How long would it take society to break down?

[CThunder-blue]

I've just read about the recent power outage down south and in one article, a person being interviewed commented that we're still not ready to handle a catastrophe. It took him 3 hours to drive 17 miles. Along the way, he saw abandoned cars that had run out of gas. People had lined up at the gas stations even though the pumps can't run without power.

Logic would dictate that anything that runs off power isn't going to work, but panic sets in pretty fast and early when the lights go out. If we were to experience another terrorist attack that attacked the major utilities stations (power, gas, water) and they got shut down without any idea of when they may come back online, how long do you think it would take for people to start seeing anyone & everyone as a potential threat? With the current cuts in the Police and Fire departments, emergency crews aren't going to be enough in the major metropolitan areas to keep the peace. I can't imagine it would take long for people to begin looting grocery stores for food and water.

How would you handle the situation? Would you be one of the looters?

[GeorgiaHooligan]

If my kid's were straving, hell yeah I would loot food! It's going to happen bro, the question is when.

[reaubideux]

If the public knew that utilities/resources wouldn't be returned for the foreseeable future, it would probably be a matter of days, perhaps a couple of weeks before chaos started taking over. If the public didn't know when utilities/resources would be restored then fear/optimism may keep a good portion of society in check for a little while longer. Without any form of reliable communications people would not know what's going on and what basic survival instincts they have would kick in, the first of which would probably be to horde food and water at any and all costs, second being to protect what's theirs by any means necessary. Those 2 things alone would cause chaos to erupt rather quickly.

I'd think Nat'l Guard would be dispatched rather quickly to the more densely populated areas to try and keep a modicum of order amongst the population, I'd imagine that the outlying areas of any major metropolitan area would be reliant solely on local LEOs which would really be rather pointless. There's no accounting for the backwoods areas. Although, the backwoods types presumably would fare better than the city dwellers who are more reliant on technology for their day-to-day "survival." I think it's another testament to our society's reliance on technology and as each generation passes our survival instincts will dissipate further, generally speaking, as you'll always have the true survivalists but in fewer numbers.

If I was faced with no utilities/resources for the foreseeable future I'd probably try and group together as many friends/family as possible and try and get a herd mentality going but would definitely do what I could to arm the herd. Like GeorgiaHooligan said though, I'd definitely be a looter if it was necessary, food/water, camping supplies, batteries and weapons would probably be the top things I'd go after.

[Cedilla]

When power was out for almost a week in North Alabama after the 4-27 tornado outbreak, some people were losing their damn minds. All the major roads out of the area were jam packed with people trying to get out and stalled vehicles out of gas lined the roads, and across the state line into Tennessee all the gas stations had tremendous lines, and the stores were out of all kinds of stuff. Most people, however spent a week relaxing and getting to know their neighbors. I rather enjoyed that week, I was super relaxed knowing all I could do was chill out, drink beer and grill some food. I'd highly recommend it for a vacation. lol

I think in the event that the whole country lost electricity for more than a couple weeks or so most people would lose their damn minds and society would start to break down. Rioting, looting, and a lot of death and destruction in general would happen, and it would take some time for society to return to normal.

The good news is that it's extremely unlikely that the whole country would lose power, the bad news is that if it did happen, it would take a loooooooong time to get the grid up and running again.

[CThunder-blue]

Originally Posted by Cedilla

The good news is that it's extremely unlikely that the whole country would lose power, the bad news is that if it did happen, it would take a loooooooong time to get the grid up and running again.

We never expected terrorists to hijack planes and ram them into the heart of trade in the US either, but it happened. I'm just sayin...

[FrugalNinja250]

On average there is only three days of food on store shelves. Figure a week or two into a national infrastructure outage and many will start killing each other to get food for themselves and their children. More importantly will be water. Most water systems now require electricity in some form or another to keep working. Figure maybe three days, could be more if there was enough warning for folks to stock up. Mormons have a good idea, their tenets require members to store up one full year of food.

Main thing will be to get as far away from dense population areas as possible, then wait a few months for the population crash to stabilize. Will be real ugly. See The Road, Book of Eli, for more realistic portrayals of major civilization collapse.

[DarC]

Learn how to survive without the system. Make a plan, use "innocent" trips to test your plan. I'm not a paranoid "the world is going to end" type but I do have a plan for major disasters and it is flexible to include zombies and or an apocalypse.

A small stockpile of food and h20 for immediate use is OK but the old saying "...teach a man to fish..." goes a long ways. SHTF? I'm heading for the mountains, one tank of gas away, with one in reserve. Tools are more important than food. Water is everywhere, bring sterilizer, buy a few reference books and learn what nature provides for free. Put Bear Grylls in the back of your mind far away from real survival instincts.

Did I mention that I hope you have firepower?

[almost40]

All you have to do is boil then filter water (thru your shirt if needs be) and it safe to drink. So water isnt a concern. Food isnt a problem. Unless you have not, or cant hunt. Buy some MRE's
The most valuable thing will be Guns and ammo.
So head for the wilderness and bunker up.
Find a good spot with fresh water and limited access.
The biggest killer will be the weather and whatever virus pops up due to millions of rotting corpses.

Learn to make fire.
These are great
http://www.campingsurvival.com/aufistflstan.html
Get some range time if you have a firearm.
If you dont......your screwed.
Ditch the handguns.....Get a good rifle and learn how to use it....... at long range.
.223 and a .308 with a good high power scope. 5000 rounds for the .223 and 1000 for the .308 and your good.
Having a .22 with 5000-10000 rounds wouldnt be a bad idea either.
Dont forget your bow and plenty of arrows. (why waste ammo to eat if you dont have too)
Oh yeah a good knife and an ax and something to sharpen them with.
Hard to field dress a deer or cut down trees for shelter and or fire with out them.
A spool of fishing line and lots of hooks wouldn't hurt.

Dont have any of this stuff???
your screwed already.

Dont come looking for me.....My .308 is accurate at 700+ yards out and my .223 is good from 500 yards in.
At the point of a total breakdown....Ill shoot first and ask questions later.

[kyrider]

Shotgun

Long guns

Ammo

Canned Goods.

Seeds.

Wood Stove.

Tools

Saw and Axe

Salt

If you have the space a chicken coupe.

Good dogs.

Hand Crank light/radio

Well stocked first aid cabinet.

I am speaking from a rural perspective.

[massacremasses]

Id go to my dads. or to his ranch. Cows. running ditch, pond, guns trucks,ATVs, generator, gas.... etc.

[FrugalNinja250]

So, for the guns and cache of food crowd, if a young woman shows up at your place of shelter with three children in tow and begging for food and water, would you share your resources? Or keep them at bay and watch them starve at your gate? Shoot them out of mercy? If you take one, and another shows up, what then?

[massacremasses]

Originally Posted by CThunder-blue

I've just read about the recent power outage down south and in one article, a person being interviewed commented that we're still not ready to handle a catastrophe. It took him 3 hours to drive 17 miles. Along the way, he saw abandoned cars that had run out of gas. People had lined up at the gas stations even though the pumps can't run without power.

Logic would dictate that anything that runs off power isn't going to work, but panic sets in pretty fast and early when the lights go out. If we were to experience another terrorist attack that attacked the major utilities stations (power, gas, water) and they got shut down without any idea of when they may come back online, how long do you think it would take for people to start seeing anyone & everyone as a potential threat? With the current cuts in the Police and Fire departments, emergency crews aren't going to be enough in the major metropolitan areas to keep the peace. I can't imagine it would take long for people to begin looting grocery stores for food and water.

How would you handle the situation? Would you be one of the looters?

OT but I just realized I know you....

That is all MUAHAHAHAHA

































JK massacremasses from norcal 3S I took your advice and got a 250R Tri .Ill try and keep Tey away from here... ok NOW that is all.

[CThunder-blue]

Haha. Awesome. I'm sure you'll enjoy it!


Some of you aren't reading the first post. I'm not asking how to survive. Just how long you think it would take for a society to meltdown?

[almost40]

Originally Posted by CThunder-blue

Haha. Awesome. I'm sure you'll enjoy it!


Some of you aren't reading the first post. I'm not asking how to survive. Just how long you think it would take for a society to meltdown?

Some of us dont think its a question of how long....but when and for what reason?
Power failure, pandemic, invasion, terrorist attack, earthquake, asteroid, who knows???
History shows in some cases as little as 24 hours depending on neighborhood.

Off to close out nuisance goose season.
Shoot em in the face boys.
52 days until duck season opens.

[massacremasses]

Thanks dude


and honestly I think we need a more specific scenario... Like what is destroyed, what is left, and what are the areas affected? Is it ww3? can we try to get out of the country?

If everything is affected and every country affected, I think it would break down in scary short time. By a year or two some sort of tribal system would be set up though guaranteed.

[DarC]

The whole US in blackout? I say a week before it gets not so good, a month and its all over.


Timelines shouldn't matter if you, like me, carry a Tomahawk.

[kyrider]

Originally Posted by almost40

Off to close out nuisance goose season.
Shoot em in the face boys.
52 days until duck season opens.

What kind of calls you use?

I used to sell a few calls for a guy up in Illinois named Rick Perry. Winglock calls. Great guy!

[ninja250]

Originally Posted by CThunder-blue

How would you handle the situation? Would you be one of the looters?

I have a place to go where the fish stock themselves and the water flows year round. When all goes to hell, the motorcycles and I and anyone who wants to come can follow and live like kings off the river out of harms way!
You know, when North Korea finally blows up Los Angeles as a precursor to a Chinese invasion.

I'll be the first person away from the drama instead of running to K-mart to steal the useless video games when the power goes out. (genius!)

I have no reason to loot or be part of the people who need something for free.
I'm one of the last honest people who might return your wallet when you lose it.
I wouldn't want to be part of the shootings and violence that always come with the looting.
Not worth it.

[ninja250]

but when

Correct.

Every super power has failed.
It's only a mater of time.
Something will go down here sooner or later.
Hopefully not in my waking lifetime.. but more than likely so.

[Mocha Man]

Meh, I'd just turn into a cannibal.

[almost40]

Originally Posted by kyrider

What kind of calls you use?

I used to sell a few calls for a guy up in Illinois named Rick Perry. Winglock calls. Great guy!

Faulks duck call
DJ Illinois river valley goose call

One of my buddies has a winglock duck call. They sound good

BTW the 3 of us limited out with 15 honkers. 4 of them were wearing jewlery.
Nothing like being in the only picked cornfield on the other side of the river from the waterfowl rest area. Like fish in a barrel.
At one point we had 20 live bird standing in our decoys before we started shooting at the birds trying to land. It was awesome.
Wish we could go again in the morning. There are way way way to many local birds here.

[kyrider]

Originally Posted by almost40

Faulks duck call
DJ Illinois river valley goose call

One of my buddies has a winglock duck call. They sound good

BTW the 3 of us limited out with 15 honkers. 4 of them were wearing jewlery.
Nothing like being in the only picked cornfield on the other side of the river from the waterfowl rest area. Like fish in a barrel.
At one point we had 20 live bird standing in our decoys before we started shooting at the birds trying to land. It was awesome.
Wish we could go again in the morning. There are way way way to many local birds here.

You lucky dawg!

I lost my killer early season pond when a friend went through a divorce. Hunting the river here has come to a stand still since work on the dam. Used to have great late seasons till the snow stopped. Here in central KY if Ohio does not get good snow cover the ducks just don't migrate down. Try to get a hunt or two over in west TN. Trying to get some guys together for a hunt on Reel Foot this winter. Love going to Stuttgart for the season kickoff but have not been in a long time. I could ramble on about waterfowlin.

Have you been to - http://www.duckhunter.net/