If the SHTF

[stymie222]

I have been viewing several YouTube videos on survival shelters. Many of these are underground for good reasons.
If we do have people on the move, perhaps armed and trying to find or steal supplies,
how are these shelters going to:

Mask cooking odors and generator noise ?
Vents for fresh air or exhaust in underground shelters, are liable to be blocked and even used to inject gas or chemicals to make the occupants leave.
It won't take much to disable video surveillance, leaving them blind to all activity top side.

People are spending a ton of money on these shelters, but I haven't seen the companies that sell them, offer any real solutions.

[Well-Prepared Witch]

I'll just respond with these lyrics from the Digwell Carol by Leslie Fish

And so our fathers hunted 'til they found the secret gate,
And there they piled the boulders high above where devils wait,
And thus we've ever after done these many years and more,
So now our manmade mountain stands above their exit door.

[crudos]

Good points made. What is the ambient noise of a underground shelter to those above ground? I dunno.

[APX808]

If someone realizes you're down in one of those shelters you are absolutely screwed, they just provide a false sense of security.
Maybe they're useful for tornadoes.

[rah45]

[thatGuy]

Yeah Styme.. The whole 'bunker' deal is pretty stupid..

You need shelter, the shelter of like minded community.

[JohnyMac]

I agree with TG and what other folks have written; You find security as part of a like minded community. A like minded community gives you:

> Defense,
> Farming; growing a diverse collection of things from hay & grain for four legged critters to
    veggies & fruits,
> Skills; e.g. medical, sewing, metal fabrication, lumbering, carpentry, plumbing, farming,
   husbandry, canning, smoking...the list goes on and on, and
> Community; fellowship, helping hands, charity, etcetera.

If you think you are going to make it by yourself - Plan to die. 

[crudos]

There is nothing wrong with having a hardened underground shelter, but you need a support system above ground too. It's a great addition, but not the end all, be all to prepping, as some would have you believe.

[sledge]

I think the underground bunker concept is built on surviving an asteroid impact, solar flare, mass depopulation due to disease, nuclear fallout and the like.  I think that for the the most probable issue we as preppers are likely to face, a bunker falls into the nice to have category.  I agree that community is far higher on the priority list. 

One thing that gets me about most of the prepper shows on tv is that they are built around lone wolf, go it alone with my family types.  The one with the guy adding on an upper level to his house to make it a fortress was totally ridiculous.  Knock down the supports in the lower level and the upper level fortress comes crashing down.  Many of the preppers in those shows have put more thought into what they need in the form of supplies than they have into defending their AO.  Community with numbers is the only real answer.

[thatGuy]

Community adds (in addition to all the things discussed) layered defense and early warning to your defensive layout.

Its a good thing.

[rah45]

I actually was just having a conversation with my wife today regarding prepping. We aren't where we need to be, and among a couple of other topics I mentioned that she needed to help me keep an ear/eye out for other people who are like-minded and who may already be prepping. I used this local story that happened during the previous "Snowpocalypse" as an example of why we really need to be able to get to others, or at least to be efficient enough that we don't need others for a while. Reading that story, about something that happened in our current city, got her thinking.

[JohnyMac]

You know that this latest bombardment of cold weather, snow, ice, electric out, etc. is actually a God send.

For you preppers it's a great way to try out your preps and plans.

For you folks who's spouse is suffering under a "normalcy bias" a way to approach them with NOT TEOTWAWKI but as a good example to prepare for (Start small) a month's worth of food, generator, stored water, etc.

Remember, the glass is always half full 

[Kentactic]

A bunker is just a roomy coffin. There is no way to solve these problems aside from having a HUGE bunker with several hatches or viewing bunkers where you can shoot from. Of course they need to be manned at all times.

[Well-Prepared Witch]

I think you'd be far better served having plans to "harden" your home.  You don't have to buy an extra structure (i.e. the bunker) and you can use the same preps for multiple scenarios.  For instance, the one group on Doomsday Preppers that had prepared heavy wood window coverings - you can use something like that in a hurricane or in an attack.  Plastic sheeting to seal out contaminants can also be used to collect rainwater or seal a leak in the roof.  Stuff like that.

[Reaver]

There is only one bunker I'll go to.


It involves a Titan nuclear missile.

[Currahee]

My ideal BO location would have one of the manufactured tornado shelter, but under a cabin with a hidden entrance from inside.  It would mostly serve as hidden storage or a place to go for the fam if shooting got that bad.   But ideally I would also have several similar set ups within riffle support distance occupied by buddies.

The idea of a bunker hidden on ten acres by myself doesn't appeal much, for the reasons mentioned.