Guest Article – It’s All About Food and Water
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IT’S ALL ABOUT FOOD AND WATER
There are any number of survival situations that you might find yourself in. But, for the sake of convenience let’s categorize them as short term and long term. In a short term situation your goal is to be rescued, say a Katrina style incident, or perhaps getting lost out away from civilization. In these situations your goals are to protect yourself against exposure, stay hydrated, and finally food. Most people, on average can go three days without water and three weeks without food. Most people are rescued within three weeks, so protection from cold or heat and water are primary.
But what I really want to talk about are the long term survival situations. This is a horse of a different color. There are some similarities, but only for the first several weeks. Then things shift into another gear, low gear as a matter of fact, the strong gear for the long haul. What I hope to cover in a series of articles will be of value for the short term survival situation, but will also take you farther, much farther.
The priorities for both long and short term are the same for the first two weeks or so. Stay warm and dry, drink safe water, and eat. Staying warm and dry doesn’t take a lot of discussion; it is just about as self-evident as it sounds. Safe drinking water is a good starting point. Since that will be the second survival priority I’ll go into it a little bit. This is not intended to be a long article so some home study afterwards is recommended. My newly published book “A Distant Eden” covers much of this, but not all. A list of links will be provided at the end of this article for in-depth study by interested readers. These are all skills that I think we should all have, and these particular skills in this article can be read and remembered, they don’t necessarily need to be practiced to be useful to you later. Just remember them.
Water can be contaminated biologically and chemically. Biological contaminants are live organisms in the water such as bacteria or viruses that cause sickness and in some cases death. I could go into some length on the varieties of biological contamination but it’s not very useful information. Unless you are stranded in the wilderness with a full scale laboratory you won’t be able to tell it is contaminated, or what with – and even then it won’t make any difference. The bottom line remains – pasteurize water before you drink it.
Most biological contaminants will cause diarrhea as one early symptom. Diarrhea can kill. It causes dehydrations, weakness, fever and if you have food you don’t get the value from it you need as it is discharged from your digestive system too fast. It is not a problem to take lightly. All of us have had bouts of mild food poisoning from time to time. Remember how sick you were? How miserable you were? And that was in a nice comfortable home with plenty of over the counter medications readily at hand, and central heat and air and a really comfortable bed. Try that when you are lying on the ground under a lean-to you built and it’s raining straight down and you are wet and cold. Yeah, me neither.
So, first step – do you have a pot and a fire? Simple, boil the water. Water only has to be heated to 160 degrees for six minutes to destroy the invisible bugs in it. By the time the water begins to boil it should already be safe to drink. Alternatively if you have a solar cooker you can heat the water in it. If you have a clear PET plastic bottle you can place water in it and lay it out in the sun for six hours. If it is more than 50% cloudy it takes two days outside. The sun’s UV rays will kill the critters in the water for you. The stronger the sun and the hotter the weather the faster the killing happens. Six hours would be my minimum under ideal conditions and sunup to sundown for average conditions. Two days if I wasn’t sure would be my third tier time.
If you’re stranded in an at home situation, say after a hurricane, you can use common laundry bleach. Just a few drops per gallon, then shake and let it stand for four hours. Pour the water back and forth between two containers to get oxygen into the water before you drink it that will remove the remaining chlorine. Only use standard bleach, don’t use scented bleach or bleach with other ingredients in it.
Iodine works well too – if you have any on hand. Add a few drops and shake and let stand for a few hours. No need to aerate.
If you suspect chemical contamination such as heavy metals or insecticides or pesticides then you want to distill the water to remove those. No amount of boiling, UV rays or chemical additives will help. A simple solar still can be made with clear plastic sheeting. Put your contaminated water into as wide of a shallow container as you can. More surface exposure means faster evaporation. One method is to scoop out a large shallow depression in the ground and cover that with plastic then pour your water in. Now, place a container in the center of this depression and cover with a sheet of clear plastic. Weight the edges down and seal them off, probably with rocks and dirt. The top sheet should drape down a bit. Place a small rock on top of the top sheet directly above the capture container.
You want as sunny a spot as you can find for this. The sun will evaporate the water, which will then condense on the top plastic sheet and follow it down to the low point above the capture container and drip into that container. This water will leave most, if not all, of the contaminants behind. I would still pasteurize this water though as you may pick up bacteria in the process of handling it.
Contaminated water can end your survival faster than you might think. It is still a major problem in many third world countries. Safe drinking water is an absolute top priority for survival. We take it for granted these days; it just comes out of the sink that way, or in nice cold bottles at the convenience store. Get out in the woods or desert though and you have a first tier major problem – you can’t drink the water you find, if you can find it at all. If you do, you are playing Russian roulette with the revolver loaded and only one empty chamber. Not a good bet. Not a quick clean death either. Dying from contaminated water is a slow torturously painful death. With knowledge you stand a good chance of avoiding that death. The links below are a good starting point for gaining that knowledge.
This series of articles will continue with finding food in survival conditions. See you next time.
Lloyd Tackitt – Author of “A Distant Eden”
Suggested reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_still
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothermia
http://solarcooking.org/plans/
http://water.epa.gov/drink/emerprep/emergencydisinfection.cfm
The Survival Group – part 4
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Last time we discussed the places that we might look if we were going to try to add members to our group or even find an existing group to seek membership in. These of course were just my thoughts right off the top of my head and you guys will come up with your own sources that I wouldn’t ever think of.
So, who would you want to have around when the balloon goes up or TSHTF? I say when and not if, since I think we all agree that it’ll have to go up eventually. If an emergency situation never actually arises, we can all be very thankful but I maintain having the group preformed would never end up being a bad idea! This said, who would it be…?
What about a doctor, anyone NOT want a doctor as a neighbor? What about a mechanic, farmer, carpenter, police officer, soldier, machinist, pilot or engineer? Would any of these professions be of value? Do you have a skill set that would compliment any of these or are you an aging desk jockey like me, which would be of marginal value?
We’ll all have our own list of ideal candidates. Today I’ll share the facts about the people that I have surrounding me and maybe discuss the others I’d like to add…
My group, for lack of a better term would be composed of both willing participants as well as those surrounding neighbors that would be added as tag alongs after an event due to their lack of having a better plan! Roughly 10-12 people for sure and several others depending on what season this event happened to fall in, one couple is only around seasonally… Like I said, the majority of these people aren’t even aware that they would be considered group members but they would have to be counted as so since were all on friendly terms now and couldn’t possibly be excluded after the fact.
I’d have to describe most of the folks as your run of the mill “Jacks and Jill’s of all trades”, myself included. A small degree of skill in most areas of knowledge but few of us has mastered many, at least in the areas of practical homesteading. While in my estimation there isn’t a fool in the bunch, with the general exception of my outspoken pagan neighbor. I don’t mention this because she’s a pagan and believes differently than I do, it’s just that her personality isn’t exactly the most conducive to harmony around her neighbors in general.
We do have a few technically skilled participants… There’s an ASE Master mechanic, an RN (registered nurse), an herbalist (the pagan gal), a retired Lineman (electrical), a retired sheriffs deputy and a candle maker (yes I know what you’re thinking; unfortunately we don’t have a butcher or a baker). Everybody else has things to offer but nothing formal, outside of life experience… Which may prove to be as, if not more, valuable then the formally skilled folks…?
Two of the couples own and work with horses specifically but have a good deal of animal husbandry experience. One man has spent a good deal of time ranching and working with cattle. He’s spent many seasons “birthing” calves and I suppose if he can do that, other animals wouldn’t be outside of his ability to be useful. At least 2 of the men have hunting experience and I know they do, or have done their own butchering of wild game. One neighbor owns a sizeable flock of chickens and currently has eggs in surplus, which she sells around town…
Two of the households own tractors and at least one of the owners is quite skilled in his machines use. I believe that 4 out of 6 property owners own at least one quad ATV, while not officially farm equipment, they come in handy for a long list of chores.
All neighbors have either gardened in the past or have begun making half hearted efforts in the last few seasons. Their willingness to even try the gardening tells me that if and when this becomes a necessity, they will have gained some experience with which to get a head start on the green thumb learning curve that we’ve all heard about.
All but one couple are at least gun owners, if not actual shooters. Two individuals have had formal competitive shooting experience as well as the sheriffs’ deputy, who has at least had to keep up his firearms qualifications until last year when he retired. There are guns-a-plenty! I don’t feel that stating this fact is a breach of OPSEC since that is the case in most of the rural areas of our country.
Just about everyone has had a hand in building their own homes or doing significant carpentry work on these homes. Wood working tools and experience are not in short supply. Like I mentioned, other then the lineman with his electrical experience, our group fits well into the jack of all trades area. Most of us can do our own plumbing, electrical, framing and roofing chores and most of these neighbors are helpful to each other when someone needs an extra hand.
Our RN neighbor will certainly come in handy and with a little foresight in stocking sufficient antibiotics, it’s my hope she will more than earn her keep. The herbalist can use her knowledge of our native plants, which I know for a fact is substantial, to help find alternative solutions to our health concerns.
The mechanic is very humble about his expertise; the fact is there’s not a lot he can’t fix. This is providing that the issue isn’t with a computer or other high tech electronic part, which would be difficult to come by in or after a disaster! With tractors and small engines around, he can easily make up for any shortage he might have in his food storage supplies! This particular individual is also a top competitor in long range rifle shooting… He’s good at his hobby and I’ll bet you can all think of some post breakdown security strategies that could make use of his skills…
So, who are we missing? I have to admit that after getting to work on this post, I feel we are a little better diversified then I might have guessed initially! This situation is far from ideal in that this is not a dedicated group of peppers’ with a commitment to each others survival.
My wish list would have to include a medical doctor or even a veterinarian. Having a trained physician on hand would be worth his (or her) weight in Gold! I know, we do have an RN and I’m very thankful to know she’s in the neighborhood but she isn’t the same as a doctor… A doctor could provide prescriptions to allow the group to stock up on all the medications we could ever need. Yes, yes, there are vet meds that we can and should store but something about rolling through Walmart with the ability to legally purchase anything and everything… I say a doctor would be very valuable.
What about a trained machinist? Properly tooled a machinist can make just about anything! After the collapse there will certainly be a lot of just making do, I think we might make do better with a machinist on hand. Currently we’re living in a throw away society but when the trucks stop running… Yep, we’ll be making do with what we’ve stocked or can scrounge! A machinist can make repairs and or even replacement parts as the needs arise, at least that’s the reputation they have!
The list of valuable post collapse skills is just about endless. Blacksmith, leather worker, tanner, seamstress… We did mention a lack of a butcher and baker, right? Those skills would be handy as well!
How about sending a communications expert our way? I do hold a HAM radio license but have all but forgotten what I knew about radio communication over the years. Sure, I could (and should) get busy dusting off the radios and plan to do exactly that in the near future. A group like this really needs to have the ability to communicate; this would be one of the best force multipliers we might have at our disposal. In future posts we’ll discuss the whole communications realm in great detail…
I know I’ve said it before but each of us needs to evaluate who we already have around us and decide how they might fit into our “survival group”. Only after we realistically look at these people can we go out shopping for the additional members that fill in the gaps.
Let me remind you to be objective when looking for a particular person’s value to the group. Each person will have both advantages as well as disadvantages. Even a medical doctor, while highly desirable might have a serious personality conflict that would make him (or her) a poor fit with your group, only you can make that determination.
Conversely, one neighbor might seem like just any run of the mill old woman who stayed at home and raised her family, what tactical use could she add to the group? I say a stay at home mom would be a great logistics coordinator! She probably spent more tie juggling kids, activities and meals then any other person around? My point is not to overlook the less than obvious assets. “Too many soldiers and not enough cooks” would pose an issue just the same as if the situation was turned around!
It’s important to remember that those neighbors WILL need to eat just like the rest of us. Wouldn’t it be better to feed them and make them an asset, than to try to defend against them as an adversary!
Food for thought!
Prepper
Book Review – “A Distant Eden”
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As you can see today we have another book review and giveaway! I’m very happy to announce we have another doomer “realist” author joining the ranks of Halfast (Lights Out) and James Wesley, Rawles (Patriots). I’m referring to the author that gave us the guest article last week, Lloyd Tackitt. I briefly mentioned that I was hoping to read Lloyd’s book “A Distant Eden” and I’m happy to report my book arrived shortly after his article was published.
With book in hand Mrs. Prepper and I headed for the BOL last weekend. We took turns reading the book to each other and had it completed in no time flat. It’s not an especially short book or a ridiculously easy read as much as it is GOOD! I’m not clear on what Lloyd’s writing background is but the book isn’t the work of a beginner.
He opens the book up with a short explanation of what he’s attempting to achieve through his work, at least through this particular work anyway. Lloyd wants to educate the reader and use the storyline to tie this education together through the examples of fictional situations the stories characters face. In my opinion he does this with mastery!
As a reader of just about anything in this particular genre, I’ve read just about everything out there and watch the shelves with anticipation of anything new. I also watch for books that bring a new perspective and I think that this author has done exactly that. While all of the situations that are presented in the book are based solidly in reality, a darker twist is taken to the characters approach to handling each eventuality. I pose that these characters approach is probably the most realistic one too, unfortunately!
I find my introduction to Lloyd as an author quite timely as we’ve been discussing the “Tough Choices” we may all face in the future. In the book the characters face these exact type of choices. It’s how they choose to handle the situations that seem to deviate slightly from the more traditional story lines we’re all used to! Sadly, I believe that this cold dose of reality is something we would all do well to spend time thinking through now, before we have to later. I suspect that’s what the author is trying to get the reader to do.
Folks, I think we have a new author to watch… Lloyd has taken our particular lifestyle to heart and is helping us ask the difficult questions that only we can answer for ourselves. Morality isn’t subjective in my opinion but it is far from cut and dried too! What are we all going to do in the world of tomorrow if the cards continue to fall the way they are now… Are you prepared to face a world where you WILL make decisions and live (or die) with the consequences of your actions.
I suspect that too many of us are looking at the future as some kind of great “gardening with guns” vacation from work… As the characters in “A Distant Eden” find out this is not the case. The author does a great job of keeping the story entertaining and at the same time forcing the reader to consider the reality of just how hard this will be. I know I do not relish being in the situation any of these guys face… Even the prepared central characters are not really ready for what develops in the world around them.
The book goes into another topic we’ve been looking at here at Preppernation, the “Survival Group”. The book delves into some thought excersizes that we can use to add to our list of things to consider when outlining the skills and personnel we’d seek to have surrounding us in a disaster.
This is just an all around good book, my only complaint would be that it’s to short… 214 pages long and fairly typical of a book like this but I found myself wanting more! The author explained that he didn’t focus on character development but I still got involved with these characters in spite of his intentions. I want to know how this all turns out! I will be very disappointed if Mr. Tackitt doesn’t come out with a sequel! However, I didn’t get the impression he had plans to write one from the emails he sent me? Let me encourage all of you to stop what your doing right now and go buy this book… It is priced more than fairly and exceedingly cheap as an ebook, in fact it is exceedingly cheap anyway you might choose to purchase it.
As is my standard operating procedure when doing a book review, I’ll be giving my copy of the book away to the 3rd person that emails me that they would like to receive it. I will be purchasing another copy to replace it as I have some friends and family I believe would benefit from Lloyds perspective on a disaster situation!
It’s my hope that all of you will read this book and then give your feedback to the author! It’s possible that if he gets enough encouragement from us, he’ll give the sequel idea some thought! I’d also like to offer my personal thanks to Lloyd for the time it took him to write this book. I can see from the pricing structure he’s offering the book for that he didn’t write it for the money.
Buy a copy of “A Distant Eden” and support this new authors work!
Here’s to you Lloyd and I’ll be watching for your future work, in any form you choose to offer it to us preppers!
Prepper
The Guest House
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I’ve held off bringing this topic up until I had all the paperwork done and could speak with authority about this deal going through – FOR SURE! We have officially purchased the second mobile home for the BOL. As you all know we have the first single wide in place and well on its way to setup the way we want it for the long term. The first place is a 1997 14×70 Fleetwood – 2 bedroom, 2 bath. The second one we just closed escrow on is a smaller unit. As you can see this is also a single but its just a 2 bedroom, 1 bath – 1993 Fleetwood 14×48.
So, I know your asking yourself, what’s the story with so much excitement over these old mobile homes? Well, I’ll tell you again – mobiles are the way that many of us will find our freedom… At least the freedom from the debt based slavery we are almost all imprisoned by in the modern day USA! These homes are cheap and have so much overlooked potential because of our society’s “Trailer Trash” bias. It’s with these things in mind that I want to take all of you on this journey with me. I want to start at the beginning and document for all of you the steps I go through in getting this home purchased, moved and re-setup at the new location. I’ll show you just what I’m doing and try to answer all the questions you have as to the “what’s, why’s and the how much”…
Right now we are at step 2 – Tear down! Over the last month or so, Mrs Prepper and I have been in negotiations with this seller and working our way to the final signing of escrow papers that we got completed last Friday. The home is officially ours but there is still a lot to get done before the home can even leave the sellers property. There are some additional steps, paperwork wise, that have to be completed before the home will be in our name. This will require working with some county offices but we will try to keep the government involvement to a minimum. However, the fact is that documents have been signed and money has changed hands so its all ours!
I’m sure you’re wondering what the dollars and cents are on this place… I mentioned briefly a while back that my wife and I found this place for sale completely by accident. We had been keeping our eye’s peeled for something like this to add to our property but weren’t in any big hurry! The seller had been asking $10,000 for it, which wouldn’t be an unreasonable price. However, the place is pretty rough aesthetically and even though the bones are good, we gave her a low ball offer of $2,500. Like I said, we weren’t in any hurry and could afford to let the seller think it over for a few weeks. Those few weeks did go by and we hadn’t heard form her? I believe it was in week three that I decided to call her up and see how she was coming along in her deliberations…
The conversation went like this… Seller wasn’t willing to let the house go for that little. I asked what they were thinking would be a fair price, considering the place is in need of a LOT of cleanup and repairs. Seller explained that if they accepted the $2,500 offer, they would have to sell the “newer” appliances separately and that would be a lot of additional trouble. I asked what they might hope to get for these appliances (washer, dryer, range and propane fueled heating stove, looks like a wood stove but is propane)? The response was that they were thinking those appliance would bring $3,000 between them. I asked if I were to by all those appliances for $3,000, would they accept my $2,500 offer. Yes sir, that is what they would need to see – $5,500 and the house was ours. I made them the written offer and the place was ours… Sounds easy but this is just the first part of Step #1, the other part getting the paperwork actually signed around so we can begin the more labor intensive Steps that follow…
So, for $5,500 we purchased our self a second 2/1 home and a large project in getting the place moved, reset and then fully revamped to fit our needs. We plan to use this place as a “Guest House” for our friends and family when they visit. We’re planning to set this home parallel to the first home, separated by roughly 24 feet. We’ll span this 24 foot gap with decking and have a central courtyard area for the barbecue and fire pit activities. My hope is that the county won’t interfere with my plans and require the homes to be physically adjoined to qualify as a single residence. Either way, we’ll be fine and the price per square foot for living space is so low that we literally couldn’t go wrong.
I’m sure that someone out there is tempted to remind me that there are a lot of additional expenses to getting this place setup, beside the incredibly low purchase price. Yes, yes and I’ll be sharing each and every one of these costs with you. I’m sure that there’ll be some surprises as the moving contractor hasn’t even given me his bid yet but we’re prepared to share our disappointments with you as well! I believe that this will be an interesting project and proving ground! I’ve been preaching this “Mobiles for Freedom” theme for a while now and it’s time for me to put my money where my mouth is… You will all see just what goes into a project like this, it could easily be scaled up or down depending on your own personal and family needs. The fact that this is a rather small home and just because we are going to use it as “extra space”, don’t discount the lessons we can all learn about affordable housing. This home has 1 decent sized bedroom, an extra bedroom that would make a decent home office or nursery, full bathroom with bathtub (albeit a small full bath), laundry area, full kitchen and a living room.
This house, as I just described, is small but I’ve seen many apartments that are smaller. I’ve actually lived in apartments when I was in my early 20′s that were smaller then this house. I have two Grandfathers that live in senior retirement housing that is a fraction of this size. Many trendy areas of Seattle offer deluxe studio living spaces that are much smaller then this and have rents that exceed $1,500 per month. While all of these housing situations are different, they also have much in common, being that all of them are residential in nature. Some person or persons calls this amount of space home. I intend to show you, first hand, the possibilities that a home this size has to offer and all at a price that is well below anything else on the market.
Stay tuned for updates on our progress and as your questions come to mind be sure to shoot me an email or comment. I’ll do my best to answer all of your questions and make this a valuable learning experience for all of us!
Prepper
The Recent Spike In Gun Sales
By Prepper · Comments (2)Gun Sales…
Just how many guns have Americans been buying lately? I’ve heard the reports of sales in the millions… What’s causing all these people to go buy their guns now, what’s changed?
At first glance I’m tempted to feel like this is a good sign, more guns IS a good thing, right? What if it really isn’t that great? Hear me out and see if my thoughts make any sense at all…
I pose to you this, the gun sales spike we’ve all been hearing about isn’t the best situation for us, the already preparing or prepared! Most of us have purchased our firearms preps and are doing nothing more then refining our selections at this point… Who are all these new purchasers? Are they new preppers? If that’s the case then I’m happy to add these folks to our ranks and they will be great to have around when the chips are down. What if they aren’t preppers though? While I’ll admit they probably aren’t tree hugging, PETA tee shirt wearing liberals, they still might not be the allies we would hope for…
If times were sure to continue in the way they had for the last several decades then I’d keep my mouth shut and just be happy to have what are almost certainly politically conservative people adding to their arsenals. However, I’m not at all expecting anything like the status quo as we edge forward into the future…
Are these firearms purchases ramping up due to the political landscape and upcoming election? This is sure to be one of the reasons that folks are out gathering armament prior to any reincarnation of the assault weapons ban that was lifted back in 2004. I’ve heard all the scuttlebutt about President Obama being a man on a mission if he gets re-elected. It’s expected that without the need to win another term in office, he will be let off the leash to push through all of his socialist legislation… Maybe?
I’m more prone to say that these purchases are due to the overwhelming feel of unease that we all seem be feeling as of late. While this general unease would be somewhat covered with the political reason we just mentioned but I think it’s more then that… I believe that when people feel vulnerable, they’ll look for some way to make that feeling fade. Firearms have a tendency to make most people feel more secure, even though this is more often then not, a false sense of security! If I’m right and these firearms sales are a way to appease a feeling of insecurity… We, the prepared, have a lot to be worried about!
We’re all familiar with the variety of survivalist that plans to TAKE his needed supplies at gun point. Any prepper forum you might choose to visit or participate in will have a few of these guys lurking around. To them it’s as simple as that, when times get tough… so will they!
I’ll admit that most of us that have put enough thought into those same “tough times”, will have thought to allow for these “TAKER” survivalists. Security is why we have those guns of our own, right? My premise is that while some of our “survivalist” brethren may go astray and need to be dealt with if they attempt to take our preps, these recent firearms purchases are something different.
As Americans we are a very well armed society, even before we consider the recent record breaking monthly firearms sales. As preppers, are we better off with all of these new guns in the hands of our neighbors? I maintain that we are not better off but much worse. Don’t get me wrong, I would never try to keep these people from owning guns, I’m big on all of our constitutional guarantees! I just hope to bring to your attention that the dangers of a disaster have gotten far greater with these recent gun sales, not less, as we might be tempted to assume…
Most of us have known or come in contact with one of those “taker” style survivalists and we can plan accordingly for them. How about all those new gun owners, what will we do with them. Many of these gun purchasers have no firearms experience and are drawing the conclusion that since they are now armed they must also then be prepared… They are not prepared and will quickly find that out. However, with newly purchased gun in hand they are better able to make trouble for themselves – and us!
It’s my belief that these folks have just increased all of our odds of having dangerous confrontations when the tough times come. We all have heard the question posed – “How many days will you be able to watch your family go hungry”. Just in case you haven’t noticed, we aren’t living in our grandparents world anymore… Our society isn’t use to patiently waiting for anything. We want, what we want and we want it now! Everything from fastfood to a luxurious home, if we want it then we expect to get it and I mean right now!
I suppose that I might be off base in feeling that this new gun owner is as big of a threat as I’m making him out to be… We do live in one of the most heavily armed societies on the planet… I just can’t help but think that the newly initiated gun crowd is only going to add fuel to the fire when the foul wind starts blowing in earnest…
Let me take you all back to a time in all of our pasts… Do you remember when you got your first gun? Do you recall the feeling of power that came with holding it your hand… I know it a little immature but I bet you do remember the feeling you got. So, would we be amis in thinking that they folks aren’t feeling the same way now?
I do know a fair number of preppers but they (we) certainly are in the minority. In the back of my mind I’ve had the feeling that as the most prepared neighbor, I’d be the obvious choice for a leadership role in whatever group I was able to cobble together. This new or at least newly considered by me eventuality of more and more of my neighbors arming themselves might just make them less likely to see me as the asset I would consider myself?
Just like I’ve been stating in the articles about the “Survival group”, we all need to know who we have living around us. While in those threads we are specifically looking for others to align with to add to our skill sets and thus increasing our survival situation. Conversely, we also need to evaluate those around us as the potential threat they might pose as well.
I’m sure that like me, you all have been accused of over analysing things so just take all of these thoughts as one preppers gut reactions and I truly hope that I’m way off the mark about this recent trend!
Prepper