sweet Potato Pie and hush my moutht

[jsquared]

The first thing I do in any power outage is start making phone calls to other people in an increasing radius away from my house to see if it is widespread. There is very big difference in a street or neighborhood going dark vs. the entire city, something that would leave 100,000's or millions of people without power, even for a few days, could be big trouble once people start losing their cool (I would give it 1 day lol).

I don't have a bug out plan though, unless of course there is an immediate impending disaster coming straight at us. That is a whole 'nother ball game, but for standard civil unrest or a disaster occurring near me but not directly affecting me, situational awareness should come many different factors, and should follow the same increasing radius plan as before. What does it look like out my front door? If that is fine, what does it look like down the street? Down the block? Next city over? Weather radio on, any EAS messages? Can I still contact my friends and family? If not, assume the worst and plan for it.

Comms comms comms






















COMMS.

 

[outdoorsman]

When the President declares Martial Law, I am on Defcon 1 ...

Outdoorsman

 

[pitdog]

I would probably read it here.

 

[Chris Mac]

I'm assuming a financial SHTF scenario where there is some level of communications to gather information. I watch world markets closely. Connect the dots, and you'll see the US is still one of the safest places to be. Unfortunately, the risk of serious societal unrest is growing. If our economic turmoil proceeds faster than the Fed and the Government can handle it (or at least fake it for the general public like they're doing today) then this could get ugly.

I also think an EMP attack is a realistic but less than 1% chance scenario. It would be darn near impossible for a country to launch a strike against us and not experience massive retaliation. However, EMP devices are far easier to conceal and require much less precise positioning to do real damage across an entire continent. These weapons already exist in small packages. In that case, I'd expect a long term shutdown of all non hardened electronics including stock markets, banks, vehicles, communications, etc. followed by an immediate economic implosion that lasts for years. Read the book "One Second After" for a fictionalized account of an EMP attack.

Our plan for whatever scenario comes along:
1. Make sure we're stocked up on food, necessities and tradable items ahead of time - must be easily packable/transportable
2. Anticipate every need on the health/hygiene front if we're staying in and have those supplies purchased/stored (antibiotics, medicines, water purification, etc.)
3. I'm not a big fan of banks these days, so outside of my retirement accounts, all cash is handled accordingly and exchanged for other items that retain value today and in a SHTF scenario
4. Vehicles in excellent repair, fuel and basic "restart" parts stored (still working on this)
5. A strong network in the local community - which we don't have today because we just moved here.

One things for sure - we feel like we're building a safety net regardless of what happens - unemployment to severe depression.

 

[potenza]

Waffle house would be closed

 

[Chris Mac]

Oh crap - than that means no Chipotle, too?

 

[Grizzly63]

this is a good thread, i never thought about that when to know shtf. but the radio idea is good . i have my bug out bags my locations food ammo guns and all but never thought about knowing when to go thanks for opening my eyes.

 

[Crubear]

Have you checked what's south west of your go to spot? Be a bummer to get there and find out that one or more of those "Strategic" targets were between you and the prevailing winds.

 

[loadnplenty]

Unfortunately it would be very late into SHTF before I could get back to the family because I have to make sure that it really is happening. I would hate to go awol to protect my family, only to find out 2 days later that its all clear and now im a deserter.

Thats one of the few downsides to signing the contract.

Ya my luck I would be at work!! same situation here for me