"new" book: One Second After, William R. Forstchen

[Cabinetman]

Anyone here read this one yet? I'm about 1/2 way through. It's an interesting read because the "hero" is not a prepper but has to deal with an EMP situation. I'm not giving anything away by telling you any of this. It is an easy read and extremely believeable. Newt G. even gave the book a forward!.

Rome

 

[GM-GUY]

Have it, Read it, Liked it. It inspired me (along with "Lights Out") to put some gear in a poor mans Faraday Cage (Metal Trash Can with tight lid). I consider EMP and complete Economic Collapse the same deal - we'll be looking at ~75% die off of the population.

 

[coastie]

I have read it a few times and I think it is one of the best Survival Fiction out there. I dont believe that an EMP will be anywhere near as bad as in the book and the studies that the author cites shows this. Your cars and watch arent going to stop but I do believe that the grid would go down hard. I do however think that the book accurately portrays the results of the scenario. Basically mass starvation. I think if anything the town is lucky that it was able to come together the way it did. They were also fortunate that it happened in early spring and they had a growing season ahead of them. Imagine if that happened right now. We have run scenarios using the book as a guide. My take away from that book was FOOD FOOD FOOD and the means to grow and store it. It made me sit down and really figure out what I would need to grow to feed my family plus a couple, my chickens and provide enough seed for the following year. It is a lot. Those little gardens in a can are a joke. You need pounds of seed. All the PMs, ARs, BOVs etc dont mean anything if you cant get food. I also took away the need for a community or group and how quickly the world would shrink. You arent going to make it alone. It is going to be your neighbors and folks that are close that are going to be a part of your life.

 

[GM-GUY]

On the mention of food - I found the Morton Salt website - I ordered up 40lbs of CURING SALT. That way I can store meat if the grid ever goes down 'forever'. I chose 40lb as it fits nicely in a 6 gallon bucket with mylar bag and O2 and moisture pouches. If you want it packed tight - you could add another 2, maybe 4 lbs to a 6 gallon bucket.

 

[coastie]

Your local feed store probably sells salt. I get it in 50 lb bags for about $10 a bag. I have never used it for meat but we salt lobsyter bait with it. It is plain slat and I wouldnt hesitate to use it on food.

 

[GM-GUY]

According to the Morton Site this stuff has nitrates that promote the cure and prevent organism growth. I have a boat load of regular salt and the Morton site said that the table salt cannot be used instead so I put another bucket away. I still have 2 that are empty, not sure what I'm going to put in them but I better decide quick.

 

[Cabinetman]

I really enjoyed "Lights Out" but am enjoying "One Second After" for different reasons. This book really spells it out like it will be for the vast majority of people if they lose a lot of our current technology overnight. It really portends the gravity of the situation and anyone who hasn't given a though about survival will do well reading this and getting a grip on reality.

It's funny in some ways. "Preppers" were always considered the "weird ones" going way back into the 50s. Now, however, a lot more people are finally grasping the reality of how vulnerable we are. Take the technology away.....even only part of it.....and chaos will occur. If you don't have a plan or aren't prepared, you'll be a statistic.

Rome

 

[coastie]

What I like about OSA is there is no Golden Ticket. It seems that most other stories, the people get either a heads up (Alas Babylon), a big hookup for material (Lights Out) or they are ultra prepared (Patriots). OSA shows what is more likely to happen. I have gamed it using my area and here are a couple of things I wrote on another board about the scenario:


Do you think that was unrealistic?

I dont. It was much more than electricity that was lost. Vehicles didnt run, no comms etc. I do think the scenario was unrealistic but I think that the results of that scenario were accurate. Imagine no electricity,no vehicles etc. I look at my town for example. It is about 8K and still fairly rural with farms and some developments. You will lose a small precentage fairly quickly do to life sustaining meds being unavailable. Part of the town has water and sewer. Both require electricity. Without adequate water and facilities disease will take another part of the population. You need several months of food to get through until you start getting any meaningful crops. How many households have that much food? How many towns could provide that much food even if they took over all the stores etc. SO you have an already weak population going into a growing season that is going to rely heavily on human power to plant, tend and harvest. More of the population dies because of starvation and more disease because they are worn down. As for the harvest/crops. How much seed is available in the town? Enough to provide food for everyone? I doubt it. Maybe if this happened late enough the farmers will have already got their seed for the year. Maybe you get lucky and get a good harvest that is enough for the surviving population. Now it is winter. Probably only 20-30% of the homes in the town are heated with wood. That is maybe. A lot of folks will freeze to death or get sick and die from the cold. There will be a percentage that dies from injuries, violence, suicide etc. I think 90% could end up being a very accurate number. How many people on this board can honestly say that they have a solid years supplies, enough seed, land and knowledge to grow all their own food, a well with non-electric means of getting water, a septic and a heating system that doesnt rely on any electricty? THose are the folks that are most likely going to make it.


Per the book we lose basically all the modern conveinences. If you don’t have a car built before 1980 you are on bike or on foot. Figure your world has shrunk to about a 5 mile radius from your house. How much farmland is there in that area? How many people live in that area? Approx 7500 people live in my town. To feed them would require about 5 tons of grain/beans etc a DAY. Where is it going to come from? This event happened in spring. I am guessing mid April to early May. How many folks have enough food to last until a real harvest starts coming in? How many people or farmers have all the seed and the means to plant it all? I am talking real crops. Potatoes, beans, corn. The ones that provide the calories to keep you alive.

The Victory Garden program during WWII at its peak produced 40% of all the vegetables consumed. Only 40% of the veggies!! And that took several years to develop. Britain was kept alive by us even with the losses in the Atlantic. They had severe rationing and very draconian farming practices that enabled them to produce a fair amount of their own food. They started planning and implementing that before the war!!

What percentage of homes grow a garden every year? Even just some lettuce and tomatoes? Now of that percentage how many come anywhere near growing even enough veggies to provide even 40% of all the veggies they consume? Now how many of them have a non electric means of or preserving those veggies for the winter?

Take an above average family of four. They are in reasonably good shape but all could stand to lose some weight. They have recommended 2 weeks worth of food in their house and every year grow a reasonable garden. This happens and they are all ,fortunately, home. They manage to eat all the food and nothing goes to waste. They are now in the middle of May. They had planned ahead and bought all their seeds for the garden. Dad usually rents a tiller from the rental center to till up the garden. They have to try to hand turn it. They get the whole garden planted. They now have what 6 wks before they start seeing anything to eat. And that is just radishes and greens. What are they going to eat for those six weeks? Dad, who used to hunt until life got too busy, manages to get a couple of squirrels and a woodchuck in that time but the game is gone quickly. They are starving.

What about water? An even more immediate need. It comes from either a well or the town. Probably uses electricity. Fortunately for our family there is stream about a ½ mile away. They can take buckets and the wheelbarrow and go get some water. Dad is smart enough to know that he has to boil water to disinfect it. Until he runs out of propane for the grill. Now they have to gather wood to boil water. Along with all the other folks gathering wood. Soon all the easy to gather wood is gathered. Dad doesn’t own a chainsaw or even a real ax. It hot and the garden is wilting. Now they are constantly making that trek to get water to try to water the garden.

How long until this family succumbs to starvation? How many families are like this? How many are below this level? There arent many above it. Certainly less than 10%. I bet even on this board there arent that many who would survive the OSA scenario.

 

[dwarven1]

Have it, Read it, Liked it. It inspired me (along with "Lights Out") to put some gear in a poor mans Faraday Cage (Metal Trash Can with tight lid). I consider EMP and complete Economic Collapse the same deal - we'll be looking at ~75% die off of the population.

What did you put in the trash can? Spare electronics for your car?

Did you ground the can?

 

[GM-GUY]

Trash Can contents - 2 way radios, AM/FM radio, rechargeable batteries, solar panel, LED lights, small inverter, Multi-Meter, Laser Range Finder, some other odd stuff but that's about it. Yes I grounded the can through the outlet.

The truck is a 2011 - too much to do on that one - working on getting some spares for my diesel tractor though.

coastie - I agree it would be bad, how bad you never can tell - but plan for the worst and hope for the best. I have some spare plumbing parts to connect my kitchen sink to a 'magic pipe' in that scenario. I also have parts to make an artesian well buck that I can lower into the well to get water if need be.

 

[Cabinetman]

Well, I just finished this last book. I must say that it hit me really hard......much harder than anything else I've read so far and I've pretty much read them all. "Lights Out" was great and there was a lot we could glean from it. However, "OSA" grabs you by the collar and shakes you hard. Forget about the EMP causing the disruption. It could be any major failure that would cause a cascade of failures ultimately ending up the same way. What I was most taken aback by was the insite the author had of what humans would be capable of. In addition, it was amazing just how fast things went downhill. Forget about 3 weeks or even 3 months of food. When that's gone, it's gone along with pretty much everything else modern that we've come to rely on. You overlook the need for more toilet paper or sanitary pads, dog food and really mundane things like that.

The story, itself, was compelling and I had a hard time putting it down but I was really repulsed about some of the incidents that this author laid out for us so it was hard to continue but hard not to continue at the same time. It was also evident that he was a student of history being able to draw perfect comparisons between what had happened in the past and what was happening in his time.

My recommendation is that each and every prepper should read this book if for nothing else the time line that was clearly laid out for the reader as well as having the author point out the importance of being prepared not only for the items we're all familar with but also for many items that we'd never think of. It's a terrific primer wrapped up in an amazing story of survival.

Rome

 

[dwarven1]

Not sure which items you're talking about that aren't thought of by preppers, but some good resources online for preppers are:

www.frugalsquirrels.com - huge prepper website - kind of strict rules about posting and participation but worth it for the discussions.
www.zombiehunters.org - big prepper website cloaked under the guise of preparing for the "zombie apocalypse".
http://pawfiction.proboards.com/index.cgi - small prepper website started after John of Frugal Squirrels deleted the PAW (Post Apocalyptic World) fiction section and made it a banning offense to even ask why. Jerry D. Young has placed what looks like most of his works there now. Not sure where to find Tired Old Man's stories these days, though.

 

[Cabinetman]

Thanks for the links. I'll check 'em all out!

Rome

 

[coastie]

Well, I just finished this last book. I must say that it hit me really hard......much harder than anything else I've read so far and I've pretty much read them all. "Lights Out" was great and there was a lot we could glean from it. However, "OSA" grabs you by the collar and shakes you hard. Forget about the EMP causing the disruption. It could be any major failure that would cause a cascade of failures ultimately ending up the same way. What I was most taken aback by was the insite the author had of what humans would be capable of. In addition, it was amazing just how fast things went downhill. Forget about 3 weeks or even 3 months of food. When that's gone, it's gone along with pretty much everything else modern that we've come to rely on. You overlook the need for more toilet paper or sanitary pads, dog food and really mundane things like that.

The story, itself, was compelling and I had a hard time putting it down but I was really repulsed about some of the incidents that this author laid out for us so it was hard to continue but hard not to continue at the same time. It was also evident that he was a student of history being able to draw perfect comparisons between what had happened in the past and what was happening in his time.

My recommendation is that each and every prepper should read this book if for nothing else the time line that was clearly laid out for the reader as well as having the author point out the importance of being prepared not only for the items we're all familar with but also for many items that we'd never think of. It's a terrific primer wrapped up in an amazing story of survival.

Rome

There are 2 things I didnt like. I thought the whole cannibal battle was dumb. I feel like the felt he had to put some sort of big action in there. I would have liked to have seen more issues between the towns as I think that would be more likely. Also I think there would be more things like home invasions and robbery. Although the town did get there stuff together quickly and had some no fooling harsh punishment as a deterrent.

I tihnk one of the most interesting parts is when the main character thinks about how much of a difference a bag of rice would have made. It also shows the failings of many peoples thoughts that they will get out to the country where there are farms or get out to the woods and be OK.

I agree this is required reading for any prepper. I have loaned it to several people and it has changed the way every one of them prepped. My take aways were more food and you are going to have to deal with folks in your community. You may have a great BOL and a team that is coming from all over the place but you might not have the option or ability to get out of town.

 

[Cabinetman]

Good points. The cannibal scenarios were a bit over the top but, actually, as I was devouring those chapters, (no pun intended) I actually thought of it and 'sho nuf it was in there. Make me really hate the bad guy. Hanging him on the light post and leaving him there drew a pretty graphic picture in my head. Reminded me of the Pirate's movie where they have three or four pirates hanging at the entrance of the bay.

What also really hit home for me was the authentic brutality that they had to live with. Executing prisoners had to be done as supplies were non- exsistant. Having to shoot the family dog, etc., etc. Those situations all made logical sense to me but every time they had to do something brutal like that, it moved them back a "click" from modern humanity to that of a survivor mentality.

I think of the group we've been meeting with. We're all friends and have a common cause we're working toward and we're honored to be part of the planning that's going on. I wonder, however, if we'd have the guts to be as brutal as we need to be if push came to shove. It's something that we're going to discuss sometime in the future. This book will be passed around so everyone knows just what surviving can be like. Left totally alone to our own ends is one thing. Surviving in the very most rural areas of New England where even there we're bound to encounter others traveling through will be another thing entirely.

Thought provoking read!

Rome

 

[goofycj7]

I just finished this last night and put it up in the Karma section for anyone interested.

I liked this book, given it is a worst case scenario as far as EMP disaster effects. I did like the fact this was told from a non survivalist perspective, what problems they ran into and how fast everything can happen. The Grocery store getting cleaned out that fast seems very similar to the power outage in October, not that we had riots but certain foods, bottled water were gone overnight and the frozen goods were non-existent.

 

[widnerkj]

Great book. Gave it to my parents, they enjoyed it and began to prepare a little bit

 

[Cabinetman]

The early chapters when stuff starts failing actually frightened me a bit. It was so well described and brings home just how quickly we go from being a modern nation to a 3rd world nation when infrastructure collapses. During the Oct snow storm and outage, we knew that if we drove far enough we'd find anything we wanted. During the event in this book, however, driving 1000 miles wouldn't help and would probably find you dead. It was pretty realistic in that regard.

Romre

 

[Hiltonizer]

Anyone in NH, the state online library has this in audiobook form. Moving it to the top of my list.

 

[careful34]

Not sure which items you're talking about that aren't thought of by preppers, but some good resources online for preppers are:

www.frugalsquirrels.com - huge prepper website - kind of strict rules about posting and participation but worth it for the discussions.
www.zombiehunters.org - big prepper website cloaked under the guise of preparing for the "zombie apocalypse".
http://pawfiction.proboards.com/index.cgi - small prepper website started after John of Frugal Squirrels deleted the PAW (Post Apocalyptic World) fiction section and made it a banning offense to even ask why. Jerry D. Young has placed what looks like most of his works there now. Not sure where to find Tired Old Man's stories these days, though.

I used to hang at Frugalsquirrel's quite a bit. Was a member there way before John bought the site. He does like to Lord It is his little kingdom, and doesn't enforce his "strict rules" evenly. I got 2 week ban for telling another poster who'd just insulted me to " go F yourself ", and haven't been back in a year and a half. I know other insightful posters who got fed up and walked away too.