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Tip & Nor; I agree chow comes 1st & is paramount. Yet, defense of homestead need be recognized should we really have grid down conditions. Looting, as in the thread from months ago floating around still, is imminent if we really have chaos & w/ stockmarket & commodities fluctuation far more than ever -- it is readily apparent something big looms on horizon.
I'm no soothsayer but naysayers out there better ready as it is matter of time til worldwide banking crashes, as too many folks are overstretched w/ credit like the housing mkt of '08, & is set to tumble anyday now.
Buy your stores of coffee/beans/rice, etc. as this isn't time to rest on laurels. I know many of you fine folk here are prepped but too many think its a joke, & shrug off warnings, & if it hits dire straits they'll be laughing no more. Ok, just my daily FWIT take.
It has always been a view of mine that a man must be able to do a few things well and many things acceptably. The few things, for a family man, are food procurement and preservation, shelter construction, and trade and security. What good is it for a man to be able to build a house or grow a garden or hunt competently, if any old adversary can take his assets and his woman from him? A man's first responsibility from the beginning to now has been to provide security to the weaker sex and his offspring. Fighting competently is, and and has always been, a huge part of that. Our current iteration of social structure notwithstanding, the ability to bring force to bear in defense of what one has gained is a relevant and perhaps timely skill. One may be tested in this area at any time, even in such a peaceful society as ours still is, and to be found wanting is no place for a man to be.
I made the decision long ago that anyone attempting to take from me what is mine by force, or attacking those under my care, would have a hard slog ahead of them, and if they survive the attempt, will never forget the ferocity of the response. I have trained in various disciplines over the years to ensure that I am both competent and adaptable in this regard. I use a hammer and saw most days to make my living, but I have never suffered loss from learning to use my body, knives, firearms of all types, the bow, spear, blowgun, and most recently the tomahawk, as weapons. Knowledge of traps, poisons and other means of striking at an enemy are simply tools in the chest one draws from as required. Have I needed to kill a man? No. But in spite of the fact that I have lived a generally peaceful life of hard work and family devotion, I have fought men with my hands, elbows, knees, feet and even teeth, and I have used a loaded and aimed weapon to defuse a violent situation. It never hurts to be competent in any fight you may find yourself in. The alternative sucks, and you don't always get to avoid trouble or walk away from an aggressor. Nor should we. Evil triumphs when good men do nothing. The world would be a better place if every time some jerk decided to abuse another, he ran into a man who was both competent and willing to put a stop to the abuse. As men, we are to be the defenders of those weaker than ourselves. Sooner or later, we will need to remember that, and I hope at that time we are all able to fill the boots.
Last edited by countryboy73; 03-27-2017 at 08:03 PM..
Absolutely. An individual can't mount a 24/7 guard, and will be easily disposed of. However, you don't have to move to the mountains and hide behind concertina wire. Just invite your neighbors over for BBQ and plinking. Find out what firearms are available and how much ammo they have stashed. Talk about organizing for mutual defense if it becomes necessary. Everyone within miles of my home has at least one gun, and some have several. They range from magnum elk rifles with $400 glass to single shot .22 rifles. The .223 rifles with high cap magazines are nice short range assault tools, but that elk rifle will punch your lights out at 400 yards. An organized neighborhood is a safe neighborhood.
Absolutely. An individual can't mount a 24/7 guard, and will be easily disposed of. However, you don't have to move to the mountains and hide behind concertina wire. Just invite your neighbors over for BBQ and plinking. Find out what firearms are available and how much ammo they have stashed. Talk about organizing for mutual defense if it becomes necessary. Everyone within miles of my home has at least one gun, and some have several. They range from magnum elk rifles with $400 glass to single shot .22 rifles. The .223 rifles with high cap magazines are nice short range assault tools, but that elk rifle will punch your lights out at 400 yards. An organized neighborhood is a safe neighborhood.
Lar, this is an OLD thread but how I missed this I know not. Yet I do agree w/ you (haha, rarity, eh?) that neighbors can be your best buds or worst enemy. Have lived in small & big towns growing up, in apts & homes, & I say the better your relations w/ neighbors the better ANY situation becomes. Good post re this need.
Wise Ant suggests that harmless productive people withdraw consent, and withdraw themselves from the coming struggle between grasshoppers and locusts. Seek the quiet places and stock up supplies, form alliances, build fortifications, for when chaos erupts the innocent will be swarmed just as much as the guilty.
IMHO, isolated folks may survive, but cooperative groups will likely thrive.
FYI: pursuant to the law, all able bodied male citizens are the militia, obligated to train, fight, and die on command - since 1776. "Private" militias that refuse to comply may be subject to penalties.
I agree with Jet here. Having moved again to an area of like minded people in a larger group than I was in before. I am currently in a small town where most of the people here believe in militias, 2nd Amendment, smaller government and no progressives/political correctness.
I'll tolerate government... maybe this is the wrongvthfead for me to say that part but, lemme finish, I will not become helplessly reliant upon it, besides nothing they can gibe that hasn't been taken from someone else first... and they say video games don't teach anything... it's very basic but, it should make sense;
Raiders need Settlers to survive. Settlers do not need Raiders to survive.
Government needs People to survive. People do not need Government to survive.
Anybody building their prep plans along paramilitary lines is doomed should the "big flush" actually happen. A handful of groups of disjointed drinking buddies, some camo gear, neutered civy rifles and a spam/ammo can bunker or 3 simply CANNOT win wars.
Anybody building their prep plans along paramilitary lines is doomed should the "big flush" actually happen. A handful of groups of disjointed drinking buddies, some camo gear, neutered civy rifles and a spam/ammo can bunker or 3 simply CANNOT win wars.
I don't think this has anything to do with the real subject at hand,
which was laid out in postings 1 thru 6.
Military or paramilitary training is one of the skills that may be of
use when things turn bad (especially that attitude that "ok, this
is uncomfortable, but I have been through worse") but it is only
one part of surviving or thriving after things go bad.
One time in the 1980s my Dw and I were looking at purchasing some farm land, and we stumbled across one place where they were selling a share of an old commune. 15 years before that a group of families had joined together and they bought a section of land [640 acres]. Over the years the adults go old, the small children grew-up and moved away. Each of the original families migrated to opposing corners of the section, and nobody visited the 'no mans land' in the middle.
This is something to think about, no matter how well a group of people get along with each other. In ten years, your wants will change, your children will become adults and they will leave.
In 2005 we moved to Maine and started our own homestead. Now as we fit into the local community, I have found that we have the highest number of existing communes in the woods here.
There are a lot of people living off-grid and doing sustenance farming around here.
If you want to try to form a new group, have fun. But it sure reminds me of all these other groups that have formed up since the 1960s.
This state does have a recognized militia. I tried to contact them at one point. I found a website, but as I read about them my 'spider sense' said it was hinky. So I dropped that effort.
My prepping seems so woefully inadequate compared to many of you. I live in a large city, one with many choke points. As nice as the people can be, there is little natural ground to grow food and sustain this many people, supplies would dwindle in days and, people would kill for a drop of water or a small box of non-perishable food. In an urban environment in a SHTF situation, the most plentiful source of food would be other people, other people who are likely thinking the same thing.
I have more than the "3 day" crap for short emergencies. I have a few weeks worth of food and water and, general utility survival items and, the ability to carry them with me effeiciently but, I have no out of state homestead or extended family in a defensible location. I am trying to fix that but, I don't yet know where to look. Also, I have some fieldcraft ability and, carpentry experience as a result of being in the Army for 7 years but, in any community I approach I might be looked at as the outsider...
I live in a liberal area, and my current livelihood is based off of that paradigm. However, I need to prepare. In a SHTF scenario, there are tens of millions of people in cities (not including small children), that don't prepare, think the government intends to help, sneer at those who do value preparation and, after all that don't know how to do anything themselves. The apocalypse needs carpenters, welders, fishermen, hunters, soldiers, farmers ...not millions upon millions of claims adjusters, magazine editors, processeing clerks and, interior decorators.
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) that neighbors can be your best buds or worst enemy. Have lived in small & big towns growing up, in apts & homes, & I say the better your relations w/ neighbors the better ANY situation becomes. Good post re this need. 
