[Wilson]

What I say below is not meant to patronize anyone here, but it is harsh.

It is my personal philosophy that in order to continue to exist in a total shit hit the fan scenario (for all of these, I consider EMP to be a good benchmark), we need to kick ourselves back in time. Most people are so damned absorbed with their 21st century lifestyles that it never really occurs to them how much they are going to have to give up. Those that aren't as connected to that usually have some sort of romantic idea about surviving in a shitstorm. It's not pretty. It's not easy. It doesn't work with high-tech gadgetry, it takes real work. There are no shortcuts. Most of the "preppers" on these boards are ONLY prepared for "normal" emergencies such as power outages and such - they are not prepared for SHTF. Of course, I say that assuming that "SHTF" means what it is supposed to mean: nation-wide chaos where almost all systems go down and stay down for years, where the unprepared become refugees, violent bandits, or corpses.

It is my view that total preparedness can only be achieved if you are not dependent on any outside systems. Some will view that sentence and think "oh, well I am prepared because I have stored supplies and I can last a whole year without having to go to a grocery store!" WRONG! You are quite literally screwed if you are thinking that'll work. It won't. When your supplies run out, what are you going to do? This is SHTF that we're talking about, not a month-long power outage. This isn't some picnic. We're talking about total system failure here. When your supplies run out, you're going to have to adapt fast or die - is that what preparation is about? Going half the way because its easy and then stopping because we are all so adverse to real work?

Plain and simple, if you are incapable of providing for yourself then you are FUBAR. That is the reality we face. If you cannot grow your own fruits and vegetables and raise your own livestock, purify your own water, build your own furniture and shelter, then you are up shit creek without a paddle. Think of it as not having a job in a country with no welfare to support you - THAT is what you are walking into if you don't get your shit squared away.

Why do so many people struggle with this?

I suggest getting out of the cities because the general population (at least 75%) will go bonkers when they no longer have water pressure and when all the grocery stores are empty and close down. They will be frightened, confused. They will loot and steal and try to do anything, simply out of desperation, to feed themselves and their loved ones. This behaviour is understandable. They are totally trusting and reliant on the system and they do not believe it has the capacity to fail, yet every year we see yet another example of the whole vehicle coming to a screeching halt. Does anybody learn from this? I'm sure a few eyes are opened every time, but not enough - not even within the "survivalist" communities does it ring enough bells and shake enough people out of the slumber of complacency that the easy 1st-world existence has bestowed upon them. That said, if you want to be prepared the first thing you need to do is go somewhere safe, some place where you can actually take the steps to become prepared. There are a number of places on the 'net which are doing just that.

Once you are in this safe place (all things being relative, you are safer in a rural area than you are in a subdivision or in a city - the general rule being the further you are from population centres, the better), you need to know what to do. A lot of people will read my posts about bugging in and bugging out and assume that because that they are already somewhat, or totally, removed from society that they are in the clear. Uhm, not quite. You need to know what to do once you are in this place. If you are already out in the country then you have a huge head start on the rest, but you still need to start providing for yourself. This is preparation. If you expect to bug out when shit hits the fan and then plant some crops, you're missing the point. You need to "bug out" now (which is, as Musibike on WSHTF.com so aptly put it, bugging in somewhere else), learn what you need to learn now, and then start doing it now - not when the fires are already burning. The Foxfire books are a wonderful resource for this purpose and should be on everyone's required reading lists.