. A lot of civic freedoms we take for granted.

However, I am real sure that there would be some miscreant savages
who would be forced to face the education of their short lives, when they
come encroaching. I know where to draw the line, and cock the hammer.

romak10/63UF
06-08-2011, 06:59 PM
Since we're all AK fans, maybe it would make sense for us all to link up in this sort of event, organize, consolidate, and get shit going how we see fit. There's a lot of scumbags in this country of ours, and they outnumber us, but if we have overlapping fields of fire... we just might make it out of it.

You know you have a point brother an since im in the far eastern state of new mexico if STHF you can count on me.

O.S.O.K.
06-08-2011, 09:26 PM
I'm afraid that we are far too few and far to far between... and we all need to take care of our families, so we won't be going off to join any militia... that would only happen if the militia is local - and then I would definately be joining in - if I wasn't one that was instigating.

We all need to do more in our immediate communities - I would guess that other than our close friends, most all here are more private types...

AKTexas
06-08-2011, 09:30 PM
My biggest concern with living in the city is getting to my place of retreat. There are various routes to get out of the city.

(AK)1000shots
06-09-2011, 09:58 AM
You know you have a point brother an since im in the far eastern state of new mexico if STHF you can count on me.

Well, I'm over in Nuketown (Los Alamos), which is probably one of the most defensible points in the country. One road in, up on a mountain, and almost everyone up here owns a gun. Might be good at keeping the scumbags out.

coppertales
06-09-2011, 10:01 AM
Amen brother. I'm too old, fat and slow to fight and run.

Me too............................................... .................................................. ..............chris3

Izzy
07-10-2011, 10:40 PM
Would it really bother you that much?

I have no desire to see any fellow Americans, friends, or family (including my own) to suffer... but let say we got a multiple EMP attack somewhere in the country, you are not at ground zero, but the power is out in your area all across the grid...

How would you feel about that?

I've got 2 small children, a wife, dog... enough food for a year, and clean fresh water isn't an issue...

Me, living in the mountains... we'd live off the land as long as we can before we break into our food reserves... this means eating squirrel, possum, etc.. before we break open the Ramen noodles. That'd be no fun...

But I'd enjoy not having to go to work the next day, week, month, year, decade!

FEEL? If the SHTF , very few of us would have time to sit and contemplate, we would be busy doing what we had to do for our families and themselves.

AFTER events settle down to the new "normal", then you can get in touch with your feelings. ( that's cool)