OK, I like the Red Dawn kind of stuff as much as anyone. But reality says that something else will go bad wrong long before there are Blue Helmets knocking at your door.

In my neighborhood it went like this:

Saturday Afternoon: I am buying my wife a car. The guy comes back from doing the papers and says,"What do you think about this storm?"
I go, "What storm? That troipcal depression?"

Guy says "Yeah but now it's a hurricane. Might come this way."

Sunday afternoon: The kid & I am putting shutters on my house as my wife fills water jugs. Storm is a Cat 3 hurricane.

Monday AM: Hurricane Andrew lays waste to half of Dade County. Most places in southern half of county look like war zone, no power, no water, no roofs. Armed looters prowl the wreckage. Normal people suddenly become desparate and violent over food and water. Police are scattered. It will be three days before the National Guard arrives in force...

What does a LIKELY real bad situation look like where YOU live?

Pretty much the same as yours.  I live on the coast of Georgia.  Floyd scared the hell out of us 2 years ago.  When they evacuated Chatham County, the normally 3.5 to 4 hour drive to Atlanta turned into an 11 hour ordeal.

8-11 feet of heavy wet snow in a day or two.  Power goes out.  People stay inside and eat their canned goods out of their garden and canned venison from last year.  Melt snow on wood stove if they don't have spring water.  Mostly everyone stays home for several days.  People without a wood-stove, wood, & canned garden goods are hurting. Lack of electricity for oxygen for the sickly/elderly would eliminate those who depend on it.  Having to deal with/help your neighbors who are completely unprepared and dealing with medical emergencies (ie.:someone cutting their leg with a saw) would be the greatest "threat".

Now, a total economical crash would be a little different.  Read Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse.

Well not as first hand experience as yours but I lived nearby. When I was living in CA, I lived in So. Orange County. Some experiences that happened around me got me organized.

65mi away Rodney King riots happened. Matter of fact my car got stolen that night. L.A. was a SHTF scenario at that point. It was very real to me. To most watching it on tv it was just probably a tv news show. This is the time I realized I needed guns. Unfortunately I was too broke to buy em.

90mi away the Northridge Quake. I was sleeping when it happened. This is the time I realized how important having MRE and at least some bottled water.

12mi away the Laguna Beach fires. Wiped out a whole bunch of million dollar homes. Ashes all over the place. Well ok its not really SHTF for most of these folks cause most of them had second homes and the one that don't checked in at the Ritz Carlton. But still it was a bitch for me, They block off the main road to the beach. For about a week.

For me,
The des plaines river flooding, and being close to the Leftist city of Chicago.
I will give the Mayor this, he does not fuck around with riots and such.  he learned from his old man back in the 60's at the democratic convention.  
Anyways, if something like rodney king happened here, I could see it comming to where I live.  
c-rock

It wouldn't take that much to create a real life SHTF senerio for me. If I lost TV cable and telephone service (no Internet), the guns would come out! What man wouldn't crack under those circumstances?

Just had the big flood in Houston.  Looters about.  Ready for them.  Also ready with the food and water suppplies, although probably needed more water.

Also a little concerend about a oil/gas pipeline explosion as all kinds of old pipelines running through Houston.  Likely, these plants are a terrorist target.  I sure don't want the 2012 Olympics here.

But mostly, only real problems occur when the beer runs out and it is past closing time.  [:D]

If my wife brought home the Generic brand of toilet paper instead of my trusty charmin, not only would the shit hit the fan, but the rest of the bathroom as well.

She would learn her lesson that day..that she would.

LOL! I wish I could post it here, but I don't have a scanner. Picture this:

Frame 1- Infantry Man in Combat gear, Standing in rain, saying "This sucks"

Frame2- Ranger runing through mud in rain, saying "I LIKE the way this sucks"

Frame 2- SEAL neck deep in water, in rain, biting snake, saying "This doesn't suck ENOUGH!"

Frame 3- Army Aviation pilot, looking out cokpit window at rain, "Boy, it sure sucks down there"

Frame 4- Air Force Airman, sitting in recliner, remote control in hand, "Cable's out AGAIN? This SUCKS!"

Had a buddy who lived in Miami during/after Andrew.  Him and several neighbors formed an armed neighborhood watch to keep looters out of what was left of their neighborhood.  Didn't fire any shots but did scare some looters away.

Here in Anchorage, biggest natural threat is an earthquake.  There was a little one 2 days ago....

Worst case scenario I think would be a bad earthquake during a winter cold snap when it's -10 F, and all the electricity and gas were knocked out.

Fresh water, food, and heat/shelter would be way more important than guns to ward off looters.  This ain't crime-ridden south Florida.

that's nothing, TSHTF here at the end of every month when everyone's Welfare Money & Food Stamps run out...

Actually, during Andrew quite a few incidents occurred where people used privately owned firearms to defend themselves. The storm hit hardest in the southern part of Dade County, in Homestead, where there were lots of lower income communities. Things got bad there pretty quickly. There were a few problems farther north, in Miami and North Dade, where bad guys took advantage of the fact that all the police were in Homestead. The funniest incident I remember was when a couple of Boyz jumped out of a car infront of a group of neighbors standing in front of their wrecked homes. One of the boyz had a double barrel shotgun. He fired both barrels in the air and announced that they were robbing the people. One of the neighbors pulled out his .44 caliber revolver and shot the guy on the spot. Cops came, looked and said, "good shooting". The police just accepted the fact that homeowners were armed and put the word out that looters and gangs would get no sympathy from them. It worked well, cause with all the damage it could have been a lot worse.

5 years ago the KKK marched through my hometown.  A race riot ensued that turned into looting after the Klan folks hsd left.  Interestingly (but not at all surprising), the blacks kept to Basic (their end of town) and stayed away from the tree streets and the country club estates.  The town is small enough that a large group could have walked anywhere in an hour.  A few fires were started and homeys went driving slowly through the white neighborhoods trying to scare residents.  It only took a couple of people (like myself) sitting out in front of our houses with rifles and shotguns to put a stop to the intimidating "drive-bys."  The riot had broken up by 2 or 3 in the morning.  It could have been much worse though.  

10 years ago the river that runs through the middle of the town flooded.  Blacks went on a rampage then too.  5 or 6 were shot by white people in the hill houses protecting their property and the blacks had a hissy-fit.  The hipe died down after a few months.  

Around here the worst natural disasters we will ever experience are tornadoes and heavy snow/ice storms.  In either case, an army of chain saw wielding volunteers will assemble to clean up the mess.  There will be no looting because this county is as far from "diverse" as it gets.  Everyone here considers themselves neighbors who are ready to share with those in need.  A firearm is the last thing you will see in my locale when disaster strikes.