I don't understand doomsday preppers

This is a flaw in the normal plan of folk who DO plan...they always assume they will be in their retreat when the disaster happens. What if they are home, where the odds overwhelmingly say they will be. Then they need to get out of town after the disaster. That puts them on the road with the millions of other folk fleeing...good luck with getting more than a few score miles. Then there is the assumption that the retreat, full of food, arms and ammo, will also be empty when/if the owner arrives. It is far more likely some slug who was simply closer to the retreat will have broken in and taken up residence and is perfectly willing to defend his new riches from the prudent owners.

 

After those few months there will be a LOT less competition for resources.....the folk who laugh at preppers are pretty much gone by then.

 

Water, Security, Shelter, Food. Depending on your location and season the last 2 are interchangeable when prioritizing, once established the logistics of sustaining comes into play.

Lone wolf or Wolfpack:

Being lone wolf means you live or die by your own decisions and skill set, Brings time to observe with little risk, age and sex plays a major role, not to mention you may be up against a pack but you are agile.

Wolfpack brings security and lends itself to a more flexible security and schedule to obtain resources much needed to sustain more mouths. Pack also invites dynamics not in your control and less agile.

Homestead or Roam:

Many argue this point. What I can gather depends greatly on ones circumstance, health and age. Mind you, when it comes to food the wolfpack and individual roamer will be seeking regardless if you are homesteading or mobile.


Offence or Defense:

Both but take it one step further and have a exit strategy. Meaning who are lucky enough to make it out of a hostile situation have a second known rallying point with provisions propositioned to sustain short term. The whole process starts over but no guarantee that the rallying point is secure to visit.

Travel mode:

Another subject greatly argued. I have heard everything from foot, horse, bicycle, ATV, 4x4 to RV. Circumstance dictates mode. Planning may help in short term. You are on your own with whatever wit is about you.

Barter:

Doctors, Nurses, Engineers, Chemist, Blacksmith and Farmer will have something you need.

Guns:

I will leave this decision up to you.

Sin:

Be it booze, tobacco, bullets, coffee or woman. A market always exist. Be cautious. Nothing is free.

Last bit of advice:

Nothing ever goes as planned and to predict people will fail you.

 

Just playing Devil's Advocate here. Preppers comes out of hiding...you pick the number...then what? You just took a time capsule to the Stone Age. There isn't going to be a society to rejoin or even a tribe. Hunter Gatherer is where you start, assuming any large animals made it that far. Grow your own? Let's hope the disaster left you soil and sunlight enough to grow anything. It doesn't get better just because the air isn't toxic.

 

You play the odds....is there a greater chance of Yellowstone going up (once every 650,000 years) and destroying the climate and weather world wide, or a Carrington event, once every century or so....If the later, the world will be pretty much as it was the day before the event, just with a lot fewer folk about. After 6 months or so survivors will know what works and what doesn't. Community activists and Art majors will be pretty much fertilizer and the folk who remain will be proven survivors...

 

I'm afraid I can't agree. Let's look at the effects of a Carrington Event. We can agree that most computer chips and communications infrastructure is not built to survive that level of surge. Cars, telephones, computers, even your refrigerator and microwave is likely out to lunch along with much of your electrical grid. You just turned much of the modern day assets into scrap metal. Not only are you not going to go get a spare chip tomorrow, you're going to have quite a bit of trouble just to produce wire again. You're manufacturing capability is computer based as well and will have to be reinvented. Utilities, fuel, food supply, all will take years if not lifetimes to re establish. Most of your information is stored electronically, all lost over night. There is a critical lack of everything, labor us your least concern. And just how many true survivalists that have all of the talents necessary to survive do you think actually exist? It's not just bears and wild dogs to worry about, there would be massive industrial pollution on a scale we've never seen. Decaying buildings and roads become hazards, not shelter, covering land that might otherwise supply the food change.

When the environment becomes stable enough to proclaim mankind has survived, I doubt very much it would be recognizable as civilization as we know it.

 

I suspect the worst of our society, its parasites and politicians, will be gone but folk with skills, gear, and gumption will get by. The key is getting through the initial months...when the mobs run out of food to loot and simply starve, the folk left will be mostly preppers.

 

there would be a shortage of food in the first few months, most would die, then when a sustainable number of people was left societies would take root again

but if your near other people, they would fight to the death to have your food too, it would be nuts, starvation makes even the sanest people nuts


.

 

I always keep a couple bottles of Jack on hand, so if the apocalypse comes, I'll go out with a big smile an a middle finger. That's as much preping as I do

 

Most likely scenario is a brief interruption that would cause food riots and looting. If it last for years I am as prepared as you can be though. I have guns and ammo and my wife has lots of seed for her garden. I can hunt and she can grow, between the two of us we have a shot at surviving a fairly long term event.

 

In the Sacred Heartland I have a cabin in the mountains on a river, legal weed store in town, and gear to brew my own vitamin B. I'm fat and sassy. East of me in, and toward, Idaho there's a whole bunch of those prepper loons. Some of them are real nice folks, normal as Ovaltine - except for that whole end-of-the-world-is-coming-any-day thing. Some others though are barking mad and howling racists growling about city people, black people (no problem telling me all about it however), foreign people, pretty much anyone who isn't related to them by blood or marriage or former cellmate. Ironically, a couple prepper 'families' had to be rescued by local authorities during the brush fires out that way last summer. Maybe the apocalypse will be easier.

 

Why are banks ordering survival kits? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-...eparedness-specialist-familiar-dhs-directives
Seems like the governmental turning into doomsday preppers

 

We do not have any desire to live in a post-apocalyptic world either. On the other hand, we are prepared for three months of material isolation and at least thirty days of intense riot.

 

It looks like that's the way it's going to happen.

 

Sure seems like the direction the government is thinking.
Why would the Feds need to by bank employees survival kits? All branches are pushing toward this prepping for something on a large scale.

 

It doesn't hurt to be prepared.

 

There is more than simple apocalypse to think about. Granted an apocalypse by definition is unlikely to be survived by anyone. How ever there are many ways for civilization as we know it to collapse while life goes on. Peppers often use the acronym TEOTWAWKI The End Of The World As We Know It.

This could refer to any of dozens of catastrophic disasters natural or man made which will not end life or the planet but would destroy civilization pushing us back into the middle ages or earlier. In general this is what preppers are pepping for.

Many disagree and feel it is a waste to prepare for such contingencies. If that is how you feel then OK. Others who are peppers are simply those who believe in having some insurance while you take your chances.

 

Did you completely miss Ferguson?

 

Well with the solar observatory and our monitoring we likely could get enough warning to shut down the grid and such to reduce the damage, fortunately the planet is pretty good at blocking such events, but it would still not be overly pretty unless you were Amish. But what about an alien invasion our combined global militaries would fight to the end but after then SQUASH, unless its a V sort of scenario or that episode "To Serve Man" when we just largely submitted.

But you made me think maybe people like me should get death medications since in a worst case scenario I'm dead as would other infirm persons.

 

I will prep as my government prepps.
If they are buy ammo so will I.
If they are buying survival kits so will I
If they are buying long term storage food so will I.

 

They're not waiting until after doomsday to take your stuff. First they'll take up to 46% of what you earn, then they'll charge you 10% if you want to use your wealth productively.

I'm more of an autarchist. I enjoy finding ways to be self-sufficient and avoid the statd-approved market. An enjoyable hobby for sure.

 

Well, that is obviously not the scenario he is addressing. He is talking about doomsday preppers, who are preparing for the near end of world.

That being said, yes, the people featured on the reality show are complete and utter nutjobs who deserve laughter and derision. However, there are steps that everybody should take to prepare for lesser scenarios

 

Do you remember the aftermath of Katrina? My preparations are centered around that sort of scenario. It will only take a week of no electricity before the people who AREN'T prepared start getting desperate. I clearly remember the lady, hip-deep in water, lamenting on the news that the government hasn't brought her milk for her baby. If you are WHOLLY dependent upon others, then you are vulnerable to THEIR tragedies as well as your own.

All you have to do is look at Ferguson to see how many folks are just waiting in the wings for any opportunity to loot and burn down your neighborhood. The cops won't be there to protect you, and the government won't come to feed you. In fact, they suggest that you prepare for "doomsday" disasters via www.ready.gov, and everyone should -at least- do that.

 

Not to mention billions of rounds of ammo.....

 

The average person will die of dehydration (lack of water) in 3 - 7 days. It is wise therefore to maintain a supply of potable water in one's domicile in the event of limited access to clean water.