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Part 20
The Quarantine period went relatively uneventful. During one of the last days at the quarantine site Jim gave some observations to the others.
"Think about all the "I'm going to head to the woods" type survivalists out there. I wonder how well they are holding up after a few months in the bush. Most of them weren't even probably used to staying in the woods for two or three days, let alone months!" Jim said.
"A lot of Keyboard Commando's probably perished out in the middle of nowhere recently." Bill observed.
"I think a lot of people had what I called the "Red Dawn" syndrome. They really thought they could just load up their truck's and head to somewhere in the woods and make it. How they planned to live for an extended period of time is beyond me. You can bet very few of them gave any thought to planning a real retreat." Jim replied.
"You remember our plans years ago, before the retreat?" Bill said.
"Yep, I sure do. And they weren't any better than that. It's not a bad place to START. It's bad if you never get past that point. I think people spent too much time trying to get the "best" weapon where they should have spent more time finding a good AO to operate in even if they didn't have a retreat. I remember this guy on shortwave radio years ago that had this show called "The Survival Report" and he outlined a plan for people that didn't have a retreat. Actually, it was several plans. They all could have worked too. I think some people were just too lazy." Jim said.
"It's a major undertaking." Bill said.
"The guy talked about that if you didn't have a place to go that you should find an area to operate out of. Spend a few weekends reconning the area, hiking and camping in it, etc. Then go out and put caches in the ground each with a week or two supply of food. He called them "existence" caches. You then had some of your supplies already pre-positioned and it would make your bugging out easier. " Jim said.
"Was that the same show that advocated renting a storage space at a self storage center where you could store bulk supplies in the area?" Bill asked.
"Yes, that was specifically one of his ideas for people that didn't have a place at Y2K. He said to rent a storage center in the area of your AO. Then put your bulk supplies there, then camp in the area during Y2K. If something did happen, you could retrieve your supplies from the storage center and even live out of it if need be." Jim said.
"People always have options." Bill said.
"Yes, it's what they DO with those options. Planning is everything!" Jim replied.
________________________________________________
Life around the retreat was fairly normal while the quarantine group was away. Patrols went out patrol came in. Food was still holding out pretty good, and another couple of cows were expected in a week. This would give the Group two out on pasture and another for food.
More refugees were reported on the major roads and some on the smaller roads.
To date, the Group had seen only a handful of beggars. Most of these were local people that already knew of the retreat that had been friends of Jim's. The "will trade firewood for food" sign next to the measly pile of firewood outside the main gate had deterred a lot of attempts at begging. Most of those that came by simply inquired how Jim and his family were doing after seeing the sign. Jim always told them how they had taken in 40 friends and family from Florida and how this made them short for food. Jim always asked whoever came if they had any food to trade.
One young couple that came by were friends with Jim and Kathy, the husband having worked for Jim a few times in the past. They had a young baby and asked for help for the child. Jim gave them directions to a location in the woods roughly 1/2 mile from the retreat where a bucket of rice had been left. On the bucket was marked "3 of 4, December 2013." Jim also left a hundred rounds of .22lr ammunition for the couple with the bucket of rice. "Ammo, weapons and manpower we have plenty of, food we don't." Jim had told them before telling them where to retrieve the items.
The couple, seeing the "3 of 4" on the bucket, thought it was very nice of Jim to share 1 of only 4 of his buckets of food with them. They also realized it would be pointless to ask Jim for further help, due to the scarcity. This came out of Jim's family's personal stock.
After some heated discussion, it was decided the Group needed to take more of a proactive stance on the flood of refugees entering the area.
"I think it's time we start deterring refugees from entering this area." Jim said to the Group.
"Your not talking about shooting them are you?" one of the women asked.
"No. We've thought about this issue in the past and I've done a lot of thinking on my own about it also. I've got some ideas on how to handle the problem without hurting anyone." Jim said.
_________________________________________________
Two days later.
The camoflaged Diesel CUCV pulled to a stop on Hwy 441 not all that far from where the incident with the crackwhore happened just a few weeks prior.
Two men, wearing military ACU's, wearing MOLLE gear and carrying what looked like M4's got out of the vehicle and took up a defensive position near the shoulder of the road.
Two more men appeared, dressed similarly. One retrieved a metal sign out of the CUCV while another unstrapped a 4x4 from the top of the CUCV. The man carrying the sign set it down on the ground near the shoulder of the road, went back to the CUCV and got a post hole digger out of it.
As a hole was dug with the post hole digger, the other man attached the metal sign to the 4x4, then dropped the bottom of the 4x4 into the hole. The hole was filled with dirt and tamped.
It drew immediate attention from the closest refugees walking on the road.
"PLEASE HELP US! WE'RE HUNGRY!"
One of the men in uniform, wearing a 2nd Lt. bar with a name tag that read "Jones" replied "Ma'am, we have no food with us. Follow the directions and you will be alright."
A flood of refugees pushed on the group of 4 soldiers. "Help us! Help us!" "I haven't ate in days, please feed me!" "I'm sick, give me medicine!"
The soldiers piled back in the CUCV and sped off as quickly as they could.
The gaggle of refugees stood around looking at the sign.
"RELIEF CENTER, VIDALIA 52 MILES. FOOD, SHELTER, MEDICINE. TUNE TO 88.4 FM"
"WHO'S GOT A RADIO?" came the call. Out of a group of perhaps 25 people, one had a working radio, however, the batteries were dead.
Another refugee reluctantly gave up a set of "AA" batteries to power the radio.
After some antenna adjusting and some tuning the following was heard
"...under control. I repeat, the situation is now under control. Citizens are advised to return to their home town and register with their local post office. Food distribution to begin next week. No food will be distributed to unregistered persons. Relief centers are still operating in the following areas of south Georgia: Vidalia, Hawkinsville and Tifton. Food, shelter and medicine is available at these sites. However, we advise that you return to your home town to register for food distribution. The Government has advised that the situation is now under control. I repeat, the situation is now under control...."
"I knew the government would help us!" one refugee said.
"I'm heading back home." another said.
"Your stupid, things are a mess down South. I'm going to that relief center in Vidalia. It said they had food, medicine and shelter there. Those soldiers must have come from there." a woman said.
"You sure it's real? The government hasn't done anything for a few months now." one refugee said.
"Of course it's real, look at the sign those soldier's put up, and hell, it's ON THE RADIO!"
"Hallelujah!"
"I'm on my way to Vidalia!" another refugee said as the group moved North.
The Quarantine period went relatively uneventful. During one of the last days at the quarantine site Jim gave some observations to the others.
"Think about all the "I'm going to head to the woods" type survivalists out there. I wonder how well they are holding up after a few months in the bush. Most of them weren't even probably used to staying in the woods for two or three days, let alone months!" Jim said.
"A lot of Keyboard Commando's probably perished out in the middle of nowhere recently." Bill observed.
"I think a lot of people had what I called the "Red Dawn" syndrome. They really thought they could just load up their truck's and head to somewhere in the woods and make it. How they planned to live for an extended period of time is beyond me. You can bet very few of them gave any thought to planning a real retreat." Jim replied.
"You remember our plans years ago, before the retreat?" Bill said.
"Yep, I sure do. And they weren't any better than that. It's not a bad place to START. It's bad if you never get past that point. I think people spent too much time trying to get the "best" weapon where they should have spent more time finding a good AO to operate in even if they didn't have a retreat. I remember this guy on shortwave radio years ago that had this show called "The Survival Report" and he outlined a plan for people that didn't have a retreat. Actually, it was several plans. They all could have worked too. I think some people were just too lazy." Jim said.
"It's a major undertaking." Bill said.
"The guy talked about that if you didn't have a place to go that you should find an area to operate out of. Spend a few weekends reconning the area, hiking and camping in it, etc. Then go out and put caches in the ground each with a week or two supply of food. He called them "existence" caches. You then had some of your supplies already pre-positioned and it would make your bugging out easier. " Jim said.
"Was that the same show that advocated renting a storage space at a self storage center where you could store bulk supplies in the area?" Bill asked.
"Yes, that was specifically one of his ideas for people that didn't have a place at Y2K. He said to rent a storage center in the area of your AO. Then put your bulk supplies there, then camp in the area during Y2K. If something did happen, you could retrieve your supplies from the storage center and even live out of it if need be." Jim said.
"People always have options." Bill said.
"Yes, it's what they DO with those options. Planning is everything!" Jim replied.
________________________________________________
Life around the retreat was fairly normal while the quarantine group was away. Patrols went out patrol came in. Food was still holding out pretty good, and another couple of cows were expected in a week. This would give the Group two out on pasture and another for food.
More refugees were reported on the major roads and some on the smaller roads.
To date, the Group had seen only a handful of beggars. Most of these were local people that already knew of the retreat that had been friends of Jim's. The "will trade firewood for food" sign next to the measly pile of firewood outside the main gate had deterred a lot of attempts at begging. Most of those that came by simply inquired how Jim and his family were doing after seeing the sign. Jim always told them how they had taken in 40 friends and family from Florida and how this made them short for food. Jim always asked whoever came if they had any food to trade.
One young couple that came by were friends with Jim and Kathy, the husband having worked for Jim a few times in the past. They had a young baby and asked for help for the child. Jim gave them directions to a location in the woods roughly 1/2 mile from the retreat where a bucket of rice had been left. On the bucket was marked "3 of 4, December 2013." Jim also left a hundred rounds of .22lr ammunition for the couple with the bucket of rice. "Ammo, weapons and manpower we have plenty of, food we don't." Jim had told them before telling them where to retrieve the items.
The couple, seeing the "3 of 4" on the bucket, thought it was very nice of Jim to share 1 of only 4 of his buckets of food with them. They also realized it would be pointless to ask Jim for further help, due to the scarcity. This came out of Jim's family's personal stock.
After some heated discussion, it was decided the Group needed to take more of a proactive stance on the flood of refugees entering the area.
"I think it's time we start deterring refugees from entering this area." Jim said to the Group.
"Your not talking about shooting them are you?" one of the women asked.
"No. We've thought about this issue in the past and I've done a lot of thinking on my own about it also. I've got some ideas on how to handle the problem without hurting anyone." Jim said.
_________________________________________________
Two days later.
The camoflaged Diesel CUCV pulled to a stop on Hwy 441 not all that far from where the incident with the crackwhore happened just a few weeks prior.
Two men, wearing military ACU's, wearing MOLLE gear and carrying what looked like M4's got out of the vehicle and took up a defensive position near the shoulder of the road.
Two more men appeared, dressed similarly. One retrieved a metal sign out of the CUCV while another unstrapped a 4x4 from the top of the CUCV. The man carrying the sign set it down on the ground near the shoulder of the road, went back to the CUCV and got a post hole digger out of it.
As a hole was dug with the post hole digger, the other man attached the metal sign to the 4x4, then dropped the bottom of the 4x4 into the hole. The hole was filled with dirt and tamped.
It drew immediate attention from the closest refugees walking on the road.
"PLEASE HELP US! WE'RE HUNGRY!"
One of the men in uniform, wearing a 2nd Lt. bar with a name tag that read "Jones" replied "Ma'am, we have no food with us. Follow the directions and you will be alright."
A flood of refugees pushed on the group of 4 soldiers. "Help us! Help us!" "I haven't ate in days, please feed me!" "I'm sick, give me medicine!"
The soldiers piled back in the CUCV and sped off as quickly as they could.
The gaggle of refugees stood around looking at the sign.
"RELIEF CENTER, VIDALIA 52 MILES. FOOD, SHELTER, MEDICINE. TUNE TO 88.4 FM"
"WHO'S GOT A RADIO?" came the call. Out of a group of perhaps 25 people, one had a working radio, however, the batteries were dead.
Another refugee reluctantly gave up a set of "AA" batteries to power the radio.
After some antenna adjusting and some tuning the following was heard
"...under control. I repeat, the situation is now under control. Citizens are advised to return to their home town and register with their local post office. Food distribution to begin next week. No food will be distributed to unregistered persons. Relief centers are still operating in the following areas of south Georgia: Vidalia, Hawkinsville and Tifton. Food, shelter and medicine is available at these sites. However, we advise that you return to your home town to register for food distribution. The Government has advised that the situation is now under control. I repeat, the situation is now under control...."
"I knew the government would help us!" one refugee said.
"I'm heading back home." another said.
"Your stupid, things are a mess down South. I'm going to that relief center in Vidalia. It said they had food, medicine and shelter there. Those soldiers must have come from there." a woman said.
"You sure it's real? The government hasn't done anything for a few months now." one refugee said.
"Of course it's real, look at the sign those soldier's put up, and hell, it's ON THE RADIO!"
"Hallelujah!"
"I'm on my way to Vidalia!" another refugee said as the group moved North.
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