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Preppers seem to be few and far between, and likeminded people are somewhat uncommon outside of discussion boards. So I am curious if any of you have met other preppers in person. If so, how do you guys arrange meet-ups?
Does anyone meet other preppers?
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Meet preppers?, No way,they are all wacko. 
: I have a few like minded friends. I think most preppers quiet about their way of life so makes it kind of difficult to meet. I do work in peoples homes and see tell tale signs of prepping somtimes. Once in awhile I can strike up a conversation with them. Mormons are the easiest to spot they have huge amounts of food stores, typically in the garage (often door open for the world to see).
: I have a few like minded friends. I think most preppers quiet about their way of life so makes it kind of difficult to meet. I do work in peoples homes and see tell tale signs of prepping somtimes. Once in awhile I can strike up a conversation with them. Mormons are the easiest to spot they have huge amounts of food stores, typically in the garage (often door open for the world to see).
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13,162 Posts
Most preppers want to keep their preparedness a secret from other people, such that if there is an "event," those people will not show up at the front door demanding or pleading that the prepper share with them.
It's called "OPSEC" or operations/operational security.
I've met one other prepper from this board, and there's another relatively close by (meaning, a couple of hours) that someday I'll meet when we can cross paths.
But mostly, it's a lonely business.
One thing new preppers sometimes do is "get religion" and they want to share their newfound preparedness focus with others. That's a really sketchy thing to do, because it's not only who the new prepper tells, it's who they tell, too.
And once you ring that bell, you cannot unring it.
It's called "OPSEC" or operations/operational security.
I've met one other prepper from this board, and there's another relatively close by (meaning, a couple of hours) that someday I'll meet when we can cross paths.
But mostly, it's a lonely business.
One thing new preppers sometimes do is "get religion" and they want to share their newfound preparedness focus with others. That's a really sketchy thing to do, because it's not only who the new prepper tells, it's who they tell, too.
And once you ring that bell, you cannot unring it.
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1,973 Posts
Yes...I meet other preppers. Dont ask, Dont tell. Ive talked to 3 today. They are all around you.
Prepping does not mean we have anything to talk about or any reason to be Buddies, or to gather in public. Its like being a 1st century Christian, you just know, and I like it that way. Only 2 of the people I consider "Preppers" know my last name and where I live, one because he lives 1/4 of a mile away, the other because he has known me since 1979.
How can you tell if a person is a "Prepper"? Its easy...just listen to where the conversation goes, there common are themes in what we talk about and how we act, our hobbies, who we know and stuff like that. I know more than a few and we never used the "P" word. No secret hand shakes, no large ring to "Knock", no meetings. Its who you are,not what you say or what you do or what you store or what you buy.
Dont worry you will meet us Post SHTF, till then it shouldnt matter, Just Be There:
Prepping does not mean we have anything to talk about or any reason to be Buddies, or to gather in public. Its like being a 1st century Christian, you just know, and I like it that way. Only 2 of the people I consider "Preppers" know my last name and where I live, one because he lives 1/4 of a mile away, the other because he has known me since 1979.
How can you tell if a person is a "Prepper"? Its easy...just listen to where the conversation goes, there common are themes in what we talk about and how we act, our hobbies, who we know and stuff like that. I know more than a few and we never used the "P" word. No secret hand shakes, no large ring to "Knock", no meetings. Its who you are,not what you say or what you do or what you store or what you buy.
Dont worry you will meet us Post SHTF, till then it shouldnt matter, Just Be There
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I'm a member of a couple of casual affiliations of preppers. One was set up through a social media site, and one I just stumbled upon in a message to a forum I'm on.
Around a hundred and forty people in one group, perhaps fifty in the other. Simply loosely, if even that much, organized, where those that know specific things teach those that don't know those, but have insights on other things they teach in return. Both are primarily cross training groups of like minded people.
No militia, no anti-government, no radicallism, no racial overtones, just people wanting to learn how to deal with disasters of all sorts.
There is some overlap between the two groups, including me. OPSEC is practiced, for those that want to keep their names out of it, and we don't draw attention to ourselves. Simply word of mouth contact with others that express like minded thoughts.
Around a hundred and forty people in one group, perhaps fifty in the other. Simply loosely, if even that much, organized, where those that know specific things teach those that don't know those, but have insights on other things they teach in return. Both are primarily cross training groups of like minded people.
No militia, no anti-government, no radicallism, no racial overtones, just people wanting to learn how to deal with disasters of all sorts.
There is some overlap between the two groups, including me. OPSEC is practiced, for those that want to keep their names out of it, and we don't draw attention to ourselves. Simply word of mouth contact with others that express like minded thoughts.
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9,099 Posts
I do and i have, fellow SB members, and just everyday people, friends ,etc., all nice folks...
I even went fly fishing with a fellow SB member recently.... :thumb:
I avoid organized meetups however, my tinfoil hat comes out and i think that there may be infiltrators from various Guvco orgs....:
I even went fly fishing with a fellow SB member recently.... :thumb:
I avoid organized meetups however, my tinfoil hat comes out and i think that there may be infiltrators from various Guvco orgs....
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27 Posts
I've not met any other preppers. I don't go out of my way to broadcast that I've got preps working, but I don't go out of my way to hide it either. Right in my kitchen in my small apartment, you can see a 25 lb. bag of rice. It is what it is.
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I would LOVE to meet other preppers. Most of the people I meet are either just getting started in prepping or are at the "I don't even know HOW to get started" stage.
I have even tried to get together with a couple of the locals on this board but it never materialized.
I do not think prepping is, nor has to be, an isolationist practice. There are plenty of ways to maintain stuff like OPSEC and still talk to people about prepping.
If any preppers on this board are in my area, or will be, I'd love to meet ya.
I have even tried to get together with a couple of the locals on this board but it never materialized.
I do not think prepping is, nor has to be, an isolationist practice. There are plenty of ways to maintain stuff like OPSEC and still talk to people about prepping.
If any preppers on this board are in my area, or will be, I'd love to meet ya.
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I was reading "Patriots" on the steamship to the island I live on and had a gentleman approach and ask me about the book. He asked about certain things which I answered (nothing personal) and then gave me his buiness card. He was a "Personal Protection Expert" (ex-military) and was coming to the island to do security evaluations for a local hotel chain. I actually knew the people he was meeting with so provided the initial intro at the dock.
Funny thing was he forgot to grab a case he brought with him (had hi sname on it but no phone number) and the boat people had seen mem talkign to him so they called me. We met and talked for a while and found we had similar leanings - but he loved to talk and show pictures of his setup - at the address on his business card..!! OPSEC not so good but setup seemed nice
Funny thing was he forgot to grab a case he brought with him (had hi sname on it but no phone number) and the boat people had seen mem talkign to him so they called me. We met and talked for a while and found we had similar leanings - but he loved to talk and show pictures of his setup - at the address on his business card..!! OPSEC not so good but setup seemed nice
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I really would like to be more part of a small, loose, but aware group. This is due to my personality and the fact that I'm frequently single parenting since my husband's job takes him away often. My hubby isn't into prepping at all but tolerates my "eccentricity" or "paranoia" or whatever he thinks it is...
We're in a town where family is three hours away and I didn't grow up here. I have plenty of acquaintances and within my larger neighborhood there are probably four families whom I would count as friends.
It's just that I want at least ONE other person in my own town who says "I got your back and you have mine" but my closest friends here aren't preppers one bit. It IS a lonely business as Goose3 says. I feel like I am the only one with this particular set of concerns, activities, and mindset.
We're in a town where family is three hours away and I didn't grow up here. I have plenty of acquaintances and within my larger neighborhood there are probably four families whom I would count as friends.
It's just that I want at least ONE other person in my own town who says "I got your back and you have mine" but my closest friends here aren't preppers one bit. It IS a lonely business as Goose3 says. I feel like I am the only one with this particular set of concerns, activities, and mindset.
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1,341 Posts
Similar situation here. Plenty of nice aquaintances/friends. No one, however, that I even suspect has any prepper tendencies. Most of the family are hours away except the inlaws, who live very close. They unfortunately are the opposite of preppers. Buying food that day for the meal that night, etc. So, you know what that means.... two more people to prep for. That makes 7. Mrs. Cat5 is onboard (ie tolerant) which helps but it is a definately a lonely business.
i would give anything to have a like minded and trusted friend in my town.
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13,162 Posts
There *is* value in meeting others of like mind, if you can avoid giving too much away.
The only prepper from this board I've met is Gallon. We meet every once in a while, when I happen to be in or near his community. Our conversations are interesting because we don't see everything exactly the same way, and our prepping approaches are different. I always learn something about how I prep from seeing how he preps.
Here's a way to meet people, perhaps from this board, and not destroy OPSEC.
One way is to meet in a mall. You designate a coffee shop or restaurant or whatever, and both show up at a specified time. You wear some sort of hat or otherwise removable identifiable item (name tag with "Tex" on it? : ) so you can connect. At the end of the meet, you each head in opposite directions to your cars, you dump the identifiable item or pocket it, and no one's the wiser.
I know one other prepper from this board; she lives, oh, 2-2 1/2 hours from me. Someday, when I'm heading down in that direction, I'll see if she (and her hubby) are available for a cup of coffee. I'll sit down and say "Hi, I'm Goose!"
Just being able to talk to someone else who gets it is really cool. You might, over time, develop the relationship, and at least in my experience, you'll learn a lot.
The only prepper from this board I've met is Gallon. We meet every once in a while, when I happen to be in or near his community. Our conversations are interesting because we don't see everything exactly the same way, and our prepping approaches are different. I always learn something about how I prep from seeing how he preps.
Here's a way to meet people, perhaps from this board, and not destroy OPSEC.
One way is to meet in a mall. You designate a coffee shop or restaurant or whatever, and both show up at a specified time. You wear some sort of hat or otherwise removable identifiable item (name tag with "Tex" on it? : ) so you can connect. At the end of the meet, you each head in opposite directions to your cars, you dump the identifiable item or pocket it, and no one's the wiser.
I know one other prepper from this board; she lives, oh, 2-2 1/2 hours from me. Someday, when I'm heading down in that direction, I'll see if she (and her hubby) are available for a cup of coffee. I'll sit down and say "Hi, I'm Goose!"
Just being able to talk to someone else who gets it is really cool. You might, over time, develop the relationship, and at least in my experience, you'll learn a lot.
Well...if you want the truth...I'll have to point out that...YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!
The Truth is that YES, pretty much ALL of us preppers are in it together. We are everywhere, behind every corner, in every crowd. We can be ANYWHERE.
We have weekly meetings, that you can only attend by invitation only. In addition to the invitation, you must know the secret prepper password AND the secret prepper hand shake.
If you can pass this criteria, then you are allowed into the meeting field. Once in the field, all preppers are loaded into trucks and drivened to a secret helipad. Biometric scans are required to board the choppers (retina scan, finger prints and DNA test, all of which are performed by Doc_Shane in a makeshift field lab). After the tests confirm your identity, txflyboy and MikeK fly us out into the Gulf of Mexico in the black hawk choppers, where we land on an old, deserted, offshore oil platform. From there, we take the elevator down to Kev's super secret undersea prepper base.
Deep below the surface world, secure in our undersea prepper base, surrounded by bags of rice, mountains of beans, crates of slim jims and all the root bear you could ever want, we, the preppers of the survivalist boards, have our top secret meetings.
Actually, at our last meeting, we were discussing you, oddly enough.
It seems that FarmerJohn, rover and Speedofl33t were of the mind, that perhaps you were "READY" to be brought into our secret fold.
Mogli stated that our undercover surveillance operative, you may know him as Jungleboy, reports that you have been showing great promise, but she still wasn't fully convinced that you are ready for FULL initiation into our inner sanctum.
Both goose3 and myself suggested to Kev, that you be given a chance...and that if you turned out to be some prepper noob that endangered our OPSEC, we could always have our operative Grevlin "take care of it"...if you get my drift.
Crutch was opposed to letting you in too deep, too fast. He affirmed that you had the potential to make an excellent prepper, but that we shouldn't rush your enlightenment to the prepping cause, lest it overwhelm you and lead to "hasty" decisions.
Our meeting came to a close with Kev still deliberating on the merits of allowing you inside our inner circle. He postponed his decision until our next weekly meeting.
Oh, wait...I've just received a text message from MikeK about OPSEC protocols.
*reads the text and clears his throat*
Ahem...strike what I just said. Our last meeting was in a Dallas/Fort Worth holiday Inn Express and all we discussed was where to get the best prices of 50lb bags of rice. That is our official story and we're sticking to it.
Have a nice day.
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101 Posts
I consider myself lucky that I do know a few "like-minded individuals" in my area and trust them completely. No meetings or gatherings, but we talk when our paths cross and compare notes on world happenings and such.
I also know a few who I wouldn't let within 1 mile of me if the **** hit the fan, but that's probably common wherever you go.
I also know a few who I wouldn't let within 1 mile of me if the **** hit the fan, but that's probably common wherever you go.
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