Bugging Out / Survival

[rrbrian222]

Great topic. Long ago America was founded by rugged individualists (they were definitely NOT democrats, lol) and unfortunately our modern society of today has lulled most of us into a fragile and potentially fatal reliance on the gadgets and technology that make our lives easy and convenient.

I've often thought about how society could continue in the absence of all these conveniences coupled with the continued generational loss of simple, basic mechanical knowledge. How many people today just call "the repair guy" the dishwasher breaks or the car needs an oil change? What about the people that pay extra money at the big box store to have one of those particle-board furniture kits assembled for them because they lack the basic skills to conceptualize how things go together? Heaven help us if the crap hits the fan.

A little preparedness wouldn't hurt anything. There's so many aspects to ponder, but Jim got me thinking about ways to radiation harden a few select electronic devices that anyone would want to have after an EMP.

1. Short wave radio.
2. Power inverter.
3. Atomic clock.
4. Anything small and important, maybe a laptop??

Heck, I was even thinking about a spare PCM computer for the Ranger, and any other sensitize parts of the ignition system....might be something to think about the next time you are at the local boneyard. The stuff is plentiful and cheap, so what the heck, right?

I found an interesting article about ways to protect personal electronics. The ideas range from building a cheap faraday cage from a galvanized trash can, or aluminum foil or brass or aluminum screening. In my mind, I'm thinking of setting up a little emergency prepardness area in my basement and something of this sort would be a logical addition.

A person that took the time now to protect some critical pieces of technology would be vary valuable to the small clans and colonies that would inevitably pop up after the collapse of the greater society. Having some surviving, functional tech would also allow civilization to potentially recover faster.

I know there are a lot of other issues, probably even more urgent, that you guys have touched on (like weapons and food/medicine), but few people possess all the skills and knowledge to survive for very long alone with the out the support of a community. After all the old saying goes, if you are a jack of all trades, you're a master of none.

Here's the link to article I found:

http://www.futurescience.com/emp/emp-protection.html

 

[nb11]

I think anybody's best bet would be to become close friends with gwaii

But seriously, I didn't know so many people thought about this stuff in such great detail. I wasn't sure if this thread was legit at first. Kinda has me a little nervous now...

 

[hoosier1104]

The ability to be self sustaining is key is any event. The ability to scavenge is key as well. Having enough ammo and a different weapons w/ ammo is important as well. A long range rifle, shotgun of some nature, hand gun and bow are a must. People will do damn near anything when put into a position that they are not use to. Make sure you have more than enough ammo for hunting and personal defense.

Now my reverse of food stock is not what it should be but you can ALWAYS change that. My goal is to have enough MRE's for 1 a day for about 2 months. Will I get burnt out on them? Of course but that is where scavenging and hunting come into play.

 

[cody93]

ive been stockpiling computers for years and have tera bytes of data and information, schematics/diagrams/chemical recipes etc, along with CAD software and 100 of gigabytes of music. soon i will be building an FM radio transmiter that can broadcast 5miles, probly more once the airwaves clear up. be good to also get a cb radio as there very commonly used.. imagine what good can come up from just being able to organize people together and make a trading post type of thing, likea real life megatown or bartertown! knowlage is key, if you know something and are of use, you will be better off than a lawyer or TV show host..

 

[Observer]

Totally agree that if the system fails people are going to be helpless.. we have to depend on each other nowadays. If the doctor had to grow his own food he wouldnt be able to heal the farmer. Its the price we payed for advancement.

A little tip i picked up is that microwave ovens are designed to keep all the em radiation inside- right down to the screen on the window, perfectly sealed box. So stuff your electronics inside and they should be well encased.

As for food and shelter.. I have nightmares about trying to prepare food for a crowd of survivors, then when I run out they eat me instead. Lol. Not so sure its a good idea to rally a bunch of panic driven people straight towards you!

 

[daniel3507]

The best thing is having a location you can retreat to if anything gets bad. Combine that with a group of like minded people who each have a different skill set (a doctor, mechanic, military, farmer, etc.) and you would be in good shape. The hard thing would be keeping it quite so other people who you don't trust/don't plan for, don't try and take advantage of you.

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk

 

[5.0fox]

One thing nobody has mentioned yet is getting to know the wild vegetation in your area and where it typically grows. There is so many plants that have edible roots and bark or grasses that can be eaten to survive. berries are good when there in season but during the winter it would be hard. I think a mans best bet would be to be all alone a long ways from any type of civilization. After days or weeks when peoples food supply starts to run thin there is gonna be so many people raiding houses and driving around trying to find something that no town city or roadway would be safe. If i live to see this happen I will get lost in the woods and keep moving to avoid detection, when your way out in the wilderness you wont have to worry about anyone else or defending yourself you will be able to focus on food and shelter.

 

[Will]

Not so sure its a good idea to rally a bunch of panic driven people straight towards you!

That's the point of organization. In an ideal scenario you have selected a place, cleared a field, built a well-drained bunker, prepositioned a generator, fuel, chicken feed, food, seeds, planted a forest of Black Locust, dug a couple wells, assigned people a store to maintain at their homes and responsibilities of what to bring, and their jobs in the new community. Every year, people come in to restore stocks, maintain equipment, check on the place--staggered throughout the year. When the shit hits the fan, the plan kicks in and everyone bugs out to the place. There is no panicked crowd.

The first year or two, you are on fuel stored there. You plant soybeans in a quantity that will provide fuel for your 4-wheeler patrol, some generator time etc. You get your food production going, you chickens producing--whatever the plan is. You are going to have to be far enough away from population centers that you don't get swarmed by people that heard about the place. You'll have to have a plan to deal with the stragglers that do show up. Put them to work, hopefully. If you kill them and hide the bodies as a rule, your community will eventually fail. You want the community to grow as fast as you can support it so you don't get crushed by a roaming band of marauders. You want a city, professional military, hospital, factories etc.

 

[ryan]

i'd be curious to know how many of you have tested your smoke detectors lately while you're piling up food and ammo for the apocalypse

half of the risk equation is probability of occurrence. you are infinitely more likely to be the victim of a house fire or natural disaster than terrorist, alien, or zombie attack

 

[Jim Oaks]

I think people are mostly going to be affected by natural disasters. If you ever get burried in a snow storm you can appreciate the ability of a 4x4 and the importance of having plenty of fuel in the tank and food on hand.

Back in the 1950's/60's people had fall out shelters because they were afraid of a nuclear attack. As we got in to the late 80's it became evident that our greatest threat would be from terrorists. Time has proven to be true. I think terrorists want nothing more but to cripple our country and it's infra-structure.

But, as I mentioned, we will most likely be effected by natural disasters and even the government is trying to promote the importance of being ready and prepared.

 

[Will]

i'd be curious to know how many of you have tested your smoke detectors lately while you're piling up food and ammo for the apocalypse

half of the risk equation is probability of occurrence. you are infinitely more likely to be the victim of a house fire or natural disaster than terrorist, alien, or zombie attack

You mean I shouldn't be using the funds in my HSA to stockpile cricket bats and garlic?

I agree that the focus should be short-term disasters. Most of my family disaster plans begin with the phrase "Move into the bus."

 

[doorgunner]

I think people are mostly going to be affected by natural disasters. If you ever get burried in a snow storm you can appreciate the ability of a 4x4 and the importance of having plenty of fuel in the tank and food on hand.

Back in the 1950's/60's people had fall out shelters because they were afraid of a nuclear attack. As we got in to the late 80's it became evident that our greatest threat would be from terrorists. Time has proven to be true. I think terrorists want nothing more but to cripple our country and it's infra-structure.

But, as I mentioned, we will most likely be effected by natural disasters and even the government is trying to promote the importance of being ready and prepared.

When the Guvment ( of ALL entities!) is promoting "preparation".....you can bet they know something is around the corner........and it AIN'T gonna be purdy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[RustedRanger]

I think one big downfall of gasoline engines will be the gasoline we have now since it goes bad really quick. In the past I have seen pics of cars in German occupied countries during WW2 that were converted to run on gasified wood. I have seen a couple of these recently on TV shows and they are pretty simple. I remember during Katrina all the people on roofs,some of them dying of dehydration for lack of water that didn't have any idea they could've gotten drinkable water from water heaters and toilet tanks. I am a Christian so my beliefs do change the survival scenario a little bit but still it up to us to prepare. I had a neighbor who moved here who had a "Survivalist" group that I joined at around age 13. We had vets and a couple active Reserve Special Forces guys and trained like they do. Our purpose then was to survive when the nukes fell and then fight the Russians who might have come after until they killed us off,we even helped train the local ROTC and Army Reserve in mock battle....what a blast

 

[heptofite]

i think if it came between drinking flood water and dehydrating to death, i'd drink the flood water.

 

[88_Eddie]

i think if it came between drinking flood water and dehydrating to death, i'd drink the flood water.

see, i would've just used my deductive reasoning and not moved into a house that was below sea level to begin with. and if a storm was coming, i'd find a way to leave.