Haha, I forgot to put up the LINK! Then I hit Quote instead of edit! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/doh.gif" alt="" />

In the video they show the lady cleaning off the rim with a rag before screwing it into the unit.

Since bartering was brought up I thought I'd share a few decisions I've made about it:

1) I will never barter away ammunition. If the person is unprepared enough to not have any - then they might become desperate for something else and use the ammo against me to obtain the other item.

2) Food will likely be the item in greatest demand.

2a) Over the years I've read numerous reports about how the average home has far less than three days worth of food in it.

2b) Super Markets no longer have a "back room" meaning all of their stock is on the floor (not hidden from public view), and the food items get picked over EXTREMELY fast when something happens. I've witnessed this first hand. Issue A and B are tied together (obviously).

2c) The American population has steadily moved away from its agricultural base and toward an urban base. This has meant the loss of knowledge on how to "self sustain". Stated differently - people don't want to know how to obtain their own food and will not be able to sustain themselves once the Super Market is bare.

2d) Historic data shows that food becomes the most sought after commodity during a protracted "event". I often use WW2 Stalingrad as an example. This is a "family friendly" forum so I'll save the graphic details of the cannibalism I've read about.

2e) Hunger / the desire to eat is a natural / biological function and will over ride most other concerns. If you don't understand - go 48 hours without eating anything and just drinking water. I did this for 72 hours, and by the end of it I couldn't think of muhc other than food.

2f) Lastly, once a malnourished person enters Ketosis they will start suffering from dizziness, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, etc. I've never smoked, but have been told this is much worse than nicotine withdraw.

3) Properly stored seeds are an INVALUABLE long term disaster barter item. If people survive long enough to think about food production - then renewable food will be of top concern to them. Additionally, seeds are light and take no space. We have seed packets sealed in "FoodSaver" bags that are 100% air and water tight.

I have never smoked and will never smoke so its easy for me to say this....

Survivalism is a lifestyle. A bag full of stuff really isn't going to do you a lot of good if:

1) You don't know how to effectively use the contents.

2) You are so incredibly out of shape as to not be able to carry the bag say 5 miles a day over broken ground.

3) You are so addicted to XYZ as to allow those products to drive you to behave differently than if you weren't addicted to those products. THIS CAN APPLY TO MUCH MORE THAN SMOKING - like "sweets" (some people need chocolate all the time), etc.

I'm not trying to be overly judgmental, but my philosophy on this matter can be summarized thusly:

If you are worried enough about your survival that you're taking the time to prepare GEAR then why not prepare your MIND and BODY too? (Hence my early comment that "survivalism is a lifestyle"). When the military issues a person gear on the first day of basic training - did it make that person a marine or soldier? No, it was the next 8-12 weeks of physical and mental conditioning that STARTED the person toward becoming one.

I sincerely wasn't trying to upset people here, but the idea of preparing to temporarily feed an addiction seems like a poor second choice to just breaking the addiction before you need to temporarily feed it. By the way, what happens after YOUR addiction supplies run out?

Arch, just last night after I printed your post and was reading about Oatmeal it hit me. Why not open up two packs (for 2 people) of instant oatmal, seal it up in using a foodsaver. You could make the packets much smaller and last a very long time. Same with a lot of other items. but the Mtn. house food! 25 years of shelf life! To quote Will Smith (sort of) gotta get me some of these!

Arch, your addiction post is the way I feel. But I DO see some merrit in JJ's comments. I personally don't think that I would suscribe to them IF I/we needed to bug out, but I can see that it MIGHT have some potential for those that would barter and then just move on with their goods. Now If "They" found out about your stash and wanted it, you may not be able to fend them of. THAT is what I would be concerned about. People talk, no way to stop it, VERBAL accidents happen.

I guess my greatest addiction now is living, and I will do ALMOST anything to feed that need.

I guess I should say my greatest addiction BESIDES needing my diabetes meds and blood pressure. BUT then again, if IT happened those problems could go away or be taken care of with minimal food to to get to, that is if We couldn't "Take it with us". We have several cases of corn, peas, beans of differents sorts, fruit... you get the idea. We also have a couple cases of bottled water just because we were given some. needless to say the back of the truck IF WE COULD DRIVE wouldn't be empty. And food wouldn't be the only thing back there. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Sometimes we could (do?)get swept up in an idea, Bug Out Bag, and ignore the preparations that we need to do and keep at home for times that emergency stores may be required but it IS NOT necessary to actually leave.

I read a book as a child (and several times as an adult) called Alas Babylon. they used a term I like. IRON RATIONS! Think of your BOB as your iron rations to get you to safety, in the event leaving IS NECESSARY, and your "Home stores" as your "just in case" items.

JJ made a comment about the type of situations that a person might face in the United States. He broke them into "natural disasters" and "Red Dawn", but this is really a severe over simplification.

I break "emergencies" into three categories:

NATURAL Disasters
MAN-MADE Disasters
SOCIAL ECONOMICAL POLITICAL Disasters

NATURAL

Natural disasters include:

* Tornadoes
* Earthquakes
* Hurricanes
* Volcanoes
* Tsunamis
* Forest Fires (although these are often Man-Made too)
* Insert YOUR Issues Here That Affect YOUR Area of Operation

MAN-MADE

Man-Made disaster include:

* Train-Derailments (with hazardous cargo like chemicals, gases, etc)
* Nuclear Plant Melt Down
* Industrial Accidents (e.g. we have a local plant that produces a type of plastic which requires PHOSGENE in the manufacturing process. This is MUSTARD GAS! Fire Departments as far as 100 miles away have been notified that if this plant burns people will have to be evacuated)
* Water Source Contamination
* Insert YOUR concerns here based upon YOUR AO.

SOCIAL ECONOMIC POLITICAL

These are equally likely in our current world environment. Unemployment is high, the government continues to grow its tyranical behavior, the national debt is spiraling out of control, rioting / civil disobeyidence is increasing etc.

SEP issues are those that are INTENTIONALLY MALICIOUS in nature. Natural and Man-Made disasters are accidents.

Examples include:

* Dirty Bomb
* Rioting
* Looting (post Natural, Man-Made, or SEP)
* Civil War
* Austerity Based Measures (starving people will behave differently)
* Police State Actions (the Government is rounding up gun owners or whatever)
* Forced Inoculations
* Microchip Implanting
* Banning Any of the Bill of Rights (freedom of speech, religion, whatever)
* Insert a plethora of other issues here.

The following is the SURVIVALIST LOGIC CHART that I developed and recommend:

STEP ONE - SELF INVENTORY

Conduct a personal evaluation - Be honest with yourself and determine if you need to loose weight, build strength, adjust your sleeping habits, seek better employment, increase your knowledge base, spend less time on recreational pursuits at the cost of self-improvement, stop smoking, whatever.

STEP TWO - ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

Conduct a detailed study of your environment - with the goal of identifying the perils you AND YOUR COMMUNITY FACE.

NOTE: I capitalized the community component, because even if you are a rural dweller and out of the "suck zone" - you will be affected by the community nearest to which you live.

Develop a list of issues that might affect you. For example, are there any railroad tracks within 10 miles? Are they up or down wind from the typical prevailing wind direction? Do you live within 100 miles of a Chemical or Biological plant or repository? Is there a military base within 100-200 miles? Is that base a small installation or does it have strategic and/or tactical value to an enemy?

STEP THREE - DEVELOP A PLAN OF ACTION

Once you've identified the perils you face - develop a set of responses to those disaters. For example, if a train derails our first option is...X, but if that fails we can Y, and as a last resort we need to Z.

This step also includes PERSONAL GOALS like losing weight, walking to get in better shape, learning a new trade or skill, etc.

STEP FOUR - DEVELOP A LIST OF GEAR NEEDED

Now that you've evaluated yourself and your environment and developed a POA you need to develop a list of gear to help you achieve these.

I break this down into three categories: Bug-In, Vehicular Bug-Out, and Foot Bug-Out.

Obviously "bugging in" is the best option. You have the comfort and security of your home plus a vast amount of space to store "survival stuff" (food, ammo, water, blankets, cooking supplies, medical supplies, etc).

A V-BO is much preferred to to a F-BO because you have a rolling shelter that can carry a lot more gear than your back.

The F-BO is a last resort. YOU DO NOT WANT TO BECOME A REFUGEE IF YOU CAN AVOID IT. Bugging out on foot because of a Natural or Man-Made disaster can land you in a SEP situation (Katrina is an example - the government was disarming people - which could have turned ugly).

ETA - I'm adding the following images to prevent people from thinking that my SEP issues are unfounded (or that I'm a conspiracy nut). We need to be intellectually honest and acknowledge that America isn't headed in a good direction:




Based upon the above FBI flyer I'm a terrorist because: A) I would defend the Constitution, B) I made references to it in this post.

The following is the last page of the 2009 MIAC Report. This report identifies people who support Anti-Abortion, Gun Rights, Ron Paul or who just have a HISTORIC Don't Tread On Me sticker as "militia":



Read the report for yourself...

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13290698/The-M...Report-20Feb09-

Randy,

I like the thought you're putting into this. I see a pattern developing and this is a GOOD THING!

You've started to conduct the "personal inventory" and "what do I do about it" steps simultaneously as well.

These are good things!

Regarding alcohol and tobacco - survival is about the basic. Its rough, dirty and miserable. Comfort items really have no place. The only comfort item I keep in my ruck is a pack of cards...BUT...each card has a "knot tying" lesson on it. My wife's BOB has a deck with survival information on each.

I only allowed the cards because of their true-survival value.

If I had room (space and/or weight) I'd add more ammo or more food. Period.

I've seen those cards but didn't really know if they were actually worth the cost. I always thought of them more of a gimic. And about SELF MADE ADDICTIONS, it's like now. Folks that do not have a job still smoke from 30-80 dollars worth of cigarettes a week! Makes NO sense to me. If you don't have enough money to pay your bills, you start cutting out things that are not necessary for your continued existance. Like Patty and I. It is obvious to anyone here that can read and count I spend a lot of time here. IF money were that hard for us, we would cut out our internet in a heartbeat, but it wouldn't be the first casualty. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I only started SERIOUSLY (I guess0 started thinking about surviving a situation within the past year. But with the addition of your bob post an the quake in Japan I have REALLY ramped up my thinking.

We live basically ON the New Madrid fault. We live according to Mapquest, 61 miles of New Madrid Missouri and about 20 miles West. Picked a real good place to grow up huh.

Well Randy, you've touched upon something I don't like to talk about because people might get offended, but so what....

We are a "Welfare State" now. How many MILLIONS of Americans depend on the Government for income and food? Here is your answer: 1 out of 6 Americans depend on the Government for assistance.

What happens when that gravy train stops? Will 17% of our population become gentle and docile and start providing for themselves in a constructive manner...or...will they become violent?

Did you know that FORTY MILLION of our population get food stamps?

http://www.businessinsider.com/one-in-six-americans-now-receives-government-aid-2010-8

This is why I think it is of EXTREME IMPORTANCE for people to be prepared for Social Economic and Political disasters.