When "IT" happens (what ever IT may be)

[carver]

For those of us that plan to stay put, something to think about. Can you stand in the middle of your home, and see all of your property? If I'm looking out my front window, who is coming up from behind the house?

[JLA]

I plan to stay put.. Bottom line. id rather die where I belong than where i dont.

[Alpo]

For those planning to "bug out", here's something for you to think about.

You live in Big City USA, so you can do your job, but you know that is a lousy place to survive. So you have a "bug out location". Nice little farm, maybe. Got three springs on the property. Artesian well. Forty acres of cleared bottomland. Ten acres in orchard. Nice, tight little house. Solar panels on the roof. Barn. Solar panels out there, too. Great place to live. Gonna retire there, once you've made your money. But for now you still live in Big City. Every couple of months you make a trip to the farm, to make sure everything is all right.

Then IT happens. Okay. You've been expecting this. You're ready. Pack up the wife and the kids and the dog and bug out to your BUG OUT LOCATION.

And when you get there you find that someone else has moved in.

Nowadays, what with LAW and POLICE, you don't have to worry all that much about squatters moving into your "vacation home". And if there are some, you call the cops and have their ass arrested.

But after IT happens, there ain't no LAW. Ain't no POLICE. And the people living in your Bug Out Location not only have everything that you left there (and they certainly don't plan on giving it up) but they now have everything you brought with you.

The only way to be sure that your Bug Out Location will still be safe and waiting for you, when IT happens and you run, is to not wait for IT to happen, but to go there now.

[JLA]

Excellent point.. And ill further add that IF you do arrive at you bug out location and find anything else 2 legged there that isnt family or friend.. shoot 1st and ask questions later. Because i guarantee you if they are taking over your location they will be ready to do the same..

[carver]

Originally Posted by JLA

I plan to stay put.. Bottom line. id rather die where I belong than where i dont.

Agreed, but do you have a plan that will give you some security? How do you watch all four sides of your property at the same time?

[aa1911]

unless you're crammed in urbanopolis, I'd vote to stay where you're at, barring some natural disaster that forces you from your home. fire, flood, volcano, etc...

course everyone lives in a different type of place, I'm rural with a little bit of land and people know that everyone is armed out here. I agree that if you have a bug out location that is a good spot, someone else will find it as a good spot too. Hate to be second to that party.

plus, if you're mobile, you are severely limited to what you can carry unless you're driving a semi rig! Tons more supplies and storage/security at home for lots of us than being on the go.

[Double D]

To those who plan on running, I hope your wife and children are as capable as you are. Also, I hope you realize that wherever you go, there will be someone else there trying to do the same thing you are. You will have to fight for something no matter where you go. If you have land now, you might as well stay put and fight to the finish. I am not afraid to die. I dont want to die, but I am not afraid to die. I know what is waiting on the other side. I have no fear, so I wont run.

[JLA]

Originally Posted by carver

Agreed, but do you have a plan that will give you some security? How do you watch all four sides of your property at the same time?

Leave the barking to the dog and the shooting to me..

The rest is in Gods hands Myles.

[carver]

I hear ya Josh! I know that I don't have eyes in the back of my head, so I'll probably be spending a lot of time in the woods around my place. That way I can see just about anything going on, and I will have some cover. Rifle pits.

[aa1911]

Originally Posted by Double D

To those who plan on running, I hope your wife and children are as capable as you are. Also, I hope you realize that wherever you go, there will be someone else there trying to do the same thing you are. You will have to fight for something no matter where you go. If you have land now, you might as well stay put and fight to the finish. I am not afraid to die. I dont want to die, but I am not afraid to die. I know what is waiting on the other side. I have no fear, so I wont run.

this is exactly my worry and why I won't go anywhere if the SHTF. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. While I could get pretty far with my kit and rifle on my own, having a family in tow to protect changes everything.

[firefighter1635]

Originally Posted by aa1911

this is exactly my worry and why I won't go anywhere if the SHTF. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. While I could get pretty far with my kit and rifle on my own, having a family in tow to protect changes everything.

+1

[JLA]

Originally Posted by carver

I hear ya Josh! I know that I don't have eyes in the back of my head, so I'll probably be spending a lot of time in the woods around my place. That way I can see just about anything going on, and I will have some cover. Rifle pits.

And if worse comes to worse myles we aint that far apart. we could combine forces. Id be proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in a foxhole.

[ShawnDow]

Originally Posted by JLA

And if worse comes to worse myles we aint that far apart. we could combine forces. Id be proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in a foxhole.

Now.. If I just had some one in MI that had my back like you have his!

[carver]

Originally Posted by JLA

And if worse comes to worse myles we aint that far apart. we could combine forces. Id be proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in a foxhole.

It would be my pleasure Josh, and an honor! If ya think you need to come on over!

[Jerryboy]

Originally Posted by carver

I hear ya Josh! I know that I don't have eyes in the back of my head, so I'll probably be spending a lot of time in the woods around my place. That way I can see just about anything going on, and I will have some cover. Rifle pits.

that's a really important point i've been meaning to make on here, and have been trying to make to some people from church who are homesteaders and preppers:

start constructing defenses NOW! when the crap hits the fan the factories won't be making serpentine/razor/barbed wire anymore, so stock up while you can. a single perimeter fence around your compound isn't enough; you need to dig foxholes/rifle pits so you can shoot from cover, because you DO NOT want to fight from inside your house.

now some of you may be skeptical, but consider this: in the days of feudal europe, if a lord or king had to fight from inside his castle, the war was already lost.

[soundguy]

heck.. even a few well placed mounds of dirt would be good.

and sandbags.. even unfilled.. just having them ready to fill.

remember.. in an EOC situation.. be creative too. old field with a broken down barbwire fence is a fireing line just waiting to be scavanged. a few tposts and some stragly old barbwore, even laying on the ground is effective.

they either have to move slower across it and not get tangled.. or they have to go around it.

when they move slow over it.. you have them in a fireing line.

when they go around it.. you arrange the 'around it' into a fireing LANE... that way over or around.. you got them. IE.. give them 2 bad choices to make if they want to come see you...

[carver]

Sand bags are plentiful, and low cost to most, even free for some, and they will work as well. A few felled trees in the right spots make great balustrades. Anything a bullet can't go thru. Cover, and concealment!

[soundguy]

yep.. and if you can't have cover and concealment.. you at least need one of them.. they ideally need to not be able to see you, or shoot thru the stop.. but at least 1 is needed....

[markfh]

Living in the burbs as we do we have a different plan. Some of my neighbors and I plan on hunkering down in black out mode hopefully letting the hoard pass us by on their way out to the countryside. Any defense of the area will be with suppressed small caliber weapons, unless heavier weapons are needed, hoping not to draw attention to ourselves any more than necessary.

I thought about a home in the country but figured it would be undefendable without a significant number of defenders which I don't have.

In any case it's probably going to be a cluster-f.

[soundguy]

ditto onthe CF

good idea on the black out. plenty of things you can do to make your place already look picked over.

[targetacqmgt]

Imporvised natural weapons - e.g. a poison Ivy smoke grenade or poison ivy and briar hedge/barrier, pits ready to put punji stakes in.

Sand bags and some "extra" construction sand is an outstanding idea.

One reason I moved to the suburbs of green acres -according to my wife. Food storage comes naturally to me. And wife is learning to can (something I have been getting into for the last 5 years.) Lots of local produce and wild critters.

Not electiric appliances (like a manual powered meat grinder)

I should acquire a short wave transmitter/receiver when the web goes down or is used to track you down.

[soundguy]

might be time to get a ham license..

[nmckenzie]

Originally Posted by targetacqmgt

And wife is learning to can (something I have been getting into for the last 5 years.) Lots of local produce and wild critters.

We have at least a year's worth - probably closer to two - of canned venison, halibut, salmon, tuna, shrimp, crab, veggies, pickles (our own brand), onions, you name it. Couple of times a year, especially right after deer season, the lady of the house and I drag out the canning cookers, fire up the stove - gas, but we do have a monster wood-fired stone fireplace that's also been used for this purpose, and add to our reserves. The fireplace is also capable of maintaining a constant 65-68 degree inside temperature if oil and propane supplies dry up. We have several gardens and grow pretty much all of the veggies we end up canning. The deer and bear do compete for some of the stuff in our gardens, but that's okay, there's plenty to go 'round, and some of the deer are probably going to end up being canned anyway. There isn't an appliance in the house that doesn't have a manually operated backup counterpart should the power grid go down. Canned preserves don't require refrigeration, and for the few items we have that do - largely stuff that we don't really need, there's the simple expedient of sealing them in tethered and weighted waterproof containers and dropping 'em into the lake - sort of like the old picnic beer cooler bit. Then there's medical supplies, backup stocks of prescription medicine. batteries, and just about everything else from tarps to toothpicks. There's also the fact that we live on an island. Only way in or out is air or sea - period, so if the large urban areas end up going to hell in a handbasket I don't think we'll be seeing it spread to our patch. All things considered, and we've tried to consider all the possibilities, I'd say we're set for whatever comes. Hopefully it never will.

[markfh]

Originally Posted by soundguy

might be time to get a ham license..

Why bother getting one. Just get the gear. If SHTF happens who's gonna ask for your license? Just saying.

[ShawnDow]

Back to EMP... some one talked about shielding / hardening of wires... I checked out one of my co workers mil-surplus trucks.. granted its diesel... all wiring is shielded with brass mesh then stainless braiding... grounded at the ends, and near terminals they have metal plates covering them. I told you Id look...