# Why (and why not) to form a group



## homegrownrose (Mar 24, 2016)

Hubby and I have been going back and forth on this topic for a while now. On the one hand, with a group you get security, variety of skills on your team, etc etc etc. On the other hand you also have someone with tactical know how who knows where you and your preps are, which could put you in a position of vulnerability if they got a wild hair.

What are your thoughts on grouping up?


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

Are there people you know well who are prepping? There ya go.

Strangers who claim they are prepping? Heck, no.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Might work for gregarious types. Being around live people for very long would prob drive some of us crazy. As Uncle Ben said.."Fish and visitors stink in three days."


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## ND_ponyexpress_ (Mar 20, 2016)

all depends on the people and how bad you need them I guess...


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## ND_ponyexpress_ (Mar 20, 2016)

I have a plan for family (some being excluded for certain) but I know my farm neighbors well enough to bring some in if I need their help more than I need the extra food. as for strangers, I would have to be pretty hard up.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

The obvious problem with going it alone are that there is no way in hell a few people can keep 
their place secure. One night, the person on guard will fall asleep and ...
While I am a Jack of all trades including some medical background and same for my wife, I know 
that having a group is the best way to go. UNFORTUNATELY putting together a group is near 
impossible. How do you build up the trust of someone who happens to believe the same as you 
and vice versa? If you do put together a group, how is it governed? How do you insure that 
each family within the group is prepared with the same amount of food, etc.? Big questions 
will out easy answers, possibly thru your church you might be able to find enough like minded 
people to start a group. But a lot of the above questions need to be addressed before it forms.


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## txmarine6531 (Nov 18, 2015)

Only people I would join with would be my family. Other than that, nope. I don't trust people. With no trust, the group fails.


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## Medic33 (Mar 29, 2015)

want to go solo -you will die, just you and the family hey guess what that's called a group.
but hey you go on a do what you got to do.


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## rstanek (Nov 9, 2012)

Tried to form a group,the only response I get is, " if things go bad we will just come to your house "' I had to relocate our supplies because I volunteered to much information, someone I've known for about 5 years who claims to be a prepper said he was already in a "club", but my wife and I were not invited, probably for the best, I know my wife will cover my six and I will do the same for her.


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

The biggest problem I see is giving up your last remaining freedom and supplies. You will have to be prepared to submit to the wishes of the many and their leaders. Which will never work for me. After the Army I have a problem with taking orders from anyone for any reason. 

Now if your down on your luck and on your last can of beans. It maybe the best and only choice if you "have" to survive. How well prepared are you??


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## Slippy's-Attorney (Sep 23, 2015)

Location location location

if you are 12 miles back into the hills/woods/mountains where there will be no zombie killer motorcycle gangs.. single family can do it

if you are located on the main street of small town USA.. the fact you have garbage, smell like food, not losing weight... everybody will be knocking zombie mutant gangs, government tax collectors, 3rd cousin, ex wife.....

the GROUP will come into effect if you are in the suburbs


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

rstanek said:


> Tried to form a group,the only response I get is, " if things go bad we will just come to your house "' I had to relocate our supplies because I volunteered to much information, someone I've known for about 5 years who claims to be a prepper said he was already in a "club", but my wife and I were not invited, probably for the best, I know my wife will cover my six and I will do the same for her.


 Great point, be very careful who you open your mouth to about you preps. Your just painting a GREAT BIG TARGET on your back. When the SHTF and people are desperate your friendships will quickly disappear in the name of survival.


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## txmarine6531 (Nov 18, 2015)

Medic33 said:


> want to go solo -you will die, just you and the family hey guess what that's called a group.
> but hey you go on a do what you got to do.


Got the group part figured out, as stated in my post. Going solo doesn't equal death. Can't always deal in absolutes.


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

I would only consider others if I knew they were trustworthy. The larger the group the moe likely to get a lblabber mouth,aknow it all, a thief or a Judas. Balance that with the limitations of yourself and immediate family. Caution is an operative word.


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## Targetshooter (Dec 4, 2015)

WE are doing the alone thing ,, yes I have a neighbor that's a very good prepper ,, but his wife is not ,, and I would trust him with my back ,, her I don't know ,, as far as a group thing ,, if you had a large amount of land were you can spread everyone out to protect and be able to do there part I think it would work ,, other then that ,, no way ,, I know it's safer with numbers ,, but sometimes numbers can back fire your plans ,, everyone has to look at were they stand and how they will be able to with stand when SHTF .


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## rstanek (Nov 9, 2012)

I think a group of maybe 3 or more a form of government would have to be implemented to maintain order and in decision making, otherwise it would eventually just be a free for all, a voting process, how is food and medicine and other major essentials are to be allotted, people with skills that are willing to participate without expecting a paycheck, after all it's survival,not self gain, this is just for starters....


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## baldman (Apr 5, 2016)

There are three families of four so 12of us total including children . And we are going to make a go of it if needed.


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

before you get all hep on divulging your prep plans to local "interested" preppers .... just look at the % percentage % of new members that join the various prepper sites - all interested in getting started and learning - and you never see them past their intro posting .... same same - but 10X worse when getting off their dead azz is involved ....


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

The military has 200 years of experience in taking groups of people and making them work together. Having a prepper group organize roughly along those lines may work. But like Chipper said, some will resist authority. Prepping gear is easy compared to people, people are always a problem.


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## txmarine6531 (Nov 18, 2015)

IMO, if you are to have a group (if it's good for you, good, it's not for me), the best way to make this all work is to have at least a monthly get together. Review plans, train, go camping for a weekend and have everyone perform their assigned duties (if you have that squared away), work on the BOL. I think if you were to spend at least that much time together, rehearsing, it would make things go much smoother if the real thing happened. I think it would also give you an opportunity to see who is going to do their fair share of the work, you'll be able to weed out the slackers or at least find them another task they excel at. You might have Bob (who says he's a jack of all trades) doing carpentry work, but during the good times you figure out he's not exactly Bob Villa. Best to figure out who is good at what now. And if things don't go south in our lifetime, well, your children will have grown up doing these things and if the time comes in their adult lifetime, they won't be lost. Them and their children will be good to go.


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## Kumarkalliente (May 1, 2015)

Groups are good 
Think of it as this:
You give them meeting coordinates that isn't were your preps are
You say you have less than you do 
You never tell people where you most important stuff is 
Until it is mission critical you do not tell them. 
I have a group of friends that I've gone into the woods with for a long time they don't know where my preps are. They have been down to my property once 
The more people you have is not always good especailly if your on the move


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## Rider (Apr 16, 2016)

Illini Warrior said:


> before you get all hep on divulging your prep plans to local "interested" preppers .... just look at the % percentage % of new members that join the various prepper sites - all interested in getting started and learning - and you never see them past their intro posting .... same same - but 10X worse when getting off their dead azz is involved ....


You said it perfectly. OPSEC is one of the post important things when it comes to prepping. I have myself, wife, and a few vets. I don't know how I would feel about having someone in my group without prior training.. either military, police, ems, or a Dr. Not only do you need your own supplies, you need skills as well.

Plus where you live is a factor. Going it lone wolf style would be very rough both physically and mentally. If you do have a group it should be small and consist only of family and people you trust with your life that have preps and skills. Even a small trained group can defend itself against a larger force using certain tactics.


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## tirednurse (Oct 2, 2013)

I have found that you can trust no one. Ever. Even who you consider family and would trust with all you have, can turn on you in the blink of an eye if it suits their needs. I used to want to be a part of a group, and form a network between us for security as well as other things including an individual's special skill sets. But I don't any more, because I realize that no matter what, my goals will never belong to anyone but me. You can not force or teach someone the same values and deep seated feeling about certain issues that you have. So no matter what you will alway put yourself at risk, compromising yourself if you join together in a group. 

this was a hard lesson for me to accept. Now I live in fear that the person who used to be here, and I thought of as my partner in everything, will someday be my biggest threat. Why? because he knows every prep I made, both while he was here and before. He knows almost as much as I do about this property and it's weaknesses and I can do nothing to change that. If the SHTF he could form a group of his own and come try to take what is mine. 

I now prep for myself and my family who live here as well as family I know will come here. I don't tell them anything but to come here if there is a problem. that is all they need to know. 
I do a few other things also. I have always kept more chickens, ducks and geese than I or my family need because I could trade to neighbors who have none, which are most of them. I also keep enough rabbits that I could set up several families with enough to supply a meat source for themselves. I don't need them now so just sell them off occasionally and keep replenishing as needed. I hope that maybe this will help with some relationships around me if TSHTF but it is no guarantee. 

Until then I keep to myself, lay low, don't say anything to anyone, and don't form any real connection to anyone


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

Assuming you're dealing with people who you know have decent food supplies and the willingness to work as a team when required I like the idea of a loose group who live very close together. Not a communal with everybody singing Kum-Ba-Ya living in the same house but each family in their own place with their own land who can combine for large projects and mutual defense. This would not work if there are people who are totally unprepared living amongst your "loose group" as they would become the threat as they grew desperate. There is more than one type of threat. Thieves;; and neighbors you like, especially with kids, who are starving. Seeing them every day will destroy a group's cohesiveness.

But as Mr Slippy said unless you live out with the Swamp people 12 miles from the nearest neighbor you can't defend a property with less than around 4-6 defensively minded people. It takes 24 hour watching for months on end to defend even if the threat is only one desperate person with a rock trying to get food.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Trust is the biggest determiner.
Family member and a very few close friends will be together in a SHTF situation.
All are combat veterans, rifleman and combat support.
They have been prepping for at least two decades, and plan to bring their stores here.
OP's, LP's and field fortification will go up when they get here, supplementing those already built and hidden.
The total is ten not counting wives and kids who are young adults, no nose wipes.


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## ND_ponyexpress_ (Mar 20, 2016)

Yea.. I'm lacking quality shooters... I have the food and room, just not the manpower. Although if things were bad enough I could see some of the wife's extended family and a couple of my hunting buddies show up.. got minimal food for them but they would be helpful for security at least.


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## ND_ponyexpress_ (Mar 20, 2016)

luckily I fall into that "nobody around for 12 miles" category...


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## New guy 101 (Dec 17, 2014)

For me....I have multiple plans...the short term mode days to weeks. The mid term mode weeks to months and the longer term months to years. Each involve different places and people. My short and mid term is me and my framily (friends like family). I will see to them and ensure they have their needs met and set them up for a longer duration....but me and my family will be headed to a different location for long term survival. The situations determines if I choose to make the mid term last longer for me or if I choose to take some with me to elsewhere. They do not know my preps...they do not know the long term plan. They know what I can offer them and its guidance and leadership.

Beyond that...its all just a rough plan because no plan survives the first contact so I simply have objectives for each phase and contingencies...



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## Grinch (Jan 3, 2016)

For a group's sake I do believe there are some who MUST be included and some who must NOT be included. My group will be simply my fiance, my parents, my one uncle and my buddy and his fiance. Now there is good and bad about everything, I know that the skills they all possess are greater than mine, I also know that's more mouths to feed. But there's a reason they're all there. 

Me personally; I can't get a needle in to save someone's life: enter my fiance the ICU RN. 
Me; I can't cook the greatest: my mother can.
Me; again not the greatest in medical care: my buddy's fiance O.R nurse, trauma center nurse.

My buddy, father and one uncle and myself we know how to build, cut trees, hunt, survive and can shoot decently. 

Now the whole thing is I like idea of a group, because a single face every single day for years get tiring, even a good looking wife/husband whatever starts to get mundane, you mix it up a little and you can stay fresh. I also like the idea of a tight knit group because all for one and one for all means that and only that. I do not care for a larger group because too many people begin to think others are against them ect. and the group falls apart. Now I also do not like the idea of being a lone or with one other person because you can only play scrabble so many times...


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## New guy 101 (Dec 17, 2014)

If things are that bad that you only see the same folks every day for months and years...I would say you will be too busy trying to survive to play too many scrabble games. Unless you just happen to have 5 years of food stockpiled... you will need to plant, tend animals or hunt, pull security, etc. That's a lot of work for just seven people. There are about 20 in my group. Husbands, wives, sons and daughters. About 16 are working age and capable of pulling security. But that takes a lot of food and energy to maintain. 

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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

I do not believe there will ever be total anarchy with roving looter bands of raider/killers.
If, by some unbelievable reason this ever comes to pass, y'all in the towns and cities will bear the burden.
Only me to stand watch? I've got super hearing and night vision - dogs.

I'm a DV. Disfunctional Veteran and I don't play we'll with others.


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## Jp4GA (Jan 21, 2016)

We have not really thought about grouping up. However, my husband started a job 2 years ago and over the course of time found that everyone at the small company (12 employees) are prepping. They don't tell all but they do help each other out with the "how to's." A few weekends ago they had a bullet making party. One guy had the equipment and everyone brought empty shells and learned how to reuse them. About a month ago they went hunting and those who did not know how to clean an animal for eating got hands on experience. Later in the summer I will be doing a canning lesson for those who are interested. We know where everyone's main house is, and we know some of them have bug-out locations, we don't know where those are and they don't know where ours is. They know we prep but do not know the full extent. Maybe eventually we will group up but for now we are all just learning together.


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