Reply #36: 6 months... 4 weeks... 1 week... [View All]

[ITsec]

It's what each individual or family is comfortable with, and their individual situation. The 3 day recommendation by our government just plain isn't adequate. Perhaps the 6 months I mentioned was borderline sarcastic, but yet has some truth to it.

I can't speak for anyone except myself and my family, but I don't plan on waiting for our Busch League government to help "save me" if some unforseen local / regional / national catastrophe strikes. As evidenced by recent disasters elsewhere, they won't. I'm on my own, and as such I have to plan accordingly.

I live in an area here in Bumphuque, South Dakota, where a few years ago we were without electricity for over 10 days because of an ice storm / blizzard. I live in the country, not in town. Fortunately, we have a small generator that kept our freezer / fridge and furnace running a couple hours at a time, and several gas cans in the shed to keep that running. We were able to have a few of the nearby neighbors over who weren't so prepared so they could keep warm and eat. We dug ourselves out, helped each other cope, and we all were thankful we had the support of each other. That's what it's all about. Even if we had heat and lights at work, we could still come home to something that resembled sanity, instead of living in some motel and eating at Taco Bell.

Not to sound tin foil hat-ish, but what would happen in the event of some staged or real catastrophic crisis, perhaps in multiple areas of the country? What if our current regime declared national martial law as a result... or the financial system totally crashed? What if after 3 days Safeway and Wally World were out of food?

What then? Wait for FEMA? The National Guard? Shrub to ride in on Marine One and bring me a Big Mac, just because he cares so much? Right.

Sorry, I'm not waiting for help. That's why I prepare for the worst. If I don't ever need it, oh well. But if I do....