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April 16, 2014

In the event of a TEOTWAWKI I intend to use several options.

I intend to Bug out with a truck-load of supplies to a pre-selected wilderness area (within 15 minute ride of home),
establish a hide site and wait out the carnage. (I have about seven months supplies for my family plus a couple of caches with extra food and weapons nearby for a total of roughly nine months of rough living. I believe our odds of remaining unnoticed for six or more months are very good while maintaining a fairly high standard of living. Common Survival Strategies

Posted by gerardvanderleun at April 16, 2014 5:06 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

Especially now that everyone has read about it on the internets. Except for the NSA, of course, who will never find out.

Posted by: Jewel Atkins at April 16, 2014 1:34 PM

I think Mr. Rawles underestimates both the difficulty of "rough living" and the resilience of the urban religious community. I know and trust the people of our Catholic parish as well as I know and trust any group of people on Earth. Like any group of people, we have our differences and disputes, but every time one of us gets into trouble the parish organizes to help out. This past winter, when our baby was in poor health and I was literally deathly ill and in the hospital, my family was fed and cared for by members of the parish -- among whom were people I recognized on sight but did not know. From child care to household help to transportation, my fellow parishioners were always on the job for us. They brought us so much food we literally could not eat it all. Once I had recovered I had to publicly beg them to stop with the food.

And it's not just our parish. If a disaster struck our city, the Catholic parishes therein would band together to house the homeless, feed the hungry, and put clothes on peoples' backs. I know this because they do it now.

And in a true SHTF scenario, I know with certainty that our Diocese would join forces with the diocese next door and organize relief services for the entire metro population ( c. 6M people ). I have a part-time job working for our diocese's social services arm and I see the organization and resources we expend now helping people of our area who are in need. In a long-term disaster scenario I know our Bishop and his brother across the county line would place the entire resources of the Catholic Church in our area -- 710, 000 strong in our city alone, and a million more in the City Next Door -- in service to help the people of our area.

And I didn't even mention the Salvation Army, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, and the other religious organizations here in our area. You can bet they'd all be doing the same thing.

Feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and binding the wounds of the afflicted are nothing new for us Catholics. We invented "social services" and "disaster relief". Come what may, we stand or fall with our neighbors and our parish.

Posted by: B Lewis at April 16, 2014 2:05 PM

Lewis...
I understand and applaud what you are saying, BUT!

Better have a secret plan for reactivating the Knights Templer or at least the American version of the Swiss Guard because otherwise you will be picked clean and chained up in a slave coffle with the Black Panthers and Latin Kings fighting over who gets first pick.

Balloon goes up, I plan on shrugging off the veneer of civilization before sundown.

Posted by: John at April 16, 2014 3:34 PM

I expect half the members of my parish to band together on racial lines and the other half to be prey. I don't know what I'd do. Running to the woods is not an option and staying in the city is just a death sentence.

Posted by: daisy at April 16, 2014 6:49 PM

I expect half the members of my parish to band together on racial lines and the other half to be prey. I don't know what I'd do. Running to the woods is not an option and staying in the city is just a death sentence.

Posted by: daisy at April 16, 2014 6:49 PM

Lewis, how many days - never mind months - worth of food does your parish have in secure storage?

As John said, you will be quickly picked clean of whatever you have and enslaved by the scavengers.

I'll take my chances with my family and friends at an undisclosed rural location.

Posted by: butch at April 16, 2014 6:59 PM

The scavengers are going to rob and kill all 700,000 of us?

If worse came to worst, we could put a Catholic army into the streets. All the men in our parish are heavily armed, and most of us are veterans. You can bet we will guard what we have.

And Katrina is not a good example of what might happen here. To get a Katrina situation, you have to live in a city with... er... Katrina People. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the city I live in bears little resemblance, demographically, to New Orleans.

And we shoot first.

As for stored food: we have this thing called a "food bank", see...

But if running away to the woods suits you, I won't try to talk you out of it. All I know is what I saw when they tried to evacuate Houston back in '05. We are lucky only 23 people were killed in that evacuation -- it could have been much worse.

There is no way in hell I'd put my family in a vehicle on the road in a SHTF situation. Me and my family being trapped on a freeway with 500,000 other frightened people with no gas and a cargo of valuable supplies is not my idea of a good time. And it's not just the freeways -- every route out of the city would be bumper to bumper as well.

The only way a bugout makes sense is if you have 48-72 hours of warning before the Event. The only way you can avoid being trapped in your car on the open road is to be the first one on the open road. Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to get a three-day warning before the Crash comes.

Good luck to all of you bug-outers, but I'll take my chances here in the city, where I have allies, all the water I need, and at least some measure of control. Trapped in a vehicle in the midst of a freeway full of terrified and desperate refugees, I would have none.

Posted by: B Lewis at April 16, 2014 8:13 PM

Friend,
I do hear where you are coming from. But I'm afraid that you still have a serious mental change of attitude coming if you plan to survive.
1. "rob and kill all 700,000 of us?" Yes, or kill anyone that resists (weakly) and cast a hard eye on anyone left. There are some predators that may only kill what they need, and some that kill any that threaten them. But Man kills for the joy of killing and the pleasure of seeing the terror in his victims eyes. Be the Tiger.
2. "all the water I need", until the pumps stop. There will be those who will smash the water pumps so as to control the water and the survivors, if you are willing to move out and secure your water supply then you will survive. If you are willing to kill for water.
3. I suggest that you start watching "The Walking Dead", as a primer.

Now, wouldn't it have been a lot easier to have just voted Republican or Independent in 2012?

Posted by: John at April 16, 2014 10:21 PM

My money is on the B. lewis types when SHTF. not that is group of organized citizens will fix what just happened, but his tribe will outlive us lone wolves and most of the pradtory hunter/gatherers. They not only prepare, but practice cooperating. The cooperation is a force-multiplier.Citizenship takes practice.

Posted by: Scott M at April 16, 2014 10:33 PM

Friend,

I sincerely appreciate your concern.

As far as the predators go, I'm willing to bet we civilized folks will outnumber them. Even in New Orleans, the human vultures stayed on their own turf. My neighborhood is one of those "you loot, we shoot", doctor/lawyer-type places where the predators would find the pickings less than easy.

2. "All the water I need" -- I admit I have an edge over most urbanites here. The houses in our neighborhood back onto a limited-access private lake that is fed by a natural artesian spring. The water would need some filtering and a bit of Clorox, but it'd be perfectly drinkable. I'll admit that it probably wouldn't taste great, but there's plenty of it.

"I suggest that you start watching The Walking Dead as a primer." LOL. I hate TV and never watch anything but cartoons, monster movies, and the weather report. I'm sure that program is entertaining, but I'm less certain that a science fiction television show written and produced by West Coast liberal Hebrews is going to be a useful survival guide for urban Texas Catholics.

As far as voting goes: does it really matter whom one votes for when one's "choice" is between Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton?

Posted by: B Lewis at April 16, 2014 10:57 PM

Any battle plan lasts the first five minutes. Plan "B" and other alternatives must be in place. I am a positive member of my small town society, church and fraternal organizations, work-related groups; ah, integrated as they say.

Defense begins at the center of the circle. First order is to secure your home base, be it a house, cabin, cottage, even a tent for the sturdy outdoors types. Secure the perimeter, then expand it as manpower and logistics allows.

This End of Times scenario is not like the movies with a happy ending within three hours or two popcorns and a coke. Many folks will die rather quickly, no need to worry about a month's supply of food. The mindless violence of urban mobs strikes a wide swath.

In my case, living in a small town off the beaten concrete will allow me and my family time to gather and fortify. That is where the communal groups will have a chance to consolidate.

FREE ADVICE: have firearms and avoid crowds.

Posted by: chasmatic at April 17, 2014 6:01 AM

I fear the government will shut down the roads in an eotwawki and any way the traffic will be massive as just regular commuter traffic paralyzes many roads. Shelter in place until the initial panic evens out and then plan a walking route to a safe location. Travel slowly at night and hide by day. Look poor, hide assets. It has been said the golden horde will not make it further than 15-20 miles outside urban areas and will feed on itself. Keep calm and be ready to change plans, tactics as situations arise. If possible relocate before the "storm" to areas that are friendly. It took me two years to accomplish that but now I feel I will not have to bug out. That brings more comfort than higher pay in the cities. Be careful and safe my friends.

Posted by: tripletap at April 17, 2014 6:28 AM

We're already bugged out and have at least a years worth of food, maybe more when we realize there is no more available. No more 2 egg breakfasts - 1 egg, every other day. We're in a very small community where everyone is of like mind, self sufficient yet able to help others. We grow food and we raise animals and we each have developed sufficiency skills and all are armed and tactical combat trained.

B Lewis and many other fail to understand the comprehensive mindset that will instantly occur when the system shuts down. That 700,000 strong will decimate itself. The civilized mind is a distorted mind. Predator or prey?

Within the first 30 days of a major permanent grid down situation at least 30% of the population will be death for various reason, 30% more in the next 30 days. After that things will get really tough. After 6 month more than 80% of the population will be dead or incapacitated. In a year less than 10% will still be alive.

Posted by: ghostsniper at April 17, 2014 6:46 AM

tripletap: good advice for those in urban or small-urban settings. The biggest problem is not the getaway but the destination.

ghost: sounds like you are in a good place; not many can say that. Me and the missus are in a similar but lesser situation. We have to take into consideration our age (she 74, me 67) and our physical limitations. She's not hopping over fences and I am getting dragged down a bit by my cancer so we have to make the best of "bugging in".

Our community is fairly secure, able to withstand common assaults from the mobs of ragged-ass looters &c. It would take either the Feds or a cartel with armor and firepower to knock us over. One of the advantages of living in a small town and in a hostile (desert) environment is that we are tough just on a day by day basis.

There is no happy ending for any of the scenarios, except maybe in Rawles' book Patriots. I am prepared to die for my beliefs and that's about it.

Posted by: chasmatic at April 17, 2014 9:26 AM

chas, I wish we were in a better place, with less people. Wish I had more ammo too. I'm old too, older than I was yesterday, but the future belongs to me and I am going to use it as I see fit. If that means blowin heads off at 1000 yds so be it. We ain't buggin out, we already are.

Posted by: ghostsniper at April 17, 2014 12:55 PM

Dear "ghostsniper":

None of the snipers I know go around bragging about being a sniper.

Posted by: B Lewis at April 17, 2014 7:47 PM

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