bosnia -desired items.

[rockriver]

preacher talked about a nation that turned from God this morning...
preacher concluded that the U.S. was turning..
he will speak next week on what the Christian community should do, given his info today..

as we were leaving Church, i asked a guy that i'm beginning to feel is a kindred spirit,
"besides praying and reading the scriptures, and normal Christian activity, given the conclusion this morning,
what do you think we should be doing anticipating trouble?

and
he answered... an answer that one of the mods of this board would give... (assuming the s was about to hit the fan).
he then followed up with
"when i was in bosnia... people would have given anything for a container of coffee, or cooking oil..these things were more valuable than gold. having liquor and cigarettes were in high demand too. you could have traded for anything if you had liquor or cigs. "

he pulled me to the side, and said "look, we are already doing this.... this..... and this... but we haven't even started with this and this... but we need to... "
i told him we'd talk further when i returned from a short trip...

but for you guys... friendly suggestion... get you some cooking oil and coffee! and if you still have money left, my guy recommends liquor and cigs!!

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Cigs got you a long way especially after the wall came down in europe and are often the trade material in other countries as well. I can see the cooking oil though didn't experience that myself. I would never have given liquor was given to anyone in the balkans as S had hit the fan and the violence didn't need more fuel like alcohol.
PAW here I will not be fueling drunks who will decide they are 10ft tall and bulletproof and have what I want either
The coffee i have thought about but as a non drinker i dunno but here it doesn't last too long and as a nonsmoker i hear the same on cigs but freezing is supposed to help both somewhat, is that correct?

[DIM TIM]

Yep, I have thought about all these things and more. Stacking high and stacking deep has it's roots with some of this in mind. I do what I can to have some trade items, but family and friends come first, and so trade goods are one of the "nice to have" items on our squirrel list. Might get some, but other things first kind of deal...ya know ?
Some of the stuff has a limited shelf life, so rotation is essential, but still nice to have when there is none around.

[seraphima]

Among trade goods, soap, needles, and toilet paper are primo, too. The major medical tool one has in a grid down situation is hand and wound washing.

[dusso]

I've always asked" if it's just a local problem, why not just get the h out of that area'? The only "prepping" needed would be a ccw pistol, a bit of camping gear, and some gold coins.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

I've always asked" if it's just a local problem, why not just get the h out of that area'? The only "prepping" needed would be a ccw pistol, a bit of camping gear, and some gold coins.

There was no "just get out of bosnia" for most, there was no ccw/pistol uner communism rule, there was no camping gear after the russian iron fist rule and only a few had PMs
many border were well protected against refugees and several surrounding countries were in shtf too and the same will happen here. if shtf in Oklahoma it will probably be the same in Texas, New Mexico, Kansas etc so where does one go? Lots of other what if that will stop you from just walking out. I'm pretty sure those 6 million thought about it, tried it etc

[dusso]

No, they didn't, Just like they don't try it in Russia or china. 160 years ago, in the US, millions walked from the Mississipi to CA, while oxen pulled their wagons. Now people act like it's a big deal if they walk a lousy marathon. Know what the record is for riding a bicycle is from nyc to LA? EIGHT DAYS. 400 miles per day. Walk alongside of the bike, at night, and it will carry 100 lbs of gear, water and food, with no weight on your back at all, over some really bad terrain. I've walked over 50,000 miles in 30 years. No bs. That's around the world at the equator, almost 3x. :-) it's not that big a deal, guys. 40 miles a week is nothing much, just a couple of hours per day. Many people RUN 2x that far every week. Also, we aint in bosnia, and we aint unarmed or prostrate from poverty. so it's really not applicable.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

No, they didn't, Just like they don't try it in Russia or china. 160 years ago, in the US, millions walked from the Mississipi to CA, while oxen pulled their wagons. Now people act like it's a big deal if they walk a lousy marathon. Know what the record is for riding a bicycle is from nyc to LA? EIGHT DAYS. 400 miles per day. Walk alongside of the bike, at night, and it will carry 100 lbs of gear, water and food, with no weight on your back at all, over some really bad terrain. I've walked over 50,000 miles in 30 years. No bs. That's around the world at the equator, almost 3x. :-) it's not that big a deal, guys. 40 miles a week is nothing much, just a couple of hours per day. Many people RUN 2x that far every week.

I was there pre-KFOR and during in Slovenia, Bosina, Macedonia and there was no walking out and some tried. You are talking no shtf conditions and/or pre planned conditions in which logistics are somewhat planned and available at the start like the wagon trains, not the same.
6 million landmines in an area the size of Oregon, 3 organized military factions and numerous band of others as well as gangs along with alot of other factors such as large rape parties, bombs falling from "friendly forces", snitches etc that prevented the majority of them making it into Albania, Macedonia etc. Some made it, most did not, other learned quickly this wasn't the way to stay alive. Every place is different and I agree that some places that can be done as it has several times in Africa where the borders are not quite as guarded but insofar as Bosnia different ballgame especially in the winter because even in July in the elevated border areas I patrolled there was snow when the valley was at 97 degrees.
Most civilians especially unarmed ones in a free kill zone are ill equipped and trained to pull 24 hr ops on the move especially with age variation, physical conditioning of a third world environment and lack of starting resources such as food.
If this is the plan I would suggest it only be for pre-shtf

[dusso]

we are not IN bosnia, guy. have you noticed? So what applied there doesn't apply here.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

we are not IN bosnia, guy. have you noticed? So what applied there doesn't apply here.

Yeah I noticed when I came home, keep it up
The thread was about Bosnia and the lessons learned

[Grand58742]

The coffee i have thought about but as a non drinker i dunno but here it doesn't last too long and as a nonsmoker i hear the same on cigs but freezing is supposed to help both somewhat, is that correct?

The answer would be yes...having said that.

I have drank older coffee past the expiration date. Pretty much bottom of the barrel but about what you get from your local 7-11 at around 3 AM lol.

Tobacco dries up, but can still be smoked. And even freezing it will tend to draw out the moisture either way so freezing or not will affect them no matter what. But that's an expensive piece to be stashing away and with a limited shelf life, not really something on hte radar to stash away.

And reasonably certain most tobacco users won't be selling their soul for a cigarette after say the first few months. They'll have the desire, but not the reason to trade away valuable goods for it. Bosnia was obviously different as the rest of the world hadn't collapsed yet. And in the PAW there will be some die hard holdouts that will give anything for a cigarette. But I think you'll end up seeing far different barter type goods than tobacco.

[rockriver]

in a web site long ago there was a story where many could contribute.
a feller I know wrote about the store run by a big ole ruffian. it had been the local china mart.. all needed to go there to trade.
the ruffian traded unfairly.
the ruffian absconded with some local beauties and put them into slavery/prostitution.
I didn't like it worth a dern. started writing about how folks from my side of the mountain would start preparing to take the store.
I didn't like the feller writing about forced prostitution so energetically and making it such a part of the story.

--
truth of the situation is that my friend was probably correct -- that his scenario was very likely.