College SHTF

Would like some advice on what to do if the SHTF while my son is away at college. Home is in TX, college is on the east coast. How do we get him home? How do I get to him?

 

I guess it depends upon the nature, the intensity, extent, and duration of the SHTF event.

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Where on the east coast? What kind of transportation does he have? Need some details...

 

After recent events concerning many of the prestigious East Coast universities, I will state the obvious - transfer him to a closer Texas University asap! Otherwise, should he remain there, the risk factor increases tremendously, and you will have to live with the danger and the result of that decision as there is not much you can do except try to stay aware of current events and get him out in time...but odds aren't good, simply too many variables.

A storm is coming, and you wouldn't be asking this question if you didn't already know and feel it also. The only advice I have is take a hard look at the political situation this Summer, don't leave your decision any later and for goodness sakes do not think that 'it can't happen here' because it already has and will continue until it is stopped or...it isn't.

Personally, I don't think it matters who wins the election, we are going to see crap in this country we dreamed was impossible just a decade ago. One way or another, the first half of 2025 is going to be damn interesting. How interesting is the BIG question.

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EDIT: I just saw what you posted in the Shoutbox that your son is going to play Baseball for Boston. I assume he has a scholarship which will make it damn hard to walk away from... And, to make matters worse is the number of universities in the Boston area. The damn city is full of them! (50+) I say this because more universities mean more foreign students which can also increase the number of bad players.

 

Welcome aboard.
Ok, let's play.
It's a real SHTF situation, civil unrest, protests, looting and destruction.
you are in Austin and he is in Boston.
It's 2k miles.
You are not getting to him and he's not getting to you.
He needs to be able to survive on his own. Training and skills are all he's going to have.
Does he have that? If not, get started.

Sorry to say that but grid down, riots, the planes aren't flying, the roads are a kill zone, trains/subway will be derailed and no communications possible.

He will be on his own unless you have a trusted group in the area already where he can go.

 

Welcome aboard from coastal North Carolina.

I tend to agree with the worst case assessment above. Communication will be a challenge if even possible. Those Forever stamps may be more important than you think.

Before anybody goes anywhere you need a plan in place so you're not both wandering around looking for each other. Who moves, who stays put? Under what circumstances? On what timeline?

After addresses, meeting places, message drops, phone numbers and radio frequencies I'd be concerned with maps, waypoints, load bearing equipment and good footwear.

Let's hope we don't have to deal with such times, and never have to execute such drastic plans.

 

IMHO, we need way, way more info. Is this dad a college professor? Is he in the medical field? Politician?
Does the student have the means to defend himself? Does he have a vehicle? Does he have cash on hand, survival preps? You'd be surprised how many kids away at school don't have winter clothing/coats/boots.
Assuming the world doesn't go up in smoke on day 1, are there plausible scenarios for air travel/vehicle travel?
Let's not forget there are people on different sides of the political spectrum anywhere in the country, even Boston!

 

My other question would be, what is the kids attitude? Is he a prepper in training? Does he enjoy survival related stuff, or are we talking about a dad that wants to plan on how to go save his totally unprepared/helpless son 2k miles away.
I don't think the latter can work at all.
Also to be considered, we often think about "emergencies" as these massive, societal collapse type events. There are plenty of localized issues that will affect only 1 of you. Snow in the Northeast comes to mind first, having spent some time in that general area, a bad snow storm and loss of power isn't usually a big deal to the locals, but you gotta be ready (see TX a few years back)
Since you going to save him is probably not ever going to be on the table, I suggest teaching him to be self-sufficient and prepared for not the end of the world, but for the statistically most likely event to disrupt his daily life. Once that is taken care of then you can work up to the bigger events.
In addition to plans for the local stuff (snow, no power, COVID type lockdowns ect..) I would also work on having multiple on and off grid communication options (cell, land line, internet, ham radio, carrier pigeon, whatever) that way you can each let the other know you are okay.
Lastly, for the total doomsday people, maybe come up with a point half way that you would meet and plan to hold up for a long term country/world wide disaster/collapse, and plans on how you will each get there and then of course contingency and other back up plans.

JW

 

Welcome! You will need to monitor current events and have an understanding with your son, that when you call and say, "COME HOME NOW!" that he will leave within the hour! LOTS OF LUCK! But assuming that you raised him right and he does leave he will need a car with a full tank of gas and maybe 5-gallons in the trunk, and that only gets him 200-300 miles down the road. Thats gonna put him somewhere in Pennsylvania, where he will need to buy more gas...if he can! If he can't continue in the car, he will need a bicycle, also food (lots of food), water filters, canteen, boots, extra clothing, sleeping bag, etc. With a lot of luck, he might be home in 2-3 weeks! Just pray that it isn't winter!
I don't think the East Coast is going to be a good place to be, but is your home in Texas going to be any better?

 

Oh just the usual me, Sailboat coastal runner
If not then R.R. Tracks, make sure his wheelbase is ideal to the tracks.
My jeep TJ's wheelbase fit the tracks perfect
The military moves by rail when needed.
Best time to blow thru bandit country 4;30 to 5;30 am more or less

 

Pick meet-up way points and a way to leave a mark showing that way point has been passed (lumber crayons!). Make sure the kid has at least rudimentary gear like boots and a backpack and 2 rolls of quarters. If neither father or son has skills, then it will probably be better to find somewhere and hunker down. Travel during SHTF scenarios will be tough for the most hardened among us and maybe impossible for noobs. If communications are down it only makes it worse. There are a ton of choke points like rivers along that route.

 

Sorry you're not getting a lot of inspiring information for your proposed situation,,, but the folks here are pretty much giving it to you straight up. If we have a total collapse ,, his best bet would be to start his trek home immediately,, the longer he waits the worse its going to get. Think like this ,, on average, a car or truck may get 250 miles per tank ,, he's going to need 8 tanks of fuel to get home ,, in a total grid down scenario,, that may be hard to pull off . Communication will be another issue .
I'm not sure what he's going to school for ,, but if you're worried about this situation,, keep him home till after this next election.
If he's got a little real world experience,, he might can pull that trip off ,, maybe.
There's seems to be ,, in my mind ,,, more reasons to put off school for a year ,, and stick with the family ,, than to take that chance . There's an unlimited number of scenarios that could occur in the SHTF scene ,, simple question for me would be ,,, how much do you honestly believe your son can handle . Good luck on your choices.

 

I picked Austin and Boston as an example. OP never provided enough info so I just made a sample assumption.
But East coast is typically firearm restrictive along with most colleges.
OP also stated SHTF but vague on what it meant to him. So that's beyond noreaster and snowmagedon and into the realm of riots and unrest caused by grid down in the big city in my book.
Planes won't be flying into a war zone, comms if not taken down by grid situation will be shut down to prevent cordinated action/disobedience by populace.
the east coast is a cluster fuck with respect to population and traffic flow. Try to drive through boston at rush hour. block a train, flood a tunnel or make a bridge impassable. One is not going anywhere other than on foot.
The route from texas to northeast? 10,20,40? good luck making it to I95 corridor.
Yep, @justadad we need more info to make actual suggestions other than, well, hope you've trained him to survive on his own. And that might actually be the only real answer we are going to have for ya.

 

I can't really think of a scenario where students are targeted. My thought would be for him to stay in place. I would think students would be protected, unless of course, they decided to put themselves in the conflict.

 

unfortunately, the assured answer is that you don't - wayyyyyyyyyy toooooooo many "ifs" involved to begin much of a definite plan ....

the worse variable is your kid - the fact that he wants to go to an eastern school is nothing but red flags - hopefully he got a full athletic scholarship and he's got a "hard head" mentality to go with the bod - unfortunately the liberal weak minded don't fare well in SHTFs because they basically won't be self focused on themselves & the needed mission before its too late to get any success >>> IE - you want him home NOW because the US & Russia have exchanged capital ship sinkings - he won't leave because of band practice or some scheduled lecture

best possible scenario is an open paid ticket for a direct flight home with someone waiting on the TX end with an armored vehicle - he jumps almost immediately and heads out for home with almost no hesitation >>> again, unfortunately that wouldn't happen and air traffic wouldn't be possible - and - driving home that distance at a latter time already into a SHTF is nothing but a huge ole crap shoot >>> again the individual will mean absolutely EVERYTHING ....

for an even-upped shot driving home - good vehicle ready to drive home - stocked with gear to hike the distance - weapon to solve the problems along the way - positioned "way stations" along various travel routes to re-supply >>> and above all - plenty of luck

 

Agreed. If it is a temporary "national emergency", then bunkering down with other students and instructors could be best. If it's a true global FUBAR situation, then it's a whole different thing.

 

MSU about a year ago. Mentally unstable local individual. 3 dead.
How about a student that has a beef with other students that have made them felt marginalized.
How about a prof that has had enough of entitled students.
Yeah .. gun free zone = none for thee but rules don't apply to bad actors.

and wrong place wrong time

 

I guess...I'd think of that as a localized crime event, but I guess if it's directed at you, it's a SHTF situation.

 

When I was 18 years old (1969) I hitch hiked from San Bernadino California to Lawrence Mass. For the trip I got paper maps to prep my way across country I had no experience with.
Not going to say it was easy, there were plenty of challenges including being November.
Here is a new problem, Biden is pushed for greater amount of ethanol in our fuel, this will damage almost every engine with a carburetor.
Not only private transportation but commercial transportation will be crippled as well.
Alcohol breaks down the coating inside the carburetor that otherwise keeps it from leaking through the porosity of the aluminum.
A lot of us still have normally aspirated engines both our vehicles including boats and our equipment.
A lot of vehicles will be breaking down on the highways and some catching fire from leaking gas, other than that some rubber hoses can't take alcohol either.
Think about processing your fire wood with hand saws and ax.
Too much fun.

 

Using the Boston working assumption, the young man in question may wish to consider joining the local ROTC Unit (Harvard College / MIT). Though most major universities and colleges in the larger American cities probably have access to a local ROTC unit. At the very least, he may learn some useful life and battlecraft skills including marksmanship and weapons handling...together with a being part of a band of brothers who are like to be inclined to support each other if things get tough.

There are also a number of other benefits, however, be aware, if one accepts a ROTC Scholarship, one may be committed to a few years return of service, in the service that one did their ROTC training with.

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Army ROTC