Why should I let you through the checkpoint?

I was a cavalry scout for five years. Any time I wasn't doing that my hobbies had me building rockets and rocket engines, or training and riding horses. Did I mention that until the SHTF I was assistant brewmaster at the worlds best small brewery?

If you have a scouting team and/or horses, or if you want thermite or beer, you need me.

reply to post by getreadyalready


I know more than that. I do not like fixing things, but I can.

1. I can create rich productive soil.

2. I can produce fresh water out of thin air.

3. I have my own seed stocks.

4. I know how to garden and produce delicious food and medicine.

5. I'm a great cook.

6. I hold a great deal of knowledge and data in my head.

Now the real question is what exactly do you have to offer me to induce me to stay and contribute to your community?

I have some challenges of my own:

Are you a Christian/Muslim/religious community?

If so, I'll pass, thank you very much. I've little use for organized religions and the hatreds they foster.

What is your decision-making process and who controls it?

Am I free to come and go as I please, taking whomever chooses to part company with you and join me?

What rules or laws would I be expected to adhere to, and are they the same for all?

Who have you cast out already and for what reasons?

If you fail to answer to my satisfaction on any of these, then sorry, but you don't pass muster and aren't worthy of my presence. At best I will allow you to bring me some food, for which I will trade some knowledge and advice. I'll trade some seed stock for tangibly worthwhile items that I actually need or can use for trade elsewhere.

But in any case I wouldn't set foot within your compound until you earned my trust. Guns can keep people in, as well as out.

reply to post by Thestargateisreal


I never put my resume up earlier, because I took the "avoid the compound" stance, but I have worked as a carpenter, have a degree in chemistry, with most of my schooling in chemical engineering. I have a private pilot's license, ride a Harley every day, and I can operate any type of heavy equipment, basically anything with an engine I can drive! But in reality, my #1 skill is problem solving, being innovative, cutting through the mud and getting to the quickest solution. I work for the government, but I consult for many other companies and non-profits to help them stay lean, mean and profitable. I was a little 120lb smartass as a teenager, and I learned to fight quick (and dirty, LOL). Now that I am 240lbs, nobody ever tries me and I am a much calmer individual. I love to hunt and fish and hike.

My Dad was a survival prepper back in the 70's, and I've been hearing about this stuff since then. I've seen the writing on the wall since I was 6 years old, and I've been preparing mentally and physically for it my whole life. In fact, my username "Get Ready Already" is also the name of a book I am writing to help people prepare for the eventuality of a survival situation. Many don't realize it, but we all have to survive already. We have to prepare for a short-term event like a hurricane or snow storm, we should prepare for a long-term SHTF event just to be safe, but we also have to prepare for a long life, retirement, kids, grandkids, education, etc. We have to have a well-rounded approach.

Even more significant than all that physical preparation is the fact that we will all die. No doubt about it. A bus hits us tomorrow, or cancer catches us at 50 or a heart attack at 70, doesn't matter, we have to make peace, live without regrets, and face death head-on when it comes.

Everyday is a survival day, a prep day, a gift to cherish and an opportunity to do something right. Something that will allow you to smile as you lie there waiting on the ambulance or watching the comet crash into the atmosphere.

Originally posted by gamesmaster63

Originally posted by Thestargateisreal
reply to post by getreadyalready

 

Jessica Biel

How about, Johnny Depp for your part?

Jessica Biel, from Blade 3 would definitely work for you, I think Hugh Jackman would fit getreadyalready. I'd be more a Peter DeLuise type.

I'd be more a Dom Delouise type.

reply to post by gamesmaster63


Peter DeLuise is awesome! He's a nerd, but he's awesome! The best quote from him ever, "Okay, everybody, CLINCH YOUR BUTT!"

I for one would not be able to “join” a compound or group. I would feel much more comfortable staying away from any such thing and trading instead. I realize “safety in numbers” etc. However, you have to REALLY trust who you are with, and I just hardly trust anyone! And large groups??? No thanks. I would never be able to sleep! I am one of those that would have a “house” for show… but I “live” elsewhere. And that makes me cringe too, if there is a decoy, then its there for a reason. Sigh.

I took this thread more of an exercise in analyzing your skills and resources and getting ideas on what to improve.

edited to say: Thank you for starting the thread

Originally posted by graceunderpressure

Originally posted by gimme_some_truth
reply to post by graceunderpressure

 

So my answer, I would walk right past your little camp simply because I don't want to be a part of any group that feels the need to keep people out, using violence and weapons.

And what about you, wandering on your own with only your high morals to protect you? How long do you think you would survive?

I wrote that reply and then I walked away and started feeling a little sick about it. That's not really the way that I see the world. Eventually, I reached the conclusion -- screw survival! If we aren't willing to die for what we believe in, then what kind of people are we? What kind of life is that?

Truth is, I don't believe in turning people away because they can't contribute. And, I don't believe that a person's value lies in what they can accomplish or what they "have to offer."

So, let's fling open the gates! All are welcome. Fire up the *medicinal herbs* and bring out the guitars. We're probably all going to die soon, anyway so let's just...



Cheers, friends!

Thank you to everyone who posted in this thread. I really learned a lot from you and enjoyed your insights and humor.

Note to the guy who said "this thread is retarded such for existing" -- if you think a thread is "retarded" You probably shouldn't read it and post in it.

if i dont get let in soon ill be starting a second group with intentions of raiding the original group.

reply to post by cbianchi513


Holy moly! That was you, wasn't it? How'd that get past OpSec and into a training video?

I thought the video was pretty good as a trainer, and will likely raise some real world points that some here may not consider, and really ought to. The "ambush" of the van at the gate, for example. Folks need to think about that. Waiting 3 hours to investigate just ain't enough if they go hey diddle diddle right down the middle in a great big knot. Might as well paint a bulls-eye on 'em before ever sending them out the gate.

If I'm running the security (which I'm not in this scenario) I'm not waiting 3 hours in the first place. I'm gonna have goonies in the boonies right away. They're not going to the van - it's already shot up. They're going to the ambush line, through the weeds. They're gonna flank those mugs on-line, and erase them. After all, that's where the bullets CAME FROM, so that's priority one for erasure. You know how important aiming stakes are in an "L shaped" ambush - my boys are gonna be the short leg of the L, without aiming stakes. They are not, I repeat NOT going straight into the KZ in a knot. I'd just shoot 'em myself before they left the compound and save the looters the trouble if that were the case. They are NOT approaching the ambush from the direction of the KZ. You assault into an ambush if you're CAUGHT in the kill zone, but you don't volunteer to enter one you already know is there! Besides, if the looters know their stuff, there's gonna be surprises in the ditch in front of the kill zone, and homey only likes surprises on birthdays.

Now, in the scenario we have going here, I'm still outside the camp, snoopin' and poopin' on their behalf. My job is to notice when a band of armed strangers enters the AO, and to give warning. then I'm going back out into the bush to keep an eye on what they're up to, since I've already alerted the compound. I'm not gonna Rambo their asses and light 'em up all by my lonesome. Nossir, that only gives away my secret. I'm gonna watch their movements, note their positions, composition, arms and deployment of same, and call the wrath of God, or whoever is running the compound at the moment, right in on top of them.

Then I'm gonna do a hostile stop on the already stopped van, after the ambush is mopped up Can't just leave it sitting in the middle of the roadway, dead bodies or not. I'm gonna do a "hostile stop" on the van because I don't know the van any more than I knew the ambushers. They're ALL strangers to me, and for all I know it might have been a gang war between rival looter gangs, one as bad as the other.

Then I'm gonna find out how in the devil that van got there in the first place, and why wasn't the bridge blown or the road cratered like I suggested?

And for all that, all I get is a pat on the head and maybe a twinkie. Life just ain't fair, is it?

Understand, bro, that ain't NONE of this real. No OPSEC for any of these folks has been broken. This is a "what if" scenario, it's been fun, educational, and at times hair raising (it's gonna give me nightmares about ball peen hammers fer sure), but no one has given up any real grids.

it's a thought experiment, with some rather interesting results. I for one have had to re-evaluate who I think is gonna live and who is gonna die just from the attitudes and knowledge base (or lack thereof) shown here. It has also driven home a few interesting revelations: for example, who knew there'd be so many folks to cook stuff, and so few to grow/hunt the stuff to be cooked? there are going to be a lot of unemployed chefs after the apocalypse, and a lot of skinny "survivors" - if they don't starve to death, that is.

With all the electricians and mechanics, I think scroungers will be in high demand. SOMEONE is going to have to find all the copper wire to wind the coils for the home-made water powered generators. SOMEONE is going to have to find the points to convert the vehicles back to old school. SOMEONE is going to have to find the coffee to trade for the hookers (also a saturated job market - right up there with the cooks). SOMEONE is going to have to find all the millions of little things to make life more pleasant in the compound. "Scrounging", or "salvage" for the squeamish, is going to be a high demand, and also high RISK profession. I foresee a high turnover among the scroungers., but the traders of the trails will likely find work, lodging, and friends wherever they go.

I'm surprised that no one has taken note yet that fields big enough to grow food for all the people INSIDE the compound are going to be OUTSIDE the compound, and no one has yet offered to even guard those fields or the workers, You KNOW those fields are going to be a big fat target for the teeming, starving refugee masses they have banging on the gate.

I think we need to put a few cooks on guard duty and gardening detail....

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by subfab

 

You're my hero. We are 5 clicks NE of their camp. Welcome anytime. Wear the wonderwoman outfit under you camo!

DAMMIT! Snaked again!

reply to post by graceunderpressure


So goes the same for doing the dirty work. If we are not ready to help the ones that need help, and remove the cannibals and other such plagues to restore humanity......

Then we have lost our own humanity. Become mere animals with plans.

Originally posted by Shadowalker
reply to post by graceunderpressure

 

So goes the same for doing the dirty work. If we are not ready to help the ones that need help, and remove the cannibals and other such plagues to restore humanity......

Then we have lost our own humanity. Become mere animals with plans.

I'm gonna eat the cannibals.

No... wait a minute... there's a short in my logic circuit somewhere...

Running self diagnostics, preparing for 8 hours of temporary shutdown.

reply to post by nenothtu


Sounds like a job for Casey Ryback to me. Any cooks good with knives?

reply to post by getreadyalready


So if you don't like Hugh Jackman, how about Viggo Morgenstern?

I agree with you on all of that. The big difference is I go back another full generation. My grandfather started our groups prep shortly after the Great Depression. That's when he bought the land our cave is on and starting designing the interior supports and structures. As our technology levels have increased those of my generation have made what we consider improvements on almost the entire facility. We even have one family that lives permanently on-site to maintain equipment, care for livestock, ensure security, and keep our gardening areas hidden from the sky as much as possible.

I remember Gramps complaining about the Federal Reserve all my childhood and saying the banks where going to destroy the world one day and we had to be ready.

reply to post by graceunderpressure


I am a certified teacher and can educate the children. I can also sew, fire a weapon, cook. My husband was in the army 22 yrs and he can live in the field off the land and teach others to do the same. He is a great hunter and has massive weapons knowledge. He was also an MP for 22 yrs and can help control the people within the camp. My 16 yr old daughter can cook, help teach and take care of the younger children while their parents work and defend the camp. We also have 8 weapons among us and massive stores of ammo for each. We will earn our keep and better the camp.
We are a package deal you take all or none.

reply to post by gamesmaster63


How about, Karl Urban, or Nick Chinlund, or even Mark Gibbon?

How about Mike Rowe? He's not really a tough guy actor, but he could've been one imo.

We could also go with Sam J. Jones, he's been an actor for a while and turns up in guest rolls on television often, normally playing a tough slightly bad guy.

Originally posted by Thestargateisreal
reply to post by gamesmaster63

 

How about, Karl Urban, or Nick Chinlund, or even Mark Gibbon?

How about Mike Rowe? He's not really a tough guy actor, but he could've been one imo.

We could also go with Sam J. Jones, he's been an actor for a while and turns up in guest rolls on television often, normally playing a tough slightly bad guy.

edit on 9-10-2011 by Thestargateisreal because: (no reason given)

nahhh. this is the man, always will be the man.

reply to post by undo


Oooooold guy alert!

I am a banker with shiny black shoes and an elegant white hat. On every market day, your people walked around with chickens, eggs, hams, and ... I can make little rounds of leather so you can trade and bargain with the rounds instead of the unwieldy chickens. I can explain away all your problems as they arise, or I could procure another cowhide and make more currency, ...