Normal People Preparing for TEOTWAWKI – Safety, Security, and Bugging Out

Making our home into one where we can function without what we think of as comforts isn’t an easy task.  Making Your Home Your Castle and providing for your family in a difficult situation is hard, but doable.  This week’s article flows perfectly out of that.  What do you do to keep that “Castle” safe from the harsh world around you?  How do you provide for security for your family?  And what are the consequences if you can’t? All of those are questions we’re going to tackle today.

Safety

Consider what items you are going to have on hand to keep yourself safe.

Bow and Arrows

I feel like we oftentimes discount a bow and arrows for full-fledged firearms.  I do believe that firearms are necessary, but I think that there are plenty of things that we can still use a bow and arrow for.  It offers more of a sense of stealth if you don’t want to clue someone in that you are there. It is something that you should take into consideration.

Firearms

Now is the time to be considering which firearms you are going to use and/or purchase between now and then.  Have a plan to purchase them and the ammo for them.  Have a plan to practice using them!  If you want an AR (assuming Beto doesn’t become president) do you know of a place that you can practice firing it?  You need to consider it before you buy one.  Know how to clean each of your firearms.  Take a class if you need to.  Even our local community college has classes in how to clean your firearm.

Smoke bombs

You may laugh, but one of the science experiments that my kids did for science two years ago was making a smoke bomb!  And in a TEOTWAWKI situation, that could come in extra handy!!

Homemade explosives

My oldest daughter LOVES both science and math – and even though she’s graduated, she is continuing to study both on her own time.  According to her, making homemade explosives to protect yourself during TEOTWAWKI is not outside of most people’s reach.  It’s something that you might want to study up on and consider.

Security 

I’ve written on the difference between SHTF security and everyday security and several of those items are pertinent here.

Security means that you blend in

Take a look at the houses around you.  What do they look like?  Are there broken windows?  Do the yards look like they haven’t been touched in a long time?  Whatever is ‘normal’ looking for your street at the time, your yard and house should look the same.  Your first line of defense is to blend in.

Security means that you don’t advertise that someone is living there

You don’t want people seeing lights, hearing sounds, or smelling delicious food!  Go outside your house.  Take a look around.  What do you see that looks normal now, but would clue someone in that there is something worth protecting during difficult times.  Do you have motion sensor lights?  How about security cameras?   Both of those broadcast the fact that you’ve got stuff you don’t want people to steal.  Guess what?  It’s human nature.  You have stuff – other people don’t.  They’ll want to take yours.  On the other hand, if your house looks deserted, there’s no reason why people will have to come to check it out.

Don’t let other people see what you’re doing, but watch for other people

You don’t want to engage in activities that other people can see.  Don’t go out gardening if other people can look into your yard (I am so thankful for our privacy fence!).  Don’t hang dry your clothes outside if people can see them.  Avoid being seen outside.  This is a great time to go back to the article on guerilla gardening.  It’s all about creating a garden that doesn’t look like a garden.  It’s a great way to grow food so that no one knows what you’re doing.  It creates security.  The idea is not to show yourself.

So besides not showing yourself, the opposite is also true.  You should always have someone on guard – preferably in several spots.  This is where having a survival group comes in really handy.  You can ban together with your neighbors for the security of your entire neighborhood.  Different people can be assigned to different locations at different times for the good of your entire neighborhood.  The further out the perimeter is from your house and the houses of the other people that you’ve brought into your group, the better off everyone will be.  If trouble is on the way and you can’t defend yourselves, it gives you more time to get out just in case.

Start thinking through now, how you would go about protecting your neighborhood, where you could block it off, and where you could place lookouts.  Think about where you can see you out, but people wouldn’t be able to see in.  Where can you see the furthest?  Where can you station a look-out to give your people the most notice if more danger is coming than you can handle as a group?

Then that brings us full circle to when you have more trouble than you can take care of as a group.  What do you do?

….You Bug Out 

Yes!  There is a time for bugging during TEOTWAWKI, but it isn’t upfront.  The only way that you should be bugging out is if you can’t (fairly safely) stay put!  But there MAY come a time that you may have to bug out.  What do you do when you have to leave?

Have a plan!

To where are you going to bug out?  Please, start planning NOW.

• Find 2-4 places that are possibilities for you to go.  Look in different directions.  If you know that a group of marauders is coming from the east, then you may want to go north or south from where you are.
• Get permission from each of the people that you want to stay with.  Make sure that you get permission for as many people as you plan to bring.  If you think that you’re going to end up taking in your in-laws, your parents, your cousins…..get permission for them to come with you NOW.
• Have a way to communicate with the places that you might be going.  Do you have a ham radio and know how to operate it?  Is your antenna large enough to reach repeaters so that you can communicate with the people in the places that you plan on going?  You don’t want to show up to find out that the people in these places had to leave before you got there and everything is gone.  Or worse yet, you walk into an ambush because you couldn’t get in touch with the people beforehand.

How are you going to get there?

• Make sure everyone going (if there are multiple cars) knows the route you are going and where to meet if you get separated.
• Take into consideration obstacles along the way.  Will you have to drive across bridges that could be destroyed or closed?  Will you need to drive near a nuclear power plant that could be giving off radiation.  Do you know where the nuclear power plants are?  If not this map will show you where they are.  I was flabbergasted to find out that my state has more than any other state out there!! UGH!  You don’t want to have to drive through radiation on your way to bug out.
• How much gas will you need to get there?!? Can you do it on one tank?  If not, how will you stockpile enough gas to get EVERYONE who needs to go there – especially if it will take more than one car?

What are you going to do to provide for yourself when you get there?

• What will you bring with you?  Will you already have items at the location?  While there is a great benefit to splitting your stockpile (at least a little), there is also a great risk.  How are you going to handle it if the people with which you plan to stay don’t stockpile enough and use yours?  What if they get raided?  What if they take in more people than they thought before you get there and they need to dip into your food?
• Have a Bug Out Bag ready to go, but remember if you have a vehicle (or two) full of family, you won’t be able to take too much with you!  And if something happens on the road and you have to walk, you don’t want to carry a bunch of heavy things.
• If you have to bug out, always make sure that you are wearing your most sturdy and most comfortable pairs of shoes.  These two things should intersect.  If you don’t have a sturdy/comfortable pair of shoes now, start trying different ones out, so you can find the perfect one if you need it.

Are you going together in a group or is everyone in your group going to go a different direction?

• If you have put together a survival group, are you all going together?  Or will everyone go in a different direction if you need to leave?
• So, you may have already gotten permission from your bug out location for Mom, in-laws, random cousin, etc, but is everyone from your survival group (neighbors etc) going together?  Did you get permission from your bug out locations to bring that big of a group of people?

Emotional Impact of Bugging Out

When I get to this place thinking through bugging out and TEOTWAWKI, I think of the scene in The Walking Dead (just as a disclaimer – I watch it using VidAngel – there are elements to the show that I don’t care to watch) where there is an emergency and everyone loads up together in buses, cars, and a motorcycle at the prison to leave together.  That one scene has such an emotional impact.  I don’t know about you, but I felt like the group was ‘safe’ there and now they are back to insecurity.  It’s was a huge emotional blow to me as a viewer.

Now take that and multiply it by a million.  That’s how it’s going to feel if you have to leave your home during TEOTWAWKI.  You will probably never go back.  You will probably never feel quite as secure again!  Your kids will really feel the struggle in their hearts.  These are all things to think about and prepare for NOW.

What About You?

How have you looked at safety, security, and the possibility of bugging out during TEOTWAWKI?  What in the article has surprised you?  How do you feel you could better prepare yourself after reading this article?  Please share with us below in the comments so that we can all be better prepared.

Together let’s Love, Learn, Practice, and Overcome

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