Better Safe Than Sorry

As the subject line highlights "It is better to be safe than sorry"!

This is my first official thread and I have earned it. I did not introduce myself because I feel that is pointless. You get to know me by my response to posts or by my own threads (which this is the first lol)!

My running theme here at ATS has been one of better safe than sorry! I found this site because I was/am looking for answers to so many questions. I find that answers are hard to come by, however opinions are in abundance ! I wouldn't have it any other way!

All of us are here because we are seeking truth and like-minded individuals with whom we can share all of our own "crazy" ideas and theories. This is fantastic, for me it is absolutely Earth shaking, to say that I was a part of it all!

I am not introducing myself, if you want to know about me, visit my profile because introductions, IMHO are a waste of time!

Ok, we are all here because we are looking for the truth in this crazy mixed up existance. My truth boils down to this: I don't know what the truth is any more than I know what awaits me after death. I have to make all my decisions based on what information I recieve from here and other sources (although right now ATS is all but an addiction for me )!!

My personal belief is that we are living in the End Times and there will be those who survive and those who don't! I want myself, my three children and those who I care about to survive. I have been ostrisized (sp) for this way of thinking, but we really must all have a plan B. The sh%t will hit the fan at some point and I don't want to be caught with my pants down so to speak! So; my family has lots of bottles water, canned good, dry/non-parishables, bicycles, a garden and lots of first-aid type supplies. At this point we are stocking up on things that can be bartered as well! We have decided that if/when the shtf we are going to honker down here and do our best to survive.

I would like to think that, overall, I am a positive person, but I am also a realist. I have three sons (14, 12 & 7) who I have been 'assigned' to protect, raise and send out into the world! So given these truths, I have spent the last few years since my awakening as it were, planning how we could survive a multitude of End Times scenarios.

My question is this: What have you done or what would you do if you knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, if you were facing any of the End Times scenarios posted here at ATS?! Also, how can we connect on a level where we would find each other if all the forms of communication fail?

In other words: what is your Better Safe Than Sorry plan B?!

I've been getting ready since last year. I bought a shortwave radio last year and after listening to a bunch of alarmists on Alex Jones, I went out and bought a three month supply of freeze dried food and bottled water. I have battery packs, inverters and a solar generator in case the power goes off. This year I've been buying small gold coins and silver rounds. And a 308 Winchester for any one who might try to take my stuff. If something were to happen today I'd be ready.

When SHTF, it will comes in many ways.

1. Radioactive isotopes that will contaminate livestock and water.
2. Contamination of the seas by elements, destroying water and life on it,.
3. Drastic change in weather temperatures, flooding, droughts, blizzards, etc.
4. Microbial viruses in the air as the dead lives pile up.
5. End of life-giving plant and insect lives.
6. Tectonics acting up to a higher degree, where no safe zones possible.
7. Ice and glaciers melting in a moment of heated glory, destroying dams and dykes.
8. Crumbled infrastructures around the world that would take decades to remove and rebuild.
9. Mankind turning mad inflamed with pain and suffering, to bother with civilised ways.
10. Etc, etc.

If you think your pathetic stores will last or will not be contaminated, and want to live in a post armageddon world, good luck to you. Not many will survive, fortunately, and will be spared further pain and suffering of a living hell on an entire scorched planet.

It would be better to live your life without fear, and enjoying whatever time that remains with your loved ones and those who love you, in warmth, joy and love, so that when SHTF, you will have no regrets, with your gift of life and love as we transcend into the next.....

May it not come to pass...

I live in the netherlands... I have personally never seen a day where our grosserystores were emptyed because of panic... however I have started to stock up on canned and dry foods wich can be stored for extended periods of times. I have also made myself a little veggiegarden from wich we could have a tiny bit extra lifesupport if the need ever arises. Also I though tit would be wise to obtain some survival books with intel on catching small prey, fish and foraging eatable plants as well as medicinal plants, all with a simple pocket knife. All in all I think I spent about 500 euro on it so far.

I feel the books I own on survival are the most vauable assets to survival-strategy. Even in the most dire circumstances I would be fine, just bringing my family to a random forest and taking the books.

Offcourse I realise that there are scenarios for wich you can hardly prepare without a decent amount of money to throw at it. But I guess that the scenarios most likely to play out first is that of food-shortage. If or when the SHTF-scenario turns Atomic, I think it'll be a matter of luck as to were one is at geographically...

[edit on 17/8/2010 by faceoff85]

Originally posted by alonzo730
I've been getting ready since last year. I bought a shortwave radio last year and after listening to a bunch of alarmists on Alex Jones, I went out and bought a three month supply of freeze dried food and bottled water. I have battery packs, inverters and a solar generator in case the power goes off. This year I've been buying small gold coins and silver rounds. And a 308 Winchester for any one who might try to take my stuff. If something were to happen today I'd be ready.

where do you live?.....

reply to post by IrishCream


And when I joined ATS, I did exactly the same and started a "real" thread rather than an introduction one. Welcome.

It is certainly a darker opening thread than many I have seen but still very interesting.

I do not see us as living in the End Times. You only have to look at the body of history to see that people of all ages have considered they lived in the End Times. I agree this is not an easy time to live in but again, history shows that no times are easy to live in.

Getting information so you can make an informed decision, as in all of history is a challenge, and ATS should be just one part of the information loop as hard as it seems, not everything posted on this website is true and accurate.

And yes, I am getting to the main point of your thread, plan B.

Can I suggest there should be a plan C as well. Get involved and change what you see around you. Rather than reacting, become proactive and get out and attempt to change what you see as wrong. Do you really want to continue living in the End Times, or change it so that history can look back and say "WOW, what was so hard about that time?"

Do I have a formal plan B. No.

I am looking to influence the events around me rather than let other people, as I want to continue living to be a very old grumpy!

i plan to head out with my Ruger 1O22, my 500 rounds of hollow point, and GET ME SOME!...LOL

reply to post by Freedom ERP


Same goes for me. I want to live long, correction, I want MY KIDS to live a long and happy life... However I am convinced that the chances of that playing out are increasingly dimm..

You say that every period in time was seen as "the end times". Even though this might be true, it doesn't tell the whole story.. Has it not been since the beginning of last century that we entered a new era in time? The 2 major wars we've had ast century were, not without reason, called WORLD WARS. Ever since 1914 this world has been on a declining path. Did you know 1914 was purported to be THE best year for mankind to achieve global peace? How wrong has that assumption been proven. To top it all of we are now dealing, not only with CONSTANT wars, but also with natural phenomena ever increasing in intensity...

This world really does look like its heading t a climax and I just wanna AT LEAST see the climax. Wether I'll survive the climax is entirely up for grabs but I will do anything in my power to ensure the best odds for my family...

It's a famous Chinese curse:
"May you live in interesting times"
to Which the only suitable response is...
"change favors the prepared mind"

The good thing about ATS is that things do get discussed here.
If there is merit to an opinion it usually becomes apparent by about the third page of posts.


PS
The most important thing you need to survive,
is a reason to.
then comes the food, the guns, and the bandaids.

reply to post by IrishCream

Originally posted by IrishCream

This is my first official thread and I have earned it. I did not introduce myself because I feel that is pointless. You get to know me by my response to posts or by my own threads (which this is the first lol)!

It's just as well that you didn't take time to introduce yourself or you would have run out of space before stating your point!

It makes sense to stock up on emergency provisions because things happen. Any where in the world, at any moment, a disaster can strike or trouble may flare up resulting in normal services being interrupted. Trying to stock up to survive armageddon is a pointless waste of life IMO. We're overdue for an Ice Age, a supervolcano, a magnetic field reversal, a major meteor strike and who knows which will hit us first. If they all happen together, we don't stand a chance. Still if that's what makes your day, go for it.

I'm stocking up on long-term survival skills such as knowing how to grow and store food because I can see two likely scenarios where these skills will soon be needed. One is where the current economic/social system completely breaks down leading to mass revolution. The other is the continuation of the current system leading to more and more people falling out of it. (Witness the tent cities springing up all over the USA.)

The most important thing that I'm doing is educating myself on the history of socio-political change. In so doing, I'm becoming aware of the historical context of the changes that we're going through which helps me understand how we got here, where we're likely to wind up and what must be done to ensure a worthwhile and lasting resolution.

Survival in any scenario will start with individuals but must quickly expand to local communities. Trying to survive at the expense of your neighbors will be a shortlived exercise with a mound of bodies decorating your lawn which will eventually include your own.

As far as post-catastrophe communications go, I suspect that there will be a gap in the market ready to be filled by aspiring entrepreneurs.

reply to post by IrishCream


I tend to take this type of subject seriously, And are also prepared well for when this terrible event hits like 20 ton of bricks.
One may have to consider Filling a backpack with water and a small amount of food, strap those rifles to your sides then go to your local surf beach when 10 footers are rolling in, Now just stand where the rollers break on shore. If by any chance you get washed off your feet you could try this again after unloading the supplys by 90%. I realy hope you can now i realy do, But i myself won't have a backpack or guns, Just my partner and kids for i already know i won't be faced with such a small wave. I'm not sure that i can get my family together on this day, School, work, ect. A house full of food is ok if you have a house full of family home at the time of the event. or is my unplanned event different than your event.

Regads, robbo.

Thank you all for your responses. This is an important topic for me and I appreciate being able to have a forum like this where I can find that I'm not alone! As I've said, I'm sure this topic has been covered and recovered, but I wanted this one to be for me and any other newbies that may not have read older posts.

I think it's a good thing to talk about, even if you sound crazy to others, you never know who you might get "thinking"!

And Robbo2006, I think we have the same unplanned type events in mind and I also think about that alot!! You should have seen me 9/11, I was an absolute basket case. I was at work about 15 miles away from where my oldest two son's were; one in school and the other in daycare! That panic was something I hope to never feel again! But you are right!

Life is still going on "normally" for now and because of that, I still have to go to work and the kids all go back to school in just over a week. I am currently looking for an online writing job so I can be home more.

I've been on vacation from work this week and, because we live paycheck to paycheck, we've been home alot. We've spent our money on local all day trips and movie rentals for quality time together. This makes me want to be here more, we really love this house and the property around it! Even the neighbors aren't too bad lol. If I could be home and closer to home more then I would be happier all the way around.

Wow, reading this back it sounds pretty depressing !! I don't want to be a downer, I just truly (in a sadistic way) enjoy discussing these types of topics. Go figure?!?!

reply to post by IrishCream

welcome, i too feel like you, i have found through the years to embrace the fears, for any day could be the day, we just do not know.

I am talking about the everyday doom day events floods, fire, earthquakes, it does not have to be the hole world to come to an end, I have lost a home due to a flood, lost the last of my belongings to a fire, and even got bounced out of bed by a earthquake.

I have lost many friends to illness/infections, so i am ready for anything mentally.
Physically, well that is what i am not sure of my back is bad, i have arthritis so the cold gets to me, i have learned to get by.

Firstly, I think you are braver than I am. Why? Because you are a parent!

Seriously, I have my own brood but an adult partner and tons of critters does not match what a parent must be feeling as they navigate all that we discuss here at ATS. I wonder what kind of actions I would be taking if that were the case? It sort of makes me feel selfish in a way to say I am happy not to be a parent of a child.

Take for instance the thought of killing another human being. Seriously, if the worst of the worst happened and someone tried to steal from my pantry, they might have to put up a bit of a struggle, but could I kill them? I don't think so, I would probably beat them up and then feed them before sending them on their way. However, if an intruder came to steal from my pantry and I had children, I would likely carve them for breakfast and wink at how fine the chicken tastes that day! (No I could not cannibalize a human, besides I have dogs to feed). I guess that's as good of an example as any on our level here.

I could give a huge list of the things I have actively purchased and saved in an attempt for any future survival scenarios, but in all seriousness even those things may be of no value if I have to bug-out. I think most things I do because it is part of the Saving of my Sanity, a sense of comfort knowing they are there for me. An exercise of futility maybe, but comforting none-the-less.

Come to think about it I could also make a huge list of all the things I still want to help me along when that times comes. I do remind myself that I can always collect most of what I have when that time comes (as long as I am not the one raiding anyone's pantry, especially a parent's pantry). I feel this same way about Community; I will gather my Community after the fact and not before, as I cannot know who will survive and who will not.

I have always been a sharing person, so I highly doubt I will have much in times to come. I certainly see my Soul as the most important thing to rescue above my blood and sinew, sweat and tears; Faith is my guide.

At any rate, I wanted to send a Hello and welcome! Of my most important message to anyone, if you can sleep at night comfortably and allow peace into your world than all will be well in the end! Rest Easy is the saying; because I believe we are in the Hands of something entirely Greater than Ourselves.

reply to post by IrishCream


Sorry to take so long to get back to this thread, The point i were making is in relation to type of event we will be forced to stand against. And whom may be left standing. There has been many deaths around the world lately caused by mother nature, And if those people were prepared for these events had they prepared for the wrong event?. So why stock up on food and water guns cases of clothing ect ect. Just live life knowing you won't have control of any minor event let alone a major one. Hold those kids close and give them lots of hugs and kisses, Be close to other family members, When ever this happens you know at least you have no loose ends untied.

Well if the Sh?t was to hit the fan...
1. either your alive or dead at the start
2. what is the state of your current surroundings.. how dier is your situation.. the world coming to the end .. or what
3. do you know the locations of areas of which you might be able ti find
...what you need to survive cause I assure you ... you are already a step behind..
4. do you still want to survive... cause if you do .. all is FAIR in love and War ... how far are you willing to go to survive..
5. Needs .. water and food .... when there is contamination of both what will you do .. drink the water that is poison ... was there a nucleur exchange... is there fallout ... what is safe to drink ..your own urine?.. your own blood.. will you cut yourself and drink your own blood cause if your alive... why contaminate yourself further...?... You do create more....?.. food ..? what will you eat...?.. anthing that LIVES I assure you.....
6. face it .. everyone dies... even you .. just how fast .. is up to you ...
7. total Anarchy ... surival of the fittest... and the ones willing to go that extra mile...



[edit on 23-8-2010 by Vonour]