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Survival and Preparations Long and short term survival and 'prepping'. |
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Apocalypse Never
(My favorite article on the Apocalypse)
There’s a whole bunch of guys out there (mostly guys, a few butch girls here and there) who sulk online for years waiting for somebody to bring up the Omega Man/I Am Legend scenario: what are you going to do when civilization collapses? It usually comes down to gun talk. That really makes me laugh. As if small arms would get you through the end of the world. Oh, I get the idea. In fact there was this joke when I was in high school that summed it up nice: “Q: What is the definition of a survivalist? A: Somebody with a rifle and the address of a Mormon.” Because everybody knew those Mormons were required by an official memo straight from God to Joseph E. Smith, Jr. to stockpile canned goods for a year in their tidy little basements. If you had a rifle, the idea was, you just strolled over to their house and either ordered them out if you were feeling all interfaith-cuddly or shot the whole bunch, although with those Mormon birth rates you’d be using up a lot of ammo on basically harmless people. Well, they were harmless back then. I suspect if you kicked down the door of the average Mormon house now you’d get a face full of buckshot. People are meaner than they used to be. But being tough, being armed to the teeth and ready to kick ***, that wouldn’t save you either if it all came down. It’d come down to dull stuff that nobody wants to think about, like organization. That’s what really hits me about these survival fantasies: it’s always about holing up in your house with guns and ammo and years of video-game wet dreams bouncing around in your head. One question: where you gonna get your water? You can go weeks without food (in my case more like a year; in fact I’d probably be better off after starving for a year or so) but you need water every day. Let’s take California. Last I heard there were 24 million people in So Cal. You know where they get their water? From a tap, yeah; but when the taps stop flowing? Flick that ball socket faucet in your townhouse and a spider drops out? That’s what’d scare me, not armies of zombies or gangbangers. There are no rivers in So Cal. Ever see the LA River? Sure you have; it’s in about a million movies. It’s where they stage those fake drag races, where T2 drove that semi. It’s a culvert with a trickle at the bottom. 23 million yuppies are going to go from worrying about hydrating every hour to slurping algae from the last puddle in that culvert. When I was a kid there was a crazy old Okie named Cecil who used to dig wells. I haven’t heard about that job in a long time. If anyone lives long enough and has something to pay them with, the last surviving well drillers will be kings. “Here, how about I trade you my daughter here for a well, sir, your honor, your crustiness?” Instead of arguing about caliber and range, try finding out where the water comes from in your town. Is it even a reservoir, or do they pump it in from somewhere? If they do, you might want to schedule a camping trip to the nearest lake about the time civilization collapses. Otherwise the pipes will go dry and you’ll do what all us loudtalking war nerds will actually do when the world ends: die. Buy the farm, give up the ghost, pay our internet gaming bills for good. We better hope the end of the world is nice enough to schedule itself for the wet season. “Dear God, Any time between December and April would be fine.” If it’s August, the population of So Cal is going to decline from 23 million to…I dunno, what’s the population of Lake Arrowhead? Whoever controls water supply will control So Cal, if it ever collapsed. And that won’t be a lone gunman in a tract house in Santa Ana. Those people will die like flies, waiting for an attack they’ve been dreaming of their whole lives while their kids die of waterborne diseases from drinking what’s left at the bottom of the pool. Victory will go to whoever has the numbers. And not just numbers, but sane, reliable people. What’d be funny is if it ended up being the churches. I can see that happening, actually. Talk about a bummer of a post-apocalypse, how about So Cal as the Empire of the Assembly of God? Compulsory three-hour sermons, required speaking in tongues. Man, I couldn’t take it. One reason I lost my whole Pentacostal thing was the downright embarrassment of watching respectable middle-aged ladies like Mrs. Tamplen from up the street whooping like crazies, babbling like Scooby Doo and running up and down the aisle on Sunday because they felt like that was the only way to show that the Spirit was in them. I’d have way rather taken their word on it. “Ma’am, couldn’t you just sign a statement that you’ve got the spirit in you? And please keep your arms to your sides?” I couldn’t take the idea of Pentecostal SS forcing you to do that “batter-batter-HEY-swing” nonsense they made us try out. But it could happen very easily. The churches have the numbers, and their people are sane, sort of, God knows they’re dull enough. I can see some tough Okie/Mexican patrols in giant crusader t-shirts with big red crosses holding the perimeter of most of the reservoirs in So Cal, making you take a Scripture Trivia quiz before you get your three liters a day. Who else would be in the running? And please, don’t tell me the Crips or the Bloods. Maybe, just maybe, some sort of Mexican-gang super-alliance, the Sureno Republic, could hold out against the Born-Agains for a while, but I’d put my money on the churches. Gangstas are too easy to trick into killing each other off. I can just see the sleazeball minister of our old church giving some Latin Kings honcho the old soft-sell: “Flaco, you know we love you and Jesus loves you but alas those godforsaken heathern Maras, they say you’re showing weakness, ese….” Next thing you know it’s a Latin Kings/Baptist alliance to wipe out the little Salvadoran stabbers, and when that’s over you wake up one morning to find all the Latin Kings gone and your uncle who’s with the armed wing of the church washing the blood off his hands with a little of that precious water while he hums “Just as I am, without one plea.” And when they’re gone, settle in for some of the dullest centuries you’ve ever imagined. You can sort of see why nobody makes a video game about that scenario: it’s no fun. But it makes more sense than the lone gun deal, because victory always goes to the big gangs. The only place for a loner in a hard world is…well, we already know. You tell me: give me the name of the Californian who already lived through the end of the world. Correct answer: Ishi. Remember Ishi? Kids still study the poor bastard? We did. Every time I drive north on I5 and see the exit to Lassen National Park I think of him, hiding out in a creekbed for years after his whole world was wiped out. He did about as well as anybody will, when the aliens come, and he still had to go cringing up to them at the end, couldn’t make it alone any more. They made a diorama out of him while he was still alive. The Ishi technique, hiding and scavenging, might save you for a while. At least you’d last longer than the Wacos who think they’ll set up a single-family republic in their Bundy fixer-upper. If water doesn’t force them out, fire will. How you gonna use that gun to hold off 20 or 30 or 2000 organized attackers? You have to sleep sometime, and when you do, a couple of Molotov cocktails through the window, on the roof even, will make you start negotiating fast. See, that’s what’s sad about all this: the post-disaster world will be just like this one, only worse. All the lousy coworkers and squabbles and crap, but none of the luxuries. The winners won’t be the zombies, just another set of bosses. The end of the world is what you call it when your tribe loses. It may be the end of the world for them, like it was for hundreds of native tribes all over the world, but when your world ends like that, you don’t get to play out the game in some cool ruins out of a video game. Some other tribe takes over, that’s all. And when they do, there’s no way on earth you can hole up in your townhouse with a semi-automatic weapon and hold out. Because it’s organization that wins, not lone gunmen. If you want to survive, join a club. It only looks like chaos to the losers. The Mongols are my classic example here. They were a “horde” to the people whose asses they kicked, but if those losers had had the sense to accept Mongol vassalage (which the Mongols usually offered before they started leveling everything to the horizon) they’d have found out that the Mongols were actually better organized than their opposition. Most of the time the Mongol armies faced armies made up of a few professional soldiers and huge peasant levies, led by guys who were born into the job. Half of them were opium addicts, retards, lazy whoremongers, or macho idiots. That’s what you get when you trust a family tree. Against that the Mongols had a system more like Bonaparte’s: first prove yourself in war, then we’ll add the nobility. The Mongol armies were organized on a decimal system that made much more sense than the feudal gangs, always feuding and betraying each other, that they faced off against. They weren’t chaos. They just looked that way to the last survivor of a village, running off with stories of piles of severed heads. That wasn’t actually chaos, that was just mopping up. Has chaos ever actually won? It sounds weird but I can’t find a single example that fits the video-game, Mad Max scenario. Sure, empires weaken and fall, but it’s not a horde that defeats them, it’s some other tribe, some new empire. The newcomers are “barbarians” if they beat you, but if you hung with them you’d see they’re pretty much like any other bunch of sneaky, fussy, greedy people. If there was a mass of zombies swarming the streets, I’d feel pretty good about it. Remember that scene in Dawn of the Dead when they’re on the roof of the mall picking off zombies to pass the time? It’d be that easy. Being braindead is not an advantage in war, believe it or not. On the ****ing contrary. If you look hard at the military history of the last century you can see that it’s sneakiness, hiding your massacres and sucking up to potential allies, that wins wars. That’s how the Wehrmacht, the finest land army since the Mongols, was defeated, and why the Brits survived. In every battle where they faced Germans on equal terms in either of the world wars, the Brits lost. But they won the wars because they had this huge English-speaking ex-colony, America, to resupply them, and this god-given moat called the English Channel to stop the tanks. Victory goeth not to the strong, or the crazy; if it did, we’d be getting Hitler’s Birthday off, with a half day for Hirohito’s Imperial Deflowering or something. We’d love for the world to end, or we think we would. (First toothache or skin disease and you’ll change your mind, though.) But too bad, or cheer up, whichever; it’s never going to happen. So why does everybody talk about it all ****ing day? Simple: it’s the most fun idea in the world. Think about it. Every zombie movie is about how great it’d be to have the city to yourself. No crowds, no annoying other people, just a free-fire zone where you’re the only real human being and you can blow the head off anything that tries to bite you or borrow a quarter, whatever. A lifetime shopping spree, total immunity to all the laws—like being a star, and if you were the last person on earth you’d be a star by like default. No competition. Sometimes you even get to have a dog, like in I Am Legend. But no people. That’s the dream here. And that’s why nobody faces the pretty durn obvious fact that after the apocalypse, alliances, partnerships, gangs, whatever you want to call them, are going to be tighter, stricter, more important than ever. Because that’s no fun. It’s just life at the office only without AC, TV, or the net. There’s never gonna be an end of the world. There’s gonna be an end of you, you personally; but the world won’t even flinch. You’ll be lucky to get an obituary, a half inch next to the weather report on the back page of Section B. The world is never gonna end. That’s what’s depressing. http://exiledonline.com/war-nerd-apocalypse-never/
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"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.” --D. H. Lawrence |
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What makes you assume we don't have 2 months supply of water and a good purification system at our house and a year round spring at our eventual bug out location or in some cases our own well?????
Oh yeah that's right it doesn't fit your rant. Carry on.
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Only slaves don't need guns We stand for the Anthem, we kneel for the cross We already have the only reasonable Gun Control we need, It's called the Second Amendment and it's the government it controls. What doesn't kill me, better run |
#5
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If civilization collapses who would want to live? Most people would be better off dead. Hell they can't even manage Von's without an electric cart.
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Only slaves don't need guns We stand for the Anthem, we kneel for the cross We already have the only reasonable Gun Control we need, It's called the Second Amendment and it's the government it controls. What doesn't kill me, better run |
#7
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Watch 'The Road'.
Pretty realistic scenario if it's just you and your family in a truly SHTF situation. They were very well prepared and stored everything they needed. They 'bugged in' for seven years. But eventually, the stores ran out. Because that's a certainty unless you have land/livestock and can replenish. And a means to defend it. So they had to leave and try to survive on 'The Road'. You know how that worked out. You can 'prep' and store and anticipate, but reality will catch up with you unless you have a truly self-sufficient group. And even then, a larger group will take it away from you. No matter how hard you try or how macho you think your group is. You simply cannot successfully defend a fixed position for any length of time without outside help. It can't be done.
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It cannot be inherited, nor can it ever be purchased. You and no one alive can buy it for any price. It is impossible to rent and cannot be lent. You alone and our own have earned it with...Your sweat, blood and lives. You own it forever. The title is....."United States Marine". Last edited by olhunter; 12-26-2018 at 8:18 PM.. |
#8
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Not sure SScott likes us Mormons or not. Pretty difficult dissertation to read.
First off prepping for the end of the world is stupid. The end of the world is just that. I answer that with I prepare for lean times and the collapse of our government. Without it, things will turn to anarchy very quickly. Anything south of Bakersfield is pretty much lost as far as I'm concerned. Little water and less resources with 28 million people vying for them does not bode well for people down there. Starvation and dying of thirst will kill millions followed closely by disease and such. Firearms will hardly make a blip on the screen. Saying that, I won't be without one. Not a farmer, rancher, not know how to raise your own food and process it, you are not going to survive. People will learn to work together for a common cause or perish. One of the biggest reasons I have been successful in my life is family and my religion. I do everything for my family. |
#9
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Nuclear wars, zombie apocalypses and 12 Monkeys style viruses are extremely unlikely. If you want to invest in something with those kinds of odds you'd be better off playing playing the lottery.
That said, something will happen. As they say those that don't know history are doomed to repeat it. In the roaring 20's American's were living great lives, better than any society before in history, and they had no reason to believe it would not just keep getting better & better, but a few years later they were loosing homes and going hungry. There are almost endless examples of societies going from riches to rags. Is there another stock market crash in our future? Hackers from a foreign country disrupt the electrical grid? A resurgence of the Spanish Flu? A debt crisis? Your variable mortgage is due to go up right as you loose your job? Why not be prepared? It is cheaper to buy food in bulk. It is healthier to grow your own fruits & vegetables (and chickens). Learning new skills is interesting. Learning 1st aid is a good skill for everyone to know, even if you never have to treat a sucking chest wound. Guns are fun, shooting them is fun, and it's good to be able to protect yourself & your family even if the zombies never come. Learning primitive skills is fun and interesting. I used to pay people to do things for me (gardeners, house-cleaners, handymen, contractors, mechanics, repairmen), now I do everything myself (I learned to install my own tile, epoxied my own pool surface, replaced the pool filter & pump, and recently fixed my own heater). I don't know about anyone else here, but I enjoy myself and my time more now than I did before getting into prepping/survivalism/self-reliance. And if zombies ever do come, you'll be happy to have an edge. |
#10
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Best post in the thread! |
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I’m ready. I’ll be drinking boiled swimming pool water and taking YOUR food, YOUR guns, YOUR wine, and YOUR women.
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It`s funny to me to see how angry an atheist is over a God they don`t believe in.` -Jack Hibbs -ΙΧΘΥΣ <>< |
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So, that was an excuse for an anti-Christian atheist rant?
Because that's what that was..
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“People believed that the opposite of war is peace. The truth is that the opposite of war is more often slavery” - Battlestar Galactica Member: Patron member NRA, lifetime member SAF, CRPA |
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Unless you got luck and your pool water is VERY recent boiling it will not help.. unless you are capturing the steam and distilling it back down.. The problem with pool water, in most cases, in biological.
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“People believed that the opposite of war is peace. The truth is that the opposite of war is more often slavery” - Battlestar Galactica Member: Patron member NRA, lifetime member SAF, CRPA |
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This thread is stupid. Everybody knows that the most likely thing is your own government turning against you.
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RKBA Clock: Free Vespuchia! |
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Does boiling remove the taste of your kids urine?
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The collapse will be due to the coming nuclear war, 10 - 20 years max. US will not be habitable. Both coasts will be flattened & every state will get hit with at least one nuclear bomb. South America & Africa will be the only livable place. So unless your preparation involves an immediate departure to either continent when things start heating up, all other prepping is a total waste of time.
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Urine is over rated.
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What kind of pool water are you swimming in? It’s “california” pool water. The state doesn’t allow us to swim in “heavy metals.” Chlorine dissipates from water within days, so I wouldn’t be so paranoid if I were you.
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It`s funny to me to see how angry an atheist is over a God they don`t believe in.` -Jack Hibbs -ΙΧΘΥΣ <>< Last edited by TrailerparkTrash; 12-30-2018 at 8:16 AM.. |
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And if you think that the only "stuff" and chems in your pool water to be concerned about is chlorine then good luck to you.
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“People believed that the opposite of war is peace. The truth is that the opposite of war is more often slavery” - Battlestar Galactica Member: Patron member NRA, lifetime member SAF, CRPA |
#24
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Any issues with my pool water the Berkley and boiling will handle. And then there is also the well. After 2-4 weeks most of you city folk will be gone anyway.
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Only slaves don't need guns We stand for the Anthem, we kneel for the cross We already have the only reasonable Gun Control we need, It's called the Second Amendment and it's the government it controls. What doesn't kill me, better run |
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So, this is pretty much the theme of One Second After.
Groups formed to procure/preserve/protect/distribute resources. Conflict ensues between groups. Even the hard core survivalists were part of the greater group, or at least allies. Last edited by SamIAm; 12-30-2018 at 8:49 AM.. |
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While I have no illusions that myself or many of us can truly prep for 12 Monkeys, nuclear war, H1N1/smallpox/unknown virus, sun storms, etc, I am prepping for Earthquake or mass Power failure.
I’m my mind these two are our most likely California Scenerios. To that end I’m working on bug out for Major quake where my home doesn’t survive, and self sufficiency in the event power is out for more than two weeks.
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Having survived Loma Preada here in San Mateo County but left without power for a week, it was an eye opener. Now my house is literally right on top of the San Andreas fault. It’s coming it’s just a matter of when. I imagine the entire SF Bay Area in chaos with no services, thousands of displaced people, and mass power outages for weeks. With roads damage and no power, stores will be closed or looted in 24 hours. My biggest challenge is water. I have two 55 gallon plastic drums in the garage for acute use, but only a pool out back for cleaning and longer needs (if I can filter and drink which is unlikely. I’m looking for a way to store 500 gallons on the side of the house. I have a very large RV parking area just itching for something to be built there
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I never got around to sitting down with a plumber to plan it out. For an urban dweller, this could be an option. (By urban I mean you can't just stick 12k tanks in the ground) Note I've got a stream 50 feet away, and a reservoir half mile away... So the only water issue is with catching rainwater for the garden, and having spare filters for the big bereky. (Best money I've ever spent IMHO) Last edited by Jason_2111; 01-03-2019 at 9:49 AM.. Reason: dang autocorrect |
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The situation will certainly dictate reaction and chance of survival. Nuclear events being different than volcanic or earthquakes and combinations of these catastrophic happening.The choice of wanting to survive certain events is even a factor.
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God so loved the world He gave His only Son... Believe in Him and have everlasting life. John 3:16 NRA,,, Lifer United Air Epic Fail Video ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u99Q7pNAjvg |
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And any foreign force landing on the CA coast would be dealing with a 5000+ mile supply chain. 2500+ miles if they took Hawaii first. There was a good reason why the United States decided to drop bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki rather than land troops. And troops were only an option after the United States "island hopped" through the Pacific so that they had a staging ground in Okinawa. |
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Some points:
It will take many people working collectively to survive unless you are already on a very remote and well supplied homestead. Think 2 hour drive to nearest city of significance. In California it will be a massive sh*t show. Like it isn't already right? Do we presume that whatever issue plagues the U.S.A. will not impact Mexico or Canada? There could be a massive influx of people across the border. People who are used to drinking dirty water and eating food that we turn our noses up to. Intruders will simply be shot. There will be no handouts, no generosity, just a pile of corpses at effective rifle range. Last edited by chsk9; 01-03-2019 at 6:40 PM.. |
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Job loss is the number one survival threat to many people in this country.
As much as I've enjoyed accumulating firearms and ammunition, the best SHTF investments I made were: 1. Active duty military service - this is a door opener for many jobs and in some government openings, it gives you bonus points. My military training gave me the leadership skills and technical skills for my civilian career 2. Advanced degree - I did an intense one year masters program. That looks steller on a resume. A B.A. is like a high school diploma these days 2. Savings - lots of savings, like 6 months salary in savings. Not 401k savings but liquid cash in money market savings accounts. You can find on line savings accounts paying 2.25% interest these days. 3. Networks - know lots of people and keep those contacts up to date 4. Never second mortgage your house and if you do, pay it off ASAP. Having a paid for home relieves massive pressure on finances in a job loss. 5. Marry for love, but marry someone who is smart, together, and can pull in a good income to keep the family afloat in lean times. Everything other disaster scenario has about a 1% chance of happening. Losing your job is more and more likely in our economic system. Last edited by smle-man; 01-03-2019 at 9:00 PM.. |
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#37
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http://exiledonline.com/war-nerd-apocalypse-never/ Looks like it was written by one Gary Brecher. |
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By no means do I consider myself a prepper. A person like me has even harder with a wife and two kids. I'm half arsed prepared but obviously I know it won't last no matter how much I have. I don't own any land near enough to get to. I'm military trained , Cub/Boy Scouts too. In the end you/we/us will eventually have to join up with folks that don't think or act like me to survive. And even then there will always be some group bigger and badder. It's like life or sports , you just can't win them all.
But i'd like to think I could go a bit before it gets REAL ugly. |
#39
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I'm on 800 acres with several other families . Natural spring along with 4 Wells hitting water at 17 feet. 33000 gallons in tanks for drinking, 10000 in fire storage with 10000 more being installed. Each house 5000 to 10000 stored as well. Mine being installed next year.
Working cattle ranch so protein is not a problem. Coupled with abundant wild game, quail, deer and even elk. Very hard to find location yet paved road the entire way...two security gates with smart camera surveillance. Bring it!
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TURNING and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. William Butler Yeats 1865-1939 |
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