Could you survive living in a war zone surrounded by enemies? What would be your survival strategy (tips); emotional and actual?

Great Question, but this one is going to take some thought. It’s bad enough being surrounded by neighbors that don’t like you (in my old house), I can’t imagine being surrounded by millions of people that hate me.

Everytime I watch a war movie (Wind Talkers was the last one) I think how could anyone deal with that kind of horror and noise and blood and madness. But so far in my life I have dealt with some pretty difficult situations and always survived, so I like to think that I would be able to cope and do my duty. But, I have never been in the situation so I don’t really know.

I think this is a great question, although I have no idea how I would handle a situation that intense. I really have no idea. 2 choices, make it or don’t…@rooeytoo I also would hope that I would be able to cope; especially if I had responsiblities past myself, such as children, etc.

Seppuku.

I’ll play Bruce Lee or maybe Jackie Chan.

Surrender and collaborate.

The only situation like this I’ve ever contemplated was a zombie apocalypse. I don’t keep cool under fire, so I’d probably be behind enemy lines trying to come up with all my zombie knowledge. And the only things I’d come up with would be, “wear a shark suit, travel by bike,” or something like that.

@nxknxk I dictionary.com’d that. I wouldn’t commit suicide, myself; but to each his own.

Probably not. If the bullets wouldn’t kill me the stress probably would. Seriously.

1) I won’t trust anyone
2) Living every day as it was the last one.

Great thought-provoking question!
I am not sure how I would survive aside of doing my best to not be seen.

@qashqai seems rather depressing, doesn’t it?

Okay, this is a very interesting question (Your question has been GQed. You’ve been forewarned.). Personally, if I were living in a warzone and surrounded by enemies, I assume that I’ve already been “marked” as an enemy of society (for example, I’m Jewish and living in 1944 Berlin and have been ostracised by society as it is). I also assume that I don’t have the resources to escape as nobody in their right minds would want to stay in a place where most people hated their guts. Would it be too much to also assume that I don’t even have any family with me?

As a result, I would do my best to not enter the streets. I might just get killed and nobody would blink an eye. If I had a benevolent neighbour who was willing to help me I might get my groceries from him/her. If not, I’d probably make sure I go out in broad daylight where there are as many people around as possible and hoard essentials to last me out for weeks.

If I had a phone or the internet I would do my best to contact relatives/friends outside the warzone to help me arrange transportation out out out. And if I couldn’t that wouldn’t change my daily living schedule, which would go something like:

- Wake up fearful for my life (who knows when a mob’s gonna crash through my door and execute me? Or whether I’m going to sleep and die as somebody set fire to my house in the dead of the night?)
– Peek outside the permanently curtained window to see if there’s a hating crowd waiting to take my life on the streets
– Eat my breakfast, lunch and dinner, keeping my eyes and ears glued to the television/internet/radio for any news of a ceasefire and signs of a return to normalcy
– Try to find somebody kind enough to talk to me as I hate being alone. But if there’s nobody then I guess I’ll just have to rely on the net. If I don’t even have that I suppose I’ll have to just write a journal, tend to a plant, get a small quiet pet or create an imaginary friend a la Castaway
– Feel my hairs growing whiter and whiter from the stress
– When it’s night I’d probably keep the TV to a minimum and turn off all the lights. Don’t want to draw any attention to my existence to outsiders.
– Seeing as that’d be the case, I’d probably turn in early
– My sleep might be very light though. In that sort of atmosphere I might just wake up to the slightest sound (see hateful pitchforky crowd above for reference)
– Wake up and repeat till the war ends or till my situation changes (most probably jail or death)

Yeap.. That’s probably how I’d live…

And that’s how I never want to live..

In a way I did live in a war zone where I was surrounded by enemies. I grew up in South L.A. in a gang infested area. Luckily I bussed from elementary school through Jr. High so my interactions were minimal. It wasn’t even something I though about until I went to my local high school. Then it was shootings and violence, kids running through school with guns, and even a school dean becoming paralyzed after purposely being struck by a car.

Before I went to my local high school I went to a gifted school and then a performing arts school, so when I got to my local high school no one knew me, and I was a bit of a conversation piece; my nose was pierced, my clothes were different, I listened to weird music. Because I was in the gifted program I did not encounter many “real” gang members, but I met some outside of class. I needed to get my weed somewhere.

I never had any problems with the gang members at my school, but my community was negatively effected. Going out at night was a danger, especially in certain areas. What I did notice was the less you looked like one of them and hung out with people obviously not gang affiliated, you were basically left alone. Kind of cliquish, really.

Now, I cannot compare my experience to that of someone living in Baghdad, but a mind set definitely develops. Noises outside are ominous and the sound of the ghetto bird at night always made me anxious, and still does. I know too many people who were victims of gang violence, and the possibility of losing people close to you makes you (or at least it did me) not want to get to know or get close to a person.

preparedness. at the first sign of breakdown ( the national guard deployed, massive looting) I’d get in my fully stocked suv and head out to a place only I know about in the desert. I have extrra gas, one of those hand crank radios, mre’s , etc. LOTS of firepower and ammo. I would take the fire tracks out of town that I have studied. Anybody gets in my way, I fire on them with armour piericing rounds. My camp would be in a place where I could see far in all directions. All my guns would have really good opticals. I would have dogs. I would periodically listen to my crank up radio to hear the news,, I would know where all the ranches are and road projects are in my area of the desert so I could get deisel and food . When I felt that things are somewhat contained, I would make the determination whether or not to head back to town where my home is.