# Cabin-fever & other shelter issues



## microprepper (Nov 21, 2013)

Watching Doomsday Preppers yesterday was a little worrisome. A congenial old ex-marine took his family into a 2-trailer bunker for a 24-hour test. 

I can't see how those buried bunkers are at all safe. In this case, there was a failure of the generator that the patriarch had to go outside to fix. Everyone else waited helplessly while he did that. 

The absolute blindness of those buried shelters frightens me more than anything else. That guy had to expose himself as the main protector while he went to an area where any roaming intruder would have found the generator, anyway. (those things do make noise, after all!) The issue was that he had not completely filled it before starting the test, but just the same, in a real-life hunker-down, anything could have happened.

Not to mention the degree to which these hunker-down families seem to be unprepared for claustrophobic social tensions....

I don't see any of the hunker-down preppers doing much with practicing social passtimes like playing chess, etc. Being prepared for a fight is fine, but most of the time in those shelters is going to be treacherously boring....


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## AquaHull (Jun 10, 2012)

This morning,I shot 6 holes in my freezer,
I think I have cabin fever.


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

Cabin fever is what you make it, I got enough activity to not worry about it


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## Notsoyoung (Dec 2, 2013)

I have always believed that you should have books, games, and projects to keep you and your mind occupied as a part of prepping.


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## AquaHull (Jun 10, 2012)

And Jimmy Buffets greatest hits.


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## RNprepper (Apr 5, 2014)

Mental health is just as important as physical health, IMHO. If just one member of the family flips out mentally it will drain the reserves of the entire group. Our BOBs contain a small paperback book (all different so they can be swapped around), a small game book (Suduko, Crossword,etc), and a pocket Bible. Our Bug Out Cabin has lots of books, games, and puzzles. 

When the pioneers came west, a lot of them died - from illness, injury, or they just went mentally koo-koo and wandered off. The diaries of survivors are sobering reminders that both mental and physical fitness is necessary. Not everyone has mental resilience, and a lot of people have never seen someone die. These folks are going to have a rough go of it. Some won't make it, and others will become non-functional. It will be important to have well defined jobs/roles, and recreational diversion.


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

All good posts, and something to think about. I have mixed thoughts about these underground bunkers. Super bad storms, perhaps chemical attacks... ok, they are great. But to lock yourself inside of one away from the bad guys? I don't know sorta like locking yourself inside your own cage to me. Seems they could wait you out, burn/smoke, or maybe even flood you out. Now if you had hidden escape tunnels perhaps that would be different?


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

Generator, nothing says hey come over here and kill me like the roar of a generator. They make these funny flat things called solar panels. They aren't as big of a lead attractant.
Living in a hole won't work for 99% of the people as they can't live for more then 5 minutes without calling/texting some idiot on the phone.


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## Old Man (Dec 10, 2012)

First off for anyone who wants a bunker is fine. For me, I just can't get into being in one. I live out in the sticks and plan to stay put. Do I have tricks plan, oh yea. Will I make it. I hope to with my family a few good folks around my area.


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## TG (Jul 28, 2014)

Don't forget some exercise items, at least free weights.. Even the most basic exercise wards off depression.


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## Batty (Jul 31, 2014)

I have boxes of Legos and art supplies for the kids, as well as books & board games. Give them something to think about other than the situation around them.


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

I worked in Jails and prisons for 12 years, the inmates stayed plenty busy working out and reading, if your at home you should have plenty to do. I have to feed animals aily, water, take care of the garden, I like 550 cord so I bought a bunch to make stuff with. It goes on and on, if you get bored you did something wrong


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## Dalarast (May 16, 2014)

I lived in a CHU for the past 3 months which is basically a conex trailer turned into a housing unit. I share it with one of my soldiers and between books and this forum it keeps me entertained for the few hours I'm here when awake throughout a week. In Iraq before heading home during the hand-off I got the fortune of staying in my CHU for a week... also happened to be a sandstorm that knocked out power in our area and due to the storm I stayed in :shelter: for the majority of 4 days. And like any good infantry man at the end of a mission awaiting for his ride home... I slept... for as much as I could for 4 days. 

Cabin fever can make you get bored... I couldn't imagine what I would do if pent up in a trailer buried underground with my kids and wife.. with no power and wondering what's going on in the world above. But rather be stir crazy with my family know we are safe (or safer I guess than others) if I had that ability to have a bunker.....


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

No bunker here unless I win the lotto, will be above and either suffer the wrath or go on about my business


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

I might go for a bunker if I had about 30+ video cameras pointing in all directions. Blindness would drive me nuts.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Full blow SHTF. Boredom will not be an issue . Life will get very bust for awhile.


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## LunaticFringeInc (Nov 20, 2012)

This is not something that should be under estimated. Being in the Navy even on a ship that had a good MWR set up and tons of movies available, a Gym to work out in, pretty extensive library with a gang of stuff cramed in such a small space and then later when we got computers/Internet on board it still took its toll on every one after about 30 days out on Gonzo or Yankee Station. Knowing that you had at least 60 days more...IF you got relieved on schedule just made it worse! Most of the young pups I served with on my last ship when the longest we went without hitting port was about 2-3 weeks couldn't have hacked it like we did in the days of the cold war!!!

We beat it but having a lot of basket ball games, card games, magazine subscriptions (not that kind although some guys did...then Clinton got in office and that came to a screeching halt) although mail coming aboard regularly left a bit to be desired. Granted some of those wont be options when the SHTF, but you get the idea of whats needed as much as you need food and water! Another thing to not be underestimated is the ability to have some ME TIME! Not for defiling yourself but just some alone time to clear your mind and unwind, decompress, time where you can be undisturbed for even just an hour is more precious to you than most here I think can begin to imagine.

Me...Im constantly looking at this aspect of survival. I have cards, dice, books, magazines, wood working tools, leather working tools, gun tinkering tools, reloading gear, dumb bells and probably a dozen more things I am forgetting to keep me busy and entertain my brain. Its not that I think I will have a lot of leasure time, its just all work and no play will run you ragged in a short period of time. There might be work that needs to be done but the weather or safety may dictate otherwise and you might be stuck for a few days inside laying low. You need to do something and you need a variety of things to do and if that something is constructive too that's just an added bonus.

Many can hack it for a couple of weeks but I think after that even a family of four is going to get seriously tested!!!


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

Well Sir, I will not argue with you, in fact I will, support you. I served on an LPH and yeah it got boring, but I have enough to do here and can't worry about the next hour, one step at a time is all we can do


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## shotlady (Aug 30, 2012)

no body mentioned getting stuck with some one you like- can we talk about sex here?


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

Um not sure, it is a necessary thing but I won't be the one to open up that box


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## TG (Jul 28, 2014)

shotlady said:


> no body mentioned getting stuck with some one you like- can we talk about sex here?


Depending if the kids are with you and you're stuck in a 1-room bunker.. Hmmm after 5 min of that, I'd rather battle the zombies haha


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## shotlady (Aug 30, 2012)

send yer kids out to check the generator. lol I hope my boys are with me- my chances of survival goes up like a mofo!


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## TG (Jul 28, 2014)

shotlady said:


> send yer kids out to check the generator. lol I hope my boys are with me- my chances of survival goes up like a mofo!


I can't do confining spaces


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## TG (Jul 28, 2014)

I'm in love with Newfound & Labrador, after a few more visits I might be able to convince my hubby to move there, a lot less humanity


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## Jeep (Aug 5, 2014)

Chipper your funny, but yeah I agree with ya


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## LunaticFringeInc (Nov 20, 2012)

shotlady said:


> no body mentioned getting stuck with some one you like- can we talk about sex here?


Aint that a given?


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## big paul (Jul 14, 2014)

post SHTF i'll be too busy to get bored.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Sex during a time with little water, almost no privacy and high passions will compound problems associated with hygiene a lot. 

Will it take place? Sure, but I am fairly certain that it will be less often than just being close and calling that intimacy. 

I guess if you prepared for it sex would be a great stress reliever, but if you were not prepared it might add to the stress of the situation.


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## RNprepper (Apr 5, 2014)

PaulS said:


> Sex during a time with little water, almost no privacy and high passions will compound problems associated with hygiene a lot.
> 
> Will it take place? Sure, but I am fairly certain that it will be less often than just being close and calling that intimacy.
> 
> I guess if you prepared for it sex would be a great stress reliever, but if you were not prepared it might add to the stress of the situation.


Oh yeah, it will happen. Whenever there are prolonged blackouts, there are higher childbirth events 9 months later. I guess relieving the stress is more important than being prepared.


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## Deebo (Oct 27, 2012)

There will be sex, there has always been sex. In one room cabins with kids everywhere. Thank goodness for sex .
Now as for cabin fever, I hope I never find out.


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## Tennessee (Feb 1, 2014)

I think underground shelters are fine for riding out storms, biological and nuclear events. But for long term survival or hide and evaded those types of shelters would not be my first choice. Too easy to be captured by the bad guys.


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## microprepper (Nov 21, 2013)

Tennessee said:


> I think underground shelters are fine for riding out storms, biological and nuclear events. But for long term survival or hide and evaded those types of shelters would not be my first choice. Too easy to be captured by the bad guys.


exactly my thoughts, they are only short-term and also need to be set up for multiple Hits. Example: the weather channel has a "I survived a tornado" series and in one vignette the family got into the storm shelter just in time, but then discovered the trap-door was so covered by debris it would not budge. They could have suffocated but for the chance that there was a crowbar in the shelter (possibly just for this type of event) and the father was able to pry a couple of inches to get air. They still could have been in danger of not being discovered because the shelter blocked cell-phone transmission but the daughter thought of texting and then quickly sticking the phone through the air-slit, and they were rescued.

I think the people running the Doomsday Prepper series have only material scores for things like security and amounts of food, but they do not spell out things for psychological readiness. Books and board games will be no use for young people who have never been separated from their electronics and who have not developed the attention span necessary to read a book or the social relationships necessary to play a board game. These are real problems among American middle-class families just as anger-management is a real problem among all classes of young people. They are being trained in the public schools to see the patriarch who needs to assert authority in a survival setting as a challenge for social psych-games. Getting him angry is points in those games. They are trained to play those games against all male figures and against all conservative female figures and they are rewarded in school when they show themselves to be "ungovernable".

Many families need to spend some real time in isolation together in order to find out just how far their own youth have been compromised and give those youngsters an opportunity to discover the truth about our truly evil mainstream society. Young people are naturally resilient and, given the opportunity to think for themselves and to see what really matters to their parents, they will usually overcome the evil in their lives.

But it takes a lot of love and patience and creativity. The TV show could encourage that by including some social interaction exercises in their preparedness tests.


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

Agree 100% about allowing yourself to be trapped in a underground shelter, but there is another plus to living underground. Underground shelters are cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Something perhaps one should consider?


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