Survivalist : The what if game

On many occasions my wife and I will play a little game I call the what if game. It has made for hours of interesting and serious discussion. instead of vegging on TV were actively taking our survival into our own hand, by planning ahead.
It goes like this. I usually start it, by saying
"Dear what would you do if the news said Marshal law has been declared?"
She might say something like."I would first want to know why?"
I might say something like."Well suppose it was a quick acting terminal disease outbreak and people were rioting and trying to leave the city in droves."

You get the point. Were not being paranoid were stretching our imagination and trying to plan at the same time. every time we have done this its been a different subject that can last for hours or days.
Sometimes I start this some times she does.

I only post this because I think its a great way to help you plan for as many different scenarios as possible and its active, at least in the mental sense. I would also like to know how many of you talk topics like this with your spouse or significant other. or is Survival kinda a solitary thing to most of you.

Survival IMO should not be a solitary thing. In the early days I kept all my planning to myself and away from my spouse. I guess I thought she would either think I was paranoid or it would scare her.

Come to find out she was just as interested in the subject as I was. Of course it took a six pack for me to get the courage to broach the subject with my wife. I had done her the dis service of assuming things about her. Once she became a active part of the planning things went much quicker and because there are two minds on the task. It has also given something active to do at night while I'm unwinding from work instead of the Television.

So how many of you share this interest and how many plan alone?

I run scenarios in my head all the time and what my first move would be, i then think about what goals both long and short term i would have during any specific scenario. What's interesting is that your right in the fact that this should not be a solitary exercise. I wish we had a Survivalist forum here on ats.

YEP , I know what you mean!
With me i started "complaining to the wife" about the size of our first aid kit, which basiscally consisted of a few plasters and a couple of headache tablets.

Its quiet a hard subject to approach, to someone who may not have the same veiws or outlook as you but...i think its something that has to be brought up in a converstaion at somepoint.


Angryamercian:
I think your idea of the "what if" game is a Bloody good idea for others to approach their spouse or loved ones, beacuse lets be honest no-one really wants the "if" to happen but with the way things are in the world "if" is nearer now than it has ever been.
But your game sound like something you could get the Family involved with ..without really worrying them!!!
It could become a "monthly game"..stop the kids from playing on the pc for a hour and sit down a play a "what if" game.

Jackjuice:
I do the same thing mate, run the scenarios in my head coz although i have said to my wife "what if" she still doesent graps..or want to ..the real scenario?
How to round up the closet people you have?
How where to go?
What to take?
How long is it gonna be like this?
How violent is it going to get?
How about protection for me , the family and our closest freinds.
That type of thing.

Yes you were spot on about the survivalist forum on here..well done.
I know libra and others are doing their best to put up these type of threads..congrat to them..well done
KEEP IT UP

Lets just hope "it" never happens

COol, I love these games. Fortune favors the prepared, the unprepared need a hell lot more luck.... heheheee. I run alot of situations in my head, some of them are rather childish, like "Zombies over run the planet", "Global warming, Mad Max, Water World situations", "Aliens invades planet Earth", "V" , "Nuclear World War III" "Killer Virus" "Ice Age" etc. etc.

I am quite paranoid and don't trust easily. My solution to these problems have always been to build a bunker to ride it out with the people I trust but I lack the resources to do that. So looks like I'lll become just another helpless victim in these situation. Unless I get rich soon or anyone else got a spare bunker?

If I do become one of them zombies..... be gentle whhaahahaaa!!!! :bash:

i generally only thik about what I'd do in a sort term incident, rather than a long drawn out one, sort of like the idea of an improvised terrorist nuclear weapon or a normal bombing.

Oh, and I can be quite paranoid about it too, last night I was at a concert, and thinking soething like this:

"now if a bomber was just there, that would cause so much devastation, and if there were multiple bombers, don't run to the exit"

Originally posted by spymaster
Jackjuice:
I do the same thing mate, run the scenarios in my head coz although i have said to my wife "what if" she still doesent graps..or want to ..the real scenario?
How to round up the closet people you have?
How where to go?
What to take?
How long is it gonna be like this?
How violent is it going to get?
How about protection for me , the family and our closest freinds.
That type of thing.

Yes you were spot on about the survivalist forum on here..well done.
I know libra and others are doing their best to put up these type of threads..congrat to them..well done
KEEP IT UP

Lets just hope "it" never happens

I'll share some of my thoughts on the process so maybe you guys can find the whole in my plan so I may plug them.

Alot of what i plan to do depends on the situation, but lets for this instance say it is a large scale nuclear attack by terrorists, maybe 8 to 9 detonations. I am on the east coast so fallout will be something that i have to plan for.

Originally posted by spymaster
How to round up the closet people you have?
How where to go?

I have already told my closest friends and family to meet at my sisters house. They live on top of a mountain, although I told them that we would stay there because they don't like to talk about this stuff, however there is an abandoned silver mine just below her house. Thats where i will be riding out the storm of fallout so to speak. (I'm actually gonna go case the mine this spring)

Originally posted by spymaster
What to take?

Luckily for me my Brother in law works at a water bottling plant and at all times he keeps a pallet or two of bottled water, so this will be going. Also this spring i am going to buy a couple cases of MRE's so those will go I plan to do some hiking this summer so all this equipment including my first aid kit will go. I also ordered a geiger counter and am going to build a ham radio.

Originally posted by spymaster
How long is it gonna be like this?

I am planning on being in the cave for about a week or two, if it's a major war than that period could jump too a month or more. I am not planning for a major nuclear war unless the signs of that possibility start popping up.

Now after the fallout period I expect "Life as we know it" to be gone. That's alright I have planned for this as well. Luckily for me I live in Amish country. I plan on getting to know the surviving Amish and offering them protection from theives and raiders if they will help feed my group and any other survivors in the valley, I will then help build a militia that will protect the amish people and the entire valley that i live in. Also the Amish will prove a valuable resource in the long term, they have skill sets that most of us do not. How many of us know how to make shoes or cloths? Or farm for that matter.

Originally posted by spymaster
How violent is it going to get?
How about protection for me , the family and our closest freinds.

I am prepared for violence, I expect violence. I also have a little white lie prepared to avoid violence. If confronted by someone who seems like they could turn violent or really wants something i have than i will play the patriotic card and tell them we must band together to fight off whoever attacked us. If they don't buy that i must be prepared to defend myself. I am looking into being able to make my own bullets now so that if indeed that happens i can reload my weapons. I am also looking into a kevlar vest. Once i get a small militia started it should help to keep the valley safe.


What kind of planning have some of you guys done?

[edit on 11/19/2006 by JackJuice]

JackJuice
A couple of very good points youve made there .
The one that sticks out for me is the fact that you have already "in your mind" alligned yourself with a community that already exists...congrats on that one mate!

From what i know about the Amish and its only what i have heard/read is that they are a very self sufficiant community, they keep themselves to themselves, they are not a violent community and are religion based?

So for you, the bartering would be two fold, you could offer to them "some sort of protection" and also offer them items that you have or knowledge that they would need or want?

Money IMO will mean nothing it will be down to bartering and the like.

Everyone including the Amish will be in a similar position..but communities already established like the Amish will be , again IMO , in a better position for such an event, as they DO NOT rely on the "outside" (for want of a better word) although they use the "outside" for bartering and such things now they dont rely on it, as we do.

Everything we do revolves around this world (outside), we buy from shops, we dont grow our own produce, or make our own clothes etc.

TOP SPOT!! jackjuice..well done mate!

One problem as I see it and I may be way off base. The Omish atleast in my area dont baleave in violance. any thing that happens is God's will so they do not baleave they need protection.

My exposure to the Omish is a small group That live up in mid Michigan.

From what ive read on the net and seen on movie's different omish communities baleave in different things. That is based thow like I said on TV and movies and the limited amount of information from the internet.

I base my information on conversations ive had with the Omish young men my Dad hires to fix things around his farm. It takes a while to get them to open up but they eventually do. So if the Omish in your area are the same as in my area they would not want your protection.