Survival/Preppers

The biggest thing about most peppers is that they cannot even find their way to the local grocery store without navigation....much less cook dinner without a youtube video.

Sure. But we can make a raft out of empty milk containers.

That's because a nuclear exchange isn't the rapture. But... the meek will inherit the earth

Yeah, but it's already started (so your friends can already say they were right). We've had (medical) martial law already, but it was enforced by the police moreso than the military (and obviously they didn't call it martial law). However, I think there's more to come. My guess is that it'll happen within 18 months, if not sooner.

The lockdown panic that ensued was educational.

It's the end of liberty. Isolation by government decree!

And the first thing that runs through the mind of some of the locals here? Buy out toilet paper! 😆

Before or after they're vaporized by the nuclear fallout?

These are great ideas but impossible. There is a huge difference in the way Americans and the average English person thinks.

Reading my novel, I am amazed because apart from food, water and fuel, the central family is preparing an immense number of weapons. It is a military preparation. Because guns are central to thinking, it means a bloodbath for sure. I can see the logic but the reality is appalling to me.

This is alien to us English folks. We have absolutely no weapons. I bet the Americans reading this cannot imagine it!

I live in the US and have no weapons; I don't go around worrying about threats under every rock. Not every American has to have guns to feel safe.

No person could be blamed for protecting their family. Yet,where does this leave God's commandment not to kill?
I know there is no easy answer to this.

To me it is very simple; but everyone has their own viewpoint.

The best fights are the ones you avoid altogether. You live by guns, you will die by guns.

That doesn't mean though that when society breaks down completely that someone won't try to kill you over a drink of water or the food you have stored.

There is a surplus of food on the planet...it may not be the food you want to eat but there's always going to be food available. Even when Russia's money collapsed completely and the government was completely broken the people still had markets open (small ones) and people mostly got along. Those who stood out died because of the organized crime bosses...but most people preferred peace.
There are people who refuse to leave Bakhmut....civilians that refuse to leave a city of rubble. No food, water, sewer or neighbors....but they still refuse to leave. Shelling, gunfire, and explosions constantly....but they refuse to evacuate.

I've seen destroyed cities when they try to make a comeback...kinda a joke for decades. Even New Orleans is a joke of a city currently. A city strip of tourist traps along the River is about it.

It's going to be a bit different in Ukraine...they aren't used to government assistance anyway they will rebuild their homes in the countryside. Government housing blocks? Nope....they will stay destroyed.

Yes, what you say you have read is alien to me too. I'm in Tennessee, USA, the place where your book assumes that stereotype is most prevalent, and your novel is weird. Maybe they have never been to the USA? Maybe they have been here and carefully talked to only select gun nuts?

Anyway, what your novel thinks of us is totally wrong.

Panic is the worst coworker. The covid quarantines demonstrate what happens when an entire community panics. Hospitals flood with people. Stores get empty of groceries. Office buildings become empty.

I've moved, but for several decades I lived out in the country in interior Alaska. I had a well and septic system. We'd lose power frequently, especially in the winter, and sometimes it would take as long as a week for power to be restored. It took about 3 gallons minimum of water, pouring it into a toilet from a bucket, to flush the toilet. I thought about building an outhouse but never got around to it. I tried putting buckets of snow around the wood stove but found melting snow to be way to inefficient (not a lot of water for the effort). Also, after you've been without a bath for several days, you really start craving the feeling of being clean. You can use a sponge or wash cloth without using a whole lot of water, but it still takes some water. I used to store water in four 6 gallon containers that I had, but that hardly put a dent in our water needs when power was out.

I just can't imagine storing enough water for a month. It's just me and my wife now, and we live in a row house that doesn't really have any extra storage space... Right now I figure I'll just face the trouble when it comes.

Food-wise, I usually keep an extra big bag of rice, and one of beans for just in case...

Weeeeell... It depends on "need." If it gets down to the wire, you don't really HAVE to wash or flush. All you really "need" is drinking water.

I've visited cities and the crime is very high. Many parts of the UK are the same as the rest of the world in this regard from what I read in the news. The issues we are talking about are not just those of crime. My point was one of having enough essentials to survive a grid down scenario. Public water and usually wells require electricity for pumps. I've seen areas where pump stations go down. Sewage sometimes requires pump stations to prevent back up flow into homes and apartments.

Then we all require food. That is difficult in town. I think that we who live in middle class western societies are used to trusting the systems in place to take care of those needs and many others. I'm just suggesting that we christians should plan for the worst and pray for the best. I'm talking to myself here too.
My goal is to establish solar generators when possible. Right now there are a hundred other projects to do as well. It just doesn't look like things are improving politically or in the larger infrastructure. There is a literal war going on against America. That's something the UK should be able to understand when I read history. Our nooclear(sp) power plants all leak. There's another war on coal and carbon based fuels altogether. A previous president established that and his VP is continuing that as we speak. The food processing plants and some large farms are attacked by arsonists and other military ops. This is mainstream news weekly. You can read all the links in the news section.

Anyhow, these are good times of opportunities compared to how bad it can become very suddenly. I'm just putting the word out to families.

There's a command to not kill as He gave at the end of the flood and in the 10 commandments, as well as other places. That refers to murder as we all know.
There are also commands such as the Lord told Peter in a vision. He told Peter to kill unclean animals and to eat them. This was repeated in other ways as was reaching the lost gentile nations with the Gospel .

I have and use traps. Right now I hope to put delicacies in the freezer. There's tasty meat that is available better than the supermarkets. In a depression that won't be available in most places except to those who have property in the country and can defend it.. It's a tough thing to discuss, but in population centers in particular, cannibalism will be common. The world does not have the moral compass that believers are given.
Perhaps the readers should invest in serious hand to hand combat lessons in weapons use. It might not hurt. At the worst it would get the family fit, bring them close together in a common activity that is really quite fun.
Right now I can't think of anything more fun than husbands, wives and their children playing with imitation swords/ sticks. To children, these are toys and teach physical fitness, coordination, unity, and virtues if you find the right teacher. There are many games that teach skill development drills that have a multitude of benefits.

Thinking of hunting?
During the last depression (and every area that suffers from an economic depression) the wild game populations drop drastically to the point of extinction.
Because no one has a job anymore and people have plenty of time to go fishing or hunting.

May I say I am only on book One of a series of 10. It is well written, not at all crazy. It is about a good man, nice family who has been preparing quietly for the worst case scenario. As disaster unfolds it is about how they cope. They have guns already because they go hunting and fishing.
I am really enjoying the book because it is realistic without being alarming.
I am only expressing surprise because the way of life there in Wyoming is so different from our English ways here in the UK. I feel I am learning a lot from this novel.
The author is a woman and lives in Wyoming, it is clear she has great knowledge and writes engagingly.