Post by tjwilhelm on Jan 5, 2013 9:07:13 GMT -7
This OP was stimulated by all the great input into WILL's thread, "1000 mile bugout?". The conversation in that thread eventually moved me to smile and feel a sense of pride and appreciation for our forum -- people started posting offers of assistance to other members who may be bugging-past their home base: "stop by my place to rest," or "I'll pick you up along the river in my duck boat." Also, cwi555 made mention again of his "group."
The "1000 mile bugout" conversation really got me thinking. I'll apologize ahead of time if I ending up rambling a bit...
Why Bug Out? In general, it's become to dangerous or untenable to stay Bugged In. What situations or threats would make it too dangerous or untenable to stay Bugged In? These are the reasons I come up with off the top of my head:
1) The Bug In Shelter is no longer tenable -- the house burned down, or was otherwise rendered useless.
2) Supplies are exhausted and unavailable locally.
3) TPTB, via LEOs or military, are after you and you need to get out of Dodge.
4) The zombie hoards (hungry sheeple, organized hoards, armed gangs) are after you or your supplies and a defensive posture is not a wise choice.
Reason 1) could result from a number of different causes. It could be a situation that just effected your immediate shelter, leaving near by neighbors untouched; or, it could be a Hurricane Sandy type scenario that causes broad and severe damage.
Reasons 3) and 4) imply a loss of civil society, meaning unknown (and even some known) persons must not be immediately considered trustworthy, or perhaps even treated as a dangerous threat.
All of the four reasons, above, have an influence on one another, depending on the specific circumstances of the day.
Bug In plans and supplies are a must. Bug Out plans and supplies are great. However, the more these plans and supplies are "individualized," the more difficult it becomes to survive the general situations given in 1) - 4), above. If your shelter burns down and you can't trust, or get assistance from your nearby neighbors, you have bigger troubles than you may had planned for. If a Hurricane Sandy situation hits a broad area, and you are Bugging Out with just Momma and the two rug rats, you're lacking the protection of having other folks who will cover each others' backs.
This brings me back to cwi555's recent thread about the problems in Argentina. While we were focused on the 9/11 crisis of 2001, Argentina was suffering a total economic collapse. An architectire professor at Buenos Aires University, who refers to himself as FerFal, journaled his personal experience of the collapse and its aftermath. One of the key things he attributes to the survival of his family is the fact he lived in a "gated community," and the neighbors all got together and agreed to help each other and cover each others' backs.
In addition to Bug In and Bug Out plans and supplies, I think we all need to pay closer attention to cwi555's mention of "group." IMHO we need to create our own mini civil societies...a sense of community with trusted group members...a sense of Common-Unity...Community.
The immediate questions are these: How do you do this? How do you pull together a group of trusted members with a common purpose of supporting and assisting each other? WHO do you choose to be part of your group? What kind of commitment or social contract do you make with each other, if any at all?
What do you think, friends? What are the advantages to this? Disadvantages? Challenges? What are YOUR thoughts?
The "1000 mile bugout" conversation really got me thinking. I'll apologize ahead of time if I ending up rambling a bit...
Why Bug Out? In general, it's become to dangerous or untenable to stay Bugged In. What situations or threats would make it too dangerous or untenable to stay Bugged In? These are the reasons I come up with off the top of my head:
1) The Bug In Shelter is no longer tenable -- the house burned down, or was otherwise rendered useless.
2) Supplies are exhausted and unavailable locally.
3) TPTB, via LEOs or military, are after you and you need to get out of Dodge.
4) The zombie hoards (hungry sheeple, organized hoards, armed gangs) are after you or your supplies and a defensive posture is not a wise choice.
Reason 1) could result from a number of different causes. It could be a situation that just effected your immediate shelter, leaving near by neighbors untouched; or, it could be a Hurricane Sandy type scenario that causes broad and severe damage.
Reasons 3) and 4) imply a loss of civil society, meaning unknown (and even some known) persons must not be immediately considered trustworthy, or perhaps even treated as a dangerous threat.
All of the four reasons, above, have an influence on one another, depending on the specific circumstances of the day.
Bug In plans and supplies are a must. Bug Out plans and supplies are great. However, the more these plans and supplies are "individualized," the more difficult it becomes to survive the general situations given in 1) - 4), above. If your shelter burns down and you can't trust, or get assistance from your nearby neighbors, you have bigger troubles than you may had planned for. If a Hurricane Sandy situation hits a broad area, and you are Bugging Out with just Momma and the two rug rats, you're lacking the protection of having other folks who will cover each others' backs.
This brings me back to cwi555's recent thread about the problems in Argentina. While we were focused on the 9/11 crisis of 2001, Argentina was suffering a total economic collapse. An architectire professor at Buenos Aires University, who refers to himself as FerFal, journaled his personal experience of the collapse and its aftermath. One of the key things he attributes to the survival of his family is the fact he lived in a "gated community," and the neighbors all got together and agreed to help each other and cover each others' backs.
In addition to Bug In and Bug Out plans and supplies, I think we all need to pay closer attention to cwi555's mention of "group." IMHO we need to create our own mini civil societies...a sense of community with trusted group members...a sense of Common-Unity...Community.
The immediate questions are these: How do you do this? How do you pull together a group of trusted members with a common purpose of supporting and assisting each other? WHO do you choose to be part of your group? What kind of commitment or social contract do you make with each other, if any at all?
What do you think, friends? What are the advantages to this? Disadvantages? Challenges? What are YOUR thoughts?