# Who Survives/Dies in SHTF?



## RedLion (Sep 23, 2015)

Gotta be flexible, resilient, decisive and determined among other things to have a real chance in real chaos....



> Did you ever wonder about the differences in how people behave in a crisis? Why some people survive and some people die? Are there characteristics that we can nurture now in good times that could help see us through bad times?
> 
> I'd talked with Selco previously about who lives and who doesn't in a long-term emergency, and a great determiner is a flexible mindset. In this interview, we go deeper into who can withstand the stress of an SHTF event and who crumbles. Today he shares his insights from the Balkan War.


Selco: Who Survives and Who Dies When the SHTF?


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## Redneck (Oct 6, 2016)

Obviously, luck plays a big part, as stated in that article. I hope I have what it takes. I prep well, have lots of food/seed in storage and am well along in my journey for self reliance. But maybe my best trait is knowing that shit happens... and you just deal with it. I'm generally a problem solver & don't get all bothered when things go wrong. My first thoughts are how to fix it or how to circumvent it... not cry about it. Guess I'm a glass half empty kinda guy. I expect bad things to happen.


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## rstanek (Nov 9, 2012)

We can do our best to plan , but we all are subject to outside forces of which we cannot predict, we can prepare but we can’t predict......


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

If you are under the A-bomb when it explodes your, dead. If you're 25 miles away, you live for a while. 
If you have plenty of supplies, knowledge, skills, good health, a non-lazy mind set, and the mind set 
to actually do what is absolutely necessary to survive, including defending yourself and your family, 
there's a chance you might live longer. If you are in a trustworthy group of like minded people with you, 
you might live a lot longer. Take away any one of these and your life depends on a lot of luck.


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## rstanek (Nov 9, 2012)

paraquack said:


> If you are under the A-bomb when it explodes your, dead. If you're 25 miles away, you live for a while.
> If you have plenty of supplies, knowledge, skills, good health, a non-lazy mind set, and the mind set
> to actually do what is absolutely necessary to survive, including defending yourself and your family,
> there's a chance you might live longer. If you are in a trustworthy group of like minded people with you,
> you might live a lot longer. Take away any one of these and your life depends on a lot of luck.


If your 25 miles away and down wind, you are still dead......eventually......


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

So much goes into it. Long term, short term, causes of the S hitting the fan ect.
Security, without it your are done.
Control your space another part of security if you don't hold your ground you will lose it.
Distance from others, If they are not with you then you want them as far away as you can keep them. Security again.
Courage to take action, you must be willing and ready to act. Back to Security again.
While you move on and deal with what must be done continue to improve Security.


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## RedLion (Sep 23, 2015)

******* said:


> Obviously, luck plays a big part, as stated in that article. I hope I have what it takes. I prep well, have lots of food/seed in storage and am well along in my journey for self reliance. But maybe my best trait is knowing that shit happens... and you just deal with it. I'm generally a problem solver & don't get all bothered when things go wrong. My first thoughts are how to fix it or how to circumvent it... not cry about it. Guess I'm a glass half empty kinda guy. I expect bad things to happen.


You sound like a well prepared man. I like to think that I hold similar abilities to make things happen when they must and not hesitate. Not saying that I would not get wound-up, but that I have been in enough stressful and life and death situations to know that I can respond even if fearful.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

A lot depends on your mind set. Do you remember the Finnish ferry that sunk in the Baltic Sea, with 800+ dead? The survivors reported that many people just sat there, refusing to act to save themselves. It's a recognized psychological response to a deadly threat: people freeze. In a SHTF situation, we'll see a lot of it.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/29/w...nking-of-baltic-sea-ferry.html?pagewanted=all


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

All depends on if your in range and whether you realize it before it's to late.


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

At 73, . . . I've seen enough to know or at least be convinced, . . . the greatest asset is "mindset".

Without the mindset to survive, . . . might as well take the cyanide pill right now, . . . because it will not happen.

With the mindset to survive, . . . just maybe, given the right circumstances, . . . right opportunities.

I preach and teach at my church that the words "luck" and "coincidence" are made up words. Neither are found anywhere in the Bible. But OTOH, . . . if you trust in the Lord, follow His leading, no matter the outcome, . . . you will be in His will, . . . nothing could be better.

I'm "prepared" to try to survive, . . . but I don't know if He intends for me to do that. But, . . . I'm a winner either way.

May God bless,
Dwight


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

rstanek said:


> If your 25 miles away and down wind, you are still dead......eventually......


While it won't be a certainty, most nukes are designed to detonate as an air burst to increase the damage. 
Since an air burst produces little or no fallout, 25 miles away would allow you to use your radiation detection 
equipment to decide whether or not to relocate. If you don't have radiation detection equipment, you have 
to depend on the government for information on what to do. Knowing what the prevailing winds are like in your 
area is also a benefit in making the decision to relocate or for that matter do you want to have a home in the area 
of prevailing downwind air currents. For too many years the liberals have been pushing the idea that nuclear bombs
are unsurvivable and we should just give up or commit suicide.


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

All one can do is prepare as best you can. Have the tools, knowledge, and courage to do what is necessary. Be ahead of the curve in order to give you a fighting chance. Depending on the shit flying, irregardless of need, cause, location, or level prepared, a large percentage will perish.


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## evandaprepper (Mar 1, 2017)

While luck is always going to play a huge factor when it comes to who lives and who dies when SHTF, I believe that the majority of people who are going to live will be the one's who actually have a strong enough mindset to endure whatever comes their way and not give up the will to survive when things get tough. 

Sadly, most people won't make the cut. I just hope I'm strong enough to make it myself.


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## 1skrewsloose (Jun 3, 2013)

Give care and comfort the best you can to the ones you love. In my mind I would not want to survive nuclear war. A painful thing to slowly perish from the Nuke, from what I've read about hiroshima and nagasaki. No real life testimony on such things. Trying to prep for something like that only prolongs the heartbreak and agony. Why go through hell on earth? Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil for thou art with me.


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## TGus (Sep 18, 2017)

Recently, I watched some full episodes of OUT OF THE WILD on YouTube. It's a very realistic survival show, in which a group of 8 people are dropped off in the middle of nowhere, and could take a month or more to get back to civilization. I was especially impressed with one called "The Alaska Experiment".

What I learned from it was that sheer determination was the biggest success factor. There were participants who were physically strong, or had jobs in fields related to survival, or had what we would think of as great survival skills, who dropped out along the way. But, there were people who were physically weak and had no survival skills that made it to the end. They would just not give up, no matter how sick, depressed, uncomfortable, or hungry they were. If you have a group like that together, sincerely helping each other, anything is possible.


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## soyer38301 (Jul 27, 2017)

dwight55 said:


> At 73, . . . I've seen enough to know or at least be convinced, . . . the greatest asset is "mindset".
> 
> Without the mindset to survive, . . . might as well take the cyanide pill right now, . . . because it will not happen.
> 
> ...


Luck does exist...Living Under Christ's Kindness 

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

soyer38301 said:


> Luck does exist...Living Under Christ's Kindness
> 
> Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk


 When God pulls your ass out of the fire it aint luck. It generally mean you are not done yet.


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## TGus (Sep 18, 2017)

soyer38301 said:


> Luck does exist...Living Under Christ's Kindness


Those of us who have given ourselves to God, submit to His plan for us and give God full permission to script our lives. It may be "lucky" or "unlucky", but it is always what's best for us and those around us.


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## TGus (Sep 18, 2017)

I often think about who I'll be surrounded with a year or more into a serious SHTF situation. There'll be communities of self-sacrificing, resilient, and constructive people, -but there'll also be truly evil individuals and groups searching for and taking from anyone weaker than they are. The ones in between won't last long. It will be difficult to survive as a loner, and almost impossible to survive as a loner with ethics and morals.

You might be able to hide where people won't find you, but you have to come out and re-join society at some point.


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## MountainGirl (Oct 29, 2017)

RedLion said:


> Gotta be flexible, resilient, decisive and determined among other things to have a real chance in real chaos....
> 
> Selco: Who Survives and Who Dies When the SHTF?


Whoever thinks they know, doesn't.


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## C.L.Ripley (Jul 6, 2014)

Of course it depends on what we're talking about. If it's the worse case scenero then most won't make it. I believe there is an intangible that must be innate in a person. And it's not something that can be learned or stored in a pantry. You probably either have it or you don't. From this standpoint, who you are now is who you'll be then. I could see someone who's been prepping for 30 years not making it three weeks while some dude who can barely write his own name finds ways to thrive. But there are obviously no guarantee's for anyone. If this event ever happens, something that's going to be so horrific and terrifying that it can't be captured in a book, movie, TV show or your worse nightmare (real life never can) that's when reality will take it's toll. And reality always wins.


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## MountainGirl (Oct 29, 2017)

C.L.Ripley said:


> Of course it depends on what we're talking about. If it's the worse case scenero then most won't make it. I believe there is an intangible that must be innate in a person. And it's not something that can be learned or stored in a pantry. You probably either have it or you don't. From this standpoint, who you are now is who you'll be then. I could see someone who's been prepping for 30 years not making it three weeks while some dude who can barely write his own name finds ways to thrive. But there are obviously no guarantee's for anyone. If this event ever happens, something that's going to be so horrific and terrifying that it can't be captured in a book, movie, TV show or your worse nightmare (real life never can) that's when reality will take it's toll. And reality always wins.


:armata_PDT_37:


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

First off, to quote Dr. Gregory House, everybody dies. It's just a matter of how an when. That being the case, let's move on.

What I took from the article is attitude is important. I agree. Two or three times, attitude was what separated me from a pine box was the unwillingness to die.

Another thing is knowledge. For example, the comments about nuclear attack. Whether it is the "A-Bomb" or the hydrogen everyone uses, now, it is more than detonation and distance. Sure, if you are at ground (or below aerial detonation) zero, you are in bad shape. Still, I will survive a detonation 25 miles away if I am home. As a matter of fact, the area's target is a little less than that, and I expect to survive. 

With the right attitude, knowledge and some preparation, you should survive to live and die. After all, everybody dies.


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

You young folk may never have watched the movie, Planet of the Apes, . . . where in the end, Charleton Heston, his lady, and his horse escape and are coming down the beach when he finds out what really happened and where he is, . . . the statue of liberty is destroyed and laying broken on the beach.

That is kind of how I envision a world after a "big" stuff-hitting-the-fan event. It'll be so far gone, all we can find are remnants of recognizable civilization.

The new civilization WILL BE different from what we know today.

Get ready, folks, . . . it's coming.

May God bless,
Dwight


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

******* said:


> Obviously, luck plays a big part, as stated in that article. I hope I have what it takes. I prep well, have lots of food/seed in storage and am well along in my journey for self reliance. But maybe my best trait is knowing that shit happens... and you just deal with it. I'm generally a problem solver & don't get all bothered when things go wrong. My first thoughts are how to fix it or how to circumvent it... not cry about it. Guess I'm a glass half empty kinda guy. I expect bad things to happen.


I'm a half full guy, I *know bad things happen *or plans get ambushed. I simply am a fixer, I get life back on track.


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