a boring survival thread, peace and harmony

survival stuff on ATS is usually about the best gun or how to live for a month with nothing but a knife and a piece of string. this stuff is probably the most enjoyable stuff to imagine but realistically it is not how things are going to work out.

initially, your buried supplies are going to be a god send, i'm sure, but two weeks later it might seem a long walk to go dig that stuff up. you may wish you thought the whole thing through a little more.

all this taking down deer with a stick and two big stones survivalism might possibly, at a stretch, be useful but realistically, there is practically no sitx i can think of that would make individualist survival a preferable solution in anything but the short term.

in most sitx's, you're probably looking at rural, farmstead community living asap after the shtf. you need to think about community living and what skills you can contribute to a small community. you need something you can trade on.

basic carpentry, metal working, stone masonry, basket making, basic vegetable growing skills, boat building, net making or something practical like that is going to be far more beneficial to you in the medium to long term than knowing how to make a snare or a shelter from leaves and twigs.

maybe chaos will ensue from a meltdown but i doubt it, it doesn't make practical sense. it is never a good idea to try to take something by force where doing it peacefully is possible. most people that would survive initially in sitx are probably smart enough to figure this out and the ones that don't will not last long.

i'm not saying that preparing for the first week isn't important, i'm saying that preparing for the rest of your life is important as well. it's just something i think needs a little discussion.

[edit on 29/1/09 by pieman]

you're right that was boring.

so what is it you're trying to say? don't try to attack a deer with a stick??

Originally posted by pieman
survival stuff on ATS is usually about the best gun or how to live for a month with nothing but a knife and a piece of string. this stuff is probably the most enjoyable stuff to imagine but realistically it is not how things are going to work out.

initially, your buried supplies are going to be a god send, i'm sure, but two weeks later it might seem a long walk to go dig that stuff up. you may wish you thought the whole thing through a little more.

all this taking down deer with a stick and two big stones survivalism might possibly, at a stretch, be useful but realistically, there is practically no sitx i can think of that would make individualist survival a preferable solution in anything but the short term.

in most sitx's, you're probably looking at rural, farmstead community living asap after the shtf. you need to think about community living and what skills you can contribute to a small community. you need something you can trade on.

basic carpentry, metal working, stone masonry, basket making, basic vegetable growing skills, boat building, net making or something practical like that is going to be far more beneficial to you in the medium to long term than knowing how to make a snare or a shelter from leaves and twigs.

maybe chaos will ensue from a meltdown but i doubt it, it doesn't make practical sense. it is never a good idea to try to take something by force where doing it peacefully is possible. most people that would survive initially in sitx are probably smart enough to figure this out and the ones that don't will not last long.

i'm not saying that preparing for the first week isn't important, i'm saying that preparing for the rest of your life is important as well. it's just something i think needs a little discussion.

[edit on 29/1/09 by pieman]

Yup you are describing the " Rambo" effect of survivalist, its that that uisually gets the single young guy slightly bored with life dreaming about being the armed to the teeth hero in a post apocalyptic world, usually when you read their posts you pretty soon undetrstand its just wishful thinking on many parts, big gun, big, knife, big truck, no law etc. Ruisjhing out into the boonies armed to the teeth surviving like John Thomas Rourke etc. But as you say its the slightly more tedious planning, prep and skill development that will see most people through the bad times.

there is practically no sitx i can think of that would make individualist survival a preferable solution

I beg to differ.

Our plan involves as little contact with the outside world as possible.

You know why? Because people are basically jerks. The utopia of people coming together to cooperate and build a new world is geat fiction but in reality all I see is every man for himself.


That being said our lone wolf plan will only come into effect in a truely catastrophic, world wide event - the proverbial "end of the world"

What people often dont' realize is that a sitx is just that, it can be a local flood or nuclear war - however the local flood is more likely, therefore it is prudent to prepare first for the more likely scenarios.

That's just my opinion of course.

May I suggest a book that addresses your concerns quite thoroughly?

Patriots Surviving the Coming Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles

It is written in the form of a fictional novel, but it goes into detail about the long term "after"

Most serious prepping is only done with a 1 to 3 year timeframe in mind, but depending on your sitX scenario, this will prove to be inadequate and shortsighted......establishing a small community of like minded survivors will be essential in the long term..

[edit on 29-1-2009 by RolandBrichter]

No big trucks, no guns, no ammo storage, no links on how to kill a lion with nothing but an inkpen? What kind of survival thread is this?

There are alot of modern suvivalists who think that should sit-x come, it will be an endless war of doom and anarchy. You see them all the time, on here, gun shows, survival classes, everywhere. What these people fail to see is that after the, um, so called "fun" part, they are going to need to figure out how to live their lives.

Ive started a couple of practical long term survival threads, one on shelters that I remember, and I was ignored greatly. No one wants to think long term. Its easier and "more entertaining" to think of surviving as a "rambo" pounding out some fantasies on your keyboard and then go back to life as usual.

After the initial chaos of a TEOTWAWKI, those who were smart enough to learn how to build a life without modern comforts such as stores, gas, TV, and planned ahead to make it 6 months to a year before they need to have a new life up and working will be the ones who can make it in the long run.

Sure, you will have your crazy militant types roaming, looting and stealing, but for how long? Eventually they will either die or run out of things to loot. Long term its going to be about using what you know to not just survive, but to actually live and make a life for yourself. To find joy in living and no longer being part of this machine we are cogs in, to experience love and raising a child in a new world, to teach the young about what was and look forward to creating a new world for yourself.

Its not just bullets, trucks and knives. Its about finding life and living it. If you want to be a victim of a mob in the early days, or a member of a mob dependant on others, the only joy you will find will be your death. For those who want to live free and enjoy life again after the chaos, plan now, learn more, prepare for the worst so when the worst is over, you can have the best.

I like the tone of this post.

Most of the sitx situations that I can conceive of don't involve people grabbing their BOB and heading for the hills. The only sitx that I see where this might be necessary would be a pandemic.

Most of the situations that I see will develop slowly and anyone paying attention will have time to prepare. For instance, the economy slowly deteriorates until there basically isn't any work left... This could be happening right now. Or we go through a major depression. Or coupled with our current financial mess, we have a pandemic that makes it impracticable for people to get to work or shopping etc.

So I see situations where society just keeps slowing down until it doesn't work like it does now.

If you keep your eyes open you can be prepared.

BTW I'll be working on my garden this weekend hope you all are also.

I appreciate your post because I too have trying to get out the message that our only way to survive this mess is communal living.

It is hard to get through o to a lot of people, especially the young ones because they are not thinking with their critical minds. They are thinking with from a mind-set that has been contaminated by the MSM. Most will come around when they wake up and realize that hey are not in Kansas anymore.

I have had to live through several natural disasters that left my community without electricity and all the creature comforts including telephone service. Cells don’t work well in the country when things are normal but when the SHTF well you can just about forget about making a phone call.

The longest we had to rough it was six weeks but it was long enough for us to realize that stored goods by themselves are not going to be able to carry you through for a long haul. You learn that you don’t need to take as many meals as we do normally. You learn that you will drink more water than you eat food. You will learn to enjoy the taste of cool rather than cold water. You will learn that meat is not an item that has to be consumed daily. You will enjoy the feel of a bath in water that is room temperature, once you get pass the initial shock. You will learn to enjoy the company of people working together and the pleasant sound of laughter over something as small as finding a frog stuck to a window watching you as if it where watching TV. You will learn to enjoy a good night’s sleep even if it is under the stars.

We all come with a primordial survival switch. It is switched on quicker and easier in some than others. We “will” make it once the plugs are pulled and the business of surviving is a priority and the programming starts to fade. We just need to make sure we have enough people already in deprogrammed mode to carry us until the rest are deprogrammed, decontaminated or wake up.

reply to post by NightSkyeB4Dawn


To the 4 posts above this one...I wholeheartedly agree...some treat this subject as a game, but the truth is that we are all just one disaster away from the 19th century....your storehouses will only get you as far as it lasts...after that, your survival depends entirely on your basic skillset and your ability to peacefully and productively coexist with others.

It does my heart good to hear these sentiments from others on this board...we'll definately need more folks like you in the near future

In defense of entertainment value....there is a film out a few years back starring Kevin Costner, titled THE POSTMAN.

Movie or not...if you have never seen it, I suggest you check it out....there is a lot of parallels to it and what is being discussed as to how to survive after the SHTF.

Just a thought...

~Holly