Prepping

[Revi]

Here's a great article on prepping and why we should do it. What do you think? I think he states the case for prepping and having a bug out place very well in the first few paragraphs.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-pos ... t-location

We have a plan B, and a bug out place. I think it's a good idea considering what could happen. We live there all summer. It would suck to spend the winter there, but it could be done.

[careinke]

Well I live on plan B for the rest of my family. I'm fairly happy with it. I am off the beaten path and zombie hoards would pretty stupid to head towards me since I am down a peninsula that goes nowhere. There are numerous other property owners around me that also work towards sustainability and developing community/localization goals. Plus, I've hooked into the alternate/underground economy.

I did think it was a pretty decent article.

[AgentR11]

Plan A: Don't look different than everyone else.
Plan B: Don't let anyone know you have a plan B.
Plan C: Don't have it, but hey, where'd Agent and Co. go?


Really creeped me out a few weeks back when a neighbor put all the ducks in a row and figured out I had something seriously against depending on fossil fuels... eeek! busted!

[vtsnowedin]

The day may come when you have to turn away neighbors, friends and even family that want to share your shelter and food supply. You will turn them away because they have contributed nothing to the stockpile and feeding them would ensure the starvation of some of those that did contribute. If they refuse to go you will have to shoot them. This will be the hardest thing you have ever done but if you fail to do so you and yours will join those destined to starve.
This is why preppers often want to have a secret hideout or bunker where they go to wait out the starving and dieing of the unprepared masses so they don't have to raise their hand against people they know.
Considering all factors I think this is a one chance in a hundred possibility but even a one percent chance gives one pause for thought.

[Lore]

The solo bunker mentality is for rubes. The macho redneck fascination of people thinking that they can hide out and outlast the next guy completely unscathed once they resurface is pure Stallone movie fantasy.

[vtsnowedin]

The solo bunker mentality is for rubes. The macho redneck fascination of people thinking that they can hide out and outlast the next guy completely unscathed once they resurface is pure Stallone movie fantasy.

It certainly has it's problems, but what is the better alternative? The soloist does not have to convince anyone else to follow him nor does he need to find a leader to follow. He can make a decision and move on it which might save his bacon while others dither attempting to reach compromise and consensus.
Of course the soloist is limited to the extent of his own intelligence,preparation and luck and perhaps only one in a hundred will survive but there is the real possibility that ten out of ten "transition Communities" or the like will fail if they set up poor leadership structures.

[Lore]

The solo bunker mentality is for rubes. The macho redneck fascination of people thinking that they can hide out and outlast the next guy completely unscathed once they resurface is pure Stallone movie fantasy.

It certainly has it's problems, but what is the better alternative? The soloist does not have to convince anyone else to follow him nor does he need to find a leader to follow. He can make a decision and move on it which might save his bacon while others dither attempting to reach compromise and consensus.
Of course the soloist is limited to the extent of his own intelligence,preparation and luck and perhaps only one in a hundred will survive but there is the real possibility that ten out of ten "transition Communities" or the like will fail if they set up poor leadership structures.

You only have to ask yourself, what great empires were created in solitude? As the saying goes, 'no man is an island'. Compromise and consensus is part of the social human condition, no escape from it. A solo act is like a lone wolf outcast, ripe for some pack to pick them off.

[vtsnowedin]

[You only have to ask yourself, what great empires were created in solitude? As the saying goes, 'no man is an island'. Compromise and consensus is part of the social human condition, no escape from it. A solo act is like a lone wolf outcast, ripe for some pack to pick them off.

Excellent point but throughout history tribal chiefs, kings, warlords and dictators have prevailed much more often then senates and congresses. The Romans chose a dictator in times of war. The allies selected a "Supreme allied commander" Eisenhower, in world war two. Both examples were due to picking one central authority giving the best chance of winning.

[Lore]

[You only have to ask yourself, what great empires were created in solitude? As the saying goes, 'no man is an island'. Compromise and consensus is part of the social human condition, no escape from it. A solo act is like a lone wolf outcast, ripe for some pack to pick them off.

Excellent point but throughout history tribal chiefs, kings, warlords and dictators have prevailed much more often then senates and congresses. The Romans chose a dictator in times of war. The allies selected a "Supreme allied commander" Eisenhower, in world war two. Both examples were due to picking one central authority giving the best chance of winning.

I don't think that has much to do with survival as a reason for community. More to do with how the community deals with its politics.

[AgentR11]

Solo sucks. Might as well be dead anyway.
I'm not here just to count out a clock.

Not that I much talk to people, but I like them being around doing people things.

[Shaved Monkey]

Our little group of excess swappers have just made a pact to to start growing more than we need.
Ive planted heaps more beans,potatoes, tomatoes and peas and asian greens than I could ever eat.
Its the best prep you can have.
Give it away ,swap, enjoy a better lifestyle,improve the lifestyle of your community,way better than hoarding and sleeping with shot guns under your pillow.
Its addictive.

[vtsnowedin]

Most of the bunker type preppers are building for themselves and their immediate family not just a one man or one woman show. If their prediction proves true and they survive the die off until after the Zombie hoard has passed them by or just passed away they will emerge and start over with what ever is left around them. Their neighbors will be the family in the next bunker over and the community will be a collection of bunker families headed by very strong-willed heads of household.
Their biggest problem will be producing adequate food supplies before the bunker stocks are exhausted and perhaps defending those crops from pilferage with no working government in place. I expect survivors will band together in groups large enough to provide round the clock guards so others can work undisturbed.

[Revi]

I think you have to be away from the great mass of people, but not too isolated. Having a plan is a good thing. Use your bugout area as a place to go during weekends and vacations. Get to know people and set yourself up a little. I don't think your bug out has to be a bunker stocked with freeze dried food, but that is an option. It just needs to be a place to go to if it gets crazy at your primary residence. I don't think the town we live in now would fare well if things get worse. Therefore another place to go to is a form of insurance. There are lots of potential scenarios that involve leaving a place. It's nice to have another place, even if it never gets used as a bugout.

[Revi]

Here's a place that is gutted out already, but could make a great place to bug out to. It's in a beautiful area, surrounded by really nice mountains. http://www.tcreal.com/search/displayListing/1053533
It's in a very quiet hamlet.
http://newportlandmaine.org/

[Lore]

I think you have to be away from the great mass of people, but not too isolated. Having a plan is a good thing. Use your bugout area as a place to go during weekends and vacations. Get to know people and set yourself up a little. I don't think your bug out has to be a bunker stocked with freeze dried food, but that is an option. It just needs to be a place to go to if it gets crazy at your primary residence. I don't think the town we live in now would fare well if things get worse. Therefore another place to go to is a form of insurance. There are lots of potential scenarios that involve leaving a place. It's nice to have another place, even if it never gets used as a bugout.

Good advice, a lot of these soloists think that they can build a bunker hidden in the woods 5 hours from their real world, just waiting for the day of reckoning to beat a trail there.

First, they have to get there if something sudden happens. Second if it isn't a panic ride, they still are strangers to the community that surrounds them. I know for a fact where I live right now, my neighbors and I are not going to greet strangers, in such a situation, with open arms and an invitation to sit around the camp fire singing kumbaya, when they resurface from under their rock.

[Whitefang]

Why not bit of both?

Store some loot on secret locations and have experience in hunting/fishing/gathering/herbal medicine, in short survival skills in the wild. Choose a basecamp and be ready to leave when needed.
Make shelter, find fresh water.......have hardly anything to defend but your own impeccability.
Travel with children is slow but you can scout like the indians and hide your family in the woods.
No need to bury yourself and wait it out.

[davep]

From the article:

If you don’t have a community of preppers around you, you have nothing.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. The neighbours don't need to be like-minded preppers. They just need to be practical farming types with guns, chickens etc and enough of a sense of community to start a militia should the need arise.

[davep]

Here's a better article (IMO) on the "Strategic Advantages Of Community Building":

ZeroHedge

[AgentR11]

The neighbours don't need to be like-minded preppers. They just need to be practical farming types with guns, chickens etc and enough of a sense of community to start a militia should the need arise.

Agree. There's no magic associated with a buy-in to doom or prepping, just practical, rural skills, experience, ties whatever. As conditions change for the worse, they'll adjust, lowered expectations, ability to grow sufficient a CALORIE count for family (and often neighbors, gardens scale funny), lack of true need for modern gadgets.. They'll be fine. Maybe they're preppers by default, simply because its what they've always done. My grandmother wasn't a prepper, just an old church going lady, peaches or berries come in, and her dinky kitchen would turn into a food processing plant, putting up a hundred plus jars of delicious goodies; corn, peas, beans, same deal, freezer boxes by the gross filled with calorie laden food. Other stuff dried, preserved, whatever. Its just what she did. A sizable, well stocked and managed pantry was simply core to her way of life, things could be no other way.

[vtsnowedin]

[ My grandmother wasn't a prepper, just an old church going lady, peaches or berries come in, and her dinky kitchen would turn into a food processing plant, putting up a hundred plus jars of delicious goodies; corn, peas, beans, same deal, freezer boxes by the gross filled with calorie laden food. Other stuff dried, preserved, whatever. Its just what she did. A sizable, well stocked and managed pantry was simply core to her way of life, things could be no other way.

I hope you paid close attention to how she did all that. Might save you and yours.