REEEEEALLY Ready?

[SwampFox320]

I've been thinking about me and others in the group and wonder how really ready are we for SHTF, completely on our own for more than 4-6 months? It doesn't seem long but when the world we've always known has gone away it could be a forever. We talk about guns and weapons systems but I also started thinking, dang, in the world where those will be needed, a minor bullet wound, a accidental fall, a whole number of things could spell doom for the person it happened to. I'm just wondering how many think they are mentally ready for something major to happen were you are on your own for more than say 4 months? I think getting supplies, weapons, shelter might actually be the easy part.

For me, I don't know honestly. I'm one of those put your head down and charge through whatever you gotta do individuals. I think I can make it given the proper tools. But I wonder about some people who appear to have their sh*t together. I think in a post-SHTF world, it's going to come down to shutting your brain down about what's going on in the world and focusing on the day-to-day.

OK, that's my ramble

Jason

[Ryder]

To me SHTF isn't a 4 to 6 month event. That short of time span suggests a intact infrastructure somewhere for recovery(IE Katrina).

I strongly feel that the first thing to disrupt our life on a large scale throughout the country and things will fall apart here and abroad. When it does, start thinking in terms of generations to get back to a 1800's standard of living.

Go through your house and look at what you own and make a list of daily, weekly and monthly consumables. Can you make a new razor blade? How about clothes detergent and how are you going to wash them?

What about the big one...Water. Got a well? Does it use electricity? How long do you think you can supply gas for the generator to power the well pump? Having a river nearby is good, but in-vision hauling ALL your water needs everyday to your retreat form that river....then purifying it.

Look at the dinner your sitting down to tonight. Now imagine the work involved to raise the beef, slaughter and preserve the meat. Like those noodles or potatoes? Gonna run out of prepackaged stuff sooner or later. So now you need to have Crops. Not a garden but CROPS! Enough to feed your family through the winter and with hopefully enough left over for replanting and maybe some trade. All this done without the benefit of power farming tools.

Sound gloomy? You betcha. The alternative is to sell all your gear and guns and use the money to party and buy a 60" plasma TV and hope for a quick death when TSHTF.

[martin35]

Every man will cope with real life as he is equipped to, he will cope with the theoretical (what does not exist but might) with a over abundance. You will work with what is available to you at any given time, sounds like a excuse to max out your credit card to me,,, your theoretical credit card.

[NineseveN]

I think most folks can get through SHTF (which I define as a short-term situation easily under 1 month) with the right gear and knowledge so long as they keep their heads together.

When the real panic starts is when folks realize not only do things suck, but they're not going back to normal either because no one is coming for them to make things better. If we're talking a situation where you need to live rough and bug out for 4 months, we're talking an event that's changed the face of the country and/or planet as we know it. Even most of the Katrina survivors (and surely the refugees ) had access to comforts and necessary supplies in less than a week after the event. If you're one of the few still stuck in the muck, then you're going to have to rely on your gear, knowledge and planning, but if no relief can be found for 4 months, then it's probably not coming in the fifth month either.


So how many of us are ready? I really don't think one can truly be ready for it, prepared maybe, but not ready unless they've done before. Mountain men and such, yeah, their way of life might be inconvenienced not by the conditions of survival but by having all those other people flocking into their neck of the woods to escape the Godzilla of our time. Those of us that go on rough hikes and camping excursions or simulated bug outs for a few days to a week, I'd say we're maybe prepared and equipped to survive, but I doubt we're all ready for the big hammer to drop.

When that time comes, we're going to have to think about things other than what gear works, how to build a fire and shelter and how to find and prepare food...we''re going to have to think about how to rebuild a civilization or if we even want to and what kind of skills we can bring to the table in this new world. Laborers and skilled tradespeople will be a premium, lawyers and real estate agents will be useless for the immediate short haul. Farmers, engineers, doctors, nurses and dentists will be premium commodities, analysts such as myself might help out with some complex problems and scenarios, but I know I'm going to need other skills to get by and be ready to get my hands dirty.

I guess what I am trying to say is, in our current society, with all of our structure and capability, if it lasts as long as 4 months, don't expect it to get any better any time soon; it would take a catastrophic event to generate enough damage and havoc to bring about such conditions and everything will have changed at that point.

[witchdoctor]

I have often thought about how the nations problems would be solved if large scale civil unrest ensued. Most of the time I think my life would probably be better off if civilization as we know it ended. But then the other night it was cold, rainy, and windy outside and I was more the glad to get inside my nice warm apartment.

I know as I prepare my survival gear I honestly hope I never have to use it. I asked my girlfriend, what would you do if you had to be outside tonight after weeks in the woods with a tent and campfire to keep you warm as the wind blows the fire down to nothing. I have really began to think about how life would be after the fact. Whatever the future throws at us, I am not sure any of us will be ready. I know we talk about how prepared we are and what we have in stores, but like mentioned earlier the mental aspect is a huge part.

SHTF is, as most of you put it, a short-term event or incident that causes temporary displacement, interruption in supplies & services, and localized civil unrest. FEMA will probably be in there in a short time to help out the survivors and helpless sheeple.

TEOTWAWKI is the long-term HO NO event that is bound to happen at some point in the future. Supplies, ammo, water, and locales will be in high demand. Every damn person will head for the hills when they get wind no one is coming for them. Some stupid ones will sit around and keep hoping that the government will save them. A large number of people on anti-depressants will begin to go insane and become homicidal or suicidal after their supply of meds runs out, this will become a large problem when you consider 1.5mil sheeple are being dosed. This was even brought up on the news about "what if" and the backlash possibilities. Most of us will not have enough stores and will have to scavenge for food and water. A lot of people do not have the knowledge to do so, or hunt, or fish, or take what you have too. The cities will be looted and dead bodies will lye in decay throughout houses, stores, nursing homes, hospitals, and shelters. The mental aspect of dealing with that will drive some people insane or to the brink of suicide.

I think all of us really need to evaluate our mental wellbeing and think seriously about after the fact. BOOM!!! The event occurs and you have 2 hours to get everything and bug out. Never to return to your normal home again. People are looting and robbing the unprepared, abandoned cars are all over the roads, dead bodies are lying about the landscape... how will you cope?!?

Skills will become a commodity and multi-talented people will be in high demand. Teaming up with uneasy strangers may or may not be a necessity. The mentally unstable will be hard to spot at first, but will become evident in the long term. The national forests will be teeming with city folk who just figured head up to the hills and someone will take us in.

Think about what you have, where you will go, and how you will get there. No to mention think about stress, de-stressing, and your family.

[adobewalls]

I read somewhere that modern society is just five missed meals away from anarchy.

Think about it, America made it through the depression because the great urban migration had not yet occurred and many people (like my granparents) were rural people and had the ability to live without money for several years. How many today even know how to keep a garden? How many know how to raise a calf? Can? Fish? Hunt? Take up carpentry or some othe manual skill?
How many of our vehicles lend themselves to being repaired under the shade tree anymore? Can you live without the internet?:D

It takes a mindset to think about these things and what can happen. That's why sites like this are useful, because the interchange of thoughts and ideas help us to "rehearse" and think through what we need to do for our situation.

For me, I am trying to relearn some of the older ways by talking to the older members of my family, buying books on the older ways of doing things, looking for land to buy, etc. Its not that I think the ballon will go up tomorrow, its for the self-satisfaction of believing I have a chance to survive if it does. And believing you are going to make it is supposedly the biggest factor in whether you do survive or not.

[NineseveN]

I read somewhere that modern society is just five missed meals away from anarchy.

Think about it, America made it through the depression because the great urban migration had not yet occurred and many people (like my granparents) were rural people and had the ability to live without money for several years. How many today even know how to keep a garden? How many know how to raise a calf? Can? Fish? Hunt? Take up carpentry or some othe manual skill?
How many of our vehicles lend themselves to being repaired under the shade tree anymore? Can you live without the internet?:D

It takes a mindset to think about these things and what can happen. That's why sites like this are useful, because the interchange of thoughts and ideas help us to "rehearse" and think through what we need to do for our situation.

For me, I am trying to relearn some of the older ways by talking to the older members of my family, buying books on the older ways of doing things, looking for land to buy, etc. Its not that I think the ballon will go up tomorrow, its for the self-satisfaction of believing I have a chance to survive if it does. And believing you are going to make it is supposedly the biggest factor in whether you do survive or not.

Excellent observations really, because we are a more impatient and aggressive society, and that lowers the boiling point enough that any prudent survival-minded person should take notice.

[SwampFox320]

Very good ideas and thoughts guys. While I've never been through or deal with anything like we're talking about, I think I could get through the mental stuff, most of it. The problem might come if I'm living in the woods a few months and snap and want "home" again. Death I think I can deal with. I can shut down the part of my brain that remorses things like that. I know I will not have a problem pulling the trigger if someone is coming to hurt me or mine. It's nothing personal. But should the stress from living out of what is normal make me break, I'm just happy I'm gonna have people and friends there to chill me out till it passes. I think that's a great reason we have the BOB weekends so it won't be such a major shock when it happens.

[NineseveN]

Very good ideas and thoughts guys. While I've never been through or deal with anything like we're talking about, I think I could get through the mental stuff, most of it. The problem might come if I'm living in the woods a few months and snap and want "home" again. Death I think I can deal with. I can shut down the part of my brain that remorses things like that. I know I will not have a problem pulling the trigger if someone is coming to hurt me or mine. It's nothing personal. But should the stress from living out of what is normal make me break, I'm just happy I'm gonna have people and friends there to chill me out till it passes. I think that's a great reason we have the BOB weekends so it won't be such a major shock when it happens.

I think as long as people can focus on the situation being short-term (only a few days) things will be rather easy to swallow...but when some sort of permanence or semi-permanence sets in (i.e. you're not going home to your life for a while buddy-boy), people can easily become worn down and panic...that's the scary part. A few days to a week, most determined folks could do that without much trouble...go back to their camp in 3-4 week or 2 months and things will undoubtedly be uglier than we'd all like to think.

Keeping the right mindset is aided by being in familiar territory...if you're bugging out to the woods; spend a lot of time there so that you're almost as comfortable there as you are at home. If you find yourself becoming homesick while on a 3-day camping excursion, you're not quite there yet. Those feelings will be amplified in the face of shock and disaster while bugging out over an extended period of time.

[adobewalls]

Y'know, that's an interesting observation. I was not in the military, but I have worked in remote areas where we had to set up local camps, and bring people in for several weeks at a time.

Believe me, not all personalities can handle even something like that. Take away the ability to "go home" at will, and some people just freak.