# How will you know when it is time to go?



## CourtSwagger (Jan 3, 2013)

What is your sign that it is time to put your bug out / bug in plan into action? What is the trigger? I am afraid that most people will wait far too long to take it to that next level. Will it be waiting for the police to become a non-entity? Will it be the shut down of government offices? I think by that point, it is far too late. What are signs that you are watching for?


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

When you notice the hand out give me other peoples stuff crowd getting up set with Obama because the hand outs are not coming get ready.
When you start seeing the masses in the street on the news pack. When the first building burns leave you can always come back .
If you can find old unedited and revised film of the Watts rots and day of rage that shows how it will unfold .
Problem is they rewrote a more PC history so hard to find the truth


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## acfink (Dec 19, 2012)

I believe that we won't know what hit us until its to late!!! unless you watch the news 24/7 there is no way really to know, I don't think there is anyway to get a head start on bugging out.


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## Gallo Pazzesco (Dec 22, 2012)

Depends upon where you live, where you are now ...

Some of us are more instinctual about such things than others I suspect. Keener senses when it comes to imminent danger.

Honestly OP, if you have to ask then, chances are, you may want to tweak your inner radar just a bit and tune-up the amp on your inner danger alarm.

What do you believe will be the signals and when will you decide to go?

Do you live in the city or the country? If you live in the country, where are you going to go?

Do you live up north or down South? Out west or Midwest?

It just all depends.

Do you have infants, babies, little children? How well have you trained your family?


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## bennettvm (Jan 5, 2013)

When you call 911 and it is busy. When all you hear are police and ambulance sirens. For me, that is when the car will be packed and I head out.


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## CourtSwagger (Jan 3, 2013)

I think that the key is awareness and communication. We are currently battling a flu epidemic nationwide. How many people are aware of it? This is not a "bug out" scenario, but if the illness were to incapacitate a big part of the population, it could get there. If people aren't aware, how can they prepare? Also, most will refuse to believe that social unrest or societal upheavals are anything but temporary aberrations. By the time they wake up, it wil be too late.


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## Gallo Pazzesco (Dec 22, 2012)

bennettvm said:


> When you call 911 and it is busy. When all you hear are police and ambulance sirens. For me, that is when the car will be packed and I head out.


If you wait that long then you are screwed where you are. Even if you head south into Maryland along the Eastern Shore or wherever, if you wait until you can't get through to 911 or you hear sirens everywhere then you have screwed the pooch. You'll be a victim - a casualty.

I've been helping a friend prep - he's in Alexandria. He will not be waiting that long with his wife and baby.

Another friend of mine is in Dunkirk, his wife works in DC Metro, they've been planning for years. She'll bail on DC quickly, if she gets stuck there at all, and he'll be waiting on her to get to Dunkirk where they will head south long before 911 is clogged or they hear sirens everywhere.


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## Gallo Pazzesco (Dec 22, 2012)

CourtSwagger said:


> I think that the key is awareness and communication. We are currently battling a flu epidemic nationwide. How many people are aware of it? This is not a "bug out" scenario, but if the illness were to incapacitate a big part of the population, it could get there. If people aren't aware, how can they prepare? Also, most will refuse to believe that social unrest or societal upheavals are anything but temporary aberrations. By the time they wake up, it wil be too late.


We've had 22 die already here in SC as of today ... it has hit us hard. We produce a lot of poultry here and some are saying there is a connection.

I disagree.

The CDC is right down the road, straight down I-20 five hours from here - nary a stop along the way. They have early warning systems all along the corridors leading into Atlanta, 20, 75, 85, etc. So, yeah, we keep up with those things around here.

A bug will not be what happens. Not to us anyways. We're waaay out in the country and we'll shut down access in a skinny second.

What might force people to bug out of cities? What is lurking out there right now - in our immediate possible future?

That is what everyone needs to be thinking of, preparing for.


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## CourtSwagger (Jan 3, 2013)

GP, I think that the population of the large cities could exacerbate any situation, and accelerate social unrest. Something like a flu epidemic could wreak havoc on already overtaxed public works and service departments. A few more call ins at work, and people get even slower responses. This leads to a public panic and someone does something stupid that sets a match to the tinder box. Boom. Hope I'm wrong, but once the mob mentality takes over, the proverbial sh#t will have hit the fan.


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## acfink (Dec 19, 2012)

bennettvm said:


> When you call 911 and it is busy. When all you hear are police and ambulance sirens. For me, that is when the car will be packed and I head out.


My problem is that I am 911, I work on a Ambo. 30 miles from my house, My fear is that I will be in the "thick of things" when SHTF and can't get home in time to bug out


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## Lucky Jim (Sep 2, 2012)

As always, it depends what sort of SHTF hits us, here's a list I've drawn up in no particular order.
But whatever zaps us, if it causes food and water shortages that's when we can start to get worried..

1- *Chernobyl-type nuclear plant accident*, but on a much bigger scale, poisoning an area as big as the USA or the whole of Europe and Asia.
2- *Massive meteor or asteroid strike *wiping out millions with blast and tsunami, and kicking up enough dust to black out the sun for years like what wiped out the dinosaurs.
3- *World War 3 exchange of nuclear weapons *poisoning virtually the entire planet.
4- *A plague *wiping out most humans on earth after accidental release from a bio research lab, or a deliberate release by terrorists to wipe out the population of a specific country, or perhaps a virus naturally evolves that has no cure.
5- *EC Event (Economic Collapse)* triggering total breakdown of law and order resulting in looting gangs etc. 
6- *EM pulse (from a solar flare or nuclear bomb)* blows out the electricity grid and electronics, it'll be bad but hopefully the govt will have contingency plans to get relief food and medicine convoys up and running.
7- *Mega-earthquake *bigger than anything the earth has experienced before, demolishing a whole bunch of cities across countries or continents.
8- *Mega-tsunami *triggered by gigantic quake at sea, wiping out coastal areas for a hundred miles or more inland.
9- *Runaway volcano *that carries on spewing out dust and ash for months, throwing a grey wind-carried shroud around the planet blocking out sunlight and triggering subzero temperature drops.
10- *Haywire weather *(nonstop storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, floods etc) caused by global warming, pollution, ozone depletion etc


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## Meangreen (Dec 6, 2012)

If you see a man with no pants running past your house with his dick flopping, you run with that man because there is some scary shit coming down that road!!!! Dave Atel. couldn't resist


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## Verteidiger (Nov 16, 2012)

I like Lucky Jim's list (I have now read it so many times I think I almost have it memorized - just kidding, Jim, carry on).

But it leaves out the sudden, out-of-the-blue unexpected event. For example, when Martin Luther King was assassinated, and rioters tried to burn down many major cities that night. That should sound an alarm right away now. When the Rodney King tapes of police brutality were released, that triggered spontaneous rioting and looting, and if you did not "have your ears on" you could have driven right into the madness (ask Reginald Denny). You need to maintain situational awareness, and pay attention to what is happening in your local community. Is gang activity on the rise? Is a turf war heating up? Are there storms coming into your area? Hurricanes? I am a news and weather watcher, because it is how I plan my day every day. I also use a smart phone with web access, so seeing what is shaking is a couple of clicks away. I monitor weather and use weather alert radios.

You can only do what you can do, but I am the guy who always has his umbrella when others are running through the parking lot, if you catch my drift. It is how I live my life, every day.


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## MikeyPrepper (Nov 29, 2012)

yea 911 is busy im out


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## AsteroidX (Dec 11, 2012)

I go to flush my toilet and it spins the other direction


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## MikeyPrepper (Nov 29, 2012)

yea thats true


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## MikeyPrepper (Nov 29, 2012)

Yea def


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## Lucky Jim (Sep 2, 2012)

When cannonballs start coming through your house its definitely time to get out-


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## MikeyPrepper (Nov 29, 2012)

if I see people going nuts


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Stuff like this is just warning to get ready but needs to be watch closely, watch the video and notice the place. Remember the days of rage? 
Section 8 housing voucher distribution canceled after thousands waiting in line get out of control


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## StarPD45 (Nov 13, 2012)

MikeyPrepper said:


> yea 911 is busy im out


In DC, that's practically an every day occurence.


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## Meangreen (Dec 6, 2012)

I think sites like this and social media like facebook will probably give us the time to go. We have people that are watching and monitoring and will post what they are witnessing. I think if these sites go down because of government control or the internet taken off line I believe it will be time to hunker down.


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## AsteroidX (Dec 11, 2012)

In the meantime we need to work double hard to network and prepare. Yes most preppers dont want to be intruded upon in a SHTF scenario. But that doesnt mean we shouldnt help each other to be better survivors or loosen that ideal a bit to expand our chances. But to each there own. The grid will be up for some time minus a TEOTWAWKI event. look at places like Syria/Egypt/Libya that continued to have some kind of Internet access even during civil wars.


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## Meangreen (Dec 6, 2012)

AsteroidX said:


> In the meantime we need to work double hard to network and prepare. Yes most preppers dont want to be intruded upon in a SHTF scenario. But that doesnt mean we shouldnt help each other to be better survivors or loosen that ideal a bit to expand our chances. But to each there own. The grid will be up for some time minus a TEOTWAWKI event. look at places like Syria/Egypt/Libya that continued to have some kind of Internet access even during civil wars.


Good point with Syria/Egypt/Libya.


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## BetrayedAmerican (Jan 8, 2013)

I read the title and I red the first three posts then I couldn't help but jump down here and start this reply. I am a 25 year old service member in Afghanistan at the moment some of you may follow my Declaration or War thread some may not. I am just introducing myself to a crow that may not know me.

I believe that the time to bug out and go to your safe location is the time when you feel in your mind you are ready for absolutely anything at any time and the most important thing is when you feel you can do it without a job and money. If things get so bad that you have to run from your home then the SHTF and it hit it hard. What good will money do for you other than stoke a fire when people are looting robbing and stealing everything they can get there hands on anyway. 

Work is a needed entity in our lives but that is one thing that I have been prepping for that a lot of people may not have thought about. I have prepped over 2 dozen linked and non linked bug out locations spanning the entire north east to far northwest. I have locations in several states and a ton right here in my home state. The fact of the matter is I can do it all and survive without ever needing to go to a store. I can survive unnoticed without ever needing to enter a city of any decent size and the cities I might have to pass through can easily be done unnoticed and after dark. 

The plan for me and I dont know about you but my bug out gear tactics and training have lead me to prep a very special and significant way. If I need to bug out and leave the safety of my community I will become a shadow. I will live off the land and the equipment I have obtained via family friends and general hard work. 

So to answer your question again, in my particular opinion you should be ready to bug out and be prepared to stay bugged out until the storm is over, whenever you are ready to do so when worrying about a job is not longer a problem. Unfortunately many many people will never find the luxury of being able to live without money or a job.

Any questions or comments rather then trolling please mail me intelligent comments concerns complaints or questions. Thanks.


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## MikeyPrepper (Nov 29, 2012)

@Betrayed, Great post


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

BetrayedAmerican keep the faith we have not all wandered off the path. Just to many that have are in seats of power for now.


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## BetrayedAmerican (Jan 8, 2013)

My wife hates the things I do and what I stand for thinking I should just go with the flow as that will be the easiest and best way to sustain and keep the family. I have a wife and little 16 month old daughter. I could go the easy route and become a puppet to the government puppeteers or I could cut my strings and have my daughter grow up with the vision that her father was a true American a true patriot and then maybe it will help open the eyes of our youth that hey this is not to be allowed and that the days of old where morals and values lead our daily lives and actions wasn't so bad.

I will never leave my family as my father in law is right on board with me and will protect my wife and daughter while I go off to fight and I love the man do death for that. I will go and fight I will never leave them. 

Something will happen and it will happen soon be assure of that, let us just hope the end turns out in our favor and what we need. People have for to long been complaining about rights and the need for more of them. We have so many now that we dont know what to do with them. Back when there was a little more regulation people complained but there was order. Now there is just chaos. 

I will continue to hold a door open for the elders and women. I will continue to tip a hat or remove it completely when a woman walks in I will continue to get made fun of but that is in the hopes that the couple wandering eyes that stay silenced and watch catch on that it is right and there are still those willing to play the gentleman, let me rephrase that LIVE the life of a gentleman. 

The United States needs a Light, a beacon of hope and true justice. Until then prep to be a shadow as your life will be thriving in the darkness the States finds itself in now. 
My Opinions.

Thanks.


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## BetrayedAmerican (Jan 8, 2013)

As I know people follow this post I will post my thoughts of prepping and you can judge for yourself what level of preparedness you are at and if you feel like you need more or less.

1. Water- Do you have enough to stay where you are? If so can you defend it?
2. Shelter- Is it sustainable and will it last through weather assault and time? Can you defend it?
3. Food- Do you have enough and not only enough but is it nutritional and what your body needs? Can you defend it?
4. Weather- More so for on the go preppers. Can you survive any weather condition from Point A to Point be and when you get to Point A or B. Can you defend yourself and carried gear?
5. Seclusion- Is it far enough away or hidden from general populous where you need not worry about intrusion or theft? Can you defend when away or while bugged out?
6. Time- How long will your gear last? How long will you last? How long are you willing to go? How long to get from Point A to B? Are you defended?
7. Distance- Again How far you willing to go or need to go? How far from A to B? Are you defended?
8. Point A-Z-009 You must have multiple avenues of approach. You must have multiple routes. You must have multiple locations gear stashes cache and or hides. Are they and will you be defended or defenable when reached?
9. People- Are you alone or with a group? Will you have enough to support yourself and or a group? 
10. Heat- How much heat are you bringing on yourself for your travels? Can or will you be tracked? Is your actions and way of maneuvering what some may call sketchy or attracting to johnny law? Do you have the skills time and resources to evade?

The One Major Question- Can You Defend. It gets a little annoying as I read through it again to get to this point but it could not be and less important than anything listed there. If you cannot defend yourself and or your gear you are already lost. Be smart with your preps. You are the biggest and most valuable prepping tool you have. Exercise get in and stay in shape. Learn a martial art while you still can for those times when weapons are not an option. I recommend learning anything and everything one may need to survive alone without money job or resources. Yes you may need to break the law as hunting without a license or in another state is against the law but when it comes to survival your in it to win it are you not. That deer you killed with a bow to keep silent may go unnoticed or not the point is you are fed and you are keeping yourself strong.

Protect your gear as well from animals, weather, and yes other people. Have enough. Go above and beyond. Ammunition, weapons, food, water, CLOTHING both summer and winter, shelter building supplies, barter items, fire starters, hunting gear, all Important. I am going to stop now. I am going to post a new topic with a list of gear and items and locations and ideas that I put into practice, just might aide you all one day.


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## AsteroidX (Dec 11, 2012)

My son knows Im a Patriot as hes 10 now Ive started explaining and showing him the ills that are plaguing society. Hes quite attuned and sees it for what it is without me explaining or force feeding him information. And he cant get enough of me. That has been my experience Betrayed and I am proud to be a Freedom Fighter in America TODAY. Stay Safe friend we need good men like you that stand by there convictions.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

How many were alive and old enough to understand what was going on During the Watts riots and the Detroit days of rage?
Not the ones that may have gotten something about it in school. They rewrote the events to make them more PC.
Those that really have a memory of the time.


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## CourtSwagger (Jan 3, 2013)

There are certainly numerous reasons to bail. As someone said in the thread earlier, sites like this may be our best early warning system. I will certainly keep the board updated with any news of note from my neck of the woods.


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## TxCombatMedic (Feb 8, 2013)

CourtSwagger said:


> I think that the key is awareness and communication. We are currently battling a flu epidemic nationwide. How many people are aware of it? This is not a "bug out" scenario, but if the illness were to incapacitate a big part of the population, it could get there. If people aren't aware, how can they prepare? Also, most will refuse to believe that social unrest or societal upheavals are anything but temporary aberrations. By the time they wake up, it wil be too late.


I wouldn't say we're "battling a flu epidemic nation wide". Not even close. First, it would be a PANdemic (spreading accross vast areas). Second, the flu is created. This is why you NEVER take the flu vaccine. EVER. As a Navy Corpsman who dodged as many vaccines while in the military as I could and also withheld it from other service memebers who didn't want it. I saw the bad batches of H1N1. I saw that after vaccines were given the flu got worse.

For those that disagree with me check this out. Your bodies natural mech of defense against the influenza virus starts at the tonsils. It tells the body "Red Alert - Intruder" and it systematically sends out the troops and kills the bug. Easy day. HOWEVER...when you inject the virus intramuscularly (NOT natural) it bypasses the body's natural defensive mechanisms therefore making you...sick! something to think about for those who believe in vaccines.


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## kevincali (Nov 15, 2012)

I'll be watching for the signs, but am bugging in. I have to. I have elderly grandparents that I take care of next door. I will continue to live my daily life as normal as possible for as long as possible. Try to give my grandparents as a peaceful last era of their life as possible. Maybe after having to take care of them and defend both houses, when they finally pass, I wont HAVE to bug out. But I will post here when things develop, so that it can be tracked if possible, depending on "event"


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

vaccines, 27 years the Army sent me all over this world. The shot me up with everything. On some deployments when old paper shot records did not keep up you got some again like it or not.
Had that darn anthrax twice because a medic forgot to sign it.
I have not had a major illness in my adult life time, as a child the normal stuff for my age group no issues. 
The diseases that people had in some of the place were a nightmare. I spent time in an area where darn near everyone had TB, I was test regularly for a long time after that.
For my own case if I had it to do all over again. I would get in front of the line.
I had the Smallpox as a child but due to the threat of it being used as a weapon Those of us that had it before were required to get it again. It was funny to see the reaction of the young medics when they saw your old mark. Because we had had it before we got poked a few more time.
I am old enough to have known people in my life that had polio and saw the damage it did . IMO thank god for the vaccine.
I had concerns over the Malaria pills being taken everyday when it was not a direct concern, there has long been some of us that felt the Malaria pills and other products we used for insect control did not mix, who knows for sure.
On thing I noticed many years ago when it came time for the shots,everyone of the the Doc's had theirs and the Medics too, I figured they we good with so was I.

SHTF, I will be watching Milwaukee and Madison WI. I live in Wisconsin when the trouble starts it will start there. I am betting Milwaukee area first.


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## Ripon (Dec 22, 2012)

I'm not worried about seeing signs, if I even remotely think a collapse is possible then I can be on the road in 45 minutes with everything on board I'd like. Chances are before that happens I will have made an "extras" run from my home to my BOL. Such a run is a 6 hour drive so they won't be done for just any riot or event out of control. Right now I make that trip 3x a month anyway as I'm building on my BOL. So its easier for me.

I do worry about being caught unable to move, by an EMP or something like that. The POTUS coming on and declaring an outbreak bug in and sit there and pray you don't have it, or some kind of natural event that would be sprung upon us in an instant - like I said - I want 45 minutes to prepare the vehicle and bug out. If the vehicle works I have already mapped out the unbeaten path I can take and avoid the first few waves of masses. If I was in a rush I'd go those ways and not even sniff the freeways or even major road ways. I've mapped it out on foot too; though its at least 23 days that way. I did map out two horse properties on the way - a good reason to carry gold in hopes of getting a 4 legged vehicle for the ride out.


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## 9UC (Dec 21, 2012)

Smitty901 said:


> vaccines, 27 years the Army sent me all over this world. The shot me up with everything. On some deployments when old paper shot records did not keep up you got some again like it or not.
> Had that darn anthrax twice because a medic forgot to sign it. I have not had a major illness in my adult life time, as a child the normal stuff for my age group no issues. The diseases that people had in some of the place were a nightmare. I spent time in an area where darn near everyone had TB, I was test regularly for a long time after that. For my own case if I had it to do all over again. I would get in front of the line.
> I had the Smallpox as a child but due to the threat of it being used as a weapon Those of us that had it before were required to get it again. It was funny to see the reaction of the young medics when they saw your old mark. Because we had had it before we got poked a few more time. I am old enough to have known people in my life that had polio and saw the damage it did . IMO thank god for the vaccine. I had concerns over the Malaria pills being .....










except ya' got me by six years, only did 21 plus years.


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## AvengersAssembled (Dec 13, 2012)

For me it'll be when I no longer feel safe in my house, is when I'll know I need to leave.


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## Mudder.Mitch (Jan 24, 2013)

First of all love this topic I've had quite a few talks with friends about this with all different ideas living in northern Canada I think byes me a bit more time than people in big cities if SHTF I think it will get goofy their first but for me when as soon as I feel that communication is about to break down eg.cell towers TV sort of thing that's when I make the call to my friends and that's when I go we have a rule between me and the people in my bug out group if any one of us gets that feeling we all go no arguing or questing because if we waste time talking about it we might be to late that's why every one in are group we have to trust 100% for that and many outer reasons than once we are all at are BOL we can make a plan from their worst case it's a training exercise and we can use it to get better


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