A while ago someone asked if I could offer any advice on how to survive a war. I figured why not, and have been writing this on and off whenever I had time. So here yo go. I hope you never need this.
Nobody can tell you how to survive as war is chaotic and unpredictable and I sure hope you will never have to experience it as I have, but I can tell you what came in very handy during the 4 years of war through which I've been. To make matters worse, I was in an occupied city, fully surrounded by the enemy and on rare occasions, a corridor would open up and people could escape. I have been in countless situations where I escaped death thanks to nothing but luck (or god if you're a believer) which I could have avoided had I been wiser.
Anyways, here are some general tips that could hopefully prolong your life should you ever find yourself in a war as a civilian.
Curiousity kills. When you hear an explosion, do not go out to investigate. Do not even try to take a peak. Shrapnels kill and standing near doors and windows is not where you should be. Ever. Many people have lost their lives by not staying put and going out or just by trying to take a peak.
Avoid groups and especially avoid being in a group on open space. I survived a mortar shell explosion which was specifically targeting us because we were in a group of 10 or so people, eating apples out in the open, midday, near a UN base which was the safest place to be (towards the end of the war) and one woman was killed on the spot. I took cover behind one of the trees when I heard the mortar being fired somewhere in the distance. Avoid groups.
Get rid of things that burn easy. Incindiery ammo and hot shrapnels will set your place on fire, and if this happens, your instinct will be to try and put the fire out. Only do so if the fire is immediate danger to you.
Barricade your doors and windows. You want as few openings as possible. Filling up bags with dirt is probably the easiest way. We used potato bags and bags were scarce in general, so owning 50 or more sandbags can come in very handy should you ever find yourself in a war situation.
Food and water is #1 thing to keep in mind. There will be no electricity for years (4 years in my case) and no running water. Stock up on canned food and water. How much is enough? Think years worth of food. Food that does not spoil for years and which does not need to be refridgerated. You may need to fetch the water from a nearby well or river. Get water containers and make sure they are not white. Get them in dark green or black. White can be seen from a far and snipers will notice you a lot easier if you carry a 20L bright white water container and move slow... Also, never go to fetch the water in daylight. After midnight or before sunrise is your best bet. Stock up on water desinfection chemicals. You may have to drink water from a poluted source for years.
Cigarettes are priceless. Tobacco too. Stock up on that even if you don't smoke. You can always exchange cigarettes for anything. I have seen people collect cigarette butts and recover leftover tobacco from those and roll it out and smoke. I have seen people smoke toilet paper, coal+wood dust, tea... You'd be surprised just how valuable tobacco can be in a war. Stock up on tobacco seeds as well. You can always grow your own tobacco and trade the dried leaves.
Stock up on oil. Vegetable oil but also oil in general. Vegetable oil can be used as fuel in diesel cars and its value can be insane. Vegetable oil can be used to make light candles (with shoelaces) and while we're at it, stock up on this. Your shoelaces will thank you.
Light bulbs, flashlights and rechargeable batteries. All kinds of rechargeable batteries. Tiny, medium, large... one car battery can provide enough energy to listen to the news on radio (once a day) for months. Get a charging device. I used a bicycle and windshield motor from a damaged car to generate electricity, but solar cells or more efficient mechanical generators will make your life easier.
Amateur radios. The only way to send out a message or receive one in an occupied city, was via radio. 1 or 2 radio amateurs kept the hope for hundreds of families and if there was one thing I wish I had - it would be amateur radio scanner and a good antenna. Get two, just in case, and stock up on electrical components such as capacitors and fuses.
Soap. My mom used ashes from the fireplace to wash our clothes. Stock up on soap. Forget shampoos and other fancy stuff. Hard soap is your friend and it lasts forever.
Medicine. Antibiotics. Painkillers. Sedatives. Surgical equipment. You may have to remove a bullet and stitch someone up.
Tools - shovels, wire, nails, screws. You may have to construct a floating river electricity generator using parts from a washing mashine. Here is one on display: http://sssdzb.com.ba/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/3.jpg
Thats it for now. I'm on the road again but I'll try to update this if I remember something or if you ask for more specifics.
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AlphaWookie ago
You dream we are no where near close. I can tell you are young and do not know US history.
Consider the following the closest the US came to a civil war or collapse post civil war was in the late '60s early '70s. Back then there where multiple multi day riot in cities, that actually resulted in death counts and gun battles between the population and LEO's and national guard troops. The national guard was called out several times for civil unrest that lasted days. Some state Governor's directly challenged the authority of the federal government. There where regular political assassinations and bombings on the political left and the political right. Back then there was periods of time that there where price and wage controls used. Along with limited issues of rationing applies to goods.
Finally the clearest evidence we are no where close to collapse. Back in the '60s things got so tense at one point the White House was ringed by large passenger busses used as improvised barricades and national guard troops ringed the White House. Based on the fear of a particularly politically charged march that would result in the storming of the White House by citizens.
The present condition are nothing like the late '60s or early '70s in America nor like the conditions in late '80s USSR.
America is nowhere close to such a calamity as you envision. Basically learn more.
lipids ago
I think you underestimate the number of discontents here. Protesting has become too expensive for many and the means of violent protest are more varied (particularly organization) that the nation can change practically overnight.
I do not think we are at a critical level of discontent but disruptive technology like self driving cars can change that quickly.
neveragainfatty ago
Within the next 10-15 years there will be no more transportation work for human drivers. Transportation is the largest employment sector in the USA. Things are going to get interesting.
Universal Basic Income, no matter your perspective on it, is going to be the hot topic once 30% hard working Americans lose their jobs to robots through no fault of their own.
Dereliction ago
People at the turn of the 20th century might have argued the same thing about the coming of the car. How many drivers (carts, buggies, wagons, etc.) lost their jobs? How many stable hands to care for all those animals? What a disaster! Except that it really wasn't.
The reality is that other avenues in the market open up as technology changes the landscape. So long as the government doesn't have it's foot on the market's throat, people will find work doing other things that the market is newly demanding.
neveragainfatty ago
If you look into it technology rarely(mostly never) replaces all the jobs it destroys. You are looking at the wrong part of that equation.
Horses never found other work. Their usefulness dropped to society and their population took a dramatic decline.
There is absolutely no job market that can absorb 30% of the workforce. See CGP greys video on this.
Dereliction ago
That's because horses were the outmoded technology.
Someone will have to build and work on and manage the gigantic fleets of driverless vehicles that would replace all those workers. It's causing a shift in the market, not simply evaporating 30% of it.
neveragainfatty ago
We already have that sector covered. There won't be more vehicles on the road just less people on the road. I would also expect that the type of people who can take a quick 3 month (AFAIK) CDL class and jump into a solid middle class income career are not the type of people who can spend 4 years in college to learn the basics of maintaining a computer/mechanics system.
From the video you will see that computers are programming software more intricately than humans have and at paces that humans can't, they are learning your job and can do it FAR cheaper than you ever could. Eventually to not get rid of humans and the errors that they bring would be irrational for most employers.
Dereliction ago
Well, let me put it this way: we should fully expect that the market would find a massive pool of cheap human labor profitable for something, even if it isn't related to fleets of driverless cars. I won't predict what sort of ideas the market will come up with, but human labor will have value for the foreseeable future so long as governments don't insist that it's illegal to put it to use and limit the prices that global and national markets find as agreeable.
Claims that UBI is necessary because of some purportedly unemployable pool of human labor, well, it sort of defies any realistic expectation.
Besides, if we truly get to the point that human labor is no longer required, we'll be tiptoeing into a post-scarcity existence anyhow.
neveragainfatty ago
Cheap human labor serves to depress wages and increase unemployment in your nations youth.
Look at France. They have been importing cheap human labor since the 80s. 23.5% youth (15-25) unemployment with 10.5% overall. Spain, Greece, and Italy are even worse off.
Dereliction ago
I don't argue against that, but it's only a never-ending downpour if you continue to flood the market with labor. Otherwise, the market will bounce back because cheap labor incentivizes the creation of new businesses that want to profit from use of that inexpensive labor. As more new businesses come into play and competition for that static labor pool increases, wages rebound and the situation recuperates.
This assumes, again, that the country doesn't continue to flood its market with additional labor (i.e., France) and you don't restrict the creation of jobs based on a minimum wage. Doing both of these things is disastrous on several fronts.