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ER queen75, Yes the star show is great almost every night. We have over 330 days of bright sunshine so most nights the sky is clear. There is a certified dark sky observation not too far from us. If you like nature and wildlife, New Mexico is a great place to live. Miles and miles of open land, just pick a road and start driving. We are one mile from the Bosque de Apachee bird refuge. In the Fall to late winter we have tens of thousands of cranes, dusks and geese fly through and winter here. This area is so old, Socorro was chartered in 1594, before the Mayflower. If you go to youtube and look at the video "Beyond the Visible" the story of the VLA and the people that work there at the array. For sure something to see if you are ever in this area. My Email is [email protected] drop me a note or ask questions and I will try to answer them for you. de KA5SIW
 
erqueen75 said:
Aren't any of you constantly astonished at the collective ignorance of your fellow Americans on this very subject? It's not simple fodder I bring up at the Christmas party with the spouses, But I will on occasion bring it up when the matter of lets say -National Defense- is up. All I get back from these college educated persons- whom I know have have a range of science courses in college, stare back never hearing of such a thing!!!

Any similar stories you good folks would like to humor me with?
Many thanks
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Graduates are like Lighthouses in the desert, Brilliant but utterly pointless :)
 
Rellgar said:
An educated idiot is the most dangerous of all.
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Only if they dont accept other opinion of confirmed overwhelming evidence contrary to their beliefs. The truly wise man listens to all opinions from true experts in whatever particular field they study then formulates their own opinion based on facts. too many people in Academia believe only what those who agree with them say ( as seen in the no platforming - cancel culture of the left) Others think that cos someone on the internet says something that is is gospel fact. There are those as a poor example think Everything Trump or the republican or FOX say must be right, and others think that anything Biden / Harris or the Dems or CNN say is undisputable fact. The truth usually lies somewhere in the middle. Much of Academia only accepts what other closeted academics of the same social - political - religious leaning area. Thats what make US the preppers so savvy because we tend to question everything and accept nothing at face value.
 
erqueen75 said:
Aren't any of you constantly astonished at the collective ignorance of your fellow Americans on this very subject? It's not simple fodder I bring up at the Christmas party with the spouses, But I will on occasion bring it up when the matter of lets say -National Defense- is up. All I get back from these college educated persons- whom I know have have a range of science courses in college, stare back never hearing of such a thing!!!

Any similar stories you good folks would like to humor me with?
Many thanks
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In a word, no.
Unless you bring up the topic to some pop-culture reference (e.g. TV show Jericho), most are oblivious. They probably know more about the Harry and Meghan interview with Oprah.
Being college educated does not equate to informed. My wife was speaking with one of the directors, he has a PhD in computer science. He did not know a cow has to had a calf in order to give milk, just like humans.
While it is not EMP specific but rather more focused on a cyber attack on the US grid, the book Lights Out by Ted Koppel was a very good read.
 
MOS0231 said:
Being college educated does not equate to informed. My wife was speaking with one of the directors, he has a PhD in computer science. He did not know a cow has to had a calf in order to give milk, just like humans.
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really?? an educated man like that? I thought it was just the masses who are that stupid.
 
erqueen75 said:
I read pretty much all I can on EMP's and NBC's. It would be the end of society. Forever.
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Hi lady, I was a nuclear warhead specialist in the Cold War years from '78 to '85 and was involved with the Pershing I and II rocket systems. The smallest warhead was 17 times bigger than Hiroshima and I would regularly sign for up to 27 of them in bunkers situated in a circle for easy emergency demolition if they were about to be comprimised or stolen. All of our nuclear fallout, EMP, ABC and such training taught us that we were estimated to have a wartime lifespan of around 39 minutes before the first rockets would take us out if we were in the open or near the detonations. The post-atomic fallout and radiation time-frames were not hopeful either. BUT...an absolute destruction of the modern day society and mankind would not happen. LOTS of people would not survive in large populated areas, but on the downside/opposite side of mountains near to even a large nuclear detonation only 10 miles away would have no problem except with the EMP and fires/wind destruction. Way too many live in the mountains, valleys, prarie, tundra or swamps where nobody would waste a bomb to try and get someone there. These would only hear the explosions and see bright light and survive quite well.
BESIDES THIS, nobody wants to DESTROY other nations anymore really...they need the slaves, factories, minerals and water there to make it worth the time to bomb anything and "WIN" the war. Chernobyl has shown how long something cannot be "utilised" again after a radioactive poisoning has occured. No "WIN" included there...live free, Gary
 
GaRp58 said:
Either you sit around long enough to get your credits and use the internet to copy and paste the answers for your tests to get a PhD nowadays or it only stands for: PostHoleDigger...I know a few diploma holding idiots.
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One of my SSGTs call it Plain Highschool Diploma.
 
Interesting, the Trinity site in New Mexico is still too HOT to allow anyone to stay there. The Trinity site is only open to visitors one Saturday, twice a year. That was a small bomb by today's standards. Me, I figure nobody will waste a bomb where one has already been set off, I live about 20 miles from the Trinity Site.
 
bigpaul said:
I dont think you know what to believe, all your posts seem to be about what other people will do, not what you will do.
survival is about what each of us will do for ourselves, there is only one person that can help you survive and that is you yourself.
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Sir,
You are 100% correct in calling me out. I WILL probably act like Bibi Besch in The Day After, when she's making beds after the silos have emptied. Even I've seen seen what man can do to man with conventional weapons on the battlefront, I'm not sure I'd want to push on. My logic tells me I will for the sake of my child, and my unwavering love for this country. We can all practice a million times our BO routines, get them down to a fine science. But how many of you will remember to look away, shield your eyes and open your mouths when you see/feel/hear that blast and towering mushroom cloud? I will probably be pissing in my pants....
 
I do think we would all be in deep crap quickly from loosing the grid. One storm knocking out power for just a few days shows how reliant we have all become on electricity. Wether a manmade EMP, a solar flare or another country hacking our utilities to shut them down, the effects would be historic. No one knows exactly how bad people would get but my guess is most would be out for themselves like rats on a sinking ship. I think as real as the possibility or even likelihood of this happening is high enough to consider relocating away from any large population areas. Even in the rural areas others would be your greatest threat but your odds are a lot better than in any city.
 
erqueen75 said:
Sir,
You are 100% correct in calling me out. I WILL probably act like Bibi Besch in The Day After, when she's making beds after the silos have emptied. Even I've seen seen what man can do to man with conventional weapons on the battlefront, I'm not sure I'd want to push on. My logic tells me I will for the sake of my child, and my unwavering love for this country. We can all practice a million times our BO routines, get them down to a fine science. But how many of you will remember to look away, shield your eyes and open your mouths when you see/feel/hear that blast and towering mushroom cloud? I will probably be pissing in my pants....
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I think many who feel they are tough and secure will quickly find out how insecure they really are. The best any of can do is learn practical skills and take one day at a time.
 
erqueen75 said:
But how many of you will remember to look away, shield your eyes and open your mouths when you see/feel/hear that blast and towering mushroom cloud? I will probably be pissing in my pants....
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YOU WILL NOT BE ALONE....I have watched 12 year olds fight like a real life Rambo and 40 year olds run and cry like babies in a firefight, women ready to kill for their families and men leaving their whole families alone....I helped a man with 27 broken bones and his wife with a gash on her head from the eyebrow over her left eye back to the crown of her head in the back...not one person in 3 miles of traffic stopped to help me give first aid. I even had to kick in the drivers door of a Mercedes to get him to move out of the way from where I was directing a Red Cross helicopter to land on a farm road with trees on both sides after this motorcycle accident happened in front of me...99% of people will piss their pants over anything...AND THEN MAKE VIDEOS AND POST THEM WITH SHOCKING FAKE TEARS ABOUT HOW TERRIBLE IS WAS TO BE NEARBY
 
GaRp58 said:
YOU WILL NOT BE ALONE....I have watched 12 year olds fight like a real life Rambo and 40 year olds run and cry like babies in a firefight, women ready to kill for their families and men leaving their whole families alone....I helped a man with 27 broken bones and his wife with a gash on her head from the eyebrow over her left eye back to the crown of her head in the back...not one person in 3 miles of traffic stopped to help me give first aid. I even had to kick in the drivers door of a Mercedes to get him to move out of the way from where I was directing a Red Cross helicopter to land on a farm road with trees on both sides after this motorcycle accident happened in front of me...99% of people will piss their pants over anything...AND THEN MAKE VIDEOS AND POST THEM WITH SHOCKING FAKE TEARS ABOUT HOW TERRIBLE IS WAS TO BE NEARBY
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While working as a travel nurse in the breadbasket, a man came in with his son who had gotten his arm caught in an auger. I had a new RN training with me. As soon as she saw the carnage, she blew chunks- couldn't even make it to the trash can. That was ok. It was the patient across the hall who saw this kid brought in screaming, losing blood at a ridiculous rate. He was screaming WHY?!? Why was he still laying there? After all, all he needed was a refill on a prescription.
ME, ME, ME, is only getting WORSE, WORSE, WORSE. And this time it was only over toilet paper.
 
erqueen75 said:
He was screaming WHY?!? Why was he still laying there? After all, all he needed was a refill on a prescription.
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The world is full of ego-filled, self-righteous, you-denying and KAREN characters...sorry you had to got through such a NON-HUMAN-SITUATION to see how low that LOW-LIFE can really go...if I was not a Christian,,,,,I would make bad wishes on people like that...But we can still use examples of human trash like that man to REALLY appreciate the good ones when they come along into our lives...live free, Gary
 
Brent S said:
I do think we would all be in deep crap quickly from loosing the grid. One storm knocking out power for just a few days shows how reliant we have all become on electricity. Wether a manmade EMP, a solar flare or another country hacking our utilities to shut them down, the effects would be historic. No one knows exactly how bad people would get but my guess is most would be out for themselves like rats on a sinking ship. I think as real as the possibility or even likelihood of this happening is high enough to consider relocating away from any large population areas. Even in the rural areas others would be your greatest threat but your odds are a lot better than in any city.
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most people over here rely on electricity 100%, it is part a huge part of modern life and without it the whole country will very quickly grind to a halt.
living without electricity dosent bother me, I have lived without it before and will again, my survival plans have been formulated to live post SHTF without power of any kind.
 
erqueen75 said:
While working as a travel nurse in the breadbasket, a man came in with his son who had gotten his arm caught in an auger. I had a new RN training with me. As soon as she saw the carnage, she blew chunks- couldn't even make it to the trash can. That was ok. It was the patient across the hall who saw this kid brought in screaming, losing blood at a ridiculous rate. He was screaming WHY?!? Why was he still laying there? After all, all he needed was a refill on a prescription.
ME, ME, ME, is only getting WORSE, WORSE, WORSE. And this time it was only over toilet paper.
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Rats on a sinking ship.....
 
bigpaul said:
most people over here rely on electricity 100%, it is part a huge part of modern life and without it the whole country will very quickly grind to a halt.
living without electricity dosent bother me, I have lived without it before and will again, my survival plans have been formulated to live post SHTF without power of any kind.
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I too could live without electricity. I have solar, propane and gasoline generators, gardens, fruit trees, etc. I have been aware of how fragile our infrastructure is and have taken many steps to ensure I can stay fed and relatively comfortable. But the fact is I really like all the comforts and conveniences the modern world has. I have no desire to regress back 200 years and live such a hard life. I hope I don’t see it in my lifetime.
 
many people like all the modern conveniences and comforts, thats why I cant see the survival rate being very high over here post SHTF, once the power grid goes down the dying will start.
solar will be okay for awhile, but propane and fuel generators will only last as long as the stocks or stockpile does, once that goes they will go quiet.
I lived off grid for many years with no mains services and no power of any kind, its not hard to do but some people want to make it complicated.
anyone who tries to live POST SHTF the same as they did BEFORE SHTF is not going to survive.
K.I.S.S.-keep it simple, stupid, thats my motto.
 
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I have lived all around the world and the USA.
More than a few times I felt safer in Afghanistan than I did in some US cities.
I found the sub-burbs to be the most hostile with dirty looks, comments about my dog whom by the end of our walk, he was straining to get a few dribbles out. But that would kill her shrub!
Then I moved to this, very rural area.
People wave as they drive by.
Wife got her car stuck in the snow, I was trying and failing to get her out of the drive. Some guy I never met, saw our predicament, turned around, came back and helped me get her out.
Some guy was pulled over on the side of the road, flashers on. I pulled over and tried to help him change his tire to include crawling under his truck in the snow to try to get the spare loose. Something about Chevy's needing a special tool to get the spare off. But I tried.
So, I am not sure if it is just some rural areas, but mine seems a lot friendlier than others.
I am sure there are some idiots in my area, just like anywhere else.
But we are rural enough to know that we are on our own and are going to need a degree of community to survive.
 
MOS0231 said:
Some of us are doing things here and now to ingrain ourselves within our community, be seen as an asset not a liability or threat, to increase our % of survival.
No single person can stand firewatch on his own.
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comparing civilian SHTF with any army service is a mistake, it wont be the same.
Boredom and loneliness will kill most people long before any violence comes their way .
 
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bigpaul said:
comparing civilian SHTF with any army service is a mistake, it wont be the same.
Boredom and loneliness will kill most people long before any violence comes their way.
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That was an example, but the same idea applies to multiple situations of the non-military kind.
Can I slaughter and butcher a hog by myself? Sure. Lot easier and faster with an extra set of hands.
Same goes for cutting, splitting, stacking fire wood.
Putting up a pole barn.
Actually military practices are not much different than surviving SHTF. Both are a question of economics and logistics. Both require Beans, Band aids and Bullets. Both require planning, but are only as good as first contact. In the military sense, it is with a human adversary. In the SHTF sense, it can be a human adversary. Or more likely nature in the forms of drought, hail, wildfire, pests, predators, disease.
The means and end results are different (for the most part). But the concepts are the same.
 
like I said before, Keep it simple stupid, most peoples plans are too complicated and they will fail because of that.
anyone who relies on other (unrelated) people for their survival -WONT.
too many ego's, too much conflict of interest, too many people looking after number one. I've tried groups they just dont work.
 
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bigpaul said:
like I said before, Keep it simple stupid, most peoples plans are too complicated and they will fail because of that.
anyone who relies on other (unrelated) people for their survival -WONT.
too many ego's, too much conflict of interest, too many people looking after number one. I've tried groups they just dont work.
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Perhaps you was the reason why.
Maybe they worked after you left? Lol
 
The community I live in have been doing things together for a very long time. My great grandparents lived at the farm oner ech (catty corner) from our fields, and they had a community bldg where large things were processed, or large quantities of fruit were processed and canned. Sausage made, that sort of thing. The building and old huge pots are still there, a cousin lives in it. Even now, people get together to help. Just talked to our neighbor yesterday about a painting party to paint our add on. Food is always involved.
 
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