SELF DEFENSE IN THE AFTERTIME

Low Profile

Guns and knives and bazookas aside, self defense involves MORE than hand to hand combat and not running out of ammo.
In fact, with insanity likely to be running high among survivors, having ammo around is not the brightest idea.
Statistics show that one is more likely to be shot by a family member, by a gun kept in the home, than by an attacker.
If guns and knives and bazookas are not the best idea, then how to defend the group?
The best defense is a Low Profile, not attracting the kind of attention you don't want.
Those who are determined to survive, and have prepared, might likely find themselves inundated by those who refused to prepare or just want to take advantage of someone else's hard work.
Per the Zetas, there are 2 camps, in this regard.

ZetaTalk: 2 Camps, written Feb 15, 1998.

As the years leading up to the pole shift pass, a dichotomy of attitudes will develop among those with the capacity to examine the facts. By far the larger segment of humanity will be too busy to notice, as their lives are filled with desperation as it is. Those who have the time to ponder issues and access to the news will fall into two camps. Those who are courageous and have a logical mind will note the holes in the explanations they are given. These individuals will note that with increasing cohesiveness the facts point to an approaching pole shift, and that the only explanation that fits that is a wandering planet making a periodic passage. Thus, a certain percentage of the earth's populace will become aware and allow themselves to contemplate the situations, regardless of what story the establishment tries to feed them. This percentage will increase sharply in the weeks leading into the pole shift. A far larger group will hear the facts and discard them, with any number of excuses. As the time of the shift nears and the facts even more impelling, they will become more shrill, refusing to deal with the facts or even contemplate them, but rather attacking the messengers.

At the same time, these individuals will increasingly cling to what seems to make them secure, whether this be more solid stocks and bonds, more material items, or increasing the use of religious rituals in the hopes that a God will save them. Where their sense of doom is not relieved in this manner, these individuals may turn to drugs and alcohol, sex, distraction in adventure or exhausting sports, or living in the fantasy world that the movies or soap operas on TV provide. These camps will not be able to communicate with each other, and will find increasingly that they ignore each other. The first camp will find kindred souls to discuss the issues and formulate solutions, dropping the endless arguments that ensue when those in denial are pressed with the facts. The second camp will ridicule the first, as their sober talk and laying out of facts only tends to make them anxious. The two camps will come together only during the last week, when the rotation stops and the constant presence of a reddish object in the sky, rapidly enlarging as the days pass, has made talk of the end of the world a daily conversation. At this point, the first camp will find the second at their doorstep, demanding to be taken in.

If your survival camp is ample and you want to extend an invitation, more power to you.
But in an increasingly polarized world, where self-serving individuals will be looking to take advantage of the work of others and set themselves up in a control position, it is important to give yourself the option of whom to invite.
YOU invite them, they don't impose.
They would like it to be the other way around, and as the last weeks make it obvious what is coming, will be looking around for a home where they can make their demands.
Thus, when making preparation for a survival camp, don't advertise this to the world, keep the location and your plans close.
As Lou, posting to the Troubled Times site, stated:

Number 1 rule do not ever tell anyone that does not share your views that you are preparing for this and give them a verbal shopping list of your stores or supplies. Because bad guys and gals will survive to.

I would also add that one can do bait and switch when preparing, and have a mobile survival site.
This means if you do mail order, the place the packages arrive should not be where the site is, but the stuff should be moved.
Have a tent and supplies and several places picked out.
Then if gangs are where you don't expect them, move.
Set up after the pole shift based on the lay of the land, and who is in this or that place.
Be flexible.
Part of keeping a low profile and keeping your survival plans close, is avoiding the appearance of hoarding.
Buying large quantities of goods and being obvious about where you store the stuff is a give away.

ZetaTalk: Hoarding, written Nov 15, 1999

Many people view with alarm the thought of food shortages and struggling with other people to wrest away a loaf of bread or fist fights over a bag of flour or rice. They view with alarm such thoughts, and their first thoughts are to stock up, to buy many of these items. A case in point is the scare just years ago over toilet paper, where there was purported to be a shortage of toilet paper. Suddenly all the toilet paper on the shelves had been bought up. This is the first response to worry about shortages, but there are many problems with this reaction. Because the desire to hoard and stock up is anticipated by the authorities, this is the first trend that will be watched and guarded against. Hoarding cannot be disguised. The grocer knows who bought a large stock of food, and neighbors can see who carried many groceries into a house. Those places that sell large quantities of food such as rice or wheat or beans have the person who made the purchase on record. One cannot hide a stock. The police can come door-to-door, open the doors, and see a stock of food and this stock can be confiscated. These stocks will be confiscated as food shortages occur and hoarding is to be discouraged, so that fighting and arguments and theft do not happen. The police will go door-to-door and those people who have hoarded will have it taken from them, and this will be distributed to others. Therefore, not only will they lose what they have tried to gathered, they will be penalized. They will be fined, punished, maybe put in jail, and certainly be scorned by their neighbors. Of course, there should be some stock for those times when there is nothing to eat, but a very small amount. Don't purchase in large quantities. A purchase in large quantities is a signal, and there are records being kept even today of who it is that purchases in large quantities. Those people are being marked to have their goods confiscated in the future. They are not being told this. They may even be encouraged to stock up because later someone can come and take these stores from them.

The better approach, when preparing for the Aftertime, is to prepare to catch or grow your food, as this is something the self serving or lazy will not want to do.
They only want to loot.
By making these types of preparations, you keep a low profile, as looters are looking for large stocks of supplies, not fish hooks and seed.

ZetaTalk: Growing Food, written Nov 15, 1999

Hoarding is not a solution, even for those people who think they are clever and have very carefully hidden their food. People who are starving and frightened will aggressively attempt to find where the food has been buried. It is much safer to be able to produce food on a regular basis. Those people who have seed, or who know how to and are growing algae in water, for instance, will find this cannot be readily taken or carried away. Growing plants, algae or fish, cannot be carted away as easily as grabbing a bag of rice or cans of food. Such food stuffs will spoil, is hard to catch, is wet, smelly, and takes time. Those who are frightened or those who would steal and rob are not inclined to spend the time to harvest. So somebody with algae in a fish tank or gardens in their basement will find that it is not as worthwhile for a thug or a hungry person to break into the basement to take a tomato as it is to break into a garage where someone has stored many sacks of flour or potatoes, something that is dry, compact, and easy to carry away.

In addition, the person who is growing their own food regularly will find that even should they be attacked by hungry people, that they will be able to recover. Even should their hydroponics beds be ripped out and run off with, with someone grabbing their carrots or tomatoes or cabbage or green peppers or the fish in the tanks, they will have baby fish on the side to restart their fish tanks and seed and to restart their gardens. The person who has just stored food cannot recover, and their food is usually gone. Therefore, we recommend the capability of growing food, in many and varied ways to where the cycle of life is at hand and a temporary disruption of a garden is not a devastation. These people will not be raided. It will be the hoards that will be raided. Therefore, we have encouraged growing seed and helping people learn to grow, and helping people understand the simple things about them with which they can feed themselves, such as insects and the foods found in nature, the minimum that they need to survive. This kind of knowledge is more valuable than bags of potatoes or barrels of wheat in the garage, because knowledge cannot be taken from a person, and it is therefore more valuable.

Places to Avoid

How to avoid being looted or raided, as this will surely be an ever present worry.
As Ron, posting to the Troubled Times site, stated:

My biggest fear for any settlement is to be discovered by roving groups of deserted military, with their firepower. In such circumstance there really is no defense, especially should they have armed vehicles. Every community should consider their potential location such that natural obstacles would prevent military vehicles from getting too close should you be discovered. Escape plans should also be in place should your settlement become in danger of being overcome by foot soldiers who would possess much greater fire-power than can reasonably be maintained by an individual community. In such a situation it would be much better to abandon the site to live and build again another day.

Once again, the ability to be flexible, to be able to MOVE your survival camp if it proves to be in the wrong location, comes up.
Per the Zetas, this is a problem that will decrease over time, but they advise survival camps should be in remote locations, not in the heavy traffic lanes.

ZetaTalk: Aftertime Raids, written by Jul 15, 1995

Regarding attacks on Service-to-Other groups by Service-to-Self groups in the Aftertime. Of course, this will be their first thought. Conscientious groups of Service-to-Other humans, having prepared, will have food and shelter. There will be laughter coming from their midst, as they find life goes on and the good things they held precious are still in their lives. The young will grow and be curious and educated. Music still comforts and scientific discoveries still intrigue. The Service-to-Self, having not bothered to prepare, will look to these communities as a place to raid. This will be a decreasing problem, as time goes on. We have stated that the Service-to-Self humans will die out on Earth, and this is in part because they do not nurture their young, but primarily because those prone to this orientation will not reincarnate here. This is not a matter in their control, over which they have a choice. But what about the interim, when various humans of mixed orientation or distinct Service-to-Self orientation look to the Service-to-Other communities and consider a raid. There will be assistance in these matters, from ourselves and others. Primarily this assistance will be in the form of blockage, where the Service-to-Self humans either cannot find the communities, cannot see them, or are distracted in some way.

In this regard we advise these communities to be remote and not advertise themselves. Those who are to find you will do so, as they will be guided to your location. Secondarily, this assistance will come in the form of active repelling, where the Service-to-Self will find their blows or missiles do not land as expected, but turn somehow upon themselves, perhaps blowing up prior to being launched or the like. It is best, therefore, for these communities to focus on survival, and life after, and minimally on self defense. The best defense is a well chosen location. It is also advisable to be selective on who is allowed into the community. Where the community is truly Service-to-Other, there should be only periodic encounters with the Service-to-Self orientation to deal with. Remember, the Service-to-Self will not be in close communication with each other. Cooperation is not normal among those in this orientation. Where frustrated, they will turn and look elsewhere. They will attack each other more often, as they themselves are the type to horde. Should the Service-to-Other communities be of soft heart and allow into their midst great numbers of humans who have not yet chosen their orientation, they will find they have brought the problem into their midst. The soft hearted should share knowledge of their techniques in growing food, but send the spiritually immature to live in their own groups. Thus the Service-to-Other communities will not be destroyed, and the separation [of the spiritual orientations] will be sped along on its course, which is inevitable in any case.

Beyond being in a remote location, for safety, there are other locations to be avoided.
For instance, any location close to where the elite are setting up or stocking up, as these spots virtually scream to gangs 'come and loot me!'.
The Zetas also advise to avoid government work camps, as these will likely be slave camps in the future.
Setting up next to military bases is also not a good idea, as this just begs for forced recruitment at gunpoint.
Once again, the best defense is a good location!

ZetaTalk: Avoided, written Jan 15, 2002

We advise the populace to not cling to the establishment, regardless of any offers they may make, as the pole shift approaches. We advise that the elite will make offers of employment, to the recently unemployed, with the plan to make slaves of those accepting these offers. We advise that moving or remaining next to military bases, or cities with a heavy load of government workers employed there, is to be avoided. We advise that there are certain known locales in the US where a carry-on government is known to be established. Beyond these obvious factors, what else is a clue that the establishment is setting a trap? When disasters strike, it is normal for disaster relief to be provided. This is in the form of moving residents aside, out of harms way, and into schools or churches where blankets and cots and hot soup are provided. Tents may be erected for temporary shelter. But going into the pole shift, this disaster relief will take a different form. They will suggest moving groups of the displaced away from their homeland, and into cities or barracks prepared for them. It is this change which should raise suspicions. Next, watch the movements of the elite, where they are buying land and building enclaves. This is not so much a secret, as the locals note this full well, and if they are moving into your locale, move out. These will not be good neighbors, nor will they change their ways and begin to care about others when times get tight.

A third factor will be the pleasantness of the locale. In spite of coastlines and mountains being somewhat dangerous, these are pleasant places to live in. The elite will be loath to move to the safest locations, away from large cities or the coast, and will try to strike a compromise. Thus, you will find them not moving to the grim places, out in the rural areas, amid the cows and farmers. Thus, such places are relatively safe for you! Within a town or city, the Service-to-Self will continue to take advantage, as they do today. This is why we advise to not be in a city, as these games will take some time to run their course until the Service-to-Self find themselves out of luck, and in the meantime the Service-to-Other may not survive either. The best approach is to move to rural areas, where the Service-to-Self are least likely to go as the pickings are not good. The Service-to-Self prefer rich enclaves, first, then cities where there are many families and stores to loot, and least of all, rural areas, especially as the going will be on foot. Those caught in towns, with the Service-to-Self, had best keep a low profile, and next ally with other Service-to-Others to do bait and switch. By this we mean to set the Service-to-Self up, leading them to believe they are about to pounce on Service-to-Others to loot and toy with them, but will instead find themselves trapped in a basement, with no way out. Bear in mind that trapping a looter, who intends you no service, and giving him what he planned to give you, is not cruel, it is Karmic justice.

But even when avoiding the obvious, avoiding elite enclaves likely to attract looters, avoiding setting up near military bases or cities or going into government work camps, the problem of avoiding the self serving remains.
There will be fake offers, offers of help that come with strings attached.
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!

ZetaTalk: Safe Havens, written Oct 15, 2001

The population of the Earth, to the extent that it could travel and move about or establish economic interests in a country of choice, has been polarizing for some decades, such that the Scandinavian countries have become supportive social democracies and the entire continent of Africa has been enslaved or brutalized for economic reasons. On a local level, communities living almost within shouting distance of each other have likewise polarized, families choosing to move or maintain friendships based on their orientation. Thus, within a city, one suburb may be strongly Service-to-Other in their support of community needs while another is filled with self focused individuals ignoring each other and intent on personal agendas. So how does a community announce that it is of a certain orientation, if this is to occur? Sensing that troubled times are soon at hand, many strongly in the Service-to-Self will attempt to line up a soft life for themselves, where they can be in control of others and dictate the daily events. This takes the form of attempts at leadership, and offering a safe haven to desperate people unable to do anything but grab a life-line. These safe havens, of course, will be anything but that, and are in essence slavery and abuse. Such offers, to the public at large or to selected groups recently made desperate by disasters in their communities, take the form of offers of assisted relocation, guaranteed work, loans with easy payment terms, and joining a community of supportive individuals. A quick determination of the sincerity of such offers can be done by gauging the longevity of the organization. How long have they been in business? If new, why have they not formed earlier when human suffering is not new? Organizations offering self-help, where those in need are empowered with no strings attached, are relatively safe. Organizations which would put the individual or family in a potentially stranded situation are highly suspect.

Helping Hands

Keeping a low profile and chosing the right location can help, certainly, but what if someone needs to travel through dangerous territory?
I included this scenario in the script and short story I wrote, called The Passage, and some of these scenes relate to today's discussion on defense.
The Zetas have said that some protection will be provided, in the Aftertime, where the self serving simply don't SEE the good hearted in their camps.
Of course, this assumes that the good hearted have taken every precaution to avoid the self-serving to begin with, as good team mates should, doing their part.
From Chapter 8, Helping Hands.

Outside the dome city entrance, Colonel Cage is taking his leave, saying good-by to Jonah. "I've got to try, even if I die trying. I have no idea if these maps are any good anymore, it's 200 miles away as the crow flies, and God knows if I'll make it or what I'll find." The Colonel is traveling light, holding a black cloth satchel that he slings over his shoulder as he turns and walks into the wood. As he disappears a tall gray Zeta appears next to Jonah. Jonah says, still watching the Colonel disappearing into the woods, "He's going to need help." Then glancing up into the Zeta's face, he says, "He qualifies, he's doing this for others, at risk to himself." The Zeta puts his hand momentarily on Jonah's shoulder, then heads off after Colonel Cage.
........
Colonel Cage is walking along the outskirts of what used to be a mid-sized city. He is traveling at night, for safety, his body standing out briefly in profile against a flaming pile of trash that someone has pulled together and lit. Broken boards stick up now and then, hazards, and tumbled down cement blocks litter the streets as he picks his way though the rubble. There are shouts in the distance, and what sound like hysterical laughter now and then.
.......
Past the city now, and traveling by day, Colonel Cage is standing at the edge of a rip in the earth. Foot hills leading down into a river valley have been torn apart, bare earth exposed in stark contrast to the trees or fields on either side. He stands gazing over the scene, a slight frown on this face, and then reaches into his back pocket for a map, which he flips through, looking increasingly puzzled. He finally shakes his head and mutters under his breath, "If that's the river, then I made 150 miles in one day!" He returns the map to his back pocket, leans down for his satchel, and strides off down along the edge of the rip, toward the river.
.......
By night time, rain is pouring steadily, drenching everything. Peering through the dark, Colonel Cage must squint for several minutes to see an occasional outlined in the dark. Progress has been slow, along the last leg of his journey, but he is recognizing landmarks, so very near home at last. He is still, staring into the broken windows of what used to be his house. Nothing moves, and there are no lights or sounds. A young boy's voice behind him says, "Dad?" Colonel Cage turns so rapidly he is almost a blur, as he sweeps the boy into his arms. After a long silent bear hug, during which the two of them seem unable to let go of each other, the Colonel sets the boy down and says, his voice husky, "Where's your mother and John?" "They're all right, come on" With excitement and eagerness in his voice, he takes his dad by the hand. They stumble off into the dark, Colonel Cage stumbling after his young son, both walking too fast for the circumstances, but too eager to get where they're going to care.
........
The next day, the four are walking cautiously along a tree bank. All are dressed in dull clothing that blends in with the soggy dark green and mustard yellow of the vegetation, and when out in the open crouch down and scuttle across the open space, so as not to attract attention from anyone who might be looking. Colonel Cage is visibly nervous, but is not sharing with his family the reasons for his fear. They hear voices, and he signals all to drop to the ground and not make a sound. The Colonel's face is pale and he is trembling, unable to control his extreme fear that his family will be tortured and killed, as he has seen done to others. He has his youngest beside him, and has his hand over his mouth, is signaling his wife and oldest boy with his eyes as to the seriousness of the situation. A group of men is passing, talking and arguing among themselves. A voice rings out almost on top of where the family is crouched, joining in the conversation without missing a beat. The terrified family hears a zipper zip and then hear the sound of a fly being re-zipped a moment later. The one who just relieved himself walks right past the youngest boy as though not seeing him, rejoining the others. The other looks his way also, and seems not to see the family, plastered against the ground right between them, holding their breath.

As they walk on they are watched by a tall Zeta standing next to a tree, his arms folded across his chest. The family remains still until no voices can be heard. Colonel Cage lifts his head slightly and casts his eyes all around, and seeing nothing says in a whisper, "Follow me, but be as quiet as you can." He moves slowly so as not to snap a twig, picking up speed only when they get to a grassy area along a creek where the sound of running water covers the swishing of their legs against the grass. When he can look in all directions and see the coast is clear, he breaths a sigh of relieve and says, "I don't know why they didn't see us, they were right on top of us, the oddest thing". Shaking his head, a slight frown on his head, a realization is dawning on him as he puts together the fast trip he's had and this incident. He says to himself, "It's them." His oldest son is looking at him with a puzzled look, but gets no explanation.

Many contactees already have come to trust their feelings, realizing they are getting information from some source they cannot readily identify.
Reaching out, giving The Call, they have been contacted by benign aliens who are telling them about the coming times, and what to do about it.
They are, in short, being guided.

ZetaTalk: Guided, written Dec 7, 2002

[Many] truly Service-to-Other individuals are being guided now. This most often starts by the individual giving the Call, as they see situations around them becoming less secure, changes not explained by the establishment, and wish to continue to aid those they feel responsible for. The Call results in visitations, and the Service-to-Other individual gets informed of the coming times, and is assisted in sorting out their personal plans. For many, they cannot make solid plans, due to being underfunded or over extended personally, in committements to others. Thus, the Service-to-Other individual often has a last-minute plan, to escape, with loved ones who will certainly need assistance, to position themselves where they can help others in the immediate Aftertime. Often, the Service-to-Other individual plans to go into the worst situations, into collapsed cities to rescue the innocent, the orphans, and take them to better places. They are being guided as to where to take these troops of orphans, chosen not solely due to their need, but to their orientation, else Lord of the Flies result. And this giving of the Call, and Visitations, and being guided will only increase during the shift, and afterwards.

Separations caused by the pole shift, where lack of communications such as phone service create a heart ache of worry about those family members separated by distance,
are situation where helping hands, benign aliens helping the good hearted, will arise.

ZetaTalk: What the Heart Seeks, written Jan 12, 2004

There is often endless pain when a loved one goes missing and is not confirmed dead. Look at the MIA issue in Vietnam. Those seeking closure imagine their loved one in pain somewhere, in trouble, needing help, lost, lonely, and are in anguish. Won't the pole shift, with disrupted communications and families spread far and wide going to school or traveling for work or pleasure, not the nuclear family of old where all were local, create this scenario? What can be done to ease the anguish and worry? Forced separation will be one of the major reasons for mental breakdown, during the days of anguish leading up to the shift and in the weeks and months following. Man is a social animal, and as any analysis of disrupted social networks in the animal kingdom will demonstrate, experiences emotional pain when separated from what is considered the family group. We have often stated that those heavily into the Service-to-Other orientation will be assisted, most often sight unseen, by guides in the Aftertime. This will include assistance in reuniting separated loved ones, often as guided migration, to help the heart find what it seeks.

Mad Max Gangs

The biggest worry of those anticipating the coming pole shift is Mad Max gangs.
This issue has been addressed aplenty in ZetaTalk.

ZetaTalk: Prison Gangs, written Mar 15, 2002

Prison populations are well know to the public, who hears the horror stories of activities both by the guards and prisoners, in the news and in the movies. The guards are scarcely better than the inmates, being inclined to sadism and lording it over others when in control. During the shift, prisons will spill out and prisoners escape. These will as expected become the primary Service-to-Self gangs in operation after the shift. However, less the public expect Ghengis Khan to reincarnate in essence, the opposite will occur. Such gangs require a continuous supply of food and goods to continue a looting and savaging campaign. After the shift, supplies will run out quickly, and dead people offer no satisfaction to these marauders. They will quickly, as we have stated earlier, find themselves without the means to keep warm until the morning, and without anything but each other to eat. Weakened, and decimated by infighting, they will succumb to disease and defense by Service-to-Other communities who will give in return the aggression they sense in their attackers.

Beyond prison gangs, escaping from prisons, there is worry about the gangs in cities, drug running or dividing up territories and drive by shootings and the like.
Very scary stuff.
Where will this go during the pole shift?

ZetaTalk: Sociopathic Gangs, written Mar 15, 1996.

Increasingly, among certain sectors of the populace or in certain locales, violence is on the increase. The argument that a deprived or poverty stricken upbringing should be taken into account is wearing thin on citizens finding the crimes they are reading about inexcusable. Savagery, without any remorse, and among younger and younger perpetrators. What is occurring is not that society has failed, or that the jails are inadequate, or that the poor are despairing, or that the schools are lacking in opportunities for all. Look to the past, when conditions were so much worse on all counts. What is happening is the increasing dichotomy of society, with the Service-to-Self oriented being placed with each other by the birthing envoys. Those granted a last incarnation in order to make a final decision are frequently placed in a setting not unlike the Service-to-Self culture they would end up in - a sociopathic gang.

It is seldom pointed out that democracy is on the rise in the world, and not because Bush invaded Iraq on the pretext that he had to liberate the country and hold free elections.
Iraq nor Afghanistan are scarcely democracies, as voting does not a democracy make.
But look at what had happened in S America lately!
Despots, the days when the elite ruled by cruel hand.
Now, suddenly, the native Americans are being elected into office, the inherent slavery of debt to the World Bank paid off, and the focus of governments on the people instead!
As the Zetas point out, there are trends that counter any the polarized Service-to-Self might institute.
Remember, polarizing of the spiritual orientations is on the increase, so where the bad get more shrill, the good also increase their base.

ZetaTalk: New Age Trends, written Jul 15, 1996

Where the ideas expressed by New Agers are not all that new, having been present in many oriental philosophies and a cornerstone of the Hindu beliefs, their upsurgence and universal application is new. Those espousing what is termed New Age philosophies come in for a lot of abuse because many fear the trend. New Age philosophies are quite the opposite of those espoused by the New World Order crowd, but both will sharpen and escalate in their attempts to influence mankind as the Transformation progresses. Where the New World Order crowd wishes mankind to see itself allied only with humans, and in particular only with those in control of human society, New Age viewpoints stress a universal alliance. Concern for the ecology and recycling efforts are also characteristic of New Age groups, who stress living in harmony with nature rather than brutalizing it. The New World Order crowd has disdain for such concerns, treating ecological concerns as an imposition. It is no coincidence that then President George Bush, a strong advocate of the New World Order, held back committing the US during the most important ecological conference of the century. The battle has commenced, and during the Transformation it is a fight to the finish!

Mad Max gangs will not have the supplies they need to run, endlessly, in the Aftertime.
Just look at the horror stories coming out of Africa, a continent fighting to rid itself of the Service-to-Self orientation of overloads.

In Sudan, Death and Denial
June 26, 2004
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5305453/

There is farmable land outside the camp, but food cannot be gathered because militiamen on horseback, clad in government uniforms, roam the scrubby landscape. Assault rifles are balanced on their laps, and whips hang from their belt loops. A trip down a dirt track road exposed a war zone where gunmen roamed. Sun-burned men rode on camels, guns saddled on their laps, just steps from Mornay camp. One held a whip. Others herded hundreds of sheep, cattle and camels, smiling and waving as visitors passed, animals that aid workers and the displaced people in the camp said were stolen. Rapes and attacks continue around the edges of the camp every night, women there said, as they rocked sickly babies with hollow eyes.

Is this the future, after the pole shift?
Per the Zetas, the Aftertime will be different.

ZetaTalk: Thug Control, written July 3, 2004

Given that starvation will be rampant after the shift, is this a scenario that will be repeated around the world, the strong starving the weak? There are significant differences in the support a bully gets in the present day to what will be available after the shift, in this scenario as well as others. We have stated that one reason Service-to-Self groups loot until they deplete supplies and then die out is that they fail to plan, fail to cooperate with each other, and require continuing supplies to feed their gangs. What will happen after the shift, and how does this differ from today in, for instance, the Sudan. Today, deliberate genocide, death by starvation with outright theft of livestock, is being done, but what does this require from the outside world? Guns, ammunition, and food aid that can be stolen. The gangs are sustained by mountains of food stuffs delivered to the area, and via bribery or coercion, landing in the hands of the thugs rather than the starving. Not a new story. After the shift, no such deliveries will be made, and ammunition runs out. The Service-to-Self are known to demand immediate satisfaction of their wants, and plan and cooperate poorly, thus will eat the livestock stolen so the stock is not available to breed, and then turn on each other. Where travel is difficult, as it will be everywhere after the shift, isolated villages will not be raided, and the thugs, likewise isolated, decimate themselves, each trying to be the survivor at the expense of the others. In the Sudan, without sacks of grain and regular deliveries of ammunition, the villages would turn on their oppressors.

Brutality, genocide, and virtual slavery in economically depressed areas - all exist today because somewhere in the world food is being grown, products are being manufactured, and commerce flows. The pole shift brings an abrupt halt to that. All travel is impeded, fuel runs short so that even a means as flexible as the helicopter comes to a halt. Manufactured parts for maintenance are lacking, and the broken link effect sets in, machinery abandoned and rusting in disuse. What is missing from the picture also is the big fist, the arm of the oppressor that comes in with the big guns to establish control. Africa before colonization was tribal, and feuds were balanced. The Americas before immigration to the new world was likewise tribal, minor feuds the only issues. What Africa and the Americas experienced was the big fist from Europe, machine guns, cannons, conscripts required to fight or be shot so the big fist included armies and navies that had no choice but to be brutal, upon command. Remove the big fist, and oppressed people soon set matters right. The oppressor is killed in the night, savagery returned in kind, Iraq with the rage against the occupation an example of the seething that turns savage with opportunity. When weapons, ammunition, supper, and backup called in readily are missing, the bullies, the oppressors, are slaughtered. This also is a story that is not new.

Eventually, survivor groups that remain are hard at work, all growing or catching their food and cooperating heavily with each other. The occasional lone thug is encountered and either runs for his life to live in the woods on his own, with survival very iffy, or is killed attempting to loot the hard working group. A group that is keeping starvation at bay by intense cooperation and careful planning recognizes instantly those that are doing likewise, and also recognizes instantly a group that has survived by looting. There are a thousand clues. Since the looters are increasingly finding themselves without and turning on each other, they are themselves malnourished, poorly coordinated and weakened, and blinded by rage over not having what they want, when they want it. In a battle with survivor groups that look out for each other, the thugs are easily picked off, and decimated further. In today's world, such vigilante justice brings harsh penalties, imprisonment, due to laws designed to keep the thugs off the streets but also due to the fear among those in control that their slave class, the working class, might rebel. But after the shift, with police and the military absent, phones dead, and determination of who the criminal and the victim are clear, standing back and letting the criminal have his way is not the option that is taken. Imagine trials where the victims of crimes determine the sentence, and you see the future of Service-to-Self gangs looting survivor groups.

What forms of defense are available to a survivor group in the Aftertime?
Of course, there are guns and knives and bazookas, but beyond that?
Geese and dogs make good sentries, and if one wants a sentry that can feed itself on grass and weeds and bugs, geese beat out the dogs.
As Mike, posting to the Troubled Times site, stated:

Ancient Roman army encampments had a clever solution, if I remember correctly. They carried either geese or ducks with them for use as nighttime sentinels. Apparently these birds have very sensitive hearing - and they honk like the Dickens when troublemakers are nearby.

There are also many alternatives to hand to hand combat or guns and ammo.
As Chris, posting to the Troubled Times site, stated:

For those of you who want engage with guns think again. If you lose your fight and in the process kill or injure your attackers you will be faced with revenge. Unless you have good military training, do not do it. The best option is to patrol your area. Know who is there. Set some indicators on the trails, roads to know if there is movement (i.e. stones position on the ground in a certain way, branches etc.). Use simple warning devices. Empty cans with stones inside connected by thin wire will make a lot of noise at night if somebody drags it. Make escape routes in your camp and camouflage them carefully. Do not store all supplies in the main camp. Teach your children to withdraw quickly. Build underground tunnels with at least two entries. Such tunnels were quite effective way of hiding for many partisan groups in the past. Patrolling around your camp will require a possibility to alert others about situation. Train a dog or other pet to deliver messages to the rest of you, so they have enough time to prepare. I personally prefer pigeons. Just to give you an example of non violent survival through war. During World War II entire Jewish families survived the holocaust living in the forest for six years with minimal or non support from local population. They did not kill to survive. As for low tech warning devices they are very effective. During my scouts years, sometimes we trained with military. One night we used cans as an early warning system quite successfully against a well trained unit. I bet they were doing extra pushups next day.

Insanity

The Zetas have predicted that 43% of all survivors will be suffering from insanity to some degree.
What does this mean for self defense?
As I stated earlier, guns or knives or bazookas about are not helpful, as the person who is to be sober and have good judgement may be just the person who goes insane!
For the Troubled Times page, a description of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which affects many soldiers returning from battle or those experiencing rape or abuse.

Re-experiencing the traumatic event
Avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma
Numbing of general responsiveness
Symptoms related to increased arousal
Insomnia
Recurrent nightmares
Hyper-vigilance
Exaggerated startle response
Changes in aggression.

How might this impact a group?

What would a surviving group should half their members be are not only out of their heads but violent, suicidal and not just thinking about it, and about to run off into the night in a panic? Today many rely upon calling for help, going to the hospital, and the use of drugs rather than the old fashioned straight jacket to control those likely to harm themselves or others. The shock of loss and injury, the continuous grinding of problems, will produce more than the usual number of individuals quite out of their head, temporarily, with and without straight jackets.

The Zetas advise that in the matter of insanity, it is not roving hoards or Mad Max gangs that one needs to worry about, but your neighbor.

ZetaTalk: Disaster Reactions, written Sep 2, 2003

We will tell you that a mass disaster, such as seeing an object in the sky, accompanied by large earthquakes and a communication shutdown, is going to cause your greatest worry to be your neighbor or someone in your household. People will go mad, they will go insane, they will be frantic with anger and wanting to direct it somewhere. They will be lashing out at each other. They will run away from their responsibilities and then be dealing with grief on top of anger. You should expect, as you do with animals that go a bit nutsy during an earthquake or prior to an earthquake, you neighbors and family member may be unpredictable, angry, lashing out. Anticipate this, and formulate an action plan to deal with it, and do not be surprised.

Do the Zetas have any advise for camp leaders dealing with a large percentage of their members being slightly nutsy - grieving, depressed, ranting, unable to sleep or concentrate, and perhaps argumentative and explosive?

ZetaTalk: Psychosis, written on Sep 15, 1995

Is psychosis and senility intrinsic to man, and does it have a purpose? Yes on both counts, though it often seems a purposeless affliction to those intent on keeping the gears of society running smoothly. As with fainting, psychosis and senility allows the human animal to disconnect with reality. Catatonic or autistic individuals are, chemically, in a place where they are not feeling anxiety. The world does not exist for them. Delusions serve the same purpose, as the individual can build a world about them that meets their needs. How much different are delusions from the games people play with themselves to make themselves more secure, more attractive, or more valued in their own eyes than they are in the eyes of others. Depression serves a purpose in causing the individual to retract and withdraw from a world that is causing injury. Time to reflect and plot a new course. Senility, outside of the genetic disease which is Alzheimer's, is greatest in those who have the least to live for. Activity and involvement actually prevents senility. Senility blunts the awareness of the aged, so they can reminisce about happier days when they were younger. Schizophrenics react to the same stresses as other humans, but with a stronger and quicker reaction. This is widely recognized in giving schizophrenics a more sheltered environment. Does psychosis occur in the animal kingdom, outside of the human animal? Most certainly, a fact that veterinarians will be the first to attest to. Psychotic pets, however, are usually given the life changes that are indicated, and recover. Human society is not so kind to the human animal, who is generally drugged and told to struggle on, in place.