Spent a fair amount of time on the tractor this weekend and kept running scenerios in my head. I had an epiphany out there in the field. We always train in segments or in skill sets. We commonly verbalize or demonstrate integration in the classroom. Of course I am speaking of local LEO, fire, EMS, and NG. Military excluded due to the fact they have the oppertunity to train for long periods of time in the field where they integrate skill sets in real world scenerios. Those of us that may only have a weekend or maybe a week a year are limited in our integration of skills to apply them as needed or in anticipation of need. This led to a scary thought, how does your average prepper or survivalist go from skill set training to application of that training and fast in a SHTF condition? What happens in the first hour? First day? First week? First month? I have been in fire/EMS for 20 years in both career and volunteer capacities. I have worked with law enforcement from the village level up to the State level. We all have had cases where we have had difficulties with integration. We learn and use those experiences to evolve and teach them to the next generation but very few people have been in SHTF situations and fewer still have been in a EOTWAWKI. This leaves very little real world experience to draw from.
It would seem to this reader, that you train for: 1. Where you are likely to be. 2. Who you are likely to be with. 3. What are likely situation will be. So, 1. You are likely to be HOME, with your Family, and the SHTF around you. You train for Family self-Protection, from outside OpForces, You train for BugIn, or BugOut. as your OpPlan is outlined. You deal with The BIG Four: Shelter, Air, Water, Food. Then you deal with Comms, with your Group, that you have MutualAid Agreements, and Commitments with. Then you train with your Group, in Group Support, using the Group OpPlan already laid out. 2. You are away from home. then you train to GET HOME, and train for establishing Comms with HOME, as soon as practical, so that you can start running the OpPlan. If you have Comms with HOME, then you may get them going on the OpPlan, even before you get there, or even setup a meet, elsewhere, so as to be moving, in a coordinated way, to run the OpPlan. 3. Individual comes First. Family comes Second. Once those are under control and running the OpPlan, then you can think about Group, and larger entities. You Personal Responsibilities, are to self, then Family, then Group, then whatever.
Can't fully respond with only one working arm but my observation is that every time we run emergency drills in my business, communications fall apart within 10 minutes. An un-executed plan will get random results and this is going to be a problem for many. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You will not rise to the level of the Event you will fall to the level of your training. Training is the foundation you build from there. The stronger your foundation the better you will do as you have to build on it !
We currently have 3 new members in our Dept. Two of them are going from the training ground to the fireground very well. We had a 3 alarm structure fire Saturday night and I was very pleased with their performance. Side bar: Many of you already know I am in Fire/EMS but what I have not shared is that I recently was elected to President of the Dept. and was also promoted to Batt. Chief. One however, is not making the transition. When asked to perform skills in training he does so correctly and without issue. When asked to handle a job from start to finish, he falls more than a little short. So, from this experience I started to ponder what will actually happen in a long term SHTF situation. I know many of us have been trough short term disasters from snow/ice, flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. I know in my case we have been through power outages that lasted a couple weeks thanks to an ice storm. We have been isolated and to hunker in during large scale floods but we were back to "normal" within a short period of time. During the state of emergency I was able to take care of my community knowing full well the wife and kids were safe and comfy at home thanks to preps and training. I know it has been said before that you cant train for everything because the real world is way too unpredictable. However, I think that with the right discussion we could plan for damn near anything that could jump up and bite us in the back side. My biggest issue now is that I really want to develop a longer term scenerio (a few months) and figure out a way to train within the scenerio while still being able to function in the current modern world (ya know, go to work, do the running around with the kids, etc.).
Survival is like competing in the olympics. Most competitors at olympic standard have natural ability, but most probably many people in a population have an equivalent if not greater natural ability than the olympic representative of their country....just that some people with olympic level natural abilities with unrealised potential have not comprehended that fact or that for whatever reason they have not got olympic competition as one of their visions of what they truly want to achieve. What puts olympic competitors as standouts from uncompetitive people who merely have an equivalent or greater natural ability is.....training...and a clear goal (to compete in the olympics) that they are totally committed to achieving. Some folk will undoubtedly survive most disaster situations just based on natural ability and the street smarts that they already possess. People who may not have much by way of natural ability or experience can overcome these disadvantages by....training and practice and purposeful knowledge acquisition. Survival requires many skills and specific knowledge to have any significant advantages. Those skills and that knowledge are best, easiest and safest to learn before the event, rather than during it, where the consequences of error or failure can be very dire. Continuing on with the olympian competition metaphor....every survival situation is unique to the particular circumstances that you find yourself at the time that the disaster or the life threatening scenario unfolds. Some situations will require a sprint with an absolutely maximum use of all your resources in a burst of activity....other situations are more like a marathon, where it will be a supreme test of long term endurance, and will power, and the husbanding of resources to be expended judiciously over the long haul. Some situations are variable...and you may need to change from sprint mode to endurance mode and back again, several times over the duration of the emergency. The trick is to be able to recognise the need to change strategies and make the necessary transitions from one mode to another when the circumstances require. Remember....in the race of life...failure for the predator means starvation...failure for the prey, means being eaten. Extinction is the price of losing that race.
All planning has certain core similarities that can be used in prepping... First determine what your mission is all other plans hang off this aspect. then the core/strategic values or constraints that will be placed on your plan... determine the strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats that you have or will face.... scan your environment to determine how it will effect you... Now determine your time frame of action... that sets up the strategic portion of your plan now operationalize it by breaking it down into workable sections and plan by including a set of expections.... when you complete your task determine what the actual out comes where and compare the difference between your expected and actual outcomes... finally when you have all of the limiting factor determined and adressed test you plan by a table top exercise with all affected parties... address any issues you find and then exercise it in real time until you are familar with it... the exercise it with out having everyone available or all equipment available so you know how to react and what you really need when something goes wrong.... This generally follows the formats i teach as a disaster planner ....
These thoughts have rung through my mind often. It is why I arrived at the conclusion that the way to be prepared for come what may was to move to a place, and begin living in a manner that transitions to my expected PAW actions. Thus the homestead, while having modern convinces, also has alternative SHTF ones. For example I may can on a propane powered stove, but I have and in winter still use wood in the duel fuel stove in the kitchen and can can using either. I have air conditioners, but also screens on the windows, and a porch that has windows that can be removed leaving the screens for a summer sleeping porch. I have a nice gazebo out front toward the fence that is about a mile from the house. (like long driveways and fences, not easy for salesmen or any others to just pull up to the house without me knowing they are coming) This same gazebo is also a listening post / strong point should defense of the home become necessary, the decorative planters around it are pleasing to the eye, but also two feet of rock and dirt to hunker down behind. Without adapting a life that lets you live happy today and safe tomorrow, then aye, that is a problem many will find a challenge, Switching gears under stress will be hard, many will be to slow to recognize and switch, especially if living in areas that will have problems early on before people realize that the S has HTF. So hope for the best , prep for the worst, and trust in God. Best anyone can do IMHO / YMMV Thad
I too have a very rural set up. I am incredibly confident with my communities ability to be self sufficient. Food water and shelter are more than taken care of. We have tons of land with a small population. Vast woodland stocked full of all kinds of critters that are yummy. Ponds and a river for fish. Plenty of water and water purification. Most of the homes in our area were built before 1900 (many of the original homes in this immediate area were built 1840-1880) and were "updated" for modern things like electric, gas, and phone/cable. Good thing is, the old things like wood stoves, hand dug wells, and root cellars are still in place in many of these homes. My concern lays with others. Especially urban folks getting out of the cities. I live a couple hundred miles from NYC but that is within 1 tank of gas. When things get nuts down there, you can bet your buttons they will be branching out and I am sure they are not going to be meek and mild mannered if they make it here. Now, I have been in plenty of dangerous situations and have done incredibly well but the thought of hundreds of people hell bent on taking whats ours still nags at me and I have concern on how to handle that kind of situation. I train with my weapons and have friends in LE who work with me and give me pointers but they too only have classroom type experience on how to deal with large numbers of combative or violent people (luckily we dont have very many issues here and the ones we do have usually only involve a few people). I surely dont want to engage anyone unless I absolutely HAVE to and I know myself well enough and know that after spending so many years helping people that I will pause before I squeeze the trigger and I also know that is how people end up dead.
I have (unfortunately) seen the elephant a few times. It is amazing how fast one changes from a peaceful mind to a cold mind that does what is necessary to stay alive. Try to keep your humanity under these circumstances. If we all go feral then what purpose is there to living. but do what needs doing. The last thing you want to do is leave yours at the mercy of mutant zombie bikers etc. The real problem is that at first you won't know if those coming up the road mean good or bad unless they have attacked someone else first and somehow word has reached you. given that uncertainty, I feel that meeting them with a handgun and covered by a skilled shot may be the best of a few bad choices. Plans within plans may be the clue. Thanks for sharing, I agree that being out there living a good life now is key to any future that may come, good bad or indifferent. Thad
At that point, greetings would be pistol with an AK on a one point; a minimum of one MBR with optics.
