How well would we fare as citizens if there was a civil war scenario?

Being at the top of the list in the guns per capita in the world (90 guns per 100 people est.) would put the odds of a US civilian comfortably protected, provided you're a gun owner.

However , how well would the communications, supplies,etc be devised among different parts of our country (talking USA)

Preppers are often laughed at and frowned upon by most people I know, and would prepared citizens share or support others in their vicinity?

I'd like to explore the possibilities in the following areas:

Communication: HAM, CB, Walkie Talkie, internet (if still available) Shortwave, etc.

Food and water supplies: Livestock, farming, gardening, fishing, water sources etc

Protection: Ability of neighborhoods or areas to substantially hold perimeter and safe zones to live in.

And how would rioters, looters and thieves be dealt with?

Citizens never fare well in any war.
Civil or not.

Personally, I find nothing "civil" about war.

Civil war would be hell on earth. Yes people would band to gather for self protection and survival. it depends on what forces are arrayed against them if the military turns on the American people in mass then it would look a lot like the middle east, citizen hit and run guerrilla warfare against superior fire power. If it is more a citizen against citizen free for all then the better prepared will likely fair better.

Originally posted by paratus
Being at the top of the list in the guns per capita in the world (90 guns per 100 people est.) would put the odds of a US civilian comfortably protected, provided you're a gun owner.

However , how well would the communications, supplies,etc be devised among different parts of our country (talking USA)

Preppers are often laughed at and frowned upon by most people I know, and would prepared citizens share or support others in their vicinity?

I'd like to explore the possibilities in the following areas:

Communication: HAM, CB, Walkie Talkie, internet (if still available) Shortwave, etc.

Food and water supplies: Livestock, farming, gardening, fishing, water sources etc

Protection: Ability of neighborhoods or areas to substantially hold perimeter and safe zones to live in.

And how would rioters, looters and thieves be dealt with?

What....give away our game plan.....

Good luck gathering this info. I know many folk are prepared with contingency plans, but won't divulge them to those outside their close circle.

Des

reply to post by Destinyone

Exactly Des! Star for you!

Nobody is going to reveal their actual pllans and strats etc....as this is the first rule of prepping, keep it to yourself and your group.

I think many will die, sadly, but also necessarily. As too many people with too radical of ideologies is the problem. Too many will not accept peaceful existence with those that will not believe as they do. Too many that will not live a good moral life, that allows others the same chance. Too many that will not live without having others at their feet.

So sadly, I believe that a purge is coming, it will be brutal, it will be lethal, it will be long lasting.

I just hope to make sure mine make it out the other side, as painlessly as possible.

reply to post by paratus
In the days of the Great Depression there was serious civil 'unrest' that turned into riots.

Check out the video and see how much chaos kicks in. It's just about in living memory for some folk...

Let's look back at our previous excursion into armed civil disobedience...

If you are even suspected of being a sympathizer of the oppossing side, the males of the house will be executed...shot... hanged... the house burned down and the women raped... at best the more able males will be spared and "volunteered" into the army.

Should you be far enough away from the front, most of your househld goods will be confiscated for use by the current occuppying army... livestock rounded up... firearms confiscated... personal possessions become contraband to those military figures with less than sincere intentions...

Hunger... mass hunger... anything that can be eaten will be eaten including dogs, horses, cats, rats, etc... unless you live in a "gubment camp"... in which case probably MREs.

Males will be drafted... volunteered... rounded up and trained for a wide variety of duties

Disease and sickness will abound due to poor diet and strict distribution of medicines... young and old will suffer the worst..

Guerilla warfare and savage, brutality on both sides...Charlie Quantrill, who mentored Frank and Jesse James, cut the ears or fingers off fallen Union soldiers as souveneirs and strung them together... In Missourri, entire populations were exiled and anybody besides Union soldiers found there were considered bushwackers and shot on sight... some were even shot... hung.. and then burned... really. All homes and structures in the quarentined area were burned to the ground.

In retribution, Quantrill's Raiders raided Lawrence, Kansas and held the town for an entire day... raping, pillaging, killing, looting the Union garrison as well as civilians...

Here in NC, families quarreled and feuded... women exchanged sexual favors for food to feed their children... men hid in swamps and hollers to keep from being rounded up and forced into service by the Home Guard... towns were raided and burned by fellow North Carolinians... politicians were kidnapped and killed... children followed feed wagons to collect grains of corn that fell to the ground so they may eat... sociopaths became bounty hunters paid to find deserters..

In many instances... you were better off at the front than at home..

Now, bring such brutality into the 21st Century with AR-15s, Mini-14s, trucks, choppers... gangs, racial tensions, organized crime...yup.. it would not be pretty.

It would be hell.

During the first Battle of the US Civil War
civilians would ride out of town to picknic and watch the war.

Here is an actual photo of a picknic from the Bull Run battle.








When the US invaded Iraq
during the first Gulf War,
many people sat in front of their TV's eating, and watching the war.

My conclusion
is that if the war is international
or if it is internal,
civilians will eat. And they will watch.


Mike Grouchy

I just watched the thirties movie Gabriel Over the White House and posted on another thread in a different forum. It is a fictional account of the depression days where the President makes himself dictator and is the "hero" of the story. It is on You Tube.

I'd just leave and I think a lot of people would probably do the same. If people here want to kill each so be it, but I'm not going to stick around for it.

reply to post by mikegrouchy


Yes, people did ride out to watch the battle... then the front Union line collapsed and the spectators were suddenly in the battle with cannon balls falling around them, wagons over turning, horses stampeding through the crowds, and civilians taking casualties... it turned ugly pretty quick.

What was expected to be a resounding defeat of the rebels in a week long war turned into 4 years of savagery.