A question on one of the boards I am on popped up, and I responded, which I rarely do these days. I’ve been kind of burned out of writing and been focusing on building more preps, losing some of my flab and getting into better shape, etc.… However, I thought this was in interesting question. Here is is:
“What are your individual criteria for whom you would bug out with other than family. I’m assuming that you would not leave your family behind. If you would, that would be interesting to hear the reasoning as well. Would it be one or more of these: (a) Co-workers (b) Neighbors, © Close friends (d) Those sharing your beliefs, (e) Best prepared regardless of beliefs, or (f) make the best of whom you find yourself with?”
I responded with this:
I have been building a relationship with three or four other preppers. Three of which I trust, and the fourth, I am not sure about. Let me rephrase, I trust him, but I know his allegiances are to his immediate family, period. He has his own plans, OPSEC, etc. he will adhere to. I know this going in. And I trust he thinks the same of myself. However, in a tight situation we would go it together, I have no doubt. Not sure it would be a permanent thing. I think we would part ways at some juncture.
That said, I’ll keep the list to my immediate geography. There are people outside my immediate reach I would definitely bug out with, but they do not live near me, so the point is sort of mute.
A few simple items. They would have to be ethical and of good character. There has to be a spoken or unspoken bond that as preppers we understand that we will have to band together for a short or long period of time. They would have to have their own core resources. While I do not mind sharing resources, you exponentially deplete yours when you share them, and that can shorten my life. There is a moral conversation in there regarding women, children, families, in need, but that is a conversation left for another time. The person(s) I would bug out with would have to have the same or similar vision as I, would have to have similar goals, and understand that there are boundaries.
Do they have to lay down their life for me in my defense? Good question, I think no. I think they have to defend themselves, and if we have to defend ourselves to stay alive as a team then so be it. But I do not expect someone to just defend me in an emergency or survival situation in close quarters just because they are with me.
I am not sure any of this is making sense. I have not really thought about the criteria, as I have plans to bug out alone, and make a stop over for supplies, here or there…
How would you respond to this question? Have you thought about who you would trust to bug out with? Do you already have plans to bug out with a team of families etc?
Let us know by leaving a comment…
My criteria above all others is “core belief system”. Because no matter how long the relationship last eventually it will come down to what each of us believes in his or her heart. I’m a Christian — any one i would consider grouping with in either a “stay-put situation” or a bug would have to be a Christian also. Sorry, that’s just my belief.
I agree. I also think the person should be well prepped(Or at least as prepared as I am) and have some skill to bring to the table. I’m currently reading “Lights Out” by David Crawford and it has made me think, in particular, about skills and supplies to use them.
I have been reading Lights Out on and off when I travel for works. Such a great “training novel” around almost every aspect of prepping, skill sets, team members, etc… Fantastic book.
I see people as assets, and while there are limits on the number of people that are sustainable in a place post SHTF, given enough land, in most places several hundred people could sustain themselves. In fact, having too few people might be more dangerous than having too many.
Anyway, in order of priority: 1) family, 2) friends with skills, 3) friends with needed supplies, 4) able bodied friends, 5) trust worthy strangers who come along. I figure with my set up I need about 36 persons for a top notch security operation, about the same for farming and food related work, and about a dozen for specialized duties maintenance, medical, auto work, etc. I am assuming that every able body except for medics are riflemen in case of emergency of course. I think my bug out location could accommodation up to 100 persons but at present I have enough housing for only about 30–40 in tight quarters. My long term plans includes two more buildings on the property, including a simple bunk house for single men and those on guard duty rotations.
The problem is you really need to know ALL about a person (or people) before you can say you want them around in an emergency. Core values and common beliefs are fine but:
Do they drink? Have they been drinkers (or drug users)?
What are their mental/emotional quirks?
How do they handle stress?
How well organized and planned are they in everyday life?
Just to mention a few.
And that takes a lot of time around them to learn.
… I guess I’ll take my kids. 🙂
@ MasterPo — In any high stress situation people’s tempers may flare, but so long as most are rational and reasonable a good leader can get them through that. Not all or us are that good leaders, no matter how much we fantasize about it, and, especially if we are considering a larger community model, we should realize that this is an essential skill set and in humility be ready to accept that someone else may be better in this position than you!
Anyway, most people will want to be taken care of, and realize that they don’t have what it takes to survive alone and so as long as the situation remains grave they will moderate themselves so as to fit in. The problem is the type A personalities. Having a few of these can be a good thing but they need special attention so as to make sure that they will continue to be team players.
I agree that mental illness/drug addiction may be a serious and hidden issue, especially as psych drugs run out, and occasionally there will be irreconcilable differences, however, this is the reason why the “more the merrier” approach is superior to the select “perfect” few. That way conflicts can be usually overcome by a division of labor, i.e. separating those in conflict from each other. The danger is depending on any one person too much, as they would then hold far too much power/influence over the community’s well-being.
You would also need a plan for how to deal with a catastrophic break with members of the community. I think its in the book “Lights Out” that a community member is alienated and eventually ejected from the community, only to return with friends to attack the community. Expelling a member of a community is a dangerous breach of OpSec and thus should be considered beforehand whether your community is small or large.
One thing I would like to add, its not just that we need bodies and skills to survive a paradigm shift, although we do, its also this realization: in a world without hope if you don’t give people hope then perhaps no one will and people without hope are very dangerous. We might be indignant that so many people failed to prep and now they want our help, but each of us at some point of our life could have been caught like them with our pants down. In fact we still might, as we never know if we might get separated from our preps when it hits the fan. Trusting people might be a risk, but not trusting anyone is in my opinion a bigger risk.
When it comes down to survival you will choose blood over friend and they will do the same. If your group is 100 people then I’m assuming it will be a number of families and not 100 individual single men/women. Now imagine that there are 15 members of family X in your group and one of them is a total screw up who falls asleep on guard duty, does not know any real skills and refuses to be just another strong back for manual labor. You can’t kick him out of the group because the other 14 family members will not stand for it. Do you kick the entire family out? You will end up with a civil war on your hands. Any large group will develop more than one leader and you cant assume that since that is your land, you make the rules. If it’s really bug out time, there are no rules. With family at least you can hope to settle things peacefully. So in my case its family, extended family, and only then possibly trustworthy/prepared friends.
Padre — Watch this video from Carrie3570. It says it VERY well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hkn9qUN0XU