Now all we need are some hairdressers and phone sanitizers and we’re good to go.
Honestly, I would probably assign one of the more experienced hunting crews, (my own if need be) to body disposal duty. If they come back with extra smoked meats a few weeks later, it is unlikely that anyone would notice. At a minimum I would insist that the flesh be utilized for baiting traps and hooks. In the first year it would be too valuable a resource to waste unless we managed to raid or commandeer a rather large farm with a lot of extra undeveloped space. Even if we did, such work is a high calorie burning activity, we’d probably need it.
I can knapp stone, smelt iron and copper in a furnace I made myself, tan leather, smith, make rope from grass, weave baskets and fire clay pots in a home-made kiln.
But more importantly, I make a kickass mead, a passable Typha-root flatbread and a tasty goatcheese. So the cocktail parties are a go!
First-aid level medical knowledge, with extra boosts from my experience working in a medical center (eye and heart-related matters).
I can knit (especially handy and small items like socks and mittens), and understand the basics of handspinning raw wool into yarn, but haven’t done it. I can also do basic hand-sewing/darning.
Good cooking ability, including from scratch. I could butcher an animal with some level of competence, though I’ve never plucked a fowl before. I’ve planted a simple garden, and I do composting to make fertilizer for soil. I make yogurt at home, some soft cheese too, and flat and sourdough breads in addition to yeasted bread.
Homebrewer, and know about how to sprout then roast barley to produce the basics of beer-making.
My big problems are being a vegetarian (I’d have to ease back into eating meat again) and occasional migraines. Hopefully those would stay at a minimum. I’m not terribly strong but apparently strong enough for my build, and can walk long distances without getting winded or sore.
I’ve always thought that were the proverbial shit going to hit the fan, I’d want to be there. The end of civilization as we know it? Awesome.
I’m a country girl, so I’m pretty well prepared. grabs .30.30 I can hunt, fish, build fire and shelter, and have first aid knowledge. I also have horses and and have plenty of skills there. That would be handy since in a post-apocalyptic world transportation might be a problem. Aside from all of those important survival skills, a cool head and common sense go a long way in a situation too.
However, I lack the “child-bearing hips”. Hopefully that’s not a problem. :smack:
Got a name too - APOCALYPSE SOLUTIONS®
Oh yeah, I forgot that I fished as a kid, and could help hunt in a pinch; I wasn’t a bad shot with a Daisy air rifle. 
Birthin’ hips I do have, but pretty soon I’m getting stuff down there taken care of, so no furthering the species for me. That’s OK, I’d be of “advanced maternal age” by gynecologist standards (40). No maternal urges either, so I’d be better at laboring than child-corraling.
I have daydreams about this sort of thing all the time. I have knowledge and experience in Fieldcraft. I’ve farmed and gardened. I can strip, clean and shoot accurately any gun you can find in such a situation. I can use all kinds of bows effectively. Hell, I can even knapp flint if we are reduced to that. I have basic First Aid, CPR and Life Guard training. I can hunt, skin, clean and cook anything that walks, swims or crawls. I am an experienced (and award-winning) brewer, have taught classes in same, and I know how to build and operate a still. I’m a fair shadetree mechanic and plumber as well. I can handle basic sewing and mending chores.
Bring it on.
Wel, since people are adding more industrial skills:
In addition to my previsouly listed skills, I can build and rewind electric motors & generators- AC and DC - and maintain same. Can wire a house or a boat. Can rebuild simple IC motors. Can lay-up complex structures, most certainly including boat hulls, in fibreglass and kevlar. Can also repair and maintain same. Can sail a simple fore-and-aft rig and crew on more complex rigs, including square rigs. Can handle and maintain ropes, line, blocks, tackle, and rigging (lifting gear utilizing block, tackle, sheer legs, cantilevers, and spars). Can sew, albeit not terribly neatly. Have a good grasp of first-responder first aid. Can lay out a sanitary camp, and maintain it. Also spent 15 years as an NCO - I can give and take orders.
I’d be pretty useful as part of a group, not so sure on my own. Off the top of my head I can:
-Grow things
-identify some wild edibles
-build a fire and keep it going, as well as transport it.
-make a shelter of sorts,
-some medical/1st aid experience, though more with animals than people.
-I can fish pretty well
-can raise animals, but unless I was really starving I might have to let someone else do the slaughtering (hypocrite that I am)
-If someone taught me how to butcher, I could do that. I love them alive, they don’t bother me once dead, but that transition is the hard part for me.
And one I haven’t seen yet: Horses. If I could find a horse or two I’d have transportation when the fuel ran out. I can also retrain horses to drive or ride sensibly, breed, raise, and train horses for long term.
Actualy, I beat you to it. But at least I’ll have someone to ride with after civilization breaks down!
I think your point holds true in my current world- I don’t take anyone’s shit, and I’ve had excellent luck when it comes to being a target. But in a lawless/wartime situation with gangs of men raping and pillaging together, I think you could be the toughest cute female 100-lb Kan Moku Shi Do master in the world and still be doomed. I doubt the 150+ adult victims of the recent mass rape in Congo were selected for their passivity or size, and I’m sure many put up a good fight. Rape is deliberately used as a weapon of mass destruction in these situations, and a group of men united in this aim can be an irresistible force.
I wish this shit wasn’t so horribly common in any place/time where it’s possible… but it seems to be a very consistent human pattern.
That’s why they invented shotguns.
I was gonna say hollow points, but yeah.
It is an unfortunate reality in many parts of the world. I don’t think it would be as widespread as you might envision though. In the US we are taught from early on that rape is not an acceptable behaviour. We don’t have a recent cultural tradition of rape either. Despite the lack of formal controls like the police, most people will not immediately revert to a ravening horde. People are generally decent; I think they’d surprise you. What WILL be dangerous is that the bad elements will likely join together to trouble everyone else. This will take a while though, and they will be focused on supplies more than women at first. In fact the gangs are not so much a worry as are the odd pair of men out looking for victims. Staying together for safety should defeat most threats.
I can follow instructions and am pretty sure I could find some way to help out. I learned a long time ago on my grandfathers ranch how to ride horses, herd, hunt and butcher livestock and game animals. I can do construction and run heavy machinery if there are any left in running condition.
My being an electrician will not be much help until we figured out the power situation. In the beginning of the turmoil I would probably want to be working on fixing that then actually helping out.
Just so there is full disclosure, I have been told I have issues dealing in a civilized manner with authority figures. So as long as people are cool with me I can be cool with them.
What do you think? Do I make the first cut?
I’m not sure there’s a cut to be made. We aren’t picking sides for dodgeball. When the Zombiepocalypse comes, you’re gonna try to survive with whoever happens to be around at the time. I know I’ve got a few rounds I’d be willing to expend defending somebody that can do something I can’t. Somebody that just isn’t suited for [del]cannon fodder[/del] protecting others is prolly willing to do whatever it is they do for us growly cavemen types.
My mom has 110 acres in the Ozarks, and goes on about peak oil and 2015, etc. I have mentioned that due to being rather large (overweight), but in pretty good shape overall, I would start walking east, from California, feeding the kiddo on blood when I couldn’t find food.
Realistically, I would be able to survive in a woodland setting, but it wouldn’t be anything like fun- think 16 hour days for subsistence living, unless I happened to build a tribe.
I have woodcraft, I have lived off the grid, and I can make all sorts of foodstuffs and tools and clothing, etc, but it isn’t easy, and I would rather not.
Hopefully it won’t come up.
Oh, Broomstick, I can make cheese- if you can get me rennet… And I can make paneer with just lemon juice and/or vinegar… remarkably easy, but you shan’t know that if you find it a valuable skill after TEOTWAWKI…
Ah! That’s what I get for pseudo speed reading!
If we’ve got ruminants (cows, goats, sheep, etc.) I think we can get rennet. Details, it’s always details that makes these things complicated.
I’d think any food prep skills would be valuable.