Questions For All You Smartypants'

[Megan]

Sorry if these have already been discussed. As I am still pretty new to the forum, I haven't gone through all of the discussions over time. :D And I say "Smartypants'" not out of sarcasm, but for real. You guys are way smarter and more prepared than I am. These are the questions that keep me up at night, because I can't answer them myself.

So... Question #1: If you had to make a guess at when all the poop will go down (or up, rather, and hit the fan), when would your best guess be for when that happens? This year? Next year? 2014? Base your guess on whatever knowledge you may have (i.e. economic reports, financial experts, etc)

Question #2: HOW will poop go down? Will it be financial collapse (what seems to be an obvious answer)? Or will it be a pandemic? Any other theories? What do you think will be the final straw that breaks the camel's back?

Question #3: After poop goes down, how long will it stay down? Is this a forever thing? As in, we're going to have to build from the ground up all over again? How many of you believe in some sort of epic event relating to religion that will "deliver the righteous"? How will life be after this happens? Will we still be living like Little House on the Prairie?

Question #4: How do you know when poop has hit the fan? How do you know that it's time to take your bag and flee? How do you know when you're supposed to go to your bug out location?

Question #5: How many of you do not have a bug out location, but plan to spend the poopy times where you are now? Or... do you plan to return to where you are now after you have spent "safety" time at your bug out location? Or are you planning on living somewhere else?

Question #6: What if part of the poop hitting your fan means that you have to go through some horribly wretched natural disaster that destroy's half, all, or some of your survival/food storage? How would you recover? (This could be many things relating to earthquakes, floods, volcanoes perhaps?, hurricanes) It seems that some really strange things have been going on with weather lately (i.e. the fact that tornadoes are occurring where they are not normally seen, AND the fact that there is no warning for some of these tornadoes. Normally, meteorologists have about a 45 minute time frame before an actual tornado forms from the sky. Many of the ones forming recently have not given any warning at all. It's just *poof* there they are!) so what happens if live somewhere where natural disaster is very infrequent, if not absent by all means, and something out of the ordinary, perhaps almost unexplainable, happens?

Question #7: What are your views on medications and vaccinations? Are they essential? Do they not matter (should we rely more on natural herbs instead?)? Some more important than others?

[Matt In Oklahoma]

So... Question #1: If you had to make a guess at when all the poop will go down (or up, rather, and hit the fan), when would your best guess be for when that happens? This year? Next year? 2014? Base your guess on whatever knowledge you may have (i.e. economic reports, financial experts, etc)
Dunno, ever the optimist I hope never and I do not pretend to know the will of God as some "experts"

Question #2: HOW will poop go down? Will it be financial collapse (what seems to be an obvious answer)? Or will it be a pandemic? Any other theories? What do you think will be the final straw that breaks the camel's back?
Dunno or I would know what to prep for, instead I build each week in a different area

Question #3: After poop goes down, how long will it stay down? Dunno, it hit hard hear with tornados, some are recovered while others still dispairIs this a forever thing? Dunno As in, we're going to have to build from the ground up all over again? How many of you believe in some sort of epic event relating to religion that will "deliver the righteous"? I believe in the rapture because it is writtenHow will life be after this happens? Dunno Will we still be living like Little House on the Prairie? Dunno

Question #4: How do you know when poop has hit the fan? DunnoHow do you know that it's time to take your bag and flee? How do you know when you're supposed to go to your bug out location?
I'm pretty good at knowing when i cant deal with something and it time to regroup, comes from a few years experience of getting my a.. handed to me by life and by others

Question #5: How many of you do not have a bug out location, but plan to spend the poopy times where you are now? Or... do you plan to return to where you are now after you have spent "safety" time at your bug out location? Or are you planning on living somewhere else?
Dunno, hard to say because whos to say my bugin wont be wiped put, I have several contigency plans and am working on others


Question #6: What if part of the poop hitting your fan means that you have to go through some horribly wretched natural disaster that destroy's half, all, or some of your survival/food storage?Sh.. Happens, been there done that, it sucks How would you recover? (This could be many things relating to earthquakes, floods, volcanoes perhaps?, hurricanes) Skills-Adapt and Overcome, thats why I train hard and try and share it and encourage others It seems that some really strange things have been going on with weather lately (i.e. the fact that tornadoes are occurring where they are not normally seen, AND the fact that there is no warning for some of these tornadoes. Normally, meteorologists have about a 45 minute time frame before an actual tornado forms from the sky. Many of the ones forming recently have not given any warning at all. It's just *poof* there they are!) so what happens if live somewhere where natural disaster is very infrequent, if not absent by all means, and something out of the ordinary, perhaps almost unexplainable, happens?I'm in Oklahoma, we get wiped out by everything all the time, it's what makes us resilient

Aint much of an answer but it's honest

[Megan]

Thanks! This will sure help me sleep at night... ;-P

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Thanks! This will sure help me sleep at night... ;-P

There are some with more organized plans. IE: At T plus 10 mikes we will begin load up on BOVs and at T plus 2.5 we will commence movement to staging area 1 and at T plus 5 we will begin movement to BOL #1 but I don't have those luxeries and things are so fluid in the world right now I dunno if it is not better to be fluid with it with the limited resources I have. My Military structure says one thing but my Military experiences say another. "Be Flexible" we always said.

[Lowdown3]

Flexibility is important. The overly analizing people that expect this to happen THAT way, everything has a place and everything in it's place sometimes can't get the importance of flexibility. Plans can change, basic premises stay the same.

It's just like all the people that try to teach team tactics in a real rigid format. "Person A ALWAYS goes to the right. Person B ALWAYS goes to the left." Pop some live rounds off, and watch the pandemonium.

The BASIC PREMISES a.k.a. the concepts remain the same however. If "Person A" screws up and goes to the left (see above), do we NEED two people going that direction right now? I mean heck, I'm "Person B" and I'm supposed to "ALWAYS" go to the left. Now "A" has totally screwed up the plot, what do I do? Well if I haven't learned that stuff DOES fall apart under pressure, then I might not stay FLEXIBLE and ADAPT to the new situation (that being Person A not following the plan).

If instead of focusing on being overly an-l about the little things and instead the basic premises a.k.a the concepts were drilled into the people, Person "B" would go "oh crap, "A" screwed the pooch, let me change up what I'm doing so we aren't wide open on that side.

I've seen it on SO many faces when this happens. The flexible ones take it in stride, make the change quickly and it rarely misses a beat. The analytical types are still standing there trying to figure out what went wrong and since they typically only look at things very linear, it takes them a few minutes to figure out WTH to do.

"The fight will be what the fight will be." And if you try to structure it, it's gonna whup your butt.

We can adapt that saying from training to survival- "The SHTF will be what the SHTF will be."

Make sense? If not I blame on it on the heat.... Over 100 today, no AC, brain cooked.... fried, broiled, etc. LOL

[barfife]

Megan
I can appreciate your questions. They are questions we all are pondering. The answers are different for each of us and our particular circumstances, whether it be financial, geographical, preparedness, skill sets, etc. There are no simple answers for complex problems.

What we do here is to do our best to be prepared to take care of ourselves and our loved ones. We accomplish this by studying the archives, asking specific questions of those who know more than you, sharing information, bouncing ideas off one another, etc.

There are great people on this site, more like a family than a group of strangers. We are like neighbors...just a bit further down the road than most neighbors. Several have taken me under the wing and I am the much more prepared for it.

Start by making your lists. List of current food supplies and needs, abilities to make more food for the long term, current munitions and needs, current equipment and needs, current skill sets that you and your family posess and needs, assessment of your locational needs, etc. You get the idea.

As to a time schedule of events, we all hope and pray that our preparedness is never needed. If and when the need arises, you still will not be as prepared as you wanted to be. The only preparation I am sure that I have completed is my preparation with our Father.

In conclussion, preparedness is not a 30 minute course. Dig in...it has its rewards. Your life and the lives of your loved ones may very well depend on your preparedness.

[Lowdown3]

A couple years back, I had our design guy make up an ad for us for when James Steven's reprinted his book "Making the best of basics."

I got the ad and it said "Preparedness is a journey, not a quick destination." I thought wow, that was awesome, he comes with some great stuff! And he DOES!!

I hadn't changed our welcome message at our store site in a while. I went in to do it and found that very slogan. I had typed that as a welcome message when I couldn't think of anything else and our design guy used it in the ad. I forgot about coming up with it.

It's very applicable for the true survivalist. Their are no "easy buttons", but the journey is full and rewarding. If your like me and love to learn about anything and everything you can, I can't think of anything better. Their is so much you have to know in this, it's very easy to immerse yourself in numerous different areas of study/practice. It's too large to be "just" about gear and guns, or food and water storage. That's what I enjoy most about preparedness.

[Bearman202]

Megan, good questions all, and none of them have THE right answer. In general, it's best to prepare for whatever may happen. What you will find is that if you keep your preps fairly general, then you're ready for just about anything. Two things to keep in mind: 1) Nobody knows the hour or the day, (with the possible exception of the idiot with the tactical nuke, but that's another thread) and 2) no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. Whether that enemy is natural or man-made, all we can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Another thing you will hear around the prep community a lot is the phrase "Two is one, and one is none." That applies to plans too. Have a back-up plan, and if you can, a back-up to that one. What you want is options. Instead of standing around, wringing your hands and wondering what the heck you're going to do next, have a plan. Have several plans, they're cheap. <G> (Well, in design if not in application....)

[miked2345]

Megan,

Since I've only been on this forum a little over a month, I certainly DON'T have all the answers. However, here's my thoughts on things, and why I've started prepping.

I think the SHTF moment may be in the next year or two. I say this because the country seems to be at a precarious balancing point. We are at 14 trillion in debt, and now the gov't wants to raise that by a few more trillion. I have heard several economists say that at some point, the rest of the world will stop believing in the ability of the USA to repay our debt. There are already signs that some countries want to move away from using the dollar as the standard for international trade. From what I've read, when this happens, things will get ugly REAL fast!

If we made everything we need and use right here in the USA, it might not matter so much what the rest of the world thinks of the dollar.
But that isn't the case. Walk thru Walmart, pickup 20 items, look at the label. How many are made in the USA? Any??? If other countries stop trusting in the U.S. financial system, the talk is that the value of the dollar will crash. When that happens, the price of everything will soar.

There are some in the gov't who say that we are on the road to recovery, headed for brighter days. God I hope that's true. Yet the signs don't seem to be there. Real estate values are still headed down. The jobs report that just came out last week SUCKED. Food prices are going up. The stock market is jittery. And there are MILLIONS of americans still out of work, many have just stopped looking!

Now you can always find someone preaching doom and gloom. I use to listen to a national radio talk show in the mid 80's and the guy said the same thing everyday..... The country is going down the crapper.... headed for a melt down anyday... That was 25 years ago. The thing is, he was the only one I heard saying it! Fast forward to today. There are MANY voices out there saying the same thing, the country CAN NOT continue on this path, that it is not sustainable. Just last week on CNBC, there was another guy saying we're headed for a great depression.

Add into this mess the unrest in other countries, economic instability in Europe (Which can affect us.) and a whole bunch of terrorists who want to destroy America, and it just seems to me that maybe we're not on the road to OZ.

[californiapatriot]

#1: According to Peter Schiff, whom I try to listen to every day if I can, the dollar could crash as early as this fall. Yikes. If not this fall, then "soon." Peter is one of the few popular and public Hayekian economists, which is a much more reliable economic theory than the keynesian economic theory. Currently The US government operates on a keynesian model which is essentially :spend. The dollar is benefiting from a unique situation which is that we are currently the worlds reserve currency, and we are the only ones in the world authorized to print Dollars. Add to this the fact that the Fed has not released information in the last several years as to the volume of the money supply. That means no one knows how much money the Fed has printed in the last several years. It is likely in the trillions. Since the dollar is not backed by gold, it has to be backed by something. What every fiat currency is essentially backed by when it all boils down to, is assets. At any rate, the assets haven't increased significantly since we don't produce anything, so the printing of money devalues the dollar. The only thing is: no one knows how much for sure. If an "audit the fed" bill ever passes, expect a SERIOUS crash in the dollar to ensue when the information is released.
My best guess: end of 2012 to mid 2013. No later than 2014 We'll see.

#2 Think of the first Great Depression. Like that. In fact that depression was likely caused by the same people who are causing the current situation. Namely, the Federal Reserve. Who is that? No one knows for sure, but probably JP Morgan, Rockefeller, and the Rothschild family. Nathan Rothschild did the same thing in England, after the battle of waterloo. Research that story, but bottom line is that he caused a panic selling of the london stock exchange on rumors that the english lost the battle, and when the market crashed, they bought up all the stocks. market manipulation. Same thing happened in the Great depression. What caused the first depression? Bankers called in all their loans on the spot, knowing it would result in the panic selling that it did. They basically engineered similar conditions to what happened in England. Now they are doing it again. What does the Federal Reserve(a private bank mind you) care about loaning trillions of fiat money for interest? THe Dollar itself isn't worth anything. Its only worth what it can buy in REAL ASSETS. Thats why the bankers are sitting on all these foreclosed properties. REAL assets have value. The dollar does not. And the mroe money they print, the mroe money they essentially steal from you through devaluation of the dollar. Things will likely get better a few years after this dollar collapse, but the bankers will own even more assets and whatever government emerges from this crisis will likely tax us even more.
The thing you should keep in mind is that this is intentional, and they don't benefit from sending the earth back to the stone age, but they do benefit from a depression-like collapse so as to aquire more wealth.

Getting late. I'll try to give my opinions on the rest tomorrow evening.

[tarheelsman71]

I think there are 2 schools of thought on this. Prepare for the worst and everything else will be easier. Or you can start small and build your preps in increments. Both of these start out the same way though. You build a mindset of a prepper. Then you determine your Everyday Carry Bag contents. You fill your EDC and keep it with you...EVERYDAY. Then you find a BOB and fill it with your stuff. Then you start working on storing foodstuffs. While storing foodstuffs, you find like-minded preppers. You try to find a retreat location. Doing all these things covers both ways of thinking. Just depends on you and your mindset.

There are a number of issues that I prepare for. EMP or Solar Storm, to me, is the worst situation, so that is what I prepare against. I have a Bug out location, but it is 90 miles from my house. During an EMP, I would most likely have to walk there with my retreat group. We are talking 22 of us moving up together in mass. That means cache's will have to be in place. You cant carry 20+ days of food with you. (I know I cant!!!) But with those things setup, and having a plan in place that covers the worst case scenario, then you can be prepared for most anything. I think someone earlier spoke of the need to be flexible. That is the Marine Corps motto...Semper Gumby!!! always flexible. (okay, not the motto, but definitely the lifestyle). Nothing will ever go as planned to the letter, but being flexible will help maintain the course of action. For example, if you have a cart to hump your gear to your BOL and you dont have a spare tire then your plan sux if you get a flat. But also know that having a plan makes you already better than 95% percent of the population. I used to say 99%, but I have run across a lot more preppers here lately. It must be the new FAD!! :)

[MustangGal]

I don't have any answers, but I think the "S" is already hitting the fan, and frankly, I am scared. As a parent, my worst nightmare is not being able to provide for my child. I don't know that TSHTF will be a single catastrophic event like an EMP (I pray it is not), but rather an insidious slide into the cesspool.

I had to read One Second After as part of my comp II class, or I would still be amongst the sheeple. We are only a few months into becoming prepared, but with each prep I feel better. I am not confident that DH is 100% on-board. Sometimes I feel like he is humoring me, because he knows it makes me feel safer - and his life is better when I am not freaking out! LOL Either way, we are better off than we were a few months ago.

Q#7 - I hadn't thought about vaccines, other than to make sure we all stay current on tetanus. I wonder if it wouldn't be wise to "plan" a trip to a foreign country and get some of the vaccines that are normally given in third world countries, as that may be our future. I have stockplied OTC medications.

[Lowdown3]

Mustang- things are bad, without a doubt. Do what you can with what you got. Now is not the time to max out the CC's buying prep goods however. That being said, if your just getting started, it's not time to sit around either.

You'll find that most folks that seem well prepared have been at this for a long time and have been plugging away a little at a time. I've met VERY FEW people that would be considered "rich" in this movement. I'm certainly not.

The stuff is NOT going to hit the fan tomorrow. The normal tendency for new people is to freak out. They feel behind the curve and don't kid yourself, they are. But freaking out and thinking that TS is going to HTF tomorrow does NOT help. Constantly telling your spouse that the stuff is about to happen DOES NOT help.

And of course the people that constantly talk about the stuff hitting the fan but don't ACT on their quote beliefs unquote are a joke to those of us that do prepare but don't constantly cry wolf.

Like everything in life you need balance. The stuff is NOT going to hit the fan tomorrow but you should prepare never the less.

Don't sell the couch and dining room set to buy preps, but if your serious, cancelling cable or satellite to free up $50. a month for preps isn't a bad idea. Try to "move" money around in the budget versus going over budget on prepping.

That and probably the most important thing- PREP CONSISTENTLY. Don't be one of these people that sit around until an item gets scarce and then freak out about it. Get the items that can get scarce ahead of time. That is after all what we are doing when we prepare isn't it?

[EX121]

Boy i like the advice about prepping consistetly & shifting the budget bucks around.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

I live this way: There are things I know and can prepare for, things i don't know, the rest I just try and be prepared enough to react and be flexible. And then there are the things I can't help so just roll with it:
I KNOW that the family will be hungry tonight. So I prepare by having food
I DONT KNOW that the wife will want chicken So I prepare by having gas in the truck and money in my wallet to get up and go get the stupid chicken
I can't help the fact that my wife has emotions over dinner being late because we didnt have chicken and my attittude about getting the chicken so i just roll with it.

I know I face natural disasters, so i prepare stuff like the storm shelter, i didnt know that radiactivity was going to make it to the USA from japan and i wasnt prepared for that so i just rolled with it and when things got back in stock i shifted my finacial focus for a few weeks. no panic, no maxed credit cards of inflated prices, just slow and smooth. slow your roll, breathe and eat the steak one bite at a time, rome wasnt built in a day.

Everything I do is like this. maybe this will help your thought process, maybe I'm nuts but most stuff to include survivalism is approached with this simplification