my shtf expirience-wartime

Survivalist Boards ^ | 9/6/11 | Selco

[Kartographer]

OK, i wanna share with you my own experience. (be patient with my English, i am from far away ) I am from Bosnia, and as some of you may know it was hell here from 92-95, anyway, for 1 whole year i lived and survived in a city of 50 000- 60 000 residents WITHOUT: electricity, fuel,running water,real food distribution, or distribution of any goods, or any kind of organized law or government.The city was surrounded for 1 year and in that city actually it was SHTF situation. (SNIP) Some of us was better prepared, but most of families had food for couple of days, some of us had pistol, few owned AK-47 when all started.

Anyway, after one month or two, gangs started with their nasty job,hospital looked like butchery, police force vanished, 80 percent of hospital staff gone home. I was lucky, my family was big in that time (15 members in one big house, 5-6 pistols, 3 Kalashnikov s) so we lived and survived, most of us. (SNIP) After three months rumors started abouth first deaths from starvation,deaths from low temperatures, we stripped every door , window frame from abandoned houses for heating, i burned all my own furniture for heating, lot of people died from diseases, mostly from bad water (two of my family members), we used rain water for drink, several times i ate pigeons, once i ate rat. Money did not worth sh..

we traded things, black market worked, few examples: for 1 corned beef can you could have woman for couple of hours(sounds bad, but it was reality) i remember, most of that womans were just desperate mothers, candles, lighters,antibiotics,fuel,batteries, rifle ammo and of course food, we fight like animals for that.

[wyokostur]

bump for later

[Armedanddangerous]

I like spam..always have. guess it came from that monty python skit or something.

[MHGinTN]

As an ex-pharmaceutical sales person (cardiovascular specialist) I would recommend having a Merck Manual and a PDR on hand with the veterinarian meds. The PDR (Physician's Desk Reference) lists medications and the full disclosure data on each will let you see what it is used for and dosage for body size/weight. The Merck Manual will help you identify an infection or malady and read of accepted treatment regime.

BTW, a very good supply of Vodka will be a life saver in some cases, and a great trading commodity.

[blam]

Spam

[MHGinTN]

I just finished reading this thread and didn't see anyone mention Coconut oil ... it has anti-fungal quality and is a good ‘fat’ to cook with. There are lots of ‘natural’ items which should be on survivalist lists, not just Clorox blue top ... but that one is an excellent anti-microbial and water purification chemical.

[MHGinTN]

Coconut oil makes a good base for preparing salves and poltices. Topical anti-microbials will be a necessity and you can prepare them from a lot of onhand items if you have a good Crisco or Coconut oil base. Our ancestors used lard as a base for many topicals.

[ChowChowFace]

bfl

[little jeremiah]

Bleach has a pretty short shelf life; can’t remember but IIRC it’s less than a year. It reverts back to salt or something; sorry I am not more specific. But I have opened a bottle of bleach years ago that I’d had around for a long time and it wasn’t bleach any more.

The survival-y websites usually discuss that and know the shelf life.

I have a Berkefeld water purifier plus good well water so I don’t worry about bleach.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Feminists have no idea how quickly the “status of women” will revert to Dark Ages levels in a SHTF scenario. They simply don’t care to consider it.

[MHGinTN]

Short term, use the bleach. Beyond six months use the water purification system.

[101stAirborneVet]

I spent a little over a year in Bosnia in 1997. It was remarkable and extremely unnerving to see entire neighborhoods, eerily similar to middle-class American neighborhoods, reduced to squalor. Families roasted animals over spits in their yards, had burn barrels in the living rooms of their 4-bedroom homes for heat, and were only beginning to have some degree of calm. One family offered us their young daughter (she was probably 9 or 10 years old) for a while in exchange for supplies. Being American soldiers, we made it quite clear to the father we did not approve (I am certain he got our message).

It was a very desperate situation. Of utmost importance is the description by Selco of the normal lives these people led until the rapid descent of their society into anarchy.

The man speaks absolute truth, I saw it myself.

[21twelve]

Bunp for later. Was just working with a guy from Bosnia/Serbia (he had lived in both places). He made some comment about how “No one needs 1000 rounds of ammunition. They should just go house to house and get them and the guns. That’s what they did after our war.”

I told him that “Thank God I live in the U.S. of A. - where it is a God-given right to have guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. And if they ever came door to door - I’d probably be dead, but their would be a lot of them dead too.”

I’m guessing the next time they have a war over there and under seige it will be even harder without families having the proper firearms for defense, hunting, trading.

[LowOiL]

16 pages in and still reading. Thanks for link.

[PA Engineer]

Short term, use the bleach. Beyond six months use the water purification system.

You can also use Calcium Hypochlorite to make bleach. It must be stored in an airtight container. Canning jars with plastic lids work well and will not corrode. The original pool shock containers are not air tight and anything within a couple feet will corrode.

[MaxMax]

/Bump

[ozarkgirl]

And don’t forget the soap!

Remember reading one ladies account, also from Bosnia. Went forever without a bath and was saying people do not realize how uplifting it is just to be able to feel clean. Morale is low and she felt so blessed and morally uplifted when she was finally able to shower! She went months or a year or something (been awhile since I read it) before she was able to shower.

[ozarkgirl]

And don’t forget the soap!

Remember reading one ladies account, also from Bosnia. Went forever without a bath and was saying people do not realize how uplifting it is just to be able to feel clean. Morale is low and she felt so blessed and morally uplifted when she was finally able to shower! She went months or a year or something (been awhile since I read it) before she was able to shower.

[central_va]

Maybe Trojan™ and Spam™ could hook up. Have a complimentary condom attached to each can of Spam™.

[appalachian_dweller]

FM short wave radio might be useful for communication with nearby townships.

Thoughts?

[Kartographer]

The problem with 'blue' top Clorox is it has a shelf life.

A little known problem with long term storage of bleach in your disaster emergency supply cache is that it degrades over time. Consulting a Chlorox bleach representative produced this statement:

“We recommend storing our bleach at room temperatures. It can be stored for about 6 months at temperatures between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. After this time, bleach will be begin to degrade at a rate of 20% each year until totally degraded to salt and water. Storing at temperatures much higher than 70 degrees Fahrenheit could cause the bleach to lose its effectiveness and degrade more rapidly. However, if you require 6% sodium hypochlorite, you should change your supply every 3 months.”

You are better off storing calcium hypochlorite (pool shock). Not only good for treating water, but you can make up your own solution to use as a cleaning/disinfecting agent.