Come Back To My Place and Check Out My Red, Hard....Wheat

Honestly, my idea of 'camping' a 3 star sit and sleep that only has basic cable. In the event of a serious the world is fucked and we need to survive more than a month without grocery stores and a functional government while dealing with problems more serious than what restaurant should we go to for lunch? I'm just as happy for Latin Groove to put a round through my skull and add my fat ass to the food supply.

Frankly, I can't think of anything more depressing than keeping 4500 cans of food in the house 'just in case'. My idea of an emergency bag is a decent first aid kit with some tools so I can do something productive in the holding period between observing an emergency and the emergency services people arriving. A decent fire extinguisher, A good torch and a radio and some spare batteries, a reasonable grade first aid kit, a multi tool, a pair of bolt cutters, a blanket, a couple of liters of water and a couple of candy bars and possibly a compass and some rope will cover every emergency I expect to survive. I don't foresee ever having more emergency supplies than I can reasonably fit into a decent sized toolbox. If I'm driving long distances through the middle of nowhere I might add a decent UHF/VHF radio, a couple of flares, a few extra liters of water and a signal mirror. If I was driving that distance through an area that had problems with the local wild life in an unreliable vehicle (which I would only ever do as part of an emergency return to civilization) - I might want to add a decent 12 gauge and a box of buckshot. But honestly - I consider that large circumstance so unlikely that it's probably more relevant to discuss zombies or an alien landing.

I can if necessary find my own food. I was a boyscout, I learned to shoot hunting rabbits, I can probably catch a fish as well as the average amateur, I can handle small numbers of live stock, build my own emergency shelter and probably even start a fire without matches or a lighter if I really fucking had too if I had any kind of urban environment to scavenge in. I've even done the gather water in a desert exercise (although the idea was that our car had broken down, not that there was any kind of apocalypse) and could probably make a respectable effort towards doing it again. But really? I'm a fat ass computer geek. In any situation where I'm not being kept comfortably alive to do clever things with a computer - I'm a liability in any competition for resources. And I hated living in rural towns where I had the internet as a link to civilization. Fuck living the rest of my life as a rural survivalist.

If the zombies do come - assuming I don't take a rational assessment of the situation and put a bullet in my own ear - I'll be heading for the nearest mineral mine. There's a few within plausible driving distance of where I live. You want to fortify a location? The equipment on a commercial mineral mine will have that job done in about half an hour. You want to defend yourself? Mineral mines keep a shitload of explosives in stock and firearms for pest animal control. Food supplies kept on site are huge and usually they have a big and efficient water supply set up. Spare parts for vehicle maintenance are plentiful. Usually a fuel dump of diesel for keeping a fleet of 500 ton trucks running for at least 150 hours of continuous operation for a week. Hell, there's usually even a pretty nicely equipped gym. The big concern would be first, convincing the resident miners to actually let me in to their Shangri la of survival supplies, and then the lack of women.

 

Nope. It's thoughts like those that keep me warm at night.

 

For me, It's my reverse cycle air conditioner. And I don't see any point in living without it.

 

Proper planning probably prevents piss poor performance.

Too bad I haven't done much planning or put thought towards this, but it's an interesting topic. I think the one factor determining whether or not I'd leave where I'm at if shit hits the fan here in Minneapolis is the season. If it were winter, surviving outside would be much, much more difficult than in summer and would likely influence me to stay inside. I'd cover the essentials first- keeping the house warm enough by the most efficient means, stockpiling food (AND WATER!!!) like a mofo, and shooting anything remotely threatening (including roommates). There's plenty of food in this house and I'd bet I can raid others pretty well, considering I live among other college students and old people. I already store frozen food outside, so that can help you prolong your stock.

I've got a few good cards in my deck, my firearms and hunting/fishing skills being obvious and outdoors skills another. After enough time in Boy Scouts to get your Eagle badge, you get pretty damn good at starting fires, navigation, first aid, building shelters, scavenging, etc. I also learned quite a bit about my own metabolism and nutrition after years of wrestling (and cutting weight), so I know what food to look for to keep mass on my frame. I've already got most of what LatinGroove has in his supply list in the same places, but not one single bag. I'm betting most dipshit tacticoolists don't know how to properly use half of the survival stuff they have, so it's good I'm familiar with any gear I'd come across.

There's plenty of stuff in other houses too, and I have not been in anything combat-like, I can hold my own in a fight and doubt many other people on the block have trigger fingers as fast as mine. But, that'd be a last option because you never know who is sitting around the corner waiting.

If it were summer, I'd probably be forced to stay put because there's no way in hell I could get out of the city easily (I'm right in the middle of the Twin Cities), but you wouldn't need to worry about staying warm as much and scavenging would be a heckuva lot easier.

A note on water... it's something I'm willing to bet plenty of people with bug-out-bags forget. You desperately need lots of it, but the shit is heavy. Those with filtration systems and knowledge of how to get water when it gets tough will have a serious edge over the competition. If shit hit the fan, regardless of season, I'd start filling containers with potable water ASAP.

 

What I wonder is: for every "prepared" person, there are at least 1000 nitwits. While the nitwits may not be organized or skilled, there are 1000 of them. The nitwits are going to see the guy with 4500 cans of food and say "hmmm..." and now the guy has to defend himself against 1000 rampaging nitwits. That's guy's gotta be target #1. You've got better odds as Nitwit #478.

My guess is that the survivalists eventually either get eaten by the 1000 nitwits, or eventually assemble a gang. This is where every post-apocalyptic movie gets its "crazy-ass evil mayor of what is left of post-apocalyptica" character. That guy started out with 4500 cans of food and now he's all "WHO RUN BARTERTOWN? MASTER-BLASTER RUN BARTERTOWN!"

 

WHO RUN BARTERTOWN?

Spoiler

NETT DADDY RUN BARTERTOWN!

 

A lot of people feel the way you do. Personally I have an overwhelming desire to live at all costs. I think I was put on this earth to do great things and I can't do those if I'm dead.

The second part of your statement is actually a very legit reason for having a kit. I use something in my kit every single day, whether it's the digital camera, water, tape or even the paracord that I use for shoelaces on my boots. I took off the paracord laces one day because no one had anything to tie down a tarp. The flashlight I carry in my pocket I used Thursday to help a guy who was stranded on the side of the road with no working battery.

I hope I'm not taking over this thread, but this is just something I'm super passionate about.

Actually I ran a test back in August with the specific purpose of testing out my gear. I found out what things in my packed sucked and what I found myself using. Go here if you want the entire readup as it's an entire thread a few pages long along with tons of pictures and commentary:

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=125651" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.survivalistboards.com/showth ... p?t=125651</a>

Regarding the water, that shit is fucking HEAVY. One gallon is roughly 8lbs. Considering people need a minimum of one gallon a day to survive and die generally within three days of no water, I'm surprised more people haven't given a lot of thought to this aspect.

Most of the preppers I come into contact with practice pretty good OPSEC and don't go broadcasting they do this.

In any case some preppers are also part a "Mutual Assistance Group" and also have strength in numbers.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/06/forming_a_local_preparedness_m.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/06/for ... ess_m.html</a>

Here are a few photos I wanted to share with you guys. If you remember the snow storm that hit us a few weeks back, one of the preppers took photos of his local Walmart while that storm was in the initial stages. Imagine what kind of shit would be going on if it was something actually serious.

 

You know what I'm going to stock up on? Laptop batteries.

500 GB of porn but only two hours of battery life left on your laptop and not a working outlet left on the planet eh? Looks like this here Sony battery is worth about six months of your food rations I think.

 

I'd rather barter a laptop battery than try to build a 3 phase 120V AC power supply that works well enough to recharge someone's laptop without destroying it. You destroy a man's porn and your survival might end that very day

 

Nice writeup. It's surprising how much more there is to stuff outside once you have the time to observe it.

Camping in Minnesota's Boundary Waters is my testing time. The most difficult thing is food... it is heavy in itself and stuff to prepare it requires weight and space and a means to create sufficient heat. The weather can be very stormy and somewhat cold (we've experienced frozen rain in the middle of a lake... in June), so you have to pack for that as well sometimes. It definitely shows you what is worth it, what isn't, as well as what works and what doesn't.

We use a manual water filtration pump and fill up collapsible 5-gallon plastic containers and fill up quart sized plastic bottles when we're on the go. All can be cheap and work very well.

 

The battery is but the charger isn't. I suppose you could bypass it but then that's another level of pain in the ass I don't want to deal with when I'm just looking to barter with some guy with a weird fetish that will never be reproduced again in his lifetime.

 

You know the simple jokes meant for non-pedants?

You're welcome... ya salty jackass.

 

After spending most of my adult life trying to make a more idiot proof solution, and finding that they just keep making bigger idiots... I'm not sure I see the point in trying to prepare yourself to survive human stupidity.

Fundamentally - people as a group, are dumber than you are prepared. As insane and depressing as a shelf full of 4500 cans of baked beans are - one idiot who fucking up while programing a weapons system is and taking out the whole supply, is substantially more likely than any situation that actually makes that supply useful.

I'm not a survivalist - but the obvious answer is to make sure your vehicle can comfortably run on vegetable oil. It's a relatively simple modification for most diesel vehicles - and it's a pain in the ass - but you can reasonably make your own vegetable oil with very basic equipment, for substantially smaller setup cost than configuring storage for 4500 cans of food. It wouldn't be practical to drive around like you do now - but having a vehicle for emergencies/long trips would be viable as long as you could maintain the engine and tires. Can even convert something like a Volkswagen Rabbit to run on Vegetable oil

I'd eat human if it was ethically gathered and free of brain and spinal cord out of curiosity. Anyone who wouldn't eat their annoying neighbor during a protein shortage is clearly not serious about surviving the apocalypse. And is probably a pussy.

 

Gasoline goes bad within a few months because of the additives they put in it. You can put either Stabil or Pri-G to make it worthy for long term storage. Or you could run diesel and not worry so much about the storage (a little Pri-D would still be used).

Some preppers I know how 55 gallon drums of treated fuel stored away. Others nothing because they think it isn't going to be worth it long term. Personally I've been interested in doing some research into using "wood gas" which can be done on a vehicle with some modification. This was used during WWII when no access to oil was an issue.

<a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas</a>

I haven't really discussed cannibalism or seen it mentioned much to be honest. Shit has got to be pretty bad if you're even thinking about going that route. Personally I won't be doing it. I'm confident in my food procurement abilities to never having to resort to that.