The internet world of prepping is peppered with people dreaming of or living out their plan of surviving in a remote, isolated location sitting on top of a mountain of stored goods and looking to take care of any situation that comes their way on their own or with just a couple of other people. Then there are the lone wolves who plan to hide out in the woods as one man armies and take from others as their needs dictate. Yet still are the gray men who do their hardest to live the average public life of the average joe and take great pains to keep their basements full of food, gold and guns secret: never trusting anyone else, never drawing attention to themselves and blending in wherever they go.
A later article may explore in detail why each strategy is fatally flawed but, for now, suffice to say that one or three people cannot hope to survive and thrive on their own. Even Eric Rudolf needed a network of family and friends to last five years in the Appalachian wilderness. And he ended up being caught by a rookie cop when he was scavenging for food in a Dollar Store dumpster at 4 am one morning. We do not want to make anyone uncomfortable by mentioning Rudolf but just remember that many on the loonie Left fervently believe that those who read the Bible, own guns, reject drag queens for school show and tells or voted for Trump are already domestic terrorists.
A much better strategy is to invest your time and energy into building a community of like minded, skilled and competent folks who have your back and will continue to do so when things get tough. Most of us could do with more people in our lives who are reliable, trustworthy and know how to do "stuff".
You just cannot do it all by yourself. The subject matter expertise required is simply too broad and deep. Being a jack of lots of trades helps and within a group everyone should be cross trained in several disciplines to reinforce capacity and capability. But you need masters of trades in order to train others and to deal with the biggest challenges. And you need many people for many different tasks if you are going to set up 24/7 security, provide round the clock nursing care to a sick member, farm or preserve a year's crop.
We have previously touched on some of the specialists we might want to consider bringing into our circle and here is a longer list: doctors of all flavors; nurses; pharmacists; veterinarians; police officers and security specialists; retired military, especially combat arms and engineers/sappers; firearms instructors; electricians; motor mechanics; hunters and fishermen; farmers and gardeners; HAM radio operators; martial arts instructors; handymen; carpenters and welders; chemistry teachers; seamstresses; drone operators; fitness instructors; nutritionists; intelligence analysts; open source intelligence researchers; logisticians; survival professionals.
We admit such a long list is overwhelming - especially when you add in the non experts who will likely form the majority of your group: the good solid folk who share your concerns about the future and your desire to be better prepared for it but whose day job does not lend a particular skill set to the collective effort. These people are still vital and will each contribute in their own way, whether from specific hobbies and interests or aptitude for picking up new ones and the resources at their disposal. Everyone can have a role to play and multiple roles per person are ideal as cross fertilization builds resiliency. The more good people, the better.
So where to start? The single biggest step is recognizing the need and fundamentally embracing the fact that you need to build a group as part of your preparations. Accept that it will require deliberate effort and you should put as much time, energy and treasure into it as you will in stockpiling beans, bullets and bandaids. Far too many people concentrate on the latter and neglect the former at their peril. Indeed, in terms of prioritization it is better to put more effort into community building than acquiring your own new skills and it is better to put more work and money into learning new skills than it is building a mountain of supplies. Get the balance right from the start and you will be streets ahead of the majority of "preppers".
Next, you should perform an audit of everyone you currently know whom you might want in your group. Family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances, co-workers. Create a list and score each person on categories such as world view, politics, attitude, reliability, trustworthiness, aptitude, resources, skills, knowledge, strengths and weaknesses. No-one is perfect and we all have character flaws but an honest appreciation and assessment of whether these are manageable or likely poison in a group environment can save a lot of drama and heartache down the road. You are likely to find that you have insufficient information on a number of people. This will give you an initial to-do list as you will need to invest time in getting to know them better and filling in the blanks.
Only you will know how open and frank to be with your existing circle of contacts about your desire to form a survival group. You can have plenty of conversations with them talking about current events, inflation and supply issues without showing your hand while gleaning good insights into where they stand. And there is a whole spectrum from a formal group with membership procedures, dues and written commitments all the way through to a loose network of people you feel you could rely on in an emergency or slower societal decay. You might be able to have a worthwhile group without ever letting anyone else know that they are in it. At some point, however, the balance of advantage may lie in being candid with at least an inner circle such that you can harness their help in expanding your network and actively seeking out certain specialists.
Of course, everyone, however accomplished, could benefit from improving their people skills. Whether we are talking about self absorbed Gen X, indulgent boomers, old men yelling at clouds or anyone in between, we will all be much more successful at building our network if we can relate to others, find common ground and make them value your company. A good primer is Dale Carnegie's classic "How to Win Friends and Influence People". Three more modern takes that everyone should read are:
- "It's Not All About Me" by Robin Dreeke
- "The Like Switch" by Jack Schafer
- "People Smart" by Mel Silberman
And for those who really get into the subject, two bonus recommendations:
- "Just Listen" by Mark Goulson
- "The Fine Art of Small Talk" by Debra Fine
Taking some of the advice and knowledge from these studies into your relationships, especially as you seek out some of the specialists listed above, will serve your cause well. To go fishing for new people, go where the people are. Go to meetings, take a training course, join other groups, get involved in a church, volunteer, join the local political party, attend school board meetings. Gravitate to people who seem to share your values. Use your existing informal network to navigate to specialists and use some pretext to engage with them. Be a friend to make a friend. Get to know them, help them out, learn what makes them tick, explore shared interests and build a relationship on those. Once you know someone well enough, few topics of conversation are out of bounds. You will know if you can count on them. And they will know that they can count on you.