March 25, 2014 at 7:31 pm #2983
I will say first off, thank you again, Selco, for providing your experience and now this great forum!
My experience with SHTF/WORL is quite different than what many think of in this situation. However, it did teach me a lot about the importance of food storage, cleanliness, dealing with dangerous and unpredictable people (including those working for the government), self-defense and coping with violence, and many of the other staples we think of with regards to living to see another day when that becomes questionable. Additionally, I have training in wilderness survival and a bit of formal urban survival training as well, beyond the following experience.
I served time in one of the nation’s worst correctional facilities during a time when things were worse than they usually are–that facility is currently under investigation for human rights abuses, and a national scandal ensued regarding the behavior of the guards and their treatment of inmates. It was more than justified.
Ground rules: I won’t say where that is, what I did to end up there, or how long I was there. I actually volunteered to go do time to clear my name for something that happened more than 10 years ago now. I am a different person–both in terms of the person who did less than savory things, and different after coming out of there.
Everything else is fair game, so ask away if you have any particular questions.
In the original post, I mentioned that one of the best things I ever bought was an absurd amount of hot sauce.
People think that hungry people will eat just about anything. Not true. You can choose to starve to death, and the guards wouldn’t stop it. People died in there surprisingly often–not from starvation, but I mention it to show there was no sympathy whatsoever, and it would have been ruled as some sort of accident.
Faced with that reality, and the reality that your options will be very limited, drowning something in hot sauce is an exceptionally good way to 1) mask the taste of whatever you’re eating, and 2) provide some Vitamin C. Peppers have an astonishing amount of Vitamin C, and since fresh, natural fruit will likely be hard to come by, this can be a very good multi-purpose item. During my time there, I saw the light of day 3 times, for about an hour each time. You learn how important vitamins and proper nutrition are when you no longer have them.
Your milage may vary, but I don’t know what I would have done without my Tapatio…
Again, I’d be happy to answer any questions anyone may have, keeping in mind the ground rules above.March 25, 2014 at 7:42 pm #2992
That is some unexpected knowledge to gain, thank you! I would definitely be interested in hearing about your situational experience sometime!March 25, 2014 at 7:49 pm #3011
Gypsy Wanderer HuskySurvivalist
I’ll make sure to add that to our stores!!
Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.
George S. PattonMarch 25, 2014 at 8:58 pm #3071
I would love to hear more of your experience, of course parts that you are willing to share.
In my time that small Tabasco sauces (from MRE) were very good for adding some taste to the stuff that we ate.March 25, 2014 at 9:44 pm #3137
I’d be happy to share most of it…I’m just not sure how well it’d be received. It was far from a traditional SHTF situation, but definitely a SHTF/WROL situation.
Still, it taught me the value of food storage, cleanliness, self-defense and violence, communications, dealing with dangerous and unpredictable people (including authorities), keeping a low profile, diet, bartering, marketable skills, keeping busy, etc.
If this is still something you think I should share and would be well-received, I will. Just tell me if so and where to post.March 25, 2014 at 9:50 pm #3138
I absolutely love hotsauce (anything with spice really). It’s the reason me and a few friends were able to eat some of the cr*p that they served at college haha!
Hopefully within a year or two I’ll be growing my own peppers and stuff to be able to make my own special blend of WROL Sauce lol.
Canadian Patriot. Becoming self-sufficient.March 25, 2014 at 9:54 pm #3143
Something to keep in mind from a fellow spice-lover: in a true SHTF situation, don’t kill your tastebuds with excessive spice. You might need them for determining whether or not something is edible/poisonous.March 25, 2014 at 10:04 pm #3148
Good wisdom. My brother got me a bottle of “After Death” hot sauce by Blares. Of course, stupid me decided to try a spoonful of it, being the hot-head spice lover that I am.
Physical pain. That’s all I got. But it did taste really good all the same haha. Non-GMO, no preservatives, the heat is good for the soul.
Canadian Patriot. Becoming self-sufficient.March 25, 2014 at 10:11 pm #3152
EVERYTHING is better with hot sauce.
Some of the rations we were given, early in my military career, were monumentally awful. I mean, really – you could have literally erected a monument to how awful those things were. 1st generation MRE’s that dated to the early 1980’s. Bleah…
Those 1st and 2nd generation MRE’s were so bad that soldiers began using massive amounts of hot sauce. So much, that Tabasco actually made a special camouflaged carrier so a soldier could carry around a big bottle of hot sauce on his LBE, instead of the microscopic teeny weeny bottles that came in the later MRE’s… I still have mine somewhere around here…
Good advice, Kollaps. +1 Brought back some funny (and not so funny) memories…
The wicked flee when none pursueth..." - Proverbs 28:1March 26, 2014 at 2:10 am #3264
Not a big fan of tabasco sauce but horseradish saved many a crappy bland meal. I grow it around the place and dig down with a knife and cut off a piece of root a couple of times a month still. With a little vinegar and ground mustard I can disguise many things I wud by choice not normally choose to eat. And yes…I have known people with very sparse funds and choices simply not eat and become noticeably week. I store lots of various peppercorns for similaf reasons as I have yet been able to grow it successfully.March 26, 2014 at 3:58 am #3374
around these parts just about anything with four legs goes down with barbercue sauceMarch 26, 2014 at 8:12 am #3452
Kollaps, please update the main post you made with the full story. I will change the title of this forum section to make things a bit more clear. This here is the place for personal survival experiences and the lessons you learned from them.
Alea iacta est ("The die has been cast")March 26, 2014 at 3:56 pm #3576
Thanks Jay–just updated it. Not sure if this is what you have in mind, so please let me know if this is inappropriate or not what you were looking for. I will adjust accordingly.March 28, 2014 at 6:28 pm #4468
Thank you so much for sharing your story.
I have always heard from other preppers to add stuff like hot sauce to your supplies for the reasons your shared.
I ignored that advice until I read your story. I will definitely be adding something of the like to my preps, so thank you!
HannahMarch 29, 2014 at 8:44 pm #5162
kollaps, some questions:
How do you deal with people (prisoners, in this case) who want what you have? Do you just belong to a bigger gang than they do? Do you negotiate, and does negotiating ever work? And in the case of guards, if they have all the power and they want what you have, how do you deal with it?
When everything and everyone seems to be going wrong, how do you not give up hope?
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.