Letter Re: Some Ground Truth--The "Us" and the "Them" in a Societal Collapse
Tuesday, Nov 3, 2009
Mr. Rawles, I am a retired Army warrant officer working for the Army teaching Electronic Warfare and Signal Intelligence. I only started reading your blog last week. It's addictive, but slightly disturbing.Click anywhere above. Read the whole letter!
Interesting and informative. One interesting area ignored in the letter is that those of us that live in farm country already work together to keep predators at bey. He seems to concentrate on more urban/suburban communities, thinking like a government type and completely disregarding the actual food producing areas of the country. The idea that enough food can't be produced without government is a modern socialist myth. Small farms, 100 acres and less, can and do produce prodigious amounts of food stuff year after year, and would grow in number and amount produced in a collapse situation. Hell, out here everyone has the ability to produce enough for three families without even trying. Multiply that by the number of small scale operations already in existence and add to that the self-reliant group who keep it small right now, and I think there will be a lot available. Getting it to a market will be an additional challenge, but not impossible. The transportation and protection will be a mutual endeavor giving a lot more available fire power to the civilized group over the brigands. It won't be easy but it will be possible.
ReplyDeleteCruachan!
Highlander
Having lived in many different states in this great country, I can see truths in both the original letter, and your comment. For instance, growing up in a farming community in Michigan, where the average land owner had 30 acres or so, it was fairly easy to feed your family with the product of your own hard work. But in other areas, that are more urban and suburban, where houses are packed together on smaller lots, its not really practical. You can add to your food consumption with a small backyard garden, and some rabbits or chickens, but if the proverbial fecal matter contacts the rotational atmospheric directional device, there is no way your neighbors are going to let you eat while they starve!
ReplyDeleteIn effect, you will be no better off than anyone else, and you along with the moochers, thieves, and just plain unprepared will all soon be without any food at all.
Take into consideration the mass exodus of any major city. Lets say maybe one in 100 make it out of the confines of that now defunct rat trap. Given the poor health of most of our nation, say they can only cover 10 miles a day, tops. That's still over 3,700 people in the in the lowest ranked of the top 50 cities, (Arlington TX) to 83,000 from the heaviest populated city, (New York, NY). All headed to the open land where the small farms are.
In a month, these refugees, (read that moochers, marauders, thieves, and murderers) can travel THREE HUNDRED MILES. And like a plague of locusts, will be devouring everything in their path!
Who among all of us preppers lives outside of a 300 mile radius of at LEAST one major city?
I advocate being prepared to feed your family in ANY situation, but its equally important to defend that family. And you can't garden and keep lookout at the same time.
Its going to be ugly however it happens.