If you’re following along, you know that we’ve been listening to a narrative that defines what happens when everything goes wrong.
This isn’t being decanted by an author or an expert, it’s being recanted by a guy who lived thru it and watched his family DIE.
Today, we’re going to absorb to commentary, after he’d finished recounting his family’s voyage thru hell…
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Hello
New to this web site. Friend sent me link…me being from Bosnia, Sarajevo and being there during civil war, to check it out and see is Selco legit. (thanks G.)
It takes some time to ready all the posts but I did.
Conclusion: Salco, You are “the Man”. 100% legit. Don’t know you but thanks for taking your time and education members of this forum about our experience in Bosnian civil war. One thing to point out is that there is hundred of thousands of “Salco’s” out there in Bosnia and abroad, but what is unique about Salco is that he is taking time to inform, teach and share his experience and maintaining non-political focused discussion. Great job on that. God’s know I don’t want to take time of my life to do so, remember it, and deal with idiots who are trying to infiltrate discussion for there own agenda. I work hard on trying to forget war and block it in my mind, (but, it’s not working out).
All information that Salco provided is accurate and I experience it as well. What is important here is that Bosnia was civilized country with civilized modern society prior to war. So, it is safe to say that our experience can apply to any part of civilized world if SHTF regardless of what language you speak and to witch god you pray.
Please, let me contribute too:
-No “loan wolfs”. If you think you can go to woods and ride SHTF wave alone, you are mistaking. Human are social animals and we like company. We use solitary isolation as punishment. You can make it for several weeks or months but eventually you will seek company or you’ll go “loco”. What if you get sick or hurt? Who will take care of you?
-Again, strength is in numbers. Organize your self with neighbors, family or anybody living close and share responsibilities, food, skills etc…
-Have stash of supplies. One in your house/apartment and more some where else, preferably hidden where nobody, expect you and your closest know.
Our place was searched by local militia, gangs, police and anybody with gun in firs year of war multiple times. They where looking for guns but if they found any excess of food it will be taken for “cause”.
-Have tools and tools to fix tools. For example have hand-cranked drill. Remember, no power for power-tools.
- Have batteries, car batteries and way to charged it (solar/dynamo).
- And all that Salco mentioned in this post and his blog (again, great job Salco).
If you want to see are you prepared, I suggest to turn of you power, shot off your water and gas. Have one week or more of vacation in your house without any power or water of any kind. Turn your phone off too. Don’t talk to anybody at all. Eat not more than 1000 calories per day. See how it’s feels. And during that time see what you can do to make your life more comfortable.
If I had one advice to give you is following. Be ready to loose all. Your stash, tools, house, and all of this things you work hard to prepare your self for this scenario. Your life/health is more important than all of it. For example, if you see mob of more than you think you can defend your home, coming and killing and raping everything on the way, RUN!!! And don’t look back. Don’t be hero! Be smart. Don’t look tuff and badass; there are lots of crazes out there that will take arms (especially in beginning first 6 months to year) that are looking for fight of any kind.
I was part of military and work for humanitarian company during war, and I was still arrested and imprisoned multiple times for whatever reason they (local gangs) found it fit. Wrong name, wrong part of city, wrong ID. You make sure that you have somebody with “back” to look for you and get you out. If system collapses for whatever reason so will police and army too. That’s way you need to organize or join to bigger group in order to protect and survive.
Life does not stop; it just changes, a lot. You will be surprised how many party’s I attended and had good time in middle of war zone. We are humans after all and like to have fun. People still have laughs, and fun. I remember my mom was making Mayonnaise without eggs. When she told me that we both laugh to tears, next thing was having coffee without coffee. She used some kind of beans and roasted, grained and brewed coffee. Tasted it like ****, but we set down with neighbors one morning and have good old traditional “coffee” and cigarette. Like nothing ever happen.
I left Bosnia right before war ended. End up in States and it is best thing that happen to me. Here nobody cares what ethnical or religious background I am soli to judge me for it. One member of this forum criticized US for all the wars they started. I had same opinion for long time and come to conclusion that that’s human nature. We (ex Yugoslav) are not saints and much better. Just look at our recent history! My point is where ever you are, regardless of country, you could be next. For long time, we in Sarajevo did not believe that war is happening, we where so ignorant, mortar shells falling on my building and we are thinking “this will stop any day now, it’s impossible, we like each other” etc. Total illusion and ignorance. I’m sorry for it and I hope I learned my lessen. Some of my friends ask me “what will you do if civil war starts in US”? Well, I’ll leave with my family moment I see firs signs. Don’t get me wrong, if somebody attack US soil I’ll be first to defend it, but if we start killing each other, I’m out. Got escape plan all ready.
I hope I contributed more that confused. Sorry for all misspells and grammatical errors but English is my 3rd language.
Selco! Thanks again for your courage to write all of it. If I was still living in BiH I’ll will not do the same. Times are strange there, looks like peace on surface, but its not. I got family on both sides and know in depth what’s beneath it. Love to visit often but not to live. I checked out. They can have it all. Too much of my family, my friends and my blood was spill for nothing. Cemeteries are fill of my generation. When I go back for visit I spend more time visiting death than alive ones. Looks like you where is similar situation like me. I spend 9 months in Mostar in 1990-91 serving in JNA (Yugoslav National Army). Right at time of blockade at Listica. F#%k up times. Love Mostar and fell in love there too. Here name was Emina. Talking about irony. Many times I remember Aleksa Santic (poet) and his poem/song. Cant get my self to even recite after all this years without getting all chock-up. She was my hart and soul during my time there. She was kill by mortar shell in 1993 on her way to hospital to visit injured friend. Don’t want to write more about it.
Sorry for such a long post. Have great time, enjoy in life and be prepared.
PS. Here is video of Sarajevo I made in winter of ’93. City looks deserted but is not. People are everywhere, its just you can’t see them. Every apartment or house have somebody living in it no mater how bad looks. Remember that!
Best to all,
Sarajevo, Witer 1993 – YouTube…
Hvala ti- thank you
I remember, i believe it was a barley, some folks realize to bake(roast) and grind barley, then use it as a coffee in small amounts, tasted bad, and as i remember it messed up blood pressure
Some folks smoked tree leafs when were short on cigarettes, one tree was especially popular, and if my translation is fine, it was linden, teil.
Funny and horrible times.
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Here’s the backstory on Bosnia, according to Wikipedia:
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides. The main belligerents were the forces of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and those of the self-proclaimed Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska and Herzeg-Bosnia, who were led and supplied by Serbia and Croatia respectively.[1][2][3]
The war came about as a result of the breakup of Yugoslavia. Following the Slovenian and Croatian secessions from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991, the multiethnic Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was inhabited by mainly Muslim Bosniaks (44 percent), Orthodox Serbs (31 percent) and Catholic Croats (17 percent), passed a referendum for independence on 29 February 1992. This was rejected by Bosnian Serb political representatives, who had boycotted the referendum and established their own republic. Following the declaration of independence, Bosnian Serb forces, supported by the Serbian government of Slobodan Milošević and the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) attacked the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to secure Serbian territory and war soon broke out across Bosnia, accompanied by the ethnic cleansing of the Bosniak population, especially in Eastern Bosnia.[4]
It was principally a territorial conflict, initially between the Serb forces mostly organized in the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) on the one side, and the multiethnic Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) which was largely though not exclusively composed of Bosniaks, and the Croat forces in the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) on the other side. The Croats also aimed at securing parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Croatian.[5] The Serb and Croat political leadership agreed on a partition of Bosnia with the Karađorđevo and Graz agreements, resulting in the Croats forces turning on the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Croat-Bosniak war.[6] The war was characterized by bitter fighting, indiscriminate shelling of cities and towns, ethnic cleansing, systematic mass rape and genocide mostly led by the Serb forces. Events such as the Siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre would become iconic of the conflict.
The Serbs, although initially superior due to the vast amount of weapons and resources provided by the JNA eventually lost momentum as Bosniaks and Croats allied themselves against Republika Srpska in 1994 with the creation of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina following the Washington agreement. After the Srebrenica and Markale massacres, NATO intervened during the 1995 Operation Deliberate Force against the positions of the Army of Republika Srpska, which proved key in ending the war.[7][8] The war was brought to an end after the signing of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Paris on 14 December 1995. Peace negotiations were held in Dayton, Ohio, and were finalized on 21 December 1995. The accords are known as the Dayton Agreement.[9] A 1995 report by the Central Intelligence Agency found Serbian forces responsible for 90 per cent of the war crimes committed during the conflict.[10] As of early 2008 the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia had convicted 45 Serbs, 12 Croats and 4 Bosniaks of war crimes in connection with the war in Bosnia.[11] The most recent research places the number of killed people at around 100,000–110,000[12][13][14] and the number displaced at over 2.2 million,[15] making it the most devastating conflict in Europe since the end of World War II.
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