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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…
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THe following article is account by a Serbian who survived a year with his city under siege without any utilities and constant sniper fire. Wanna know what to really prep for and what to expect. It's worse than you can imagine and his insights will surprise you.
http://www.tacticalintelligence.net/blog/shtf-survival-qa-a-first-hand-account.htm
Be sure and read the Q/A as he does a great job of answering the questions.
That was excellent. Thanks for posting.
Makes a nice complement to Ferfal's accounts of Agentina post-collapse.
Fuck 'Ferfal' - who, btw lives in Ireland now.
He's so full of shit. I spent time in AR since the first currency crisis/collapse, and t's nothing like he makes it out to be. Buenos Aries is just another giant city. I spent time there and never felt any more in danger than I do in Chicago on any given day. They have really excellent food too. The people are really nice. Sure, there are places to avoid if possible. But, that's no different from any place here in the states.
He is a Bosnian..not a Serb.
(by Serb forces)
One word: Survivalblog.com
Moronic. Suicidal. Terminal. The best survival tactic is to hunker down in your own gunned-up suburban neighborhood of mean bastards. The US deep south abounds with such blessings.
This "advice" makes some serious presuppositions. Generally speaking, people nowadays tend not to know their neighbors 2 doors down let alone being able trust them with the security of loved ones and stuff when the fight for food and security is on everyone's mind. Shit, they fight and pepper spray each other over $200 flatscreens and $3 dollar griddles.
And gunned up neighborhoods and hunkering down with with those in them, really. Not even close to realistic, especially in the city. Such broad stroke one plan fits all mentality gets people killed quickly. You cannot apply (and expect to survive) a single dimensional "plan" like that to all people, in all places.
Check out Welch, West Virginia. "Dirt Cheap" land on mountainsides, one way in....one way out, and populated by the most God-fearing, patriotic Americans you could ever hope to meet. Believe me, these folks don't play. If you're a friend and neighbor, you're welcome. If you're up to no good, you may just up and disappear.
You sound like a brochure for Deliverance.
5 Star Post Mayhem. lmao
My kind of place.
My grandfather was shot at, together with several others, by a German Stuka, while walking to another village. 3 people dead, and a few horses. 50 years later, he still scraped the last potatoe crumbs out of his plate with his fork. And he looked very satisfied after doing that.
We don't know about poverty, war, survival.
debtor of last ...
My Grandmother was captured bu the Nazi's in the Ukraine. She told them she had to pee and escaped through the bushes.
She left my 9 year old father in charge of the cow and his 7 year old brother.
They hid in the woods and watched as the Nazis offered feedom to anyone who gave themselves up.
Then they saw the rivers of blood from the betrayal.
My father robbed corpses, along with everyone else.
My Grandmother also helped refugges to escape.
Oddly enough none of that made him a betterperson.
It's hard to become human again after such misery. Let's hope evolution did a good job the last decades.
what happened to the cow its the only innocent character in the story.
The cow went with the potatoes.
Everybody ate the cow.
a trusted source for the highest quality of non-gmo/non-hybrid garden seed for a only a few $ a pack and even better, its packaged for long-term storage:
http://www.humbleseed.com/
gonna be worth more than gold very soon given the state of things.
Thanks....going there now. I have used other good seed co's, but I like the packaging concept.
Buy a yacht! It's a buyers market like there never has been one...A nice sized cruiser (over 40 ft) can easily be had for on/under $100K, you have complete mobility. No property taxes bitchez!!
Pirates!
so the bartender asks the pirate that strolls in to his bar, why do you have the ships wheel hanging out of your pants. Pirate says "yarrrrgggghhh, it's driving me nuts!".........
If every prepper takes down twenty enterprising zombies as they expand out from the cities, (the ones that make it out), then the problem further out will be much less. Just make sure that you burn your preps, if it looks like you are going to be overwhelmed. Scorched Earth for the Unprepared is one way for preppers to prevail. Preppers will have "to hang together or hang separately", (whether they live close by or far away from each other).
my thoughts are that armed prepers may soon be overun by literally hordes-but worse=OTHER armed prepers who finally ran out of food, etc where overrun etc; A group of 5 armed preppers will never hold up against thousands who NOW HAVE A CLUE as to where they are-and even stronger armed preppers may look at your armed camp as thier new supply depot-when things get bad dog eat dog
The hurricane in New Orleans and Houston, L.A. riots, major earth quakes, and the Civil War are a couple of incidents that come to mind in thinking about civil unrest and breakdown of utilities and food supply.
Getting out of Dodge is some thing to consider for storms and large fires. I ran into the fire situation last summer and realized I was not ready. I did have full fuel tanks in the car and truck. I did not have food and water in either one. I did get the dogs into the car and picked up a few things that could not be replaced. I did not have a plan and that cost time and lack of efficient action. The fire was contained before it got here.
I did make out a plan and posted it for reference. I did make a bug out bag with financial stuff (check books, emergency cash), 9mm, meds, battery radio, Emergency Weather Alert Radio, spare cellphone with extra batteries and car charger and 110 charger. Water is in the car and truck with a few cans of dog food and ready to eat packs. I always carry a first aid kit.
Friends from Galveston escaped to our place when the hurricane hit a couple of years back and said that there were power down situation along the way where gas stations could not pump gas and the credit card system was down. Fortunately they had a wad of singles, $5, and $10 bills. He also had extra fuel that he bought when he saw the storm coming in.
You bring up a good point. The hurricane in New Orleans shows that cities will erupt into total chaos in a matter of days. Your bugout does not need to necessarily be real long term. Huge populations will be wiped out in a couple weeks in the cities. There will be plenty of resources to recover after the major fallout.
"The hurricane in New Orleans" - this, remember this.
The FSA didn't even make it out of the city limits; they were only looking for a goobermint handout. And that's going to be no different in the event of an economic collapse - the "folks in charge" are going to be so busy trying to retain power and control they'll promise everything and deliver nothing, thereby keeping the FSA corralled in place until far after they will be able to successfully escape.
I have a "farmette" about 55 miles from the nearest city; there are millions of suburbs between us and the city freeloaders. The suburbs are a first, 2nd, 3rd and beyond line of defense before they ever reach my area. As one guy said above, I'm more worried about the needy neighbor than the FSA. Hence, a big part of my preps are extra seeds and a bunch of extra food to share with those neighbors who can reciprocate in some way. That will be worth as much as guns-and-ammo, in the final tally.
Some of you dumbasses would be better off in a FEMA camp, not kidding. At least there you'd be fed, clothed and safe (relatively), as military defenses are hard to overrun. Anyone hiding out in the wild will get "discovered" sooner or later.
Tell that to the Afgans.
aquaculture is very interesting. Growing hardy tilapia and vegetables in a system. the veggies filter the fish water and grab the nutrients. Tilapia can be fed duckweed which is fairly easy to grow. the system is powered by a low draw pump run by solar panel/battery setup.
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. -- Brandon Smith
The American Dream has been anything but an illusion; its truth built the greatest economic power in the history of the world. The benefits of this system that have since Woodrwo Wilson been diverted to a welfare state philosophy for the upper crust and given in part to the lower crust for their political support are not the result of fakery, but were produced by real people creating real wealth.
Just because it was stolen is no reason that it should be termed illusory.
Woodhead Wilson and F(uckitup DR) - 2 of the worst!!!
Don't forget to add emperor Lincoln.
. . . but it was always going to be transitory.
Stand up and salute the flag... What a bunch of superficial tripe! (reeks of fucking nationalism)
The US excelled because it was a land FULL of a ton of exploitable resources*. The base was built on the backs of dead natives and slaves.
* Go ahead and map it. The decline epoch hit with two major, simultaneous occurrences: peak US oil production and the dumping of the (last vestiges of the) gold standard.
It was ALL built upon the GROWTH Ponzi. Wilson or whatever boogeyman you which to conjure up is shallow, the path of perpetual growth only leads to one place, exactly where we find ourselves today: yeah, maybe with other "approaches" (leaders or whatever you'd like to substitute here) the scenery along the way would look different, but the destination was always here.
Thanks for playing!
*applause*
albeit late to the thread - still, great perspective to know ^^
Most of us will have to survive in place. Only the rich and shameless can afford a bugout location in this economy. Don't forget when TSHTF commodities will be scarce or non-existent, especially fuel. Here are some sites for the late preppers: http://www.shtfplan.com http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?9-Timebomb2000
hmmmm- got a place in the mountains, buddy is a blacksmith and my friends are bow hunting fools, other neighbor a deputy sherriff, hunts my land for a dollar a year, year round stream, 15 milies from the county seat (pop 6000) four straight up seasons (which freezes out the vagrants) Nice and steep except for a nice flat piece for a fat garden by the creek. 4000 Acre preserve is 400 yards away. Oh, and my family has roots there back to 1838. Didn't know I had the perfect place until this scary article came along, and to think I tried to sell it six years ago....
What's your address? I'll be right over....I'm an awesome cook!
It is better to die free and fighting than to meekly and weakly submit to whatever fate or FEMA has in store for us.
Life is about buying time. And in a crisis of long duration the cost goes up to buy more time in order to eke out a few more moments of consciousness and purpose.
Make each bullet count. And don't spread your pearls before swine. Charity begins at home among friends and fellow preppers.
I've got a battery operated Keurig and 500,000 "K" cups of coffee. Bring it on motherfuckers!
LOL!!!
I wonder if the Chairsatan prefers the "Dark Magic" blend?
This is my favorite blend, but I kind of cringe when I see the name and think of the Bernank...
+500,000
Left fielder: HAARP-Nuke attack to "save" the world.
the Unabmober had it down until his brother ratted on him
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2011&version=KJV
Funny thing about the gains derived from (Greenspan Summers Brooksley Born Aborted) Chairsatan's Homosexual Golden Calf Black Hole Desert (40 years, lol) Market Wilderness of Pain, they do not provide an escape for this prophetic 2012 Q Infinity, and a bit beyond, generation, (on the other side of the gains) ...although there are signs of tiny respite (''vapor''. lol, of time) miracles, like; an earthquake that shuts down the Egyptian Obelisk in Washington, the District of the Colombia Goddess, http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Illuminati/dc.htm after an ''open for business, time to get screw'd more perfectly(LMAO), debt ceiling/''sealing'' speech, without at least the quake having killed anyone. LMAO, those days are gone forever.
...and now a song from the Pixies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2WmY6grohE
It is better to stand naked with an empty belly in the furnace and ''not'' be marked behind the sealed door of Babylon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QghwNqlCRE
Living in a van, down by the river, lol, looks pretty good. Three years worth of MRE's would also be nice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0vZGE-HMrQ {price of divorce(deep capture,lol) http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-02-02/news/31019178_1_passport-fees-passport-book-application-fee from the Colombia Goddess is $450 of Pimp Fiat Federal Reserve Debt Notes, which represent the (black hole) mark of the (Chairsatan's Bitch with the chains http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6Ae0k27LT4&feature=related ) whore ''beast'' of Babylon in the mirror still cooking behind the counter for negative return zombie head cheese http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ksBBTZii0U&feature=related made from children of the grave} http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUNYSWRDNuc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-tz6uTZ-Pw <---Greek man on fire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObUb2WNFtuQ <----Greek man suicide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Zvl9N9GdraQ <----and Greek Man of the Woods
My prepping is bacon on a string. Lure the fat juicy ones within shot distance and its BBQ long pig sandwiches.
Why mess with hunting or livestock when meat on the hoof will be plentiful.
The young cute ones will be put to work in the garden.
http://www.theliberaloc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/motel+hell+2.jpg
enjoy the disease
toxic ass-et.
the cannibal / slave method - has a lot of history behind it. . . apparently not much evolution required.
After a collapse there will be lots of vacation cottages and hones the owners never make it to.
This survivalist stuff doesnt make sense.....How would anyone survive in their 'bunker' more than a month or two even with their rifles and shotguns, when (according to some apocalyptic scenarios) there would be 299 million other folks roaming around looking for food and water....
It would help to read the article before commenting on it.
You're right - I was commenting on the idea in general i/o the ideas in this particular article.
.
Simple math. If you have two weeks of water and food as a bare minimum you will outlast those who don't. It doesn't take long to die from dehydration and dysentery. Nasty and brutal, but relatively quick.
But your comment overall is what doesn't make sense. Just because the entire country finds itself searching for bare necessities does not mean one should make no plans at all and give up. Exactly the opposite, the gravity of such a scenario should compel people to plan for the future and have some common sense stockpiles. And it does. Sorry you won't be among those with a slight chance of survival.
I agree.
If the preppers think that their neighbors, all ten thousand of them, are going to go without food and drink while just a house away is enough to feed them and their family, they've dearly miscalculated. Even with ample supply of guns/ammo, if civil unrest requires marshall law, the cops will come for the weapons you have, leaving you without a way to defend yourself (as in Katrina).
It sounded good but by taking the low road (sitting back and watching the train wreck unfold from the safety and comfort of your home), Americans missed the chance to stop this from occurring.
1. If you think I'm going to give up my family's food and drink just because you failed to make your own preparations, you've dearly miscalculated.
2. There aren't enough members of the alphabet soup agencies to disarm the American people. Even if they tried, a week of supply chain interruption coupled with the preppers actually fighting back would take all the fight out of law enforcement.
3. It's "martial" law.
Why the hell would you admit that martial law and doomsday is coming while simultaneously deriding the idea of preparing for such an event? I know why: because you, like the person you're responding to, have not lifted a finger to prepare yourself and you want to make yourself feel better. Your loss.
That is why you pick your location carefully, just like the author said. It would be very wise of you to see which of your neighbors has access to bath salts.
"there would be 299 million other folks roaming around looking for food and water...."
Well, that's pretty US-centric!
It's like this, too many people watch movies. The REALITY, what history shows, is that the overwhelming majority of meandering masses end up dying along the travel route.
There's this cartoon which shows a fellow at the Pearly Gates, he's proclaiming that he's only ever had ONE accident! It doesn't take 299 million people to kill you, just one. Personally I'm not going to lose sleep over it- and, one HAS to sleep; as my wife says, when it's your turn to go, it's your turn! Best strategy (and I spent years engaged with folks talking about these things) is to plan to SHARE with others; a (potential) guard dog won't protect you if you beat it, but if you feed it... Catching more flies with honey, etc. etc..
Oh, and in the Wild Wild West of the USofA it was more often the case that the women protected themselves- men, you see, tend to write the stories, and it's always about being macho, about being the "hero" (and hero/macho tends toward the emotional, which, gets you dead).
Who knows what's in store.One thing you can do esp as a newbie prepper,gun toter, is on your routine travels always get used to carrying a sidearm.Why wait till it happens.Practice,always run senerios to yourself while your out and about.What good is a firearm if your waiting for a certain time,the time is everytime,everyminute and second.
A very good article on the worst case scenario prep. Been there, done a lot of that as a "back to the lander" in the '70's in southern BC. I'm expecting a chaotic period of shortages and distribution problems as society adjusts. Large urban areas will be a mess. And I expect a big increase in two legged predators. But we have a massive infrastructure in place that's not going anywhere. Farm equipment will get fuel, town water pumps will get power. Mad Max in some places but mostly the hard times of the Great Depression. For that I will be adding to my stash of silver, ammo, and basic supplies. I live in a small city surrounded by wheat, cattle, cotton, some oak forests and soldiers, active and retired. I won't be bugging out. The biggest threat may come from power hungry politicians. We have to stand by the Constitution and a free market and defeat those who want to exploit crisis to impose totalitarian control. Equal protection of the law and no tolerance of fraud and corruption.
So much to do...and so little time.
Really hate the this word "preppers" it kind of ruins one of my favorite words - Peppers.
BTW: this article sucks and is written by an obvous newbie to DOOM.
Time is on the prepper's side, regardless of the numbers of unprepared. Skills are not as easily acquired as supplies, (say through looting). The attrition rate for the unprepared will be astronomical. In a true SHTF situation most will last only days to a couple of weeks, (before lack of water or dysentery strikes them down). Remember that there were far more casualties in the Civil War and in World War I caused by disease than by bullets and bombs.
It is easy to see from the comments those who have not thought through all of the permutations of societal collapse on steroids.
Prepping, (deep survival skills), only give one a bare chance of surviving. That is the most that can be had. Luck will winnow the preppers, but I wager that preppers will far outnumber the unprepared, (unless they are taken in by preppers for specific skills that they can provide).
No doubt. +1
My Son says not to worry. I believe him. Although, I guess if things got really bad the family would chose one members house and pool all of our resources together. We would have three generations of the family in one home which used to work in the old days.
The Men could hunt, the women could make the bread, garden and preserve the food.
I have a lot of confidence in the survival skills of my Son and Son in Law. We as a family will find a way. That is what family is for.
Although, I think my Son is right, in that it will never come to that in the US.
You started the thought experiment but didn't continue it.
What will the men hunt with? Do they have stockpiled ammunition? Gunsmithing skills? Can they craft a reliable bow? Do they have fishing skills? Trapping skills?
What will you bake with? How will you turn grain into flour? Do you have a stockpile of a rising agent? Salt? Sugar? Oil? Dairy products?
What will you bake in? Can you trap and control heat for an effective period of time to bake bread?
How will you eat during a harsh winter? Do you have a root cellar or dried foods? Can you dehydrate food yourself?
Do you have medical supplies? A minor scratch can kill you if you don't even have peroxide. A deep wound is a death sentence without antibiotics and sterile gauze. Do you have bars of soap and a way to bathe yourself?
And this is only scratching the surface of bare necessities to help you last a couple months at most.
Let your mind wander, and don't listen to your son. It may save both of your lives.
Oh dear, I have trouble heating up microwave dinners (:-
My Son and Son in Law have all of the skills they need.
You forget that necessity is the breader of invention. There are so many ways to survive if you need to.
For example you could use a mirror and the suns rays during the day to cook with. Or, for that matter a small outside stove made from bricks or stones and heated with wood. You could use a sharpened stick to hunt with. Or a bow made from a flexible stick and some string with again a sharpened stick. With flour and water you can make crackers or unleven bread. A fishing pole could be made with a stick some string and a paper clip for a hook. There are an abundance of edible wild greens like Dandelions and their leaves or violet flowers and leaves. You can make a bird trap with a box, string and a stick. If you had to you could even eat worms. Not that you would want to but they do have a lot of protein. Or the worms could be used a fish bait.
I do keep some extra antibiotics and have peroxide, alcohol. As far as bathing, most can hand wash with a very little amount of soap and water. In the old days they did not bath for months. You could also hook up a water bottle in the sun to warm it to shower if you had sufficient water.
Plus, how do you think they cooked in the old days? They had a metal box with burning fire wood underneath it. Ever heard of putting a piece of meat on a stick over the fire to cook it? You could probably even put the bread dough in a covered pan over failrly high over the flame. I am sure you could make corn bread that way. If not baked bread you could make pancakes over the flame. You could render the animals fat that you kill for oil.
In the type of meltdown situation no one would live like they use to. Things like a daily shower would be a luxury. Eating high quality food would be a memory.
Plus, most of us have a house full of resources. electric cords, string, knives, duct tape, tools, etc.
If things get as bad as they can get.........fucking forget it. What.......a gazillion other motherfuckers aren't going to the mystical forest either? And who's gonna stop them? You and ten others?
I already live in the country and have most of that stuff but that was just a bringing up, not a run from the world type of thing. I'm making my stand right here. If I get wiped out.......you'll be getting wiped out also. That's just how it is.
Sooner or later the starving dumbfucks in town will equate burgers to cows(some of them might think horse but you get the idea) and then realize cows are food.
You're 500 acres and amish lifestyle will work fine. Up to a certain point. A few nukes flying around, no fucking money, millions of starving.......better make sure that little slice of heaven is on another planet.
Ah, you people are full of shit. There will be plenty of food walking the streets. Me... I plan to stick around and go total Colonel Kurtz.
Yes?
THE FIRST RULE OF FIGHT CLUB IS…
YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB.
Doomsday prepper sentenced to 21 months.
http://www.shtfplan.com/emergency-preparedness/doomsday-prepper-sentenced-to-21-months-in-prison-for-stockpiling-destructive-devices-after-insider-rats-him-out_05302012
Mr. Dutton, a military veteran, has been preparing for the economic collapse of the world. In addition to gathering a large supply of non-perishable items, he also has a modest collection of firearms and ammunition. And he makes fireworks.
Wow you know the US has really gone to crap when he's done...nothing...and a vet as well.
Did he hard anyone? NO.
Did he steal any propert? NO.
Im so glad the MSM laughs at China and Russia for their lack of 'freedom'?
Does anyone in government even know what that word means anymore?
Yes they do!
Freedom means that you are free to do what they say, exactly how they say and when they tell you to do it.
You are of course free to ask permission to do some other things but must wait for the permit, after you submit your request in writing. They ask your patience due to the backlog and promise to respond within the two year decision period. You are reminded that there are severe penalties for acting without permission.
Normal fees will apply with additional charges for handling. You will be fined or imprisoned if the committee judges the request politically incorrect or the content is deemed counter revolutionary.
I bugged out after Kent State. I'm livin' the dream now.
I'm staying for the zombie hunt.
The Dutch plan to leave for Mars in 2023.
Dooms day in Florida.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/ashley-holton-masturbating-florida-highway_n_1557587.html
Ashley Holton Accused Of Masturbating On Florida Highway
"...who the report said may have been under the influence of alcohol..."
You don't say, Inspector Clouseau!
The biggest prepper of all is the US government.
They are even prepping the legal backstops for their upcoming expected extra-Constitutional measures with things like: NDAA, EO expansion of Martial Law, 30K domestic drones, FEMA camps, the NSA omniscient cybermonster, internet counter-blogging, Internet control, TSA roadstops, multi-state VIPR drills, prepping for 'preppers' by asking Morman survival food outfits for records, and the constant MSM propaganda that "all is well".
If the economy is fine, why is Govco prepping for a police state? It's not what one typically expects to see in a recovery.
Think about this one:
Svalbard Global Seed Vaulthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault
Anyone know whether any of Bill Gates' investments are with companies doing GMOs?
.
http://naturalsociety.com/bill-gates-foundation-buys-500000-shares-of-mo...
aye, Bill's "Foundation" is all about death. . .
They can pass all the stupid laws they want doesn't mean they'll ever be able to enforce them if shit flys apart. That's why I keep hoping sooner than later. The more time the gov't has to prepare the worse off we're going to be.
Very first thing you do is harden your hands.
Get enough land so there room for live in help who can both grow crops and stop bullets.
I spent 30 years in the fire service... learned many little tidbits of wisdom along the way; two in particular will apply here. 1. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. 2. Better to have it(doesn't really matter what it is here) and not need it than to need it and not have it.
Water & food. PM= silver & lead. Basic tools. Surround yourself with people you can trust your life with( you may have to do just that).
Only been prepping a few years and I thought for at least a year+ that I was out of my mind to be doing so.... I don't think that way any longer given the situation.
A thot 4 those of u that grow ur own food. A dehydrator is a good investment. Dry ur excess produce for great vitamin packed soups. Easy to store & you know what ur eating.
I'll look to pass this along to the Inuit...
We have a joke where I live in the NC Mtns...no way in h*ll would any mobs would ever reach us from the metro areas that are 80-90 miles away...they would be ded meet well before they had a chance to get that far. i'll take my chances here in a small (1,500) commumity with tons of mean ass hillbillies and surrounding wealth (Wayne Huizenga, CEO of autotrader.com, Ken Lewis, and 500+ similarily endowed others) to give at least a sense of security.
@2485766:
Forget South Africa, the crime capital of the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=155B016fDl8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onSPdJwJJh4
Okay, I'm pretty sure that the majority of us who are going to stay relevant post-eotwawki are going to get through it. So, shouldn't we really be talking about what we do afterwards?
I mean, without soylent green and slavery.
Finding the "perfect retreat" as the clock nears "midnight" is a real challenge. My advice to those without already having their "retreat" is the find a gated lake development that is having fire sales on their lots and grab one.
I live in the US Eastern mountains and am buying a 1 acre lot next week for $3000. It is 45 minutes from my house, with close access to 3 lakes. Of course it has "restrictions" on what you can build to live in, but who is going to enforce that when collapse is underway. 10% of the lots are built on, but not lived in and owned by folks living hundreds of miles away.
Someone may have already said this, but residing in or near National Parks should be avoided as they may become FEMA camps or otherwise base camps for government agency operations.
What about nuclear power plants? We have over 160 of them, and if they are not maintained by people every single day there will be total meltdowns. Maybe someone mentioned this. But if there is a prolonged collapse of society as we know it, and nuclear power plant workers do not show up for work, either because they can’t get there, or because they bug out as well, it doesn’t matter what your plans are or where you go in America, we’re all done. You can be the greatest prepper in the world, and it will mean squat! If a nuclear power plant goes 2 weeks without grid power, they will no longer be able to cool the spent fuel rods, and or the reactor itself. 160 nuclear power plants going into meltdown with very few if any people trying to contain them would be like 160 Fukushima’s within the continental United States. The entire country would be a no go zone. You could be safely at your retreat with no humans bothering you, living fine, and you will not even know you are being poisoned to death. You may have to watch as you and your loved ones slowly die of radiation poisoning. Or you may develop cancer within a year or two with no way to treat it. If the system collapses for more than a few weeks, if there is total collapse in this country, there will be nothing ANY Prepper can do to survive. All the best laid plans mean nothing if those reactors are not maintained. There will be nowhere to hid form that. So preparing for the end of the world is really useless, unless you can find a place where there will be no fallout, but most if not the whole country will be contaminated for hundreds if not thousands of years. Good luck planning for that.
Spot on.. the midwest will be the safest in the US.
http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactor/
No where is safe. Only the lucky and hardcore prepared will survive. Everything is too interconnected, too interdependent.
Emigrating to another country in the middle of financial and social chaos doesn't seem to be such a wise idea. After all, would you really understand the laws and the location of basic supplies in a foreign country?
At least you know where to find things in your current home country. It's probably better to hunker down where you currently live and stock up on supplies.
It's usually safest under the belly of the dragon.
It's really all about one thing. Overcoming our personal isolationism and embracing some form of community, i.e. learning that "giving" is far superior than "taking". For those who understand and are experiencing this mechanic, whose Ego's can or have become subservient to the greater good of the whole (The Self), this Phase Transition that we are all about to navigate through, will have minimum challenges. Those who choose to always think of themselves first, who feel entitled "Look at me, I am special", will be gnashing their teeth when the End comes.
Of course, without a Spiritual base, i.e. a connection to the field of all possibilites, this concept will fall prey to the likes of the various social "isms" pesently corrupting/programming the masses. One must first be grounded (Established) in the Self, which, automatically and naturally, provides one with infinite options, available at all times, do deal fearlessly with whatever comes up. Under these (quite normal) conditions, one is truly able to "go with the flow"; feel the support of Nature at every moment, and "magically" avert any danger that has yet to begin.
When one breaks it down to it's essential nature, one realizes the ONLY enemy is our Ego/small self (the Zombie inside), with its insatiable need for having more material objects which creates the illusion of having some buffer between oneself and the crazy world "out there".
"Heading for the hills" is an illusion. Best to head Inward and the Universe will be yours.
You should also realize you can't do everything yourself, and your community of preppers will need to specialize and barter. The community will be stronger for being interdependent. That has the essence of human success for thousands of years, if not longer.
"loan wolf" : nice freudian slip
thanks for the article.
got start workin on that timebank...
A page on how to perpare for the Zombie Apocalypse by my local provincial government. LOL.
Like they have a F*$king clue.
http://www.emergencyinfobc.gov.bc.ca/zombie-preparedness-week-are-you-ready.html
Based on the criteria above .... move to Canada .... Fast
George ... The Greek .... From Canada