...................................
Without a tribe, you'll die. The solo person living on their wits is a Hollywood fantasy.

All joking aside, that is certainly a true statement. The funny thing is just how many folks out there truly believe that they can make a stand either alone or with a just a few family members holed up in their 'prepper's palace'. In real terms, you'd need at least a couple of squad's worth of healthy, resourceful, skilled people in order to make a viable attempt at survival. The veneer of civilization truly is thin!

 

I did a quick search and didn't see this posted. With everything seemingly pointing to near-term chaos, here's a good reminder of how bad it can get and some survival strategies.

Just a quick context for those that aren't old enough to remember. Prior to 1992, Sarajavo was a beautiful, cosmopolitan city. They hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics. In 1992, after the break up of the Soviet Union, there was a civil war in the regions that made up the former Yugoslavia. The Bosnian Serbs laid siege on Sarajevo for 4 years. The city went from cosmopolitan to wasteland. Lots of snipers picking off civilians.

A guy named Selco Begovic wrote about the year he spent in Sarajevo during the siege.

Here's a summary of his experiences from his forum posts.
How I survived a year of SHTF in 90s Bosnia

Here's his original forum posts on archive.org.
http://web.archive.org/web/20120319.../web/20120319073721/http://www.survivalistboards.com:80/showthread.php?t=189395

Lots of good info. IMO, his two big takeaways were...

Hygiene is a huge priority. Drinkable water and personal hygiene. If you don't make good hygiene a priority, you'll get sick and die.

Without a tribe, you'll die. The solo person living on their wits is a Hollywood fantasy.

A very interesting read to be sure. I picked up a few good tips from it. When I started to put stuff away for a just in case situation. I also decided that in addition to foodstuffs for myself. I also put away food for my neighbors. They do not know it, but I have. At a certain point I decided that being the only guy on the mountain with food was only slightly better than being the only guy on the mountain without it.

 

One of my neighbors and I have discussed the same thing. We both can and preserve food, each has enough to share with several other close but "unknowing" neighbors. Should SHTF we all have arms but I don't thing some of the other neighbors don't have food to last but a couple of weeks.

 

Back in the 1950s everyone was preparing for the predicted "Nuclear Winter". Now we have tons of movies showing post apocalypse world. Things have changed from the A-bomb to the plague, to alien invasion, famine, and zombies. For the record, one can never be prepared for the "worst case scenario". When total SHTF strikes, if you have one jar of peanut butter more than the next guy, you'll be a target.

Grumpy

 

Back in the 1950s everyone was preparing for the predicted "Nuclear Winter". Now we have tons of movies showing post apocalypse world. Things have changed from the A-bomb to the plague, to alien invasion, famine, and zombies. For the record, one can never be prepared for the "worst case scenario". When total SHTF strikes, if you have one jar of peanut butter more than the next guy, you'll be a target.

Grumpy

Looking at how unprepared/nearly helpless large groups of people were during the scamdemic, it doesn't look hopeful if we ever have a SHTF event. Even surviving/thriving through a war like's happening in Ukraine. Not hopeful at all.

 

All that's needed are handgun, few mags and pack of ammo plus helpful reliable neighbors . Most should pray because if SHTF they won't survive.

 

All that's needed are handgun, few mags and pack of ammo plus helpful reliable neighbors....

So if all you have is a gun and ammo, your "helpful" neighbors will provide everything else you'll need?

 

I get a kick out of the people who say they will bug out to a place a day and a half drive away that no one else knows about. Yeah right buddy. You’re a regular Meriwether Lewis.

 

Agreed. If things happen quickly and are that bad, chances are you're not driving anywhere. Which means that your 'bugging out' will likely have to be done on foot. Which also means that your typical, modern-day, sedentary, American, with less than stellar health and even worse general fitness, isn't 'bugging' anywhere but the couch.

 

For those of us in the Alleghenies that lived thru the '85 flood brought on by hurricane Juan, this is like discussing ancient history. We made it thru one disaster and can probably survive another. Don't plan on bugging out to here BTW; you weren't welcome the last time.

 

After the stores are looted, and all the fuel is stolen, that’s when the shtf, that’s when you have to be with similar armed groups, if not, you’re on the list to be assimilated, or exterminated.

 

Read the book ONE SECOND AFTER. NV

 

Did a quick peek at the wikipedia summary. Gotta get that one.

 

I'm going to get triple shot of Covid, Flu, and RSV vaccines next time I'm at the pharmacy. May check into update for Pneumonia and Shinges as well. After that I should be more ready for SHTF scenario. I'm fortunate not to need any meds and don't need income checks to survive. If this wasn't the case I would be truly ...... I will be just fine, another scenario I don't need to worry about.

 

I'm going to get triple shot of Covid, Flu, and RSV vaccines next time I'm at the pharmacy. May check into update for Pneumonia and Shinges as well..................

 

You might want to expand that list a bit...

• Top 14 Bacterial Diseases
  • 1. Anthrax
  • 2. Tetanus
  • 3. Leptospirosis
  • 4. Tuberculosis
  • 5. Pneumonia
  • 6. Cholera
  • 7. Botulism
  • 8. Pseudomonas Infection
  • 9. MRSA Infection
  • 10. E.Coli Infection
  • 11. Meningitis
  • 12. Gonorrhea
  • 13. Bubonic Plague
  • 14. Syphilis

Rabies is considered the most deadly because it is almost 100 percent fatal without treatment.

 

Too many people are most concerned over how long their weapons will continue to function, or their ammo fort will last, when the fact is, they, themselves, are the weakest link which will almost certainly fail first.

 

I believe long term clean water is the weakest link. Everyone needs a filter. I keep a Sawyer Mini.

 

A mini-filter just won't do for long term
because there is more to it than just drinking.

Perhaps the best way to deal with water would be an old fashioned army immersion heater.
Gasoline powered,it will bring40 gallons of water to a boil right quick.
Unfortunately, they are scarce.
But not that difficult to build one based on rocket stove principles.

Sterilize and distill - we need lots of clean water.
That could be an excellent barter commodity, too.

 

Sawyer mini is in my bag. Ive got a well at home and always have 100+ gallons of gas for the generator.

 

Read the book ONE SECOND AFTER.

and One Year After andThe Final Day

I read them all. Actually attended a lecture by the author, Dr. Forstchen, at SOCOM. We had some interesting speakers come in. Robert D. Kaplan was another good one.

 

Sawyer mini is in my bag. Ive got a well at home and always have 100+ gallons of gas for the generator.

I do too (the Mini) but all I'm saying is that it is not enough by itself.

I was thinking in order of priority...
Security
Water
Sanitation
Hygiene
Fire/heat - boiling water and keeping warm
Shelter then food or Food then shelter depending on the weather.

Kinda like Boy Scouts and probably not that much different from a wagon train traveling across Sioux territory on the northern plains in 1870.

 

My opinions are based only on lots of primitive camping in northern MN. I place water, in peaceful times, as #1. The rest are probably dependent upon where you live and population of your area. As well as the desperation of your neighbors.

 

If SHTF, all banks will close (the entire banking system will close, too) and currencies will be unobtainable. Stock markets will be closed, so no one could sell their stocks to obtain currency (even if the sales proceeds were deposited into a bank account). Of course, hard currency will also quickly become worthless. Barter will the only currency.

I lived in Kuwait from April 1991 through July 1991. During that period, the Kuwaiti economy was truly shut down. Except for food and water flown in by the allies, many Kuwaitis (and foreigners living in Kuwait) would have quickly succumbed. Of course, most Kuwaitis had left the country when Iraq invaded and were living in Europe. The city of almost 2 million people had shrunk to about 250,000.

Attempts to jump-start the economy were frustrated because there was no work force (Kuwaiti citizens didn't work, they hired foreigners to do it), and no currency (all banks were closed). Automobile transportation (the only means of transportation in Kuwait) was stymied by (a) limited supplies of gasoline, (b) few drivable cars (the Iraqis stole many cars and destroyed most of the rest of them), and (c) few people who knew how to drive the cars that DID exist.

Fortunately the Iraqis didn't destroy Kuwait's power grid. But they did degrade the grid's ability to deliver power to many parts of the city. Most I'll-avoid-the-SHTF strategies (such as Americans intend to employ) were incapable of being executed - they all relied, at least in part, on electrical power.

Water wasn't particularly scarce, but it wasn't drinkable.

I lived in the Kuwait International Hotel, across the street from the US Embassy. My hotel room's windows were full of holes (gun ports for the Iraqi army), and the hotel's running water was dark brown and very warm. I ate all meals at a hotel buffet table; all food was supplied by foreign contractors. Kuwaitis and foreigners alike all ate at that buffet. Other hotels had similar arrangements. It was a very ugly time.

I am left-handed. So I wasn't a very popular buffet-table guest to the Kuwaitis. [Only those who've lived in the Middle East will understand this comment.]

A SHTF occurrence in the US would have similar problems.

 

I am left-handed. So I wasn't a very popular buffet-table guest to the Kuwaitis. [Only those who've lived in the Middle East will understand this comment.]

This remark is predicated on the premise that Arabs "wipe" with their left hand, and therefore consider the left hand "unclean." But that premise is false, because it presumes that Arabs actually "wipe" at all.

 

The Amish most likely will be standing long after the rest of us are worm food . They can survive without modern crap

 

I was just telling the wife the other day. That I would like to keep my eye out for an early sixties VW bug. A buddy had a 1961 bug that would run about a hundred miles on a cup of gas. All solid state electronics such as it was, EMP proof. With these data storage centers popping up all over the place and sucking all the power down from the grid energy prices including gasoline are going to go way up. It will be interesting to see what happens when Zohran Mandami takes office in NYC.

 

No matter what we prepare for we won't be prepared. Earthquakes will cause all sorts of chaos and challenges. Severe weather will be the same but different. Grid destruction EMP will be more of a snowball effect than a sudden shock. I think foreign invasion or financial collapse are the least likely...though financial collapse in some form can happen when infrastructure failure cuts off access to cash.

As individuals we should have a plan and the tools to try and get home, as shelter in place is the most likely first line of defense. Living in a condo building (owners not renters) can provide some forms of immediate support and mutual aid.
If evacuation from the city area becomes necessary and/or getting home is impossible, having already planned for destinations, routes and alternative routes and designated meeting locations and alternatives is important.

Three most immediate needs...a means of self defense, an IFAK (individual first aid kit) and short term amount of water. A good pair of walking shoes would also be helpful. We have some cash (in small bills) and some gold for barter. But my wife and I are both in our early eighties, so I don't see us fighting our way out of trouble. We do have an alternate place we could go to if we had warning, but if we are stuck in the city, we will become city rats and survive through our wits and various stashes. Sort of like the Italians in WW2.

 

I did a quick search and didn't see this posted. With everything seemingly pointing to near-term chaos, here's a good reminder of how bad it can get and some survival strategies.

Just a quick context for those that aren't old enough to remember. Prior to 1992, Sarajavo was a beautiful, cosmopolitan city. They hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics. In 1992, after the break up of the Soviet Union, there was a civil war in the regions that made up the former Yugoslavia. The Bosnian Serbs laid siege on Sarajevo for 4 years. The city went from cosmopolitan to wasteland. Lots of snipers picking off civilians.

A guy named Selco Begovic wrote about the year he spent in Sarajevo during the siege.

Here's a summary of his experiences from his forum posts.
How I survived a year of SHTF in 90s Bosnia

Here's his original forum posts on archive.org.
http://web.archive.org/web/20120319.../web/20120319073721/http://www.survivalistboards.com:80/showthread.php?t=189395

Lots of good info. IMO, his two big takeaways were...

Hygiene is a huge priority. Drinkable water and personal hygiene. If you don't make good hygiene a priority, you'll get sick and die.

Without a tribe, you'll die. The solo person living on their wits is a Hollywood fantasy.

Well you don't need to go as far back as Sarajevo. Gaza is a good example of SHTF scenario and information is relatively easy to obtain just have to be a bit careful not to land on a terrorist watch list . Truth be told in this country, it'll be something more unique that ethnic related civil war. Armed civil conflict while possible will most likely be short lived. Nuclear conflict is my personal favorite childhood dream, but a bit unlikely as well. That would leave biological either SARS or again my pesonal favorite deer CWD jumping to humans. In that case it'll be a draw between strength in numbers vs army of one. Either one will have an equal opportunity to kill you.

 

Someone mentioned water. Number 1 required item for survival. I have an old fashioned hand operated water pump.in the yard . Always guaranteed to have clean dependable water.. Unfortunately these dont work everywhere as the water table may be too deep. Water and the original all terrain vehicles , horses and mules would be my first order of business.

 

After all said and done your chances of survival are greatest if you are in trades or in stem sciences fields and lowest if you are white collar carreer city dweller

 

Matrosov, I grew up farming for a living . Still,hopefully, retain enough skills / knowledge to at least tend a good sized garden ,can / preserve food etc . My downfall will be health problems. . Crippling arthritis and heart issues will take me out of contention soon after my medicines are consumed .

 

Not necessarily because somebody in better health and decent aim will ensure your safety and access to meds in exchange for a sustainable source of nutrition. That scenario played out big time during Nazi occupation of USSR. They've had entire villages living in the deep woods resistance fighters keeping women children and elderly with knowledge of trades alive. By end of occupation they've had off the grid high end sustainable thing going with livestock, built out housing fortifications, landing strips for airplanes all kinds of neat stuff. Core of those fighters were "party" dudes city dwellers with recon training they knew how to shoot blow stuff up recruit assets not so much about living off the land. Saving locals who were about to be executed proved quite a symbiotic relationship to the war effort. I don't need your hands I need what's in your head to survive. I'll find the hands that will follow directions .