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!!!!
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.
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.
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.
Preppers’ PING!!
Hat tip to Focault’s Pendulum for the heads up.
Good post. Thanks.
For the most part bugging out is a bad idea. Only the most extreme circumstances should move you from your home. That being said... It is good practice to keep up on skills that could save your life. Can you fix your own car? Patch a tire? Thaw frozen pipes? Purify water? Don’t forget the simple things.
While I am all for prepping I have to deal with the fact that my wife is not. She goes along with some things and rolls her eyes. I know for a fact I need to get out and exercise a lot more as I have put on 30 pounds in the last year since I now have a desk job. I’m pretty sure we have enough to hold us for a short time and then enough to get us to our alternate destination. After that it would be pretty rough.
Anyone else have difficulty getting your spouse on the prepping wagon?
Found my new tagline.
Anyway, survival is just a means to an end. My bugout supplies include raspberry pies (not edible) plus spare parts and portable power (solar plus battery). Granted I will get shot and maybe eaten, but I will get some code written before that.
The reality is......
.....I am so screwed.
"We don't have to kill animals. I get my meat from the store!"
The most important survival tool, by far, is your brain. Not panicking is the single most important thing one can do.
I’m lucky, living where I do I can be petty certain of e scenario I am peppering for (earthquake). Strictly going by ‘point of diminishing returns’ in my prepping. I’ll learn from those who expect and prep for a complete societal collapse, but getting by the two to three weeks after a big quake is my focus.
Great article!
Bttt.
5.56mm
I’m too busted up to survive long term in chaos. I’m not sure of the point of my long term survival anyway.