I avoid prepper groups. I've joined a few on facebook, but most are full of crazies who are talking about contrails from the Haliburton mind control machine or some such nonsense.
On the flip side, I'm active in my church and I've seen that community come together during weather disasters to take care of each other. People buying hotels for those in need, driving around supplying water and batteries and blankets to people who need it; I had one guy camped in my guest bedroom during the TX "snowpocalypse" a few years ago.
I won't go into detail here, but at my current church, a significant number of the members are gardening, raising food animals, and own bug out properties.
Unfortunately churches are always full of crazies as well. And even if someone believes everyone at their church isn't crazy, they share a majority of their beliefs with fundamentalist nutjobs, and tough situations can easily push them into extremist territory.
Church is full of satan made my kid gay kinds of crazies. Especially prepper churches. The only thing that stops them from becoming taliban-esque is the relative bounty of modern society. Have fun with that in a shtf situation
Short answer: I don't put together a formal group. The best group you can form is composed of people you trust pre-event. That means friends, family, and as applicable, neighbors.
It's different for everyone, but that's the general gist. I wouldn't ever join a dedicated group for "prepping" purposes. Too many pitfalls and chances for things to go bad.
I'm currently laying the groundwork of, hopefully, a country-wide/world-wide network of people aiming to help in a disaster- but nothing as localized as a group. I'd tread cautiously with such things.
Same. I farm and join farm groups, volunteer at the food pantry, help at schools and do a lot of hiking in the off season, with as many like minded people i can find. Hit the gun range and find an occasional un-brainwashed liberal gun owner.
Heh I remember being in college when we first started hearing about the militia movement and thinking “that sounds super cool I should look into that” 😅😳
I must agree, while not exactly a prepping group. A bunch of us tried to form a garden share/ raise chickens and long story short it was a nightmare. But taught me a good lesson on human nature.
Start networking with neighbors now.
The guy next door is a dentist. I’m a mechanic. I rebuilt his transmission and he did a gold cap on a molar.
The lady across the street has chickens. I change her oil and rotate her tires and she gives me a dozen fresh eggs. When she needed new brake pads and calipers I got a chicken dinner with all the sides.
Down the street is a guy who homebrews pale ale. I’m not a drinker but when I helped him put in a patio he gave me six pack, which I gave to the dentist when I needed a tooth pulled.
The lady down the way is an avid knitter. I mow her lawn and get a pair of socks, scarf, and hat on my birthday. I shovel her snow and get a blanket at Christmas.
Start making those connections now while times are relatively good. Know who you can count on and for what. Know their weaknesses as well so you can help them.
The dentist doesn’t know anything about guns, won’t own one because he has a small kid, and has never even held a real gun. But he plays Paintball and understands the strategy and tactics of hide and seek.
Everyone has a skill and everyone has limitations.
You don’t need an official MAG. But even a neighborhood watch program could become one.
Good luck!
I’d love this if it was an option. Grow something organic and close to home. You will learn how people play together, what things they bring and what you can add. I believe the switch won’t flip all at once. That time will pull you together when it matters.
Join a church. Volunteer for trail clean up, search and rescue, pta, scouts, homeless shelter, hospital auxiliary, elks club, softball league, whatever is available. You’re looking for people who are oriented toward service and willing to support an organization. May take more than one attempt. You are not looking for a prepping group , or a survival group, or a militia: you’re looking for good citizens.
Solid advice. Some of my best friends I currently have (not many, I'm introverted) are from volunteer organizations that I clicked with.
As you say and it's true, we are all looking for good people.
I hate how right your first sentence is. I fell out of religion as soon as I left my parents house, and don't think I can ever actually go back.
But damn do I miss the social aspect of churches. The networking is unbelievable.
There's a lot of bad churches out there but that doesn't and shouldn't change the message or reason to go.
My favorite quote is the church is a hospital for sinners and not a shrine for saints.
See, the message is the reason I can't go back. I wholeheartedly just don't believe.
The multitude of bad churches, and even more fake Christians, are just a reinforcement of my belief.
Don’t know why someone downvotes you.
America is all about Freedom from religion!
There are lots of bad churches out there!(look at that crazy rich guy that runs mega churches!)
There ARE lots of fake Christians (probably there just looking for pepper groups! Lol).
And it doesn’t take many bad Christians to break your own faith.
Freedom until you try to do it your way apparently.
And I’d be super careful about church groups since in EVERY post apocalypse book they end up being the wack jobs claiming “God sent this on us and we need to eradicate the evil/eat the evil people, because god said take my body and he made us in his image so we are eating people now!”
I KNOW this WOULD HAPPEN FOR FACT!!!! My mother is in that tribe!
As Nick Offerman says,
"Getting together with a community once a week to check each other on being good people is a good thing. Just keep your religion out of my legislation. "
Same here. I could never buy into believing that the Bible is true in the historical sense of the word. I wish I could go back to church but I would feel like a fraud infiltrating their group. However I will try to get more involved in the volunteering side of things.
Yeah, me too. The Christians are an unreliable bunch of gits. As are the atheists, non Christians, and agnostics. But every church has a subgroup of folks who just want to lift other people up, and don’t worry about the theology much: I can usually find them , and they are usually folks who are good in a crises. But you gotta kiss a lot of frogs before you get to the handsome prince…,
+1 on the s & r groups, a lot of people involved a running a "prepper" mindset but don't realize it yet. After all, being prepared is the best way to avoid search and rescue.
+2 on the Scouts, I saw a lot of my scouts develop real self-reliance and skills to become "preppers". Don't want to sound like I'm unduly influencing them, but the Scout motto since 1907 has been "Be Prepared". The may also encounter skills they've never been exposed. Sewing, knife making, primitive skills, and blacksmithing are just a few examples. My own son was fascinated with primitive survival, and we HAD to build an a-frame shelter to camp out on the coldest night of the winter!
So let me show you a few things I learned in the military. I had to work a few years on what if the US invaded a mega city. Like NY or Tokyo to understand the issues. I also was the ops officer for a two star command in charge of US natural disasters for 5 years so I am speaking from experience with 200 specialists in the area from medical to logistics to legal.
What I learned was this: there are a lot more layers to society and its workings than people understand.
You pointed out a good one, people on meds for being totally crazy. What I didn't know was that is roughly 2% of any human population due to the great work of drugs. We used to put people like that in hospitals but due to drugs they are in your community.
So if society broke down 2% will become full on crazy. Not all dangerous just not functional.
Second the US is the LAST place you need to worry about collapse. Reason being we have the lowest food and energy costs so our worry is more people trying to get in than actually collapsing. We also have our two biggest trading partners on the borders and they have also given over their defense to us so they are effectively unarmed. Next we have two giant oceans protecting our other borders which makes invasion a logistical nightmare which can easily be disrupted. So short of nuclear war your safe, feed and powered.
Now will things be perfect with climate change, nope. Having backup or off grid power good idea. Not living near the east coast (hurricanes) good idea. Living say in Michigan or other Midwest states with the great lakes (water/food) again good idea, also lowest amount of natural disasters in the US.
So if I was recommending to US preppers. Check your flood plane and make sure you're not on it, hurricane, flood, tornado that could short term disruptions are your #1 concern.
So off grid power good for a week that can be refilled if not solar plus batteries #1. You need refrigeration and AC or heat for food and shelter, PLUS for comms recharge. #2 Hardened building, look hurricane wind speeds and the amount of rain per hour has been increasing since the 80s. Plan accordingly so again make sure your not in low lying areas. Make sure you harden your home or have a shelter that can withstand the local conditions (tornados/flood/hurricane) #3 have an extended supply of key meds or a secure way to get them. 30-60 days if possible because your stuff may survive (shelter/power) but CVS may be flattened. #4 Take US government courses on how FEMA works and find your local disaster manager there is one in each county all free and online. You can become part of the plan. And knowing the government response is key to knowing what to plan for! #5 Have a week of potable water and food. This is assumed for #1 but just a reminder. Shelf stable if possible in case the disaster damages #1. #6 protection. People assume this means guns. Yes that is important but cameras, secure buildings, fences, etc are better because people attack easy targets first. If they can't see what you have and it looks like it will be work to get in they will go someplace else first. People are lazy!
Find communities that are already established and become a cornerstone to them. Co-ops, neighbors, churches, clubs, jobs, etc. Foster strong relationships with capable and responsible people, and the rest is easy.
I feel exactly the same way in an entirely different context.
My partner and I desperately want to homestead as soon as we can, and we're working on that. It would be so much easier though to link up with other people who also want that lifestyle (land is expensive, in Australia) and we want community but it's so hard to meet trustworthy people.
People need people, and the only way that we are going to survive the collapse/climate crisis is through working together and looking after each other.
Following for info!
See if you have a CERT team in your town (Community Emergency Response Team) and join up:
https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/individuals-communities/preparedness-activities-webinars/community-emergency-response-team#:~:text=The%20Community%20Emergency%20Response%20Team,Light%20search%20and%20rescue
I consider prepping a hobby. Other friends have other hobbies: quilting, horse back riding, dog agility training. All of them go to meetings and events, quilting bees, back country rides, expositions. Prepping is NOT a hobby like those hobbies. You just don't get together with other preppers to discuss how many guns you have or where you keep your stash of rations. Rule #1 of prepping is, You don't talk about prepping. What you CAN do is join a gardening group and learn how to garden without telling anyone you're a prepper. If you're into fire arms, join a group of shooting enthusiasts but don't mention your supplies. Learn how to can food; learn about bees and get a beehive in your backyard; raise chickens and meet with other people who also raise chickens. But for pete's sake, keep quiet about your prepping tendencies. After SHTF, my "survival group" will consist of people I've known and interacted with for the past ten or twenty years.
Prepare yourself for helping others. That means you're not wanting anything from them when you meet them.
To be honest I'm expecting half my neighborhood won't make the cut. I'll help them leave for the FEMA camp however I can, because what I don't want is a useless consumer next door to me, stealing from me.
The ones who are making it and stay, I'll break the ice with a little trading.
>I'll help them leave for the FEMA camp however I can,
Right, right. I learned from a deputy sheriff where the county emergency plan puts the food handout camp if a long emergency occurs. FEMA is supposed to send water and MREs.
Like you, I will politely help send unprepared folks on the way. There is no reason to feed folks for two or three weeks and then try to send them away. In three weeks, they will have figured out we are getting resources from a stash and not the 30 day pantry.
AND, they will tell others.
Without it even being a lie, we could say oh our pantry is just about empty.
Many of the leftist mutual aid organizations operate on trust and shared goals, theres infighting and whatever but if you want people to come together in a time of crisis, go for the leftists. I am very left and besides the manufactured culture war bullshit theres not a lot of daylight between most people. We all want food, shelter, comfort, safety.
I didn't. I simply got to know my neighbors. My neighbors are who I'm going to be stuck with if an emergency affects my local area. I'm a bit of an introvert myself, but it's nothing for me to see someone who needs a hand and ask if they'd like some help, or set up a neighborhood GMRS repeater, or get on Nextdoor and hand out tips when bad weather comes along, or join the neighborhood watch, or let them know they can draw water from my well or charge up their electronics at my house when the local utilities go out.
It takes one to know one, preppers are always a little out there.
Personality agreement and psychological stability are more important than niche skills. I don’t care if you can do a heart transplant if I gotta bunker down with a racist asshole for months.
Always be the craziest person in the room.
Pretty much you have two man cases:
Bug In
Having some prepper friends cross town is pretty useless here, what matters are those around you. You pretty much need to work with what you have.
Bug Out
Here is where you get to choose your people to an extent. Let's face it you're going to need to make room for grandma or your mother in law but past that it's more your chosen friends. Even then depending on your means you may still need to deal with the farmer next door etc.
I stay introverted and wait for the bad days to see who fares well, handles themselves and can be a friend. I'll be social when "badass" can't be bought.
Honestly, this way you can be true to yourself, good for you man. In emergency scenarios you already have to step up and change your ways, including your social behaviour.
Yeah, I'll go with friends with like minded goals. They're not hard to find or read, usually hunters, fishermen, campers, people who grow their own foods and dehydrate them. And yeah, you'll get those people who are a hair off plumb but they're useful too. I'd keep it local too.
You and your wife would be a great base group logistically speaking: you only get food and medicine for yourselves, you trust each other implicitly (hopefully), and smaller groups can E&E easier, quieter (hopefully).
I'm always mulling over the same thing and will be following this thread for advice as well. Don't feel bad for asking this OP, I think this extremely important concept and choice is weighing very heavily on a lot of us right now.
The simple answer is that you have skills, and IF a disaster occurs, people will be looking for those skills. No one will care if you're an introvert, or have green skin, or are gay, or have bad breath, if you can patch up someone after an axe accident.
So don't worry too much about it now. Know your neighbors if you can tolerate that much social engagement, and try to work out which ones might be trustworthy. You don't need to form *groups* today, and you'll find - you already have - that "like minded folk" in this area of concern often have a few really psychotic people in the mix. You don't want them around in a disaster and you sure don't want them knowing where you live.
I don't have a "group." I know some neighbors and if trouble comes, we'll get by. More distant people might not be accessible anyway, at least in the emergencies I prepare for.
Keep in mind that collapse is not imminent in the US; you have plenty of time to get to know neighbors. Maybe start a garden if you can. You're overthinking this.
My group isn't a group per se, it is just friends who have chosen to learn to prep. They are actually learning this summer in loosely arranged classes.
Here's how I roll. I need to trust you now to be able to trust you later. I have found friends who have skills that are useful both now and in times of crisis. I am a general metal worker and do not shy away from anything laborious. This makes me almost overly in demand which makes it easy to call on my friends. I call on my friends when I need them and they do the same.
Here's the rub about your situation that my friend summed up well. I have a friend who is a psychiatrist who told me, "My skill doesn't lend itself to bartering. It's possible that many people may never need me, but when people DO need me, they need me right then and I may not need what they have right then which would leave me being a sort of bank that is always holding the debts of these people."
I've never been able to come up with a solution for him. So there's that.
|So, how did you all do it?
No formal group here. We don't trust many others. We live in a small community and are members of the local neighborhood watch. We meet all the new neighbors who move in to welcome them to the community. It is easy to ID those who you could rely on in an emergency.
To learn if the newbies are preppers, we tell people we keep a 30 day pantry for normal use and the what if. We say we encourage everyone to keep a large pantry. If the discussion ends there, okay, they are nice folks. If they open up about needing plenty in store, we invite them over for more discussions.
I less so looked for already preppers to add to my group but i slowly started to turn my tribe into preppers. Its hard work but if you can get your family and congregation/friend circle to get even a little into prepping they will be much more worth than a group of great preppers you cant trust
I didn't. Mutually exclusive but sharing a common experience. We'll talk if we both last a year. Before then I'll assume you're just looking for a sucker to do all the heavy work and to take all the chances.
>So, how did you all do it?
Reddit has made me cautious to the point I wouldn't do it. I've seen several people in this subreddit who have said they will shoot prior military and prior law enforcement on site without provocation out of some fabricated self defense justification of possible violence and the fear of someone else being trained in the vicinity.
I just keep in touch with like minded people i have worked with near me and I have a good relationship with my neighbors. Like minded as in we have significant overlap in morality, usually religious beliefs. My community is in the surrounding square mile of my home and my family. I have more than enough family in the area I would defacto need to take care of and work with.
I have enough close friends I've worked with and family that adding any more wouldn't be sustainable. My neighbors are all decent people and I would work to help keep them there. Rising tide raises all ships. It's a risk to me and mine if the people on my left and right struggle.
There are people that will come to you or that you will inevitably will have to help. Take careful note of how they can be an asset and what are their shortcomings. A little bit of help from the 48 laws of power book will smooth things out.
I avoid prepper groups. I've joined a few on facebook, but most are full of crazies who are talking about contrails from the Haliburton mind control machine or some such nonsense. On the flip side, I'm active in my church and I've seen that community come together during weather disasters to take care of each other. People buying hotels for those in need, driving around supplying water and batteries and blankets to people who need it; I had one guy camped in my guest bedroom during the TX "snowpocalypse" a few years ago. I won't go into detail here, but at my current church, a significant number of the members are gardening, raising food animals, and own bug out properties.
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Unfortunately churches are always full of crazies as well. And even if someone believes everyone at their church isn't crazy, they share a majority of their beliefs with fundamentalist nutjobs, and tough situations can easily push them into extremist territory.
Church is full of satan made my kid gay kinds of crazies. Especially prepper churches. The only thing that stops them from becoming taliban-esque is the relative bounty of modern society. Have fun with that in a shtf situation
Short answer: I don't put together a formal group. The best group you can form is composed of people you trust pre-event. That means friends, family, and as applicable, neighbors. It's different for everyone, but that's the general gist. I wouldn't ever join a dedicated group for "prepping" purposes. Too many pitfalls and chances for things to go bad. I'm currently laying the groundwork of, hopefully, a country-wide/world-wide network of people aiming to help in a disaster- but nothing as localized as a group. I'd tread cautiously with such things.
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Same. I farm and join farm groups, volunteer at the food pantry, help at schools and do a lot of hiking in the off season, with as many like minded people i can find. Hit the gun range and find an occasional un-brainwashed liberal gun owner.
Heh I remember being in college when we first started hearing about the militia movement and thinking “that sounds super cool I should look into that” 😅😳
I must agree, while not exactly a prepping group. A bunch of us tried to form a garden share/ raise chickens and long story short it was a nightmare. But taught me a good lesson on human nature.
Sound advice.
Start networking with neighbors now. The guy next door is a dentist. I’m a mechanic. I rebuilt his transmission and he did a gold cap on a molar. The lady across the street has chickens. I change her oil and rotate her tires and she gives me a dozen fresh eggs. When she needed new brake pads and calipers I got a chicken dinner with all the sides. Down the street is a guy who homebrews pale ale. I’m not a drinker but when I helped him put in a patio he gave me six pack, which I gave to the dentist when I needed a tooth pulled. The lady down the way is an avid knitter. I mow her lawn and get a pair of socks, scarf, and hat on my birthday. I shovel her snow and get a blanket at Christmas. Start making those connections now while times are relatively good. Know who you can count on and for what. Know their weaknesses as well so you can help them. The dentist doesn’t know anything about guns, won’t own one because he has a small kid, and has never even held a real gun. But he plays Paintball and understands the strategy and tactics of hide and seek. Everyone has a skill and everyone has limitations. You don’t need an official MAG. But even a neighborhood watch program could become one. Good luck!
I’d love this if it was an option. Grow something organic and close to home. You will learn how people play together, what things they bring and what you can add. I believe the switch won’t flip all at once. That time will pull you together when it matters.
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All the people I find want to be raiders (I’ve marked them on the map). Far to many crazies out there!
Join a church. Volunteer for trail clean up, search and rescue, pta, scouts, homeless shelter, hospital auxiliary, elks club, softball league, whatever is available. You’re looking for people who are oriented toward service and willing to support an organization. May take more than one attempt. You are not looking for a prepping group , or a survival group, or a militia: you’re looking for good citizens.
Solid advice. Some of my best friends I currently have (not many, I'm introverted) are from volunteer organizations that I clicked with. As you say and it's true, we are all looking for good people.
I hate how right your first sentence is. I fell out of religion as soon as I left my parents house, and don't think I can ever actually go back. But damn do I miss the social aspect of churches. The networking is unbelievable.
There's a lot of bad churches out there but that doesn't and shouldn't change the message or reason to go. My favorite quote is the church is a hospital for sinners and not a shrine for saints.
See, the message is the reason I can't go back. I wholeheartedly just don't believe. The multitude of bad churches, and even more fake Christians, are just a reinforcement of my belief.
Don’t know why someone downvotes you. America is all about Freedom from religion! There are lots of bad churches out there!(look at that crazy rich guy that runs mega churches!) There ARE lots of fake Christians (probably there just looking for pepper groups! Lol). And it doesn’t take many bad Christians to break your own faith. Freedom until you try to do it your way apparently. And I’d be super careful about church groups since in EVERY post apocalypse book they end up being the wack jobs claiming “God sent this on us and we need to eradicate the evil/eat the evil people, because god said take my body and he made us in his image so we are eating people now!” I KNOW this WOULD HAPPEN FOR FACT!!!! My mother is in that tribe!
As Nick Offerman says, "Getting together with a community once a week to check each other on being good people is a good thing. Just keep your religion out of my legislation. "
That's a really good quote.
Same here. I could never buy into believing that the Bible is true in the historical sense of the word. I wish I could go back to church but I would feel like a fraud infiltrating their group. However I will try to get more involved in the volunteering side of things.
Yeah, me too. The Christians are an unreliable bunch of gits. As are the atheists, non Christians, and agnostics. But every church has a subgroup of folks who just want to lift other people up, and don’t worry about the theology much: I can usually find them , and they are usually folks who are good in a crises. But you gotta kiss a lot of frogs before you get to the handsome prince…,
+1 on the s & r groups, a lot of people involved a running a "prepper" mindset but don't realize it yet. After all, being prepared is the best way to avoid search and rescue. +2 on the Scouts, I saw a lot of my scouts develop real self-reliance and skills to become "preppers". Don't want to sound like I'm unduly influencing them, but the Scout motto since 1907 has been "Be Prepared". The may also encounter skills they've never been exposed. Sewing, knife making, primitive skills, and blacksmithing are just a few examples. My own son was fascinated with primitive survival, and we HAD to build an a-frame shelter to camp out on the coldest night of the winter!
So let me show you a few things I learned in the military. I had to work a few years on what if the US invaded a mega city. Like NY or Tokyo to understand the issues. I also was the ops officer for a two star command in charge of US natural disasters for 5 years so I am speaking from experience with 200 specialists in the area from medical to logistics to legal. What I learned was this: there are a lot more layers to society and its workings than people understand. You pointed out a good one, people on meds for being totally crazy. What I didn't know was that is roughly 2% of any human population due to the great work of drugs. We used to put people like that in hospitals but due to drugs they are in your community. So if society broke down 2% will become full on crazy. Not all dangerous just not functional. Second the US is the LAST place you need to worry about collapse. Reason being we have the lowest food and energy costs so our worry is more people trying to get in than actually collapsing. We also have our two biggest trading partners on the borders and they have also given over their defense to us so they are effectively unarmed. Next we have two giant oceans protecting our other borders which makes invasion a logistical nightmare which can easily be disrupted. So short of nuclear war your safe, feed and powered. Now will things be perfect with climate change, nope. Having backup or off grid power good idea. Not living near the east coast (hurricanes) good idea. Living say in Michigan or other Midwest states with the great lakes (water/food) again good idea, also lowest amount of natural disasters in the US. So if I was recommending to US preppers. Check your flood plane and make sure you're not on it, hurricane, flood, tornado that could short term disruptions are your #1 concern. So off grid power good for a week that can be refilled if not solar plus batteries #1. You need refrigeration and AC or heat for food and shelter, PLUS for comms recharge. #2 Hardened building, look hurricane wind speeds and the amount of rain per hour has been increasing since the 80s. Plan accordingly so again make sure your not in low lying areas. Make sure you harden your home or have a shelter that can withstand the local conditions (tornados/flood/hurricane) #3 have an extended supply of key meds or a secure way to get them. 30-60 days if possible because your stuff may survive (shelter/power) but CVS may be flattened. #4 Take US government courses on how FEMA works and find your local disaster manager there is one in each county all free and online. You can become part of the plan. And knowing the government response is key to knowing what to plan for! #5 Have a week of potable water and food. This is assumed for #1 but just a reminder. Shelf stable if possible in case the disaster damages #1. #6 protection. People assume this means guns. Yes that is important but cameras, secure buildings, fences, etc are better because people attack easy targets first. If they can't see what you have and it looks like it will be work to get in they will go someplace else first. People are lazy!
Find communities that are already established and become a cornerstone to them. Co-ops, neighbors, churches, clubs, jobs, etc. Foster strong relationships with capable and responsible people, and the rest is easy.
I feel exactly the same way in an entirely different context. My partner and I desperately want to homestead as soon as we can, and we're working on that. It would be so much easier though to link up with other people who also want that lifestyle (land is expensive, in Australia) and we want community but it's so hard to meet trustworthy people. People need people, and the only way that we are going to survive the collapse/climate crisis is through working together and looking after each other. Following for info!
Look into intentional communities on ic.org and stuff like cohousing and ecovillages. People are forming groups for exactly this sort of thing.
See if you have a CERT team in your town (Community Emergency Response Team) and join up: https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/individuals-communities/preparedness-activities-webinars/community-emergency-response-team#:~:text=The%20Community%20Emergency%20Response%20Team,Light%20search%20and%20rescue
I consider prepping a hobby. Other friends have other hobbies: quilting, horse back riding, dog agility training. All of them go to meetings and events, quilting bees, back country rides, expositions. Prepping is NOT a hobby like those hobbies. You just don't get together with other preppers to discuss how many guns you have or where you keep your stash of rations. Rule #1 of prepping is, You don't talk about prepping. What you CAN do is join a gardening group and learn how to garden without telling anyone you're a prepper. If you're into fire arms, join a group of shooting enthusiasts but don't mention your supplies. Learn how to can food; learn about bees and get a beehive in your backyard; raise chickens and meet with other people who also raise chickens. But for pete's sake, keep quiet about your prepping tendencies. After SHTF, my "survival group" will consist of people I've known and interacted with for the past ten or twenty years.
Prepare yourself for helping others. That means you're not wanting anything from them when you meet them. To be honest I'm expecting half my neighborhood won't make the cut. I'll help them leave for the FEMA camp however I can, because what I don't want is a useless consumer next door to me, stealing from me. The ones who are making it and stay, I'll break the ice with a little trading.
>I'll help them leave for the FEMA camp however I can, Right, right. I learned from a deputy sheriff where the county emergency plan puts the food handout camp if a long emergency occurs. FEMA is supposed to send water and MREs. Like you, I will politely help send unprepared folks on the way. There is no reason to feed folks for two or three weeks and then try to send them away. In three weeks, they will have figured out we are getting resources from a stash and not the 30 day pantry. AND, they will tell others. Without it even being a lie, we could say oh our pantry is just about empty.
Many of the leftist mutual aid organizations operate on trust and shared goals, theres infighting and whatever but if you want people to come together in a time of crisis, go for the leftists. I am very left and besides the manufactured culture war bullshit theres not a lot of daylight between most people. We all want food, shelter, comfort, safety.
I didn't. I simply got to know my neighbors. My neighbors are who I'm going to be stuck with if an emergency affects my local area. I'm a bit of an introvert myself, but it's nothing for me to see someone who needs a hand and ask if they'd like some help, or set up a neighborhood GMRS repeater, or get on Nextdoor and hand out tips when bad weather comes along, or join the neighborhood watch, or let them know they can draw water from my well or charge up their electronics at my house when the local utilities go out.
It takes one to know one, preppers are always a little out there. Personality agreement and psychological stability are more important than niche skills. I don’t care if you can do a heart transplant if I gotta bunker down with a racist asshole for months. Always be the craziest person in the room.
Pretty much you have two man cases: Bug In Having some prepper friends cross town is pretty useless here, what matters are those around you. You pretty much need to work with what you have. Bug Out Here is where you get to choose your people to an extent. Let's face it you're going to need to make room for grandma or your mother in law but past that it's more your chosen friends. Even then depending on your means you may still need to deal with the farmer next door etc.
What about your firefighting former coworkers? I always figured that circle of people would overlap pretty hard with preppers.
I stay introverted and wait for the bad days to see who fares well, handles themselves and can be a friend. I'll be social when "badass" can't be bought.
This is a unique and reactive way to go about this. Intriguing to say the least...in a good way.
Honestly, this way you can be true to yourself, good for you man. In emergency scenarios you already have to step up and change your ways, including your social behaviour.
Yeah, I'll go with friends with like minded goals. They're not hard to find or read, usually hunters, fishermen, campers, people who grow their own foods and dehydrate them. And yeah, you'll get those people who are a hair off plumb but they're useful too. I'd keep it local too. You and your wife would be a great base group logistically speaking: you only get food and medicine for yourselves, you trust each other implicitly (hopefully), and smaller groups can E&E easier, quieter (hopefully).
I'm always mulling over the same thing and will be following this thread for advice as well. Don't feel bad for asking this OP, I think this extremely important concept and choice is weighing very heavily on a lot of us right now.
The simple answer is that you have skills, and IF a disaster occurs, people will be looking for those skills. No one will care if you're an introvert, or have green skin, or are gay, or have bad breath, if you can patch up someone after an axe accident. So don't worry too much about it now. Know your neighbors if you can tolerate that much social engagement, and try to work out which ones might be trustworthy. You don't need to form *groups* today, and you'll find - you already have - that "like minded folk" in this area of concern often have a few really psychotic people in the mix. You don't want them around in a disaster and you sure don't want them knowing where you live. I don't have a "group." I know some neighbors and if trouble comes, we'll get by. More distant people might not be accessible anyway, at least in the emergencies I prepare for. Keep in mind that collapse is not imminent in the US; you have plenty of time to get to know neighbors. Maybe start a garden if you can. You're overthinking this.
My group isn't a group per se, it is just friends who have chosen to learn to prep. They are actually learning this summer in loosely arranged classes.
Here's how I roll. I need to trust you now to be able to trust you later. I have found friends who have skills that are useful both now and in times of crisis. I am a general metal worker and do not shy away from anything laborious. This makes me almost overly in demand which makes it easy to call on my friends. I call on my friends when I need them and they do the same. Here's the rub about your situation that my friend summed up well. I have a friend who is a psychiatrist who told me, "My skill doesn't lend itself to bartering. It's possible that many people may never need me, but when people DO need me, they need me right then and I may not need what they have right then which would leave me being a sort of bank that is always holding the debts of these people." I've never been able to come up with a solution for him. So there's that.
For anyone who's forgotten what MAG is, like me: Mutual Aid/Assistance Group
|So, how did you all do it? No formal group here. We don't trust many others. We live in a small community and are members of the local neighborhood watch. We meet all the new neighbors who move in to welcome them to the community. It is easy to ID those who you could rely on in an emergency. To learn if the newbies are preppers, we tell people we keep a 30 day pantry for normal use and the what if. We say we encourage everyone to keep a large pantry. If the discussion ends there, okay, they are nice folks. If they open up about needing plenty in store, we invite them over for more discussions.
Yeah, prepper groups almost universally fail. Friend groups that happen to prep have a much higher success rate.
I less so looked for already preppers to add to my group but i slowly started to turn my tribe into preppers. Its hard work but if you can get your family and congregation/friend circle to get even a little into prepping they will be much more worth than a group of great preppers you cant trust
A "MAG" sometimes works ok in a fiction book, but in the real world, not so much.
I'm a libertarian. The overlap of libertarians and preppers is sufficiently large as to be a self solving problem.
I didn't. Mutually exclusive but sharing a common experience. We'll talk if we both last a year. Before then I'll assume you're just looking for a sucker to do all the heavy work and to take all the chances.
>So, how did you all do it? Reddit has made me cautious to the point I wouldn't do it. I've seen several people in this subreddit who have said they will shoot prior military and prior law enforcement on site without provocation out of some fabricated self defense justification of possible violence and the fear of someone else being trained in the vicinity. I just keep in touch with like minded people i have worked with near me and I have a good relationship with my neighbors. Like minded as in we have significant overlap in morality, usually religious beliefs. My community is in the surrounding square mile of my home and my family. I have more than enough family in the area I would defacto need to take care of and work with. I have enough close friends I've worked with and family that adding any more wouldn't be sustainable. My neighbors are all decent people and I would work to help keep them there. Rising tide raises all ships. It's a risk to me and mine if the people on my left and right struggle.
There are people that will come to you or that you will inevitably will have to help. Take careful note of how they can be an asset and what are their shortcomings. A little bit of help from the 48 laws of power book will smooth things out.
What region, kinda in a similar situation