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The thing missing from my preps that I can't purchase...

7K views 49 replies 41 participants last post by  merlinfire 
#1 ·
I'm in the same situation. No family and my wife is ill. The only guy I trust at this point is an hour's drive away from me. I'll be following this thread right along with you.
 
#31 ·
A neighborhood is the thing to aim for, and as the Canadian lady said, it takes time to build those relationships. A year ago next month they had a rash of tornados in Alabama. A person I correspond with on another board was pretty close to ground zero, and the community up the road from her was hard-hit. The community, and the county around pulled together, and things went well. Had they not, then things could have gotten bad. If you'd like to see how things played out, go to Gunboards, their survival forum, and run a search for Ammosgt.
 
#35 ·
preppers will not automaticly rule the world come the apocolypse. So who in your comunity has the ability to be self reliant. Not so much self sufficient.

Now what have you done for them that they should help you?

And suddenly you have a prepping group without the loss of OPSEC and without that cult creepyness that a prepping group gives me.

(Actually I dont know but do people ever reveiew these groups? How army of the right wing god are theY?)
 
#36 ·
I understand, my DH & children are a bunch of sheeple. I did manage to bring around my next door neighbors who are now prepping. But being only 3-4 months in that are not as well stocked on food as I would like.

We have agreed that when SHTF we will assist each other.

If there is no power they will end up at my house because I have a wood stove for heating and cooking.
 
#38 ·
I've reeled myself in several times trying to probe people I would have bet money on were prepper minded. People from meager beginings, folks who have family property, gun collections, civil service careers, big on hiking and camping even. These are folks I have known for years but never put out any feelers for about the conversation. You do need to be careful at all times and remember that just because you want someone on your side because they seem like such a great fit they may think tour a hole and blow tour secret world wide open, or show up at tour doorstep as a complete liability you can't afford to care for while keeping your own family set right.

One thing I've realized is that there are different levels of preppers, and one tactic may be to know who is what type, or committed to what level of SHTF, and only reveal a matching amount of prepping. In a perfect world you may want 20 families of SouthenPrepper level of preparedness, but if you have some friends you can trust who only think the power may go out for a few days after a hurricane or that they need water and ammo but only have a cabinet of pickles and tuna cans you can reveal yourself only to the same level they are. If something bad goes down for a couple days and y'all meet up you can have your "level 1" response preps and bug in. If it's a WROL and you can be with them for a week or so before you need to EE to your underground squirrel nest full of mountain house, plate carriers, and 55 gallon drums of napalm you can do so once they become a liability. In the meantime spend a week if it's permissible and see if being in a group helps your situation. I don't have the budget for an APC, and I don't plan to spend the rest of my days in Mad Max, but as a prepper I won't deny that I'd like to be ready for whatever comes, but I still spend time trying to keep the grass green around the house green and spend money on other recreational family things. I'm not an all out off the grid prepper but I feel I'm getting us more prepared for what I consider the mist plausible scenarios and way of life I foresee. I'm not the guy for joining a group that wants everyone at the same level of prepping I do but wants everyone to kick in to build a mega fallout shelter, but we have things in common and in the first few days, or after the fact if both mindsets get us through we would have a lot in common.

What I mean is maybe it's best to find people who can help us for level 1 scenarios where life will continue as usual, but don't reveal you have a deeper level of preps unless the scenario is that bad. If they are not as prepared you can always jump ship if need be and bug out with your girl friend to where the big cache's are stored/ where your ultimate BOL is.
 
#39 ·
Great way to meet fellow preppers is at gun shows, local shooting range, garden stores, or really any place that might attract someone of the prepper mentality. Just strike up a conversation and see where it leads. You'd be surprised how many people prep in their own way. Just don't be judgmental of how someone preps. Learn from them and let them learn from you. From there you can build a network.
 
#40 ·
I have no solution to to your dilemma Sig, but I can tell you what I chose to do about this issue.

Having decided that the city was not the place to be in terms of lifestyle or family raising, we went rural. Rather than having to make plans for zombie escapage and forming groups to resist them, I chose to find a way to spend my time and money on more positive endeavors.

I'm sure East Texas is a far cry from the rolling hills of Southern Wisconsin in terms of landscape and resources, but good people are to be found everywhere and in the country you get to know who they are.

We chose a small town of about 300 families, less than a thousand population. Made sure it was a food producing area with natural water, even has it's own hydroelectric plant. Got a small chunk of land with some of the best soil and regular rainfall in the country. Got to know the locals and became active in the community, did some good deeds for some good folks from time to time and became friends with them. I learned how to do 'horse tradin', loaned my sons out for farm help in the summer and fall and put in a huge garden that gets shared generously with the neighbors.
I think you can see where this is going.

My solution was to find an area away from the population centers where good folks who are producers and not moochers, live life every day being who they are- solid citizens that have the strength of character to pull together when needed and also value self-sufficiency.
These things are impossible to achieve in metropolitan setting.

No real OPSEC needed out here, no huge stockpiles of ammunition and most importantly, no raised blood pressure or lost sleep overly worrying about what happens if things go really bad.

Do we have local trouble makers, yes a few. And we know who they are.
Will we be able to organize in a crisis situation? Probably better than most.

So my solution to finding or starting a mutual aid group was to do things the old fashioned way, become a valued citizen of a small community that is positioned with a large amount of natural and human resources.

Whatever you choose, I wish you both the best of luck.
 
#44 ·
Ferfal begs to differ....

"...No real OPSEC needed out here, no huge stockpiles of ammunition and most importantly, no raised blood pressure or lost sleep overly worrying about what happens if things go really bad."
I enjoyed your post above, but in terms of your quoted statement I believe research may illustrate that you may be assuming too broadly.

Ferfal (Aguirre 2009 - see link below) discussed the plight of Argentinian farm families in his book "The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse" about events in Argentina when first the economy and then the government collapsed in 2001. He noted that remote farm communities were neither equipped nor organized for counter-insurgency combat, and that they were routinely attacked by groups of adversaries who arrived in multiple vehicles, took over the farms, and then spent up to a week raping, pillaging, plundering, and forcing the occupants to reveal the locations of money/arms/or other valuables ("City or Country: Where to Live" - page 34). His analysis was that any sense of security due to remote locations was largely an illusion, because there existed no genuine paramilitary capacity to repel determined invaders...who chose these locations to attack precisely because they were isolated, and once taken - easy to plunder and control.

Grundy and Miller (1979) also wrote this haunting piece regarding the warfare that was visited upon the farm families of Rhodesia in the 1970s:

http://www.rhodesia.nl/farmeratwar.html

The exact same dynamic was shown to exist, even though the circumstances were different, and the warfare occurred on a different continent. Essentially, remote farm families could not count on organized and well-equipped paramilitary capacity to respond quickly enough - hence were left to their own devices. Sometimes this was adequate, often it was not. Farm families were not large enough units to be able to successfully drive off larger groups of armed invaders. When Defense was successful this was often not because the farmers were so competent, but because their adversaries were so inept.

If you genuinely believe there is no threat where you now live - because you are in such a remote location; you own no particular equipment with which to repel an armed group; and you have no drills, SOPs, training, or experience with armed combat that might allow you to organize a local paramilitary capacity; I submit these are things that - given actual historical precedent hard learned by farm families in similar circumstances on other continents - you may want to spend some time pondering.

No one man or single family can stand the watch 24/7/365. Small unit tactics for combat require a small unit. It's just a thought.

Best to you and yours,

G.

Link to Ferfal's book --- (Aguirre is a member of this board)
Amazon.com: The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse (9789870563457): Fernando Ferfal Aguirre: Books
 
#48 ·
Review all the people in your sphere of influence. Is there ONE who you would want in the bunker with you? ONE (besides your GF) who you would want watching your back, be that one a prepper or not, a gun owner or not. That is the one you want to start with. Chances are you may be surprised to learn he is a prepper too. You may not know him well, but you instinctively know he's a fighter, trustworthy, steadfast, get to know him better.
 
#49 ·
Single..an advantage!

I think being a single prepper might be an advantage.

Nobody else to worry about!
You can hide under the radar. Who would think that widowed middle aged lady is a prepper with food, water, guns, and ammo?

I'm thinking of a short term situation of course.
Long term would be more difficult due to possibility of sickness or injury.

I'm a newbie and trying to find others in my area, but not having much luck.
 
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