I see dead people...with bug out bags

Thanks for this thread, OP.

I will probably go down with the ship. I've worked too hard for my home and land, to just pick up and go on the run. I know that it sounds materialistic but it's not. It has nothing to do with that. I just love my land and home, it's my heartbeat. I'm prepared about as prepared as one can be. I'd rather die in my home surrounded by the things that I love than die in the forest somewhere mid winter dying from hypothermia. If I'm going to die from a SHTF scenario, I'd rather that happen in the place I love, and I'll figure it was just my time. I honestly don't want to just survive... I want to live. I'll fight for what's mine until the end.

reply to post by Aisling


That's the spirit! Don't worry, they can't get us all and the ones they do get, just make sure its going to cost them
dearly.

I have a pretty hefty BOB in my car and another copy in my house. In the event I can not make it home, I can bug out to my desert bug out place. I only need two weapons. A short range and and long range. I don't think I will ever use my short range weapon. Furthermore, carry a nice BB gun just to shoot local food. Don't waste your real ammo. You can carry a lot more bb's than regular bullets.
As a note to everyone. If you do bug out, and you encounter other bug outters...treat them nicely and with respect. I think we are all on the same page. But always keep a watchful eye. Here's an idea. Carry seeds of various crops with you. Perhaps we can start re-growing essential food because of this.
Always carry a copy of the Constitution and an American flag with you. This will be your morale booster.

Cheers....

Originally posted by Tykonos
I like your comments and agree that the best way to survive is to stay in your own home as long as possible.

The thing is I can't ever see a situation, apart from a massive exchange of nukes where society will break down to such a level that the government can't keep the Country running and order be reinstated.

During World War 2, my gandparents generation had bombs being dropped on them night after night, food shortages etc. They only had radios to inform them as to what was happening. S did HTF big style, yet life went on, people still went to work, they even carried on watching films in the cinema whilst raids were taking place. Maybe you are saying Americans are different and if your Country did get attacked, even from the inside, people will crumble into anarchy, killing each other over food and water. Maybe that is the result of having an armed society, I don't know.

i don't think they will crumble. They are very patriotic, regardless of who is in power.

Here is the US right this moment there are people who are willing to take your life for a pair of shoes. Make no mistake about it, in the event of a real food shortage and SHTF scenario there will be people willing to taeyour life for a slice of bread.

If you really want an idea of what can happen in a metro area in the event of a true breakdown, look to what happened in the city if New Orleans after Katrina. Even the news crews had to be very careful and protected. They were surrounded by law enforcement so no one would kill them and steal their vehicles to get out of the city. They would hide themselves when they would eat or drink.

Hmmmmm.....

Seems to me to be a bit hypocritical of Americans discussin' what to do when SHTF when they are the S that has HTF in Iraq, Afghanistan and soon Iran. Do you think bug out bags and running for the hills helped any Iraqis/Afghanis. Nope just been branded as insurgents and shot. Remember America, what goes around comes around.

You all have a nice day y'all.

"Being prepared can help but it's not a guarantee you're gonna be safe."

I will have my BOB even if i never need it. i also have 5 packed military shipping boxes that can be thrown in the back of a truck for a quick escape. These can also be used for short term or limited disasters if i had to relocate for week or months.
(Hurricane Katrina type disasters or the big one type earthquake.) i would have been able to relocate to friends places till i could return home with every thing i needed to survive.
www.sprucemtsurplus.com...
I live in southern Calif but i am a ex firefighter from a small town in northern Calif and my friend there will take me in a disaster if i need a place to stay.
I even have a DX-300 short wave radio receiver with a solar charging system to keep track of news

I have prepositioned supplies (water and home canned dry beans and rice with spices)and a number of plans covering a number of scenarios.
I may stay home or if its a nuke attack i have a old gold mine for super deep shelter.

My one thing is to be prepared for as many scenarios as possible then play it by ear.

I may even pre bug out if things look bad and just do a long camping trip till WTSHTF or the TEOTWAWKI.

If the plans don't work i gave it my best effort.

reply to post by Dantas


I'm not giving them credit I was being sarcastic about what some of the threads on ATS say the government is capable of. All the above stuff listed is something that an ATS thread has said the government does, or will do. I agree with some of them. . .but when I type, I don't reflect sarcasm very well. If I used the , maybe that would have worked. Or did I use it? I can't remember.

Originally posted by Dantas
reply to post by warequalsmurder

 

You do realize humans survived long before electricity, modern medicine and running water right?

You do realize that the humans that you are currently surrounded by have never known a world without electricity, modern medicine, and running water for sustained periods of time right?

Those humans in the past were gradually weaned off of nature to the extent that they are today. These humans including you and me must deal with a complete shock to their way of life. You and me will have to negotiate that life amongst millions who are in no way prepared for a complete break down in the society that you and I were born and raised into.

One person alone or even two with their bug out bags are going to make tasty target's for groups of people who have banned together out of survival necessity.

When people start killing each other for survival, one place you don't want to be is out in the open far from your familiar surroundings with absolutely no chance for community support (which will form in order to fend off opportunists).

There are shtf and there are SHTF, in the shtf case your best bet is to stay were your at and get with your neighbors and ride it out or form groups, things such as collapse of government, or the destitude of wars, or small disasters of nature like hurricanes and floods are cake compred to SHTF. I am talking about global cataclysm things like floods of global proportion's or metors the likes of which killed predominant species of reptiles ie dinosaurs and brought about an ice age for hundreds of years or even thousands of years. If such were to happen everything you think you can count on won't mean squat, so unless you can survive on eating ash, rocks and snow, the only ting you can do is bend over and kiss your ass good bye, and citys would just be concrete death zones without the systems that keep them going. But even your so called woodsman or country boys and girls wont survive, knowing how to shoot wont mean much for the survivors either and wont last long because unless you got your own factory to make guns and bullets or even gun powder or the mines to mine the metals for such things, once you run out of bullets what then? you can always throw the gun at your attackers I guess, sticking to easily made weapons like bows and arows or knifes and swords would in the case of a long shtf be better, and necessary in SHTF since the survivors would basically be starting all over from scratch. All in all mother nature is by far your biggest threat and ultimately on planetary scale or even a universal scale, dear old mother nature will get us all in the end. Compared to man made troubles even nuclear war or fallout mother nature is a biatch. And even though wars are not good, the chances of global war are slim and even the elite's dont want it, they just want the control, money and power it gives them and for that wars must be controled to not effect them and cant make or due or create anything without the workers now can you. And if there was a nuclear war people that are dependants on the system wont be likely to make it, the chances are way better for the hillbillies and red necks of the world to survive then the sophisticated peoples given such a scenario since money and credit will be useless, and everything is maintained by the system even armys and fancy communities. Its just a big fishbowl were everybody is counting on others and products of others especially the elite, most of them dont live in the real world and would starve to death in a grocerie store in the case shtf hit there world, and never mind SHTF, even bunkers that have enough supplies for years wont matter when the fallout or ice age will last hundreds of years, you cant escape mother nature by sticking your head in the sand, which is what bunkers are in the end, just a delay to the fact that you got to face the reality of the outside world, eventually. You would in the end be better of foraging and creating communities in the new environment then just counting on the supplies in a hole in the ground for a year or more no matter how big the hole is, sooner or later you got to come out and face a new reality. Bunkers would just make good posts or bases while rebuilding and traversing the land for necessities and materials needed to survive and rebuild. But it's still better if you got some basic skills like making fire without a lighter, or hunting game and making traps for rabits or other critter's or farming and living off the land, then if you don't and have no clue about such things. Like I said there are shtf and there are SHTF best to try to avoid both, but on a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.

But, don't the elite have the biggest and best buggout arrangements all ready in place? There are those deep underground affairs, or places carved out of mountains with everything that could be needed.

Won't they be the ones most likely to survive? Then again, unless they allow a certain amount of "grunts" in with them, to do the dirty work once they open the doors, their survival won't be extended much beyond the time in their bunkers.

I wonder if we here in Canada, and places like NZ, still living in our comfortable homes, will get live tv coverage of the SHTF down there in the good ol US of A? Some of you bring your cell phones and cameras along in your BOB so you can upload UTube stuff for the rest of us to enjoy.

I'll be watching.

Ladies and Gentlemen
Survival is situational.
Have a BOB ready by all means. It may come in handy in other times besides a TSHTF event.BUT
Think it thru.
A generic one size fits all plan cannot exist if we don't know what to expect.
Nuclear attack? Depending on fallout patterns you may not want to be out and about after a few hundred big ones go off-assumeing you survive the big flash.
Big space rock hits earth-it may be best to hunker down.
Bio? Population centers are death traps
Massive EMP? Well there are two issues here. I have read about the possibility of synchotronic radiation caused by the plasma of a solar event that would demand that you have a few feet of earth between you and the sky.
But after a grid destroying event you need to get out of the cities.
Volcanic eruption? mmmm.Location again but many factors are in play-ash-global cooling-mini ice age- no food production for an extended period of time and no wild food left after a certain period...unless you are good at digging out bugs.

So lets put a few together for the ultimate bad hair day.
CME causes grid failure. Certain nations use this to lob off a few 100kt to 1 mt wareheads.Some cities are gone and infrastructure is destroyed.Command and control and logistical support is virtually zero.

At this point a bug out may seem like the right idea but its probably better to shelter in place for a few weeks as the "dust" settles. Hopefully you have a below ground shelter stocked and able to supply and protect you and yours for 2 weeks or so.And again hopefully you are far enuff away from ground zero to have a chance to get under ground.

Afterwards you peak out and see alot of death.
Humping the bush right away may not be a good plan with all the dead bodies around-human and other.
So-back underground you go.Your two week bunker now has to carru you and yours for a few more weeks.
One month has passed. No one is in the hood thats alive.-I assume you are not in the metro city. If you are then you have more pressing issues than a BOB.
Now you decide to do what? Bug out? Where exactly?
The national forest thats a 30 minute drive away but a 1 to 3 day hike if you travel at night?
There are hungry sick dieing things between you and the woods. Maybe you should wait a little more before you go walking with the wife and kids.
BTW its really getting cold outside.
Winter comes hard and early. Growing things dont grow.Critters that eat the growing things have died.
As Carl Mauldin said."What will you do.What Will You Do."
Social order has decayed but thats ok actually since the population drop was so drastic.
The population will drop even further with every passing day.After D Day plus 365 we may have 10 percent left of the global population.
But Ranger Rick and the elite squad of LRRPs know as the Jones Team decide its best to leave. Everyone grabs a bug out bag and an AK with 10 extra magazines to head for the bush.The odds of survival now drop to just about 0. Food water and the unforgiving nature of the wild add up.
Did I mention its getting kinda cold and wet outside?And If you pass another survivor armed with an FN going the other way what do you do?

I wont go to much more into this
But A BOB is a last resort Get Out Of Dodge option. If you can hide out and wait out the blast fallout space debris bio hazard etc do so. The BOB is designed to get you to a place of safety. If you are in a semi safe place stay put.
Unless you really enjoy the idea of commiting suicide to keep from getting killed.
Final words-if you dont have a shelter...grab the shovel from your BOB (you did have one right) and start digging now.
Going underground offers protection from many many variables that a .223 has no hope of matching.

reply to post by celticwarrior

You are mistaking the common man for the government! In many many cases those two groups are diametrically opposed. We have no say in what they do or do not do! Elections? What a farce. Many here would say we are at nearly the same risk as Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran from our own government. They have not put in place easier ways to enable marshal law for any reason that's good for us. Believe me when I tell you they do not have our best interests at heart.

Having seeds on hand is great, but, remember to stock some soil for grow boxes and or planters just in case the soil is contaminated. This, of course, is not for BOB, but, for home stocking. Also, some canning jars. If you plan to grow crops in a wooded area, then you'll need a soil tester, fertilizer, etc.

Originally posted by SeenMyShare
reply to post by mydarkpassenger

 

I completely agree with you and gave you a star! I don't want to survive if I must turn my back on the most innocent of all to do it. I've lived a very varied and full life so if I go tonight or tomorrow I've no complaints and I would risk my life for that of a child any day of the week. Who knows. Perhaps the child will pull through and I and my husband will pass, and my preparations will still not have been in vain.

Thanks SeenMyShare. There's a point, I think, where we got to ask ourselves "What the hell am I trying to survive for?" if we have to sacrifice all our humanity and goodness.

Originally posted by wayno
But, don't the elite have the biggest and best buggout arrangements all ready in place? There are those deep underground affairs, or places carved out of mountains with everything that could be needed.

Won't they be the ones most likely to survive? Then again, unless they allow a certain amount of "grunts" in with them, to do the dirty work once they open the doors, their survival won't be extended much beyond the time in their bunkers.

I wonder if we here in Canada, and places like NZ, still living in our comfortable homes, will get live tv coverage of the SHTF down there in the good ol US of A? Some of you bring your cell phones and cameras along in your BOB so you can upload UTube stuff for the rest of us to enjoy.

I'll be watching.

Ya that's just it, I guess they need to organise this shtf thing because it can be many things and depending on that it would require different reactions. But it seems to go from the "government stole my pop tarts" to total annihilation like a meteor the size of texas hit, and everything in between like nuclear war or biologic war. So to be clear might want to say what kind of shtf you expect or whatever when making these kind of threads. And trust me in some of these scenarios even having city size bunkers underground will only delay the unevadable, and the government, elites and the average joe have trouble containing and maintaining things now up above ground , and we all even have a giant powersource that gives everything from microbe's to plant's to human's free energy, to sustain this entire ecosystem we call earth, yup they call this powersource the "sun" and even with that some people can't survive. But somehow they think that they will survive without it, in bunkers underground living of canned food. At the very least you got to realise that even light, and just plain seeing whats in front of you, would be a huge problem to overcome living in these city/bunkers, were are you going to get the power for electricity to light up these bunkers when everything is gone to hell, everything is reliant on something else for its energy which follows the chain up to the sun, even electrical devices if you trace how there made and the work and things required for its making, even that it eventually leads to the sun as origin of energy/power. You would literally have to change your dna biologic make up to even be able to see underground if it's for long periods, you would have to have some pretty light sensitive eyes, that would look like something out of what people depict the grey's to have, so they can see in places were there is minimal light or heat sources/infrared places like deep space and underground facilities. Who the hell comes out with these plans of canned food to last years and other brilliant plans such as living underground for generation's? they might want to rethink things more than a just a little, if its government people who have these plans, might want to save yourself from there many holed and not very thought out plans. But it's been an intresting thread so far.

I love these posts!
Seeds. Shortwave radio sets.Solar panels.Glad no one wanted to take a back hoe.

The concept of a BOB is to have a few days chance to do nothing but run away.As far as you can.
Stocking your BOB with stuff to start a homestead or restart civilization is kind of overboard.

One day just take your well stocked BOB and walk 2 klicks and tell me how it feels.
Some people have had to carry large loads foor extended aerobic activity in the past.None I know really enjoyed it much.

Which brings me to point 2.
Footwear.
Make sure if you do go walking that its with something thats comfortable and sturdy. That can handle water mud and just all round bad terrain.
Some of you may want to consider hydraulic suspension,,,,

reply to post by JetStream


I have a rolling duffle. If I have to carry it, I would be in trouble.

Lets say the shtf for whatever reason. You are hunkered down in your homes and lets say you have banded together with your neighbors, sharing resources, work and security.

Lets say your doing well, ya all have managed to plant several gardens and have a clean water supply.

Lets say since you have some numbers and are well fed and organized that the few bob'ers that come by your able to send them on there way without incident.

But!

What happens when a platoon of soldiers along with local police show up with a rdif scanner and they know exactly what your group has stocked piled and they have showed up to tax you for protection, or they have just showed up to take what you have so there underground bunker with the elites gets a steady stream of goods, no matter how you feel about it?

Bugging out in my opinion is only good if you have a plan or a place to go. Like a hunting cabin stocked with spices and seedswith plenty of access to game and fish and clean water.

If you bug out just to run without any idea where your going you will be in trouble quickly or if where you planned to bug out too is the same place everyone else was going too.

oh well they don't call it SHTF for nothing.

I can see a feudal type system emerging, you have these DUMB where a percentage of these groups would be military, scientist/doctors/engineers plus ruling elite types. These are not self sustaining as far as I know. They will run low on everything sooner than later. They will utilize there resources as they selfishly see fit. They will use the soldiers to easily acquire whatever they want including people or slaves to work there fields.

Those on the outside would have the advantage in numbers but you would have to pull together to fight them off.

reply to post by kadyr80


I see dead squirrels.

My cat just killed another one. RIP Rocky. So at risk of sounding repetitive...
Get a predator pet and just keep a fire going. Save your bullets.

You can tell I am not going to eat this critter or I would have prepared him with edible flowers... like pansy's.

You all do bring up a whole lot of great points. Hunkering down would be a better option in a lot of situations. How many of you that plan to do this really have it planned out? Do you already have precut wood to board up windows and doors? Do you have means to provide your own power, like solar panels? Do you have any parapolic mirrors? Do you know how to harness the power mother nature provides? Do you know how to make boobytraps? If not I suggest learning about these things, the more knowledge you have, the better prepared you are for any situation. Start with the basics.