Who Will Do Well If TSHTF?

**canid** · 01-24-2008, 11:19 PM

you haven't met my grandmother. she didn't get old weak, she got weak old.

**Smok** · 01-24-2008, 11:56 PM

Bad that stinks

**Rick** · 01-25-2008, 07:46 AM

I'm surprised at the number of forums proclaiming what a burden older people are on our society. It's pretty disgusting. I read through one about a week ago and some kid was on there mouthing about the cost of the elderly and how they served no purpose. I explained to him that his views were indicative of his lack of upbringing. I don't think he understood. His kind will not survive. Someone will see to that.

A lot of elderly won't survive. Neither will most of those who are already sick or injured. A lot of it boils down to pure luck regardless of how prepared or unprepared you are.

**Beo** · 01-25-2008, 09:12 AM

Haaaaaaa! Got your atention didn't it. Sometimes I go off on a rant, for whatever reason I don't know, could be me venting, could be me arguing my point, could be me feeling the need to impose my will upon other people, most likely i'm stiring the pot up here and listening to what comes back and laughing and learning. BUT I WOULD NEVER LINE UP OLD PEOPLE AND MARCH THEM INTO A GAS CHAMBER (I know no one said I did, I'm just saying). That I take offense too, those old people are our history, they gave us what we have today, fromour freedoms to our history, and even our problems. I can sit here and type that if you were old and weak and had something I wanted, I take it. Real life fact I'd only do that to an elderly person if I were in dire straits of life and death, more than likely i'd bring them with me and help them through the best I could with whatever they needed. The elderly, have so much to share and teach us, tell us about that I feel they are a true living history of our country. I'm a cop, most of you know this, I took this job after 8 years in the military because I wanted to help people (guess I was young and dumb) and after 16 years of doing it I have found out a few things, ya can't help people that don't want or won't execpt any help, during the riots here and in Columbus for the KKK rally's: most common people stayed home and the thugs and bad element were stopped by a line of officers that controlled the situation. During blackouts (sure everyone called 911, but got put on hold) people stayed inside. And the ones who hate the police are the ones that are always calling with problems. In a SHTF real world scenario if you secured your home, you could wait it out because emergency personal will be called in to control threats and maintain security. So order would return but it would take a little time. Now a nuke strike in several major cities could be other problems.
Beo,

**wareagle69** · 01-25-2008, 09:20 AM

there are many ppl who claim to be prepared. they think because they can start a fire when camping they are pioneers my new teacher says most ppl who spend their time on these sites think they have the skills because they have read about it but how much applied knowledge do they have? i am guilty of this myself i spend most of my training on wild edibles thinking that i can start a fire whenevere i need to so i don't spend much time practising that skill except the fire i lite every day for heat and i allow myself only one match but i know i should not be wasting my oportunities to start fires by friction.
the mental aspect of a shtf scenario not many can predict i know that ppl think they would react a certain way. when beowulf says he could kill to protect i tend to beleive him as he is a deputy sherrif. but killing is allot harder than you think what if it was a 12 year old girl with a gun? i speak from experience on this.

**Beo** · 01-25-2008, 09:37 AM

I too am bad at practicing all my skills, I suc at wild edibles (my problem is I always say I'll just eat meat & fish if I have too), and I can imagine the trouble people would have with shooting not just a 12yr old girl but anyone, saying you'd kill someone is a big difference from actually doing it, and it is a fact (Rick I can get you the source) that a 100% trained shooter becomes a 62% shooter in a gun battle, that drop is staggering to someone in my line of work. So the average person with no military or law enforcement training is even worse than 62% (lets not argue I'm pretty sure some of you hunters woudn't hesitate to pull the trigger). I have pulled my weapon so many times I cannot count, Cincinnati is not a large city by New York or L.A., Miami or even Chiacgo standards, but it is rated in the ten for violent crime. I am damn glad I never had to shoot anyone, and have know some real good deputies and city coppers that have shot someone and have a hard time dealing with it and had to retire. I have seen guys in the military I thought were strong hard charging hoooya go getters fold under pressure when the rounds started flying and pulled their head outta their azz after someone snatched a knot in them to make them do what had to be done. So yeah I think takng a life is aloooooooooot harder than some on here think.
And WE that was a great post.

**nell67** · 01-25-2008, 09:45 AM

I agree with you Beo,our elderly are our living past,we all could learn from them,if we gave them the chance,not only would we learn,but we sure would brighten their day to have a reason to get up in the morning besides turning on the tv and listening to the gloom and doom.

Wareagle,I hope I never have to encounter the situation you described,and I really feel for all of you that have had to make that choice,I believe I could do what I had to do in that situation,and it is easy to sit here and say that ,it would be something that would weigh on my heart and my mind for a long time,just thinking about it happening today,somewhere in the world sickens me,that 12 year old is dead no matter what,chances are someone will kill her before she kills them,or else she will be killed along with her family if she refuses to take that gun.

**Rick** · 01-25-2008, 09:51 AM

Beo - No need for sources on this. One of the reasons snipers are two man teams is the psychology that one man might not take the shot depending on the target.

Practice is one thing I do. I suck at fire by friction and practice it every day. My trips into the woods are just for that reason. I pick one subject and practice it. I have no idea whether I'm good enough to make it. I just like the idea that I can do something my grandfather and ggggggg grandfathers did.

**Beo** · 01-25-2008, 10:20 AM

I too try to practice all my skills at some point in time when out in wilds, the I.D. of plants is rough for me as most books have different pics and they just don't look the same in the woods although I know the common plants of the areas and lands around here. My fire starting is real good, shelter making is good, and water source finding & flitering are good also (still practice them though), and my basic first aid is always getting better and I can handle alot of situations, flint napping is coming along but it takes time to get real good, and scouting-tracking-and hunting are very good as is animal identification although this seems to be a skill most ignore, rock climbing and rappelling are good, water crossing and canoing are good too. Not big on horsemenship although I love horses (I thnk this is a survival skill) I'm trying to get more rounded out but those damn plants give me fits.

**crashdive123** · 01-25-2008, 07:59 PM

I agree with you Beo. You just never know how you or somebody else will respond in any shtf situation. We had a fairly serious situation on one of the submarines I was on where we went a whole lot deeper than we would have liked. Everybody did what they were supposed to and things turned out fine. After it was all over one of the guys, who did everything he should have, could not function. He never did another day at sea after that patrol. People reacted the way they were trained....old saying "Train the way you will fight, because you will fight the way you train" Unfortunately for my friend, it was afterr the "fighting" was over that the problems crept in.

**Smok** · 01-25-2008, 11:45 PM

I am one of those OLD people and do not plan to go quietly in to that long good night I will rage agent the dieing of the light... Beo you are right it is very hard to kill even an animal when I trapped I killed 6 or 12 times a day after a will it gets to you if it did not I think I would be more concerned . The time I had to kill I could not , instead I put my gun down an put 5 men in the hospital but I was young then I could not fight like that now the police got a big kick out of the hole thing.. said I should have killed them . I said hay and then I would be in jail .. He said ah but then he would not have to worry about them an more

**wareagle69** · 01-27-2008, 06:05 PM

i have put some thought into this, if the shtf and i lived near the coasts i think i would own a yatch nothing spectacular maybe a 50 footer and then ride out for say 6 months to a year then come back to land and take a look see

**Sourdough** · 01-27-2008, 07:11 PM

Originally Posted by wareagle69

i have put some thought into this, if the shtf and i lived near the coasts i think i would own a yatch nothing spectacular maybe a 50 footer and then ride out for say 6 months to a year then come back to land and take a look see

I don't get why this is not the number one choice. Unlimited food, deer, crab, shrimp, prawns, 20 kinds of fish, free drift wood for wood stove. Ten thousand clear fresh pure water creeks (no filter, no treatment). Everything from Cordova to Bellingham, thousands of deep bays and coves. No golden Hordes. Any old trawler or barge, build a 12' by 24' cabin on deck. Have someone tow it to the bay of choice. Have a 19' runabout for beer runs till the SHTF. Now just need a good women that can cook and can.

**wareagle69** · 01-27-2008, 07:20 PM

you could hide out easy enough with all the talk of ppl worried about someone taking their stuff allot less chance of someone getting ahold of ya more i thik about it the more i like it, only small problem, how to sail a boat.

**Sourdough** · 01-27-2008, 07:46 PM

Don't sail the boat....just park it in a deep bay. I like the barge idea, say 40' wide by 70' long. A old grain barge. build a cabin on deck, and tow it where you want it.

**wareagle69** · 01-27-2008, 08:18 PM

gotta be able to move it somehow, need to go from bay to bay do not want to overharvest any one area.

**Sourdough** · 01-27-2008, 08:43 PM

Originally Posted by wareagle69

gotta be able to move it somehow, need to go from bay to bay do not want to overharvest any one area.

You could not over harvest those deep bays ever, even with 40 people, 12 dogs and 8 cats trying hard.

**Smok** · 01-28-2008, 12:09 AM

hopeak ..What would the Government say about you doing that ? Would you need a permit or something ? How along would they lat you stay in one place would you have to move allot ? I love the Inland Passage and have a small sail boat but the barge is a great idea

**Sourdough** · 01-28-2008, 01:22 AM

Originally Posted by Smok

hopeak ..What would the Government say about you doing that ? Would need a permit or something ? How along would they lat you stay in one please would you have to move allot ? I love the Inland Passage and have a small sail boat but the barge is a great idea

ODD, you would ask that "Smok", The answer is I don't know. What is odd is we have been trying to fine the answer to that for two weeks.