Posted on 09/18/2014 4:01:10 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A lot of good points mentioned in this article. When the SHTF, about half the population will be dead inside a month.
ping.
GREAT POST!!!!
I’m content with the thought that while I’m prepared, I’ll likely be one of the first to die. I have no combat experience, I am not physically fit (although I am active), and I have no knowledge of traps, tactics, etc. I’ll sit tight for a short while with my family and my arms, shoot if I have to, bug out if the opportunity presents itself, but I’m a desk jockey. Most of us are. I don’t know that I’ve got it in me to run for the rest of my life.
A lot of us are caught in an awful conundrum: To take the time (especially the time) and money it would require to prep in even a “halfway” competent sort of way, we cannot take care of our families TODAY, and the income hit (time = money) kills any chance to prep better, long term.
So, the best that I find we can do is “quarter” measures at best, and live in a rural area. We got through the big 2009 mid-south ice storm well. If the New Madrid fault lets go in the manner of 1811-12 (multiple large quakes over a period of months, in the winter), I give my immediate family a ~60% chance of us all surviving past 1 year, and much better thereafter. A CME / magnetic storm bad enough to wipe out the electrical grid nation-wide with restoration taking over a year? Unless we and our rural neighbors band together, we are probably dead 2-6 months later, and even then it is dicey... The older I get, the poorer our chances are.
It took him a month to start a fire?
“Other Unrealistic Expectations of SHTF”
Medical attention. I think that doctors may have the best
chances for survival. I think that lawyers may have the
lowest chances for survival unless they are politicians.
Politicians and government may be the last thing standing.
The biggest thing left out here is in what form will SHTF.
Civil War, economic collapse, invasion, asteroid, etc...
It could be something as simple as a solar mass ejection
taking out the electrical grid. In any of these scenarios
a vagabond could survive as well as a well prepared
prepper. Food is food, there is a difference in palatable
and edible. Survival is all mental. It all depends
on how bad you want to survive.
An excellent, candid evaluation that applies to many where it comes down to determining what steps each of us are willing to take and the potential limits imposed by each choice/non-choice. Your willingness to bring these items out as an adjunct to the article is to commendable.
Prepping is the art of delaying the day you die.
This article makes valid points about skills. I would also raise one’s health and physical abilities. I met one prepper who’s alternate route of last resort included a 15 mile hike over hilly terrain in Colorado. This guy needed oxygen to go grocery shopping. I seriously doubt he would have made the hike.
As we get older or as others in our family get older, we have to take into account those physical limitations.
Living well is the art of delaying the day you die.
This is a good article.
I’m not planning for, or expecting to survive, the “extreme SHTF situation”. I’m planning for, and hoping to manage, a more moderate level of chaos.
If I have guessed wrong and we get TEOTWAWKI, I’ll do the best I can while I can. I’m not all that afraid to die; my eternal future is secure in the LORD.
Reality check done well... thank you.
I have loads of experience but I make no guesses as to how long I would last. All it takes it one goober with a lucky shot or some unforseen mishap to do you in. As has been said so often in military circles, and I paraphrase, you can plan all day long but when the first shot is fired the plans go in the trash most times and you are winging it.
Hope for the best and plan for the worst.
My assessment is that it all comes down to “What are you willing to do to survive?”
The further off the narrow path of civilized behavior you are willing to go, the better your changes of survival, regardless of any prepping.
That is certainly my mantra. I've been involved in several active shooter situations. I've been shot at and been the shooter. Nothing prepares you for that. Nothing. I don't care how much or how little training you have, when you start pulling that trigger, you're relying on your training to automate your response, but psychologically you are never ready.
Preppers’ PING!!
Hat tip to Focault’s Pendulum for the heads up.
First, pretty sure he is a she (Daisy). Second, it took her a month to learn how to get the fire just right....temperature and staying lit....to continuously keep them warm.
Good post. Thanks.
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