Survival For Millennials

Survival for Millennials

People born in the recent years would have very little chance of surviving. Their idea of unbearable hardship is basically what we thought of as normal when I was young. They never have actually experienced the REAL world. They can’t imagine life without a constantly running air conditioner or heater. They don’t understand that food is fuel first and doesn’t have to be a feast. The concept of food as FUN is a problem that is making kids sick.

I’m not sure that most of the kids these days could accept the real world. Most have never really sweated. They are picky eaters and only want the fun foods like fast food. Take away their luxuries, videos, cell phones and computers and I’m not sure that they would be able to deal with a real environment. I’m not talking about a real bad world I’m talking about the world that I was raised in.

In a disaster things will be hard no matter what but for most people I fear that the simple facts of life in a natural world may be too much for them to live with without throwing in the catastrophic collapse of our culture.

One of the biggest parts of survival that prepping does for you is it forces you to think about this sort of thing. If you are serious you will make periotic test runs. Those will allow you to start the adaptation process while not also dealing with TEOTWAWKI.

The mind is the most important part of survival. I don’t care if you can run marathons, dead lift a thousand pounds and are a multiple black belt in several martial arts. If your mind can’t deal with the world that you are in you are lost and the little nerd you used to laugh at will kill you easily.

People need to be able to be at home with the environment that they will live in. That adaptation is going to be brutal at first. At first the heat or cold is going to be almost unbearable. In a lot of areas the bugs will be just awful. Sleep will be hard to get when you are hot, miserable and the bugs are eating you alive.

The thing is, you can and will adapt. I was raised in a place that was HOT with almost 100% humidity and the mosquitoes were like a fog rolling in at night. We had no air conditioning and usually staid outside until it was dark to let the house cool off after supper. We all sweated a lot. People back then had smells. It didn’t bother you. The Mosquitoes were bad but you eventually got so they were not an issue that you couldn’t deal with. Even today I often go fishing with people that spend all their time swatting mosquitoes and being eaten alive while I don’t even notice getting bit. I don’t whelp from their bites. I guess after a while you develop some level of immunity to it.

I think that for a while the best way to survive is going to be to just lay low until the crazies have all killed themselves.

 

I can envision that people in the 45 to 60 age group will have a higher survival rate than the 18 to 30 age group by a huge margin.

 

When our pet goldfish died, our parents flushed it down the toilet. These days, kids are getting therapy because their hamster died.

The overmedicated participation-trophy generation was raised to be weak, not strong.

The "participation trophies and ribbons" mentality fostered by the school system has created the unrealistic view that the world owes them something (in exchange for nothing). Helicopter-parenting contributed to this coddled mentality.

To add insult to injury, prescription drugs are rewiring young minds in efforts to fix "new" alphabet disorders such as ADD and ADHD. Then there's this parade of antidepressants that doctors are prescribing like candy:

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
Serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)
Serotonin modulators and stimulators (SMS)
Serotonin antagonists and reuptake inhibitors (SARIs)
Norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (NRIs)
Norepinephrine–dopamine reuptake inhibitors (NDRIs)
Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs)
Tetracyclic antidepressants (TeCAs)
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)

(There are legitimate cases where antidepressants are truly needed, but not to the extent doctors are prescribing them these days.)

What kind of mind is wrought from this kind of rewiring? I truly feel sorry for these kids that are victims of too much "help."

Back in the old days, most of us learned that there ain't no easy button and learned coping skills without pills to help us. The pharmaceutical industry changed all that.

By contrast, the last truly strong generations growing up got regular doses of accountability, which was solidly backed by example and reinforced by discipline. No longer!

I fear that mental and moral decay will continue to rot the human landscape of the future.


.

 

I think before the easy-button generation melts in SHTF events, they will turn into savage animals to satisfy their perceived needs, which have always been handed to them on silver platters their whole lives.

Just because they are not skillful does not mean they won't be resourceful in attempting to get what they want. They may not succeed, but they are savage in the trying of it. For example, look at the rioters in London and Antifa antics in Portland, Oregon.

.

 

Notice how I said they will be resourceful in attempting to get what they want, and they may not succeed.

We can be sure that based on their current track record, they will act like savage rats and trample anything in their way, with absolutely no remorse or regrets.

It won't be pretty and they will not all huddle in the cities and shrivel up and die without trying to expand their area of operations. Count on it.


.

 

I totally agree. The single biggest "Miscalculation" that advanced preppers are making is underestimating how ferocious-coy-deceitful-savage humans can become.

 

As of this month, there are 7.7 billion people on earth. Even if only a tiny fraction survives the disaster of the century, that's a lot of survivors. Many people, including millennials and snowflakes of all ages, in spite of being unskilled at survival, will survive through viciousness alone.

Are you familiar with long term military sieges and pandemics throughout history? It was never "over" very quickly. People quickly abandoned integrity and resorted to long pork then and will again. Of course, in a prolonged SHTF event diseases will cut the population drastically, but nowhere near zero. People WILL fan out from the cities in large numbers to raid rural residents for food and supplies, just as they have during severe SHTF events throughout history.

You are seriously underestimating survival as a human proclivity.


.

 

If any Millenials are reading this thread, this Millenial-bashing does NOT apply to you. Because you are on a site like this tells me that you have the foresight and desire to survive in a mindful way, rather than go for the easy button like so many people of all ages are prone to do.


.

 

Considering that the UK has 67 million people in it and if a whopping 90% of the entire country died, that still leaves 6,700,000 survivors in a geographically small area. That's well over six million people who will survive by NOT staying in a city.

I hope that you will consider the tragic consequences of possibly being wrong in your assumptions. It wouldn't hurt to prepare for the unexpected so that you and your lady are not caught off-guard if the unthinkable happens.


.

 

All the best to you and yours, then.


.

 

While I agree with most of what has been posted, I would also remind everyone that the U.S Military has been all volunteer for about the last 45 years. I'm not sure where the other countries stand. A huge portion of our standing military is millennials. IMHO these folks would fare quite well in a SHTF situation, and I would probably want to be standing shoulder to shoulder with them.

I have been as critical of this generation as anyone, but they aren't all bad. I'm sure there are plenty that would fit the mold; expecting everything to be handed to them. There are probably just as many who will do just fine. There is also a portion that will be, as Grizz suggests, completely savage, and will survive by stealing from and hurting others. Aren't all of the thugs you see in gangs millennials? As mentioned ANTIFA? Evil exists in every generation, and it will rear its ugly head when SHTF.

 

Those Millennials who are above the rest of the pack are to be heartily commended because they rose up in spite of overwhelming odds.

It would be my (uneducated) guess that a good number of their generation seem to be headed in the right direction. I see some are trying to return to the Back-to-Basics lifestyles of our forefathers and are applying what they are learning from books, Youtube, homesteady-type Facebook groups, etc.

This makes my heart glad, while the other, seemingly larger proportion of the Millennial generation makes me afraid for my grandson's future.


.

 

One of the problems that are EATING America up is that the liberals can't understand that being charitable and fair doesn't HAVE to mean weak, stupid and soft. They passed a set of federal laws that demand that all people be treated equally regardless of race, age, national origin, sex, etc... Then they immediately started discriminating against white men. I have applied for jobs....actually TRIED to apply for jobs and been told that they couldn't even accept my education because they had to meet their "quota of blacks, Hispanics and women. It was a good job so I told my neighbor to go apply for it. He got the job. He got it because he was a twofer. He was black and best of all NOT an American.

In the end, the government has made race relations worse than it was when I was young. Nowadays the police can't even enforce the law on people unless they are white. If a white punk attacks a cop and gets shot it is NOTHING. If he is black you have to listen to endless apologies because he was unarmed. Bull $hit!! If you attack a cop you NEED to be shot.

I'm not fond of cops in general but they should be untouchable just like referees on a football field. The government by refusing to enforce laws equally encourage the people that are bad people to go at it. this wasn't right when it was white people mistreating black folks and isn't right now when they allow black thugs to run wild out of fear of it being called a racial issue. Thieves and Criminals are not a race! White, Black, Brown, Yellow or Red, they are a problem that needs to be dealt with equally and forcefully.

The good news about the young that you are worried about becoming monsters is that their combat training will be based on TV, Movie and Video Games. They will grab the first assault rifle that they can find and suddenly think that they are 7 feet tall and armor-plated. They will stand out in the open and spray and not have a prayer. some old fart will sit behind a barricade and do headshots with his 30-30 and kill them in mass. He has probably been shooting that rifle for 40 years and killed a bunch of deer. He KNOWS how to do a one-shot drop and that is what he will be doing.

I honestly only think that the "Lord Of Flies" scenario would work in a situation where there were no adults and where the kids were all basically soft private schoolboys. You throw in a few country boys and a few inner-city street-wise kids and things would shake down a lot differently.

The people that know are dependent on free rides, and think that they are special and don't have to follow rules are not going to last long at all. I don't see them as being a big problem for prepared people other than singles. Even a small group of prepared survivalests should be able to eliminate most of them. I'm sorry folks but if you attack me I will kill you ALL. If you are wounded all you can expect from me is a merciful bullet in the head or some other form of a swift death.

Compassion will have a new meaning after the collapse. Now you offer it to all. This allows monsters to kill and maim people over and over. In a more realistic world if you harm your fellow man without reason even if it just theft you will need to be killed. If you steal from me what I NEED to survive it is the same as if you just tried to kill me outright.

 

Good morning TexDanm,

Real good essay. My 100% endorsement !

"Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil."
Thomas Mann 1875 - 1955

I'm debating whether to try to explain to Duke in Wales the meaning and significance of - "disparate" - results when discussing America's regularity apparatus. I'm guessing the Mayor of Malmo, Sweden is better qualified than I am to explain American politics.

 

Among the nut-cases who have become mass-murderers a staggering percentage have been prescribed these sorts of anti-depressants, especially the SSRIs. When these folk do not consistently take such meds, they get royally nuts, oftentimes royally violent. I can't remember the numbers, but it will set you back on your heels. High-dose SSRIs then cold turkey = demon-possessed eyes shooting flames murdering monster.

 

people travel far long via primitive methods for 1,000's of years before planes,trains etc. they will again.we see them leaving areas across the globe right now from disasters man made and natural and war.

 

Venezuelans fleeing

 

i deal with a few millennials....some are fine others not so much..i also notice theres several seniors i have encountered last few years that are off the chain.

 

Here are a couple of good quotes by people who shared your view:

• "When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly disrespectful and impatient of restraint.”
• “The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room."
• "You kids today don't know how easy you have it."

The first was written by Hesiod (~700 BC); the second by Socrates (~400 BC); the third by Carl Kunz (1963) upon his son's enlistment in the military.

"...and so I say to you pimps and hos / 'plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose'."

 

Well said: do I have this right, loosely translated? The more things change, the more things stay the same.

 

While I generally agree with most of the sentiments expressed, I do suggest caution when doing such wide spread generalizations. Certainly many Gen Zs and Millennials - the generations currently in the 15 to 37 year age range can be classified as "snowflakes". But at the same time us farm kids are not from the same mould as the city kids. Also with international travel and immigration the 35 year old you dismiss as probably useless may come from crime ridden dangerous countries such as South Africa. Or survived the economic and food collapse in Zimbabwe in the 2000s. They may come from Bosnia, Ukraine, Venezuela or somewhere much better such as England or Sweden. What they have experienced and are capable of mentally and physically may be a nasty or a welcome surprise.

 

You are very right. There is a big difference in general between rural kids and urban kids. Country kids are raised more like I was when I was a kid. You ate breakfast and then went out to play until lunch. People in the cities now seem to want to keep their kids constantly under supervision. There is a good reason for that too. Too many people and you don't have a clue who is living three blocks away.

I remember when we bugged out. My daughter was 8 at the time. When we settled she asked me what her boundaries were. When we lived in town she was allowed to go two or three blocks down the street in one direction. The other direction it was one block because there was a busy street to cross. When she asked for boundaries at our new home I told her not to get on or cross a paved road. That wasn't a problem. We lived on a dirt road and it was five miles in any direction to find a paved road. The kids rode their horses and bicycles all over the place and there was a 13-mile loop that they did a trail ride on with horses and wagons most Saturdays.

The kids out there ran in packs and spent their summers swimming in the lakes and having picknicks and wiener roasts. This was before dish television so TV wasn't much of a draw. we only got two channels and at that, you had to go outside and turn the antenna to change channels.

When kids are not constantly supervised they learn how to make decisions and how to problem-solve for themselves. As far as I know, every single one of those kids went to work as soon as they were out of Highschool and some went to college but none of them became boomerangs that kept coming back to live with the parents.

Urban Millennials never get the chance to make their own decisions or solve their own problems. They are warehoused in daycare and then at home, they sit and play on their game machines. I don't remember the last time I saw a bunch of kids playing sandlot baseball or a pack of kids on bicycles going someplace. They play organized baseball but that is intensely supervised. All of a sudden when they are 18 or 23 if they went to college they are supposed to go out and be adults. They don't know-how. They have never learned how to make decisions wisely or solve their own problems. They always had an adult RIGHT THERE to do it for them. so sad.

 

Good afternoon all,

Don't generalize too much re the Gen Z and Millennials from urban areas. There are many in northern Virginia / metro D.C. w/ Maryland areas who have or are "hunting" for the "log cabin" out in West Virginia and environs.

There are prepper clubs they belong to. There young'uns don't rely on Michelin tour guide books. They're web savvy and know how to shop for supplies. True, I'm only describing a sliver of the metro D.C. population but it does exist and it is thriving......and many are in good financial shape to pick up a shack in the western areas of Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia.

Now, even with this mentioned sliver of the population pie chart, was it any different in earlier eras ? A few are prepared and most are not.

Not much is new under the Sun.

 

NO generalization can EVER be applied to individuals or even small groups. They, like most odds, are only applicable when you have a very large sample. The bigger the sample the smaller the percentage error in the study.

 

Good afternoon TexDanm,

You're, of course, right.

I was following the thread and it read like the urbanites were lost.

I've posted here at msf.com about survival/prepper/ orgs in New York City teaching this stuff...and they get paid by their students who are Gen Zs ans Mill's.

Again, it's less about ZIP codes on the address, whether rural or urban. It's about anything within the cranium that motivates young folks to follow contemporary versions of the Boy Scout motto "Be Prepared".

 

In general, kids that are raised in rural areas are going to spend more time outdoors. Hunting, fishing, and camping are just what boys and nowadays girls do when they have woods and fields all around them. Most urban raised kids just don't have the same opportunities for this that the country kids do. When you measure your yard in acres it makes a difference and when you can look out a window and see deer and such it draws them out.

You also have to realize that people that move or live in the woods and fields and choose to raise their kids thee tend to be more outdoor-oriented. My daughter had all sorts of animals from horses through rabbits dogs and turtles. That isn't something that a kid raised in an apartment can do. City kids have opportunities that country kids don't have but for the purposes of survival, the country kid is a leg up. I bugged out in part so that my kid could have a different life. We had to move so I made sure that where we moved to was not urban. For several years, I drove over a hundred miles a day to and from work so we could do this. No regrets.