# How to Dress to Avoid Suspicion, Blend In During a Crisis: “Be a Grey Man”



## Urinal Cake (Oct 19, 2013)

How to Dress to Avoid Suspicion, Blend In During a Crisis: "Be a Grey Man"
Mac Slavo
March 14th, 2016
SHTFplan.com
Comments (107)
Read by 16,471 people
Screen shot 2016-03-14 at 4.36.22 PM

Survival is all about blending in.

If you stand out, you could become like the unhammered nail, begging for unwanted attention.

Whether you are carrying concealed or attempting to negotiate your way through a post-apocalyptic SHTF scenario, take notice that you don't appear "militaristic" or tactical, as it will work against you.

Mark Twain long ago observes that "clothes make the man" - and the last man you want to be in an emergency scenario is a conspiracy theorist, an obvious doomsday prepper or an overzealous gun-toting idiot who beams controversy and strange looks wherever he goes.

Camouflauge fatigues, "fishing" vests and militia-gear will all work against your efforts, and put an exclamation mark over you while interacting with whatever remains of society, and potentially put a spotlight on your prepping efforts, your stores or retreats, and deflate your hard work to survive.

The last thing you want to do is look like someone who wants a fight, someone who could be stolen from or someone who could become a target or mark.

How to Dress to Avoid Suspicion Blend In During a Crisis: "Be a Grey Man"


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## Operator6 (Oct 29, 2015)

Here in south Alabama I blend in with camo, vests and gear.....

Home sweet Home....


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## AquaHull (Jun 10, 2012)

Operator6 said:


> Here in south Alabama I blend in with camo, vests and gear.....
> 
> Home sweet Home....


+1 on that.

With The Muskegon River down the road, fishing vests are all the rage also.

Camo for church, fishing vests for the club.


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## hawgrider (Oct 24, 2014)

Haha you guys beat me too it... Most in meatchicken wear camo of some sort unless your the city slicker type that wears dockers ....Pffft!


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

TEOTWAWKI has a dress code?
How about I dress the way I do every other day of the week and leave it at that.


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## SittingElf (Feb 9, 2016)

Dressing "down" can actually make you look like an easier target.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

BE the gray man. Always try to look a little shabbier and a little dirtier than the population if you have to go out. Let your hair and beard grow. Become sickly-looking when in public, walk with a limp, wrap a bandage around something. Your camoflage will have to change as time passes and things get more desperate. Always ask folks who take a interest in you if they can spare some food, that you will work for it because you have no money. Carry a stick in your weak hand, "for those damn dogs, doncha know" but be ready to draw your well-oiled pistols with the other. Have multiple concealable weapons because the authorities will not permit open carry of rifles in a marshall law situation. With a little imagination, you should be able to move unmolested through the post-SHTF world.


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

I could be wrong but this article/topic seems to be an answer in search of a question. 
Maybe I'm not the target audience, since I don't have a secret urge to dress up like a furry when the SHTF...


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## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

That's why we have all non-military camo, people wear that stuff all the time around here, it's normal.

Somebody in digi-BDU's? Stands out like a sore thumb.

Somebody wearing Mossy Oak? Nobody notices at all.


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

looking the "grey man" ties in with your continued OPSEC .... wouldn't recommend trotting out in your tac gear with pistol strapped on and M4 slung the hour after some SHTF realization .... same thing as the SHTF continues and deepens - you need to adjust your appearance to stay the "grey man" against your declining neighbors & friends - looking well fed and daisy fresh will be an obvious OPSEC breakage ...


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## SittingElf (Feb 9, 2016)

I don't know.... wearing a suicide vest in plain sight might keep the riff-raff away!!


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Well having practiced this black art for many moons..have noticed that if a person will dress up like a cowboy the folks in the minority co-moonity will think your a cop and cut a person some slack. May not work that way everywhere..but seems to be efficacious in God's Country.


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## tango (Apr 12, 2013)

Urban camophlage---
Blend in with those around you--


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## txmarine6531 (Nov 18, 2015)

Operator6 said:


> Here in south Alabama I blend in with camo, vests and gear.....
> 
> Home sweet Home....


Same in most of Texas. Except Austin maybe. There you might want to wear skinny jeans and or do the lumbersexual getup while cowering in your smart car.


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

SittingElf said:


> I don't know.... wearing a suicide vest in plain sight might keep the riff-raff away!!


Here the ******** would shoot the explosives just to watch the result. Especially if wild turkey or the like is involved.


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

txmarine6531 said:


> Same in most of Texas. Except Austin maybe. There you might want to wear skinny jeans and or do the lumbersexual getup while cowering in your smart car.


Odd thing is leave Austin and drive 15 miles and you are back in red neck good ole boy country. In other words "red state" country.


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

Camel923 said:


> Here the ******** would shoot the explosives just to watch the result. Especially if wild turkey or the like is involved.


Good Lord ........ sounds like PA is a lot like Texas.


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## txmarine6531 (Nov 18, 2015)

A Watchman said:


> Odd thing is leave Austin and drive 15 miles and you are back in red neck good ole boy country. In other words "red state" country.


Most liberals and all around weaklings, wouldn't know what to do outside the comforts of town. Lot's of "icky" and "eewy" things in the country; no Starbucks, Uber, trendy clubs, selfie service (aka phone service), or charging stations for your Nissan Leaf.


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## darsk20 (Jun 1, 2015)

txmarine6531 said:


> Most liberals and all around weaklings, wouldn't know what to do outside the comforts of town. Lot's of "icky" and "eewy" things in the country; no Starbucks, Uber, trendy clubs, selfie service (aka phone service), or charging stations for your Nissan Leaf.


There's no Starbucks in the country!!!!!! It is teotwawki!!


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## txmarine6531 (Nov 18, 2015)

darsk20 said:


> There's no Starbucks in the country!!!!!! It is teotwawki!!


If there's one thing a lib is good at, it's getting his Starbucks!


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

The selfies and smart cars could remind a person of the night shift at Dennys in Kerrville. Apparently all the rotten teeny boppers from Austin and San Antone get shipped there to live with Grandma.


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## Will2 (Mar 20, 2013)

Urinal Cake said:


> How to Dress to Avoid Suspicion, Blend In During a Crisis: "Be a Grey Man"
> Mac Slavo
> March 14th, 2016
> SHTFplan.com
> ...


It works both ways, to dumb this down for everyone it is about rapport. You can build rapport by being a normal, or by impressing. The key is not to provoke negative attention among people who could really cause you harm.

It is about them liking you, as I am sure those engaged in social engineering on this forum know about. If you don't know about rapport building and social engineering I suggest you look it up.

Also look up conflict theory. It is about about cost benefit analysis in sane people. If you are valuable to someone they won't get rid of you unless you represent a loss or risk to them.

Being one among many when only one survives does not advantage you to be picked as the survivor. It is situational, you may need to be the one among many as opposed to just one among many.

You play like the pest you die like the rest

Its not about conformity it is about doing what is right in any given situation.

You stand out you get known, getting known can be both good and bad.


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

SittingElf said:


> Dressing "down" can actually make you look like an easier target.


Sorta what I was thinking too. I agree, you might not wanna look like Rambo, but I would think a person wouldn't want to look like an easy mark either.


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## Urinal Cake (Oct 19, 2013)

OR you can Dress up Like Bill n Hilliary (Yes this was Them, at a Halloween Party!)


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