The Preppers Lament (12 page)

If you do not have time to gather brush for a brush raft, you can make an Australian poncho raft. This raft, although more waterproof than the poncho brush raft, will only float about 35 kilograms of equipment. To construct this raft, use two ponchos, two rucksacks, two 1.2-meter poles or branches, and ropes, vines, bootlaces, or comparable material as follows (
Figure 17-5):

•                  
  Push the hood of each poncho to the inner side and tightly tie off the necks using the drawstrings.
  
•                  
  Spread one poncho on the ground with the inner side up. Place and center the two 1.2-meter poles on the poncho about 45 centimeters apart.
  
•                  
  Place your rucksacks or packs or other equipment between the poles. Also place other items that you want to keep dry between the poles. Snap the poncho sides together.
  
•                  
  Use your buddy's help to complete the raft. Hold the snapped portion of the poncho in the air and roll it tightly down to the equipment. Make sure you roll the full width of the poncho.
  
•                  
  Twist the ends of the roll to form pigtails in opposite directions. Fold the pigtails over the bundle and tie them securely in place using ropes, bootlaces, or vines.
  
•                  
  Spread the second poncho on the ground, inner side up. If you need more buoyancy, place some fresh green brush on this poncho.
  
•                  
  Place the equipment bundle, tied side down, on the center of the second poncho. Wrap the second poncho around the equipment bundle following the same procedure you used for wrapping the equipment in the first poncho.
  
•                  
  Tie ropes, bootlaces, vines, or other binding material around the raft about 30 centimeters from the end of each pigtail. Place and secure weapons on top of the raft.
  
•                  
  Tie one end of a rope to an empty canteen and the other end to the raft. This will help you to tow the raft.
  

Another type of raft is the poncho donut raft. It takes more time to construct than the brush raft or Australian poncho raft, but it is effective. To construct it, use one poncho, small saplings, willow or vines, and rope, bootlaces, or other binding material (Figure 17-6) as follows:

•                  
  Make a framework circle by placing several stakes in the ground that roughly outline an inner and outer circle.
  
•                  
  Using young saplings, willow, or vines, construct a donut ring within the circles of stakes.
  
•                  
  Wrap several pieces of cordage around the donut ring about 30 to 60 centimeters apart and tie them securely.
  
•                  
  Push the poncho's hood to the inner side and tightly tie off the neck using the drawstring.
  
•                  
  Place the poncho on the ground, inner side up. Place the donut ring on the center of the poncho. Wrap the poncho up and over the donut ring and tie off each grommet on the poncho to the ring.
  
•                  
  Tie one end of a rope to an empty canteen and the other end to the raft. This rope will help you to tow the raft.
  

When launching any of the above rafts, take care not to puncture or tear it by dragging it on the ground. Before you start to cross the river or stream, let the raft lay on the water a few minutes to ensure that it floats.

If the river is too deep to ford, push the raft in front of you while you are swimming. The design of the above rafts does not allow them to carry a person's full body weight. Use them as a float to get you and your equipment safely across the river or strea
m
.

4

Regrets

David and Julie lay in the bed exhausted before attempting a fitful sleep for the night, listening to the dark outside the curtain shrouded window and talking softly to each other as they wound the day down... David had his normal fire duty of tending the woodstove and would have to wake up every three or four hours to go and tend it. David stayed watchful and alert for any would be visitors during the day light and dusk hours but night time was pretty normal and security lax other than observing light discipline.

No lights leaked out his blanket or otherwise shrouded windows to draw attention to prepper shack. He didn’t even want to contemplate what he was going to be doing about light discipline come the heat of an Alabama hot summer when windows needed to be open to catch a breeze.

The radio said it was chaos in some areas, mayhem in others and lots of unchecked raging fires in the bigger cities, but it did not relate or generally describe the criminal mayhem one would expect under such conditions. States and cities had declared their own states of emergency and curfews long before that crazy president started wielding his emergency powers to try and control just about everything.

The Board of State Governors had lost their direct controls of their state National Guard units in times of emergency such as this by an executive order long ago. It used to be a Governor could lend troops to a neighboring state or to the Federal Government at his or her discretion. The government usurped these states powers and had federalized the National Guard under the direct command of the President the same as the rest of the military as Commander and Chief long ago.

Oh everybody bitched about it in academia and all 50 states governors voted against it but with the so called war on terror going on it was a moot point. The law was passed and that was that, without even any media fanfare to announce the loss of rights.

Some states wrote into law their own interpretation of emergency powers to block the government from interfering in state affairs and these state laws were being tested now with varying results from the more patriotic or belligerent governors.

The Fed kind of had the upper hand and advantage in breaking down the sovereignty or resolve of the states by threatening to withhold emergency aid and FEMA supplies if their directives were not complied with in full.

All
oil refineries had been federalized within days of the cyber-attack that knocked America to its knees in an effort to restart the grid and keep fuel flowing by tapping the national reserves. This process had its own hiccups and delays as bureaucratic red tape met delayed hacker installed malicious software and codes in the pump and power stations operating systems.

That a lot of Midwest cities still had power and were reasonably functioning was known but that couldn’t last forever David figured. The cities were being besieged with large numbers of refugees they could not possibly absorb.

There were FEMA manned “Evacuation Centers” that people were directed to for aid and assistance and the government seemed to be trying to move the population towards more centralized and manageable locations, but there were just too many people desperately in need of help. Conflicting travel restrictions and limited gas rationing did little to slow their swelling to over capacity but a little. This policy also left pockets of travelers stranded without gas and living out of their cars awaiting emergency gas trucks that were likely not coming again that way.

Long lines of people can be seen slowly walking or pushing shopping carts towards the cities and transient camps. The skyline has a haze of smoke everywhere and the sides of the road are a dump with bodies and trash fouling the air. Squabbles and fights along the road for food, water. Women, money or countless other reasons occur and usually are concluded violently. The hollow eyed looks of weariness and despair from those you see sitting on the side of the road you know come from those people who have given up on life and can walk no further. This sadness will haunt you, you will lament for them and yourself. You know this, but you can do nothing more for anyone and so you keep pushing yourself towards your destination thinking mostly about putting one foot in front of the other ,and one more foot in front of the other. As your shoulders ache and burn your pack back straps cutting in and your body begins to dehydrate you start looking for a place for yourself to take a rest. This walk will be nothing more than government directed death march for many or just a march to their death, for some.

The economy for all practical purposes had tanked and a dollar didn’t really have an attachable or attainable value at the moment. Trading in securities had stopped and unless you were in a ‘powered zone” you couldn’t get any money out of the banks. About 80% of the population in the US was now unemployed and had no prospects about their future.

Food riots and social unrest were endemic as the seams of civilized society burst and overflowed with desperation and want. People are afraid of each other.

Dealing with everyday problems since the SHTF means that you now have to face a whole new set of uncomfortable situations, from how to take a shower “with a few gallons of water” to thinking about how to use pure violence in response to a threat or theft when violence was not part of your life before.

At the beginning of the disaster people tried to stay together, I mean in the terms of communities or neighbors pulling together and trying to help each other.  Folks said people used to have a “normal” way of communication and pretty much normal thought processes when the cyber attack first occurred.

But as weeks went by and cupboards went bare with no end in sight people started to snap. The media broadcasted fake messages of hope of restarting the grid right alongside horrible details of murder, rape and other crime becoming more common, the Peoples trust in government faded quickly and was replaced by fear of the known and unknown risks they faced.

Ever so slowly people had started to move away from each other and there was left a “just us or them” mentality taking over.

Groups were not open anymore. No more welcoming strangers or considering altruistic acts. Folks didn’t have anything for themselves and even less for others.

David had prepared for something disastrous to happen for some time. He didn’t know what exactly he was preparing for but he had followed his instincts like the universal conscious raising of the prepper community felt that something “bad” was going to happen.

Researchers say that an interest in survivalism can often be used as a barometer of social anxiety; and in many cases, says sociologist Richard Mitchell, it can also be a response to modern stress.

There are many stressors that can bring out the survival instinct in someone.  People might be influenced by past experiences surviving or preparing for a hurricane, losing their jobs, fears developed from reading the terrible headlines or absorbing the latest internet theories and conspiracies.

In the end, what it all boils down to
for everyone, well at least for the preppers, is self-reliance—this is a concept that is as old as the human race itself? Some entitlement oriented, ignorantly unprepared people think a disaster can’t happen to them etc. people, or sheeple as preppers are sometimes wont to refer to them, refused to heed any preparedness messages or warnings. These types of people will suffer the most in a disaster and will also cause undue suffering of others through their inactions and lack of preparations.

David particularly lamented this fact because he had a friend that he thought was a sheeple extraordinaire. She had not always been like this, but somewhere over the years she had developed a panic attack syndrome that caused her to become reclusive and fear even going to the grocery store.

David had tried his best to get her to prep even just a little several times but to no avail. She said in her condition she didn’t want to think about bad things and rebuffed any further attempts by him to talk about it. He did get her slightly prepared however because she often asked a favor of him to go to the grocery store for her. Often meant like once a week sometimes. He sort of slowly got the notion over to her to let him add some canned products to her order for when he or somebody else couldn’t go to the grocery store for her.

Phones still worked intermittently if you had the old style phone and David was in horror of what that meant now. Beth trusted the media hype that in a few months many cities might get power back on and that she had her animals to think about so she and they were just going to stay in town and pray.

Starvation is a nasty way to go and David shuddered to think of the conversations that he might have to have with someone in that wretched state. Yesterday’s conversation with Beth was how to possibly get
her some extra heat, he didn’t have a clue what she could be eating at the moment and he didn’t even consider asking her for obvious reasons. He already told her he had no intentions of coming back into the city and that he was sorry he could give her no help and she was on her own now. It was quite a tearful event on both their sides. He had halfheartedly mentioned the possibility of her coming out to the country should a disaster happen but she wouldn’t hear of it and would stay in her home no matter what happened.

Julie and he knew she was going to die there at her home and it was just a question of when and this fact disturbed them very much and often. However, there is nothing they could do other than offer lip service to her plight and suggest what few improvised preparedness tips they could give her to aid in her comfort. Kind of weird being on call and scratching your head to come up with a miracle. One day that phone will quit ringing… too much to think about.