Do you have a plan for when TeH SHTF?

[DirtDawg]

Let us be a little nervous for a moment, without going completely psycho.

Shit Hitting The Fan may have more meaning to those of us who have a lot to lose, but I understand if you have already met this horror in your own life. You are doing what we ALL NEED to learn to do.

If that is so, then your surviving proves that you can offer us couch sitters a lot to think about.

If not, then let us all discuss how we will deal with the possibility that things could go wrong for this comfy little world we treasure so much.

I think in terms of what happened in New Orleans when Katrina hit, or when the massive earth quake hit Japan a few years ago or that historic tsunami all over SE Asia. People killed for food and dry land.

Shit Hit The Fan!  To say the least! 

Even in LA in the late 80s,  a massive earthquake that hobbled that entire "well prepared" city, created a situation where people starved and killed each other for water.

DO you have a plan? Or are you so complacent that you think it could never happen to you or yours?


Do you have a plan?  Are you prepared to live for a couple of weeks with NO resources from your government, No electricity, No gas, No heat, No phone service, No ambulances, No police and No other outside help you might expect or NEED in order to just survive?

Are you prepared to defend yourself, your family and your resources from your neighbors if they become dodgy and decide to take yours?

Has any one else thought this through?

I have a few ideas.

I would love to hear yours!

[Pyraxis]

WolFish and I both have bug-out bags, already-packed backpacks that we could grab in a minute and have basic supplies. Meal bars, water bottles, bug nets, knives, multitools, a combination trowel/small saw, metal camping bowl for boiling water, matches and firestarters, bug spray, sunscreen, small first aid kit and a playing-card-sized deck with information about local plants and herbs on each card.

We tend to keep lots of canned food and non-perishables in the house, and I think we could easily get by for two weeks. We have a few gallon jugs of water but could probably stand to have more. There's a small porch bbq grill and a bag of coal.

We don't have guns but we have a machete and a big hunting knife. Probably couldn't defend the place against a group, too many windows (though we have the supplies to board them up) and, well, no guns. We'd probably be better off to hook up with the guys from my arnis group who have plenty of firepower.

[DirtDawg]

WolFish and I both have bug-out bags, already-packed backpacks that we could grab in a minute and have basic supplies. Meal bars, water bottles, bug nets, knives, multitools, a combination trowel/small saw, metal camping bowl for boiling water, matches and firestarters, bug spray, sunscreen, small first aid kit and a playing-card-sized deck with information about local plants and herbs on each card.

We tend to keep lots of canned food and non-perishables in the house, and I think we could easily get by for two weeks. We have a few gallon jugs of water but could probably stand to have more. There's a small porch bbq grill and a bag of coal.

We don't have guns but we have a machete and a big hunting knife. Probably couldn't defend the place against a group, too many windows (though we have the supplies to board them up) and, well, no guns. We'd probably be better off to hook up with the guys from my arnis group who have plenty of firepower.

Not sure why this went out twice, but ,  please read on.

I think this is important to me and all of us.

DO not place me among the tin foil hat bunch, but "things" are becoming stretched more and more, as you already know.

[DirtDawg]

It sounds like you understand the idea.
I am also thinking in terms of basic first aid (depending upon how basic, this one can be large, including stockpiling various antibiotics, even some controlled substances), enough water to serve yourselves for a couple or a few weeks, dry goods and canned goods which can last for months or even years.

What about salt, sugar, spices to make life worth continuing? I have just come to this. What if there is no salt? Yeah, we could all do with less sugar, but do we want to? Salt, especially "complete salt" including all the minerals of the sea can make a great difference in how we live.

Remember Ghandi. They took away his salt and he created the start of a revolution by sitting to watch evaporating sea water to make his "forbidden" salt. He felt that taxing salt was wrong and he was right.

But, I have digressed.

Back to your knives. Do you know how to fight someone off with them? Have you ever had any training that might lead you to imagine for a moment that your knives are enough to defend your lives and property from a single person determined to take your well being and all your assets from you to protect HIS OWN family?
Even those who have guns; can you honestly expect to defend your family and your food stores from invaders with your puny little weapon?

SO, you can stand there and shoot a paper target, but how about one that shoots back, then moves and shoots again, never allowing you a single glimpse of him let alone a shot at him. HOW do you fight back with your puny little skills using a target gun??
Well, you need to know how to FIGHT with a gun, instead of just standing and shooting at a static target.

My main point is, have we learned how to fight to save ourselves or have we only learned how to present a new weapon to an attacker after they take it from us and turn it against us?

[Icequeen]

It sounds like you understand the idea.
I am also thinking in terms of basic first aid (depending upon how basic, this one can be large, including stockpiling various antibiotics, even some controlled substances), enough water to serve yourselves for a couple or a few weeks, dry goods and canned goods which can last for months or even years.

What about salt, sugar, spices to make life worth continuing? I have just come to this. What if there is no salt? Yeah, we could all do with less sugar, but do we want to? Salt, especially "complete salt" including all the minerals of the sea can make a great difference in how we live.

Remember Ghandi. They took away his salt and he created the start of a revolution by sitting to watch evaporating sea water to make his "forbidden" salt. He felt that taxing salt was wrong and he was right.

But, I have digressed.

Back to your knives. Do you know how to fight someone off with them? Have you ever had any training that might lead you to imagine for a moment that your knives are enough to defend your lives and property from a single person determined to take your well being and all your assets from you to protect HIS OWN family?
Even those who have guns; can you honestly expect to defend your family and your food stores from invaders with your puny little weapon?

My main point is, have we learned how to fight to save ourselves or have we only learned how to present a new weapon to an attacker after they take it from us and turn it against us?

Supplemented with some good old well placed traps...yes. Not that puny here.

Kerosene heaters, back up supply of fuel.
Canned goods and essentials stocked.
Blankets, candles, bottled water, oil lamps...4 wheel drive, bug out trailer in the woods with well water hidden from the main road.
Plenty of critters to hunt if need be, lots of stuff growing wild that I grew up hunting/eating...gas grills, charcoal grills, firewood....
Weapons and ammo aplenty.

Moonshine...(for medicinal needs).

We're hillbillies, hillbillies always have a back up plan.

[DirtDawg]

It sounds like you understand the idea.
I am also thinking in terms of basic first aid (depending upon how basic, this one can be large, including stockpiling various antibiotics, even some controlled substances), enough water to serve yourselves for a couple or a few weeks, dry goods and canned goods which can last for months or even years.

What about salt, sugar, spices to make life worth continuing? I have just come to this. What if there is no salt? Yeah, we could all do with less sugar, but do we want to? Salt, especially "complete salt" including all the minerals of the sea can make a great difference in how we live.

Remember Ghandi. They took away his salt and he created the start of a revolution by sitting to watch evaporating sea water to make his "forbidden" salt. He felt that taxing salt was wrong and he was right.

But, I have digressed.

Back to your knives. Do you know how to fight someone off with them? Have you ever had any training that might lead you to imagine for a moment that your knives are enough to defend your lives and property from a single person determined to take your well being and all your assets from you to protect HIS OWN family?
Even those who have guns; can you honestly expect to defend your family and your food stores from invaders with your puny little weapon?

My main point is, have we learned how to fight to save ourselves or have we only learned how to present a new weapon to an attacker after they take it from us and turn it against us?

Supplemented with some good old well placed traps...yes. Not that puny here.

Kerosene heaters, back up supply of fuel.
Canned goods and essentials stocked.
Blankets, candles, bottled water, oil lamps...4 wheel drive, bug out trailer in the woods with well water hidden from the main road.
Plenty of critters to hunt if need be, lots of stuff growing wild that I grew up hunting/eating...gas grills, charcoal grills, firewood....
Weapons and ammo aplenty.

Moonshine...(for medicinal needs).

We're hillbillies, hillbillies always have a back up plan.

DAMN good start!!

I want you on MY side, if possible!

Interesting point of order about survival shit is that I think most people choose "friends" based upon how much shit they have stored.
More importantly to the end result, is to choose "friends" based upon their character and how they have lived their lives. Difficult to call in an instant, once SHTF, but having a basis of local "good people" you know of might become critical, some day.




I know this seems to scream in the face of everything I have spent my life doing (eliminating people from my life), but some people are harmless, I have learned.  AND, some people have value.

Hard to discount them all considering that the chips could be down for all at some point!

[Calandale]

Unless it's zombies, no.


If it is, I plan on commanding my undead minions.

[DirtDawg]

Unless it's zombies, no.


If it is, I plan on commanding my undead minions.

I would expect no less.

Where you been, goof ball?

[Queen Victoria]

Based on our ages (72 and 65) and the PR's handicaps I don't envision being able to survive anything catastrophic.  I'll leave it to the more deserving members of humanity.

["couldbecousin"]

Based on our ages (72 and 65) and the PR's handicaps I don't envision being able to survive anything catastrophic.  I'll leave it to the more deserving members of humanity.

  You three may be less hardy, but you are no less deserving. 

[Pyraxis]

I am also thinking in terms of basic first aid (depending upon how basic, this one can be large, including stockpiling various antibiotics, even some controlled substances), enough water to serve yourselves for a couple or a few weeks, dry goods and canned goods which can last for months or even years.

WolFish stockpiles his meds anyway. On that count, the prospect of losing the ability to afford them isn't that horribly different from a disaster scenario. We don't have antibiotics though; how would you get them, considering that it's not a good idea to save a few when you get a prescription, because of the way antibiotic resistance is growing?

What about salt, sugar, spices to make life worth continuing?

We have a fairly large container of Himalayan pink salt which has the minerals that get leeched out of regular table salt. We're also not too far from the ocean. Natural sugars can be had from fruit trees.

Back to your knives. Do you know how to fight someone off with them? Have you ever had any training that might lead you to imagine for a moment that your knives are enough to defend your lives and property from a single person determined to take your well being and all your assets from you to protect HIS OWN family?

Working on it. Can't pretend that the little I know would hold up against a seasoned attacker, but enough to make me a difficult target and maybe passed over for easier pickings.

[Parts]

Civil defense has always been of interest to me and I try to be ready for most problems.  I have food, water, heaters, fuel, 2 generators, and tools and supplies to temporarily fix most anything at my house including the house itself.  As far as protecting things if it gets really bad I don't have any working guns but I do have a multitude of other weapons along with some stuff that goes boom and I'm rather devious when it comes to traps.  One of my projects that I have not started beyond the collection of materials is making a wood gasifier to power my smaller generator which would take care of the fuel problem

["couldbecousin"]

Civil defense has always been of interest to me and I try to be ready for most problems.  I have food, water, heaters, fuel, 2 generators, and tools and supplies to temporarily fix most anything at my house including the house itself.  As far as protecting things if it gets really bad I don't have any working guns but I do have a multitude of other weapons along with some stuff that goes boom and I'm rather devious when it comes to traps.  One of my projects that I have not started beyond the collection of materials is making a wood gasifier to power my smaller generator which would take care of the fuel problem

    My plan is to go to Parts' house. 

[Queen Victoria]

Based on our ages (72 and 65) and the PR's handicaps I don't envision being able to survive anything catastrophic.  I'll leave it to the more deserving members of humanity.

  You three may be less hardy, but you are no less deserving. 

Sorry to disagree cbc.  With limited resources and all "healthy, willing and able" hands needed, we're just not deserving of using crucial resources.  Stark truth.

[Gopher Gary]

    My plan is to go to Parts' house. 

My mom will take care of me.