this story is quality worth sharing
A Year In Hell
From Selco:
OK, i wanna share with you my own experience.
(be patient with my English, i am from far away )
I am from Bosnia, and as some of you may know
it was hell here from 92-95, anyway, for 1 whole
year i lived and survived in a city of 50 000- 60
000 residents WITHOUT: electricity, fuel,running
water,real food distribution, or distribution of any
goods, or any kind of organized law or
government.The city was surrounded for 1 year
and in that city actually it was SHTF situation.
We did not have organized army or police force,
there was groups of defenders, actually anybody
who had a gun, fight for his own house and his
own family.
Some of us was better prepared, but most of
families had food for couple of days, some of us
had pistol, few owned AK-47 when all started.
Anyway, after one month or two, gangs started
with their nasty job,hospital looked like butchery,
police force vanished, 80 percent of hospital staff
gone home.
I was lucky, my family was big in that time (15
members in one big house, 5-6 pistols, 3
Kalashnikov s) so we lived and survived, most of
us.
I remember US Air force dropped MRE every 10
days (god bless USA for that) as help for
surrounded city, it just was not enough.Some of
houses had little gardens with some vegetables,
most did not.
After three months rumors started abouth first
deaths from starvation,deaths from low
temperatures, we stripped every door , window
frame from abandoned houses for heating, i
burned all my own furniture for heating, lot of
people died from diseases, mostly from bad water
(two of my family members), we used rain water
for drink, several times i ate pigeons, once i ate
rat.
Money did not worth sh..
we traded things, black market worked, few
examples: for 1 corned beef can you could have
woman for couple of hours(sounds bad, but it
was reality) i remember, most of that womans
were just desperate mothers, candles,
lighters,antibiotics,fuel,batteries, rifle ammo and
of course food, we fight like animals for that.
In situation like that lot of things change, most
of people turned to monsters, it was ugly.
Strength was in the numbers, if you were alone in
the house, you ve been probably robbed and
killed, no matter how well armed.
Anyway, war ended, again thanks to America (and
again god bless USA for that)
It is not important witch side had right in that
war.
It was almost 20 years ago, but believe me, for
me it was just like yesterday, i remember
everything, and i think i learned a lot.
Me and my family are prepared now,i am well
armed, stocked and educated.
It is not important what going to happen,
earthquake,war, tsunami,aliens terrorists,
important thing is that something gonna be.
And from my expirience, you can not survive
alone, strength is in the numbers, be close with
your family, prepare with them, choose your
friends wisely and prepare with them too.
And at the end, this is my first post, and my
English is not so good, so don t judge me too
hard. ”
Q: How did you get around safely?
Actually city was broken in something like lot of
street communities, in my street (15 or 20
houses) we organized patrols (5 armed man every
night) to watch on gangs or enemies.
We traded things between people in that street, 5
miles from my street there was one street with
something like organized traders, but it was to
dangerous to go there, it worked only during the
nighttime (during the day it was sniper alley) and
you had more chance to be robed there than to
trade, i used that street only 2 times, and belive
me, only when i am really need something bad.
Q: What about wood? It looked like there are
many forests around your city, why did you have
to burn doors and furniture?
First, thank you for your questions, i did not
expect this amount of interest for my post.
I ll be glad to share lot of things with you guys
beecause i want to learn lot of things from you.
Anyway:
Bosnia have lot of woods and forests when you
check map, but i lived in city closer to the
croatian border, more to the south, i don t want
to mention name of the city, but if you check
map, south part of my country closer to croatia
is all in rock.
Yes we had some trees in my city, parks, fruit
trees, but most of the city is building and
houses” but belive me all trees in the city is going
to be burned very fast when you dont have
eletricity for cooking and heating. After that all
what you have is furniture, doors, wooden floors…
(and belive me that stuff is burning too fast)
There was almost no car use in town because:
most of the roads jammed with ruins, abandoned
cars, destroyed houses stuff like that, and petrol
was like gold.
If i needed to go somewhere i almost always
used night time, never go alone but also never go
in big group (2-3 man maybe), always armed,
very fast, always in shadows, trough ruins, rarely
openly on the street, actually always hiding.
We did not have suburbs and farmers, in suburbs
were enemy army, we were surrounded with
enemy army, and inside town you did not know
who is your enemy.
And yes, there were organized groops of gangs,
10-15 people, sometimes even 50, but also there
were normal people like you and me, fathers,
granddads, decent folks, who robed and killed,
there was not too much good and bad guys,
most of us was gray, ready for everything.
Q: Did you prep and what kind of skills did you
need?
Of course you can ask.
We use what we had, we was not prepared for
that situation,we did not know for prepping.
So you can imagine in some aspects we go back
in stone age, actually in most of .
We just used everything what we had, one
example, i had in my propan(or butan i am not
sure) stowe big bottle, cylinder (i am not sure is
that right word), and i did not use it for cooking
or heating, it was to valuable, i manage to built
(fix) that bottle with my friend so i can attach a
hose on some kind of ventil (sorry my english is
going down here) so i can fill those disposable
lighters,(they are not disposable if you knowhow
to) those lighter worth a small fortune.
To make story short, somebody bring me empty
lighter to me and i fill that lighter with gas,
usually i took one can for that or one candle or
whatewer he can offer me.
I hope you understand my example, my english is
poor on some things.
one more example, i am a registered nurse, in
time like that, my knowledge was my thing for
trade.
And yes, be trained and educated, in times like
that it worth a fortune if you know how to fix
things, all your goods is going to be exhausted
one day, but your specific knowledge can be your
food.
I mean learn to fix things (shoes or people,
whatewer you can)
My neighbor use to know how to make some
kind of oil for oil lamps( oil in glass, peace of
rope) and he was not hungry, he never show me
how he made that oil ”
i belive he use some tree behind his house and
small amount of disel, i don t know.
My point is learn things, people always need
somebody who know to fix things.
It was not survival movie, it was ugly, we did
what we have to do to survive.
Nobody wins, we just survived, with a lot of bad
dreams.
Q: Wasn’t it religious, the war?
Sorry man wrong info, that was not Cristian vs
Muslim war, it was civil war, with lot of
switching between sides.
And sorry i am not to go in to the politics, i dont
care to much for that, i am not going into
religious stories, i mean i believe in God as higher
power, and I am trying to live by his laws, i am
not belong to any dogma, Muslim or Christian.
Q: Who was your support group?
My group was only my family, my blood (relatives
like uncles, grandmother…), in my street and in my
town trips i had some close friends, but my best
friends was my family. I never take stranger in my
close group.
Q: If you had three months to prepare today,
what would you do?
If i have extra three months to prepare?
Hmmm, probably run overseas
Joke
OK, Now i am very well aware how things can go
very bad in very short time so i have food,
hygiene, energy etc. supply for 6 months, i live in
apartment with some improved security, i have
house with shelter in a village some 5 miles from
my apartment, in that house also supply for 6
months, that village small community, most of
them are my relatives,most of them are prepared
(they learned that from war), i have four kind of
fire weapons with 2000 bullets for each (sorry,
can not go in details, laws are different here for
rifles).
I have big garden with that house and some good
knowledge about gardening and farming.
I think i have knowledge now to smell trouble,
you know when everybody is saying that
everything is going to be fine you somehow know
that is everything going to fall apart.
I think i have strength to do everything what it
takes to keep me and my family alive, because
when everything is going to sh.., be sure, you are
going to do some bad things to save your kid.
You don t want to be hero, you want to survive
with your family.
I am nurse, also i am paramedic (US standards)
And i am willing to learn from all of you.
One man survivor, no chance ( OK it is my
opinion) no matter how well armed and prepared,
at the end you gonna die, i ve seen that, many
times. Family groups or closest friend with lot of
preparing and lots of different knowledge, i
believe that is best.
Q: What items should we stockpile?
Thank you
Well depends, i quess if you stock only one thing
you are not going to survive, unless you want to
survive like robber, then you need only gun and
lot od ammo.
I believe besides ammo food hygiene and energy
things (batteries etc.) you need to focus on small
things for trade, pocket knives, lighters, flints.
Also LOT of alcohol, kind that can stay long, i
mean stuff like whiskey and that, does not
important what kind, you can have cheapest kind,
it is very good thing for trade in desperate time.
Also lack of hygiene things killed a lot of people,
i ve seen that.
You gonna need to have some simple things, like
for example lot of garbage bags, i mean a lot
A Year In Hell
From Selco:
OK, i wanna share with you my own experience.
(be patient with my English, i am from far away )
I am from Bosnia, and as some of you may know
it was hell here from 92-95, anyway, for 1 whole
year i lived and survived in a city of 50 000- 60
000 residents WITHOUT: electricity, fuel,running
water,real food distribution, or distribution of any
goods, or any kind of organized law or
government.The city was surrounded for 1 year
and in that city actually it was SHTF situation.
We did not have organized army or police force,
there was groups of defenders, actually anybody
who had a gun, fight for his own house and his
own family.
Some of us was better prepared, but most of
families had food for couple of days, some of us
had pistol, few owned AK-47 when all started.
Anyway, after one month or two, gangs started
with their nasty job,hospital looked like butchery,
police force vanished, 80 percent of hospital staff
gone home.
I was lucky, my family was big in that time (15
members in one big house, 5-6 pistols, 3
Kalashnikov s) so we lived and survived, most of
us.
I remember US Air force dropped MRE every 10
days (god bless USA for that) as help for
surrounded city, it just was not enough.Some of
houses had little gardens with some vegetables,
most did not.
After three months rumors started abouth first
deaths from starvation,deaths from low
temperatures, we stripped every door , window
frame from abandoned houses for heating, i
burned all my own furniture for heating, lot of
people died from diseases, mostly from bad water
(two of my family members), we used rain water
for drink, several times i ate pigeons, once i ate
rat.
Money did not worth sh..
we traded things, black market worked, few
examples: for 1 corned beef can you could have
woman for couple of hours(sounds bad, but it
was reality) i remember, most of that womans
were just desperate mothers, candles,
lighters,antibiotics,fuel,batteries, rifle ammo and
of course food, we fight like animals for that.
In situation like that lot of things change, most
of people turned to monsters, it was ugly.
Strength was in the numbers, if you were alone in
the house, you ve been probably robbed and
killed, no matter how well armed.
Anyway, war ended, again thanks to America (and
again god bless USA for that)
It is not important witch side had right in that
war.
It was almost 20 years ago, but believe me, for
me it was just like yesterday, i remember
everything, and i think i learned a lot.
Me and my family are prepared now,i am well
armed, stocked and educated.
It is not important what going to happen,
earthquake,war, tsunami,aliens terrorists,
important thing is that something gonna be.
And from my expirience, you can not survive
alone, strength is in the numbers, be close with
your family, prepare with them, choose your
friends wisely and prepare with them too.
And at the end, this is my first post, and my
English is not so good, so don t judge me too
hard. ”
Q: How did you get around safely?
Actually city was broken in something like lot of
street communities, in my street (15 or 20
houses) we organized patrols (5 armed man every
night) to watch on gangs or enemies.
We traded things between people in that street, 5
miles from my street there was one street with
something like organized traders, but it was to
dangerous to go there, it worked only during the
nighttime (during the day it was sniper alley) and
you had more chance to be robed there than to
trade, i used that street only 2 times, and belive
me, only when i am really need something bad.
Q: What about wood? It looked like there are
many forests around your city, why did you have
to burn doors and furniture?
First, thank you for your questions, i did not
expect this amount of interest for my post.
I ll be glad to share lot of things with you guys
beecause i want to learn lot of things from you.
Anyway:
Bosnia have lot of woods and forests when you
check map, but i lived in city closer to the
croatian border, more to the south, i don t want
to mention name of the city, but if you check
map, south part of my country closer to croatia
is all in rock.
Yes we had some trees in my city, parks, fruit
trees, but most of the city is building and
houses” but belive me all trees in the city is going
to be burned very fast when you dont have
eletricity for cooking and heating. After that all
what you have is furniture, doors, wooden floors…
(and belive me that stuff is burning too fast)
There was almost no car use in town because:
most of the roads jammed with ruins, abandoned
cars, destroyed houses stuff like that, and petrol
was like gold.
If i needed to go somewhere i almost always
used night time, never go alone but also never go
in big group (2-3 man maybe), always armed,
very fast, always in shadows, trough ruins, rarely
openly on the street, actually always hiding.
We did not have suburbs and farmers, in suburbs
were enemy army, we were surrounded with
enemy army, and inside town you did not know
who is your enemy.
And yes, there were organized groops of gangs,
10-15 people, sometimes even 50, but also there
were normal people like you and me, fathers,
granddads, decent folks, who robed and killed,
there was not too much good and bad guys,
most of us was gray, ready for everything.
Q: Did you prep and what kind of skills did you
need?
Of course you can ask.
We use what we had, we was not prepared for
that situation,we did not know for prepping.
So you can imagine in some aspects we go back
in stone age, actually in most of .
We just used everything what we had, one
example, i had in my propan(or butan i am not
sure) stowe big bottle, cylinder (i am not sure is
that right word), and i did not use it for cooking
or heating, it was to valuable, i manage to built
(fix) that bottle with my friend so i can attach a
hose on some kind of ventil (sorry my english is
going down here) so i can fill those disposable
lighters,(they are not disposable if you knowhow
to) those lighter worth a small fortune.
To make story short, somebody bring me empty
lighter to me and i fill that lighter with gas,
usually i took one can for that or one candle or
whatewer he can offer me.
I hope you understand my example, my english is
poor on some things.
one more example, i am a registered nurse, in
time like that, my knowledge was my thing for
trade.
And yes, be trained and educated, in times like
that it worth a fortune if you know how to fix
things, all your goods is going to be exhausted
one day, but your specific knowledge can be your
food.
I mean learn to fix things (shoes or people,
whatewer you can)
My neighbor use to know how to make some
kind of oil for oil lamps( oil in glass, peace of
rope) and he was not hungry, he never show me
how he made that oil ”
i belive he use some tree behind his house and
small amount of disel, i don t know.
My point is learn things, people always need
somebody who know to fix things.
It was not survival movie, it was ugly, we did
what we have to do to survive.
Nobody wins, we just survived, with a lot of bad
dreams.
Q: Wasn’t it religious, the war?
Sorry man wrong info, that was not Cristian vs
Muslim war, it was civil war, with lot of
switching between sides.
And sorry i am not to go in to the politics, i dont
care to much for that, i am not going into
religious stories, i mean i believe in God as higher
power, and I am trying to live by his laws, i am
not belong to any dogma, Muslim or Christian.
Q: Who was your support group?
My group was only my family, my blood (relatives
like uncles, grandmother…), in my street and in my
town trips i had some close friends, but my best
friends was my family. I never take stranger in my
close group.
Q: If you had three months to prepare today,
what would you do?
If i have extra three months to prepare?
Hmmm, probably run overseas
Joke
OK, Now i am very well aware how things can go
very bad in very short time so i have food,
hygiene, energy etc. supply for 6 months, i live in
apartment with some improved security, i have
house with shelter in a village some 5 miles from
my apartment, in that house also supply for 6
months, that village small community, most of
them are my relatives,most of them are prepared
(they learned that from war), i have four kind of
fire weapons with 2000 bullets for each (sorry,
can not go in details, laws are different here for
rifles).
I have big garden with that house and some good
knowledge about gardening and farming.
I think i have knowledge now to smell trouble,
you know when everybody is saying that
everything is going to be fine you somehow know
that is everything going to fall apart.
I think i have strength to do everything what it
takes to keep me and my family alive, because
when everything is going to sh.., be sure, you are
going to do some bad things to save your kid.
You don t want to be hero, you want to survive
with your family.
I am nurse, also i am paramedic (US standards)
And i am willing to learn from all of you.
One man survivor, no chance ( OK it is my
opinion) no matter how well armed and prepared,
at the end you gonna die, i ve seen that, many
times. Family groups or closest friend with lot of
preparing and lots of different knowledge, i
believe that is best.
Q: What items should we stockpile?
Thank you
Well depends, i quess if you stock only one thing
you are not going to survive, unless you want to
survive like robber, then you need only gun and
lot od ammo.
I believe besides ammo food hygiene and energy
things (batteries etc.) you need to focus on small
things for trade, pocket knives, lighters, flints.
Also LOT of alcohol, kind that can stay long, i
mean stuff like whiskey and that, does not
important what kind, you can have cheapest kind,
it is very good thing for trade in desperate time.
Also lack of hygiene things killed a lot of people,
i ve seen that.
You gonna need to have some simple things, like
for example lot of garbage bags, i mean a lot