This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Guest Post: The Realities Of Choosing Your Survival Retreat Location
Submitted by Brandon Smith from Alt Market
The Realities Of Choosing Your Survival Retreat Location
Unfortunately, having a ‘Plan B’ just isn’t the modern American way. The great and diabolical misfortune of having two to three solid generations of assumed prosperity in one’s culture is the side-effect it has of lulling the populace into comfortable apathy. “Prepping” becomes a kind of novelty; a lifestyle that people joke about while planning out their next vacation or their next suburban home purchase. It’s something that others consider in that fleeting moment in front of the television while witnessing the news of a catastrophe on the other side of the world, only to be forgotten minutes after changing the channel. Such things do not happen here. Not in the United States…
I am a child of an age laden with illusory wealth, and have benefitted (for a short time at least) from the financial fakery of our economic system, as have many Americans. Most of us have not had to suffer through the unmitigated poverty, hopelessness, and relentless fear that are pervasive in harsher days. All our problems could be cured with money, especially government money, and as long as the greenbacks were flowing, we didn’t care where they came from. Ultimately, though, the ease of our well-to-do welfare kingdom has set us up for a cultural failure of epic proportions. Anytime a society allows itself to be conditioned with dependency, its fate is sealed.
We do not know what crisis really is. Many Americans barely have an inkling of what it entails. We imagine it, in films, in books, and in our own minds, but the fantasy is almost numbing. We lose sight of the tangible grating salty rawness of the worst of things, while imagining ourselves to be “aware”. Most people today are like newborns playing merrily in a pit of wolves.
Preppers, on the other hand, are those who seek to understand what the rest of the public goes out of its way to ignore. They embrace the reality and inevitability of disaster, and suddenly, like magic, they are able to see its oncoming potential where others cannot (or will not). The price they pay for this extended vision, however, is high…
I see the prepper generation as a generation of sacrifice; men and women who must endure the collapse of the façade for the sake of an honorable future society they may not live to experience. Modern day Cassandras? Hopefully not. But, certainly a group of people who have lost much in the path to knowledge. We lose our blissful naivety. That which once easily entertained us becomes banal and meaningless. We set aside many of our dreams to make room for the private and public battle we must wage for the truth. And, in the early days of our awakening, we tend to lose sleep.
The primary advantage of this otherwise complex life is actually simple: we have a ‘Plan B’.
Independence, self sustainability, true community, and redundancy in systems; it’s all in a day’s work for the prepper. But, one thing tends to sit upon our minds above all else, and that subject is ‘home’. Not necessarily the home where we are, but the home where we will shelter during darker days. Call it a retreat, call it a bunker, call it whatever you like, but every prepper has to have that place set aside that gives him the utmost advantage while facing off against calamities that normally annihilate average people.
Choosing a retreat can be easy, or so difficult it explodes your brain depending on how you approach it. The problem I see most often with those seeking a back-up location for a collapse scenario is that they engage the process as if they are still living in 2006, hunting for their McMansion with a view on the sunny hillsides of Colorado or California, instead of thinking in practical terms. So, to help clarify a more fundamental approach to choosing a survival retreat, here is a list of priorities that cannot be overlooked:
Property Placement
You may be searching for a homestead property or a more discreet retreat area for only the most violent disasters. In either case, property placement should be your number one concern. Where is your subject property located? What are the strengths and weaknesses, economically, socially, and legally, in the state you are considering. What is the disposition of the government and law enforcement in the county your retreat resides in? What kind of environment are you surrounding yourself with? These are all very important issues to consider.
Even more important, though, are the dynamics of the land you are choosing. Are you looking for a typical flat piece of developed farmland with easy access to roads and town amenities? Then you are going about this all wrong. Are you purchasing a cabin in the woods where you and your family will be isolated and alone? Again, not very bright.
The ideal retreat location is a combination of rugged terrain and varied topography that is just accessible enough, and set in proximity to like minded neighbors who will aid each other in the advent of a social implosion.
It may feel strange to consider it at first, but try to think in terms of an aggressive party: a looter, a criminal, or just a hungry refugee. Now, take a second look at your retreat selection. Is it easy to wander into? Can a person stroll right up to the front door, or do they really have to spend a lot of time and energy to reach you? Is it within sight of a major highway? Is it in the middle of a funnel or valley which people would naturally take to get to a tempting destination? Is it flat with little cover and concealment, or is it nestled in the midst of hills and crevices which can be used strategically? How many routes in and out of the region are there?
Crops can be grown in any area with any climate if the correct methods are used. Energy can be produced with a multitude of technologies and tools. Structures can be built to adapt to the materials that are most abundant in the region. However, once you commit to a particular environment and terrain type, you are stuck with it for good. Choose wisely.
Community Network
As mentioned in the section above, isolation should NOT be the goal here. The concept of the loan wolf survivalist waiting out the implosion with his family in a secret fortification is not realistic, or likely to work at all. In the most volatile of collapses, such retreats only offer a tempting target for unsavory characters, from Bosnia to Argentina and beyond. If you don’t have a community of preppers around you, you have nothing.
Ideally, choosing a retreat location, especially for a homestead in which you will be living on a day to day basis, should be done with multiple families involved. The more preppers involved, the larger the perimeter of warning and defense, and the safer everyone will be. It is not enough to have a friend or two on the other side of town, or to have a couple neighbors who are open to the subject of collapse but have made no efforts to prep. A return to a true community foundation is the surest way to secure your retreat. There WILL be people who will wish to take what you have in a crisis situation. Your best bet is to surround yourself with people who already have what they need…
In Montana, I have used the idea of “Land Co-Op Groups”, expanding on the barter networking concept to include helping people of like-mind to meet and find property within proximity of each other, or to choose mutual retreat areas where there will be safety in numbers. Explore real estate markets near family members who are on the same wavelength. Talk with existing prepper communities and see if you might work well together. Form your own group of land seekers and make purchases together, saving money for everyone. Know who you will be weathering the storm with!
Defensibility
This has been mentioned in previous sections, but let’s establish what defensibility truly involves. Do the natural features shelter you, or hinder you? How many lanes of sight are near your retreat and will they work to your advantage, or someone else’s? Is your homestead on the top of a wide open hill and visible for miles around? Will attackers exhaust themselves attempting to reach you? How much warning will you have if someone is approaching your location?
Make sure your surroundings work for you. Folds in the land topography not only off greater surface area for your money, but also cover and concealment. Forget about beautiful views, perfect soil, and room for a gazebo. Is the retreat actually protecting you or not? If this single issue is not considered and resolved, nothing else matters.
This is why I recommend starting from scratch with raw land if possible. Many people dislike the notion of building their retreat or homestead from the ground up, claiming that there is not enough time, or that the project will be too costly. This is not necessarily true, especially for those who plan the construction of their retreat around off-grid living strategies. Raw land purchases, depending on the region, can be highly affordable. Building using present materials, like native timber, reduces costs drastically. And, as long as your house plans remain simple, construction can be started and finished within a matter of months.
When building from scratch on raw land you have chosen using the guidelines already discussed, you can place your living quarters in the most advantageous position for defense, while being able to reinforce the home itself as you go. For those using an existing structure, the job becomes a bit more difficult. Additional fortifications will have to be planned carefully to adapt to the framework of the building. Weak areas of the property will have to be strengthened using fences, walls, or strategically placed vegetation that frustrates approach. High points in the terrain should be used to establish observation posts. At every moment of the day or night, someone must be awake to keep an eye on the surroundings. Respect the realities of a collapse, instead of disregarding them, and your chances of success increase a hundred fold.
Water Availability
Many would place water resources at the very top of this list, and having an ample supply is certainly vital. Digging a well is a must. Building in proximity to a stream, river, or lake is even better. That said, rainwater collection is a viable supplement to weaker indigenous water supply, along with water storage done in advance of any event. The average adult human being needs approximately 2.5 liters of water per day to survive comfortably. The common vegetable garden needs around 2” of watering overall per week. Bathing and general hygiene requires several gallons per week depending on how conservative you are. It is important to gauge the water production and storage capacity available at your retreat. If the math does not add up, and if rain collection is not enough to fill the gap, then move on. Find an area that will sustain you with water, but do not neglect the rest of the items on this list just to be near a roaring river…
Food Production
This is an area with far more flexibility than most people seem to realize. With the right methods, a garden can be grown in almost any climate, and at any time of the year, even winter. Every retreat should be fitted with a greenhouse, and this does not require much expense, or even energy to build. Makeshift materials often work wonders and the cheapest greenhouses tend to supply as much produce throughout the year as expensive and professionally built models.
Raised bed gardening is efficient, requiring less water, and producing more food than typical gardens. Small orchards are possible depending on the climate and elevation of the property. Wild edibles in the area should be cataloged. Find out where they grow in abundance, how to cook and prepare them, and which edibles you actually enjoy eating.
Animals require at least some acreage. Two acres being the minimum if you plan to raise several species. Goats, chickens, and rabbits are much easier to squeeze into a smaller parcel than cattle or horses, and draw much less attention to your retreat. A single milk producing cow and a bull, however, have the ability to keep your family healthy and fed for a lifetime. The trade-off is up to the individual prepper. The bottom line is, the number of animals you plan to raise determines the amount of open field you will need to clear on your property to provide the grasses and feeding area they will require.
Proximity To National Forest
Another aspect to consider is how close your property is to national forest areas or unclaimed and unpurchased acreage. Perhaps you are only buying 5 acres of land in a well placed area which borders thousands of acres of forest service. Not only have you purchased the use of 5 acres, but the potential use of thousands of acres through attrition, while guaranteeing that no unpleasant or unaware neighbors will move in too snug next door. Abundant resources will be at your fingertips in a post collapse scenario, including timber, wild game, possible minerals, caching sites, secondary retreat locations, etc. The advantages are numerous…
Secondary Retreat Locations
Never put all your eggs in one basket. We hear that warning all our lives but few take it to heart the way they should. I have dealt with many a prepper who has become indignant at the idea of having to leave his home to escape danger, claiming that they would “rather die” than have to beat feet to a secondary location. I personally don’t get it. Fighting back is admirable, but fighting smart is better. There is nothing wrong with living to die another day, and this is where the multiple retreats strategy comes into play.
Some survivalists live in the city, and have set up a retreat in an area distant but reachable. Others have taken the plunge and uprooted to start a new life on the grounds of their new refuge, leaving behind the metropolis and sometimes even their high paying jobs. In either case, they have done far more for their futures than the average American has even vaguely considered. However, it is not quite enough…
Back-up retreat locations should be chosen in remote areas near your primary retreat, and very few if any people (even friends and associates) should be told about these places. Keep in mind, these are last ditch survival spots. They are not ideal for long term living arrangements. Little if any infrastructure will be built in these places, and all shelter materials should be heavily concealed. Caching sites should be set up well in advance and placed on at least two separate routes to the same location. You should have no worries over whether you will be able to feed, clothe, and protect yourself on the way to the emergency site. Hidden approaches to the area should be scouted ahead of time. A viable water source should be present nearby.
Thinking Ahead: It’s Pure Sanity
There are all kinds of excuses for not doing what needs to be done. Americans have an ingenious knack for rationalizing their own laziness and inaction. If you want to know how to get ahead in the world of prepping, or just the world in general, all you have to do is become a man or woman who makes a plan, and then follows through on it! Welcome to the top ten percent!
One excuse that I do in some instances take seriously is the problem of the conflicting family. We all know a prepper or two whose spouse or children are not on board, ridiculing or even obstructing their efforts. When expenditures of cash (or large expenditures of cash in the case of a property purchase) are in debate, the tensions can be crippling. In every disaster there are oblivious masses which make things hard on those who are aware. From the Great Depression and Weimar Germany, to New Orleans after Katrina, it is not uncommon for people on the verge of starvation and death to still assume that government help is right around the corner and all will be right as rain.
All I can recommend to those struggling with the survival-impaired is that you educate friends and loved ones on the nature of recent events like Katrina, or the economic collapse in Greece and Spain, or the tsunami and subsequent reactor meltdown in Japan. Show them that this is real life, not a cartoon. Make them understand that they are not immune to the tides of catastrophe, and that preparation is not only practical, but essential.
Survivalism is not a product of insanity; it is merely a product of our precarious times. A disaster is only a disaster for people who are not prepared for it. The only madness I see before me in our country today is the madness of those who believe themselves immune to the fall of the curtain. The true “insanity” rests in the minds of men who presume tomorrow will be exactly like today, and that the comfort of their existence is law, a foregone conclusion, set in stone, forever…
»
- 43939 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Want their 15 minutes and get 15 years
Humans are idiots...well at least "modern" ones.
Humans are on the verge of a really big payment for this 60 years of idiocy.
Cut off my cable service and got rid of my TV six years ago; one of the best decisions I've made. Regarding this article, a much better one than the one of a few weeks ago recommending a PS90 for personal defense.
Whether or not a thousand years of Western civilization can survive a hundred years of mass TV media assaults remains to be seen.
I am staying put. Got genset, food, ammo and 200 rolls of toilet paper.
For energency pruposes. To make a long haul stand will be too much for too many people.
If you don't get to your bug out place ahead of someone else, possession will be 9/10's of the law and how big a bad ass you are.
Good luck, bitchezz
200?
Get 2000.
You will find the bad diet will lead to bouts of the runs.
uhm, get a bumgun. as long as you have water you won't need the TP.
You want to see a true Moron, look no further than James Rawles of www.survivalblog.com. He's been hunkered down in a god awful Northern Idaho location for over 10 years storing ammo, guns, night vision, knives, etc. He's just sure doomesday is right around the corner. LOL!!!
Meanwhile, I'm living the dream in a sweet coastal community of Southern California. No snow, perfect weather, beautiful babes, etc.
Mad Max won't happen. It hasn't happened in Greece or Spain. People adjust. The country will be fine with fewer overpaid bureaucrats and executives.
Agree 100% about Rawles.
His books are gadget strewn wet-dream projections of glory and overcoming w/o basis in reality. The crew being able to bug-out from Chicago once shtf is classic example, another is is big-guy character and his Barrett .50bmg... People on his site are gear whores for most part.
Rawles got his start on internet & shotgun news by advertising "no registration required modern firearms". Like the BATF wasn't funding him or keeping a list of all who paid $800+ for 1899 era firearms they didn't have to register?? Anyone who advertises to aid buyers in circumvention of the law and is not shutdown is likely a fed operative.
Morons think they can buy their way to confidence and knowledge. Too much money, not enough brains.
Intermountain West is not a good place for self-sufficient living, at least not at altitude. Kurt Saxon tried living in Taos, NM and found the climate great for corn; but not much else.
"Doomsday Preppers is my favorite new show. The morons can keep watching Idol."
Morons watch TV
Oilpeak hoax to burst as soon as France authorizes fracking:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-15/paris-shale-oil-ban-makes-torea...
Get a job already. You copy and pasted this yesterday. Gee, if estimates are correct we will have oil for another week. Awesome.
Moron. What I posted yesterday was from 2009. Someone asked for a more recent update.
Get back to your post, engineer. Pffft. You think you know physics, but as an engineer all you know is to follow rules, laws, orders. You do not have the brainpower to question such laws and to topple them. The only math you are capable of solving is on your excel spreadsheets.
Fool
How insightful, troll harder loser.
Frack fracking...
Frack + Earthquake + Lot's of Nuclear Power = No more France :)
"“Is there oil under the Eiffel Tower? The answer is yes,” a beaming McKenzie said at a Dec. 15 presentation to investors near the Champs-Elysees."
Why is he pitching investors? If they have the oil to 100% confidence, go get loans and keep all the equity. Why is he trying to spread risk around?
Maybe the bigoil boys want the Paris basin for themselves.
Big bank and big oil play in tandem against the smaller energy companies.
Anyway, ZAZA is the name now (Toreador merger):
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/ZAZA
disclosure: Ahmeexnal does not own ZAZA stock.....yet
Ouch.
Down from over 19 to 3 in under a year and a half.
But that's the point. Total didn't bid that lease. The bidders are small fry.
This has unlikely written all over it.
Wow - maybe they can turn it into the most stylish oil well on Earth. . .
"“Is there oil under the Eiffel Tower? The answer is yes,” a beaming McKenzie said at a Dec. 15 presentation to investors near the Champs-Elysees."
Wonderful, the ETower is an IN PLACE rig...............finally a use for the POS.
AWESOME!
I GIVE UP....
Article says 11,000 bbp and soon to be shut down most likely.
Rednecks are arming themselves to get ready for the citifolks, when they start to run away...
not really... it's not really "prepping" if you just do it normally anyway... prepping implies a certain impetus.
Citijerks won't make it 5 miles out of the city limits before their bodies give out & they can't find any water to drink...
~~~
Even jane fuck "I do irongirl triathlons, yoga, & eat cucumber salads", won't make it 50 miles before realizing that water doesn't come from bottles with fancy designs & labels & realize to make it the next 50 miles she's going to have to start smoking cucumbers instead...
I wonder if Curt fears hyperinflation or if he just had a thing for coins. I wonder how many other rich people have similar stashes.
Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling says he poured much of his personal fortune into his Providence video game company — and that apparently included a stash of gold coins.
In February, the day after 38 Studios released its first game, Schilling posted 3,200 gold coins — worth roughly $5 million at current prices — as collateral for a loan from Bank Rhode Island in Providence, according to financing statements filed in Massachusetts.
I have less problem with the zombie hordes than I do with the thought of the single mom with kids showing up begging food and shelter. All you guys preparing to wipe out the gangs arriving at your door - are you equally ready for your desperate neighbor to show up? Could you close your door to someone you considered a friend? Could you tell a hungry nine year old "no"?
From the tatooed, spandex and tube top wearing, pall mall smokin stinking lard assed single mom's I've witnessed around these parts screaming at their snot nosed half clothed feral spawn at the local little league games, I'm thinking I'm not going to have much trouble at all.
You do bring up a good point. What do you do about family that's unprepared? I've got some that I could give a rat's ass about, they're too fucking lazy to breathe if it didn't come natural. They're going to be SOL. Others, I'll help as I can, most of them have decided to wake up and are making preparations of their own.
This busts open and it's going to be like the K/T fossil line people. Skeletons stacked. None of the "prepper" books I've read have really dealt with that in honest, blunt terms, they just sort of skip over it. Life will suck for a while. First step is decide you want to live. If you lose that there's not much that can be done for you.
The novel One Second After deals with this issue in great detail on many levels.
"Half Feral..."
BAWHAHAHA OM MY GOD!!! someone help me off the floor.
Booby trap the hell out of your perimeter and approaches and these incidents will not happen...............
Mr Lunatic, after you kill the first neighborhood kid with a boobytrap, you won't have to worry ever again about refugess from the nearby city.
TSHTF is gonna be damned complicated; there are no simple answers.
The one thing I'm pretty sure about: walls. Just about every city mentioned in the Bible, and Rome, and London had walls. The settlement at Jamestown had a stockade. Apparently our ancestors felt that if they had anything worth stealing, they needed to live in a compact village protected by walls. Possibly those who won't learn from the past won't be passing on their arrogance to the future...
Was going strictly for shock value there. BTW walls are great; if you have a few thousand people with a few hundred days and all of the other resources necessary to complete the job..........food, shelter, medicine, bricks, kilns, water. It won't be ladders, towers and rams this time........
Walls are to deter small to medium-sized bands of raiders. Any town with that level of resources will either be the county seat or have an alliance with whoever has heavy weapons (goverment or warlord or Duke).
It would be nice if people understood this while we still have some fossil-fueled machinery to at least dig a moat and push it into a berm. But denial being what it is, I expect that when the time comes they will be prying up slabs of the nearest interstate highway and hauling them some miles by muscle power in order to contain fill.
I hope everyone here who has young children understands that the end of fossil fuels means the end of industrial civilization. Even US 1860's level of technology was based on exploitation of non-renewable resources and was NOT sustainable. Teach your children well.
Very astute, the part about fossil fuels. Our population is not sustainable without fossil fuels. Period. 90% dieoff needed. Or more.
That is more certain than the looming economic catastrophe. Economic is a maybe. Fossil fuels is a "when", not an "if".
I like this talk about walls, too. Since I first started thinking about this, a few years back, I've realized that houses are essentially undefensible. Deathtraps, really. So I've thought in terms of perimeter defence (narrow canyons seem the best). Walls changes it.
Boobytraps are a great way for idiots to off themselves.
"Could you close your door to someone you considered a friend? Could you tell a hungry nine year old "no"?
~~~
Depends how good they are with a mattock & an axe... Just today, I was terracing a very small bit of land that was mostly clay (getting it ready for a few more square meters of garden space)... I got a local 12 year old to swing a shovel for a bit to help me with the work... He did surprisingly well, but the whole project, to me, was partly curiosity to see how these nimwits reacted to hard labor... We worked, together, for about 2 hours... I gave him an earful (jokingly) the whole time...
Anyway... bottom line is that he probably 'passed' the exam (not as much on the 'horsepower of labor' aspect, but mentally he hung in there)... Anyway ~ it ought to be a 'hoot' to see what happens on a mass scale if & when it comes to that... In the end, I OVERPAID him for his efforts (in the hopes that he'd learn VALUE in backbreaking work ~ which it was)...
Anyway ~ that's the francis_sawyer benchmark at the moment...
Hawaii, Big Island, rural, NOT Puna.
shhhh
Nobody listens, anyway...
too close to fuk_u_shima
Fukashima? I have cooling ponds 12 miles away. Fukashima will be the least of people in CONUS's worries. And on this note: Fv<|< the Environmental Left for stoppingYucca Mountain.
Damn haole.
Waimea ranch land? And what's wrong with Puna...lots of geothermal heating available. :)
It's not the land that's the problem in the Puna. The land is good there. the things that happen there are the problem
A crisis in the usa is when Domino's doesn't deliver.
Or if they're 10 minutes late.
Panic time.
Eye of the storm. As it was put by a US citizen.
There is no place to be protected from US citizenism consequences.
But certain areas are less affected by the storm,like the eye.
Stay within the eye and that is the best place to be.
Contrary to what the US citizen author advocates, do not move outside of the eye in search for a quieter place. It does not exist.
Center and periphery. Pushing yourself to the periphery puts you in the position of being drained by the center, US citizen style.
Said differently, a person on the move is nothing more than a refugee. Stay put unless you've got someplace to go.
There are 15 zillion survival experts around the web pontificating on how and why and where and when, and this guy makes more errors than most.
Property placement dependent on the quality of the county's government? What the hell is he thinking? Government is an entity that spends money that will not exist, to pay police who will be interested only in confiscating whatever they can at gunpoint for their own starving families.
The gun people, the community people . . . all these people will die not very long after the city dwellers, as the 10% of those with gumption stream out carrying gangland uzi's to mob your enclave with 10,000 hungry gang bangers. None of those concepts will survive.
If you live in frigid cold areas, you'll die first winter regardless of your fucking county government. If you live in warm areas, you'll die from the overpopulation of refugees arriving.
When you go from 7 billion to 800 million, there is no reason to think more than a few tens of thousands will be in the US. You won't be one of them. Neither will this article writer.
Mako, that you?
Those "gangland uzi's" require ammo.
Also........ AIM.
10,000 guys rushing your door don't require aim. Not a lot of ammo, either.
Overt defense is the wrong solution. The right solution I don't talk about. The fewer people out scavenging after the first winter or three, the better for me. And yes, this is forever.
No worries.
There's a buffer zone of about 500,000 between the ganglanders and I. Bonus: Lots of former miltary neighbors.
...I'm sure your bitter ass will still be surviving though. You clearly have it all figured out.
We have a family farm that encompasses an entire forested mountain in rural China with great soil, solar power and clean flowing water year round. Already turning a decent profit now as it is and with investments I made this year it is self-sustaining in the long run.
The mountain is also gold-bearing and the community is incredibly close-knit.
If the economy doesn't crash I'll be retired in under 10 years. If it does crash, I'll be living just fine. Enjoy the collapse I guess.
You'll be dead within 3 weeks of Shanghai emptying.
Correct, the Chinese will eat anything - including YOU.
Hulk like Chinese food !!!
hilarious hahaha +3252
Far from Shanghai and we're in an area that allows guns. Seriously, collapse a single tunnel or two on the highway and we're entirely cut off.
lao, congrats on preparing, but you're being delusional. You have 1 billion ppl in that country and if anyone knows you are there, and they now do, they are coming for you.
You will be dead within a few weeks of Shanghai emptying, regardless of distance.
China's a pretty big place.
ZH is accessible from behind the great firewall?
only to AnAnonamous and friends. Until they fuck up and look at something they're not supposed to. Then their family gets billed for the 7.62x25 and we get a new poster under the old name.
laomei you will do well don't listen to all these doomers.
yeah i wouldn't trust those guns to shoot anything but your face when they backfire
Christ we get some intelligent input from China and the local trolluminati is telling him (who BTW his family has already survived in China for 5x,ooo years) how long he has got to last after Peking closes.
Laomei could you please have Anonymouse sent to a re-education camp? At least tell him off in a language he can understand?
I believe that is referred to as being "Shanghaied" !!!
went long spy @ 128.35 short FXY @ 125.77
Should get a ramp into the close. Need to sell at higher prices for the little bit of fresh money still trickling in from 401(k)'s
Glad I didn't trade it... 30 minutes left and the only green is VIX, TLT and PMs. Have a nice weekend.
Hint !!!
http://shuswaplakephotos.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/salmon-arm-bay.jpg
Hey, I can see my old house!
Ammo, MRE's, water, antibiotics and silver are the new asset allocation.
Proper diversification: 308 win, 12 GA slug, 45 ACP
I have 5.56 NATO, 12 GA 00 Buck, and 40 S&W...if we were standing next to each other at the urinal, I think I'd have ammo envy.
yeah, fuck this dumbass author!
Prepping means being in a ready-position for when the real learning curve hits.
Exactly. Most astute comment on here.
What a Joke Economy is destroyed by Jews and Indians and idiots are talking about end of the world, are you crazy or what, everything is fine
Problem is with Jews and indians
BluePill
I hear that brother! Those goddamn Indian casinos are just sucking the lifeblood out of the white man. And don't even get me started on the tax free cigarettes and gas!
"Andrew Stern" is singular.
And now the crazies arrive.
End of the fucking world Mad Max wackjobs who think their few hours playing Call of Duty and their brand spanking new gun gonna save them.
This Prepper shit, is the same kind of bullshit that ruins any real movement, the fucking hangers on, the wannabes, the posers.
For well over half a century there has a true back to the land freedom movement. Where the fuck was everyone then? Drinking lattes and buying new cars and McMansions.
Now the wannabes jump on the band wagon making the real back to the land people look like the lunatics the media wants them to be.
It's like that Tim Allen movie where they are forced to live with the Amish. You in the end you will be returning to 'civilization" after having, and failing at, a "growth" experience.
And before everyone gets pissy, I understand there are a true few who have been practicing what you preach for a long time. You grow your own food, instead of buying organic at the store(hahhahhah what fucking idiots). You raise your own animals. You chop your own wood. You walk the walk and have been for quite a while.
I'm not talking about you.
It's the rest of the fucking hangers on that will bring you down in the end. Remember that. Those are the ones who will lead the FBI right to your door.
They shall be greeted accordingly when they arrive at the door.
Ahmeexnal
don't pretend that you will outgun government forces. They will just run a missile up your ass from the closest drone.
You will barely make the news except as the monster government protected the genpop from.
They will find the worst looking photo of you to run, something really scary. Then some blah, blah about weapons and children living like savages.
Not even worth a historical footnote.
You mean that's not his worst looking photo?
I was prepping before it was cool!
also I heard Tecate is the new hipster brew of choice vs.PBR confirm/deny
Tecate is the Mexican Keystone Light. Awful.
Thats an affirmative ghost rider. PBR is for when you want to look like a hipster, Tecate is for when you want to drink like a hipster.
My uncle is a dentist and he said that most hipsters had serious trauma to the roofs of their mouths. It is most likely because they eat their pizza before its cool
BlueCollaredOne
"My uncle is a dentist and he said that most hipsters had serious trauma to the roofs of their mouths."
Tongue studs. The ones that pierce lips tend to wear off enamel.
It was a joke. Hipsters always say they "liked band x before band x was cool" and things like that.
BlueCollaredOne
I have never met any.
I assume they are the ones with the curled up gay looking bangs.
I think I may be lucky.
You are extremely lucky.
Hipster Hunter
you say "Many Americans barely have an inkling of what it entails." and this would be wrong. One of the benefits of our healthcare system is that the children of the depression are living longer. We have a round table @ family reunions with our "Elders" and they remember what it took to survive. The gist of our last reunion roundtable was that "nobody had any money." There was food in the stores, we just didn't have any money to purchase it.
YES! because a serious Plan B does not require thousands of dollars to implement and OF COURSE all of the poor people and the union carpenters and nurses have a Plan B like this.
no offense, but this is such horse shit.
Put your hams in silver cans before you bury them!
The "possibility" of needing this in the US, 100%.
The "probability" of needing this in the US, 0.1% - at least over the next 50 to 100 years.
Exactly.
And if anyone does try hard enough, his time would be better spent trying or teaching your kids to try to be that 1% who, when time comes, can afford to buy body guards. Sorry ZHers, not only the reality, the solution is uglier than you thought
Understatement du jour.
and who will protect you from the body guards?
The really prepared people still have that cabin and food from 1999 (favorite line: "...Unfortunately, they just don't sell them [claymores] to civilians like me.")
http://www.survival-center.com/diary/june.htm
Yep, that includes me. I still have my lamp oil, wicks, water purification, etc. from 2000 Y2K. Plus, swelling caned goods that had to be thrown away. Not this time. I do have some supplies but I have not been hoarding.
My Son gave me a whole house Generator that I have to hook up which will be wonderful. But the reason I really need it is because my electric goes out 10 times a year for more that 4 days at a time. Yes, you have to keep fresh water as the well pump does not work and extra water used to flush the toilet at least once a day, wash yourself and your hands during the day.
In the winter you need a wood stove. Things free from electricty. But, keep in mind this is not just because of a Market collapse, it is out of necessity because of the power grid. At least in my neighborhood where you can go days without power.
We were able to support the house with the generator. The only issue was noise.
Our area has generators everywhere. The hum 24/7 was not much of a issue.
Now when one runs dry is when you cool them down and refuel.
Yes, my Son said it was loud, that is why I am going to locate it right next to the Neighbor I do not like.
It uses propane gas for fuel. I am told that you need a 1000 gallon tank for about 7 days. If that is true at about 2.50per gallon, it would take about $1,800.to fill it.
Hey,that looks like me and my sisters first shack.
Just after we got married.
A zombie apocalypse would be preferable, but you have some good points.
Don't forget arable land with adjacent water to grow crops, and close enough to defend from hungry people and wild hogs.
You'll need a good long gun for that, as well as a shotgun, handguns, and fencing.
I can't decide if I want to tough it out in a remote location and scrabble by or go out in a hail of bullets and glory fighting over bottled water and canned food in suburbia.
I bet that's exactly what the top .0001%'ers are thinking except instead of shotguns and handguns they are thinking commodities shorts and drones and hellfire missiles and armies of dumbfucks that will do the dirty work for them, cause they are such good patriots.
"Prepper" - Yeuk! The word is ugly & not in any decent dictionary. Why mangle the language so?
Prepping = not waiting for the red pill to be forced down your throat.
Great post. One nuance: if we preppers "see the inevitability of disaster," then our "Plan B" is actually our Plan A. The conforming facade of what we do day to day is simply front-running for maximizing the success of the plan while simultaneously disguising it.
Well a new plan B can be begging for mercy while kneeling beside a mass grave shortly before you and your family are riddled with bullets because your neighbors turned you in for economic terrorism.
many of the redneck preppers around here are planning to draw water out of the river.
many of them are also planning to hide the bodies of the city folk in the same river.
also, many of them have never heard of scurvy ... or cholera ...
Having a community plan for disposing of waste is as important as water and shelter.
true dat. Play any of Sid Meirer's "Civilization" games and ponder why city size doesn't increase until you get aqueducts and then sewers.
Scurvy, Cholera, I can live with that and I'll even live with crab lice as long as I don't have to hear about Greece anymore.
what do you suggest for a single twentysomething who lives in a suburban apartment complex
I got a gun finally I have some money tied in PMs. Enough for down payment or two on a house (would rather not)
bug in/bug out to friend's land in country?
Consider renting a house instead of an apartment, particularly one with a fireplace and well if that is available in your area. You're better off in a detached abode, IMO. Doing so will also force you through the list of other things you need to be self-sufficient.
thanks ^_^
Get out of the Apartment complex.
I lived in one a bit over a year and had so many random issues with strangers at the door.
Don't need it. Half of which were ulterior motives.
Hi kekkek...An imprecise but still major rule of thumb many forget is that if you are more than 300' (distance varies but is short) from drinking water, you WILL DIE, period. Aside from the weight of water and even though there are many third world ways of bearing this burden much further, I doubt it would be safe to wander urban streets far to acquire water in a form you can make drinkable. One solution might be rain barrels or the like on the apartment roof. You might join with others in your building to purchase the large barrels specifically designed for water storage and fill them pre TEOTWAWKI, or at least place one on your deck. Don't forget the pump thingie. Such barrels would best servre for short term emergency planning. After a local emeregency, the longest lines are waiting for water, usually. I live close to salt water and have a water desalinator which has to be servised yearly. These are very expensive but offer a longer term solution, but still require safety preparation after salt is out. There are ways to gain 'fluid' enough to survive from salt water fish. In the end, safe availabilety to water is key to survival. Unfortunately, apartment renters are often tyransitory, and fight club rule #1 does apply, but perhaps you could wisely put a solid group together who will follow the plethora of advise out there as to cost effective ways to gain survival necessites. Your toilets won't work. Buy composting or camping toilets ...so much to say. It will be tough to survive in urban areas, but get real, many are preparing to survive in place even though mocked by retreat proponents.
Most people have at least 40 gallons of water in their water heater. Many forget this in home storage tank.
Forget the water tank, a quake will tear it down.
I use Jerrycans. And am getting ready to put in some drumps with handpumps for the really big needs long term.
I thought about a hand pump for my well but it is 385 feet deep and I do not think a hand pump will be enough to get the water out. The only other option is that my Neighbor has a pool. That is a lot of water and it can be filtered.
Practice shooting...a lot! When you're done with that, practice some more.
Disagree.
If competent with pistol & rifle, your time is Too Important to spend it at "the range". Figure your gonna be fighting for your life? You've already lost it. Thing is to be "Out Of The Line Of Fire" so you aren't continually at risk.
Dry firing and practicing position shooting at home is valuable, don't consume Valuable Ammunition. Blowing several hundred rounds shooting groups at the range every week is not gonna help you much. Not many circumstances you'll find yourself in that will mimic your shooting positions "at the range"....
Keep your ammunition. Even better, learn handloading and bullet casting. Buy primers and versatile powders you can use with many ctgs. Use the accuracy loads in loading manuals, esp those in Sierra Bullets manual. Keep records. Ammunition and components are inflating wildly and becoming less available. Don't blow your ammo into the dirt backstop until you have replaced it in advance of shooting.
More important to be spending funds on quality foods, alternative energy systems, fuel storage and gunsmithing & loading gear than blowing it at the range; at least if you can hit a pie plate at 10yds with your pistol and keep group 2" or less from bench with your rifle. Acceptable accuracy is what is critical, unless you intend to take up PPC or Benchrest competition...
"what do you suggest for a single twentysomething who lives in a suburban apartment complex. I got a gun finally..."
Based on this statement, I assumed his/her firearms skills were somewhere short of competent. I could be wrong, but this is where I was coming from. As for range time being a waste of time, I have to respectfully disagree. Simply put, live fire practice and all that goes with it (correcting failures, etc.) is invaluable experience that just might save your life when you have to perform under stress.
I agree with your points about position, which is why I rarely ever shoot from the bench anymore...always standing or kneeling, and if I'm lucky enough to have the range to myself, I only shoot while on the move. And like you, all I'm trying to get is acceptable accuracy.
I also agree with all your other points (less the range topic), especially the one about avoiding vs. looking for the fight.
Get the fuck out. And do it early.
An apartment complex is absolutely NOT where you want to get stuck when the SHTF. If the power goes out, then the lights go out, AC/Heat go out, water pumps stop, and sewage backs up. What are you going to do when the toilet stops working? Residents will begin to lose it and panic even as soon as the groceries run out, and then you're just a sitting duck for any hungry group of neighbors with more firepower than you. What are you going to do when the local gocery store has exhausted its 3 days of JIT inventory and the shelves are empty? Farm the parking lot for 500 people? What do you think your neighbors are going to do? Are your neighbors a true community of people who can work together and function as one to solve problems under extremely stressful circumstances, or are you just a bunch of people who hardly know each other and happen by chance to live in the same complex? I'd suggest that you need to get somewhere much safer with more land and fewer people to support, and especially with some whom you can trust to watch your back, and vice versa. And consider bugging out with one or more friends so that you can share and rotate the responsibilities of pulling security, keeping watch, sleeping, etc..
BTW, you 've got a gun. That's a start. But have you invested in sufficient training? How many rounds have you put through it? What's the bullet drop at different ranges and how much do you have to hold over your target to hit center mass in each case? How do you handle all the possible malfunctions that can occur? How do you clear a jam? Can you do it while under the immediate threat of physical violence at close range? Have you made a determination of the point at which you will actually pull the trigger in any given situation? There's still lots to master once you have a firearm.
Primary rule of thumb - do not allow yourself to become a refugee. Then you'll have absolutely no chance.
I am a neo prepper.
http://thinkingaboot.blogspot.ca/2011/10/not-survivalist.html
THIS guy thinks he is surviving?
http://www.alt-market.com/social/giordano/profile
is that your ex or something? he isn't that bad I mean he's got silver and gas masks, I'd hang
nah you can just tell by looking at some people, they just ain't gonna make it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VSW_tgtjCA
Better than that, he has a karma rating.
I'd take all his shit in an instant and leave him crying.
My current house is good. Gated community, supportive, armed neighbors, very good neighborhood. Open land on 2 sides of area, local police very good and known.
The county sheriff lives across the street from me. Two thirds of my neighbors bleed out their deer in their garages in hunting season....to show off. I have a stocked pond on my property. Life is good.
community is the answer. Not for "raising kids" like the fucking socialists say, but for defense in depth and logistics/barter.
Make sure you choose a wise location that's close enough to a Costco nearby. Full Retard!
i don't really have the time to read BS's latest doom glom. i'm way too busy in the wilderness of SOCO trying to survive off the grid with a group of other people. having been doing this for years i can only tell you it's no picnic after a walk in the park. after skimming over the salient features of the article, i can tell you from experience that he's got the basic feature nailed down, probably from personal experience. he's a close combat specialist and gun expert (apparently). i can also tell you it might possibly be a little too late to start trying to arrange the multifarious and complex network of prepper "survivalism" he suggests unless you have already established experience and a real sound foundation in literally living off the land. it's a very intense, arduous, daily and demanding struggle. just had to treat a deep puncture wound that turned into a severe infection with goldenseal poultice, hot salty water immersions and an array of homeopathic remedies. ll this while trying to deal with a herd of fifty goats and sheep while keeping a garden going.wah.wah. it's a lot better ha.ha. good luck. gotta go, it's time to build that chicken coop. :>)
Yardfarmer
"i don't really have the time to read BS's latest doom glom. i'm way too busy in the wilderness of SOCO trying to survive off the grid with a group of other people."
And yet you post here. Kind of contradictory.
I mean we all know the reason to be off the grid is to limit TPTB's ability to find you.
Yet here you are sharing info at a site which most likely is monitored and everyones information tracked within nanoseconds.
Resident troll discourages another poster.
You can confirm another clean kill with the boys at SPLC. High-5s all around
Do you do it for pay or does it come from within?
One can never be too careful with preparations. Think of the guy that knew enough at the start of WWII to get a 100 lb. bag of sugar to put in his attic. Unfortunately he broke his leg in the attic tripping over the 100 lb. bag of sugar his Dad put there at the start of WWI.
This is the best all around source of prepper/survival info I've found. Very well-grounded and practical. No fear mongering:
The Survival Podcast
http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/
the title of this thread is ominously pessimistic; it means we are in beseiged empire mode; all is lost!
What an epitaph for western civilization !
Endgame 2012: A Survival Guide:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQQqYb4CIEE&feature=youtu.be
brandon,
i agree with everything you've written; and while it's what is best for most, janus decided to fight. some of us will have to.
i came to make war with a system that is suffocating human potential for the benefit of those who are intimdated by the same.
i know you fear us and well should you, tbtf.
tbtf,
i've met you. i'm smarter than you. i'm better looking than you. i'm stronger than you. i'm more charismatic than you could ever hope to be (and far more so than your lil shills whom you from a young age groom). in short, i am your better.
every institution in this fair land is corrupt to the core -- finance is only part of the problem, but it's far and away the biggest. and i'm not going to indulge my dreams of quaint, pastoral living anymore.
i will smash you with a rod of iron, and then i will return to the countryside.
in the mean time, this is gonna be some kinda fun!
smashin shit rocks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PywI0BOxJpI&feature=related
janus
janus! haven't seen you in a while. I like how you refer to yourself in the 3rd person.
thanks, mi ami. i like it too; when you're a demi-god you get to do things like that...there is a downside to it, though.
anyway, great to see you.
Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions! good shit!
a lot of words but not really saying much.