Preparing for the coming world war

Homesteading & Country Living Forum

Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Tacitus

Awesome Friend
Neighbor
HCL Supporter
Joined
Dec 29, 2017
Messages
1,150
Location
Flyover Country
I'm starting to get the feeling that 2023 is similar to 1912 or 1935, all over again.

I don't know exactly how it will happen, and I certainly hope it does not happen, but with China and Russia getting closer together, and Iran and Syria and Saudi Arabia getting closer together, and Russia and Iran and Turkey getting closer together...things aren't looking great for the United States/NATO/ANZUS.

I think there are two aspects to this:
1) A world war in which the nations do not go full nuclear: The US and NATO and Japan fight China and Russia and Iran...Turkey will have to decide where they stand...but no one goes nuclear.
2) A nuclear world war.

This thread is about option 1: a non-nuclear (or limited local nuclear, e.g., in Ukraine) world war, with combat theaters in Eastern Europe, China Sea, etc.

I know what I must do to prepare for the nuclear holocaust...the only question is whether I do it. But, I'm thinking of the more limited scenario, in which my home in US flyover country is not directly targeted, but the world balance of power shifts to China generally after the US depletes its resources against China.

I haven't thought it all through, but I'm thinking there are two, maybe three major areas to prep:
1) Financial disruption.
2) Supply chain disruption.
3) Remote relocation.

1) Financial Disruption. It is hard to predict what the financial upheaval will be. What steps do you take to protect your wealth? Pull some of your cash out now (e.g., a 6 month supply)? Pull more out later if things escalate? There is a value to haveing cash on hand...especially if banks close. A world war will last longer than any reasonable period you could have cash for. Maybe convert some cash to gold to preserve cross-border value? But there is a transaction cost when converting wealth from dollars to gold and then back to dollars. Maybe silver is better, which is more usable maybe??? Not sure what else there is to do, except do the old "gain marketable skills" thing.

2) Supply chain shortages: I will ignore shortages for electronics for consumer goods (the military need will take them all). I would plan on doing without electronics. But, I would think pharmaceuticals will be a need I might not be able to do without. Perhaps a trip to the drug store to get what you can, and an order for fish antibiotics?

3) Remote location: I'm still working on that.
 
Yes - a global war is much more likely now than "normal".

But so are a bunch of other failure modes associated with the apparent decline of the US and many of the Western nations aligned to the US.

Apart from NBC preps, the other key preps are not very much different regardless of how things collapse.

The current situation is mostly insufficient to justify scenario prepping.

Just prepare for very severe long term crises and you will be as prepared as you can be.

........but most people are not committed enough to do that......some think they are prepared for very severe crises but have underestimated how bad such a thing will be.
 
........but most people are not committed enough to do that......some think they are prepared for very severe crises but have underestimated how bad such a thing will be.
"AND" if you miss even one or two small areas, it will make for substantial sucky'ness. Little thing like double redundant can openers. Yes, you can use a sharp rock, butcher knife, etc.. But those little hardships will add up. Actually living it is the best teacher, even if for just a whole week.
 
I haven't thought it all through, but I'm thinking there are two, maybe three major areas to prep:
1) Financial disruption.
2) Supply chain disruption.
3) Remote relocation.
I think that financial disruption is coming, one way or another. With the recent bank problems, I think we're going to be seeing much more of that. I have read that some of the banks are going to close on a Friday, and maybe never open on the following Monday, or open with very little access to our own funds. So every Friday can be a day to top off things we shop for more frequently.

Some of these ideas are minor in the potential big picture, but as people who have been stockpiling basic foods and other supplies, sometimes we get busy (I do) and miss the following ideas.

I have been thinking about just the lack of access to funds. Many of us have been working on stocking up on food and other supplies, and preparing in other ways. I was just thinking that in addition to my gasoline storage, I should fill up my gas tank and any empty gas jugs every Friday, so at least I go into the weekend with this piece in order. Yes, that is just a small thing, but better than a lower tank.

The other thing that I have done for quite a while is to not grocery shop on the weekend, but to have milk, cream, and other fresh foods that will get me through at least the following week. I am often much more stocked on fresh foods than that, but I use Fridays to make go through and stock up more.
 
1) Financial Disruption. It is hard to predict what the financial upheaval will be. What steps do you take to protect your wealth? Pull some of your cash out now (e.g., a 6 month supply)? Pull more out later if things escalate? There is a value to haveing cash on hand...especially if banks close. A world war will last longer than any reasonable period you could have cash for. Maybe convert some cash to gold to preserve cross-border value? But there is a transaction cost when converting wealth from dollars to gold and then back to dollars. Maybe silver is better, which is more usable maybe??? Not sure what else there is to do, except do the old "gain marketable skills" thing.
Most financial advisers recommend 6 months worth of cash, for ALL your expenses. I follow the ones that recommend 8 months, as a minimum. If you can. If possible, another 8 months of silver.

I just paid my electricity and trash pickup, for one year ahead. At the six month mark I'll pay another six months so as to keep between six months and a year on the books. That money is out of a questionable bank, they all are, and into those places where it needs to go.
 
I think that financial disruption is coming, one way or another. With the recent bank problems, I think we're going to be seeing much more of that. I have read that some of the banks are going to close on a Friday, and maybe never open on the following Monday, or open with very little access to our own funds. So every Friday can be a day to top off things we shop for more frequently.

Some of these ideas are minor in the potential big picture, but as people who have been stockpiling basic foods and other supplies, sometimes we get busy (I do) and miss the following ideas.

I have been thinking about just the lack of access to funds. Many of us have been working on stocking up on food and other supplies, and preparing in other ways. I was just thinking that in addition to my gasoline storage, I should fill up my gas tank and any empty gas jugs every Friday, so at least I go into the weekend with this piece in order. Yes, that is just a small thing, but better than a lower tank.

The other thing that I have done for quite a while is to not grocery shop on the weekend, but to have milk, cream, and other fresh foods that will get me through at least the following week. I am often much more stocked on fresh foods than that, but I use Fridays to make go through and stock up more.
Bank holidays have traditionally started on a Friday afternoon. This gives a couple of days for the panic to wear off till regular business on Monday.
 
I am not as worried about war - traditional at least - as I am about a collapse of society. Why would an enemy want to send bombs our way when they could reduce our military to whimpering gelatinous blobs simply by shouting incorrect pronouns over bullhorns? Any "war" will be a digital one. Disrupt financial transactions. Disrupt the distribution of entitlements. Disrupt social media. Our current world would stop dead in its tracks.

Our politicians have proven themselves incapable of handling the most basic of functions. Covid hits, people get sick. What does the government do? Increase entitlements and tell people they don't have to pay rent anymore. Which causes the landlords to go bankrupt, so eventually the government says the people might have to start paying rent again. But the people can't, because they quit their jobs because the government had been handing out free money. So the government spends trillions of dollars we don't have and call it "stimulus". Which causes massive inflation. So the government raises interest rates to combat that. Which in turn makes banks fail. Which causes more panic amongst the people so they start withdrawing their money from banks, which causes more banks fail. We will sink ourselves with only the slightest nudge. We have totally incompetent politicians running the show. Additionally, some believe that our government and politicians are trying to kill off the people either with covid, or with the vaccines for covid. I maintain that our politicians are too damn stupid to pull off something like that.

How does one prepare for this? The last time the people tried to "save themselves", all's they ended up doing was hoarding toilet paper. Some people will take the individual survivalist path. This may work for a short while, but my personal opinion is that our world has become too complex, and too crowded, for individual survival to be a viable option. I hope I am wrong, but my gut is telling me that the entire world is living on the edge and any perturbation of significance is going to doom us all - both the clueless and the survivalists. This is why I personally only prep for a few months, with an expected return to near-normal projected. If we really go down as hard as the doomsayers are saying, it will indeed be doom. For all of us. Prepped or not.

So, for example, I am prepping my finances to survive - and maybe even make money - during a market crash, with recovery in the future. I am not prepping my finances to survive the total destruction of banking and investments. Others may be attempting this, but I am not.
 
I believe we are in the middle of world war 3.

War has changed over the years. Cavemen beat each other with rocks, then bones (Or maybe bones then rocks?). Then pointy sticks, then sharp rocks on sticks. Knives came in, then swords then guns, then cannons, then rockets, then drones! We are at the stage in our ‘advanced civilization’ where none of those are needed now. Like beating each other with clubs, or buggy whips, we have advanced.

The war now is information. Control of information is control of a people. Control what information people get, you control the narrative, you control them. No need to even fire a shot anymore!

Look at what happened right here at home, in the US. The enemy took control over MSM and what ‘news’ the population gets. They censored social media so no opposing views are heard, they have censored speech so only the preferred narrative is heard. The enemy has infiltrated all news media with BOTS and enemy voices to shout the preferred narrative and shout down the truth. They have turned brother against brother, both believing they are right!

Is it working? You betcha it is! Take a look at the discussions we have here. The enemy has spread so much bad information (hidden the truth) that no one can site a verifiable source. No one really knows which is right and which is wrong. Sure, we all feel WE KNOW what is right and wrong, but is it? If anything but first hand, with your own eyes sources are used, can they be trusted? And using those first hand, our own eyes can only view a small part of the world. You have to trust what you hear about something you cannot see. Right? A lot of bias comes into that. Your own bias. They have successfully hidden the truth.

So, back OT: Preparing for War.

If you have survived thus far, you are doing well. If you have not changed your ‘gender’ or made up ‘pronouns’ for yourself, if you do not believe what the MSM spews (think BLM/White man bad), you are ahead of the curve and a survivor. Think of how many have not made it this far. Sad, really sad, isn’t it?

How to prepare? You and yours will have to survive on your own. The enemy controls all news, food, water, clothing, goods, ‘money’, services… Think about it. Anything you get, has to be Ok’d by TPTB. If you have to leave your home to get it, someone else had to put it there so you COULD go and get it. They put it there, they can just as easily NOT put it there.

Look at the TP thing. A minor scare in the population, but shows what I am talking about. TPTB say be good or no TP. IF you are bad, they simply take away TP. Same with food, electricity, and anything else. Think Digital Currency and social scores. Think all that is not in their future plans for us? Think again.

To prepare for this war, you have to prepare to survive on your own, or in your own group. Shut out their news propaganda. IF they cannot broadcast it to you, they cannot influence the way you think or your world views. The more you need, that you can stock up on, the better. Did you have to panic buy TP or did you just look around and say “I have that covered’? Be it stored TP, reusable cloth squares or corn cobs, you were not worried about them taking TP away.
 
Just prepare for very severe long term crises and you will be as prepared as you can be.

I agree completely. I really don't know what I would do any differently to prepare for "war". What kind of war? Nuclear war? Traditional land war with invading troops? An Air war where areas are carpet bombed? I am far enough from any coast that a Naval war wouldn't affect me unlees it was an invading force that came up the inland waterways.

If you continue to increase your food, water, security, and eliminate as much debt as possible you will be far better off than most people.
 
Bank holidays have traditionally started on a Friday afternoon. This gives a couple of days for the panic to wear off till regular business on Monday.
Yes, I have read that several times. Friday is the cut-off. I get their way of thinking, and I work with that in my shopping on Fridays. I did that on the last day of February, 2020, and the very next day, Saturday, one of the Costco's that I shop at exploded (imploded?) with people almost emptying the store. It was the end of the week (payday for some), end of the month (payday for some), the weekend, and I believe that people were tuned into what was potentially getting ready to happen.
 
If you continue to increase your food, water, security, and eliminate as much debt as possible you will be far better off than most people.
While I agree with your post. The last little bit absolutely makes me crazy. Seems that is the foundation of current prepping.
 
Sounds like people are thinking the way I am thinking. I was hoping for some new gems...but I think we are all pretty much on the same page.

For now:
  • I really am going to try to have 6 (or 8, per Caribou) months of necessary cash. (And, I will encourage my family to do so.
    • One sibling thinks like me, but is way behind me when it comes to action, but might do it.
    • Another sibling would probably think 6 months of cash (even one month of cash) would be absolutely insane, so I'm not sure I will even suggest it.
  • Then maybe I will confirm 6 months of silver, and then maybe 6 months of gold.
  • And replenish my antibiotics (last time I bought them was probably 10 years ago, so not sure if they are still viable).
Not sure what else there is to do, except the other material needs: water, sanitation, food...but I was doing that already.
 
While I agree with your post. The last little bit absolutely makes me crazy. Seems that is the foundation of current prepping.
I don't understand the post. Every can of beans, every bag of rice, means you get to live longer. Zero debt means you get to keep your car and house. The more you have the longer and the better you live. Skills like gardening help to extend your life.
 
I don't understand the post. Every can of beans, every bag of rice, means you get to live longer. Zero debt means you get to keep your car and house. The more you have the longer and the better you live. Skills like gardening help to extend your life.
Yes, and for many things in life that seems a noble goal. But for "survival" it seems a foolish goal to me. I feel the goal should be to prepare not to do better then others, but to be a survivor. I also think it is a lazy and foolish way for preppers to gage their prepping.
 
Last edited:
Yes, and for many things in life that seems a noble goal. But for "survival" it seems a foolish goal to me. I feel the goal should be to prepare not to do better then others, but to be a survivor. I also think it is a lazy and foolish way for preppers to gage their prepping.
Agreed.

This idea that you just need to be better prepared than completely unprepared people has always seemed like a cop out to me - it makes it more likely that people can be prepping for years without getting adequately prepared.

It is one of very many cop outs I see posted on survival forums.

Normal people (defined by their strong normalcy bias) are a poor benchmark for preparedness.

Most of us here agree that, when a very severe crisis comes along, the normal people will mostly die off. Why would anyone be satisfied with lasting a few months longer than them?
 
While I agree with your post. The last little bit absolutely makes me crazy. Seems that is the foundation of current prepping.

I prefer to think of it as a starting point, not a foundation. If we can get others started on the correct path it will be one less person or group that will have to be taken care of, and maybe one less person or group that will be a threat to you.
 
The part about being way ahead of the others around you (in a city, suburbia, etc) is scary. You will have preps and they will be standing around with starving familys.....not a good recipie.
Location, location, location.
How about this coming monday for more bank closures?
 
I prefer to think of it as a starting point, not a foundation. If we can get others started on the correct path it will be one less person or group that will have to be taken care of, and maybe one less person or group that will be a threat to you.
I "DON'T" have any problem with that. (Side note for members here, Morgan 101 and I go way back in prepping forums) My issue with that is that the broad prepping community was seduced by "The for-Profit Industry" in the 1980's. This forum is clearly the exception from those herding prepping down a fatal trap.

The "PURE" prepping only forums are obsessed with profit by seducing preppers into "whatever you are doing is GOOD ENOUGH, KEEP DOING it". And that everyone's situation is special and unique. They (The pure Prepping Forums) what to keep seducing and stringing along preppers, because that is what their advertisers demand.

I have written extensively about how prepping is currently corrupted, flawed, and dangerous.
 
I have written extensively about how prepping is currently corrupted, flawed, and dangerous.

I will second that opinion. :thumbs: Ever since the Mayan Prophesy of 2012 came to the forefront "Prepping" has turned into a cottage industry. There are way to many self-proclaimed experts that are giving bad advice and peddling inferior products. They are misleading people, and that is very dangerous.
 
Back
Top