At first glance, this modest home nestled against a hillside in the mountains somewhere west of Colorado Springs appears to have all the amenities you'd expect in a quiet retreat. There's even a two-story tower built right in. An otherwise peaceful place to catch the 360-degree view of winter's splendor.
"[It's a] really nice place to sit and vacation — enjoy. But, if necessary, it's a guard post," Drew Miller pointed out.
A Harvard Ph.D. and former military intelligence officer with 30 years of experience, Miller would know a good defensible spot when he sees it. Miller is a self-described "prepper," someone who makes active preparations to survive the fall of human civilization. The nationwide prepper community is often painted as composed of conspiracy-crazed eccentrics, he said, thanks in large part to television shows such as the National Geographic Channel's Doomsday Preppers.
It's a reputation he soundly rejects.
"These are people who are smartly concerned, who want some insurance so that if the electric system goes down, a pandemic occurs, you know, they can survive," he said.
This idyllic mountain retreat that Miller owns is a business venture he calls Fortitude Ranch. It's part of a chain of properties with a business model akin to a prepper's country club or a doomsday timeshare.
Marketing to the annihilation-conscious is not a new idea. Businesses such as Survival Condo have specialized in fortified homes and extravagant underground bunkers for decades.
"They have absolutely gorgeous facilities, fancy rooms," Miller said. "But not many people can afford it."
Instead, Fortitude Ranch seeks to capture a solidly middle-class market. The rust-colored home with the tower is at the company's second Colorado location; it's currently under construction. There's another ranch in West Virginia and others planned for California, Wisconsin and Nevada.
Until the end times
The Fortitude Ranch slogan is "prepare for the worst, enjoy the present." For an annual fee of about $1,000 per person, members receive 10 days' lodging at the ranch location of their choice per year.
It's not luxurious; spartan may be a more accurate term. Yet, the properties are in secluded, wild and scenic places that Miller hopes will make the fee worth it for the right customers.
As he hefted the assault-style rifle slung over his shoulder, a sidearm on his hip, Miller toured the soon-to-be-finished property on a recent snowy morning. While several of the guard positions are built and future locations of additional buildings are marked on the ground, the place looks nothing like he said it would if or when a national or global catastrophe unfolded.........MUCH MORE
See also 2017's
When the Time Comes, Will You Be Ready To Rebuild Civilization?
Yes you will !!
With the Global Village Construction Set:
You'll be able to extract alumina from clay to electrolyze into aluminum to make darn near anything, grow, harvest, mill and bake your own food, harvest and refine biofuels, turn trees into houses, build a still, communicate with radios and much much, more!
"In a post-apocalyptic world, which task would you assign the highest priority? Locating a sustainable food source, re-establishing a functioning government, procreating, or preserving the knowledge of mankind?" *But first, from Project Chesapeake, a quick overview:
Could You Rebuild Civilization?
Most people would agree that when disaster strikes, what you know is one of the most important things you will have to work with. Your knowledge base is the one thing you can carry with you wherever you go. It will allow you to create items from locally available materials and improve your situation, whatever it may be. It is this mindset that many preppers use to improve their chances if the unthinkable should happen.
But lets take this mindset a step further. What would you be capable of doing if a global catastrophe happened? One such as a pole shift that destroys much of the infrastructure, knowledge and people that know how to build things and how they work. Would you be able to recreate some of the things you would need to rebuild society if you had to start from scratch with only your knowledge to guide you?
I like to play a mental game sometimes to help me understand just how much I actually know so I can identify what I need to learn. One scenario I use is to imagine that I am suddenly left in a destroyed world. What complex system could I recreate that would help me utilize many of the technologies I have lost? One system I use is the aircraft carrier. That may sound strange but just think of all of the various systems that comprise of that one ship.
While you may not be able to recreate all of the systems in their current form you can retain the knowledge to build primitive versions of those systems. You may not have the ability to build microprocessors but you can build vacuum tubes. You may not be able to recreate the telephone but you can build a telegraph set. You may not be able to build a nuclear reactor but you can build a wood fired steam engine. You may not be able to build a GPS unit but you can build a sextant and compass.
All of the technology we have today was built on the foundation of previous technologies we once used. Even if you do not understand current technologies, knowing how antiquated equipment worked gives you a base of knowledge you can build on. The following are some of the technologies it is helpful to know if you ever need to recreate them from scratch.
How to identify iron ore in rocks and refine it into cast iron and steel
How to weld or rivet steel plates together
How to build a boat or large ship
How to build a simple steam engine fueled by wood
How to build a propeller for a ship
How to make oil lamps and fuel for them
How to make a basic light bulb
How to make copper wires
How to make a simple telegraph set
How to make a basic battery
How to make a basic radio set or crystal radio
How to make vacuum tubes for radios
How to build a simple airplane or glider
How to build a simple generator
How to build a crossbow
How to build a flintlock rifle
How to make gunpowder
How to make glass
How to make paper
How to build a water wheel for power
How to build basic machining tools such as a lathe or milling machine
How to build a water pump
How to build a saw blade to cut lumber
How to make lead pencils or ink
How to make cloth
How to build a still
How to build a compass
How to build a mechanical clock
How to navigate by the stars or sun
How to make a camera or tin type
How to make camera film
How to make a telescope or binoculars
If this list seems overwhelming, that is the idea, and this is a small list. Most people do not realize how much technology we use on a daily basis and most have no clue how any of it works. If they were suddenly cast out into the wilderness, they would likely revert to caveman living if they survived at all....*The second of Sheldon Cooper's three barriers, 'Each more daunting than the last.'
Big Bang Theory-Series 3 Episode 22 – The Staircase Implementation
Daunting? Sure it is. If it were easy everyone would be rebuilding civilizations.
As The Economist put it in their prepper issue, while apparently channeling Gloria Gaynor:
The Economist: "When civilisation collapses, will you be ready?"
From The Economist:
Preparing for the apocalypse
I will survive
AFTER “the Crunch”—the total collapse of the global economy—trade seized up...
At first I was afraidReaders have always enjoyed scaring themselves with post-apocalyptic yarns...
I was petrifiedJason Charles, an affable African-American fireman in New York....
So that's the setup.But I grew strongPreppers love this sort of debate. Mr Rawles’s blog carries endless discussions of the merits of different ham radios or types of body armour...
And here's the payoff, from Open Source Ecology:
The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) is a modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small, sustainable civilization with modern comforts. We’re developing open source industrial machines that can be made at a fraction of commercial costs, and sharing our designs online for free.
But that's not all! Here's the "Open-sourced blueprints for civilization" TED talk:The GVCS in itself consists of many other Construction Sets – as we build not individual machines, but construction sets of machines. As an example, the Fabrication Construction Set component can be used to build any of the other machines. Our goal is lifetime design, and low maintenance so only a few hours of maintenance per year are required to keep any machine alive.
We have built the first machine in 2007 – the Compressed Earth Brick Press. Since then, we have been moving forward steadily, improving the performance and production efficiencies of our machines. We have achieved a landmark One Day production time of the Compressed Earth Brick Press in 2012, and we intend to bring down the production time down to 1 day for each of the other machines. In 2013, we used our tractor, brick press, and soil pulverizer to build a comfortable home – the Microhouse....MORE
Using wikis and digital fabrication tools, TED Fellow Marcin Jakubowski is open-sourcing the blueprints for 50 farm machines, allowing anyone to build their own tractor or harvester from scratch. And that's only the first step in a project to write an instruction set for an entire self-sustaining village (starting cost: $10,000).
You read that right, get started for as little as ten thousand dollars.
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Past success in not a guide for future civilization performance
GVCS (and Climateer Group) do not make any guarantee or other promise as to any results that may be obtained from using our content. No one should make any survival decision without first consulting his or her own survival advisor and/or deity and conducting his or her own research and due diligence. To the maximum extent permitted by law, GVCS (and Climateer Group) disclaim any and all liability in the event any information, commentary, analysis, opinions, advice and/or recommendations prove to be inaccurate, incomplete or unreliable, or result in any deaths or other losses. Your mileage may vary, close cover before striking, not all civilizations thrive, good luck.
