The Colony - Season 2

I didn't really think much of season 1 of The Colony.  The group was too skilled (not 'average'), their surroundings were too stocked, and their efforts were too focused on rebuilding modern civilization (electricity: lights, power tools, etc).  I would think in the immediate aftermath of The End, basic survival would take up most of your time.

Season 2 is set in an abandoned town outside New Orleans, so the setting is about as real as it gets.  The set up is there has been an outbreak of a deadly avian flu, and these 7 unaffected people have been relocated by the government to this location to await further relocation.  They were dropped there with minimal supplies (about a week of food, cots and blankets, some basic medical supplies) and no further directions.  So a pretty good start: BAM!  THSHTF! 

Basic survival needs were addressed right from the start.  A water source (canal) is nearby, and they rather quickly had a fire going to boil water, plus had built a sand and charcoal filter as a first stage to their water purification efforts.  All well and good.

Security was ignored, and the show quickly exploited that omission.  First it was 3 roamers asking for food.  The Colonists wanted to play nice guy and easily offered up water and some milk.  I heard nothing about trading, which would be my tactic.  I'm not just going to hand over the goods, you gotta give me something in return, even if it was just info.

The wanderers tried to explore the Colonists 'house' and things escalated rather quickly.  So what did the Colonists do after they had finally driven off the wanderers (who kept their water and milk, BTW)?  Nothing.  back to normal ops.

So sure as anything, the next day the wanderers returned with about 20 of their friends to take the Colonist's med supplies. Being armed with pepper spray and superior numbers, the bandits got what they wanted.  Seems like the Colonist's could have used a military/security type.

Here's some things they could have done to better prepare for the inevitable confrontation with the Bandits. 

1. I would have dispersed and hidden all my supplies.  Then if the worst happens and you are forced to lead the bandits to the goods, it's just one small part. 
2. I also would have fortified the 'house' by boarding up the windows to at least make entry slow and difficult (so you could stand inside and beat on the intruders as they tried to squeeze through), and had a barricaded single entrance. It's a two story house, so hopefully you could barricade the door and rain debris down on the intruders from the safety of the second floor.  There is plenty of ammo around the site: bricks, wood, metal debris, etc.  I would also have barricades and defenses/ammo at the top of the stairs as a fall back position. 
3. Most importantly, I would have a security plan.  A warning word that is not obvious (like 'Hey Martha!' when no one is named Martha) to alert the group to danger.  Upon hearing an alert everyone would execute the defense plan: rally at the house and take up defensive positions, if possible. 
4. Folks that were too far away to rally at the house would rally at a secondary defensive site, that only had a few supplies for the defenders.  This could also serve as a diversion from the main house.
5. Part of the security plan would be that everyone was armed (clubs a this point), and everyone had the same response: we have no supplies to give; what do you have to trade?; you have entered our house (the compound area), so do what we say or we will treat you as threats.

So after losing all their medical supplies and water bins to the bandits, the Colonist's were left battered and shaken.  I hope they regroup fast, prepare for the next attack, and forge ahead with improving their situation.  They need to gather food before their supplies run out: I would think fishing would be their best bet.  They found fishing gear on day one, but a couple of guys have only tried very poor efforts at cast netting.  I've only done it once, but even I know that you can't just throw a net into the water and expect the fish to swim into it and get caught.  Maybe some weights? A circle net with a draw string?  Or use the darn fishing poles!

So more food.  More and better weapons/stockpiling of 'ammo' to throw.  Better shelter: get a dry area to live in, and water buckets out and ready to catch the next rain.

Once they get food and water stabilized, dry shelter set up and fortified, then they can start exploring more thoroughly, and ranging farther from their base.

But I suspect electrification efforts are going to take priority again soon, just like season 1, and they will be scratching their heads again when they run out of a critical supply like food or water, and the bandits strike again and they are not prepared.

Bottom line though: I'll be watching again.  If nothing else because this abandoned town is right out of Fallout III!

Survivalist? Prepper? Or just 'Being Prepared"?

I don't know how I went down this path, but it was most likely the result of just random Internet surfing.  Somewhere I heard about a 'Bug Out Bag' (BoB, Go bag, Get of of Dodge [GOOD] bag).  The idea is to have a bag (pack) packed with 72 hours of supplies and survival gear.  If something happens you can grab that bag and you got everything for basic survival (food, water, shelter, clothes, first aid, tools).  I was intrigued, probably mostly by all the 'gear' and 'kit' and 'stuff'.  I like stuff :)

So I surfed and surfed and found out there are quite a few websites orientated towards 'preparing for [insert your disaster here]'.  There is a blog called TEOTWAWKI (The End of the World as We Know it).  Some people are preparing for TEOTWAWKI, or for when the SHTF (the Sh*t hits the fan), or 'the zombies come'.  I kid you not (OK, for those folks the 'zombies' are the lawless hoardes that will loot and pillage when society collapses from the rule of Obama and the Democrats).

People have bug out bags, bug out vehicles, and bug out sites to bug out to.  They have a years supply of food and water stored up, they are raising chickens and gardening to be self sufficient.  There are many parallels between preppers and folks trying to live 'off the grid'.  They are the ones buying lots of gold, organic seeds, wheat mills, composting toilets, and all kinds of stuff you wouldn't even think about.  Oh, and guns.  Lots of guns, and lots of discussions about guns.  Not that they are crazies with guns that you need to be afraid of.  When the SHTF they expect to be the ones that will survive and rebuild America/society.  They won't 'shoot first and ask questions later', but they will most definitely be ready to defend themselves if threatened.

I'm not preparing for TEOTWAWKI.

I'm preparing for the next hurricane, or at worst a major economic depression that might lead to (especially in this city) greatly increased crime and looting.  Plus it's a great excuse to buy gear, that I can claim I'm buying for camping.  Except for the guns, which I'm just going to end up getting for general home defense anyway.  Makes sense to me since the neighbor across the street has had his truck broken into and someone recently tried to break into his house.  There are some issues with the anti-gun wife to work on the gun front, so that one will be delayed a bit (plus financial limitations).

I also don't think something will happen where you only have literally a second to grab something (your Bug Out Bag!) and hop in the truck and go.  After some deliberate analysis and planning (most dangerous and most likely course of action analysis, in military terms) I've concluded that the hurricane is the mostly likely threat to me and my family.  And with a hurricane we will have advance notice.  The most dangerous (or more accurately the most likely most dangerous) event would be the aforementioned depression/riots/looters.   Again I think there will be some heads up time for that.

So for me, this is about hurricane preparedness, with some home defense and worst case scenario thrown in for good measure.  I like the idea of a Bug Out bag for all around preparedness.  One bag I can grab and know I'm self sufficient, where ever I end up.  I can also take it camping (for testing, and cycling of perishables) again knowing the basics are in there.  My next level, if you will, will be getting the camping stuff organized and boxed/bagged for easier 'grab and go'.  In the hurricane case, it will be less stressful knowing 'if I load bags/boxes A-D, I have camping gear including tent, bedrolls, cooking supplies and food for the family for X days.'  And finally this is all a good excuse to buy cool stuff! 
One other important aspect of my preparedness, is getting my financial house in order.  We are following the Dave Ramsey plan, and getting out of debt.  I had a sizable investment that wasn't doing much, which we liquidated to pay off student loans, the HELOC, the credit card, and all the other miscellaneous consumer debt we had accumulated.  Plus it will fund the emergency fund almost to 100%.  So within a month of starting his plan, we will only have our 30 yr fixed mortgage as debt, a 3 month emergency fund built up, and saving and investing for the future/retirement.  To me this is all a key part of 'prepardness', because now we don't have to worry about the house and bills if one of us loses our job.

So here's my plan:

1. Build my Bug Out Bag using on-hand stuff.  I've got most of it for camping already, just need a few first aid supplies, some fire starting kit (love that Brit term!), food/water, water purification, and emergency comms.
2. Build basic Bug Out Bags for the wife and son.
3. Organize the camping gear into inventoried boxed/bagged groups.
4. Increase my home safety (fire extinguishers mainly) and car preparedness supplies.
5. Store 3 months food and water.
6. Buy the following guns for home defense and general shooting fun (with a decent stock of ammo):
• LWRC M6A2 piston-operated 5.56mm AR
• 9mm pistol (Glock? Sig?)
• Ruger 10/22

And that's about it.  I'm not going off grid, or starting to carry fire starting gear in my pockets all the time.  Just getting prepared.

How about you?  Does the state of the nation/world have you a little worried? 

Prepare for the worst, pray for the best.