Posted on 01/26/2013 8:46:01 PM PST by Theoria
A couple of weeks ago, on a leisurely Sunday afternoon, 40 people gathered at a church in Washington Heights for a show-and-tell session sponsored by the New York City Preppers Network. One by one, they stood in front of the room and exhibited their “bug-out bags,” meticulously packed receptacles filled with equipment meant to see them through the collapse of civilization.
Onto a folding table came a breathtaking array of disaster swag: compasses and iodine pills, hand-cranked radios and solar-powered flashlights, magnesium fire-starters and a fully charged Kindle with digital road maps of the tristate region. Many of the items on display went far beyond the “10 Basic Pillars of Bug-Out Gear” that Jason Charles, the network’s leader, had passed out in advance through the Internet. A good number were tweaked to fit their owners’ needs and interests. A locksmith in the group had a lock-picking set. A vegetarian had a stash of homemade dehydrated lentils. One man had a condom designed to serve as an emergency canteen; another had a rat trap — to catch and eat the rats.
After showing off his own bag (parachute cord, a bivy sack, a two-week supply of Meals Ready to Eat), Mr. Charles, a New York City firefighter, told the group that he had just bought a dog. “So now I have to implement his plan, too,” he said a little worriedly. With a pause and a sheepish look, he added, “That’s weird, right?”
New York hardly seems like a natural location for what has become known as the prepper movement, but in fact the city’s prepping community is not only large and remarkably diverse, its leaders say, it’s also growing rapidly.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
While NYC is certainly safer now than it was in the mid 70s, it won’t stay that way long if the SHTF in a prolonged way. Sandy was very instructive for many who stayed there. I have family in both NY and NJ. All of them took precautions having food, water, and full gas tanks. My uncle and my father both had generators. These precautions helped my family get through the power outages better than most (power was not restored to them for at least 1 week). However, I learned a lot from talking to them. One thing that I have now in my preps that I didn’t have before is cash. While the power is down, there are no ATMS. Stores and restaurants that manage to stay open can’t process debit cards or credit cards. However, they can take cash. So, cash is king if the power is out and Mad Max is not yet ruling the streets.
Maybe this is a dumb question, but if you were preparing for the S to H the F, why would you give an interview and mention your name? Seems to me that thugs would then know where to go to steal supplies...bad OPSEC, if you ask me...
Prepper’s PING!!
Thanks Old Sarge for the heads-up.
“A Kindle seems like a stupid thing to put in a bug out bag.”
I was thinking that, too. Can a Kindle access digital maps without power for sending/receiving wifi?
One of the few good post on the thread! A person doing this would be well advised to study the rivers around New York and keep a tidel chart as the rivers are tidal and you need the tide working with you so you can get as far up stream as possible. I would also advise that you have a cache somewhere up stream NY, NJ or CT as a goal so you can travel light and fast.
I can store maps, tidel charts, first aide instruction you can store any information you want after all a Kindle or such is basical a small data storage device, with it’s communications applications being secondary. As far as power there are any number of light weight back-up power systems available, but I would hope that if a person was aware enough to have a BOB they would be aware enough to conserve power and limit it’s use to the esentials. I mean if you are bugging out it ain’t no time to sit down and watch ‘The Hobbit’.
bttt
You are right, I wouldn’t do it, but I also doubt that ‘Thugs’ were hanging out at the meet or the would read a story or watch a program on prepping. The most dangerous people that you would have to worry about robbing you specifically for your ‘preps’ aren’t ‘Thugs’ its causal acquaintances, friends, neighbors and maybe even family who happen to know you ‘prep’.
We're actually in the state of confusion...
There's a little more room at The Bunker for guests, and the wee Yorkie could come, too. But I'm afraid The Bride might bicker with you on some diagnoses... ;]
Bugging out or bugging in has been a big topic of conversation. I am the only one advocating for bug out, at this time. My reason is I don’t want to be caught behind enemy lines.
If they can’t defend it, they don’t own it.
Yeah, stay put where you already have food, shelter, clothing, medical supplies and defense. You know the lay of the land at home but not so much out there somewhere. Bugging out is dangerous and a last resort.
The author lost me when he said prepping started in the black communities of NYC. Really? Mankind has prepped for eons. I don’t know how he learned prepping from Deliverance when everyone else learned to run like heck when some hillbilly starts squealing like a pig.
I’m curious where all the preppers are stowing their caches. Many claim they have hidden caches every few miles along their escape routes. Where? Private land? The idiot who starts digging a hole on my land might as well dig to 6 feet because that’s my land. Public parks? Those aren’t that close together and if the ranger caught you, you’d be in deep doodoo.
Really, no one knows how the SHTF scenario will play out. Yes, it could be sudden with a war, financial collapse, or civil war. But, it could also play out very slowly as it did in Eastern Europe after WW2.
Back then, before and shortly after the war, most of the businesses providing staples such as food, clothing, and to a lesser extent, energy, were small business concerns. Large corporations were not the mainstay. However, communists governments came in and nationalized and consolidated all aspects of large industries autos, steel, coal, food. Small business died because they lost market share and were taxed out of existence. As small business died, competition decreased, and the communist East bloc nations become progressively poorer. Innovation and advances in technology apparently could not take root, and economic progress was not possible. The whole society, save the elites, became progressively poorer.
Obama’s model appears to be directed at destroying small business and essentially nationalizing large corporations. As in Eastern Europe, we too may see a slow draining away of wealth, over decades, until a critical collapse occurs.
“A Kindle seems like a stupid thing to put in a bug out bag.”
“I was thinking that, too.”
I have a Kindle and it talks by Wifi to Amazon to download books. You could download a book of maps but can’t use it to roam around the internet.
I have a solar panel to charge it and other devices but you can’t take a fairly large solar panel with you if you have to leave. In that emergency of leaving New York, taking a Kindle is...stupid.
It’s not perfect - no plan in NYC would be - but it’s the backup I had in mind when I considered taking a NYC job long ago. I like your links too; it’s hard to think of NYC as beautiful and tranquil, but paddling before sunrise would make all the difference.
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