Given the recent and not so recent events in the world, the desire to hunker in a bunker is understandable. Does it make sense however, and will it increase your chances of survival if you fortify your home to the point it turns into a bunker.
Once you start putting up fencing topped with Concertina Wire you have evolved from a home or shelter to a compound. Everyone has an opinion about compounds and pre-conceived ideas of what a compound might be hiding. Right or wrong, fair or not, perception becomes fact, in most people’s minds.
Once someone or some group believes you have something to hide, or something worth surrounding with barricades, then you are in a defensive posture whether you know it or not.
There are websites, forums, and blog posts that actually describe how to fortify your home to withstand a .50 caliber round, hand grenades, and flame throwers. It always boils down to who, what, when and where however, and remember there is a difference between survival, a SHTF scenario and all out warfare. What exactly are you preparing for?
You always have to take into account the skill level of those that would pose the greatest threat. Some people are convinced that the government right now is getting ready to declare Martial Law. Martial Law means federal troops and once that happens, according to some, there will be gun confiscations, supplies taken, and people who do not cower will be herded off to some FEMA camp to be re-indoctrinated.
Anything is possible, but what is more likely, is what you have to ask yourself. If you believe all this a fortified compound is your best bet then, but remember those on the other side of the wire have all of the advantages. They will have fresh personnel rotating in every shift. They will eat regularly, have hot showers, and can resupply at will as they wait you out. What would you be doing hunkered down in your bunker, wondering if you have enough food, water and ammo and wondering if the walls really will stop even one .50 caliber round.
You have to assess the threats and be prepared to respond accordingly. You simply cannot prepare yourself for an all out frontal attack by any army let alone the United States Military. Regardless of your training or preparations, you as a single person, family or Prepper group, cannot defend any structure or piece of land against overwhelming force, such as would be the case if the U.S. Army came calling.
Of Course You Need To Defend Yourself and Your Home
The recent terrorist attacks have everyone on edge. When is someone going to walk into a shopping mall, grade school, or someone’s work place wearing a bomb vest in this country? What causes such angst is the fact you cannot prepare for something like this in any real sense.
If you see something, say something, but we all see things every day, weird stuff frankly, so we would be on the phone all day, everyday claiming we have seen something. Once you see it in many cases, it is too late, because the bomb is already detonated, or the trigger is being pulled by some shooter. Then its cover and conceal and get out of the area. The point is there is a greater chance of being put in a survival situation just walking around in public than at home.
The opposing forces out there are homicidal maniacs, terrorist, poor construction methods that allow balconies to collapse, or tired, or drunk drivers that plow into a tourist bus. You do not need to fortify your home so much as you need to fortify your mind and develop situational awareness. Boarding up your home and carving out gun slits in the shutters will not do you any good.
Mass shootings happen in crowded places, terrorist blow up and shoot up places where people, where innocent people gather. There are occasions where terrorists have attacked fortified positions, but they usually do not succeed in killing many people, so they choose the soft targets, ones that would not normally have a serious security posture. In other words, places where no one is expected to fight back and where he or she can kill more people more quickly.
You need to be prepared to defend your family, your home, and yourself, but also understand that in certain situations the best you can hope for is to escape the situation alive. Situational awareness will help you escape, because you will know where the exits are, know where you can seek cover and where you may conceal yourself.
Some Websites and Articles Claim To Know How to Survive a Terrorist Attack
The only sure way to survive one is not to be there when the bombs are detonated and when the shooting starts. Otherwise, the only way to survive is not to be the first one shot or blown up. The first shots are the warning, so you can cover and conceal and get out.
If you have no warning, and shots are fired and you are hit and killed you do not survive, its quiet simple. In most cases, you would not be able to look up or look around and see someone getting ready to detonate or to fire their weapons. In most cases, but not all cases, you may see it all unfold but what do you do. You will only be aware in most situations of something happening after the first shots or explosions, and then your only recourse is to get away from the area while seeking cover as you do so. You cannot fight back against bombs being detonated by people willing to die. You have to be away from the kill zone, away from the blast zone.