I have been reading ATS for a couple of years now. I have recently registered and this is my first post. Please go easy on me. LOL

I have been thing about the chance of a SHTF situation for many years now, whether it be a gobal conflict, natural disaster or a general collapse of civilisation. In addition, I am a strong supporter of alternative energy sources and being independant.

I have opened this thread in order to stimulate discussion as to whether it is better to band together with your neighbours, fortify your position (homes, village, suburb or town) or whether to bug-out and go it alone. Afterall, your local neighbourhood is intimately know to you and your friends, no-one knows it as well as you. You know all the points of approach and how best defend it. In addition, if you have prepared and can generate your own power and obtain water, why not the devil you know rather than the devil you do not.

I think that I would prefer to fortify my position, bugging out only when things started to look desperate.

Please Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your views on this?

It's a question everyone needs to consider. Timing is everything. Having lived in a hurricane zone, I know that if you don't bug out at the right time you will end up sitting in traffic, likely out of gas and with nowhere to stay. Now I live in ATL and have observed how just a five minute difference in departure time makes all the difference in how much traffic you encounter.

When it comes to bugging out in a SitX, if you don't leave at exactly the right time, you may as well stay where you are.

Another deciding factor: Just exactly who are your neighbors - "useless eaters" or valuable partners?

You're right. Timing is everything. However, I'm in Atlanta too and first option for bugging out is heading west then north then east if and as time and the situation allow, with alternate plans . Holding fast so close to a metro area in a suburban subdivision full of (in my opinion) people who are going to be worse than "useless eaters" is an option I didn't even consider other than as a last dire resort.

Depends on what SitX is. I live in an earthquake zone, as well as tornado alley. Bugging out is not really an option if one of thise happens. I try to plan for those more than any thing. So I will probably be staying at home and doing the best I can. Am in the process of putting emergency kit(water, clothes, food, sleeping bags, etc) for my vehichle. I'm not going to go into all the details, but if we must leave, we'll be set for at lease three days, mayber longer. Since we have a minivan, we can throw a couple of seats away and just sleep in the vehicle. But my kit will be set up so that we are prepared to go by foot if we have too, especially if we can make it to the hills first.

Well, with the situation in Ireland getting more unsettled all the time due to the credit turmoil, this is a question I have been considering for quite some time.

I live in a small village 10 miles from urban area right on the East coast. My initial thought was to bug out and go west to the rural country.....I know it quite well. But initially I have planned to join forces with 2 or 3 neighboring houses for mutual survival It is an easy place to secure, and the 3 homes are in a row, so easily defended collectively.
One neighbor is a builder the other an electrician so useful people to know.
There are several kids in the three homes, so it would be easier to look after them collectively rather than on your own.

If things got bad out here, we would def bug out easily enough...I am good to go....but there are plenty of resources around locally to survive, mainly food, as it is a fishing village on the coast, so why give up a valuable resource?

You got to weigh up your options, positives and negatives of staying or bugging out.

In a sitx situation i'm not going to trust anyone. Unfortunately like a few other posters I live in the city of Atlanta. If things get bad enough i'll be the first out...possibly move to south GA? I would recommend to anyone just leave! There's no telling what a desperate person will do under those circumstances.

As the daughter of a perennial Boy Scout, I was constantly exhorted to "be prepared." But I've learned in life that one cannot prepare for every eventuality, no matter how hard we try. I've taken reasonable precautions, but not knowing where I will be or what I will be doing when SitX presents itself - or even knowing what exactly SitX will be - I do not fool myself into believing that I can be perfectly prepared.

What I do know is that I will not allow fear to make me forsake my fellow man/woman, nor attack my fellow man/woman, nor otherwise betray my conscience. I will let faith, love and good will guide my way (along with some good old-fashioned common sense, of course). I will be a friend in deed and in need. If the bad guys get me, well, what can I say? Today - or any day - is a good day to die as long as my heart and soul are in the right place.

Incidentally, I truly believe my/our time of death are already determined. At the moment of my birth, my death became a certainty. I cannot save my life, I can only save my soul.

This probably isn't what you're looking for, but this is the way I see it.