Got my ham ticket and my ems certs shortly after 9/11. I realized that things could get serious quickly (even tho I live in rural NH, USA - about a pastoral as you can get) Anyhow, my thinking on this particular issue is that survival in a fortified garrison with my family and parhaps a few others on a subsistance basis is much less desirable than survival during the reconstruction and rebuilding of a larger society. We are all sooooo interdependant - and that is not only convenient but also much more safe, comfortable and healthy - that to rationally consider the list of things you would have to forego after even a year of "independance" is frightful. For an easy example, who knows how to make TP? Even lamp oil or candle wax is hard to come by if you don't integrate in a larger society. I'd much rather work towards increasing the resiliency of the society by being prepared to mitigate the effects of disaster than to spend my limited funds preparing a mountain retreat with fortifications and supplies. If I had enough budget to do both I would tho.