(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)
Much like society today, those who have “the means of production” control industry, finance, and banking are like the nobles. Those who run the factories and institutions are like the vassals and blue collar and farm workers are like the peasants. So, thinking that in times of great social upheaval when a hundred-plus years of technology disappears, we could see feudal-“like” societies form out of the ashes. This is not far-fetched. Unlike hundreds of years ago, most communities are not self-sufficient. The closest thing to a self-sufficient community today would be Amish communities but even they are dependent upon outside trade for their industries, such as buggy making. But they are not as dependent upon outside trade for a good portion of their food.
My local community is a mixture of Amish, Mennonite, and “English” (non-Amish). As an outsider, who moved into the community from “the city”, it is astonishing how people in this rural community are accepting, especially if you adopt and practice a “rural lifestyle”. Typically others that don’t assimilate just build a McMansion, complain about a dry well and no Internet or cell phone coverage. Once you assimilate into a rural community you start to learn who does what and where to buy stuff. My neighbor has been great in helping me find and acquire older haying equipment. The point is, in many rural communities there is already some semblance of a self-sufficient community.
For example, I purchased a piglet and my neighbor talked me into having her breed. Come to find out, there is an Amish gentleman who shares a boar with several people in the surrounding area. All he asks is that you feed the boar for the 2 to 3 weeks that you have the boar there to cover your sows. My neighbors, who are not Amish, produces about 90% of their food on their homestead. I stopped by to talk to my neighbor and he and a few of his kids were putting wheat into 5-gallon buckets. I asked where he got the wheat and come to find out, one of the local Amish farms grows wheat and sells it to the locals. My neighbor then borrowed one of my grain grinders. This is what “community” looks like. In order to be a self-sufficient community, in the post-TEOTWAWKI world, the community members must have different skills or trades and for the most part everyone needs to be able to produce a good portion of their own food. Community members must also know where these people with the different skills are located.
Who is in your Prepper Group?
So many times, we see people espousing the need for prepper group members with military, law enforcement and medical background. In my opinion, as a former combat infantryman, this is very short-sighted. I was once told back in the 1980s that for every combat arms soldier (think infantry, cavalry, armor crew member, artillery, attack helicopter pilot) there are eight non-combat arms soldiers supporting them. We should also consider the long-held saying of the U.S. Marine Corps that “every Marine is a rifleman.” Our pepper groups and post-TEOTWAWKI communities need to have the same diversity in trades/skills, while everyone, regardless of profession, everyone needs to be a “rifleman”. Back in Colonial America, this was the basic premise of the militia. When a community was threatened all able-bodied men came together for the community’s defense, regardless of their trade.
Post-TEOTWAWKI Jobs in Demand
Here are just some examples of post-TEOTWAWKI jobs that will be needed to help rebuild society.
Botanists and Veterinarians
Let us assume that most preppers learned and practiced skills to plant, raise, harvest, and preserve most of their own food. The skills that may still be lacking are those that can help identify diseases in plants and animals, as well as to treat those diseases. So, a botanist, veterinarian, or veterinary technician would be good professions to have in your post-TEOTWAWKI community. We should not discount the knowledge and experience, however, of farmers or dairymen who have developed skills over the decades of practicing their trades. One of my neighbors had been a dairyman his whole life, until retiring. He has helped me on a few occasions diagnose and treat a sick calf. Not every community will be able to have a botanist or veterinarian so those that have other forms of knowledge and experience will be the best alternatives for most communities. For plants, do not discount master gardeners. There are other skills/trades that a person with biology know-how can pursue in a post-TEOTWAWKI world, such as a “Barm Brewer”. That is a person who makes various types of yeast. Sure, you can buy a shelf full of books, but a trained and experienced person knows the “tricks of the trade” and does not make rookie mistakes.
Metalworkers
We all know that stuff breaks. When stuff breaks in a post-TEOTWAWKI world it will not be as simple as ordering online and waiting for it to be delivered overnight. Those with the skills to repair and fabricate metal will be in high demand. The issue here is do these metal workers have the equipment to work in a post-TEOTWAWKI environment. Many of the modern machines require 3-phase electricity which will also require a lot of fuel consumption by a larger generator. Then there is the question as to what supplies does the machinist have on hand? When we look back into history all the modern-day machines have their roots in machines that were run by steam engines in the early days of the industrial revolution. The steam engine would turn an elaborate belt and pulley system that would then provide the turning power to drill presses, lathes, milling machines, and the like.
I grew up around a lot of machinists and I remember hearing that a person with a milling machine can make other tools such as drill presses, lathes, and others. The nice thing about steam is that coal and wood, in a pinch, can be used to help generate the steam. Anyone looking into steam power should consider the safety aspects and become well-educated. Many locations still require those operating steam engines or boilers to have government licenses. Another category of metalworker that will be needed is welders. Once again, some welding rigs require a lot of power. The good news is many welding rigs are manufactured with their own generators built into the rig, the requirement for fuel and consumables such as MIG-wire, rods, gases, electrodes, and others will still be logistical issues.
Everyone serious about surviving TEOTWAWKI should be ready to build, if not already have, a wood gasification system. This technology will survive an EMP or CME and can take the place of gasoline and perhaps propane in various pieces of equipment. During World War II, wood gasifiers were used both in the U.S. and the UK to make up for the lack of gasoline available due to war rationing. Blacksmithing, although considered an art form nowadays, has very good survival benefits. Blacksmithing is a relatively old technology. The loss of all our modern technology would not necessarily impact the ability of a prepper group or community to have a forge. There are consumables involved but considering the current cost of things like bituminous coal and borax a blacksmith can stock up on these items relatively inexpensively.
I just purchased 140 pounds of bituminous coal for about $17 and a 4-pound box of Borax sells for about $5, both are very affordable to stock up on and have indefinite shelf lives. The last type of metal worker would be a tinsmith. Once again, tin smithing has been seemingly put into the realm of an art versus a trade. Tinsmiths make lots of products such as coffee pots, cookware, lanterns, containers, candle holders, and other useful items for everyday living. Tinsmithing is probably one of the least costly old-world trades to get into since the tools are relatively inexpensive and widely available. Small metal working hammers and a variety of tin snips, a set of seaming pliers, a soldering iron, and perhaps a small anvil and you are in business.
Better living through chemistry
I do not think we appreciate how chemistry has made our lives better. One job that may come back into vogue is that of the “elymaker” who made lamp oil (some from bituminous coal). You do not have to be a chemist with a fancy college degree to make useful compounds. Fortunately, chemistry is one of the areas where a person can be self-taught to gain a very useful level of knowledge. Having a trained and experienced chemist will be of tremendous value in a post-TEOTWAWKI world. Knowing what items can be used, and the processes needed to make simple products will help a community get back on its feet. When we consider chemistry, we should also keep in mind that a good chemist will be a valuable resource for other trades as well.
Consider a blacksmith who is having problems with scaling or a gardener who is having issues due to poor soil, the answers to those problems may be answered by chemistry. There probably are not as many chemistry labs and equipment in our communities as there once was. One of the challenges that smaller communities will face is the lack of basic things like specialized lab glass and chemicals needed. We should consider having at the very least the ability to put together and use a simple distillation set. The good news is that due to the rise of people making their own salves, tinctures, and herbal remedies or supplements there are a lot of smaller “home” distillation sets available for purchase. Even if you have a local facility that has a chemistry lab, much of their equipment may not be usable after a CME or EMP since it is electric. Many labs use electric stirrers and hot plates versus glass stirring rods and Bunsen burners.
Woodworkers
There are lots of jobs that involve fashioning wood into useful articles. As we already discussed Coopering, or barrel making, will come back since this is how people stored and transported food and many other articles before the days of plastic and cardboard boxes. As agriculture comes back into style more barns will need to be built. And without modern conveniences old-world barn construction skills will be needed. As our cheap and disposable sawdust and glue furniture breaks or we need to build grain cleaners, beehives, or egg incubators, skilled woodworkers will be needed.
Laborers
The post-TEOTWAWKI world will require a lot of laborers. Modern machines that would do a task quickly and efficiently at the push of a button will become paper weights and yard ornaments without abundant electricity. The burden to fulfill tasks and functions once performed by the push of a button, will now, once again, be done by humans. If you have ever looked at old Civil Defense public education materials, specifically items the government recommended you take to a fallout shelter, you will see sturdy work boots and work gloves. The government realizes that human labor will be required by the vast majority of the survivors of TEOTWAWKI. I never liked the term “unskilled labor”. Unskilled would mean that there would be no difference in the performance outcome if 100 people did the same task. One could argue that a better performance outcome could be attributed to better physical performance. Better physical performance, in and of itself, is a skill. Just think of professional athletes.
Cutting wood with a modern chainsaw is a vastly different skill set than cutting wood with a two-man cross-cut saw. Even properly stacking wood requires some skill. When I go to the feed mill, to pick up feed, I watch the laborers pick up and throw 100-pound bags of feed into my truck and there is no doubt in my mind that there is a skill in doing this task. One of my prepper training regimes is to sometimes use more manual ways of performing tasks. For example, I do not use a powered log splitter to split our firewood. If I need to dig a hole I might use a manual set of posthole diggers, a tanker’s bar, and a shovel versus the back-hoe on the tractor. It is rather elitist to think that there is “unskilled” labor. There will be back-breaking work to be done and those who have done those tasks before TEOTWAWKI will have the skill to better complete the task.
The other reason to ensure your community or mutual assistance group has a diversity of skill sets is so that you and your community can remain self-sufficient after TEOTWAWKI. I have read a few Civil Defense documents about post-nuclear war recovery. If you do not remain self-sufficient and you want food (the post-nuclear war currency) then you will have to work as part of the government recovery teams doing tasks assigned by some FEMA bureaucrat. Communities that have skill diversity can keep the free enterprise system alive, which will be what actually rebuilds society.