Should we be doing anything practical to prepare for war?

[Jinglejinglejingle7]

Should we be doing anything to prep for war? Not sure we can do much? But scared as a country we are so unprepared.

Nah, it's futile.

Nothing you stockpile will last more than a couple of months - wars go on for years and years.

Better off just getting a stash of vodka and sleeping tablets. Maybe a nice pie for your last supper.

This is a ridiculous approach. We are talking about resilience not last suppers. The reality is that if war broke out tomorrow nobody sane is about to take an overdose and take their kids along with them. Everyone would actually be trying to get by the best they can.

Interestingly I've just tried to do an online shop and water is restricted to two packs a shop (online basket)

The reality is, that if war broke out tomorrow, it would be mainly drone warfar and most people would be evacuating and moving out of large towns and cities, away from airpoerts, nuclear factories and anywhere that could be a target.

You gonna take your years worth of tins of beans, water and solar panels with you eh?

Well personally I don't need to since I live in the countryside so my full pantry and vegetable patch will be fine thanks. In most cases where there are difficulties people don't just suddenly evacuate you know. Where exactly are you going to go?

In all likelihood what we are going to see is shortages of things we import and large food and fuel price increases - not drone warfare.

I have my bike ready if there is big fuel shortages. My mum knew all about this, but she is long gone. I don't think there will be a war, like in the past. But there could be disruption from an enemy playing with the internet, food imports, hidden bomb devices etc. We do live in a dangerous time.

That's ok for you then. Not sure where people in the cities and near militiary bases would be moved to - to the countryside where you are probably if it's deemed safe. Local sports halls, schools etc are likely places to house people.

Not sure what kind of war you are envisaging then? A war where there are no explosive attacks on British soil? No harm to infrastructure or military bases or airports?
Why are the Russians surveilling or boundaries and edging closer with bombers and subs then in recent weeks? To halt food supplies?
I'm being facetious of course.

Of course drone warfare would be used. It's par of the course now.

Ports, airports, main roads, military bases, energy facilities and water facilities - and of course London, will all be the main targets.

I'm not anticipating war (or at leats not one that would see the UK being targeted by strikes). I'm anticipating that we will be affected by the wars that others are involved in/creating.

Most of the world is also anticipating this. The situation in Iran is more likely than not to affect our food supply now.

People are not likely to be evacuated from cities, thats just scaremongering. Even in the second world war it was only children and that was when we were directly involved and hundreds of bombs were being dropped on a regular and sustained basis.

Re your "That's ok for you then" comment, yes It is ok for me - because I take notice of current affairs, anticipate the likely issues and prepare slowly and gradually in advance. We could sustain short term disruption to food chains/banking systems/power supplies etc. Clearly very few people are going to be self sufficient in the case of lasting conflict but everything you can do to help your own situation actually helps everyone in the long run since there's less competition for the available resources.

I learned from my grandparents, specifically my granddad who was part of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen that unfortunately, sometimes, war is necessary. How should we deal with a leader like Hitler today? If war is unthinkable, then every leader, across the globe, needs to be on the same page. And we all know they’re not!

So you are preparing to be ready for how wars in other countries affect us? Like they have been for the last 5 years already?
That's a totally different type of prep.

I was talking about if war happened on British soil. That's what I thought this thread was about.

It's odd that people think war on British soil won't involve bombing or mass evacuations. Every other county at war recently has seen large scale evacuations from huge areas of the country. Ukraine, Gaza, and now Lebanon and Iran has displaced millions of civilians from their homes.

My personal "prepping" is more about long term sustainability and being less reliant on supply chains. I have a vegetable garden and fruit trees/bushes. I have chickens, we have a log pile large enough to last a couple of winters, we have solar power and EVs, we have a good back up of essentials like matches candles etc, we have power cut light bulbs which work if the power suddenly goes out at night and a solar generator, we have multiple water butts. We have enough food/toiletries/medication/vitamins in the pantry to last a few months. We bulk buy things we use frequently including things like pet food. I "prep" for general disruption, whether that is world events, weather, personal financial issues etc, not for "war" specifically.

Practical things : power station of at least 2000w output that can be charged in multiple ways, from £500+
Gas BBQ or camping cooker / firepit with grill etc. Lighters and firestarters.
Solar or wireless chargeable lamps.
Water purification equipment / solar shower.
A well stocked, long life stuff pantry.

More ‘serious’ things, join a Gun or Archery club and learn to shoot / get a firearms licence.

A tent and equipment plus camo netting - only if you know how to live outdoors, forage and hunt etc.
Bug out bags in the car, useful for all sorts of situations - with first aid kit, snacks, lifestraws, leatherman multitool/ penknife, tarp / space blankets, rain ponchos, paracord. Mine is in my glovebox all the time.

Will you be sharing these all supplies with your friends, family and neighbours that haven't prepped?

No. This is my personal household set up borne partly out of just living in a place where we can't easily walk to a shop (well we can but it would take about an hour each way). It isn't some sort of everlasting zombie bunker stockpile. If a family member needed to come and stay with us for some reason then we would obviously consider that but my main priority in any emergency situation is my immediate family.

Turn off the news. All of it except perhaps your local paper if it sticks to local news.

You will live with far more serenity. If shit hits the fan you’ll be in a far better state emotionally and mentally to deal with it because you won’t have spent a considerable amount of time being wrung out by headlines design to spike your fear & anxiety cos that is how more money if made by the media.

Act like it’s the 70s and you have to be prepared for brown puts and power cuts if your inner prepper (I have one of those too, so know how it feels) needs something practical to do in order to be quiet.

I live a stone’s throw from the first place red zoned in Italy. I was prepping in December. Was no better off than anybody else despite my hoard of lentils etc. But my nerves were considerably more frazzled than anybody else’s.

I point blank refuse to live like that anymore. What comes, comes. But I am going to enjoy a tranquil life in between shit storms.

It will be absolutely fine. I recently acquired lots of (very ) out of date tins and jars and were working our way through them. Even tins of mushy peas, which I’ve never even considered buying, I discovered make delicious pea and ham soup. Some of the tins are almost 20 years out of date but the contents have been fine.

My dad grew up in a country constantly affected by wars and sanctions with frequent interuptions to supply chains. His family were well off and had good storage space. They would always keep canned food, rice, lentils, chickpeas, salt, bottled water, first aid things, batteries, bulbs, paper and pens, torches, and a generator. That's all I can remember, I'm sure there was more. For a lot of people in the world that's not panic stuff, that's just normal life supplies. Even after he'd lived here decades he was always a bit of a hoarder and never quite got over the sheer variety of products in the shops.

Tbh I don't think I'd last very long in a real disaster scenario. I've got a super fast metabolism, joint problems and possibly right now a stomach ulcer. I'm not much for practical skills and look up how to do everything on the internet. I'd give it a shot though, I'm an optimist. My close friend grew up on a rural farm and can make anything, maybe she'd adopt me 😂

What if all the supermarkets had to close due to power shortage? We'd be in serious trouble, people would possibly smash the doors in and grab the food.
My local supermarket tills crashed once and they couldn't take any card payments for the day.
If my local shop closed (which it did for a week due to a smash and grab of it's ATM machine) my next nearest shop is 8 miles away, I could cycle there but wouldn't be able to carry much home in my rucksack.
Makes sense to have a supply of longlife food and water in the house.

There was also a sort of folk wisdom that the most important things to have were rice, chickpeas and olive oil. Which actually, if you added some source of vitamin C to that, you could in theory live on it for quite a long time.

I have a newly planted veggie patch and a freezer full of veggies and fruit. My greenhouse is already stocked with tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, chillies etc.

Living rurally we can get most things without going near a shop.

Beyond that there is not much I can do.

By asking for a start where our municipal nuclear shelters are?? The Finns can shelter their entire population.

It might actually be worth working - and fighting for a country like that. This one, owned by America, where all that matters is who you know and how much inheritance you’ll get? Not so much.

There are some good posts on the preppers topic about how to start building up a store of food for anyone interested in starting.

There is a US pepper on social media who has provided extensive advice on how to prep, she recommended people buy items for barter. Honestly if things are that bad people will be out of control.

this pepper has an army of followers around the world including uk.
She argues that your house should be boarded up and look uninhabited as if people know you are surviving off grid you will have plenty of supplies inviting robbers!

I grew up in an era of frequent power cuts doing homework using parrafin lamp. I’ve always had a small amount of supplies inviting case of bad weather, illness etc. But prepping is cost prohibitive for many

Yes, that is palpably ridiculous.

If society collapses to the point whereby we're back to bartering, then it's going to be lawless and chaotic, so barter ceases to be relevant since it'll be straight "might is right" and the stronger will simply take your barter goods from you, and maybe give you a kick up the arse if you are lucky.

Get some tins in.

Meat is going to become very expensive.