[familyop]

"I agree with him that a cohesive subdivision is more defensible than spread out multi-acre or larger parcels. One family CANNOT defend one property in the open country from patient attack or sneak attack. The bad guys will also have scoped deer rifles."

Agreed for most such "spread out" areas but not all. Imagine such a huge area with no trees, all private roads, good ground, extreme cold most of the year, extreme distances of visibility, ordinarily higher winds, commensurate construction and residents who take advantage of those conditions with respect to firearms (think ranges of distance, weights of rounds and bore lube types), training and other considerations. ...even better with camera surveillance with software motion detection, alarms (both electronic and animal) and good, sustainable private power plants (over 300 sun days per year with not much atmosphere overhead).

I know that you've seen results in urban training with the more expensive military "laser tag" gear (you and I know the acronym) and whole battalion-sized elements going against only a handful defending from a position. ;-)

But yes, most rural areas do have many trees around them and low visibility, and numbers and potential volume (fire) would help in those circumstances.

[familyop]

I don’t expect the radical SHTF scenario, BTW, although default is likely. Remember cultural differences between the USA and less developed countries along with the fact that some of the events reported by Fernando were sporadic ones, mentioned in anecdotes about locations distant from his.

Others have mentioned experiences in Iraq, including one gentleman who described himself as a combat specialty veteran (said he was infantry, but who knows). The USA is not likely to have an ethnic civil war soon. Ethnic civil wars are far worse than other civil wars. Economic poorness alone is far less worse than either.

And you (all) may or may not have experience with having spent much time in a poor area of a poor country. Whole different scenario there. Generally peaceful but potentially frustrating and depressing. The technically inclined w/ rough, tough work ethics tend to do relatively well in those places and times.

[Travis McGee]

In general, I don’t want to wind up in a Waco/Alamo/Ruby Ridge standoff.

Make mine mobile.