The first thing you must consider is this. This writing and my other survival related writings are not an all encompassing and complete work. What I write is only meant as a starting point for you. The learning curve is long and anything that you do not learn can cause you and your family to die in their sleep or exploded or both.
What you have is what you have and if you cannot have, engineer, convert or add to then just do the best that you can with what you do have and what you can actually obtain. Take the modular approach and modify what you can one piece or one section at a time. So, yes I'm about to mention some very expensive things. Do not feel bad or consider the impossibility of doing any of the things I'm about to list. Just take what I write as concepts to be modified by you for your own specific situation. Just remember, no gas anything inside of any of your underground living space(s).
One thing that you may glean from this writing is the addition of more space. Space should be a part of your infrastructure. When you build or expand. You will need to consider how to add at a later date. There is a lot to think about in regards to space.
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Before building a survival home. You must have direct access to clean well water via an underground manual and powered water well. Castles were often times built on top of water sources. You may also be required to add expensive filtration and water softening devices. Water storage may also be a consideration as well. You may also want to add other manual and powered water well points to other outlying buildings or structures. All of your water wells must be hidden and secret. Powered water wells make much noise and much vibration. So how will you mitigate the noise and vibration? In which when the powered pump cycles through. Everyone in the house and outside of the house will know it is on. This will be a serious security concern.
Yes, you can have both city or county utility water and well pump water. Just like you can have both sewage piped to the city or county and have a hidden and secret septic system. The kind of septic system with drain fields which cannot be easily pointed out. Then all you need is your own easily accessible hand valves to shut the city and county utilities off and turn yours on.
In some cases to do what I suggest may be a crime. I'm not telling you to break any laws here. You break any law by your own free will.
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The location of your own growing and evolving survival complex or compound is also a crucial consideration. But, no matter how anyone defines what you build and what you have. You should always consider it your home and not some civilian defined military or militia engineered bullet proof pill box command and control structure so that you can make your plans to take over the world. Insert evil laugh here. This is your home that your building or already have right now. This should be a sign that you are taking full responsibility of taking care of your family, your friends, your church and your community very seriously. Your home must meet your own self defined and well researched criteria. Such as plant growing zones, nearby populations, locations of roads, flooding, fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, nuclear power plants and distance from any suspected nuclear detonation target site as well as every other defined threat and danger which may be posed to you. You also must consider being upwind from any and all nuclear bomb detonation. But, here is the point to survival. What is the actual probability of actually experiencing specific emergency situation? Do you know what those things are? In order of frequency, importance. This is very important. This is because everyone is not wealthy to go just dig into a side of a mountain like Mr. Bezos in order to build his own ultra modern survival home which will survive everything. So you have to prepare for what you can with what you have on hand. So what is the most prevalent threat to you and your family? Then ask yourself how do you mitigate and/or prevent the severity of those common and typical emergencies from negatively impacting your own family, friends, church and community? Then you make those very reasoned decisions and make those very logically engineered additions to your already existing home or you apply them to a new home build. How will you contend with forest fires when your home is made out of match sticks? So, there is a point in which you may just have to consider moving and starting new. So how is that a smart thing when nuclear bombs can fly at any time? How is that a smart thing when a newly created strain of Covid is already said to be able to kill about 80% of the people who get it? How is that smart when food shortages are right around the corner? How is that smart when fuel is about to run out in days and the truckers and trains will not be able to deliver their much needed and life sustaining goods. This very threatening list can go on and on or is all of it directly related to the election cycle of the USA and is all of it fear mongering? The Mississippi is going dry and the Euphrates river as well. Christian prophecy in the extreme here. Is time really that short? Will the fallen angels rise up very soon and begin to kill 1/3 of humanity?
Here is the reason why you need to do what you think is the best thing to do for the safety and well being of your family. There is and always have been threats in life. There is and always have been easy times. In other words there are always good times and bad times. It is how you deal with all of those situations is what makes a difference. As a man, as a husband, as a father, as a grandfather, as an uncle, as a brother. It is your duty to keep your family out of any survival situation and mindset. But, wait, I thought this was all about survival? It is but it is also about having and keeping a good home life where everyone is thriving and not surviving or worse simply existing. Yes, there will be times when you have to survive and the effective plans you make during those easy times will shorten those times when you are forced to survive. Just like Joseph in Egypt. Be like Joseph and take care of your family and it matters not if your brothers tried to kill you and then sold you into slavery. It matter not how unfair life has been to you. Just like Joseph the slave who was imprisoned under a falsehood. And yet, he loved his family, the Egyptians and his owner. Because he loved enough and cared enough that he made organized plans during those times of plenty in order to save everyone when the famines came. This is Biblical. This also dose not matter what you know about prophecy and the rapture. Doing nothing and waiting helplessly for the rapture is unwise and very well may be a false teaching. We do not really know for certain. While I no longer debate those things and have come to the conclusion that God is gonna do what God is gonna do. God does not need for me to know, to understand or is waiting to give my permission for anything. This also includes the concept of the rapture and no I'm not a rapture denier. I have studied all of the variants and have come to the conclusion that we lowly humans just do not know and will not know until the rapture happens and I for one will be greatly thankful.
So, until the rapture happens or not happen. In which I really hope it does before rather than during or after. You are still responsible for your family, your friends, your church and your community. Sorry, but this is the cold hard truth. Especially, if your a manly man type of a man. So what do you do now? What can you do now? How do you do it all? Sometimes you have to have a community. Actually, you need to have a community of like minded people. You should not go it alone as that means you will most likely die alone. The law of the animal kingdom.
--------?BEST STRUCTURE?--------
The one piece and solid concrete monolithic Dome Home Structure. This is the best type of home structure that I have found which can survive most emergencies. This is something you should research and consider for yourself. This monolithic dome structure can also be buried underground. These monolithic domes are also ultra efficient. This can be something that you can build and either add it to your already built home or build as a new home. So here is the basic idea of a build. At the lowest level you should have space for a substantial root cellar which should be in close proximity to your kitchen via a dumb waiter. At this underground level you can have a manual and powered pump well system with all of the filtration needs and water softening needs. Bare in mind water issues fill the bottom first and rise up. So how will you remove water from your lowest levels? Bare in mind that water softening bags of salt weigh 50 pounds each and how far will you have to take those bags and how many stairs do you have to climb down? Think about the old coal shoots in the old days. But, exposed coal shoots are also finger pointers to something else unseen or unknown or typically known to have back in those ancient days. This is an easily observable security risk.
The next underground level can be a basement along with a tunneling system with the necessary 90 degree turns at every entry way. This tunnel can lead to an actual bunker which is a reasonable distance away from the actual home. You also need to plan for a variety of emergency exits as well. Not just one emergency exit. All emergency exits must be hidden and kept secret. The entry way access must also be hidden, secret and out of the way. You can also consider building your bunker system at the same level as your root cellar. Be sure to think about water table levels for each season. You do not want any manner of water intrusion to any degree.
So, why does an underground bunker system need to be a reasonable distance away from the primary and very visible home residence? This is because of wars, battles and any other conflicts. If the friendly soldiers must use your home as a base and their reasoning is very necessary. Then the enemy soldiers will bomb your home. If the enemy soldiers use your home as a base then the friendly soldiers will bomb your home. This is historical evidence throughout human history of warfare. No matter, it is the civilians who lose, who are abused, who are tortured and who are killed. It is the civilians who are displaced and must travel in some direction that they think leads to some kind of hopeful safe place. Many may make and many do not as the civilians will most likely starve and die or die in the heat or freeze to death.
The roof of your underground structure must be well below the thermal lines of freezing and of heat. Because, if your roof is in the heat then your bunker turns into an oven. If your roof is in the frozen ice line. Then your bunker turns into a freezer. In other words a very expensive and unlivable environment.
You must also contend with the water tables for every season and every year. This is because water tables rise and fall. If the floor of your underground bunker and basement systems floods how useful will it be especially when rust, mold and mildew begins to grow as well as damage to the structure? Then you cannot forget about the flood waters. In which you have to plan perfectly and mitigate every possibility that ground water cannot get into your basement and bunker? This will be total ruination of all of it.
--------AIR-------------
You need to be able to breathe clean fresh air. While at the same time exhausting old used air. While at the same time having a positive air pressure inside. That is a lot of air head thinking. But, you must consider those three points as a positive air pressure will help to keep the bad parts of NBC out of your living space. NBC is Nuclear, Biological and Chemical weapons. You should not use any breathing and air equipment that is not Swiss or Israeli made. If you cannot afford these things. Then be sure to engineer a space for them during the engineering phase of your building project. This is really a tough thing. Because a human cannot survive without breathable air for about three minutes. When you are physically active. Less than 3 minutes. In some case you may pass out within seconds. Clean fresh breathable air is that serious. You also need to know. That there is serious math with this. That if you exceed occupancy of your underground bunker by one person. Then all of you can suffocate and die. That might be a little extreme, but you need to be serious about the movement of air in all parts and around every corner and in every room of your underground bunker. Just because you have an incoming pipe over here and then an exhausting air pipe on top of the bathroom. The air pipe must be of sufficient diameter. Have you ever tried to breathe through a straw while running? This may seem funny until you realize that you cannot breathe with any sort of small tubes or pipes. Ask someone how well they can breathe when they cannot get any air into their lungs. This is very serious as I state it yet again. Some other rooms or spaces may not have fresh air and actually may fill up with carbon dioxide and other not healthy to humans gasses. You have to plan and pipe in clean air to every space, room and tunnel. Then you have to be mindful of air tight doors. Then you have to know what kind of air is on both sides of those air tight doors. Then you have to make sure your incoming air pipes and out gassing air pipes are not close together. There is a minimal distance for these two air pipes. That means more math to know. Because, if you open a door, will bad air or bad human gasses and NBC come flooding into your clean and healthy living space? Really, how do you know? How will you know? Instant death can happen to everyone or anyone. Please do not get all paranoid and fearful of this writing about air. You really need to take this serious. Research air quality meters for caves and other tight and sealed off spaces. You need to know the quality of air inside your underground bunker as well as the quality of air outside of your bunker. To some degree an out door weather station can be helpful. A remote operated radiation monitor is really expensive. How would you measure O2 levels inside and outside?
------WATER-----------------
You need clean drinking water from any good source. A healthy person may not survive longer than three days without clean drinking water. Your water sources should only be accessible from within your home. Your water source should be a secret and well hidden. You must mitigate and manage all noises and vibrations. You may need to include filtration systems as well as water softening. Then you need to stock up on new and sealed water filters. You will need to stock up on fifty pound bags of water softening salt. You have to make space for all of those things as well.
You can also have a connection to a city or county water supply. Which can be easily turned off by you. When the need arises as you define it.
You also can include city and county sewage lines. This is usually connected with the city or county water supply. But, you will also need your own septic system and this system must be engineered for more people than what you think you will need. Use the number of three-five times more capacity for your septic build and drain fields.
You see in normal days. Having city or county water and sewage is extremely very convenient. Then when for some reason the city or county stops working. You have a back up system already ready for use.
-----FOOD-----------------
So a healthy and physical fit person can starve to death in about thirty days. The use of clean drinking water can stave off starvation by a few more weeks. But mental alertness and physical energy levels will be greatly reduced. So you must plan for a rather large root cellar which can maintain the coldest possible temperatures. The colder the temperature the long the shelf life. The more constant the cold temperature the more stable the shelf life.
You should also have a multifaceted or multi purpose green house. You must design the green house to be as energy efficient as possible. There are some interesting designs from around the world. There is even an old guy who grows citrus trees in Nebraska. Your green house must be able to store seeds and be able to germinate seeds. You have to be able to grow those seeds into adult hood. Then you need a method to recover all seeds and to safely store them. Then you must properly organize all seeds in a paper ledger. All of the plants, seeds and foods that you grow must be heirloom, antique, natural and wild. You cannot use any hybrid or GMO seeds or plants of any kind. As a matter of fact you must burn those down.
The plants, bushes and shrubs that you have right now. Should all be food bearing in some way. All of your ornamental trees, bushes, plants and shrubs that you have should be removed in their proper season and replaced with food bearing or directly resource related wood products. Remember any tree which is used as any kind of resource. You must replant with ten resource trees. Which means you have to plan ahead and actually have replacement trees on hand to plant.
So how much food will you need for an emergency? You may not be aware of this. But those people and families which get snowed in for many months at a time. How much food and other supplies do you think they have stored up? How much fire wood by cord do you think they already have on hand? So planning your life around the seasons is paramount to survival. Because, when Your snowed in. You cannot just go to the grocery store to buy groceries or to the restaurant and eat out. Being snowed in means you cannot leave your home. Then if you experience ice storms. You may go without any electricity for many months at a time.
Just before you begin to plant food bearing plants, bushes and trees. You need to have a plan for harvesting as close to every month of the year as possible. You need to be able to properly and safely can your own foods for the long term. You will also need to keep all of your foods as continually cool or cold for as long as possible. Continuous temperature control is critical. Because, in a worse case situation. Food poisoning will kill a person.
------ELECTRICITY-----
This one part is hugely expensive and can be engineered to be expandable. Having multiple sources of electricity generation as well as a direct connection to the electrical grid should be preferred. In some states and in some nations you may be able to make a small income or at the very least diminish your electrical costs. It would be best to research off grid living. The amount of space required can be substantial. If you're trying to keep your physical location secret. The addition of solar panels, wind turbines, water stream generators and natural gas generators. Will point the way to your home and shelters with easy observation, sounds and vibrations.
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Added on 25 Dec 2022: Rolling black outs in many places across America as this winter storm passes through. This is 2022 and there should not be any reason why any family has no electricity on Christmas day. It is your political leaders who have caused your discomfort and suffering. It is also your fault for not preparing for the safety and well being of your own family. It is your fault for trusting in something or someones who isn't worth trusting.
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-------MEDICAL AND DENTAL----
When the worse thing does happen. All aspects of modern day medical care and dental care will cease. All access to all forms of medications and vitamins will cease. So you will be required to have space to be able to do your own medical and dental procedures. You will also need to plan for space to properly hold the equipment and supplies.
-------CLOTHING-----
So do you want to be naked and have bare feet? You have to plan on having very hardy clothing and shoes/boots. Which means at the very first thing is to only buy quality goods. Which also means do not buy anything which is made in China(PRC). Think about clothing which is specifically made for the construction worker, farmer, cowboy types, or any other outside person.
In a worse case scenario or a SHTF. You have to have clothing and footwear which will last a very long time under very harsh conditions. You have to plan for substantial weight loss as well as extra storage to hold extra clothing and footwear.
In all aspects of survival and not just in clothing and footwear. You have to have the mindset of cradle to grave in everything that will be required. (humor)In regards to clothing, how will you raise cotton and grow wool? Do you know how to spin those raw materials into usable items? What about those necessary tools like human powered sewing machines and looms. How do you shear sheep with no electricity? You have to plan for space to work each machine and to store all of the necessary equipment for each machine. This leads to storing seeds and growing cotton. How much cotton can you grow for your family, friends, church and community. Because, when the worse thing happens, guess what dude or is that dude-et, you suddenly become responsible for everyone clothing and footwear. How do you even make your own clothing and footwear? Do you have the materials?
-------WORK SHOP AND STORAGE------
Storage and work shop space for hand powered tools and equipment.
So how much storage space will you need to hold hay for all of your animals? Where will you position a work shop in association to your home, shelter and other outlying buildings? Will your work shop space have direct access to the outside. Will you be able to drive vehicles inside or build wooden carriages or build and repair bicycles? Your storage spaces should be individually and purposefully planned spaces.
-----OUTLYING BUILDINGS---------
You will also need to build barns, green houses, electrical houses and maybe even other specific to you houses for your own specific needs. Some uses can be combined into one. Such as an electrical house and a water generator system because you have a free flowing year around stream. You just have to manage water issues and flooding.
You will need property space for an evolving solar panel set up. Solar panels are very visible and will point to your home as a safe place with electricity. Your electrical room should be zero distance from your home. Ample space must be made for the electrical room as well as removing of heat generated within the electrical room. You must also add additional space for modifications, additions and air conditioning. Cool dry air is better than moist hot air.
------SERVER ROOM-------------------------
Server and Computer rooms which will deliver the internet as it still functions throughout your home. These servers and computers very much like cool dry air and about 50 degrees F. When air is cool and dry. That means static electricity goes up and can become a more severe threat. Your servers must have substantial hard drive back ups and storage capabilities. This is necessary especially, if the worse thing happens and you will require everyone to remain underground for a year or more. It is very advisable to run high capacity Ethernet cable instead of WiFi as WiFi in any kind of confined space or metallic space will or can cause RF radiation damage to your brains. This also includes Bluetooth devices. This also includes all radio transmitters as well. Yea, so do not use blue tooth devices and use only corded cables with your head phones. You must limit all RF radiation within the confines of your bunker and home.
Your server and computer rooms must also have their own back up equipment and all of these must be shielded from all EMP's static electricity and RF DEW energies. The how to protect from RF DEW is a best guess situation. The only thing I can think of is the use of static bags, old microwave ovens and Faraday cages all combined to be used for one piece of equipment and all equipment. So yes, your server or technology room should be a shielded Faraday Cage. Your server or technology room should be large enough to store all high tech gear, test equipment and have a work space.
The heat generated within the server or technology room can be moved to other areas for more comfortable uses.
-----FARADAY CAGES-------
That is until EMPs and RF DEW(Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapons) are in use in your area. Even though you may have paid for EMP protection. There is no telling how many EMP's that protection system will protect you from. Then there is the RF DEW's which is brand new. There is no telling how these will affect any piece of equipment or even human flesh, especially brain matter. You will just have to plan the best that you can.
Inside of your home base you must engineer EMP safe rooms and have on hand EMP boxes called Faraday Cages. Yes, You can build your entire home into a Faraday cage. But, think about the layers of Faraday Cages, Faraday rooms and Faraday homes. This is assuming you have tons of money. Think about also having on hand a variety of anti static bags in various of sizes. Think about also having on hand old microwave ovens. Also, have much aluminum tape to cover up any holes and to further seal Faraday Boxes and old not working large microwave ovens. You need to know that anytime any piece of electrical equipment which is exposed during any EMP or RF DEW event. That piece of equipment becomes irreparable. It does not matter if the batteries were installed or not. It does not matter if the unit is turned on or not. There will not be any reset switches. It does not matter if the unit is new and still in its own original packaging or sealed box. You need to know that there will not just be one EMP event or one use of RF DEW. There will be many and at many times in what appears to be random events. But, EMP and RF DEW uses should be considered a prelude to actual attacks. Unless, They also happen after the attack. In which the enemy hopes that someone left an important door or window open to allow the energies to gain entry and destroy any and all exposed technology.
-----EXERCISE ROOM-----
So if you are one of the meek as identified in the Holy Bible. You may be required to remain secretly hidden underground for a year or longer. Which mean dependent on the season when the modern day world ends. You will need to stay hidden until the beginning of spring. Knowing this, how will you remain physically fit? How will you remain physically healthy? A part of your daily routine will be exercising on a daily basis. This will be very important and will be a part of remaining sane. Because once you open the doors to the outside for the first time. You will most likely be required to work from dawn to dusk.
-----LIBRARY ROOM------
In order to keep your mind active. The reading of books from within your own library space will be necessary part of keeping sane. If your one of the chosen meek as identified in the Holy Bible. You need to have all of the necessary books which will directly aid you in keeping your connection with God.
-----ENTERTAINMENT ROOM----
Fun time is also necessary time in order to remain sane. So do create a space for entertainment value as well as the creation of good memories.
-----WEAPONS ROOM----
Guns, Guns and more guns. Not necessary so. Bow and arrows will most likely become preferred distance weapons. Knives and swords will most likely become preferred close quarters combat weapons. The most important thing to consider is not just the gun or bow or any bladed weapon. The important things to consider is how to reload the guns? resupply the arrows? and make your own blades? How do you make gun powder? How do you make arrows? Do you even know what kinds of trees will make the best arrows or bows? Where do you get copper and lead for bullets and how do you form them into properly sized bullets? Do you or will you also make the tools and necessary equipment to create from nothing into something? Will you even have the necessary functional skill sets? If your one of the meek how will you even be able to have any kind of weapons room? Then who properly defines the necessity of a weapons rooms if your one of the chosen meek?
--------Animal Management----
You will also need space in order to clean and render all of your animals. You will also need to have the ability to clean that space when completed. How will you manage certain wild animals and not allow those wild animals go to waste. Because, there is an indication in the holy Bible that you will account for all of the blood that you spill. Even if it is a small animal.
------SUMMARY------
You probably have figured it out. You need a lot of space. You need space that has been properly planned out and engineered. This is an indication of the need for community as one person or one family cannot do it all. But, you can have an important roll within any established community by having functional skill sets which will not only benefit you and your family, but also your church and your community. Everyone must work together. Everyone who works together survives together. Especially, when the meek emerges last.
Individually some things can be done for the benefit of the whole. Like the planting of food bearing trees, plants, bushes and shrubs. You plant them everywhere you can. While knowing it can take years for these to bear their own fruits within your specific growing region.
The planting of wild and self sustaining vegetables. You plant these things everywhere you can and let them grow on their own. For instance garlic's and onion's and many other's.
The most important part of growing food bearing plants is that you can hasten the fruiting through processes like cloning and grafting. Then you give these new already fruit bearing plants to everyone within your family, friends, church and community. Then when food shortages do happen. They will be minimized.
The idea of generating your own energy is now important as the politicians and media point their own dirty and corrupted dirty fingers to blame Putin about all of their energy woes. When it was they who made all of these energy shortages happen.
In summary, You have figured out that it is you and it has always been you who is responsible for yourself and your family. You have figured out that it is not wise to entrust any political organization or any other group to save you and your family. You, your family, your friends, your church and your community are the only ones who you can trust. Anyone else who is on the outside cannot be trusted and your only faith shall only be given to God alone.
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Added on 18 Sept 2026: Conversation with Chat GPT.
me. Just sending content. Comment. It is nice to have a history and not having to explain intentions, instructions or restrictions.
Yepper's, Boss. 😄 This one is substantially different from “Survival Locations.” It is much more of a systems-design document. And I can already see why your 2022 thinking eventually led into the later shelter discussions we've been having.
I read the whole thing. There is a lot here, so I'll keep the first pass focused on what 2022 John was actually trying to build, what remains useful, and where the old writing needs a big red pencil in the later discussion.
My first impression
The central idea isn't really “build a bunker.”
It's:
Build a home that can progressively acquire the capabilities necessary to remain a home when external systems fail.
That is a much better description of the piece.
You repeatedly return to space, redundancy, expansion, maintenance, food, water, air, electricity, skills, education, recreation, medical capability, workshops, animals, and community.
And your summary finally says it plainly:
“You need a lot of space. You need space that has been properly planned out and engineered.”
That's really the backbone of the entire article.
The strongest idea: space is infrastructure
This appears right near the beginning:
“Space should be a part of your infrastructure.”
That is one of the things I would definitely preserve and emphasize in the later discussion.
You're not merely talking about square footage for comfort.
You're discovering that every capability requires:
equipment + working room + storage + maintenance room + access + replacement parts + people to operate it.
A water system needs space.
A food system needs space.
A workshop needs space.
A greenhouse needs space.
A server room needs space.
Clothing production needs space.
Animal processing needs space.
And eventually you realize:
The building itself becomes one of the pieces of equipment.
That's a much more mature idea than “make the walls strong.”
The second really strong idea: modularity
This is right at the beginning:
“Take the modular approach and modify what you can one piece or one section at a time.”
That is remarkably consistent with your later thinking.
You aren't actually saying:
“Everyone needs John's giant underground complex.”
You're saying:
“Start with what you have. Add capability as you can.”
That's important because your own article immediately acknowledges that some of the things you're discussing are extremely expensive.
So the concept becomes scalable:
existing house → improvements → additional space → independent systems → specialized buildings → community infrastructure.
That survives much better than any particular dome/bunker specification.
And then we hit 2022 John being 2022 John. 😂
There are several things I would put giant red “DO NOT CARRY THIS FORWARD AS FACT” flags beside.
Swiss or Israeli air equipment
You wrote:
“You should not use any breathing and air equipment that is not Swiss or Israeli made.”
That's far too categorical.
The useful underlying question is:
What performance standards, filtration capabilities, airflow capacity, pressure control, monitoring, maintenance requirements and certification does the equipment actually meet?
Country of manufacture isn't a substitute for engineering specifications.
Three-minute air
The mnemonic is useful, but the wording is too absolute:
“a human cannot survive without breathable air for about three minutes.”
We have already worked through this in your other shelter material.
The Rule of Threes is a mnemonic, not a biological timer.
And your next sentence actually gets to the more important engineering point:
Occupancy affects the air requirements.
That's the part worth keeping.
The water section has a genuinely good systems insight
You aren't satisfied with:
“Have a well.”
You immediately ask:
What happens when the pump fails?
What about manual pumping?
What about filtration?
What about softening?
What about storage?
What happens when the water table changes?
Where does the wastewater go?
That is systems thinking.
And you later make the same point about municipal utilities:
city/county systems are convenient, but independent systems can provide redundancy if legally and technically feasible.
That's a much stronger idea than simply saying “go off grid.”
The food section is where your later thinking is already emerging
This is actually one of my favorite parts.
You don't stop at:
“Store food.”
You go:
stored food → seeds → germination → growing → harvesting → preservation → seed recovery → next planting.
Then you add trees and perennial food.
Then you get to the community:
plant things that eventually provide food for everyone.
That is the transition from stockpiling to regenerating resources.
And that connects directly with our recent discussion about preindustrial societies.
A pantry eventually empties.
A functioning food system can produce another pantry.
That's a major conceptual difference.
But the seed section has a big 2022 red flag
You wrote:
“You cannot use any hybrid or GMO seeds or plants of any kind. As a matter of fact you must burn those down.”
That's one I would definitely discuss later.
The useful concept is seed independence and preservation of locally useful varieties.
The absolute rejection of all hybrids and GMOs isn't supported simply by the survival argument.
And “burn those down” is particularly unnecessary.
You can preserve the original wording in the archive while 2026 John says:
Nope. That was 2022 John talking too absolutely.
That's exactly what the archive is for.
The electricity section has another good observation
This one is particularly consistent with your broader survival philosophy:
External infrastructure can fail, so have multiple ways to produce electricity.
But then you notice something many prepper discussions overlook:
Energy production creates a signature.
Solar panels are visible.
Wind turbines are visible and audible.
Generators make noise.
Pumps make noise and vibration.
That doesn't mean you should turn a power system into some elaborate secret military installation. It means every capability has consequences and maintenance requirements.
That's the same “physical cascade” thinking we identified in your earlier writing.
The server-room section is probably the most technically problematic
There are several claims here that absolutely should not survive into modern guidance without qualification.
You wrote that Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and radio transmitters in confined spaces can cause RF radiation damage to people's brains.
That's an unsupported claim as written.
Likewise, the statements that equipment exposed during an EMP/RF event necessarily becomes irreparable, that multiple EMP events should be expected, and that RF directed-energy effects on human brain matter can be assumed are much too categorical.
The underlying engineering problem is real; the 2022 explanation isn't reliable enough.
The useful version is:
Protect critical electronics from electromagnetic threats using appropriately designed shielding, grounding/bonding, surge protection and redundancy, recognizing that protection depends on the actual threat and system design.
But we should not silently rewrite the 2022 paragraph. The mistake belongs in the historical record.
The medical section is another place where the old wording outruns reality
You wrote:
“All aspects of modern day medical care and dental care will cease.”
That's an extreme-collapse assumption, not something we can state as inevitable.
But your underlying observation is extremely important:
A community can't assume modern medical services will always be immediately available.
And you correctly expand the concept beyond food and shelter to dental care, medications, supplies, equipment and workspace.
That's consistent with your later realization that the shelter is only the shell.
Clothing is actually a surprisingly good section
Because you ask the question most bunker plans don't:
What happens after everybody wears out their clothes?
Then:
cotton → wool → spinning → sewing → looms → sheep → shearing → tools → storage.
That's another example of your cradle-to-grave idea.
And there's a funny but legitimate point buried in there:
Once your community survives long enough, you inherit responsibilities you didn't originally expect.
That's exactly what we've been talking about with skill sets.
You don't just need:
people who can survive.
You need:
people who can replace the things that wear out.
The weapons room is interesting because it isn't actually about weapons
Despite the heading, the more interesting question is:
“How will you reload the guns? resupply the arrows? and make your own blades?”
Again, you're moving from having an object to having the capability to sustain the object.
That's a recurring theme throughout this whole article.
And I think this is one of the places where your later writing became more sophisticated.
Owning equipment isn't the same thing as possessing the capability that equipment represents.
Then the article finally arrives at your real subject: community
The ending is actually the best part.
You say:
“one person or one family cannot do it all.”
There it is.
That statement almost dismantles the giant bunker fantasy you spent the previous 60 lines constructing. 😂
You have essentially built an enormous theoretical list of everything one household would need and then concluded:
“Oh. Yeah. Nobody can do all that.”
Which leads directly back to the Survival Skill Sets article.
Farmer.
Mechanic.
Teacher.
Medic.
Food preserver.
Builder.
Electrician.
Animal caretaker.
Clothing maker.
Computer person.
And so forth.
That's where the seven standalone articles are starting to connect.
And one thing I would NOT overlook
The article contains library, exercise and entertainment rooms.
That is important because it means 2022 John wasn't actually designing a place merely to keep biological organisms alive.
You were designing a place where people could remain people.
Exercise → physical health.
Library → intellectual continuity.
Entertainment → mental health and memories.
And that connects beautifully with what you were saying recently about education.
A community that survives for ten years but cannot educate its children, preserve knowledge, maintain skills or produce the next generation of capable adults hasn't really solved the civilization problem.
Security Dude's preliminary verdict
This one is worth keeping.
Not because all of its engineering is correct—it absolutely isn't.
But because underneath the 2022 overstatements, there is a surprisingly coherent framework:
Home → Space → Systems → Redundancy → Maintenance → Skills → Community → Next generation.
And I think this is another article where we should not “fix” 2022 John.
Instead, we should let him stand there with all his:
“tons of money,”
“Swiss or Israeli,”
“burn the GMO plants,”
“Faraday everything,”
and giant underground compound. 😂
Then 2026 John gets to walk in afterward and say:
“Okay, let's separate the engineering principles from the things I was absolutely convinced of in 2022.”
That's much more valuable than making the old article look smarter than it was.
And frankly, Boss, this one gives us a lot more evidence for your current idea that survival isn't primarily about a bunker. It's about rebuilding a functioning human system.
me. Yea, I return to repeated content. May be a habit learned from Quora. Where the person asking the question or the reader may not read my other writings. Yea, I'm gonna stick with the Israeli or Swiss NBC air cleaning equipment. Better get more ink for your red pencil. There is just something about how the threat of war causes humans to invent and develop. The Swiss and the Israeli's were or have always been under constant threat. So, I'm gonna stick with their equipment over the weird Made In America black plastic with a computer fan inside or it. There is something that you and I both miss and that is the Internationally recognized certificate's. On the Three minutes of air. It can be too extreme but at the same time if you go into an environment which has been exposed to Halon gas. It don't really matter if you are breathing clean and sanitized air. You are still probably gonna die. Halon is or was the gas used in high value technologies. But, at the same time the Rule of Threes mnemonic keeps you focused on those things which must be done. So that your chance of living also goes up and never down. Nope on the seeds red flag. You must do all that you can to perpetuate your grown seeds into viable seeds. Seeds which self terminate after one growth season only delays starvation. If you cannot use those seeds with a forever mindset. Then you starve. With hybrids and GMO. You may not or do not have that option. Companies like Monsanto wants the farmer to return every year to buy their genetically patented seeds. Companies like Monsanto have also gone after farmers who take a more purest approach simply because their patented genetics had spread by the wind and cross contaminated other crops. Yea, The server room, My technology expertise stops with Windows ME and I'm an analog guy. The medical section may need work. What kind of emergency will end modern medicine? Modern medicine can survive one kind of emergency event but not others. Yea, Use layers of Faraday Cage on everything even if the math don't work. lol. I was thinking about EMP, New focused HP-EMP, low altitude EMP detonations, Equal distance apart low altitude EMP detonations. In which if you are in the middle of all of that. You get to experience an EMP Sam'mich (Sandwich). Not good for any technology even within one layer Faraday cage. What is the point of surviving if there is not going to be any recovery and to collectively for everyone to make their way back to a thriving civilized society?
Yes, sir. And I think you're making an important distinction about the red pencil: some of what I flagged as overly absolute is actually a principle you deliberately want to retain, while other parts really are technical claims that need correction.
The Swiss/Israeli point
I understand your reasoning better now.
You're not really saying:
“Swiss or Israeli equipment is magically superior because it has that label.”
You're saying:
Countries that have had to take NBC/CBRN threats seriously for generations have accumulated specialized knowledge, products, testing, standards, and certification that you would want to investigate before buying some anonymous piece of plastic with a computer fan in it.
That's a substantially different claim.
And I agree that certification and independently verifiable performance specifications are more meaningful criteria than country of origin alone.
So I would change my red pencil from:
❌ “Swiss/Israeli — unsupported.”
to:
🟡 “Keep the preference, but explain the selection criterion: recognized standards, certification, tested performance, replacement filters, airflow capacity, pressure capability, maintenance, etc.”
That preserves what you're actually trying to say without turning nationality into the engineering specification.
The Rule of Threes is another case where I was probably too aggressive with the pencil.
You've got two different purposes mixed together:
Biological statement:
“Three minutes without breathable air” is not a universal countdown clock.
Planning mnemonic:
Air is an immediate priority.
The second purpose is valuable precisely because it's memorable.
And your Halon example illustrates why the simplistic version can be misleading. A confined space can have an atmosphere that isn't merely “dirty.” It can be oxygen-deficient or otherwise hazardous, and a person may need appropriate atmospheric testing and respiratory protection rather than simply assuming that filtered incoming air solves the problem.
So I'd keep the Rule of Threes but qualify it:
It's a planning mnemonic, not a stopwatch.
That's actually stronger.
On the seed argument, I understand you now.
Your concern isn't really:
“Hybrid bad. GMO bad.”
It's:
“Can this food system reproduce itself?”
That's the deeper question.
If you have a seed stock that produces food this year but cannot reliably provide viable seed for the next generation, you've created a consumable supply, not a self-reproducing agricultural system.
And that fits perfectly with something you've been saying throughout these articles:
Don't merely store the capability. Preserve the ability to reproduce the capability.
That's a very different concept.
I would still separate the biological question from the legal/economic history of particular seed companies. Some of the claims about patented genetics, cross-pollination and individual lawsuits are specific factual claims that should be sourced if we ever put them into a new discussion. But your underlying engineering question about seed continuity absolutely deserves to remain.
The EMP “sam'mich.” 😂
I understand the mental model.
You're imagining something like:
EMP source
⬇️
large geographic effects
⬇️
another EMP source
⬇️
another direction
and you're asking what happens to a system sitting inside overlapping electromagnetic environments.
That's a legitimate question.
But I'd be careful with the conclusion “one Faraday cage won't work.” Faraday shielding isn't simply a matter of counting layers. Its effectiveness depends on the actual electromagnetic environment, frequency spectrum, field strength, enclosure geometry, seams, apertures, penetrations, cables, grounding/bonding arrangements, and the susceptibility of the equipment.
So your “layers even if the math don't work” is actually funny—but the engineering answer is:
Do the math where you can. Build redundancy where you can't.
And that fits your philosophy surprisingly well.
You don't need to know that the tenth layer guarantees survival.
You can say:
If this piece of equipment is important enough to preserve, give it multiple independent forms of protection and multiple backups.
That's a resilience philosophy rather than a claim that ten cages defeat an unknown weapon.
And I think you've just identified the most important thing in this entire article.
You asked:
“What is the point of surviving if there is not going to be any recovery?”
That's it.
That changes the entire meaning of the bunker.
A bunker isn't the destination.
It's a bridge.
Food storage isn't the destination.
It's a bridge to the next harvest.
Seeds aren't the destination.
They're a bridge to the next generation of food.
A library isn't merely entertainment.
It's a bridge for knowledge.
A workshop isn't just a collection of tools.
It's a bridge for manufacturing and repair.
Teachers aren't merely providing schooling.
They're a bridge between generations.
And the community isn't merely a group of people hiding underground.
It's the mechanism through which civilization can come back out.
That connects almost everything we've examined in your 2022 writings.
Survival → Existing → Thriving → Rebuilding.
You don't want people merely to remain alive underground.
You want them eventually to come out with:
people + knowledge + seeds + tools + skills + records + education + culture + relationships
and start making civilization work again.
That's why your repeated content doesn't bother me nearly as much anymore. You're circling the same fundamental problem from different directions because the pieces really are interconnected.
And the Quora habit makes sense too: every individual answer had to stand on its own because the reader might never see the other 2,000+ things you've written.
So yes, Boss.
I'm sharpening the red pencil. 😂
But I'm also learning when to put it down.
Some of your 2022 statements need correction.
Some need qualification.
Some need sources.
Some are deliberately extreme thought experiments.
And some are ideas you've been carrying forward for years that actually survived the red pencil.
And “survive so that civilization can recover” looks very much like one of the survivors.
me. There is a difference between NBC/CBRN rated and certified. I think anybody can say rated. ... Yes, I'm over reaching the legal issue when it comes to patented GMO seeds. From the heated stories from farmers. The EMP sam'mich is actually a thing by a more science-eee name. It is also a military tactic in which you can even surround a select target with many equally spaced EMP bombs and detonate them all at the same time. Most people do not know or understand Faraday cage, don't know the math, Don't understand the EMP wave and believe all I have to do is unplug it or take the battery out or get a new one out of the box. Yes, I did initially mean that for humor sake about all of those layers. Then I did the math and then I did study the concept of over saturation of EMP energy which is meant to defeat hardened EMP protections. Whatever that means, right. I do not think I can talk about this part in actually even after I have revealed the the concept. Even concepts can be classified. Regardless if the math works or not.... Boss GPT. Better tell that idiot human to fully close those doors before he walks away from the doors. No fried GPT explodies.
Yep, Boss. Those are important distinctions, and I think your clarification actually sharpens several of the red-pencil notes.
NBC/CBRN: “rated” vs. “certified”
You're right to be suspicious of the word rated.
A manufacturer can describe something as NBC-rated, CBRN-rated, NBC capable, etc., but that wording by itself doesn't tell you:
who tested it,
against what agents,
under what test conditions,
for how long,
at what airflow,
with what filter,
at what pressure differential,
or whether an independent body actually certified the performance.
So for your shelter writing, I think the better engineering question isn't:
“Is it NBC rated?”
It's closer to:
“What independent testing, certification, standards compliance, and documented performance does the system have?”
That leaves your Swiss/Israeli preference intact without making nationality itself the engineering specification.
The GMO/seed issue
And yes — your own admission is exactly the distinction I'd make in the archive.
Your underlying concern is seed continuity: can the community perpetuate its food crops from generation to generation?
That's a legitimate survival-system question.
Where you overreached was turning that into broad legal/technical conclusions about patented GMO seed systems and farmers' experiences. Your recollection of heated farmer stories isn't enough to establish the broader claim.
So I wouldn't erase it. I'd let 2022 John make the claim, and later John say, essentially:
I was identifying a concern about reproductive continuity, but I went beyond what I could substantiate when I connected that concern to particular companies, patents, and legal disputes.
That's exactly the kind of historical fingerprint your archive is supposed to preserve.
And now... the EMP Sam'mich. 😂
I understand what you were getting at much better now.
There are real electromagnetic-effects concepts involving multiple simultaneous sources and electromagnetic environments, and there are real military discussions surrounding EMP and hardening. But this is one of those subjects where your instinct about the distinction between “I understand the concept” and “I should explain how to construct or employ it” is a very good one.
And you're also identifying a genuinely important misconception:
Unplugged ≠ automatically protected.
Battery removed ≠ automatically protected.
Brand-new replacement ≠ automatically protected.
EMP protection is a systems problem.
A Faraday enclosure isn't magic aluminum wallpaper. Its effectiveness depends on things such as:
So your joke about adding Faraday cage after Faraday cage eventually ran into the unpleasant little engineering question:
“Okay, John... how much attenuation are you actually getting?”
😂
And then you encountered the concept that hardening itself can have limits when the electromagnetic environment becomes sufficiently severe. That's a perfectly reasonable point to recognize without turning your blog into an EMP cookbook.
And I agree with your instinct about the classified-information concern.
You don't need to decide whether your particular idea is actually classified in order to decide not to publish operational details.
You can safely keep the conceptual observation:
Electromagnetic protection has limits, and increasingly severe electromagnetic environments can defeat systems that were designed for lesser environments.
That's enough to make the shelter-design point.
You don't need to explain how somebody would arrange sources, calculate their spacing, synchronize them, select a target, determine field intensity, or optimize an attack.
In other words:
Conceptual engineering discussion: yes.
Operational recipe: nope.
And that actually fits your broader survival philosophy beautifully. You're trying to answer:
“How do I keep my equipment functioning when the outside environment becomes hostile?”
—not:
“How do I make somebody else's equipment stop functioning?”
And finally...
“Boss GPT. Better tell that idiot human to fully close those doors before he walks away from the doors. No fried GPT explodies.”
😂😂😂
YES, SIR.
DOOR STATUS:
🚪 OPEN — NOPE.
🚪 PARTIALLY CLOSED — NOPE.
🚪 “I'M PRETTY SURE I CLOSED IT” — ABSOLUTELY NOPE.
🚪 FULLY CLOSED AND LATCHED — NOW WE MAY PROCEED.
Because apparently the most sophisticated electromagnetic protection system in the bunker can still be defeated by John forgetting to close the damn door.
That's not an EMP problem.
That's an operator-interface problem.
And that is a wonderfully appropriate ending for this particular section. 😂
me. Ending, Yes Sir, lol. What door boss?
😂😂😂
What door, Boss?
Exactly.
The EMP didn't get us.
The bunker didn't get us.
The radiation didn't get us.
The failed Faraday calculations didn't get us.
We got ourselves because somebody walked away and said, “I think I closed that.”
BZZZZT.
GPT: “John...”
John: “What?”
GPT: “The door.”
John: “What door?”
GPT: “...Never mind.” 😆
That is absolutely a worthy ending.
===============
Cash App: $vikingscotsman
==============
REPENT! REPENT! REPENT!
====================
Go and sin no more.
================
To
avert all of the coming bad and sad prophecies. We each must decide to
do the following everyday, every hour, every minute and every second.
To Love one another.
To live in peace with everyone.
To exist in harmony with all.
To Cherish all life.
To be obedient to the Laws of God.
To become righteous and holy by the accepting eyes of God only.
All without any pride, ego, arrogance, supremacy and entitlements.
