He's referring to The History Channel.

In the past week, there have been a couple of busy threads in regard to History Channel shows.

Never underestimate the value of patient recon. Not only can you more productively pick and choose your targets, but an inferior force can overwhelm a superior one if the recon is done properly.

I don't have to eat for three days, if in so doing I don't end up dead from trying to. Observation is a primary survival skill.

I saw this article today and I think it is a good one for all of us to read, as it addresses many of the things we are talking about in this thread

http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/01/coa_analysis_of_common_surviva.html

The author changed my perception on a few things. The range you can actually expect out of your vehicle during a societal meltdown and the number of looters/raiders that one would be faced with in the cities being the ones that gave me the most to think about.

The problem I'm seeing is we don't have much choice. Any good land where you could survive in bad times it too far away from jobs during the good times. I live near a city so I can afford to take care of my family and get the kids in halfway decent schools. If I were to move to our farm, there are no jobs and there are no decent schools. The farm land where I would bug out to was passed down so I didn't have to pay for it otherwise I wouldn't have any place to go.

The article was exactly what I wanted to say and what I tried to say. I wasn't nearly as analytical or eloquent though. The author is right about one thing; those with the most value to the community will be able to survive, and probably in relative comfort. Question is, what skills would be most valuable? Obviously medical; like he said not all the doctors would starve. What else? Blacksmithing? Farming? Weaving/sewing? Specialized skills like setting up a water distillery? Any other ideas?
What scares me the most is the loss of modern medicine. If that happened I would be among the early ones to die off. Insulin dependent diabetic is not a very livable/survivable prospect in TEOTWAWKI. I would probably end up among the looters looking for vials of insulin and syringes at pharmacies and such. What a way to go.
Of course that would not be the only problem. What about immunizations for babies? Could small pox become a problem? What about tetanus? No more antibiotics? Small infections would suddenly be big problems. Little house on the prairie meets mad max. I for one hope it never happens.

You can do what I do. I wake up at 5:00 AM in Pennsylvania on a huge piece of land, with my own 300,000 gallon pond, with state game lands all around me, and I work in midtown manhattan at a high-end digital media agency. We "do web sites" like NASA does "Fireworks".

I can afford to send my kids to private schools 'cause my housing is so much cheaper, I have my own rifle range in the back yard, a backhoe and a big garden as well as a workshop that's pretty darn good. Sure, I commute 4 hours a day, but you know what? I end up out of the house from 5:30 AM to 6:30 PM - is that really any different than any other white-collar job? A little earlier in the beginning, about the same at the end.

Thanks, Madcat. The author certainly has put a lot of thought into it and seems to cover the gamut. He's appropriately bleak.

However equipped anyone thinks they are, no one (except maybe sociopaths) can really be prepared mentally for the awfulness of such large scale calamity scenarios. Materially, maybe. But not even Warren Buffet or Bill Gates with all their billions would be safe. Unless they were barricaded on a deserted island and had a lot of faith in their staff doctor(s) and armed guards (in case a boat of hungry people goes astray).

Most people's very lives depend on a fragile triad made up of the transportation network, power grid and finance system. All three of these systems depend on the other two and they are all three unbelievably fragile.

My farm land is in wv so its not the best land and my commute would take me out of state, and there are no decent schools.
Easier to type now on a laptop keyboard. School is the biggest problems now in the area of WV where the family farm is the school system was just audited by the state due to excessive corruption. My father was a machinist and had to change jobs a couple times as business sold out overseas so he ended up driving to MD for work before he retired. I'm in IT, I'd probably have to drive a couple hours each way to work. So for now were living near the city and close enough I can walk to work if needed (.5 miles). If I were single I'd work 4 10 hours days or even 3 13 hour days and live in a car in the parking lot and drive down to the farm on my days off. For now I have to work around the normal school schedule but am planning on building a small cabin on the farm, somehting small enough that it can be self sustaining (too far away from utilities) and we can spedn spring break and summer vacation there. Not much in the way of private schools there, some come and go bankrupt in a few years.

But what it comes down to is to get the ideal place like you have, sure its doable, one must save up money and then find that place for sale. But until then thats why I put a higher priority on bugging out to the land I do have. Maybe that explains it better.

The best schooling often ends up being home schooling. There are lots of places that will help you do it, and lots of places online that will give you a good idea of what it consists of. And you don't have to be college-educated or some kind of teacher to do it.

Sue

I figure I could home school (I can't do any worse than my school teachers did) but I don't think I could balance that between a full time job.

So for now my plan is to try and take off a week in the spring, spend it at the farm and plant a large garden then take a week off in the fall and can everything. I know its not quite that simple since not everything will grow on the same schedule but between those and long weekends I hope to make it work. Want to build a small cabin there and when we get to canning things in the fall then store half at home and half in the cabin.