Community Survival - Looking beyond the chaos.

Community Survival - Looking beyond the chaos.

The forming of communities after a TEOTWAWKI event will be crucial to mankind. People will naturally gravitate toward others because no one person can do it all, and most wouldn't want to. Skilled people will be your most valuable assets. Among those in the communities being built, there will be some with only one skill, and some with several or many skills or sets of skills. Those with fewer skill sets can be muscle power, perimeter guards, gophers, laborers and assistants. Everyone must contribute time and labor to the community except for the very young and the very old. The elderly should take care of the less labor intensive daily chores if they are able.
Able bodied individuals who refuse to work should not be sheltered, protected, nor supplied with water, clothing or food.

I've been working on this list for a while and thought it would be handy to share. This is what I have so far, add your must have skills to the list.

Skills that would be useful and/or necessary to a survival community:

Common Sense and Elbow Grease
Communication Skills, Patience, Fair Leadership Skills
A Willingness to Learn and Work (Hard)
Muscle Power - Most aspects of survival, community or otherwise
Hand to Hand Defensive Skills
Rifle Skills
Tracking and Terrain Knowledge
Handgun Skills
Scavenger, Scouter, Stealth Skills
Reloading skills
Metal Fabrication, Smelting, Smithing
Blade skills - sharpening
Blade skills - defensive and mundane use
Water Conservation, Filtration, Purification
Water Hauling and Water Storage
Hunting, Skinning, Cleaning and Butchering
Fishing, Cleaning, Fileting and Smoking
Trapping and Snaring, Skinning, Cleaning, Butchering
Medicinal Herblore, Preparation & Use
Basic First Aid
Extensive Medical Training - medic, nurse, intern, doctor, vet, surgeon
Chemistry - complex compounds from natural elements
Midwife Skills
Edible Herblore & Preparation - plants, berries, fruit, flowers, roots, etc.
Mundane Herblore - Cordage making, Soapmaking, fibres, etc.
Farming, Gardening, Composting, Harvesting, Grinding
Preserving Produce - Canning, Drying
Preserving Meats - Canning, Drying, Smoking, Salt/Sugar Curing
Wood Cutting - Axe, hatchet, bow saw, two man saw, etc.
Firemaking - magnesium firestarter, bow drill, hand drill, lens, etc.
Woodlore - Identification, properties, uses, propogation
Cooking and Baking with Fire, Fireboxes
Basic Sewing - needle and thread
Laundering - hand, washboard
Advanced Sewing - hand stitched clothing creation, homemade needles and threads
Spinning and Weaving
Knitting, Crocheting
Tanning and Crafting of Hides
Animal Husbandry - goats, cows, poultry, waterfowl, etc. (meat, eggs, feathers, hides)
Scything, drying, gathering of orchard grass, wheat etc.
Horses - riding, plowing, pulling, farrier work, general care
Dairy - Milking, churning, cheese making
Beekeeping - wax, honey, pollination
Carpentry and Building Experience (log building a plus)
Biofuel and Gasification Experience or knowledge
Mechanic - small and large engines, mechanical parts, etc.
Stone work - Smoke house, spring house, root cellar, etc.
Child Care, Wet Nurse
Educator, Book Preservation, Librarian

Added by MyDarkPassenger:
Sailing and Sailing Navigational Skills
Nuclear Reactor/Power Plant Knowledge

I have first hand experience with 23 of those items on the list, and a book learned understanding of a few others. I have printed out information on bio fuel making and gasification, as well as several graphically intensive herblore books. I have books on survival medicine and field surgery as well as information on herbal anesthetics. I hope that I would be a valuable asset to a community.

Some very important additions to a thriving community (200 members+) ...

Bankers - Hardworking barter specialists who determine the proper and fair commodity values between community members
Economists - Determined analysts who can 'accurately' predict if the community needs more eggs, or should shift to titanium and thermite instead.
Accountants - Nobody likes "inventory" days, so who says their job is easy?
Diplomats - To negotiate with the neighbouring tribe who specialized their community in "drone weaponry" and made deals with CA drug lords
Wholesalers - Eventually communities are going to see that "interdependence is of higher value than independence", and will trade their organolite*tm choco-berry for all your hay. The only way to avoid it, is to employ your own.
Journalists - Because what is life worth without news, reports, discussion, re-iteration, appeals to emotion, and endless revision.
Neo-Investors - Those with multi-supplies to add, in exchange for a "background" role in the community!

(Growing pains? lol)

reply to post by Northwarden
Seriously, I mean no offense or disrespect Northwarden, but those that you mentioned seem to be the ones who are pushing us toward a TEOTWAWKI event in the first place. I'd rather keep it as simple as possible for as long as possible.

I would also list specifically someone with experience in radiological matters. And someone who was experienced with power production systems, especially Nuclear power.

Nuclear power plants won't go away entirely, though some won't be safe.

If you can find someone who can first make sure the area is safe - no leaks - and then someone else who is able to run a powerplant at say .2% of capacity, then a nuclear power plant would be an ideal location for a settlement, producing plenty of power for a small town at under 99.8 percent of rated capacity.

You can run a nuclear powerplant a long time at that tiny fraction of capacity.

Most nuke plants are located on water sources, and with electricity it would be a simple thing to rig a potable water production facility. It would also let us use power tools and welders to fabricate what we couldn't otherwise obtain or repair.

Electricity would let us irrigate many more acres of crops than by hand-hauling water, and it would let us refrigerate meats and veggies so that spoilage would not be so much an issue, making our hunter-gatherers job's easier.

Electricity would also provide fuel for vehicles, via electrolyzed water, producing hydrogen.

They also offer protection from marauders, being high security installations. A few well armed citizens could hold off a band of marauders with minimal preparations, such as piling up desks and such for gun positions on office building roofs and at points around the facility's perimeter.

Offices and buildings at the facility would be ready-made shelter.

I'm not saying this would be a solution, but it would be a start to reclaiming what was left of our technological world.

reply to post by SeenMyShare


Keep smiling please, it can't detract from the quality points you already presented. I enjoyed reading your thread more than any on the board at the moment, and my coffee even tastes better for that. I'm pointing to the probability/possibility of "old-world" systems creeping in, the problems of interacting with those already in place, and the difficulty of being holding island philosophy. That should only help promote a realistic pov.

SeenMyShare, you might also want to include someone with sailing knowledge who knows how to navigate by star.

We've no way of knowing if GPS will be working or how long we'll be able to find batteries to power our devices, but someone who can use a sextant and compass could guide search and salvage parties reliably.

Same deal with needing a surveyor.

Edit: Someone who can con a sailboat would be very good have since waterways will probably offer the best means of communication and barter with other groups of survivors if we can't get enough fuel to use road vehicles, or powerboats.

reply to post by mydarkpassenger

Now this is good additions and I'm glad you've added them. I've always wondered how many nuclear power plants would blow their lid in the event that society broke down. To have someone actually make them safe and useful again would be a top of the list skill! Thank you.

reply to post by mydarkpassenger
Great additions MyDarkPassenger! I can find my way day or night by the sun/star positions and always took that for granted but I've no experience with water at all, and wouldn't have thought of it! Thank you!

reply to post by Northwarden

Yes, the old world ways would tend to creep in mostly because that's how people were used to living. It would be hard not to gravitate towards a system much as we know now. I keep thinking "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it".

reply to post by SeenMyShare


Thanks for the compliments SMS By the way, forgot to say starred and flagged: this is one of those rare productive threads that really gets people thinking and not bashing each other!

I agree with your idea, and think the larger a group that can come together as a community the better; more talents, more people for a common defense.

The only scenario I can think of where you'd want to stay away from all other survivors would be a biological one, like some plague.

It would be impossible to tell if you were naturally immune or just lucky enough not to have been exposed yet. I could see staying out in the woods so to speak for a couple of months, hoping it would burn itself out.

That's the problem with really mean viruses; if it's too successful like some strains of Ebola, it kills off the hosts too fast for it to infect other potential hosts via human to human contact.

An idealized, weaponized Ebola Zaire would be airborne, and able to reside in animals such as cats, dogs, mice, and birds without killing them, and yet could be easily transferred to humans where it would light a "wildfire" scenario.

That would be a species killer I think. Our species.

reply to post by mydarkpassenger
Off topic just a bit but my husband and I have been talking about the oriental stink bug invasion of the eastern US. They have no natural enemies. They are persistent in gaining access to ones home. They are active in the walls, basements, and ceilings (hence IN the home) even in the dead of winter when all other insects have ceased being active. They would make an ideal host if someone really wanted to find a way to use a biological weapon to annihilate a population. The germ/biological agent would have to be airborne though, because they don't bite or sting.

Family pets would be a good way to introduce disease, but not farm animals. The creators of such a weapon would shoot themselves in the foot with a decision like that.

Perhaps my favorite thread on ATS follows, and it's worth a look over!

The Future Is Coming 3: Bionics & Optimizing Nature
VonDoomen

Bionics is defined as: the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology. This approach is motivated by the fact that biological organisms and their organs have been well optimized over billions of years by evolution.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The mesh of nature and technology, in harmony, fascinates me. I suspect we already should have a society based on this line of reasoning, not the halfway "green" technologies we see in today's mainstream promotions.

reply to post by Northwarden


I really am having a good read of this other thread and thoroughly enjoying it. Thank you.

Originally posted by SeenMyShare
reply to post by mydarkpassenger

 

Off topic just a bit but my husband and I have been talking about the oriental stink bug invasion of the eastern US. They have no natural enemies. They are persistent in gaining access to ones home. They are active in the walls, basements, and ceilings (hence IN the home) even in the dead of winter when all other insects have ceased being active. They would make an ideal host if someone really wanted to find a way to use a biological weapon to annihilate a population. The germ/biological agent would have to be airborne though, because they don't bite or sting.

Family pets would be a good way to introduce disease, but not farm animals. The creators of such a weapon would shoot themselves in the foot with a decision like that.

I hadn't even thought of using insects - say you swat a fly and it produces an airburst of virus particles! It would be a LOT easier to make a virus that doesn't harm the insect than another mammal.

See what I mean? Great thread - this is like a think tank. Wish I could write SciFi, only it could happen.

reply to post by SeenMyShare


Thank you too

VonDoomen's "The Future is Coming" series, besides this one were well seen, while this one apparently fell before it got much attention. I consider it all valuable vision to work with, and to remind us that what society has built is far from where it could be at. I'm looking into that tower from the Fortune source right now.

Tower of Tomorrow

The building of the future will not just sit on a lot – it will breath, sleep, and wake up in the morning. And it will be beautiful.

money.cnn.com...

Originally posted by Northwarden
Perhaps my favorite thread on ATS follows, and it's worth a look over!

The Future Is Coming 3: Bionics & Optimizing Nature
VonDoomen

Bionics is defined as: the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology. This approach is motivated by the fact that biological organisms and their organs have been well optimized over billions of years by evolution.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The mesh of nature and technology, in harmony, fascinates me. I suspect we already should have a society based on this line of reasoning, not the halfway "green" technologies we see in today's mainstream promotions.

Off topic, but I predict we will reach a level in tech where a human brain can be placed inside a mechanical shell and that all the sensations of being human - touch, taste, smell, sight, sex will be relayed to that human brain as our skin and extremities do now.

I'm talking Ghost In The Shell stuff, like Major Motoko Kusanagi: A human woman's brain in a bionic body, she retains all of her emotions and feelings, such a love but she can do extraordinary things - things no totally biological human can do .

www.metacafe.com...

reply to post by mydarkpassenger


AH HA! A fellow GITS fan! Too cool. The speed at which we are approaching singularity is astounding. The problem is that we will most likely either attain immortality, or total destruction of our species. I have problems with both scenarios.

If we attained immortality we would quite possibly doom ourselves to a fate worse than death. What to do with 1000 years worth of stress, and memories? What if we became severely mentally ill after a few hundred years? What if we just became extremey bored with it all?

More on topic. I think a very important group to remember would be a moral team. A subset of people already skilled in other areas, but tasked with setting aside time to put value in survival. A guitarist with a good singing voice would become very popular sans TV, internet, or radio.

reply to post by Binder

Updating the list so its all in one post in case anyone wants to print it out.......

Thanks Binder. I knew entertainment would be needed but assumed it would follow naturally where people gathered : ).

Skills that would be useful and/or necessary to a survival community:

Common Sense and Elbow Grease
Communication Skills, Patience, Fair Leadership Skills
A Willingness to Learn and Work (Hard)
Muscle Power - Most aspects of survival, community or otherwise
Hand to Hand Defensive Skills
Rifle Skills
Tracking and Terrain Knowledge
Handgun Skills
Scavenger, Scouter, Stealth Skills
Reloading skills
Metal Fabrication, Smelting, Smithing
Blade skills - sharpening
Blade skills - defensive and mundane use
Water Conservation, Filtration, Purification
Water Hauling and Water Storage
Hunting, Skinning, Cleaning and Butchering
Fishing, Cleaning, Fileting and Smoking
Trapping and Snaring, Skinning, Cleaning, Butchering
Medicinal Herblore, Preparation & Use
Basic First Aid
Extensive Medical Training - medic, nurse, intern, doctor, vet, surgeon
Chemistry - complex compounds from natural elements
Midwife Skills
Edible Herblore & Preparation - plants, berries, fruit, flowers, roots, etc.
Mundane Herblore - Cordage making, Soapmaking, fibres, etc.
Farming, Gardening, Composting, Harvesting, Grinding
Preserving Produce - Canning, Drying
Preserving Meats - Canning, Drying, Smoking, Salt/Sugar Curing
Wood Cutting - Axe, hatchet, bow saw, two man saw, etc.
Firemaking - magnesium firestarter, bow drill, hand drill, lens, etc.
Woodlore - Identification, properties, uses, propogation
Cooking and Baking with Fire, Fireboxes
Basic Sewing - needle and thread
Laundering - hand, washboard
Advanced Sewing - hand stitched clothing creation, homemade needles and threads
Spinning and Weaving
Knitting, Crocheting
Tanning and Crafting of Hides
Animal Husbandry - goats, cows, poultry, waterfowl, etc. (meat, eggs, feathers, hides)
Scything, drying, gathering of orchard grass, wheat etc.
Horses - riding, plowing, pulling, farrier work, general care
Dairy - Milking, churning, cheese making
Beekeeping - wax, honey, pollination
Carpentry and Building Experience (log building a plus)
Biofuel and Gasification Experience or knowledge
Mechanic - small and large engines, mechanical parts, etc.
Stone work - Smoke house, spring house, root cellar, etc.
Child Care, Wet Nurse
Educator, Book Preservation, Librarian

Added by MyDarkPassenger:
Sailing and Sailing Navigational Skills
Nuclear Reactor/Power Plant Knowledge

Added by Binder:
Entertainers (Guitar, Vocalists, Storytellers, etc)

Scavenging will only take you so far. Sooner or later, you have to have raw minerals.

So you need mining experts and geologist. The geologist to locate areas with possible usable minerals. The mining people to remove those minerals.

A couple old ladies knitting won’t clothes a town. A blacksmith won’t be able to make more than a couple metal items a day.

So you need tool making and fabrication experts. People that can make the tools and processes to make stuff on larger scales. Like automatic looms and stamping dies to produce hundreds of an object in a day.

You will need engineer and surveying people that can pick out a location for and design and build dams for water supply and water power to power looms, power generation and other production equipment.

And glass blowing and ceramics experts. You need to be able to make food storage containers. And if you are going to have any power generation you will need to rely on ceramics and glass for insulators because rubber will be hard to come by.