Thoughts on Surviving Civil War, by 3AD Scout

71 Comments

1. I guess that as we’ve already had a civil war here in the US and as wars have broken out between ethnic groups or other factions in so many other countries in the recent past, there’s not really any reason why it can’t happen here once again. I’d suspect that much of what happens though won’t necessarily be one political party against another or even ideologically based. Rather, I’d suspect that much of it will be opportunistic looting and violence instigated by those who either just want other people’s stuff or want to destroy what they have. Much of what occurred during the BLM/ANTIFA “protests” wasn’t to my mind ideological at all but rather just many taking the opportunity to loot the NIKE store or burn stuff down. So while those who are funding and engineering this have certain goals in mind, most of the “foot soldiers” just want to have an excuse to shoot people and do as much damage as possible, enacting their video game fantasies in real life.

   With this in mind I’d guess that the focus may not only be urban areas but also wealthier neighborhoods in the suburbs, vacation spots etc. I look at where I live and think that the many hundreds of mostly second homes here, often owned by out-of-state owners that surround a large water body would be a prime target. Resentment of the rich who own these homes and a desire to strike back at them would propel “protesters” to loot and burn. Hope they stop before they make it to my simple modest house that sure isn’t waterfront property! I’m still too close to comfort though to that area.

   We do have a lot of guns in my state although I’d guess that their ownership is quite skewed with a lack in the real liberal enclaves, even if rural, and most owned by those who live in rural areas that aren’t as “blue”. And of course the various mostly imported felons from other states such as NY, NJ and MA who own handguns to use as needed during their drug dealing and convenience store robberies!

   In terms of my own preps, I’m continuing to work on my gun skills as I can and acquiring small amounts of ammo, box by box as I can source it. I have a shared driveway so I can’t install a gate at the bottom by the road. I’m sure if things got weird enough though that my neighbors would join me in erecting one; wouldn’t stop foot traffic but would slow down or deter vehicles at least. Trying to keep a low profile, don’t fly any flags, have any signs on my property or bumper stickers on my car. At the first sign of trouble I’m hunkering down here and have informed my son that he needs to head here as well; less than an hours drive from me.

   1. I agree. Very few on the left here in the US have arrived to that ideological stage where they are eager and willing to die for it.

      Not to take power away from the excellent article, because this can change quickly, if history is any guide (and it should be). We students of history also know it does NOT take a large percentage of the population as active combatants to create a civil war/revolution.

2. I don’t buy the “Civil War” suggestions I hear. I do however believe the left will be continuing to commit more and more acts of domestic terrorism. They will target police and they’ll commit more arson and maybe bombings. I hope after DJT gets re elected the gloves will come off. Hoping we’ll see prosecutions for conspiracy of their leadership and those providing material support for terrorism. Police officers and their families need to beef up security precautions. I have faith in our President, but also have serious concerns about mass election fraud. May God bless DJT, his family and the USA, we must defeat this evil that threatens all of us.

3. Definition of ‘civil war’:
   * two or more groups fighting for control of a government.

   I am the least political person you could meet.
   I have zero-zero-zero interest in politics or politicians… or governments.
   By definition, I am incapable of participating in a ‘civil war’.

   I get the impression the political types believe ‘the masses’, as Lenin / Marx referred to regular folk, would follow their orders to murder their neighbors for no good reason other than a say-so.
   I don’t see that happening outside a small percent of those already inclined because of their innate criminal intentions.

   Those criminals are my concern.

   We operate a small organic teaching farm near the outskirts of Eugene Oregon.
   Every minute of every day, we see — and see the results of — the drunks and dope-fiends testing our boundaries.
   They constantly hike around and cruise-by on bicycles, poking holes in fences and rattling padlocks.
   Artificial boundaries such as fences are no impedance to their moral code.
   They are capable of only one relationship… their relationship with intoxication.

   Regular folk believe in an infallible guide for humans, a set of laws governing a culture.
   What if many people inhabiting a region act as though those standards of conduct do not apply to them?

   How far am I willing to retreat?
   Not far; my back was against the wall many years ago.

   I believe the political types have no idea of the devastation they are brewing.

   Some pundits postulate the chinese will swoop-in to vulture the natural resources of the north American carcass after a ‘civil war’ across north America.
   a: I believe the chinese don’t have any ability to invade or occupy a land as vast as north America.
   b: I believe the reason the north American infrastructure is crumbling is its abandonment by TheRulingElites because the costs to extract resources exceed the value returned.
   The chinese may see us differently than TheRulingElites because they use the equivalent of ‘slave labor’ to make goods to sell to rich Americans.
   After a ‘civil war, there are no riches to envy, no wealth to transfer.
   I believe intercontinental trade will cease, I believe the chinese will enforce their Great Wall.

   How about the Rooskis?
   Will they invade north America?
   Based on my experience, the Rooskis are unusually xenophobic.
   They, like most Americans, just want to be left alone.

   Accordingly, I believe my enemies during and after a ‘civil war’ are the criminals, defined any way you need.

   *****

   How about marxists?
   Are they criminals?
   They seem to be headed that direction.
   The same tomorrow as yesterday.

   1. Marge, while I concur with your assessment that Red China doesn’t have the amphibious capability to conduct a successful forced entry into the US today, that calculation would change should the US become involved in a significant Civil War, especially if the West Coast becomes a battleground.

      If American air power is diverted to other tasks (bombing each other) and ground power is likewise engaged, there will be no one to destroy the Chinese fleet as it approaches the coast.

      A historical note. During the first US Civil War, both Napoleon III and Queen Victoria had sympathy for or interests in common with the Confederacy. Napoleon wanted to expand his control over Mexico, while Queen Vic had shared economic interests in maintaining the flow of cotton to British mills. She also had Canada, a colony vulnerable to US military response should British forces become involved with the fight.

      Canada and Mexico remain interested parties to a Second Civil War. Neither has the military capacity to play an independent role, but either could tip the balance if they took a side.

      1. You mean Kanada was a base for the Armies of the Empire and AFAIK Britain had sympathies for Union food imports

   2. To paraphrase a ancient sage:
      Become involved in your government, or you will be ruled by your inferiors.

   3. Your definition of civil war is not very accurate, power groups in a state could fight each other for other reasons, which nearly happened between States of the US sgortly after independence.

      For other examples look HREGN

4. I think that collectively, the most important item, and the one that is in short supply, is Testosterone. We have a constitution that protects our God given rights and stops the tyrants within from disarming, subjugating and enslaving our people.
   It is all we need, besides the will of God and Testosterone, to repel the tyrants and marxists and return our nation to a Godly representative republic.

   1. That made me laugh out loud. Testosterone is God given to men and no matter how much the extreme Left wishes to erase that fact, it remains. Thank the Lord for brave men who are able and willing to protect their families and this country!

   2. Testosterone provides strength and bravery but not common sense. That is part of the reason that we send 18 YO boys to war; they are full of strength and bravado but not quite smart/experienced enough to be more careful. Every dead (male) soldier in every war on all sides had plenty of testosterone. The difference to most people here is you aren’t 18, if you shoot someone while ‘protecting’ your home the legal system will probably put you in jail. Use your head!!! Your brain is the most important organ in your body. Keep your 18 YO’s in check (and those who act like they are 18 YO). Don’t go fight in the streets, don’t hurt your neighbors, don’t provoke or support others to do so. If you are an adult, especially if you are a parent or a grandparent use your influence to damper down the fervor and to provide wise council.

      1. Amen.

      2. Well said. Fortitude. Quiet and wise restraint.

         Carry on

5. 1) There won’t be a Civil War – most Americans are cowards who (a) are indifferent to what their fellow countrymen suffer so long as they are not personally affected and (b) will endure endless screwing without complaint so long as they get a few crumbs and (c) are largely ignorant of what is really going on – in part because our billionaires own the huge News Media corporations that lie to us constantly , in part because our educational systems destroys any critical thinking during its brainwashing and in part because most of us are too exhausted and busy to have any time to investigate and expose the lies we are told.
   2) Our history is largely a pack of lies. A large chunk of the Confederate Army were too poor to own slaves – they served because they would be hung if they tried to evade the military draft imposed by a small Southern aristocracy that owned the slaves, the politicians , the Southern newspapers and controlled most of the jobs.

   3) But our Ivy League historians have been dishonest re why the North fought the war. It was not to free black Americans – Northern fortunes were founded on the slave trade and 150 years later the real median life savings of black Americans is around $10,000 in 2014. The North discarded black Americans after the war was over and imposed no penalty at all on the small band of big Southern slaveholders .

   4) The Northern rich elites fought the war for two reasons. First, circa 1855 a British geologist discovered the massive Pocahontas coal deposits in Virginia’s Appalachian region. The Saudi oil fields of the day, that coal was vital to the US Navy, to Big Steel, Big Railroad and to the Industrial Revolution in the USA. Northern billionaires took it by splitting it off into a new state (West Virginia) expressly contrary to the US Constitution — an illegal act later ratified by their prostitutes on the Supreme Court. Northern elites collected rents for 150 years from that looting. A New York financier who funded the Abolitionist movement had a son in law who made a massive fortune looting West Virginia coal. A railroad baron who owned most of the Radical Republicans in Congress made a massive fortune from a railroad to carry the coal from West Virginia to a small fishing port called Norfolk.

   5) The other reason for the Civil War was that the elites were tired of bribing politicians in multiple state congresses and thought it would be cheaper to concentrate the bribery in Washington DC. Especially since Washington prostitutes would be remote from –and unaccountable to – the common citizens.
   In that regard, Lincoln did not free the slaves – he made slaves of everyone else.

   1. BINGO!

   2. RE: your point 3. The importation of slaves was banned by Federal Law in 1807. No matter how much money the northern ship owners made before that, why would they go to war more than fifty years later over it?

      RE: your points 2 & 4. While rich men on both sides looked to preserve their wealth and power, it is nevertheless true that both Union and Confederates volunteered to fight for their side in massive numbers early in the war. Conscription was initiated by the Confederacy in 1862, the second year of the War, and by the Union in 1863, the third year of the war.

      1. 1) The point re Northern involvement in the slave trade is that the people funding the Abolitionist movement never cared about black Americans. It was just two-faced propaganda that they continue today.

         2) The Northern elites EVADED combat with the law that they could be exempt from military service by buying someone to serve in their place. When that supply of suckers dried up they imported huge numbers of the starving Irish — and when those immigrants objected to conscription the Federal government put down draft riots in New York City by firing Gatling Guns at the protestors.

         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_draft_riots

         The New York Times, of course, slandered the protestors.

      2. PS The Southern slaveowners were trying to preserve their wealth –the Northern elites were trying to steal a massive amount more.

         Slavery was a horrible system and deserved to be abolished –but the federal government could have done that by simply buying the slaves and freeing them. Would have probably been less costly than the Civil War, far less destructive and without the horrendous loss of life.

         But it would NOT have enriched Northern elites –it would not have given them the massive Pocahontas coal deposits. So reform was never on the real agenda. After the war, the Northern moral demigods discarded black Americans like used toilet paper — and set up their own system of slavery in Appalachia with the company town.

         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_Wars

         And when the slaves rebelled, the Northern elites had their prostitutes in Washington send in the Army:

         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain

   3. PS

      6) Of course, there are good reasons why Democratic leaders want those Confederate statues hauled away and history destroyed. Those Confederate leaders were Democrats. 150 years later, one in three black men have been in prison working for 25 cents an hour and have lost their right to vote due to Bill Clinton’s war on drugs. Note much of an improvement after 150 years.

      Black real median life savings fell from a measly $19,000 in 2007 to $10,000 in 2013 – six years after Democrats elected their token First Black President.
      Black Americans endured 8 years of 15% unemployment from 2009-2016. A POLICY DECISION Obama and Joe Biden made when they cut Christina Romer’s Jobs Program in half in 2009 — but one which the News Media is now hiding. Joe Biden was in the Senate 1973-2009 and the White House 2009-2016 but have you heard a SINGLE MENTION in the news of all Joe he DID in those 47 years?

      As Trump noted in his State of the Union address in February, he has tried to provide jobs to black Americans. Which is why two-faced Nancy Pelosi tore up Trump’s speech in a rage.

      I mention this as an example of how Democrat billionaires treat some of their most loyal supporters and how their News Media covers it up. Of course, no one in the News Media is interested in the screwing that white blue collar workers get.

      Divide and Conquer. So long as the News Media can manipulate us into fighting each other, we won’t notice who the real enemy is. And where the money is going.

      1. re: cotton farming (slaves)
         allow me to drop one term into the discussion: “boll weevil”
         the South was going broke from weevils in the cotton. Another perhaps, half-decade would have seen cotton as an impossible crop, except for on the Western states, which were clean of the weevil, at the time…so the Kansas difficulty (and Kansas doesn’t grow cotton at all well. Too dry and unsuitable soil)

   4. Thank you for that. Current education demonizes the South for slavery and glorifies the North. It just didn’t happen like that and I appreciate someone else restating some of the history behind the civil war. My family is from the South. No one owned slaves, but all worked incredibly hard and most very poor.

      1. I live in the south as well, and thank you and Mr. Williams as well. My family has lived here since shortly after the Revolutionary war, never owned slaves, and worked hard to build up and earn what we have. And just like yours, most of the family have never been wealthy. I was named for my great great great grandfather who was a confederate soldier. The family thought he had died because they didn’t hear from him for so long, until he came walking down the road one day after the end of the war. He dropped his musket (an Austrian Lorenze) on the ground and never touched it again. I still have the musket, as well as his leather cartridge bag, canteen (with a bullet hole in one side) and his small training book that has notes and dates from where he went.
         With all of that said, not a one of the family ever owned slaves.

         1. Wow. What a privilege to have those remembrances of his bravery.

            1. I’m glad to have them so I can pass them down to my children one day. There was a lot of wrong that went on during that war, on both sides, and I think that by the time my boy is older that part of our history will be completely misrepresented (it pretty much is already IMHO)

   5. “1) There won’t be a Civil War – most Americans are cowards who (a) are indifferent to what their fellow countrymen suffer so long as they are not personally affected and (b) will endure endless screwing without complaint so long as they get a few crumbs and (c) are largely ignorant of what is really going on “-

      Calling most Americans “cowards” greatly offends me and greatly disrespects all of the veterans that have served our country from the beginning up to the present time. I would use a few choice words to insult you but that is not allowed on this website and would serve no useful purpose..

      1. I think my assessment is fair. We have seen corrupt , lying scumbags inflict misery, poverty and death upon our fellow countrymen but have done nothing to challenge those responsible,

         a) 4500 US soldiers died in an unnecessary war to seize non-existent nukes in Iraq –and thousands more lost their arms, legs and eyes. Who punished those responsible for that?

         b) Massive Wall Street Fraud threw tens of millions out of work — who punished those responsible for that?

         c) Each of us now owes 14 times our annual income tax payment on the federal debt — something that would bankrupt us if collected today. Our country is being sold to foreigners, our land left wide open to invasion while our children die protecting the foreign investments of a few rich men. Who is punished for that?

         It is one thing to fight on the orders of Washington scumbags backed by the threat of military execution for desertion or failing to obey orders. It is something quite different to stand up to those scumbags — to confront the enemy within.

         d) Our News Media repeatedly slanders and lies about our fellow Americans — who stands up to that News Media and calls for its destruction so that a honest free press can exist?

         e) We talk of our rights — but we have no rights. We can be attacked by howling mobs while police are ordered to stand down by liberal politicans.

         Our weapons will soon be taken and if we defend ourselves before then we face legal attacks and lawsuits based on lies by lying lawyers. We can slave for decades at a company yet be fired at any time for no reason at all if we offend the powers that be — and most of us are too cowardly to even unite in a union to get at least some protection. In part because we know we can be blacklisted for work by anonymous HR calls.

         f) Our nation of 330 million people is controlled by legalistic claptrap created by nine corrupt prostitutes with lifetime sinecures on the Supreme Court. We can elect a president — and arrogant hedge fund billionaires like Tom Steyer can immediately try to undo that vote of 120 million people with the power of money. Who punishes –or even challenges — those billionaires?

         g) We have one of the most inequitable distributions of income on Earth. Our government “of the people” imprisons Americans at the highest rate on the planet. Who besides Trump has had the courage to say that is wrong and try to change it?

         1. Who do we owe this money to? Where did they get it?

      2. 1) Plus , as I noted above, the News Media and political groups can slander groups of Americans in a deeply dishonest fashion — and nothing can be done because the courts allow it. Look at what liberal NBC News did to George Zimmerman.

         https://www.foxnews.com/us/judge-tosses-george-zimmermans-defamation-suit-against-nbc

         Why do we tolerate this? Who stands up to challenge it?

         Why was George left to twist in the wind and be lynched by a Democrat News Media desperate to attack an innocent scapegoat and divert black voters anger away from how they had been badly screwed by Obama and Joe Biden’s high unemployment economic policy?

   6. I think a civil war will largely be a media event, However… we may see…

   7. You know a lot…where do the Edomites fit into this?

   8. I just ran across this book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11173129-the-second-civil-war

      The author’s predictions went mostly unexpressed.

      I agree, in a way with Don , We are already in a civil war, the elites versus the rest of us. Mostly a cold war. A subtle war. A war where 5.56 helps very little.

      Alliances…trust…community. These are the factors that give us an edge.

      Carry on

6. That’s a lot of food on the table bother. Thanks for that, really. Whats for dessert?
   A great deal to digest before dessert ~ huh? Then the hard candy!

7. I do think a big riff is coming. American people are tired of this crap.

   On the gun issue, scopes and optics are fine. But in a real grid down issue.. How many people do you know of through the years who dropped their Deer rifle and lost zero on scope or scope beyond broke? Batteries run out, where do you get more?

   Iron sights are the thing to rely on. Very few times will a sighted in iron sight fail you.

   1. Buy a quality scope.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KstbPpo63KY

   2. 1) I like iron sights but what is not commonly reported is that they are BIG. Front sights on hunting rifles seem to span about 6 MOA and they are the hard to see front dot sights. If you are shooting at deer and want to keep within a six inch circular area at the heart, that limits your shots to around 100 yards. Some guides have argued for 70 yards. Which makes all those praises of 1 MOA rifles in the gun magazines kinda ridiculous.

      https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=deer+hunting+with+open+sights&docid=608009417085748956&mid=36AD445AA3926F56CD3E36AD445AA3926F56CD3E&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

      2) The US military still uses mostly iron sights with the M16 front sight post spanning roughly 12.7 MOA. Which means the front sight spans the 19.5 inch wide X 40″ hight E target at 150 meters and the E target has to be centered in the middle of the wider Front sight post to hit at longer ranges.

      Look at the Qualification ranges on pages E-78 through E-81 of TC 3-20.40. 40 shots ranges from 50 meters to 300 meters with prone to kneeling supported shots.
      Some of the 50 meters shots are at the F target — 26″ wide x 21 ” high. 95% of soldiers rank Marksman, 54% Sharpshooter and 34% Expert. (That is up from 38% Sharpshooter and 10 percent Expert due to increased training. )

      Marksman rating can be gained by shooting at the above large targets at ranges of 150 meters or less with the low recoil. flat shooting M16 plus hitting 2 out of 8 shots at 200 meters.

      This is not a negative judgment on the markmanship of our soldiers but to show the severe limits of shooting with iron sights. 40 year old eyes would probably have trouble making the Marksman rating.

      But, as tuesday noted, iron sights are the ones you likely will still have working 6 months after TEOTWAWKI.

8. Mark,

   While I agree that Testosterone is sorely needed, I disagree that our Constitution is “all we need”. We need revival. The Church in general has lost its “saltiness”.

   As you accurately state, our Constitution was indeed written to protect our God given rights and put limits on Government. Our moral code of conduct, however, comes from our Judeo-Christian background, and we as a people (and as a Church) have left that background behind, replacing it with the poor substitute of humanism.

   Consider this one very small example:

   Matthew 19:9a, Yeshua said, “And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication (porneia), and shall marry another, committeth adultery…” (KJV).

   Matthew 19:9a (NIV), “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness (porneia), and marries another woman commits adultery.

   For 1900 years, the Church at large preached the first position, then for about 100 more years the Church preached the second position, and now the Church has dropped the topic. We chose to devalue holy scripture in deference to the humanistic view of “no-fault divorce”. We cast aside God-given instruction for living, saying that we know better than He does.

   Today the Lutheran Church, the PCUSA, the Episcopal Church, and the UMC are all taking the (published) stance that, “…our embrace of divorced and remarried Christian people did indeed set a precedent for embracing Christian homosexuals who live together.”

   Yeshua warned us in Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

   Yes, we will need Testosterone for what is coming. But I believe we need revival more.

   Blessings to all!

   FLT

   1. Totally agree with that.
      Praise God, and pass the ammunition.

   2. Freedom Living Texan…. you are spot on… we need revival…we have lost our saltiness… the words of I Peter 4:17 “ For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of the God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God ? “ …we need a present day generation of Black Robe Regiment pastors to rise up… we all, as followers of Jesus Christ, must take on the role and responsibilities of the watchman on the wall ( Ezekiel 33 ) …the conflict taking place today is a spiritual war and must be fought with spiritual weaponry…as soldiers of Christ may we put on the armor of God ( Ephesians 6:10-18 ) and may we know who the Lord of Hosts is and where our allegiance lies ( Psalms 118: 8-9 ) …. our children and grandchildren are worth the battle… may the SB family look to Him

9. I never used to worry about China or Russia taking advantage of a civil war to invade. I always believed that no matter how bad it got, that foreign troops hitting our soil would bring all Americans together to fight a common enemy. Not so much any more. In the last 20 years I have seen the indoctrination of an entire generation into the “glory” of socialism. It’s hard to believe, and hard for me to say, but I honestly think many Americans would actually welcome an invasion force of their “liberators.”

   As for a civil war, or even extended civil unrest: again we are looking at this as isolated incidents, which it isn’t. Thanks to the glorious interweb, and Just In Time delivery practices, any small stone in the pond can have ripple effects on our entire system. We have become a weak, lazy nation, with instant access to goods and services. Our technology has allowed us to build mega-cities, with conveniences that most cultures could only dream about.

   Any event could affect our supply chain, or the continuation of the power grid. If the grid goes down, even for as little as 7 days, I don’t believe that we could reverse the downward spiral. No power means not only no water (rule of three’s) but no sewer, no heat, no AC, not even elevators to carry people to those wonderful 30th floor apartments. Not even any power to pump gas so that you can flee the cities.

   I always come back around to the EMP Commission. Their finding year after year was the same: That if an EMP weapon was used against the U.S. that 9 out of 10 Americans would be dead in the first year. Now , civil war might not be that bad, but you have to know that any extended civil unrest is going to affect the stability of the grid. Any grid down, for any reason, for any length of time, will have disastrous consequences for the country

10. Good article Scout. For additional practical info on this topic see the weekly TMS podcast with Fernando Aguirre and Matt Bracken every Saturday. They dive deep on the ongoing Marxist insurrection, community/civil defense tactics, practical everyday survival skills, and much more.
    While whats coming may not fit the textbook definition of a civil war, its hard not to recognize that we are already witnessing a Marxist insurrection which will ultimately lead to a revolution. We should all be ready to help defend against these violent and subversive revolutionaries.
    I think that the biggest threat to your normal everyday way of life will be coordinated attacks on the power grid. Proof of concept was already achieved- look up the Metcalf sniper attack 2013.

    1. HP,

       I read a hundred times faster than people talk… with better retention.
       Where are the transcripts?

11. Consider whether your political beliefs match the majority of your neighbors, your community & your area. If you’re a conservative in a dem-majority community, you’d better double your security or move to a gop area. Same if you’re a dem in a gop community. Know which neighbors you can trust & which neighbors have prepping- related skills. For ex., do you have a neighbor who’s an emt or nurse? Do you have a neighbor who’s a former Boy Scout & knows how to cook over a fire? Do you a neighbor who’s a veteran & thus knows how to handle an AR?

    1. @ Chris

       it might not be as cut and dried as that. For instance, I have neighbors and know other people in my state that despise Trump but they have guns and aren’t running around wearing a mask 24/7. People are often on a continuum and not just all column A or column B. So we can potentially find common ground with some of these people even though we may not support the same candidates(or party even).

       1. I have to agree with both of you to a certain extent. (wow, look at that compromise….LOL) You may not have exactly the same beliefs, as in liking or not liking Trump, and still be able to get along and find common ground, as Ani was pointing out.

          But, overall, in a SHTF situation you will need people to share similar morals, beliefs and ideals if you want to make a go of it in the long run, as Chris pointed out. If people’s basic core beliefs are different it will cause disharmony, and eventual dissolution of the group. That’s basically what’s happening right now on a national level.

          1. @ The Lone Canadian

             Yes and no. I think that it’s worth it to try to forge commonality between people and groups who share some even if not all belief systems. Thus I can find common cause with religious Christians who are politically and socially conservative(provided they’re not convinced I’m going straight to hell for being a Jew! 😉 ) I have found that if we ignore some differences in theology, I have a better fit with them than with liberal leftist non-religious Jews. I also have theological differences with ultra-religious Jews such as Chabad but totally respect them and feel comfortable with them in a way that I don’t with Reform Jews. Yet i also have friends and interactions with some of the leftist Reform Jews who totally don’t get where I’m coming from!

             Years ago I had a Moslem co-worker who was rather difficult to deal with and thought all American women were whores(made him really popular in the office! ). But when we had office parties and we brought home-made dishes in from home, he always checked with me to find out which was mine and that was what he ate as he knew it was kosher and had no forbidden ingredients. So some level of common cause. Would I have totally trusted him? No, but mostly cause he was crazy. But we were able to forge some commonality and a level of trust in the food venue!

             I guess I figure that if the only people we will be able to trust and work with are those where we agree on ALL matters, we will devolve and splinter into tiny factions, all pitted against each other. I don’t wish to see this happen so I try to find common cause with people even though there are often some core beliefs that we DON’T share.

12. The ‘Civil War’ has been ongoing for years now. Many people in the USA are getting rich from our ‘Civil War’ ~
    1. There’s even a shooting war already. It might be safer to visit Afghanistan, than the City of Chicago.
    2. Good jobs and factories have been sent overseas, as though the USA was a defeated nation in a great war. ‘The USA is sending trillions of dollars overseas to pay for our own destruction.’
    3. Besides the Economic War, the ‘Drug War in the USA is part of the ‘Civil War’ with Americans choosing sides.

    Here’s part of the information contained in the 2019 National Drug Threat Assessment by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

    “Drug poisoning deaths are the leading cause of injury death in the United States. In 2017, drug poisoning deaths reached their highest recorded level and, every year since 2011, have outnumbered deaths by firearms, motor vehicle crashes, suicide, and homicide. In 2017, approximately 192 people died every day from drug
    poisoning.” =

    Fentanylc and Other Synthetic Opioids … primarily sourced from China and Mexico.

    Heroin, Mexico remains the primary source of heroin available in the United States.

    Controlled Prescription Drugs (CPDs): Traffickers continue to manufacture and distribute counterfeit CPDs often-containing fentanyl and other opioids along with non-opioid illicit drugs in attempts to expand their customer base and increase profits.

    Methamphetamine, Most of the methamphetamine available in
    the United States is produced in Mexico and smuggled across the Southwest Border.

    Cocaine, cocaine production in Colombia, the primary source of supply for cocaine in the United States.

    Marijuana, Mexico remains the most significant foreign source for marijuana available in the United States, but domestic marijuana production and availability continues to rise.
    *******
    *******
    The report is about 150 pages. Every election for years has been about a ‘Civil War’ ~ between Law and Order and More Free Stuff with a reliable illegal drug supply.

    Living the safest place like the Redoubt Region, is a wise decision.

    1. >Fentanylc and Other Synthetic Opioids … primarily sourced from China and Mexico.

       >Heroin, Mexico remains the primary source of heroin available in the United States.

       Don’t forget where the opium is coming from for the heroin… Afghanistan

13. Good article, Scout.

    Consider this:

    The House that Stood, Michael Boldea

    Posted June 2012

    Since I heard through the grapevine that a friend’s church was taking a few days of fasting, (and since all of the Hand of Help staff go to this church, and I knew there would be very little risk of them calling and asking if I wanted to go to lunch if they were all fasting), I decided I would join in, and fast along with everyone else.

    Maybe it’s just me, but I always feel odd trying to explain the fact that I’m fasting to someone who calls and invites me to lunch or dinner. On the one hand, I feel like I’m bragging about something we ought not to publicly declare we are doing, and on the other hand I feel like I’m making the individual feel bad about not fasting themselves.

    I have always found fasting to be a great bringer of clarity, and given the times and the seasons that are upon us, who among us couldn’t use a little more clarity?

    The first day of the fast, I had picked my brother Sergiu up from the airport in Chicago, brought him home, and gone to bed, when I had a dream.

    I dreamt I was walking down a street, but to the left and the right of me everything was utterly destroyed. If not for the foundations sticking out of the earth, one would not have known anything had once stood there.

    I have seen the aftermath of earthquakes while living in California in the eighties, I have likewise seen the aftermath of tornadoes live and in person, and this looked like neither of the two. The best way I can describe it, is that the entire street seemed to have been razed. From trees, to homes, to fences, everything had been flattened and annihilated.

    The street curved to the left, and as I followed it turning the corner, I was surprised to see a house standing a couple hundred yards ahead of me on the right. There was nothing special about the house. A single story home, with a porch and a porch swing, once painted white by what I could gather, but having taken on a charred look.

    I quickened my pace, as even in my dream this seemed odd and surreal, and as I approached the house I heard what could only have been prayer coming from inside.

    This was no typical prayer. It was passionate, and fervent, and the only time I remember having heard prayer like this, is when we would have prayer nights in our home in Romania during the Communist occupation.

    This was anything but a restrained prayer gathering, and the voices coming from inside the house were praising God, and giving glory to Him.

    I stood just short of the front step, and listened to the prayers coming from within the house, until in my dream, I woke up.

    As I awoke from my dream within a dream, the man I have grown accustomed to seeing was standing at the foot of my mattress.

    ‘Do you understand what you’ve just seen?’ he asked without prelude.

    ‘I believe I do’ I answered somewhat confidently. The man gave me a look one might give to a slowwitted individual and said, ‘perhaps in part’, then reached out and touched my shoulder.

    Suddenly I was back on the same street, and I realized this only because of the house with the porch swing, now a pristine white. It was the only thing that was the same as in my previous dream, because now there were trees, and homes, up and down the block. It looked and sounded like a typical neighborhood, but above the din of chirping birds and barking dogs, I could hear prayer coming from inside the home with the porch swing. It was the same kind of fervent, passionate prayer I had heard on the previous occasion. I strained to hear what they were praying for, but I could only hear snippets from time to time. As I made to climb the first of three steps, I was back in my bed, with the man standing patiently by my mattress.

    ‘Now you understand’, he said, ‘tell them not to fear, but to draw close to the Father in whom is shelter from the storm, and protection from destruction.’ I then woke up, disoriented, wondering for a while if this was yet another dream within a dream. Realizing that it was not, I knelt beside my mattress and started to pray.

    I have not released a dream or a vision in two years, and if not for the specific instruction ‘tell them’ I would have been hesitant in releasing this dream as well. As I explained in a recent radio interview, the reason why I have not released any visions or dreams is because many within the household of faith have become, for lack of a better term, prophecy junkies. At every gathering, at every meetings, there is always the inevitable ‘what’s the Lord been showing you lately’, as though He hasn’t shown us enough, or as though His word is not clear enough.

    I specifically asked permission of God to withhold what He was showing me for a season, and have single-mindedly focused on preaching Christ, and Him crucified wherever I was asked to preach, because our safety, our shelter, and our protection is in Christ Jesus our Lord, Savior and King.

    Our refuge, our shelter, our place of safety is not a geographical location; it is in the arms of Jesus, in the will of God, in fellowship and intimacy with Him. If we are walking in the will of the Father, then we have nothing to fear. If we are being obedient to His word, His guidance, and His leading, then wherever He will guide us will be a safe place, and wherever He will lead us will be a place of shelter. Our safety is found in obedience. If God has told you to go to a certain place, then do as He has commanded. If however God has not spoken, then be at peace where you are, for God is able to protect you in the midst of the storm.

    It is time to draw closer to God than ever before, to come before Him in prayer, and fasting, in righteousness, and purity of heart. The day draws near when we will behold the miracle working power of our God firsthand, when we will see what our God can do, and glory in His omnipotence.

    Psalm 18:25-30, “With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; with a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; with the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the devious You will show yourself shrewd. For You will save the humble people, but will bring down haughty looks. For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by You I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.”

    Psalm 25:4-5, “Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.”

    With love in Christ,
    Michael Boldea Jr.

    https://www.handofhelp.com/vision_59.php

    _____

    The “house” that will stand will be the one that sees we are in a spiritual battle first and foremost: spiritual warfare against the demonic and the occult driving the current conflicts – the forces that want us to be roadkill on their way to establishing the kingdom of the Antichrist.

    Do what you know to do. Our hope is in God, who will send us supernatural aid in these dark days through our life-giving connection in Jesus, thanks to His cross and resurrection!

    1. Amen.
       Thank you for that.

    2. ShepherdFarmerGeek,

       Thank you for encouraging us.

       Tears fell down my face because I felt blessed.

       May our Father bless you for being His faithful servant.

       “He who refreshes others will he himself be refreshed.”

       Krissy

14. Very glad to see this article, as I was thinking along the same lines as early as 2017 when Antifa activity in the United States began rearing its ugly head in Portland. It was then that I realized another Civil War in the United States was possible. I began noticing articles that have been published more recently in major mainstream news outlets that have solidified my belief that the potential for Civil War is rising rapidly, and may in fact be the plan of the Globalists in order to bring in the blue helmets (UN ‘peacekeeping’ troops) to further what we have all known for years was their goal: the dissolution of nation-states in the West and the institution of the ‘New World Order’ or ‘One World Order’ under the direction of the Globalists and UN. A neo-feudal, totalitarian, world surveillance state nightmare.

    I bought Selco’s first book and could not put it down. It is a treasure of survival information in terms of gear considerations as well as a window into the tremendous psychological toll the civil war had on the populace. In one instance Selco mentions a shell-shocked man he knew who, after the war, one day simply walked down a river bank, got into the water, and just floated away and drowned himself. I also purchased Selco’s second book, and am reading through it now.

    Over and above the standard prepping I had been doing for nearly a decade in anticipation of a hyperinflation scenario, I have added the following items and taken additional steps to fortify my prepping after reading Selco:

    1. Lightweight Gstove that may be used to burn wood, furniture, and scrap lumber indoors for heating. It includes pipes that may be routed out the window if you do not have a wood-burning fireplace. These stoves are produced in Norway where it is extremely cold — these people know what they are doing. I purchased this based on Selco’s mention that people were freezing to death in the winter and tearing apart houses to burn the lumber, not only during the Balkan Wars, but also during WWII in Yugoslavia due to lack of heat. This stove has many accessories/attachments available that allow for routing exhaust, boiling water, cooking, etc.

    https://www.gstove.com/

    2. A Big Berkey Water Filter. I already have a smaller filter for a bug-out bag, but larger Berkeys can use multiple filters and process a very large amount of water and can be used as a base camp filter for multiple people. Since it is gravity-fed, you won’t be wasting valuable energy manually pumping a smaller hand-held water filter.

    https://theberkey.com/products/crown-berkey-water-filter?variant=16462729927

    3. Civil Defense Manual. An excellent update by Jack Lawson to his previously published ‘A Failure of Civility’, and includes an excellent discussion of neighborhood security considerations complete with maps and diagrams. This is now a 2-book set.

    https://civildefensemanual.com

    4. Increased OPSEC: Pre-paid no-contract burner phone and wi-fi hotspot with removeable batteries. Tor browser. Linux operating system. Anonymous encrypted email. Read the books below. You will learn.

    https://inteltechniques.com/book7.html

    https://www.amazon.com/Art-Invisibility-Worlds-Teaches-Brother/dp/0316380520/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=9780316380522&qid=1602342673&sr=8-1

    1. Chris,

       I liked your comments because they coincide with mine. I anticipate a Civil War but it won’t be like the last one with distinguishing uniforms, etc…

       There likely will be skirmishes, a need for home/neighborhood protection and preparation for shortage of goods and services. And folks better have a plan to remove themselves from their dwelling in an extreme situation. Just being homebound and worrying will be enough to do some people in so don’t count on everyone pitching in to help.

       The biggest daily concern may be obtaining food and supplies because a simple trip to the grocery might be fraught with attackers, snipers, etc…

       Aside from establishing local protecton with a few like minded TRUSTWORTHY individuals, our main hope will be that the majority of our government will be on our side ….. something that might be questionable after the election.

       All readers remember, it is the communists that have been undermining us for decades and they will not stop unless they are stopped.

    2. The ‘Made in Norway’ gstoves are Cadillac Stoves. Ready Resources at the link here at SurvivalBlog has stoves for much less money; similar stoves to the gstoves. The gstoves seem to be extraordinary high quality, though. [Lifetime guarantee.]

       Most places in the USA require a spark arrestor on the chimney. … An actual Wind Cap for a stove is useful too. I’ve found a damper to fit within the 4″ chimney pipe to be very useful. The gstove seems to have a regulator for the air supply in the firewood door. The cap on the gstove chimney pipe is called a ‘rain cap’ ~ NOT a wind cap.

       And, yes I’ve used the small camping-tent stoves. The heavy ones are too heavy for almost everyone. … Ready Resources has a number of different types. (make a multi search] Some States regulate the type of wood stoves available.

       A person needs a quality long lasting stove. The Made in USA wood stoves are good quality too; like the Norway gstove.
       Check out the stoves at Ready Resources. Make sure you have a safe and stable stove.
       Cheap stoves made on the other side of the Pacific Ocean can rattle apart; the iron cracks with usage. There are reviews on the Internet.

15. Pax Americana is clearly in the Age of Decandence (http://people.uncw.edu/kozloffm/glubb.pdf, page 24) and will continue to decline.

    Regardless of who wins the election, we will not be getting back to normal next year, although a continuation of the current administration buys us more time.

    Next year, we will feel the economic effects of the loss of productivity and mass expenditures.

    Will we have a peaceful decline and decentralization, probably not…

    All we can do is follow the author’s recommendations, try to make a difference at the local level, to help ourselves and do what we can for others.

    Forget the frivolous things and focus on what is important…

    Just because you don’t like civil war, doesn’t mean it doesn’t like you…

16. Picture a school bus headed down hill, four or five( or more) fractious groups of teenagers high on testosterone getting into a series of fights. The cheerleaders are on the side lines cheering them on.(they don’t care who wins). There will be no winners, only the losers with the least lost. Someone turns on competing music of hard rock and rap. All the while the driver(Trump) is trying to steer a bus downhill without brakes while being hit on the head with everything from the constitution to the bible to the book of marx.
    At the very beginning, as things come apart, I fear it will be a maelstrom of groups pounding on each other and only later will there be lines drawn.
    While all that is thrashing its way through society, it would be an ideal time to set the hackers of the world loose. The turmoil would be excellent cover to shut down the power grid, turn all street lights red, denial of service to 911, EBT card failure and if they were careful, make it look like it was planned by the government.
    As the woodpile report said “Stay away from crowds.”

    Sorry to be so negative.

    1. It’s not really negative to express a worst case scenario. I think it’s realistic.

17. I am so impressed by all your many thoughtful comments. Like all outcomes, I think it will not be what we expect to happen, but the unexpected, which we try in our minds prepare for as best we can. In our community, we are mostly conservative, rural, Bible-believing, gun-toting and somewhat, only somewhat, isolated. Fortunately, there are limited roads and access points. I do see all sides in this area coming together, regardless of polictics, to ward off a greater menace of outside forces, whom I would imagine to be apolitical opportunists bent on theft and destruction, WROL. I could see grocery stores being looted more out of fear by locals long before the “bad guys” showed up. Drawing on simple examples like ice storms, power outages, sickness et cetera in the past, I think the folks seem very cooperative. However, in a long, drawn-out event of many years of grinding poverty, cold and hunger, all bets are off, even as to how we ourselves would act. I have never prayed as fervently in my life: in Your wrath, remember mercy, as well as many other prayers of cover for us all. Evil has been unleashed.

    1. And we always have to remember that we don’t necessarily get TSHTF scenario of our choice or the one we prepped for! I myself was doing a fair amount of whining early on about how I absolutely hated the whole Covid thing as it’s effect was to separate people, families and communities such that people were fearful of coming together. We get what we get I suppose!

18. This YouTube channel is a collection of war stories by a veteran. Much to be learned here.

    Rhodesian War Stories:
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7QDyq9QbJxEC2zN_41ETBg

    1. As I have noted before, Rhodesia would have done a lot better if they had sent the Selous Scouts after the rich men in London funding Mugabe and the insurgency rather than chasing low value targets in the bush.

19. Great article Scout.
    I agree with your assessment on most everything and our preparations are mirrored.
    As for sides it’s definitely not a 2 sided ordeal, even now, though it could morph into solids eventually as the Balkans did.
    As for the VFW etc I don’t believe there will be a significant role for a variety of reasons.
    I know most of us don’t want it, don’t wish it but like others I’m feeling it. I guess we will see soon enough.
    Y’all stay safe.

20. Quote: Will local District Attorneys and Judges release “protesters” who share their political ideologies right back out onto the streets?

    And will they persecute you for defending yourself, your family and your community?

    You’d be surprised how many counties I now avoid in my travels because of this.

21. One of the longest occupied countries presently occupied is the American South. More than twice as long as US occupation of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

    The inability of the Federal Government to maintain the occupation and enforce edicts to the states is how the US “as we know it” will end.

    There are certain states which will end the breakdown of street society very quickly. We know those states.

    The former Confederate states will do well without their New England masters such as Mitt Romney.

    Other states will naturally gather in compacts and treaties. Foreign enemies know the successful states will always band together against a common enemy.

    The communists are only prospering under the permissive ground rules that will quickly be eliminated.

    The result will be a new order in America embracing states rights, individual liberty, self reliance, and God.

    The blue, failed states will remain failed. They will not be a threat to the successful states.

22. Theoden: I will not risk open war.

    Aragorn: Open war is upon you whether you would risk it or not.

    1. Great quote. I remember the scene vividly.

23. I’ve long thought the late Jerry Ahern painted a solid picture of what another American civil war might look like in his DEFENDER series. Gangs, supported by outside entities, becoming more and more powerful. Police cracking down on citizens protecting themselves, limiting their freedoms, rather than going after criminals. Domestic Marxist terrorist organizations conducting attacks and disturbances in large urban areas, then later attempting to portray themselves as a legitimate political movement. And career politicians and Deep Staters taking advantage of the situation to tighten their grip on power. Gosh, sound familiar?

    Granted Ahern certainly engaged in some unrealistic combat scenes, and a lot of his works contained a significant level of “gun porn”. But the overall threat depiction seems fairly prescient.

24. Thank you, 3AD Scout! I am just now catching up on my SB reading, and wanted to send a message of appreciation for your thought provoking article — and the interesting discussion that flowed forth following its publication. One of the thoughts that has come to me over and over again is that we may believe we’ve covered all disaster contingencies, but we must consider the possibility that there are gaps in our thinking — and that those will transfer through to our planning. A question each of us should ask… Where might we have “blind spots”?

25. Don Williams Gets It. Thanks for all the veritas, brother.

26. Bill Buppert retired career Army officer was absolutely correct when he said, “The only just war is one fought on your soil to defend your own soil from invasion.”

    The last just war fought by Americans on their own soil was by Americans of the sovereign Confederate States of America in the War of Northern Aggression.

    Americans enjoyed their greatest Liberty under the Articles of Confederation and common law. There was no federal government, no Constitution and no political parties. Yet the States defeated the mightiest military in the world.

    Think new borders and new republics. Prepare for a war of aggression waged on your soil. But I for one have zero interest in fighting on and for blue soil. Let them live off what they produce.

    1. Montana Guy, It is good to read your comments. I especially like your last line.

27. Interesting read. And historically the anarchist, socialist and the rest of their ilk will attack soft targets first.

    Spearhead!

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