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If The Grid Goes Down, Most Millennials Wouldn’t Be Far Behind #101888
01/21/2017 05:26 AM
01/21/2017 05:26 AM
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If The Grid Goes Down, Most Millennials Wouldn’t Be Far Behind

The majority of them lack even the simplest knowledge and skills needed to survive.

by Capt. William E. Simpson December 30, 2016

If we traveled into any big city in America and tested the knowledge and skills of average people on the street who grew up with the Internet, we would learn that the majority of them don’t have even the simplest knowledge or skills needed to survive for a couple of weeks in the wilderness, let alone for months or years. They likely couldn’t survive even a week without any technology in the wilderness.

Today, we find that most of the people who grew up with the Internet believe all they need or want to know about almost anything can be found on the Internet using a handy electrically powered device, such as a smartphone. And they have become largely dependent upon the Internet for their knowledge base, as opposed to memorizing key information, as was the paradigm of the past.

The result is that many people of the Internet generation have a very limited understanding of science and little to no applicable skills related to the sciences.

This also applies to the world around them and is evidenced by the fact that most cannot correctly answer even the simplest questions, as seen in on-street interviews conducted by Mark Dice and others.

The foregoing isn’t about berating anyone; it’s to showcase how ill prepared these people are for any kind of life without the Internet and the support of the government and business in order to just stay alive in the cities of today.

On the other hand, most people who lead rural lifestyles far from the cities by necessity are able to provide for their own needs on a regular basis. They have the skills and knowledge that give them the unique ability to live in a sustainable manner in remote areas. But these people make up about only about 10 percent of the total population. The other 90 percent of Americans live in the cities and suburban areas.

Prior to the advent of the Internet (pre-1990), people had to learn skills and memorize knowledge, but that has changed. For instance, how many people do you know personally who can rebuild the engine or the transmission of your car, other than a professional mechanic? How many people can milk a cow or a goat, make fire with just the things found in nature, identify any of the stars in the sky overhead or navigate through the wilderness without a compass or GPS? Not many, I would guess.

Of course there are many other skills that would be necessary for survival without technology during a long-term national crisis, such as during the aftermath of a collapse of the national energy grid. And cities would be the most hostile of places to attempt any sort of survival, even on a short-term basis.

Few people realize that if the national energy grid collapses, it could be a very long time before the grid is re-energized — if ever. We could face a pre-Industrial Revolution period (“dark age”) in America that lasts for decades.

Adding to the complexities of attempting to repair and re-energize the grid are some critical facts that are easily overlooked.

The key power transformers that would be damaged on the national grid, for which there are no spares lying around, take months to custom-build and are made overseas. Under ideal circumstances (with power) these building-sized transformers can require months to install if you have the highly skilled people and supporting logistics available at each of the dozens of damaged sites. But many of these people would likely succumb to all of the chaos and carnage post-collapse, resulting in the loss of the relatively very few technical personnel with the know-how to re-energize the grid.

It wasn’t too long ago when many people had a host of practical personal skills accompanied by a wealth of memorized knowledge that was available to them without the need for a device to access the Internet to “look stuff up,” a crutch that is heavily relied upon today. Other than the local library, the human brain was the storehouse of knowledge, and numerous practical skills were taught from seventh grade through high school.

For instance, classes in gardening, first aid, electronics, metal and wood shop, drafting, welding and auto shop were commonly provided up through the Grade 12 prior to 1990. The Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts provided hands-on training in all the woodsman skills, which are hard to find today. The 4-H and the Future Farmers of America taught American youth critical agricultural and animal production skills. These skills are now rarities in today’s American technocratic society, where at least 81 percent of Americans live in cities.

If we envision a post-disaster America in which there is no electrical grid, then the ramifications of that are grim at best. Without power, society loses almost everything it has come to depend upon, and in the process the thin veneer of civility peels away, revealing the savageries of the human survival instinct. Without power, there is obviously no light or ventilation in any building, there is no fresh water coming out of the pipes, no functional sewage systems, no functioning hospitals, no refrigeration, no fuel, no transportation systems, no Internet or cellphones, and only very limited short-wave radio communications. How would the masses of people survive? The simple answer from the people who have studied this issue in great deal is that most would not.

The sad fact is that an estimated 90 percent of Americans would perish within 12 months of a large-scale electromagnetic pulse attack, solar event or computer hack on the national energy grid. So the question arises: Who would be surviving?

I have not written this article to scare people; what’s the point in that? I have written this to help Americans to wake up to the fact that if they fail to prepare properly now while it’s possible, they could be facing a very ugly situation in the near future. Make no mistake: Things could be far worse than I have described.

The government has done little to prepare Americans for this very real possibility.

In the aftermath of such a grid-down national disaster, after it had taken its full toll upon the population, there would be very few people left alive with a deep well of knowledge and complex skill sets. And because of their knowledge of many things unknown to others, it might very well be that these individuals would become the last wizards.

All of that said, I’m not one to just showcase the risks without offering a solution, or in this case, a survival strategy. Here is an article I wrote that provides strategies and tactics that would allow some people to vastly increase their odds of surviving such upheaval.

http://archive.myoutdoorbuddy.com/columnist/Captain-William-E-Simpson-Articles.php?art=10079

Bliss is not derived through ignorance; it comes from being aware and prepared.


"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: If The Grid Goes Down, Most Millennials Wouldn’t Be Far Behind #101889
01/21/2017 07:03 AM
01/21/2017 07:03 AM
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Tulsa
airforce Online content
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Well, my grandkids would, because they were taught how to survive from a very young age. I'm not so confident about myself, though. My health is not great, and without my medication - which would be impossible to come by - my situation would be fairly grim.

I saw an interview with someone (William Forstchen, I think) who predicted that about 10% of Americans would still be around after a year of a grid down scenario. That sounds about right.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Re: If The Grid Goes Down, Most Millennials Wouldn’t Be Far Behind #101890
01/21/2017 09:59 AM
01/21/2017 09:59 AM
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Not sure how much I should care. Cub scouts learn to camp fairly quickly. Drunken vagrants tend to know how to figure it out. West was won by mostly ignorant uncivilized illiterate people and the millennials are ahead of that curve coming out of the starting gate.

I say that whoever makes it through the first 90 days will probably see the whole thing through.


Life liberty, and the pursuit of those who threaten them.

Trump: not the president America needs, but the president America deserves.
Re: If The Grid Goes Down, Most Millennials Wouldn’t Be Far Behind #101891
01/21/2017 12:17 PM
01/21/2017 12:17 PM
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ConSigCor Offline OP
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From my experience most of the millennials may have book smarts but they don't have the common sense God gave a goose. And, I'm not so sure they have much book smarts as most never learned the most basic stuff we all were taught just a few years ago. They've been indoctrinated with progressive bullshit rather than taught how to think for themselves.

As for those ignorant uneducated people who settled the west...certainly the majority weren't highly educated. However they had common sense and had spent their entire life learning the skills necessary to survive. They were taught as children how to grow food, raise and butcher livestock, cook from scratch, sew their own cloths by hand, build a house or barn with simple tools, make hardware and tools on a blacksmith forge etc. Unlike people of today, they knew if they couldn't take care of themselves that no one would do it for them.

The modern generation are too ignorant and lazy to check their own oil or change a tire. Their solution to every problem in life is to grab a cell phone and text someone for help.


"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: If The Grid Goes Down, Most Millennials Wouldn’t Be Far Behind #101892
01/22/2017 03:01 AM
01/22/2017 03:01 AM
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In the Mountains
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I think more of the Millennial women will survive than the "men" - the smarter cute ones anyway.

They will learn once all their pansy men are killed off that they best grab one of us smarter ones who can survive.

But there are also many in our generation / "conservatives" that are just as ignorant as the Millennial's - see them everyday. "why prep as our R team won." They will perish almost as fast.


"To achieve One World Government it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their individualism, their loyalty to family traditions and national identification."
~ Brock Chisholm, when director of UN World Health Organization
Re: If The Grid Goes Down, Most Millennials Wouldn’t Be Far Behind #101893
01/22/2017 04:22 AM
01/22/2017 04:22 AM
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"conservatives" that are just as ignorant as the Millennial's - "why prep as our R team won."
Exactly, now that "our guy" is in office many of them will become complacent and go back to sleep.


"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: If The Grid Goes Down, Most Millennials Wouldn’t Be Far Behind #101894
01/22/2017 05:15 AM
01/22/2017 05:15 AM
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I did that "security brief while sleeping" video back when Trump won. Love that one.

I was correct on every point.

Besides, when the SJWs tore up Portland, I had already bugged out for other reasons. I am probably going to be snowbirding those fucked up winters from here on out.

This is going to be like the 2000-2003 time period again with lots of good deals on survival and Prepper related stuff. Survival retreat properties in California, the bottom dropped out of the market a few weeks ago and you would be amazed what $150k buys in the northern counties. Nice new off grid turnkey stuff that nobody wants to move in to because of the gun laws. Some pretty radical bugout vehicles are showing up in classified ads for less than it costs to do some of the builds, mostly the good stuff like, Jeep Unlimiteds which probably cost the original owners as much as a house in Arkansas.

North force is on to something with the younger women too. Smarter cuter ones will figure it out. At least that's what I am noticing.


Life liberty, and the pursuit of those who threaten them.

Trump: not the president America needs, but the president America deserves.
Re: If The Grid Goes Down, Most Millennials Wouldn’t Be Far Behind #101895
01/22/2017 05:24 AM
01/22/2017 05:24 AM
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I hope prices in general fall, but I'm not real hopeful. If Trump is serious about his trade policies and ignites a trade war, look out. Prices for everything from clothing and boots to binoculars and solar panels is going to skyrocket. If you need stuff that's cheaply made in China, GET IT NOW. even if you intend to by an American-made brand, get it now before prices go through the roof.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Re: If The Grid Goes Down, Most Millennials Wouldn’t Be Far Behind #101896
01/22/2017 06:16 AM
01/22/2017 06:16 AM
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The economy has been on a crash course for decades. No matter what Trump does I expect it to get worse...so, my prepping remains at full throttle.


"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: If The Grid Goes Down, Most Millennials Wouldn’t Be Far Behind #101897
01/22/2017 06:19 AM
01/22/2017 06:19 AM
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Somewhere in these blue ridged...
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I'm a millennial. Most of my people are millennials. I think a solid 50-75% of us as a whole across America are fucked. The remainder will be just fine. We aren't a monolith. A lot of us fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. A lot of us work in the trades. A lot of us are preppers, gun owners, people interested in handy skills. Those of us will be just fine.


Semper Vigilantes, Numquam Exspectantes

Always Watching, Never Waiting

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