Posted on 04/03/2012 11:13:52 AM PDT by blam
Read This First Before You Decide That Preppers Are Crazy
April 2, 2012
Michael Snyder
Do you believe that preppers are a few cards short of a full deck? Do you assume that anyone that is "preparing for doomsday" does not have their elevator going all the way to the top floor? Well, you might want to read this first before you make a final decision that all preppers are crazy. The information that you are about to read shook me up a bit when I first looked it over. To be honest, I had no idea how incredibly vulnerable our economic system is to a transportation disruption. I am continually getting emails and comments on my websites asking "how to prepare" for what is coming, so when I came across this information I knew that I had to share it with all of you. Hopefully what you are about to read will motivate you to prepare like never before, and hopefully you will share this information with others.
Originally, I was going to write an article about the rising unemployment in Europe today. Did you know that unemployment in the eurozone is now at a 15 year high? It has risen for 10 months in a row with no end in sight.
But I have written dozens of articles about the economic crisis in Europe already. So before starting on that article I started thinking of all the "preparation" questions I have been getting lately and I went over and checked out one of my favorite preparation websites: shtfplan.com.
Well, an article had just been posted over there about a report put out by the American Trucker Associations entitled "When Trucks Stop, America Stops".
I went and found that original report and I was stunned as I read it.
The truth is that our "just in time" inventory and delivery systems leave us incredibly vulnerable to a nationwide disaster.
You see, it is very expensive to hold and store inventory, so most manufacturers and retailers rely on a continual flow of deliveries that are scheduled to arrive "just in time", and this significantly reduces their operating expenses.
This is considered to be good business practice for manufacturers and retailers, but it also means that if there was a major nationwide transportation disruption that our economic system would grind to a halt almost immediately.
Once store shelves are picked clean, they would not be able to be replenished until trucks could get back on the road. In the event of a major nationwide disaster, that could be quite a while.
So what could potentially cause a nationwide transportation shutdown?
Well, it is easy to imagine a lot of potential scenarios - a volcanic eruption, a historic earthquake, an EMP attack, a solar megastorm, a war, a major terror attack, an asteroid strike, a killer pandemic, mass rioting in U.S. cities, or even martial law.
If something caused the trucks to stop running, life in America would immediately start changing.
So exactly what would that look like?
The following is an excerpt from the report mentioned above put out by the American Trucker Associations entitled "When Trucks Stop, America Stops"....
*****
A Timeline Showing the Deterioration of Major Industries Following a Truck Stoppage
The first 24 hours
• Delivery of medical supplies to the affected area will cease.
• Hospitals will run out of basic supplies such as syringes and catheters within hours. Radiopharmaceuticals will deteriorate and become unusable.
• Service stations will begin to run out of fuel.
• Manufacturers using just-in-time manufacturing will develop component shortages.
• U.S. mail and other package delivery will cease.
Within one day
• Food shortages will begin to develop.
• Automobile fuel availability and delivery will dwindle, leading to skyrocketing prices and long lines at the gas pumps.
• Without manufacturing components and trucks for product delivery, assembly lines will shut down, putting thousands out of work.
Within two to three days
• Food shortages will escalate, especially in the face of hoarding and consumer panic.
• Supplies of essentials—such as bottled water, powdered milk, and canned meat—at major retailers will disappear.
• ATMs will run out of cash and banks will be unable to process transactions.
• Service stations will completely run out of fuel for autos and trucks.
• Garbage will start piling up in urban and suburban areas.
• Container ships will sit idle in ports and rail transport will be disrupted, eventually coming to a standstill.
Within a week
• Automobile travel will cease due to the lack of fuel. Without autos and busses, many people will not be able to get to work, shop for groceries, or access medical care.
• Hospitals will begin to exhaust oxygen supplies.
Within two weeks
• The nation’s clean water supply will begin to run dry.
Within four weeks
• The nation will exhaust its clean water supply and water will be safe for drinking only after boiling. As a result gastrointestinal illnesses will increase, further taxing an already weakened health care system.
This timeline presents only the primary effects of a freeze on truck travel. Secondary effects must be considered as well, such as inability to maintain telecommunications service, reduced law enforcement, increased crime, increased illness and injury, higher death rates, and likely, civil unrest.
*****
Earlier in the report, the reasons why America's water supply would be in such jeopardy are described in greater detail....
According to the American Water Works Association, Americans drink more than one billion glasses of tap water per day. For safety and security reasons, most water supply plants maintain a larger inventory of supplies than the typical business. However, the amount of chemical storage varies significantly and is site specific. According to the Chlorine Institute, most water treatment facilities receive chlorine in cylinders (150 pounds and one ton cylinders) that are delivered by motor carriers. On average, trucks deliver purification chemicals to water supply plants every seven to 14 days. Without these chemicals, water cannot be purified and made safe for drinking.
Without truck deliveries of purification chemicals, water supply plants will run out of drinkable water in 14 to 28 days. Once the water supply is drained, water will be deemed safe for drinking only when boiled. Lack of clean drinking water will lead to increased gastrointestinal and other illnesses, further taxing an already weakened healthcare system.
Can you see why I always recommend that you make sure that you and your family have access to fresh water and a way to purify it?
This report should be very sobering for all of us.
What would you and your family do if you had no food, no clean water and the stores were shut down because their supplies were gone?
An article by Tess Pennington entitled "Emergency Items: What Will Disappear First" contains a list of 100 things that are likely to disappear from store shelves first. The following are the first 10 things on her list....
1. Generators (Good ones cost dearly. Gas storage, risky. Noisy…target of thieves; maintenance etc.)
2. Water Filters/Purifiers
3. Portable Toilets
4. Seasoned Firewood. Wood takes about 6 – 12 months to become dried, for home uses.
5. Lamp Oil, Wicks, Lamps (First Choice: Buy CLEAR oil. If scarce, stockpile ANY!)
6. Coleman Fuel. Impossible to stockpile too much.
7. Guns, Ammunition, Pepper Spray, Knives, Clubs, Bats & Slingshots.
8. Hand-can openers, & hand egg beaters, whisks.
9. Honey/Syrups/white, brown sugar
10. Rice – Beans – Wheat
You can find the rest of the list right here.
Most Americans just assume that they will always be able to run out to the supermarket or to Wal-Mart and buy anything that they need.
But if the trucks stop running that will change almost overnight.
After reading the information above, does anyone out there still believe that preppers are crazy?
The truth is that there are good, solid reasons why millions of Americans have been storing up food, water filters and other supplies.
Our world is becoming increasingly unstable, and all of us need to get educated about how to prepare for the difficult years that are coming.
One nightmarish event can change everything that we take for granted in a single moment.
Just remember what happened after Hurricane Katrina. Even though that was only a regional disaster, millions of people had their lives completely turned upside down by that tragedy.
Don't make the mistake of assuming that just because the U.S. has always known tremendous peace and prosperity since World War II that things will always be that way.
Our lives will only continue to be "normal" as long as the trucks continue running.
When the trucks stop running in America, there will be mass chaos.
Are you prepared for that?
And apparently hopes to be standing right there beside the Lord when he "asks them (Preppers) about how they used their resources and time and talent for Him."
And PP apparently can see what is in their hearts, because she posts: "Preppers are prepping for themselves. If they happen to feel magnanimous, maybe some will feed others, but me thinks not so much."
I guess this type "neighbor" is at the opposite end of the scale from the "I'll just shoot them and take all their stuff".
Neither PP, nor the "I'll just shoot them" neighbor apparently wants to take any action, other than post "look at the crazy Preppers" comments on FR Prepper threads.
I would consider PP to be an equivalent thread troll, just using a different justification for trolling Prepper threads.
Both types of posters behave like "moths to a flame" on a Prepper thread, eh?
I must admit though, I would be curious to see how her car drives with her husband "filling in" for a flat tire, since she states she doesn't need a spare because "she has a husband."
LOL, maybe he's already used to going round-n-round with her?
The ‘noise’ is a major concern (and ‘whoever’ would likely know exactly what you are doing)
Although, if they come-a-knockin with evil intentions, they’ll only knock once.
A solar oven will bake bread. Though as JR says, it might attract attention, as will other cooking aromas, so you may want to go with a quicker cooking flat bread such as pita bread.
http://solarcooking.org/recipes/bread.htm
http://solarovenchef.blogspot.com/search/label/bread
bttt
Proper eating will buy time. Study up on the Atkins Diet aka Low Carbohydrates. Simply put - eat strictly meat and restrict carbohydrate intake to those fruits (berries) and vegetables (greens, summer squash and coniferous vegs like broccoli and cauliflower) which are low on the scale.
So, there was this major snowstorm that shutdown DC and much of Virginia and Maryland for about a week. Many folks were without electricity for about that. The newspaper had a grocery store pictured....the shelves were picked bare save for some lemons in the produce section -- the headline was "When Life Gives You Lemons."
My worthless supplies? I had seasoned firewood that heated my house. My neighbors with only the electric furnace did without until they came to my house. I had plenty of dry goods, a generator, and extra water. Water you ask? Water doesn't magically come out of the faucet in a rural area when there is no electricity to run the pump.
Once whatever is in the filter/basin is gone, you're hosed. It is better to allow the water to slowly drip and hope the power comes back before it is empty....rather than use it al up and have the pipes freeze. I was crazy right up until the temperature in the house dropped below comfortable, water wouldn't come out of the faucet, and the bellies started to rumble. It was less than 24 hours that my cell phone rang (that I can charge with a hand crank radio) and I was taken up on my offer.
Aside from SPAM and powdered milk......charcoal is good to store. It helps decontaminate an NBC environment. TECNU for poison ivy is also good too (its original purpose). Having a basic dental kit, manuals, and 1st aid helps too. As does, IV bags, catheters, extra tubing and on and on and on. Preparing doesn't end.
I've also made it through hurricanes and other natural disasters. I'm charitable, but watching the 'too-little and too-lates' show up at Wal Mart can almost be a spectator sport.
A bottle jack and tire tool won't help you if your car bursts into flames either, but that doesn't mean you go without them; you may get lucky and only have a flat.
It is only silly until you need what you don't have. Situations turn desperate really quick.
I guess I'll just have to accept some people didn't learn from the ant and the grasshopper story.....unfortunately those results won't be entertaining.
Always good to be prepared. I’ll be up in the wilderness with a large extended family if STHF. 100 acres far away from the city.
G-d bless the child who’s got his own.
You ever hear of Noah?
That is why I have an advantage IF I can get back home, which would be the first thing we do once I'm on code red.
1. I think most of the citiots are going to either go after the suburbs or going south where its warmer. I'm going north to family property in the woods and planned my route away from the burbs/cities. I'm not worried about the neighbors there. They know us and we'll help each other.
2. Even if they go north, the citiots will have to go 100+ miles into unknown territory and face 20+ people all armed, plus getting past neighbors, cold weather, and bears. Now we're reasonable people and happy to help and trade if needed. No freebies, but everyone has skills of some sort. We aren't going to be nice to those with bad intentions though. They would be bear or coyote food.
Act 2 opens when the zombies start leaving the central cities heading for the suburbs and the rural areas beyond.
(Think of Hurricaner Katrina and New Orleans only no one is coming to bring food and water to the unprepared.)
Act 3 is when they get to our neighborhoods. First a trickle - just a few dozen. But in no tme at all there will be hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands.
They will be like a plague of primate locusts, devouring and stripping everything they encounter. When they move on there will be nothing but remaining but devastation, bodies and bones.
Excerpt from "Foreign Enemies And Traitors" by Matt Bracken:
Click for Author's Web Site and more excerpts
"It was terrifying every minute. You couldn't sleep a wink, even after three days. We were hoping and praying that the people outside would just go away and leave us alone! It was raining hard, and the people outside kept yelling and demanding that we let them in. They were banging on the front door and kicking on it, getting madder and madder because we wouldn't let them in. My father yelled back that he had a shotgun and he would shoot if they came in, but it was just a bluff. He didn't believe in guns, remember? Not until he really needed one--and then he only had a make-believe gun. It was quiet for a little while after he said he had a shotgun.We thought his bluff had worked, but then big rocks came crashing through some of our windows, paving stones from our walkway and our garden. Right after that, our front door was smashed in with a metal pole, I think from a street sign. They demolished the door and pushed right over the table we had against it. My father was standing there with his ax raised, and that was the last I saw of him. He never had a chance. A whole gang of men rushed in at once, and they were climbing through the smashed windows too. They all had knives and spears and clubs. I ran for the cellar, praying that nobody saw me. I think they were all focused on my father because he had an ax.
"I ran down the steps and crawled backwards into my spot behind the old oil furnace. The furnace was cold because we didn't use it anymore since we switched to gas heat, and of course the gas stopped during the earthquake. So we had two different furnaces that didn't work. Anyway, I'd found some plywood scraps to cover my little hiding place behind the furnace, like a false wall. I was sitting on the floor in a little ball, not moving an inch. All I could do was pray. Hold onto my carving knife, and pray.
"The worst part of it was I could hear my mother upstairs screaming. The sound came down through the air ducts to the old furnace right next to me. She screamed and cried for at least an hour, until her cries grew weaker and then they stopped. I felt like such a coward, hiding in the cellar. I could hear them stomping around upstairs, knocking things over and raising hell, looking for food. They must have found the liquor cabinet, because when they finally came down to the cellar, they were drunk. I don't think they even realized there was a cellar in the house; they were probably just checking closet doors and found it by accident."
Gaffer, I hear what you’re saying about preppers going on TV and talking about their preps and looking crazy, but the even crazier thing is that people are listening and paying attention!! I’ve been getting more emails from teenagers and young people than ever before. Doomsday Preppers, however overblown, is causing more people to think about being prepared.
Now what do you all think about Dancing With the Stars? I think little Laura Ingles (A.K.A. Melissa Gilbert) is awesome but she won't make it to the end...
BTTT
Oh my! How did civilization make it this far? How did we ever survive without trucks, air conditioning, garbage disposals and prozac? Personally, I find it hard to go a day without a good ole Lady Gaga song. What’s life without Air Jordans and Pay-per-view?! Oh the humanity!/s
Preppers aren’t crazy. They’re the most sane amongst us. Imagine, it’s now crazy to provide yourself with the basics and not rely on anyone else to provide it for you.
One thing to remember is if you live in an area that is only assessable to the outside world by a bridge and if we have major celestial disturbances you could loose all access to the area outside of where you live. How many of use drive to work every day and cross over overpasses and bridges? Just imagine what it would be like if all the bridges were to collapse.
” One thing to remember is if you live in an area that is only assessable to the outside world by a bridge and if we have major celestial disturbances you could loose all access to the area outside of where you live. “
One of our contingency plans in case of a real SHTF/Zombie Migration occurence is to drop the bridges at each end of town...
Isolation can be a real blessing, under some extreme circumstances...
I expect many to collapse at the hand of man in a SHTF scenario.
(ahem)How will the FEMA trucks with all the food get to you?
” ahem)How will the FEMA trucks with all the food get to you? “
Black helicopters, my FRiend - black helicopters...
;)
I knew that!
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