Thread: preparedness

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

I was a soldier once and young.....long time ago. Practice makes perfect, even if you have done the drill 10000x, practice, practice, practice. Prepare for every scenario you can that your mind can come up with and have a knowledgeable person critique.

Wouldn't that eventually overwhelm; if not the person, their resources.

My wife thinks because i'm lazy I postpone simple home maintenance, and refuse to cut the grass. No. I am practicing the art of invisibility. My house looks abandoned so no one's coming in looking for treats
The only scenario that I can come up with that is; for sure (imho); is the greater purpose of our Creator will be done. The only thing I need do is yield my desires to this greater intelligence and allow right action to operate. That way at least everything remains simple, manageable and doable.

Going through a hurricane or a flood is a likely event for many hurricane areas. Planning is essential.

A year aft er Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Texas got another and got nailed with a tidal surge that wiped out a coastal area. The aftermath, are when survival skills are practiced. All of the basics are gone and it is you, your family sent back into chaos.

It was well noted that the people of Texas were well prepared, no looting and they survived without much media attention. One reporter asked the Govener, how it was that there were so much order in the days after the total destruction. He said" Here in Texas our residents pride themselves on being self sufficient. We always like to remind all our citizens to keep enough food and water to take care of themselves and there families for at least two weeks.....and to make sure they have plenty of ammunition on hand"

Just recently, Nashville Tenn was just hit by a flood that was considered one of the worst natural disasters in the last 200 years. Very little media coverage, but kudos to that community as well for helping each other, not waiting for the Gov't to do it for them. It took FEMA over 40days to even show up. Neighbors are still helping neighbors rebuilding each others houses in Nashville...

Seems like parts of our country are brought up as survivalists and that their respective communities work together and help each other afterward.

It is wonderful feature of the US, that we have areas of the country that include their community in their survival kits. If there is a Creator, the only instructions He left were to love each other. Love Him, yes, but we do that when we do for others too.

Kingfish, you have noted something that is simply fact and what is killing our great country. The predominate welfare regions were the ones sitting on their poopers waiting for help to arrive while the working class citizens just pick up the pieces and move on. I will admit that Texan's do have a self-sufficient attitude. Texas is one of the few states that "could" live without the rest of the states. (that should ruffle a few hairs!)

To get back on track though, the mind is the most advanced survival tool available for any of us. It's up to us to keep it from rusting and "shave ready"...

A sense of self reliance, responsibility and community, probably what this country as a whole is missing the most.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

A sense of self reliance, responsibility and community, probably what this country as a whole is missing the most.

Amen brother, but I have to add the most important thing...GOD.

Originally Posted by kevint

When you say two months; Is that strictly rationed micro meals or two months of regular everyday chow down/.

That's two months of pretty good eating. Much of what we eat is the same stuff I have in storage. That way I know how to prepare things with what I have, I know we like it, and it rotates fresh items in as things are used.

That food supply is there with a couple of intentions:
1. In the event of being shut in for a period of time, food will not be a concern. I live in a very rural area. It is conceivable that a blizzard would leave my kids and I virtually stranded at home for a week or so. Even without power that would be an absolute non-issue. I have a lot of bottled water on hand, but I also installed a hand-pump for the dug well in my basement. Barring ground water contamination I have an indefinite water supply in the house.
2. In the event of a SHTF that food supply would allow us time to establish a sustainable food supply without having to be panicked about it. I also have seeds on hand, but depending on the season growing could be difficult. The food supply makes it easy to focus on other immediate concerns of survival.

In a SHTF my primary plan would be to "bug in". I live way out in the sticks and I trust most of my neighbors. As people spread out from the cities it would be quite awhile before the area I live in would be overrun with looters and whatnot.
I do have a bug out bag set up as well, in case we would need to leave quickly. I have a very remote location that I can go to in that case.


One thing I am intrigued by is raising rabbits. I know I can hunt wild game for protein; about half of the meat that we eat at my house is wild game and fish. The problem is that if everyone is hunting for survival, I expect that wild game populations would dwindle in a hurry. It would be good to have renewable protein such as rabbits. I am surrounded by dairy farms, so it's possible that I could trade with neighbors for beef, but that also assumes a lot...

Originally Posted by shooter74743

To get back on track though, the mind is the most advanced survival tool available for any of us. It's up to us to keep it from rusting and "shave ready"...

I love this philosophy and the clever way you put it into words. Having been in the educational system for 30 years, I am deeply disturbed at some of the changes in it.

Survivalists work with their hands as well as their minds. Shop classes in many schools do not even exist anymore. I see so many young people in my chemistry classes that are very intelligent, but in the lab, they are three dimesionaly challenged.

I always try to make them understand the applications and possibilities of the theory they are learning. For example, how important being able to purify water through distillation, or how to make a simple cell to power up a radio. They are hungry for survival information, perhaps because we have been through hurricanes here on the South West coast of Florida or maybe the their natural will to survive.

On a positive note, look at how many young straight Shavers there are on this forum. They all share the self sufficient savey attitude of doing it themselves. Maybe this world and country are going to come out of this way better than we think.



Keep informed, get involved and vote!!! There are more of us than them. Timely thread Kevin.

If it does hit the fan on a global scale, friends will be easy to spot from people with bad intentions. No password needed, just look for the guys with BBS faces.

Originally Posted by kevint

...If one cannot manage the smallest things with calm awareness; it is very unlikely to develop those management tools on the spot should a situation devolve into melee...

We're going to have to agree to disagree on this point mate. I know that I will swear at a stupid driver for example, I also know that I am calm, cool and collected under fire...This is from personal experience. Not everyone is the same I know. Small things irritate me as I feel they shouldn't be necessary/ Shouldn't need to happen e.g irresponsible driving. The big things, however are out of your control and just have to be dealt with.
I think your belief that 'what will happen is just fate/god taking a hand in things', to be a fatalists viewpoint. I prefer to make my own luck, rather than have it handed to me by some unseen/non-existant force. No offence intended, just my point of view.


Mick

Originally Posted by MickR

We're going to have to agree to disagree on this point mate. I know that I will swear at a stupid driver for example, I also know that I am calm, cool and collected under fire...This is from personal experience. Not everyone is the same I know. Small things irritate me as I feel they shouldn't be necessary/ Shouldn't need to happen e.g irresponsible driving. The big things, however are out of your control and just have to be dealt with.
I think your belief that 'what will happen is just fate/god taking a hand in things', to be a fatalists viewpoint. I prefer to make my own luck, rather than have it handed to me by some unseen/non-existant force. No offence intended, just my point of view.


Mick

That's okay too. Agreed
I have not been there, but I do know a few who have been in some of the worst places. I am sure if I asked why did you come home while so many who were with you did not; the answer would not be "because I trained more" or "I'm a natural born bad ass". I believe they would say; only because I was lucky.

I read a great book that fell in line with our recent economic downturn & SHTF factor. If any of you read, buy, beg, or borrow "Patriots" by James Wesley, Rawles. It is published by Ulysses Press & the ISBN # is: 978-1-56975-599-0

It's one of those books that is super hard to put down, fast moving, & makes you wonder about things...