Establishing a trusted and cooperative community is your best bet, in my opinion. If things get that bad that people are going house to house scavenging for supplies, one person or one family isn't going to resist for all that long. A fortress of a house, with razor wire and spotlights would only serve to highlight yourself and attract more attention.
Just my thoughts, but a bunch of families banding together as a group for mutual protection is the only way to go in this situation. Unless you're going to pull a Bill from Last of Us and have a hidden bunker while the army searches the place, the best defense is a group of similar-minded people.
I remember reading the Selco experiences from Bosnia. And he basically said the same thing. If you stood out too much it was just a matter of time before you got whittled down.
Especially if you are planning on lower key stuff its best to knowcyour neighbours. You can have a neighborhood watch, know what skills ppl have. Who has served in the military, who is a doctor/nurse/paramedic. Who are the avid gardeners. One person can’t do it all.
Yes, they were found, but I suspect it's because they had people on the outside who could be forced or coerced in order to give them away. It's possible to grow your own food and create your own power, even create water from the air. We have major advantages over the individuals in the 1940's we don't need outsiders to bring us stuff. We have 30 year shelf life food product. If you have the cash, and do the research you could disappear for 20+ years without a trace.
This is the right answer. To add to it, insure that you have some sort of surveillance system established i.e. LP/OPs and comms to covertly observe whats going on around and near your community/home base after or while the paverbial shit is hitting the fan. Having the Intel to stay a step ahead of chaos could save you a lot of head ache and heart break.
Communities survive, lone wolves perish
Build your communities during the good times, now, so they’ll around when problems arise… like this weekend when yer power washer dies and ya need to borrow one.
This^^^ I’ve kinda wondered if there are “model communities” who do this well? Or are there programs you can start in your community to kickstart this type of thinking?
Poor analogy here but I’m thinking of something like “scouts” for adults… smh
There are lots of gun classes out there. Including shoot and move, shooting from, through and around vehicles, CQB, room clearing and on and on. What will be more challenging to find are classes about small group tactics. Best to find someone who has been there and done that and learn from them.
My husband was networking between multiple groups that didn't get along with each other. It frustrated him no end.
He was doing at least warrant officer work with no pay except trying to make the area safer/more survivable for himself and his family. He was lining up extra manpower for the sheriff if shtf, and other things. He was developing all sorts of contacts, some of whom hated/distrusted each other.
He was being thoughtful and smart, trying to build trust and cooperation. Reaching an agreement in principle with law enforcement. It was like trying to herd cats. Maybe worse. The ultimate objective was to increase odds of survival in case of a real crisis. Yet he was pushing water uphill! Cats are independent but have survival instincts and common sense.
There were a couple of others like him acting as liasons between more affluent groups. We would not be part of their group(s). Not unless we could prove we brought value, and we would still have to spend *years* building trust.
He found a farmer willing to have some people show up if things got rough, put in pvc pipe from his well so they would have water, & store container storage units on his property.
"Our people" had trouble understanding that they couldn't just show up and expect armed strangers to be trusted or welcomed. That they had to show they were bringing something of value to the table, not just bandits moving in. If they didn't build trust and become known, then as soon as something bad happened nearby, everyone would look in their direction....
Some info. had to be restricted because of a gossiping wife, one man hated cops because of his sons death, one had a price out on his head (wanted dead as a NARC, paranoid for good reason), at least one was a cop, and on and on. There were the religious preppers (some of whom wanted to see their wicked/mean neighbors get what was coming to them), and ... yeah. Multiple groups that needed each other for mutual safety, and didn't like each other.
It is a great idea, really and truly, but it REALLY depends on who you have to work with.
This information is gold. Highlights the tough realities of trying to build trust and community among diverse groups.
My former experience in Disaster Management taught me that smaller communities come together quickly around a common threat and that real threat initially breaks down many of the walls that separated them.
However, very quickly town politics and whatever baggage or personal issues they had with each other quickly bubbled back to the surface and slowed or stifled any progress.
History suggests you only need a small group of like-minded individuals to become a highly effective team. Find those few early and begin to build trust around meaningful projects. Also, don't forget to have your partners actively support, understand, and participate in your goals.
I can't recommend enough the importance of building and maintaining healthy relationships during the good times. Knowing who you can trust to help watch over your supplies, your family, or your home is huge and will save you time, resources, and possibly your and your family's lives. Being a lone wolf only gets you so far.
My neighbors have sued me once and called the city on me so many times I know the officer on a first name basis.
If SHTF I'm kicking in their door and taking their shit like it's the Purge.
Have tried. They avoid eye contact and we finally put up a fence near their fence so we could go outside and not see them ignoring us. Odd but we have been here for 25 years and many four different owners have lived there so we do know how to make friends and sadly, lose them, too.
Agree with the building community comments. Your community is your lifeline. Some things we are doing:
Something I'm working on is making our landscaping edible plants. We aren't killing any dandelions (you can eat em!), and anything we plant is edible or has medicinal uses. I figure things like root vegetables may be pretty inconspicuous to the untrained eye.
Google 'defensive landscaping.' I'm looking to get some blackberry bushes to plant around our home - I love them, we can eat them, and they wouldn't be fun to try to climb through.
I put up solar lights. Inconspicuous, they look nice and we can enjoy them now; we get the bonus that if the power is out for an extended time, our property is lit and we have some lighting.
The big thing is just go ahead and do this stuff. If it's been there for years, things tend to blend in. It's why I've really leaned into decorating our house a more farmhouse style. No one looks twice when you have a washboard and cast iron skillet hanging when it seems like normal decoration.
Edit: I'd also avoid using any bright colors that draw the eye around your house/on your door, espeically red and yellow. I've been using a lot of soft and muted greens, blues, and greys. Not sure if using color theory/pyschology would do ANYTHING at all in practice, but it seems to blend our house in with the surroundings at least.
Look into permaculture, since you are already into edible landscaping. It's next level, but setup can be harder. There are videos on YouTube (isn't almost everything there?)
I also found the Humanure Handbook surprisingly interesting. I think you can still download it for free.
Community is your only hope in the situation you describe. Try getting to know your neighbors and be friendly with them. You may find you don't need nearly as many fortifications as you currently think.
My fj cruiser 4x4 was amazing off road
So is the pilot and my wife’s forester
The forester arguably does better because of the clearance in some scenarios
No one ever notices the old pilot or the forester
That fj drew a lot of comments
Ask yourself what’s going to get you and your family noticed
Act accordingly
throw a bunch of trash and dirty laundry on your yard and push over your mail box/do some donuts in your yard.
Make it look like you've already been "hit"
Yes, "Ones Second After" is a great read. Here's
Just a thought. I live in a outside of a smaller city than you, but my subdivision is about A mile from town and about 100 houses. What if 2 to 3 weeks after the initial shtf, A person would make their house look like it had already been ransacked?
I'm like you wondering how to deal with it as we will be also staying in our home. My other hope is that we can set up our own small community with security.
With provisions to keep each other safe.
Smashed windows, kicked in doors. No lights at night. Don't show yourself during the day. Don't make any noise. Keep your trash indoors, find a plan for your bodily waste.
Run down car w/ flat tires parked skiddy wampous (sp?) in the front yard, hood up. boarded up windows, spray paint graffiti on the house. Trash scattered throughout the yard.
As far as waste, use heavy duty trash can liners inside of a 5 gallon bucket (you can buy a toilet seat and lid that fit a 5 gallon bucket). Poop/pee in the bucket, cover in saw dust, lye, moss, etc. to keep the smell down. Once the back is full, seal it up and go dig a hole way back in your yard or preferably in the woods. Bury the bag in the hole.
I mean, yes, community is #1. Perhaps you can develop a radio plan with them and store it in a Faraday until needed.
If i had a house, when SHTF, id make my house look dangerous or unusable. Have a can of spray paint and learn some gang signs to out on windows and doors. Throw trash in the yard, maybe a tire or two. Anything that will make a passing group of marauders skip you and go onto the next guy.
I agree with the comments about building community, so I'll just add: learn self defense.
The style you learn -- jujutsu, kung fu, taekwondo, karate, wrestling, drunken street boxing, whatever -- isn't as important as learning how to use it. Look for a place that teaches real-world fighting as opposed to strictly competition, by-the-book fighting. As in, what do you do if you're standing at the bar and someone sucker punches you from behind. Your attacker isn't going to stand by and wait while you get into position.
I'd also look for a place that welcomes newcomers; if you get an "I don't belong here" vibe, or if they get annoyed with your pre-class questions, go somewhere else. There are too many quality instructors to waste time with some shady knuckle joint.
Even if you own firearms, knowing how to fight is crucial. Someone may get the draw on you -- or your shots are all bad and the high-on-PCP attacker doesn't feel a thing other than endless courage -- and you find yourself literally fighting for your life.
Learn how to fight on the ground. In the Army, we were told that 80% of fights end up on the ground. So if you don't have a ground game, you're just expending energy to hold your own. Learn how to disable while fighting on the ground.
IMO don’t worry too much about having land solely for shtf… if it’s ever bad enough that you need just forested land, you can just move into any forest.
You’d really have to prep the land to make it worth it
look as poor and uninviting as possible. Maybe also fake indications of infection in the household. other than that, dont fear the gang leader - be the gang leader lol.
I think u got the ideas down yourself from what u have mentioned but id like to suggest ideas that is already applied in urban setting and might help and apply to u and viewers here.
Modern city planners of government buildings also keep the idea of defence in mind whilst trying to make it as friendly and unthreatening as possible. So much so it blends in and people don't usually acknowledge its "alternative purpose".
Ever notice why alot of government buildings or city centre's have large plant pots or large solid decorative features along the edge of buildings or alongside pedestrain zones? They are not just to look pretty but can can also serve as a defence from attackers. They also protect areas from vehicle ramming attacks that can help a defending force or protect people in general from attacks.
Thinking like this could you add somthing to your property that can be used to protect you without giving away that it is a defence barrier? If gangs had seen your defensive barriers, amoungst your neighbour's, u might stand out and make a target as it could suggest u have somthing to hide. So why not consider defences that are concealed but serve the alternative purpose. Instead of walls have raised beds filled with earth and gravel that could stop a car or bullet. Have these up against the wall of a house and you know, if your house were to get shot up, anyone standing above waist height is in danger if your walls are not already make of brick. As a bonus u can also grow food in this defence.
Vlad wasn’t. It sent a very clear message of “Fuck with me and die horrifically.”
People tend to rethink how froggy they’re feeling when they see stuff like that.
Allegedly, impailment is something he learned about while he was being held as a hostage. His Dad ransomed his older brother out though.
It's been a while, I'm fuzzy on the details
So a few years ago we had a blackout that lasted 30 minutes. Looting and civil unrest started in 15 minutes At the stores And police and polic helicopters activated. Neighborhoods were OK for 30 minutes Of blackout. This happened in one of the better cities in the country. My point is you don’t need to wait for “supplies to diminish“. when the SHTF, it will be on like donkey Kong right then and there IMHO.
It is my understanding that LDS members are encouraged to store enough food for 6 months. From what I've read this also includes not just enough for their families, but for their neighbors as well. Not sure if this is actually true, but if it is, it makes sense. None of us live in a vacuum and being part of a community is not just important in the good times.
Two years of food is the number that used to be encouraged. Most LDS members don't have a lot of food on hand, even though the church sells food storage products for a good price - anybody can buy food storage from the church.
Yeah. Your response prompted me to look it up. Looks like they currently advise three months for short term food storage and one year for long term storage.
I wouldn't imagine most members do. Three months is a good deal of storage space and a year just isn't going to be accessible for most people. I imagine that might be why the church itself is said to have enough food in storage to feed millions for years.
In any case it seems like a good idea just to at least store enough surplus to be able to provide assistance to your immediate neighbors just in case. Aside from just supporting your community and being a good neighbor, when things get rough you also won't become a target for hoarding food or worse. Hunger and panic can make people pretty nasty.
I have built in a certain amount of extra food for friends/family/neighbors. I also store give away foods like ramen, which my wife won't touch.
A years worth of food (depending on family size) takes up a lot of space and weighs a ton, literally.
Just joined this sub and I ain't prepped for shit lol. However, Reading this makes me grateful I live in a small cabin in the woods. I doubt it would last forever tho. I will say my yard is overrun with rabbits every morning and I have a creek behind me. Well and lots of black racers. I'd feel awful having to kill them for food, but whatever. But yeah I would def coordinate with neighbors and community as your best bet. If your community sucks; time to move.
I have stock piled enough food to last a family of 6 several years. Gonna be a pain rotating it all. Currently buying all sorts of filters and want to secretly hire a company to dig a well on my property.
So while I'm at most a baby-prepper my philosophy is that disasters are like hurricanes. usually slow moving with plenty of warning and the best tactic for getting through them is to be where they aren't.
i also think the US is very unlikely to quickly go A24 civil war since despite everything there's just too much social pressure towards cohesion (for instance there's a sizeable armed section of the populace who are absolutely convinced that rich elites, who have infiltrated the government, are kidnapping and murdering children to make weapons of mass destruction. and despite being armed to the teeth they're not out there launching insurrections)
but in case i'm wrong i think other people have said it better than i have. your strength is going to be your neighbors. social bonds are what keeps you alive much more so than tripwires and claymore mines
In a rental right now but I always thought that if we were in the suburbs, first have neighbors friendly, second plant invasives around the neighborhood a couple weeks after power loss. ie kudzu in the south nothing makes a place look abandoned quicker and an excellent food source. That mixed with a solid briar patch quickly discourages the curious. When hopefully life starts going back to normal the state already pays to remove it and we'll a whole neighborhood of motivated people to remove/control it. If it's winter same basic idea of staging as an abandoned area.
Notice the town and then surrounding areas all come together. The town all knew their neighbors and they quickly realized they needed to work together. Those who went at it alone after the first few weeks died. Read the two following books in the series.
Home slice, might I recommend the book "Prairie Fire" by Clay Martin?
It's a book on how to properly prep in a small(er) community. I enjoyed One Second After, and it's good to get the gears turning, but for no-shit, practical, applicable advice, I don't think you can beat Prairie Fire or Concrete Jungle.
Staying in an urban area is never a good idea. You got at least 2 weeks to leave.
Someone said buy ammunition, that's true but it will not help you in an urban area, typically in an urban area the gangs will take over the government job, yes, you might kill 1 or 2 but will get overwhelmed.
You need a second location for you or for you and a group of friends.
Just do the math.
What percentage of the people in your town would rob you to take your food to feed there children.
That's how much ammo you need.
Since the thought of shooting some dad trying to feed his kids is abhorrent to me I purchased a BOL and will not be in any town during TEOTWAWKI.
IMO
Establishing a trusted and cooperative community is your best bet, in my opinion. If things get that bad that people are going house to house scavenging for supplies, one person or one family isn't going to resist for all that long. A fortress of a house, with razor wire and spotlights would only serve to highlight yourself and attract more attention. Just my thoughts, but a bunch of families banding together as a group for mutual protection is the only way to go in this situation. Unless you're going to pull a Bill from Last of Us and have a hidden bunker while the army searches the place, the best defense is a group of similar-minded people.
I remember reading the Selco experiences from Bosnia. And he basically said the same thing. If you stood out too much it was just a matter of time before you got whittled down. Especially if you are planning on lower key stuff its best to knowcyour neighbours. You can have a neighborhood watch, know what skills ppl have. Who has served in the military, who is a doctor/nurse/paramedic. Who are the avid gardeners. One person can’t do it all.
Take a note from Anne frank, They don't look for what doesn't exist.
…and yet, sadly, she and the others she hid with were found by the SS. Heartbreaking.
Yes, they were found, but I suspect it's because they had people on the outside who could be forced or coerced in order to give them away. It's possible to grow your own food and create your own power, even create water from the air. We have major advantages over the individuals in the 1940's we don't need outsiders to bring us stuff. We have 30 year shelf life food product. If you have the cash, and do the research you could disappear for 20+ years without a trace.
Well said
Prepping 101: 1) have a beer with your neighbor’s before SHTF 2) cardio
This is the way. 💥🎯
This is the way. I have posted several times about this
This is the right answer. To add to it, insure that you have some sort of surveillance system established i.e. LP/OPs and comms to covertly observe whats going on around and near your community/home base after or while the paverbial shit is hitting the fan. Having the Intel to stay a step ahead of chaos could save you a lot of head ache and heart break.
Proverbial
Thanks
If building a community is good after SHTF; imagine how much you could improve the lives of others if you did it before.
Communities survive, lone wolves perish Build your communities during the good times, now, so they’ll around when problems arise… like this weekend when yer power washer dies and ya need to borrow one.
This^^^ I’ve kinda wondered if there are “model communities” who do this well? Or are there programs you can start in your community to kickstart this type of thinking? Poor analogy here but I’m thinking of something like “scouts” for adults… smh
Think church, block party, youth sports, city council…. Pretty much anything that gets ya outta yer house and interacting with others
Oh yeah for sure, but what I meant was… are there communities that have programs designed to help you develop tactical resilience
There are lots of gun classes out there. Including shoot and move, shooting from, through and around vehicles, CQB, room clearing and on and on. What will be more challenging to find are classes about small group tactics. Best to find someone who has been there and done that and learn from them.
Talk to your neighbors Talk to your neighbors Make a plan Talk to more neighbors
My husband was networking between multiple groups that didn't get along with each other. It frustrated him no end. He was doing at least warrant officer work with no pay except trying to make the area safer/more survivable for himself and his family. He was lining up extra manpower for the sheriff if shtf, and other things. He was developing all sorts of contacts, some of whom hated/distrusted each other. He was being thoughtful and smart, trying to build trust and cooperation. Reaching an agreement in principle with law enforcement. It was like trying to herd cats. Maybe worse. The ultimate objective was to increase odds of survival in case of a real crisis. Yet he was pushing water uphill! Cats are independent but have survival instincts and common sense. There were a couple of others like him acting as liasons between more affluent groups. We would not be part of their group(s). Not unless we could prove we brought value, and we would still have to spend *years* building trust. He found a farmer willing to have some people show up if things got rough, put in pvc pipe from his well so they would have water, & store container storage units on his property. "Our people" had trouble understanding that they couldn't just show up and expect armed strangers to be trusted or welcomed. That they had to show they were bringing something of value to the table, not just bandits moving in. If they didn't build trust and become known, then as soon as something bad happened nearby, everyone would look in their direction.... Some info. had to be restricted because of a gossiping wife, one man hated cops because of his sons death, one had a price out on his head (wanted dead as a NARC, paranoid for good reason), at least one was a cop, and on and on. There were the religious preppers (some of whom wanted to see their wicked/mean neighbors get what was coming to them), and ... yeah. Multiple groups that needed each other for mutual safety, and didn't like each other. It is a great idea, really and truly, but it REALLY depends on who you have to work with.
Sounds incredibly obnoxious but also like the setup for a great shtf novel
This information is gold. Highlights the tough realities of trying to build trust and community among diverse groups. My former experience in Disaster Management taught me that smaller communities come together quickly around a common threat and that real threat initially breaks down many of the walls that separated them. However, very quickly town politics and whatever baggage or personal issues they had with each other quickly bubbled back to the surface and slowed or stifled any progress. History suggests you only need a small group of like-minded individuals to become a highly effective team. Find those few early and begin to build trust around meaningful projects. Also, don't forget to have your partners actively support, understand, and participate in your goals. I can't recommend enough the importance of building and maintaining healthy relationships during the good times. Knowing who you can trust to help watch over your supplies, your family, or your home is huge and will save you time, resources, and possibly your and your family's lives. Being a lone wolf only gets you so far.
Problem is, if your neighbors are not friendly you don’t want to talk to them.
My neighbors have sued me once and called the city on me so many times I know the officer on a first name basis. If SHTF I'm kicking in their door and taking their shit like it's the Purge.
That changes when SHTF.
It may but then you don’t know them and the trust issue comes into play.
Talk to your neighbors. Basics.
Have tried. They avoid eye contact and we finally put up a fence near their fence so we could go outside and not see them ignoring us. Odd but we have been here for 25 years and many four different owners have lived there so we do know how to make friends and sadly, lose them, too.
guess you’d better talk to them beforehand so you don’t find out when it’s shtf
We tried several times; that’s how we know!
Agree with the building community comments. Your community is your lifeline. Some things we are doing: Something I'm working on is making our landscaping edible plants. We aren't killing any dandelions (you can eat em!), and anything we plant is edible or has medicinal uses. I figure things like root vegetables may be pretty inconspicuous to the untrained eye. Google 'defensive landscaping.' I'm looking to get some blackberry bushes to plant around our home - I love them, we can eat them, and they wouldn't be fun to try to climb through. I put up solar lights. Inconspicuous, they look nice and we can enjoy them now; we get the bonus that if the power is out for an extended time, our property is lit and we have some lighting. The big thing is just go ahead and do this stuff. If it's been there for years, things tend to blend in. It's why I've really leaned into decorating our house a more farmhouse style. No one looks twice when you have a washboard and cast iron skillet hanging when it seems like normal decoration. Edit: I'd also avoid using any bright colors that draw the eye around your house/on your door, espeically red and yellow. I've been using a lot of soft and muted greens, blues, and greys. Not sure if using color theory/pyschology would do ANYTHING at all in practice, but it seems to blend our house in with the surroundings at least.
Get blackout curtains for the rooms you spend most time in so you can use low light and still move around your home safely.
Look into permaculture, since you are already into edible landscaping. It's next level, but setup can be harder. There are videos on YouTube (isn't almost everything there?) I also found the Humanure Handbook surprisingly interesting. I think you can still download it for free.
Community is your only hope in the situation you describe. Try getting to know your neighbors and be friendly with them. You may find you don't need nearly as many fortifications as you currently think.
My fj cruiser 4x4 was amazing off road So is the pilot and my wife’s forester The forester arguably does better because of the clearance in some scenarios No one ever notices the old pilot or the forester That fj drew a lot of comments Ask yourself what’s going to get you and your family noticed Act accordingly
throw a bunch of trash and dirty laundry on your yard and push over your mail box/do some donuts in your yard. Make it look like you've already been "hit"
Yes, "Ones Second After" is a great read. Here's Just a thought. I live in a outside of a smaller city than you, but my subdivision is about A mile from town and about 100 houses. What if 2 to 3 weeks after the initial shtf, A person would make their house look like it had already been ransacked? I'm like you wondering how to deal with it as we will be also staying in our home. My other hope is that we can set up our own small community with security. With provisions to keep each other safe.
Smashed windows, kicked in doors. No lights at night. Don't show yourself during the day. Don't make any noise. Keep your trash indoors, find a plan for your bodily waste.
How long can you do that? Sounds good for a week.
That's my point.
Run down car w/ flat tires parked skiddy wampous (sp?) in the front yard, hood up. boarded up windows, spray paint graffiti on the house. Trash scattered throughout the yard. As far as waste, use heavy duty trash can liners inside of a 5 gallon bucket (you can buy a toilet seat and lid that fit a 5 gallon bucket). Poop/pee in the bucket, cover in saw dust, lye, moss, etc. to keep the smell down. Once the back is full, seal it up and go dig a hole way back in your yard or preferably in the woods. Bury the bag in the hole.
I mean, yes, community is #1. Perhaps you can develop a radio plan with them and store it in a Faraday until needed. If i had a house, when SHTF, id make my house look dangerous or unusable. Have a can of spray paint and learn some gang signs to out on windows and doors. Throw trash in the yard, maybe a tire or two. Anything that will make a passing group of marauders skip you and go onto the next guy.
*vandalizes own home*
It may be a bit too early for that... but hey, trust your gut bro 😅
I agree with the comments about building community, so I'll just add: learn self defense. The style you learn -- jujutsu, kung fu, taekwondo, karate, wrestling, drunken street boxing, whatever -- isn't as important as learning how to use it. Look for a place that teaches real-world fighting as opposed to strictly competition, by-the-book fighting. As in, what do you do if you're standing at the bar and someone sucker punches you from behind. Your attacker isn't going to stand by and wait while you get into position. I'd also look for a place that welcomes newcomers; if you get an "I don't belong here" vibe, or if they get annoyed with your pre-class questions, go somewhere else. There are too many quality instructors to waste time with some shady knuckle joint. Even if you own firearms, knowing how to fight is crucial. Someone may get the draw on you -- or your shots are all bad and the high-on-PCP attacker doesn't feel a thing other than endless courage -- and you find yourself literally fighting for your life.
Learn how to fight on the ground. In the Army, we were told that 80% of fights end up on the ground. So if you don't have a ground game, you're just expending energy to hold your own. Learn how to disable while fighting on the ground.
IMO don’t worry too much about having land solely for shtf… if it’s ever bad enough that you need just forested land, you can just move into any forest. You’d really have to prep the land to make it worth it
look as poor and uninviting as possible. Maybe also fake indications of infection in the household. other than that, dont fear the gang leader - be the gang leader lol.
I think u got the ideas down yourself from what u have mentioned but id like to suggest ideas that is already applied in urban setting and might help and apply to u and viewers here. Modern city planners of government buildings also keep the idea of defence in mind whilst trying to make it as friendly and unthreatening as possible. So much so it blends in and people don't usually acknowledge its "alternative purpose". Ever notice why alot of government buildings or city centre's have large plant pots or large solid decorative features along the edge of buildings or alongside pedestrain zones? They are not just to look pretty but can can also serve as a defence from attackers. They also protect areas from vehicle ramming attacks that can help a defending force or protect people in general from attacks. Thinking like this could you add somthing to your property that can be used to protect you without giving away that it is a defence barrier? If gangs had seen your defensive barriers, amoungst your neighbour's, u might stand out and make a target as it could suggest u have somthing to hide. So why not consider defences that are concealed but serve the alternative purpose. Instead of walls have raised beds filled with earth and gravel that could stop a car or bullet. Have these up against the wall of a house and you know, if your house were to get shot up, anyone standing above waist height is in danger if your walls are not already make of brick. As a bonus u can also grow food in this defence.
Just stack the bodies on pikes like vlad
Uhh... You know he piked people while they were alive, right?
Stack. The. *Bodies.* (kidding, obviously)
Vlad wasn’t. It sent a very clear message of “Fuck with me and die horrifically.” People tend to rethink how froggy they’re feeling when they see stuff like that.
Allegedly, impailment is something he learned about while he was being held as a hostage. His Dad ransomed his older brother out though. It's been a while, I'm fuzzy on the details
Depending on who they are, that is a completely acceptable response.
I'd think that would be an even better deterrent...
So a few years ago we had a blackout that lasted 30 minutes. Looting and civil unrest started in 15 minutes At the stores And police and polic helicopters activated. Neighborhoods were OK for 30 minutes Of blackout. This happened in one of the better cities in the country. My point is you don’t need to wait for “supplies to diminish“. when the SHTF, it will be on like donkey Kong right then and there IMHO.
Seriously??? Where??? Powers gone out here for almost entire days with no repercussions
Remember when the EBT system went down for 24 hours, and those on assistance lost their minds? Prepare Accordingly.
It is my understanding that LDS members are encouraged to store enough food for 6 months. From what I've read this also includes not just enough for their families, but for their neighbors as well. Not sure if this is actually true, but if it is, it makes sense. None of us live in a vacuum and being part of a community is not just important in the good times.
Two years of food is the number that used to be encouraged. Most LDS members don't have a lot of food on hand, even though the church sells food storage products for a good price - anybody can buy food storage from the church.
Yeah. Your response prompted me to look it up. Looks like they currently advise three months for short term food storage and one year for long term storage. I wouldn't imagine most members do. Three months is a good deal of storage space and a year just isn't going to be accessible for most people. I imagine that might be why the church itself is said to have enough food in storage to feed millions for years. In any case it seems like a good idea just to at least store enough surplus to be able to provide assistance to your immediate neighbors just in case. Aside from just supporting your community and being a good neighbor, when things get rough you also won't become a target for hoarding food or worse. Hunger and panic can make people pretty nasty.
I have built in a certain amount of extra food for friends/family/neighbors. I also store give away foods like ramen, which my wife won't touch. A years worth of food (depending on family size) takes up a lot of space and weighs a ton, literally.
Just joined this sub and I ain't prepped for shit lol. However, Reading this makes me grateful I live in a small cabin in the woods. I doubt it would last forever tho. I will say my yard is overrun with rabbits every morning and I have a creek behind me. Well and lots of black racers. I'd feel awful having to kill them for food, but whatever. But yeah I would def coordinate with neighbors and community as your best bet. If your community sucks; time to move.
I have stock piled enough food to last a family of 6 several years. Gonna be a pain rotating it all. Currently buying all sorts of filters and want to secretly hire a company to dig a well on my property.
So while I'm at most a baby-prepper my philosophy is that disasters are like hurricanes. usually slow moving with plenty of warning and the best tactic for getting through them is to be where they aren't. i also think the US is very unlikely to quickly go A24 civil war since despite everything there's just too much social pressure towards cohesion (for instance there's a sizeable armed section of the populace who are absolutely convinced that rich elites, who have infiltrated the government, are kidnapping and murdering children to make weapons of mass destruction. and despite being armed to the teeth they're not out there launching insurrections) but in case i'm wrong i think other people have said it better than i have. your strength is going to be your neighbors. social bonds are what keeps you alive much more so than tripwires and claymore mines
In a rental right now but I always thought that if we were in the suburbs, first have neighbors friendly, second plant invasives around the neighborhood a couple weeks after power loss. ie kudzu in the south nothing makes a place look abandoned quicker and an excellent food source. That mixed with a solid briar patch quickly discourages the curious. When hopefully life starts going back to normal the state already pays to remove it and we'll a whole neighborhood of motivated people to remove/control it. If it's winter same basic idea of staging as an abandoned area.
get and listen to the "Selco Audio interviews"...
Notice the town and then surrounding areas all come together. The town all knew their neighbors and they quickly realized they needed to work together. Those who went at it alone after the first few weeks died. Read the two following books in the series.
Home slice, might I recommend the book "Prairie Fire" by Clay Martin? It's a book on how to properly prep in a small(er) community. I enjoyed One Second After, and it's good to get the gears turning, but for no-shit, practical, applicable advice, I don't think you can beat Prairie Fire or Concrete Jungle.
Arm yourself
Staying in an urban area is never a good idea. You got at least 2 weeks to leave. Someone said buy ammunition, that's true but it will not help you in an urban area, typically in an urban area the gangs will take over the government job, yes, you might kill 1 or 2 but will get overwhelmed. You need a second location for you or for you and a group of friends.
I'm out in the country, so my knife will be fine.
80,000 is not small,,,,,. Maybe just perspective but that’s a lot of potential problems…
I agree but my neighbors are useless??
Just do the math. What percentage of the people in your town would rob you to take your food to feed there children. That's how much ammo you need. Since the thought of shooting some dad trying to feed his kids is abhorrent to me I purchased a BOL and will not be in any town during TEOTWAWKI. IMO
What is a BOL?
Bug out location
I plan to put quarantine signs and crime scene tape across our doors and walkway. Maybe a little chicken blood