Shtf scenario?

[Hardcalibres]

I have almost completely freed myself of scenario prepping.

There are so many things that might happen, but it is impossible to accurately foresee what will happen. If you scenario prep, then a few things will happen:

1) Your preps will be incomplete - you will be missing the capabilities that don;t directly match your chosen scenario
2) You will almost certainly guess wrong - and so when what actually will happen comes along your preps will be poorly matched to that or even as bad as ineffective
3) After years of waiting for your pet thing to come along (and maybe some others coming along instead), you will get disenchanted/fatigued and give up prepping

Prep for key capabilities, most of which apply to almost all scenarios and a few of which apply to the rest

Shelter
Water
Food (Stored, grown, farmed and raised)
Security
Navigation
Distress communication/signaling
First Aid
Heat/cool
Offgrid independent electricity
Cooking (Domestic to Campfire)
Food preservation
Hygiene
Protective clothing, footware and repair
Camouflage and concealment
Fire fighting
Agriculture/horticulture/aquaculture
Hunting/fishing /foraging/trapping
Medical
Financial
Communications
Mobility
Night observation/operation
Equipment maintenance
Wood and Metal Fabrication - building repair
Mechanical Repair
Earthmoving
Medical treatment
Trade/barter
Tanning
Surveillance/remote sensing
Knowledge storage
NBC
Fitness

 

[Haertig]

I figure those who only prep for short term problems (read as inconveniences), are going to be the "Second" wave of starving desperate "dangerous" animals, right behind the first wave of fools who only have a week or two of supplies.

Of course. "No preps" = "first wave". "Minimal preps" = "second wave". "Moderate preps" = "third wave". "Heavy preps" = "fourth wave". "People who laugh at how unprepped the other idiots are" = "eternal life" (or so they must think).

I'm in the "Minimal++ to Moderate" group. Willingly. By choice. After reflecting on where I am, where I want to be after the SHTF, and my tolerance for competing with chickens to scratch insects out of the dirt for dinner. I don't want to simply live for the sake of existing. I want to live with some purpose, a few goals, surrounded by family - all while experiencing good times and happiness along the way. The Mad Max lifestyle is not for me. I have no quarrel with people who want to live for many years after the apocalypse. If they can do it, and want to do it, go for it!

 

[Sourdough]

The Mad Max lifestyle is not for me.

The "WHOLE" Mad Max thing requires some amount of other humans. If someone is serious, at some point they should figure to ride it out with minimal human interaction. Nothing "NOTHING" is more dangerous than a human desperate to survive.

 

[Supervisor42]

Of course. "No preps" = "first wave". "Minimal preps" = "second wave". "Moderate preps" = "third wave". "Heavy preps" = "fourth wave". "People who laugh at how unprepped the other idiots are" = "eternal life" (or so they must think).

I'm in the "Minimal++ to Moderate" group. Willingly. By choice. After reflecting on where I am, where I want to be after the SHTF, and my tolerance for competing with chickens to scratch insects out of the dirt for dinner. I don't want to simply live for the sake of existing. I want to live with some purpose, a few goals, surrounded by family - all while experiencing good times and happiness along the way. The Mad Max lifestyle is not for me. I have no quarrel with people who want to live for many years after the apocalypse. If they can do it, and want to do it, go for it!

Yes. Who would want to live in a world like that?
You can count me out in the 4th wave.
I wouldn't last long in Thunderdome anyway (chainsaw won't crank )

 

[Neb]

The "WHOLE" Mad Max thing requires some amount of other humans. If someone is serious, at some point they should figure to ride it out with minimal human interaction. Nothing "NOTHING" is more dangerous than a human desperate to survive.

But but but...

Borrowing from a post by @dademoss ...

Being 30 past the life of expectancy of humans living in the stone age, I have chosen to put my prepping efforts and resources into things that will allow my granddaughters to thrive in a circa 1850 technological society.

No man that I am aware of can THRIVE let alone survive without the support of an active exchange of goods and services between people with a variety of skills and resources.

With 3 generations in mind simply stockpiling and building a complex in a remote location for my tribe is...

1) not in my budget
2) not sustainable
3)...
4) see #1

So we can do whatever we can now that will benefit others both today and in the future. The list is beyond my capacity.

A) plant trees and bushes to yield fruit nuts and syrup in the future
B) learn to collect store and propagate plants
C) know where to find and deliver coal
D) ...

I accept the fact I can't do it alone and trust that God will guide me now and in the future. I am comfortable with that.

I am rambling.

This video expresses my goal in my prepping that we don't up needing James T Kirk to explain it to us.



Ben

 

[Neb]

Yes. Who would want to live in a world like that?
You can count me out in the 4th wave.
I wouldn't last long in Thunderdome anyway (chainsaw won't crank )

Movies like Mad Max are like musicals in that we would never see that in real life ( although I have been known to break out in song to entertain The Princess).

Spoiler: Techno types see here

A common theme in apocalyptic themes is a creative or gifted person or group is protected and supported by the community.

Develop skills an abilities that are valuable to others.

Ben

 

[joel]

I do not trust Government, Religion or Corporation.
So very few out side my circle, so prep to keep their power over me low as possible.
If the fall happen then I can deal with it too.

 

[Weedygarden]

...everyone I know that has 20 or 30 years or more prepping, figures plan for a long-long-long period. And pray it will not be required.

I agree. I don't think that we can even fathom what is coming, nor can any of us adequately prepare for it. But we can try, and that is what I am doing, one can of chicken, one pound of beans, one jug of water at a time. One step at a time, buying something every time I am in the store. Will I survive SHTF? God knows, I do not, but I can do my part now.

Nothing "NOTHING" is more dangerous than a human desperate to survive.

I always think of someone who is drowning, and someone who doesn't know better, jumps in to save them. Two people drown, because the first person is so hysterical, they cannot even see or understand what they are doing.

 

[hashbrown]

It’s just the way I was raised, my parents and grandparents were always worried about stockpiling enough to get through the winter. I guess they scared me enough I do the same. I wish I had a dollar for every time I herd the story of the grasshopper and the ant!

 

[Sourdough]

There are places you can live, and never lack for food, water, shelter. That is a huge relief for survival. They are generally not preferred vacation, or retirement locations.

 

[Pearl]

Just wanted y’all’s opinions. That’s all
I don’t guess it matters. But makes for a good conversation

That's what we are here for, GREAT THREAD!!

 

[Pearl]

You can only store stuff for so long! Long term "prepping" is SURVIVAL SKILLS!!

 

[Sourdough]

I always think of someone who is drowning, and someone who doesn't know better, jumps in to save them. Two people drown, because the first person is so hysterical, they cannot even see or understand what they are doing.

Been there, experienced that. In an effort to save a young man who was drowning, I had to keep beating him with a canoe paddle, first on the hands then eventually on the head.

 

[Sourdough]

You can only store stuff for so long! Long term "prepping" is SURVIVAL SKILLS!!

And location, location, LOCATION.

 

[elkhound]

i want a bug out goat...a milker...why? daily calories easily.

 

[joel]

It’s just the way I was raised, my parents and grandparents were always worried about stockpiling enough to get through the winter. I guess they scared me enough I do the same. I wish I had a dollar for every time I herd the story of the grasshopper and the ant!

My 24 year old son stopped me telling the Little Red Hen, too tell me he had heard it all his life.
I replied "That my dad told it to me all my life, also ant & grasshopper, Joseph coat of many colors & the seven skinny cow eating the seven fat cows."
That right preppers have been around for a very looooong time.

 

[Spikedriver]

i want a bug out goat...a milker...why? daily calories easily.

I prefer the tactical llama. More cargo carrying capacity...

Don't know if the milk is any good though...

 

[Amish Heart]

I think the system that we live in will collapse. It's important to be able to live without the system. Whatever that means to you, so be it. Be in the world, but not of it.

 

[bkt]

I prefer the tactical llama. More cargo carrying capacity... View attachment 102088
Don't know if the milk is any good though...

A battle llama. Now I've seen everything. How badass would that be? I gotta get a few of those for the neighborhood.

 

[Rick]

What is your main reason to prep
Rather it be emp strikes, massive solar flares and other cosmic mayhem, a global Ice Age, economic collapse, nuclear world war, zombie outbreaks, robot uprisings. Mega-tsunamis, super earthquakes
Whatever it may be I’d like to hear your thoughts.
Personally in today I see and economic collapse happening more then anything

My primary concern is our counttry's slow slide into 3rd world status, as expereinced by Venezuela in the past 25 years, due to socialist/communist/neo-marxist (take your pick) policies.

 

[Pearl]

A battle llama. Now I've seen everything. How badass would that be? I gotta get a few of those for the neighborhood.

Yeah! Llama spit is gross! Perfect battle creatures!

 

[Spikedriver]

Yeah! Llama spit is gross! Perfect battle creatures!

This is where the tactical llama thing comes from...

 

[UrbanHunter]

OH @Spikedriver, That is so funny! I love it...

When I read the posts on why prep and I see the comment about Global Warming: I think that train has left the station... I remember just 20 years ago we always had snow by Thanks Giving and it was at least a foot, now we are lucky to see a couple of inches in January. The weather may run in cycles, but they are long cycles lasting centuries (we only think about it in years), there have been historical weather events that were quick (think of the 300 year little ice age in Europe) Little Ice Age - Wikipedia and there have been other events that lasted much longer think of the Ice ages (there were 5) Ice age - Wikipedia that carved up the surface of the planet with greenhouse periods in between them where all the ice melted, and they are finding traces of droughts that lasted centuries in the American West. But Global warming is not caused by just petroleum, it is part of a natural chain of events and helped along by too many people pushing it to the edge.... there just are not enough resources to keep everyone living our current life style. We are slowly moving into a Soylent Green world.

If you can find it watch the movie and see how 1960s folks expected us to end up in 2022, the timing was off but we are slowly getting there. The plot is holky, but look at the things they describe/show: limited food availability and quality, poor utility grid with the need for personal battery backups, lack of clean potable water, and just the general lack of resources.

I saw it with my folks and it seemed so far fetched at the time, but today is seems reasonable... now that's scary...

 

[Morgan101]

I prefer the tactical llama. More cargo carrying capacity... View attachment 102088
Don't know if the milk is any good though...

I don't think I would want to try to control that thing when those guns went off, and I definitely wouldn't want to be standing behind it. Just sayin'.

 

[Wingnut]

My primary concern is our counttry's slow slide into 3rd world status, as expereinced by Venezuela in the past 25 years, due to socialist/communist/neo-marxist (take your pick) policies.

Venezuela had the fourth-largest economy in the WORLD before the downhill slide began... hard to believe, but it's true.

I see some parallels between Venezuela and the U.S., as far as the downhill slide goes, but since the U.S. is what it is, the globalist tards have to go about destroying the country a little differently, using a multi-pronged assault...

Indoctrination of youth in leftist academic institutions, constant bombardment of propaganda through media & Holywad, constant bombardment of propaganda through Big Tech BS, the buying & selling of scumbag politicians & activist judges, all bought & sold like so many branded & ear-tagged cattle... and the list goes on, lol.

 

[Tacitus]

I decided a worse case would be an EMP and if I was prepared for same I could handle most other scenarios.

So my target is 1.5 years of bronze age survival then work up through iron age to steam age.

Still short of my goals but working toward it.

This is me.

I read a report on EMP from the US government, and read "One Second After" (an EMP fiction novel I highly recommend). I was in bed one night, after reading that, thinking about all that bad stuff, and I had this image strike me: EMP happens, and I'm standing there with my wife and kids, and they all turned to face me, and asked, "What do we do now?"

As father and husband, I didn't have an answer, and that terrified me.

So, I started prepping for EMP right then.

Unless you are rich, you can't prep perfectly for an EMP without also sacrificing your normal lifestyle. And, I decided one of the things I was prepping for was that nothing happens, and life goes on as it is now. So, I wasn't willing to throw away my lifestyle to be 100% ready for something that may never happen. So, I prepped partially for it. And, I never tried to prepare to keep my current lifestyle after EMP. As you state: bronze age / 1850's survival...basic living (no generators, etc.). At my height, I got up to about a year's worth of food, etc.

The kids are almost all moved out now, though. So, I feel much less pressure in this regard. I'm sure they are thinking: "Worst case, I'll show up on Mom & Dad's doorstep." I suppose I should tell them that I'm not taking it as seriously as I used to. My non-dry food stores have decreased quite a bit.

With Russia making nuke threats, I've started considering committing to prepping more again, but I haven't done much yet. At this point, I'm primarily trying to prep for financial crisis/difficulty.

 

[Tacitus]

I do not trust Government, Religion or Corporation.
So very few out side my circle, so prep to keep their power over me low as possible.
If the fall happen then I can deal with it too.

So, I try to move toward indpendence as well, but I know that my neighbors will be important.

And, if I am ever caught away, then I plan on relying on my church. It is a global church. And, if society breaks down, then people will break up into tribes, and I would rather be in a tribe of like minded christians than other possible tribes which might be purely based on power & submission, where they may have no particular affinity for me, an outsider. If I can at least show I abide by the same creed, I have a chance to be admitted into that local tribe, to offer my services and obtain theirs.

When there is nowhere for me to go, I'm going to church.

 

[Morgan101]

Worst case, I'll show up on Mom & Dad's doorstep." I suppose I should tell them that I'm not taking it as seriously as I used to. My non-dry food stores have decreased quite a bit.

I feel I am in a similar boat. I have adjusted my plans to include my daughter and family to come back to us if SHTF does happen. I expect them to come back. The big difference is planning for small children. I have never had to include small children.