What Exactly IS SitX or WTSHTF?

Everybody here is feverishly preparing for "SitX" or "WTSHTF", but what exactly is that? I have repeatedly stated in other posts that one must prepare for whatever he/she thinks is the most likely worst case scenario for them to deal with, as have others, yet I continue to see postings asking for specific advice about what to have in a BOB, etc., even though it all depends upon what it is you are planning for and there can be no specific answers.

So I pose the question...EXACTLY WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE SitX or WTSHTF? Economic collapse? The total collapse of civilised society? Nuclear Armageddon? Survival preparation would be very different depending upon the particular scenario.

What is YOUR SitX that you are preparing for? What is YOUR WTSHTF? Do you REALLY NEED to Bug Out?

Thoughts, please....

Situation X, is literally that. The unknown variable that you are preparing for. It's anything that endangers your life. From a home break in, hurricane, flood, war to the coming of the 4 horsemen.

SHTF is when everything goes horribly wrong. It's just a variation of StiX, with more Doom and Gloom.

This is what I think is facing us:

1.) Environmental collapse. As evident by the Holocene Extenction, we are living in the 6th mass extinction in the lifetime of this planet, and we are the primary driving force behind it. As in many mass extinctions, things may look like they carry on ok, but as thousands of years go by, certain critical organisms that have died off create an effect known as Dead Clads Walking, which implies that a species seeming to survive the extinction event, dies off thousands of years later because the ecosystem collapses. With mass population and a world that seems to give a rats ass about the environment, we are certainly going to pay a price for our gluttony and greed at the cost of the environment, but this may take another hundred years or less based on our current trends.

2.) The accelerated race towards world-war-III. Either North Korea, or Iran or both are going to ignite what could be WWIII. Not that they are going to start it, rather the US and Isreal will start WWIII, they have already laid the stage for it, primarily the US by attacking Afghanistan and Iraq on false pretexts, not to mention if you believe 9/11 was an inside job, this kind of aggression in a nuclear armed world is maddness.

We are edging on the abyss of WWIII and it will be nuclear. Already is if you count depleted uranium as radioactive waste. (Uranium decays into Radium, Radon, and Plonium which are far more radioactive states then 234)

This will certainly be a test of survival for us as it most likely will be the big SHTF.

3.) Economic collapse, that is most immediate and affecting ATS members right now, if it continues to a greater depression, we are already in a SHTF scenario and should be preparing as much as we can right now while we have the means, if we have the means.

Originally posted by Tentickles
Situation X, is literally that. The unknown variable that you are preparing for. It's anything that endangers your life. From a home break in, hurricane, flood, war to the coming of the 4 horsemen.

SHTF is when everything goes horribly wrong. It's just a variation of StiX, with more Doom and Gloom.

For once swearing is actual needed to explain this to you so you understand, its short for [fecal matter] Hits The Fan.


But as he said, theres a million ways that catastrophic death could be coming to you within your near future, where ever you are. Just spend sometime on this forum becoming a paranoid hermit.

This is something else I've had flak for in the past when I've queried the gun-ownership with regards to the 2nd amendment, 'SitX', 'behind every blade of grass' and any idea about unified rebellion or response to a rogue government.

This 'SitX' will be different for different people. Not everyone will read the same signs. Different people will draw different lines that need to be crossed before it's 'time'. Things will go through varying degrees of 'bad' before the many people will say 'well, this is it'. I also think that, despite the talk, for a lot of people, it will never be bad enough. The powers that be will be on the porch and kicking down the door, long before many people (even though armed, stocked with food &c.) will have realised that that the time they had to recognise and respond to a 'SitX' had come and gone.

For the ones that interpret signs earlier or at least before others, it's a case of 'tall poppy syndrome' and . There just won't be any significant numbers of similarly 'early readers' to give large support and many 'Ruby Ridge' style stand-offs as a result.

Situation X (SITX) is just a short way to say, Martial Law. Nuclear bombs going off in cities, Natural Disasters, Zombie Invasion, Russian Invasion, Alien Invasion, earth quakes floods, ETC ETC.

I see SitX as an unknown(x) situation in which you find yourself on your own. Whether the cause is economic collapse and the resulting societal problems, a natural disaster, civil unrest, etc., you must fend for yourself.

Although the specific situation dictates what you must do to survive, the basic principles of survival apply to any situation. Water, food, shelter, security/protection. When you break it down and get rid of all the filler, most of the "what should I put in my B.O.B" or "how should I prepare for (x)" come down to these four things.

Almost all preparation is to either store one or more of those things or gain knowledge on how to how to make/acquire one of those things.

Anyway, all these threads are just people trying to gain knowledge. Knowledge is power.

I have always taken sitX to mean a uge catastrophic disaster. Pretty much unavoidable if it happens, but not necessarily gonna happen. The great unknown.

When I think SHTF, I usually think something that is already in the works. To break down the metaphore, the PTB $### in the air duct, and the the fan is gearing up for full speed. IE- It's someting that's on a planned course, but we can avoid it if we can only cut off power to the fan, or get out of the way...