What is SHFT - and when has it happened in recent times?

The principle of SHTF is and has been a long-standing agreement in the preparedness community. What is that, you might ask? A universal understanding that, at the very least, the world as we know it cannot continue forever. SHTF stands for S!!t Hits The Fan.

What it is is the acknowledgment that supply chains, government, and many parts of structured society have an expiration date.

The History and Values of SHTF

Despite, its mildly humorous connotation, an SHTF scenario is not something to laugh about. The terminology and usage began in the post-depression era of the 1950s when the threat of nuclear war was a rampant message. To provide context this was back in a time when the government had widespread trust among its citizens and lessons were learned from economic hardships of the past.

Since then, SHTF as a concept has been widely used as an explanation as to why people live the prepping lifestyle and to be able to have an answer to what would otherwise be a dark and depressing time. And it’s also these people who are prepping that warn others who may not be aware that the modern infrastructure and supply chains are fragile and becoming increasingly convoluted and unnecessarily so.

The key values are:

• Self-reliance
• Self Sufficiency
• Being Adaptable

Some might say these are good examples to describe a prepper. In many cases, this may be true but, even if you carry only one of these values it’s better than not being aware at all. Preppers are also valuable members of the community. They are often the ones that are great thinkers and providers of ideas.

Examples of SHTF

Potential SHTF Scenarios:

• Pandemic
• Food Shortage/ Supply Shortage
• War
• Job loss or personal financial issues
• Cyber Attacks
• Unstable Government

After thinking about these examples and how damaging they could be to you and the people around you, think about how to respond. Awareness isn’t enough without taking some kind of action. One of the specific examples that are extremely possible are supply and food shortages and as is often the case– is brought on by some other more unexpected event such as war, or a pandemic.

Conclusion

Anyone can prepare for an SHTF situation. It is a common belief that only veterans and people that have some kind of inside track info are the only ones that are truly prepared. Many people from different walks of life can see that there may be a devastating SHTF scenario happening sometime in the 21st century. These people range from your next-door neighbor to a business owner or a high-profile CEO.