Originally posted by JetshadowTRUE
My girlfriend is rather skeptical about any type of situation X, and she says that if SHTF, she'll just leave and go to Peru.

You may want to ask her how she'll get there. If the SHTF in epic fashion, all of your money will be worthless. Credit cards won't get you anywhere either. The only way to make sure she gets to Peru is to get there before it all goes down.

Either way, good luck to you both, and I think it's great that you're able to get closer to family as a result of this.

I have never understood the whole "horde" for a rainy day mentality. Even if you factor in some apocalyptic even like say Katrina, in most cases your stash would be destroyed as well, along with your house, your yard, your electricity etc. Also even during a terrorist attack or nuclear/biological attack, a survival kit would mean little if you cant protect yourself from the radiation/pathogen.

I really doubt that having an X amount of stuff stashed away will help people endure a truly calamitous even on their own. Not unless they have something akin to Camp David in their back yard!

A stash is just temporary and just material that can be lost, contaminated, etc. I think a real survival kit is within oneself. Training your body and your mind with the skills needed. Food, Ammunition etc can be bartered, bought, earned or stolen if you have the ability to do so.

Well although I personally don't see anything 'big' happening on the horizon its exactly what you don't expect which can catch you off gaurd!

Now it is possible that a war or mass terrorist event could happen giving people little time to react to the situation but lets face facts here for a moment, the USA is huge, any invading country in the world wouldn't be able to take over the entire country by itself. Lets not forget you have immense natural resources, a lot of you are trained with weapons and you are surrounded by friends in other countries too. Secondly more people die from traffic accidents than terrorism, so take hart and always look twice in the mirror!

Saying that I would like to offer a few socially acceptable methods for preparing for the worst if I may?

If at a young age why joint up at your local Cubs/Scouts or similar - they teach valuable life skills as well as survival skills.

Learn the surroundings where you live - go on long walks around the area and get fit at the same time. While out and about you can also learn about the plants and vegitation that grow naturally around the area that you live - what is edible and what can kill you?

Take swimming lessons, floods being a real natural disaster that has had much media attention over the past years. True the flood water would be full of sewage but if it came down to it i'd rather swim for my life than drown in that god-awlful stuff!

Learn about re-newable energy sources and how best to use them. Lots of great posts right here on ATS for starters!

Get geeky, technical IT/engineering skill sets would be invaluable to any disparate goups of people, i'm thinking communications, generators, transportation. The 'geek' shall inherit the Earth

[edit on 25-2-2009 by freeradical]

Originally posted by Whisper67
Our best bet would be to head to my father in laws. Now there's a man! He's got a nice piece of rural land in Illinois, he's an excellant hunter. Problem, he's three hours away. Am I right in my thinking there's zero chance we could make it there? 70 W would be a gridlock nightmare and we would for sure end up in the FEMA camp - now I'm serious about this question and would like an intelligent response.

I notice you mention only one possible road 70W. I'm not from Indiana at all, but my suggestion to you would be to invest in some area maps and find alternate routes - even if they mean not using a vehicle (in worst case). If the federal government "takes over" - they'll use military and police units to control traffic flow. So, if FEMA is hell-bent on putting people in camps, they'll stick to the main roads of travel to catch people.

Prepare a "go-bag" or a "bug out bag" - Hell, I'm in the Army and I have one already stocked up in case the Zombie caust ever happens (That's a story for another day.) But it has much the exact same stuff as a BOB described earlier.

Save up some food - get something other than swords. I'm a swords guy myself and can actually fight w/ them - but as you said - lol - don't bring a sword to a gun fight. If you get serious about this - get your Father in law in on it and make sure he's got something set up on that land you said he owns. Maybe some sort of shelter or stockpile. Who knows - if you guys make it all the way there, it would be useful to know that you'll be fed and protected.

Good luck.

Nice ti know people are geting ready, dont want to start a thread for my question , so ill ask here , My family has a cottage bout 1 hr away , if SHTF ill prob head there. The lake is big with lots of cottages so i definity wouldnt drink the water, my question is; If i bring the lake water to a boil, will it be drinkable then, after cooling down of course ?

I don't think that anything special will happen here in Europe so I haven't told my family anything special, beside the regular: be always prepared and have some extra dry/canned food and candles and first aid box+ fresh batteries for the radio at home, all times.

I guess I became a little bit brainwashed in my military service to always have my gear in order, so now many years later - I'm always prepared to take my backpack and rifle and run for the woods if TSHTF!

I always keep a rotating stock of canned and dried food/MRE's at home and when stuff gets old I use it for hunting/fishing trips, so nothing really gets wasted anyway!

I think I have gear & supply for me and my women to survive in the woods for three/four weeks without any hunting or fishing.

I have my military arctic/survival training + some military survival gear, so I just pack my 110 Litre backpack with food and the rest of the stuff in my wardrobe and grab a hunting-rifle and my fishing gear and are ready to leave the town for my mountain cabin in 10 minutes.

If and when we reach my cabin, there are an additional stock of gear & canned/dried food for a month more.

With some hunting & fishing I think we could hold out for 3-4 months easy!

After that I just report myself to the nearest UN/NWO-CAMP, asking for a job!

What on earth is Sit X ?

I told them that I do check the Drudge Report daily but didn't mention this site. Sometimes I'll say "I heard somewhere that ______."

We are planting our first garden in more than 30 years next weekend. Fortunately we are moving into a seniors' park so it shouldn't be too hard to fend off any pillagers
How are things up north morale-wise? Lots of depressed people in Florida, people are more on edge than normal.

Originally posted by Tunatarian
My story is very simular to both of you. My wife sorta thought I was crazy six months ago, but the more exposure SitX gets in the mainstream media, the more she beleives me. On the other hand I've held back to an extent with what info I tell her about. She would seriously have a nervous breakdown if she read some of the stuff I do. Just gonna do my best to keep preparing for the worst, but slowly ease into what I tell her, an when.

I'm in exactly the same situation. I am preparing a romantic BOB for 2, she will thank me later!!

Originally posted by InterWeb
What on earth is Sit X ?

Yeah! Anybody got an answer for that?

Originally posted by InterWeb
What on earth is Sit X ?

"Sit X" refers to "Situation X", also meaning, "Any unknown situation occurring resulting in a partial or complete disruption of services and goods." Someone first used "Sit X" and everyone accepted it's use because it's easy to type. Regarding it's use in this thread, it's is most often associated with the loss of food supplies and general supplies as the result of a logistical breakdown occurring after the possible economic collapse of the American financial system (and most likely other world markets as well, simultaneously).

To put it another way, most of the things in American stores come from China or Japan. When those nations can not be paid because the American dollar is worthless, they will refuse to send their goods. After all, they won't just give them away, absorbing all of the expense of production and distribution. When the stores shelves become empty, people that have not stocked up on additional rations will have a few options: 1. They can depend on charities. 2. They can depend on family. 3. They can depend on friends. 4. They can take steps to acquire those goods on their own through barter, or theft.

That is the basis for "Sit X".

Clear as mud?

LMAO When I told my family, they said that we'll deal with it when disaster strikes.