# Finding Family



## Prepnation (Dec 12, 2017)

Hello, I am wondering if anyone has a plan for getting together with family immediately after a disaster. My wife and I have thought up several different plans for different scenarios for getting together if someone were to happen and we are apart from each other or the kids. However those scenarios are very limited to if she is at work and Im with the kids or vise-versa. I wanted to know if anyone has worked out any good plans?


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

Meet back at the house/BOL. KISS.


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## Old SF Guy (Dec 15, 2013)

Hey Prepnation...Welcome to the forum...

Yes I have and many others here too.

For me its a challenge as I work, at times, out of state, so I have multiple contingencies.

First is always link up at home if the ability is there. Next is link up at a central location away from main town, city routes. Such as a Park. For me their is a good area that everyone can get to within a few hours on foot from School or work.

The main point is get to home, or get to intermediate location... I may have to traverse a single state, or multiple states, which could take days, weeks, or months. That means they have to last a few months at home, a few months at the intermediate location, or make it to our final point for longer term survival.

Based on where I am, and the type of disaster or scenario... I either make it to home, the intermediate location, or plan to link up at the final point. 

Either way... Dead letter drops are establish from Home to Intermediate to final location to communicate intent.

Everybody in the immediate family knows where to go based on what type of event. They are sort of easy...Short term issue (weather, terrorist event, localized issue, riots etc.) go home.
Medium-large event (Government issue, large scale national event i.e. power grid failure, major Geological event or EMP) go to interim location.

Interim location can lead to eventual return to home or advance to final, based on severity of issue and actions of populous.

Worst case is that they have to make it a month or more at the intermediate location and have to walk to final with me out of town.

The location for each drop point is based off of traveling by foot for 3 days... If driving they will be at final within a day or two, so no need to use drop points unless they become a pedestrian. I check them all as I proceed to link up.


Example...If I get to Final and they aren't there... I work towards the direction of Interim, stopping at designated letter drop locations. Leaving my information at each in case they take a different route.

Example. I hit drop point 5 headed to 4. At 5 I leave a note telling them I hit 5 and am headed to 4. They may be at 4 and leave me a note saying they are headed to 5. They know to stay at or near 5 and await my return or continue to final. I have supplies cached at each drop location (or near it). If they have reason to not stay put they leave me a note at 5 explaining.

When I get to 4 I see their message and know they have gone that far. I then turn around and either meet them at the designated area or see their note and return towards final..checking drop points along the way to ensure I do not pass them.

All messages are encoded using a specific phrase and trigraph encoding... Good luck figuring that out.

In the end...they know to never come looking for me, but to go to the designated point or leave a message at a designated spot along the route to explain intent.

i.e. Nobody goes looking for anybody else, but instead goes to the points designated and waits the proscribe time before moving to the next spot.

Me or my spouse wandering around town collecting my kids, will inherently be more dangerous than my kids (who are older now) having to walk a day or two to get to a designated point.

My kids know to not go searching for my wife and me, but to stick to the plan. If she isn't there within a day or two...she ain't coming. If I ain't there they know where I will meet them and how long to wait for me. I know based on where I am and the type of event whether to try to get to Home, Interim or final to link up.

They know were the food is, they know how to fish, they can shoot, they know how to navigate. they know how to make clean safe water, They know how to hide, fight, or run.

The best I can do is give them knowledge and a simple plan to follow.


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## Prepnation (Dec 12, 2017)

Old SF Guy, 
Thanks so much for your post! This is really good information. We had worked out a similar plan with the drop points except on a much much smaller scale, much less planned out. We marked out landmarks in a rout to and from her work and home and my work and home. We then put ribbons, (red for her, blue for me) with the packs in our cars, and a map with the land marks clearly labeled. The plan was to start walking, working toward each other if she was at work and as we reach the landmark we would look for a ribbon to determine if we had passed each other or not, marking each ribbon with the time. 
Your plan is awesome and gives me a lot to think about, and much more to plan out. Are the interim and final locations something that are stocked with supplies or are they just places to meet up? 
I appreciate your willingness to share your ideas, thanks.


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## Old SF Guy (Dec 15, 2013)

Prepnation said:


> Old SF Guy,
> Thanks so much for your post! This is really good information. We had worked out a similar plan with the drop points except on a much much smaller scale, much less planned out. We marked out landmarks in a rout to and from her work and home and my work and home. We then put ribbons, (red for her, blue for me) with the packs in our cars, and a map with the land marks clearly labeled. The plan was to start walking, working toward each other if she was at work and as we reach the landmark we would look for a ribbon to determine if we had passed each other or not, marking each ribbon with the time.
> Your plan is awesome and gives me a lot to think about, and much more to plan out. Are the interim and final locations something that are stocked with supplies or are they just places to meet up?
> I appreciate your willingness to share your ideas, thanks.


My interim is a locational area that has caches around it to last a couple months and has natural resources (fishing/water/trapping opportunities) it is also my link up with friends that I care about. My long term is just for my family. Each family can chose to remain at the interim location to weather hard times or plan their own longer term strategy (family, etc). Based on how my friends endure the short term determines if I open up my longer term plans to include them....you know your friends now...but under duress true character shows itself.

I am an accepting guy...to a point...


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

Prepnation said:


> Old SF Guy,
> Thanks so much for your post! This is really good information. We had worked out a similar plan with the drop points except on a much much smaller scale, much less planned out. We marked out landmarks in a rout to and from her work and home and my work and home. We then put ribbons, (red for her, blue for me) with the packs in our cars, and a map with the land marks clearly labeled. The plan was to start walking, working toward each other if she was at work and as we reach the landmark we would look for a ribbon to determine if we had passed each other or not, marking each ribbon with the time.
> Your plan is awesome and gives me a lot to think about, and much more to plan out. Are the interim and final locations something that are stocked with supplies or are they just places to meet up?
> I appreciate your willingness to share your ideas, thanks.


Got questions about staying alive? Ask OSFG. The rest of us do.


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## Old SF Guy (Dec 15, 2013)

Prepnation said:


> Old SF Guy,
> Thanks so much for your post! This is really good information. We had worked out a similar plan with the drop points except on a much much smaller scale, much less planned out. We marked out landmarks in a rout to and from her work and home and my work and home. We then put ribbons, (red for her, blue for me) with the packs in our cars, and a map with the land marks clearly labeled. The plan was to start walking, working toward each other if she was at work and as we reach the landmark we would look for a ribbon to determine if we had passed each other or not, marking each ribbon with the time.
> Your plan is awesome and gives me a lot to think about, and much more to plan out. Are the interim and final locations something that are stocked with supplies or are they just places to meet up?
> I appreciate your willingness to share your ideas, thanks.


If you want advice on drop point procedures or encryption methods that are easy and secure let me know.


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

I have mad sure all my family members, whether local or remote, have a get home bag in their vehicles. The get to place is where I am.


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## Prepnation (Dec 12, 2017)

OSFG 
Yes, I would be interested in your drop point procedures, and encryption methods, thank you. I'm starting to see that my plans are very short sited.


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Being as the plan is to big in, the idea is for anyone not at home to get home.


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## Prepnation (Dec 12, 2017)

Camel923 
So in my situation, say I am home with two kids (4 and 2 years old) my wife is at work and SHTF. How long do I wait to go looking, or do i go looking. I know if I am at work and she is home with the kids. I hope that I will have everything in place where she wont NEED me, and I really dont want her looking for me, however what if its the other way around. I know that it might depend on the type of situation ie. natural disaster, riots, external attack etc... Regardless if I can secure my children, and if we can prepare a plan for her to return home that would be straight forward enough, that if I go looking I wouldn’t be lost as far as where to look, or what signs to look for, would any of you advice that plan or have similar plans?


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## Old SF Guy (Dec 15, 2013)

Prepnation said:


> OSFG
> Yes, I would be interested in your drop point procedures, and encryption methods, thank you. I'm starting to see that my plans are very short sited.


Oh please be under no illusion....you will not hear My drop point procedure...I will provide you some procedures and some encryption methods. I will try to reply soon. on the road at the moment...


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## Jp4GA (Jan 21, 2016)

Prepnation said:


> Camel923
> So in my situation, say I am home with two kids (4 and 2 years old) my wife is at work and SHTF. How long do I wait to go looking, or do i go looking. /QUOTE]
> 
> Our plan is we DON'T go looking-if you are safe stay safe, and know that your loved one is working toward getting to you. Leaving especially with young children puts you at risk. My husband works form home and if SHTF it is his job to hold the fort and get things ready to go should we need to bug out. It is his job to protect the home front and the preps. I have several routes to get home and my husband would not know which one I would have decided to take due to unknowns. We have agreed that if it a bug out situation occurs he would wait as long as he deemed safe. If I arrive home and they are not there I will have a message letting me know if I head toward point "B or C". While this may seem odd to some, his job is to protect our young child and my job is to do my best to get back home. If he comes looking for me it puts our preps in danger, it puts our child in danger and it puts him at risk.
> ...


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## Prepnation (Dec 12, 2017)

Hey, Jp4GA 
Thanks so much for the great info, that makes a lot of sense. 
I guess what we need to prepare for is making the tuff decisions if it comes down to it and we have to leave before someone makes it back. I just know we are so dependent on having constant communication with each other. In a SHTF situation all of that might possibly be gone, and have we planned well enough that no communication is required when it comes to it. 
As it stands right now if our plan A fails (our only plan) ie. if situations change and plan A cannot be executed, then we would both be blind to each other's plans. To me in an emergency situation not knowing would cause panic. 
How many plans do you come up with? 
Like are plans A, B, C, good and if those all fall through start praying? I am just thinking there are so many variables its hard to plan for everything.


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## Jp4GA (Jan 21, 2016)

Our main goal is to bug in-- home is where we have food, fuel sources, water and everything we would need to survive long term. We would only leave home if we had no other choice. Right now we have plan A (bug in) and plan B-D. We are working on additions to each plan and additional plans as we think of things that could or might happen and as we procure the resources needed to create additional plans. 

Our greatest fear is we will have to bug out without our college son. I say we could do it, but if SHTF I don't know if I really could. My husband will probably have to knock me out and drag me away, because I would not want to abandon him. But in a SHTF situation we won't know his status until he shows up at a predetermined location.


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## Ayn Rand (Dec 31, 2017)

Our plan.

Everybody has a small GHB (get home bag) in the trunk. Everybody knows the route to stay on when walking home from work and the grocery store. This should take care of 90% of the travel routes home (vacation in Hawaii excepted) and we know how to locate others.


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## pikepole20 (Nov 27, 2017)

Family knows where to meet. All are within 100 miles of the farm. 

Sent from my SM-T818V using Tapatalk


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## RJAMES (Dec 23, 2016)

For the short of SHTF end of the world as you know it situation . Hurricane, earthquake - have a couple long term friends / relatives who live out of state that you will check in with . 
Notify you are ok give where you are / where you headed. Keep their email, twitter, phone number and physical address, ham radio call signs - any and every way to get a hold of them on a piece of paper in wallet/purse. No one knows phone numbers anymore they use the cell phone so write it down in addition to the number in your cell. 

Something bad happens and you cannot make direct contact with your family see if you can contact your family/ friend out of state. Many people during Katrina found it easier to communicate to folks out of state than 10 blocks away . Same thing in the PR last year. 

If normal phones are down try and check in with your friend and have a schedule of when you will check back every 3 days or every Monday 9 am .


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