There is strength in numbers, which is true for any SHTF scenario. Survival will always be easier if we have allies to shoulder some of the burden.
Forming a prepper group is worth considering to ensure that you have people in your corner during an SHTF scenario.
Close friends and family are the best places to find members for a prepper group. The problem is that sometimes you won’t have any preppers amongst your families and friends.
In that case, you’ll have to go out and make some prepper friends.
Start With Conversations
As you talk to your neighbors, start to slide the topic of prepping into the conversations.
One terrific way to do this is to strike up a conversation about any natural disasters that may be in the news.
From there, you can steer the discussion toward the types of disasters that may strike your area. From here, you can mention how you have prepared for them.
Related: US Natural Disasters Map. What Calamity Do You Need To Prepare For?
This is a great time to mention that FEMA and the federal government want citizens to be prepared for a 72-hour emergency. You can then offer to help them set up a 72-hour kit and even donate some old gear you have lying around to them.
If the people you speak to are interested and start prepping for a 72-hour emergency, you can encourage them to prepare for longer-term disasters. Again, you can use any natural or man-made disasters in the news to hammer home any points you want to make.
A neighbor with a 72-hour kit will not be prepper group material, but if some of your neighbors start taking prepping seriously, they could become precisely who you would want in your group.
Keep aware of their progress as they go about their prepping journey, so you can know when to invite them into your group.
Find People With Hobbies That Are Prepping Adjacent
There are several hobbies that preppers and survivalists will be drawn to, and seeking out people in your neighborhood who are involved in these hobbies is another great way to find members for your prepper group.
A few examples of prepping adjacent hobbies are:
Shooting- Ham Radio
- Canning
- Hunting
- Food preservation
- Camping/backpacking/overlanding
ShootingMany other hobbies are prepping adjacent than I’ve listed here. Chances are, other preppers would also be interested if you are interested in something.
All it takes is some friendly conversation through which you can introduce the topic of prepping. After you find people who are into prepping, you’ll need to figure out whether or not they would be a good fit for your group.
Talking To People About Prepping
When we are trying to get a feel for how good a fit someone is for your prepper group, you’ll need to discuss preparedness and what you are doing to prepare.
This is where you need to be very conscious of the information you disclose and do everything you can to divulge as little as possible. You want people to know that you are serious about prepping without giving away the full extent of your preps.
Be aware that if the people you are talking to are serious preppers, they will also not disclose the full extent of their preps. Only through building relationships and trust will that knowledge be shared.
A few things you are going to try and figure out in these conversations are:
Survival skills- Temperament
- Morals/Values
- What they are prepping for
- If they are interested in joining a prepper group
- What is their profession, and what skills do they bring to the table
- Any training they may have taken that would be useful
It is probably best not to let on that you either have or are building a prepper group. Keep the conversations light and friendly.
Picking The Right People
A crucial factor in forming your prepper group is finding the right group of people. Even though the pool of preppers in your area is probably pretty small, everyone joining your group must bring something to the table to benefit the whole.
A prepper group with a member with diverse skills and training can teach others in the group. This way, everyone can become cross-trained in a wide variety of skills. Some examples of skills or professions that would be beneficial are:
- Search and Rescue
- Police/Military
- Doctors or nurses
- Tradespeople
- Amateur radio operators
- Mechanics
- Bushcrafters
A good mix of skills is essential, but what is almost equally important is that everyone in the group can get along, work together, and learn from each other.
Related: 18th Century Skills That Will Become Life-Saving When SHTF
Therefore, before you commit to bringing a group of people together as a prepper group, you should get them together to participate in other activities to see how they interact.
Forming A Prepper Group
Once you’ve found some people you’d like to form a group with and are all on board with joining your group, it is time to gather everyone and figure out how your group will look.
The first step is to decide what your group’s purpose will be.
For example, your group may agree to share resources or provide mutual aid; if someone in the group has a bug-out location, the group could decide to bug out there and store some of their supplies there.
After everyone agrees on the purpose of the prepper group, you will need to choose a leader. Of course, it would be nice if a designated leader weren’t necessary, but someone has to be in charge at the end of the day and during an SHTF situation.
Then you will need to develop standard operating procedures and lay out the expectations for the group members. All of these need to be written down and agreed to. It seems like a lot of work, but if you do not take your prepper group seriously, how can you be sure it will be there for you?
Work Together As A Group
Once your group is formed, you must meet regularly and spend time training and working through your SOPs. This is probably the most important aspect of creating a prepper group.
Unless your group trains regularly, they will not be ready for an actual SHTF situation. If your group has a bug-out location, your group must do practice bug-outs to ensure everyone can get to the location effectively.
Any plan or procedure your group develops should be tested, tweaked, and re-tested regularly so there is little doubt about its efficacy during a disaster.
How and when you train will depend on the lives and schedules of your group members, but you should be trying to get out and practice as much as possible.
A prepper group is a great way to ensure you have allies in a disaster or other SHTF scenario. It will be a lot of hard work to gather enough likeminded people to make a good prepper group, and it will be even harder to keep the group together and motivated to keep training.
However, the result will pay dividends when the lights go out, and everything collapses around you.
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Wouldn’t recommend cops in thr group.
100 will say they want to join and 1 will be show up.
Having non Christians will be a issue
People who believe voting will save will be
If they are 30 miles out then they be a part of it
same same with some military >> you get a combat officer in the group – it’ll be him or else – and – he’ll have a whole different perspective about combat, civilian corp, weapons & training and most importantly how your loved family members are acknowledged >>> they aren’t 18yr old draftees no-first-names ….
Most people who watch stuff like walking zombie series or movies are not tols the whole perspective behind the scenes stories.
The zombie stuff does not address the personal profiles in depth of the character’s. The beginning people appear normal as those from average daily life.
We don’t know if they really are Christian or not as the story scripts don’t go into great detail.
What we see is Hollywood’s version more liberal than conservative view point. Of what may happen in the future. We got to many people today on smartphones doing tic talk idiocy challenges. I don’t see many of those making in a real survival event.
The old movie ‘The Postman’ may represent a more Hollywood version of what happens to people.
Probably trust a combat sergeant more than an officer for the real grit experience.
But true it comes down to who leads the group further on. Could it be totalitarian in function. Could it be a diplomatic hippie commune? Could it be a combination of both or something totally different.
In stressful events some people become animals than emphatic in caring for others.
As said in other blog posts we won’t no until we cross the river to find out.
Non Christians? Oh the lack of logic and common sence to a bunch of god delusional people, you’re right. Non christians are the thinkers, not the reactors. Christians and the right wing, all they want to do have the opportunity to shoot folks for walking past their home.
May I have your address, Lisa?
You sound way too judgmental!
I’m a Christian and never wanted to harm anyone !
Get outside much?
Blah, Blah, Blah Lisa, Blah, Blah, Blah.
Lisa, do you just crave the negative attention here? Or do you really not have a life? Your spewage neither lends anything to any conversation nor is anyone interested in your garbage. I realize I’m feeding your illness by even posting this but I felt compelled to point these things out to you before you leave and find a group of people more to your liking.
Why would having non-Christians in your group be an issue? Are you saying that Jews, Muslims, Pagans or agnostics don’t want to survive or won’t work with Christians? How non-tolerant of you.
I don’t understand what your next two statements mean. I hesitate to call them sentences. Please proofread before hitting the “Submit” button.
If you look back on history, what are the major causes of most wars? I would say religion, riches and power. Or as we were taught about the Spanish Conquistadors when they came to the New World, “God, Gold and Glory.” Maybe we should forego those 3 goals and it would help to prevent most wars.
leave your pearls at the door… We need real life solutions not pearl clutching,,,
We are to be set apart
Foregoing or not acknowledging God & being thankful to Him for blessing this country from it’s inception with freedom of speech to speak out against injustice, and freedom of worship (of the one true God, Creator of the universe & Maker of everything seen & unseen) is what got us into the mess we’re in in the first place. We just keep drifting further away from Him. People think they don’t need God & can live their life fine without Him until they can’t. God says in His Word that we can do no good in & of ourselves, without Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit in us. If we have any righteousness, it is in Jesus, and Him alone. I don’t need to be famous, filthy rich or religious. Religion is manmade & evil because it detracts the focus from Jesus Sacrifice on the Cross once for all to what we do to ‘earn’ forgiveness. I have everything I need in my Savior, Jesus Christ. If I die tonight I’m fine with that, because I know to Whom I belong & where I will be spending eternity. Whoever may be reading this, it’s not too late. Read Romans 10: 9-13 accept Jesus’ Sacrifice for your sins past, present & future, and start living your best life. I didn’t say perfect life, I said best life, because with Jesus, everything is better. I just lost my son to suicide a month ago, but I’m not going to let it keep me down. I am going to look for & encourage others with what has happened with me. We are ALWAYS better TOGETHER. There is power in #s, but if people can’t get along with others & learn to play nice then they have to go, before it spreads to your whole group, or they start leaving for a more cohesive group.
We can do quarterback, armchair generals in the comfort of the home on the keyboard. Imagining what if. Maybe personal experience will dictate person feelings. Since the pre-planned Covid Crisis people have gone cowardly or strong in mindset. Some saw through the BS we had for 3-4 years.
We saw gullible people as they have become soft, head down looking at the smartphone. Believed just 14 days from Dr. ‘F’ became at least 3 years of lockdowns.
Social media has scrambled part of the public. So we can fantasied what will come. Even the experts only have opinion based on prior experience good or bad.
We won’t totally know the situation until we are thrown into the arena.
What say you?
As I look at comments my concern would be that you are speaking in generalizations. Please understand, their are some in the groups you have brought up that will be exactly what you have characterized. If you rule out at the start that everyone within those categories you will exclude, you will likely never see a group formed. I can say with absolute certainty, what is listed in this article just scratches the surface. It is extremely difficult to find those with:
A- an interest
B- talents, training, skills that fit
C- personalities that can work and create a cohesive group
D- temperament that you might want to have in a full grid down
If your prospects can not get along in training…it is unlikely they will get along afterward
If temperament of an individual is such that he/she seems too reactive, too prone to anger, not empathetic enough to other members, wait until the pressure is really there with a full grid down. No, I’m no “expert”, what ever that is. Having lived as a prepper/survivalist for 50+ years I do know one or two things.
Oh, as to the expert comment. It’s like the person that extolls that they are an expert on surviving this or that. The person that makes such a statement I have to ask…what have you survived…actually. They may have skills, but I want the person with training…and can adapt to the circumstances they are given. BTW -That is a skill that should be practiced in your training scenarios as well, both individually and in groups.
Great article. I too would also have military or police officers in the group. Their level of strategic planning and expertise in a violent situations (someone coming for your supplies) would be the ones to act first because that’s what they trained for. Also, not all in military or policing are wanting to lead. They want their groups to be safe and thrive. I also wouldn’t want the religious radicals in my group as well. We need realistic common sensical judgements to get through each day. Many wars started over conflicts of religious ideologies.
need to narrow that “military or police officers down to the actual very few trigger pullers – since WW2 the military has been top heavy in logistics & support and it’s only has got worse over the decades – probably some ridiculous 7-1 ratio between combat troops and the grub providers these dayz …
I wouldn’t be expecting any great tacticians from the PD side – vast majority never get any training close to what would be needed and unless they patrol some urban ghetto – most go thru a career without pulling their sidearms – don’t expect them to react much better than the civilians in an initial firefight – getting your azz shot off takes experience ….
Cops are terrible people
Religious radicals? Yeah I’d leave out the Muslims too.
And catholics
Good article. I would add hunter/gatherers/gardeners to the list of skilled people you are looking for in a group. As I build a group I keep in mind Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Start with people who have the skills and mindset that support the lowest levels and work your way up. So even though you might be set for 3, 6 even 12 months or more on food and water, what happens when that runs out? Hunters and gatherers, along with gardeners, are, in my mind, the essential building blocks of the group. Physiological needs also require doctors and nurses, and maybe dentists and natural medicine proficiency. Remember pharmaceuticals will not be available in the long term. Remember, start with the basics and build up. Also, as you add a member to the group it is a good idea, if you have the time, to learn what they know. When SHTF you can’t assume everyone in your group will make it to the community or even survive. So the more people you have that are well rounded the better your chances. I like to have each member do a class/presentation on their skill-set and how it would be implemented in a SHTF scenario. This way everyone knows their role as well as the roles of others in the group.
Being in a group is a commitment of both your time and expertise. If you are in a group that doesn’t meet regularly and doesn’t do projects then odds are that group will either fall apart quickly or not even form when a SHTF event occurs. I’ve seen too many people treat prepping like a diet. They do it when they get worried then stop when they think the threat has passed. Prepping is a lifestyle choice not a diet!
Great article Michael! We haven’t heard boo from the Raven
Gang in several months.I wonder what happened to them?
Nothing good I hope.I guess we shouldn’t look a gift horse in
the mouth.
I have a feeling that Lisa Flake is standing in for them. Sort of
the troll dujur.
Before jumping into a group mindset, some other things to ponder;
What if the new member is an agent informant what do we do?
What is the group based on? Mutual basic survival only or survival with Christian values mixed in too?
Like other communities or communes of the past. How long do the survival camps last? Are groups really permanent or a temporary situation for survival?
Will people be able to learn other skills in the group, they are weak in?
What will the pecking order or hierarchy of the mix group?
Eventually there becomes a difference of opinion from the original intent of the group formed. How do they redivide what they put into the group. As the group changes or deteriorates from what the current situation happens to be?
Is there a fine-line between being a Lone Wolf and a group, do people fluctuate between the two?
Will the internet be able to let those communicate without AI interference?
Interesting related article on AI: Tomorrow’s World This technology will be used by mischievous people. To disrupt websites that have truthful information.
And for those who read the Bible, there are many versions of transcribe original bible. Who has the true Bible? Is the King James version really the true translation?
We know that the interpreters may not have or did have an agenda in which books to keep that kept a certain narrative of the bible story of GOD and mankind. Some word translations may not have the best translation. Did certain organized religious groups use a version to control the worshipers into a certain mindset.
As to the last of your comment about the bible, The Nicene Council made most if not all of those decisions about what went into the bible that eventually became the KJV. A couple of my friends have reprints of the King James Version. They’re difficult to read, both in layout and in spelling. They swap out a lot of “Fs” and “Ss” as Old English does. The NKV, or New King James Version is much more readable and was the “standard” bible for a long time. And yes, there were a small number of translation errors through Greek and Hebrew versions. Does cause a small amount of confusion/misinterpretation in a Very few passages. As far as your control question goes, why yes they do! Not so much with the NKV, but check out the Unitarian bible, just changes a few key areas to further their agenda. As mentioned above, regarding the finding of people suitable for a group, the #1 problem is interest. Bill O’Reilly, and i don’t know if you love or hate him or are indifferent, once said the most major issue some people deal with daily is “negotiating a Big Mac”. Meaning they just can’t be bothered to be interested in much anything else. Personally, i’ve tried to get my grown children to always keep some degree of non-perishable foods at all times. And that’s been with mixed success. Most people just don’t care much about prepping right up to the point that the shelves are empty at the grocery stores. Then they PANIC and blame everybody under the sun and get very vocal and interested. Usually too late.
The military depending on the bonding process of the unit the personal ties are strong. But even so being around same people for 24/7 gets to be mind numbing in a way. Or we can relate that to being married and stuck in a snowstorm for 2-3 months together.
We get on each others nerves, arguments maybe throwing a couple frying pans around.
It also depends when the group was formed like Summer, Fall, Winter or Spring. Do you share part of your clothes with the less prepared weak link? Do you keep your weapons close by or in a group storage area? What about when ammo gets low, how do you trade? Others may not be cooperative in the long haul of things.
How are the work details made? You know eventual there are some people tend to be lazy. Do you kick them out, they know the prep situation, something unmentionable to discuss here. Will the group be democratic or more dictator like in leadership?
Will there be a bugout plan when such difficult decisions happen to the group?
There are no wrong answers, what are your thoughts?
Much of what you say are “Hard Questions” that many people don’t want to think about or really focus on. Say you have a group of 8 people that are in a fixed location with all the supplies they could collectively muster and then along comes a serious disagreement that one couple have and decide to leave the group to do xxxx xxxx xxxx whatever, wherever thing. Even if you can equitably portion out supplies to them and they leave on the best terms possible, you have just created the possibility of a GIANT security leak. Those 2 people, or even ONE, as the case may be, KNOW where the entry and exit points to YOU are, KNOW approximately how much firepower you have, KNOW what your food situation, medical supplies, skill level, communication ability, daily routines, health issues are. The Military minded people will either just not let anyone leave at all OR will let em leave and then a few hours to a day later will go out scouting/hunting when those people are a day out or less and eliminate them, bring back their supplies that he “scavenged” from an old house, etc that he found in a farther out area, etc and the problem is solved. There’s an old saying, “3 men can keep a secret, especially when 2 are dead”. Kinda grim to be sure. Same sorta hard decisions have to be made when considering taking in people that have arrived at your location by chance or however. Some truly heart-wrenching decisions to be made then. Say a relatively young woman with a small child shows up on your door, obviously malnourished, collapses on yer porch. Passed out in the hot sun with lil junior trying to wake mommy up. What are your next steps exactly? Those are hard questions indeed. The cold and cruel would kill them in an instant, root through their belongings, strip them of clothes and drag the bodies to a refuse area of some sort, or worse. And while that would be the BEST security-related answer, certainly not the most humanitarian. Perhaps the best there would be to rehydrate them to a degree and find out ALL you can from them while keeping them in a room away from the rest of your group completely. They might have very valuable skills. They could very well be a scout for a raiding party. Ya just don’t know.
What people do will separate the sheep from the goats, or the “Christians” from the Christians. You will know a tree by its fruit.
More of a general post, so please, don’t assume I am just on a rant.
This post is exactly the thought process the left attempts to silence. Bold claim? Here in Oregon, House Bill 2572
Oregon Legislature
defines a “paramilitary group” as;
“(c) ‘Private paramilitary organization’ means any group of three
or more persons associating under a command structure for the purpose of functioning in public or training to function in public as a
combat, combat support, law enforcement or security services unit.
This vague definition could include; Neighborhood Watch, church (any, public or private) security team or prepper group.
I have heard it all. “why don’t you move then?” At some point we are rooted in family, vocation and other reasons.
Be vigilant, prepping includes awareness of laws that may be brought to bear upon you.
I will get my area together by just starting a community garden! I am in rural WA, we are essentially a self-sustaining community. Therefore bringing everyone together with a community garden will be agreeable to everyone!
The Oregon house bill 2572 can be applied as diversity, equality and inclusion or ‘DIE.’ To the Marxist radicals such Antrifica and Blunders Liberals & Mobs to be silenced too. They are all considered para military to most people. The private army once Obimbo once said he needed for his transformation of America.
Some of my thoughts about what to look for in potential additional people to join or form a group. Everything is just my opinion.
Prepper Skill Groups and Skills
Attributes needed to join a group (Evaluated by Leadership):
1) Honest & Trustworthy
2) Ethical
3) High morals
4) Good common sense
5) Hard-working with a good work ethic
6) Cooperative
7) Positive Prepping Attitude
8) Loyal
9) Respectful demeanor
10) Can both lead & follow as needed
11) Similar goals
12) Intent to help rebuild society & civilization
General Prepper Skills:
1) Problem-solving techniques and skills
2) JOAT – Jack of all trades & common sense
3) Money management (so you have the money to make the preps)
4) Shopping expertise (including internet searches)(to get the best values)
5) Communications skills (information gathering & analysis, reading people)
6) Fire materials acquisition/fire starting/fire maintenance/extinguishing fires
7) Water acquisition/carry/storage/purification
8) Food procurement/carry/ preservation/storage/preparation
Skills important to get ready for an Apocalypse:
1) Historian (so you know what can happen)
2) Short-range planning (so you can decide what to do first)
3) Long-range planning (to follow through on the goals of short-range planning)
4) The art of misdirection (so people don’t know what you are doing)
5) Situational awareness/scouting/resource evaluation/safe haven recognition
6) Stealth/gray man/role camouflage
7) Personal defense/E&E/un-armed defense/expedient weapons/firearms skills
8) Trade/Barter skills including the ability to evaluate livestock and other goods
9) Weather forecasting and tracking
Skills important to get through an Apocalypse:
1) Personal communications skills (to talk your way out of trouble)
2) Driving skills (to get away if possible)
3) Physical skills (walking/running/biking to get away if vehicles are not available)
4) Combat skills (to fight your way through if necessary or defend your home/BOL)
5) Medical skills (triage/first-aid/secondary aid/nursing to manage injuries)
6) Camouflage skills (to hide yourself or things when necessary)
7) Decision-making skills (so you can choose the right thing to do)
8) Comm equipment skills (to get & disseminate information from/to others)
Skills important to survive in a Post-Apocalyptic World:
1) Personal communications skills (to keep you out of trouble & maintain peace)
2) Combat skills (to hold onto what you survived with)
3) Cooking with stored foods skills (so you can use your food preps)
4) Gardening skills (to supplement and eventually replace stored foods)
5) Animal husbandry skills (for food animals to supplement & replace stored foods)
6) Salvage, Recovery, and Resource Mining skills (to retrieve abandoned useful items)
7) Cotton picking/wool shearing skills (to get the raw materials for cloth)
8) Spinning and weaving skills (to make the cloth needed for clothing, etc.)
9) Sewing skills (to make the clothing from the homespun fabric)
10) Building trades skills (to maintain, repair, and improve structures of the home/BOL)
11) Bartering/trading skills (to obtain items you don’t have using items you do have)
12) Comm equipment skills (for information, security, & community aid)
13) Road maintenance and building skills (to keep travel routes open)
Short list: 5-important skills
1) Situational awareness skills: scouting/ resource evaluation/ safe haven recognition
2) Personal defense skills: stealth/ role camouflage/ E&E/ un-armed defense/ expedient weapons/ firearms skills
3) Water skills: acquisition/ carry/ storage/ purification
4) Fire skills: materials acquisition/ fire starting/ fire maintenance/ extinguishing fires
5) Food skills: procurement/ carry/ preservation/ storage/ preparation
Prepper group member attributes
Basically in order of importance.
1) Integrity/trustworthy/ethical: These are pretty much always a package deal for me. They mean essentially the same thing, with minor variations. A person needs to have all of them before I would fully trust them.
2) Intelligence: Makes everything easier as I do not have to guide them every step of the way for every task.
3) Common sense: If they do not have enough sense to duck when someone shoots at them, or come in out of the nuclear fallout, they are not of much use to me.
4) Hard working: There will be much hard work to be done. Anyone wanting a free ride is not welcome.
5) Cooperative: If they are not willing to cooperate with me and my decisions, I do not want them around causing trouble.
Just my opinion.
WOW!! that was a well thought out list!
Thank you, I will save and add to my own
I really usually get a lot out of this site, and rarely open my big yap, but ya got me in a mood today, so forgive me, here,,,,,,,,,
________________________
As soon as you offer a bit of help in the very beginning of the discussion like this to people, like helping with a 3 day preparation package, they are going to put a mental checkmark by your name. And that’s (YOUR PLACE) where the ones who ARE NOT trustworthy or honorable will be going for their preps, without stocking up on them themselves. You’ll have revealed even by that mere offer of your “old stuff” that you HAVE STUFF.
Even people not inclined to prepare are smart enough to deduce that an offer to share goods or services or even organizing assistance means they can “GIT YER GOODIES” .
Operational security mean being VERY careful about what information you share.
Out of the ten or so houses in my direct view from my front or back porch, there’s only one family I would even CONSIDER trying to befriend and plan together with, and even they MIGHT not be able to keep things on the down-low, making me still hesitant. And I haven’t interrogated them enough to ascertain what OTHER family members they might have who have “loose lips”.
It seems to me, having tried, that a person simply CANNOT manage their own household, maintain good family connections with other relatives, keep a job, be involved in a church, mosque, or temple group, and FIND THE TIME to reasonably evaluate a bunch of neighbors, as well as doing all the rotating of goods like food storage and animal care and so on. There’s simply not enough hours in the day AND night.
I try to split my time among these things, but stuff falls between the cracks. It’s been several years since I retook a first aid course, I don’t get to the range as often as I ought to, my car is covered in bird poop to the point I worry the paint is going to start to blister, my gutters need the little whirly birds seeds cleaned out,,,,,,,,
Can anyone suggest a good place to buy some truth serum or a plan for building my own lie detector? I’ll start on that as soon as I finish building my solar array and air/to/water conversion machine.
Oh, wait, I still have to plant my potato seeds and water my carrot trees. and collect my flamingo eggs.
(I’m sorry for going of on a “rant” and sarcasm tangent, it’s been a rough week.)
This concerns me a lot. While I do think it is a good idea to have others to count on, back you up, fill in missing skills, no matter who you find, they can always change their mind and pull out. NOW, they have all of your OPSEC information, know where you live, maybe where your stores are, how many of you there are, how much security you have etc..
When things get tough, some may decide it would be better either alone or with a roving gang. Alone, they could tell others where there are better things to steal/take to protect what they have. With a gang, they may want to ‘prove’ themselves and give up your location and property.
Also, how are preps “divided” in a case like this? I’ve been prepping for decades, do I have to share with someone who just barely started??? Who’s to say they didn’t ‘join’ just to get to what others have?
I would consider doing this for my family, but I’m afraid I don’t think its a good idea to do with strangers … maybe people you have known for YEARS, MAYBE.
Plus, I guess those of us who are older (I’m pushing 70, a woman alone) aren’t good people to include. I can’t run fast, am trying to get into ham radio, but aren’t there yet, never hunted, I can shoot pretty well, I can can and preserve, put together freeze dried food, and have lots of camping items, but have no real skills. So I guess I’m SOL. Which may be ok, as I’m a bit of a loner anyway. But still…70.
I have lived in some places where you never really know your neighbors and in others where you know them at some level and interract with them. Adversity can bring people together or tear them apart.
With a group as many have already mentioned, there are plusses and minuses. Truth is, if you’ve got a group of people who haven’t really been tested, the group may fall apart quickly when the real test comes. Your leader may crumple under real pressure. And the least likely to succeed may show a strength that surprises all.
If you have a group that’s well organized and working together well, fabulous. I think it important that if you have a leader, you see to it that you have alternates, too, in case something happens to the leader.
I currently live in a wonderful neighborhood. Most neighbors are cordial and help one another out. Some have family close by and others don’t. In bad weather, we tend to check on one another, or if we’re running errands see if those elderly or infirm need anything. .
I occasionally get together with a group of people who have community interest. We are from the general geographic area. This group have many more of the characteristics of a prepper group insofar as different skills and actively engaging in them or actively honing them.
In reality, if a SHTF scenario erupts, there’s a much better chance that I’ll be in my neighborhood rather than with this group. Planning to meet at a BOL or someone’s house to gather the group together is all well and good, but I also think it prudent to have Plan B if you have to make do with where you are and whom you have around you.
Many of my neighbors are elderly. Certainly most would not be on anyone’s top ten list as great helps. They don’t have the physical stamina of their youth. Yet, they hold tons of collective wisdom and ingenuity. They have a different kind of endurance.
While the community group would have more of the bases covered simply because of number, youth, and diversity, the group is much farther apart geographically. In a sudden event, such as an EMP strike, many might be stranded because their previous faraday cage testing was woefully inadequate, when at the time, it was thought otherwise.
Perhaps, if one is forming a group, there should be discussion about subgroups, too. Having four or six people able to come together to share work and responsibilities can aid in success if the group at large is not able to meet up all together.
Ok, so first we read your articles about keeping your prepping a secret, and now you say to pull together a group.
Multiple personality disorder??
This is a fun game, and if you play it with some pals, you’re going to have a great time. One of my very good pals who is currently employed at cookie clicker is the one who introduced me to this game, and I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with him on quite a few occasions when playing it. It is really incredible!