Hello my friend and welcome back! Good friends are hard to find and good Preppers are even harder. I get emails from people all the time asking if I know of any Prepper groups in their area that they could join. Unfortunately, most of these groups keep to themselves and really don’t want others knowing about their existence. It’s not like joining a reading club; you need to be careful who you throw your lot in with. This is the topic of today’s post so grab a cup of coffee and have a seat while we visit.
Many people are trusting, some of us, not so much. Some of the newer Preppers don’t seem to grasp just what you are committing to when you join a Prepper group. It’s not like the Boy Scouts where you just fill out a form and if you later decide to leave, you just take your toy’s and go home. When you join a Prepper group, you are making a commitment much like a marriage. These are the people who you will eat with, sleep with and probably even bathe, with when SHTF hits. Believe me when I say, that will be little privacy of any kind. When you join a Prepper group, you are committing yourself to being willing to die defending the rest of the group. You are also committing yourself to doing a lot of hard work both now and after SHTF hits. There will be fences to build along with a million other things to do. You are also committing yourself to getting along with every member of the group. This is why I say it is more like a marriage, because it requires a lot of commitment on your part to make it work.
A word of warning about fake Prepper Groups: I have both read about and ran across a few very interesting groups who claim to be Prepper Groups. They are willing to take anybody in and make them a part of their group. Their only requirement is that you sign a legal document saying that you will be required to purchase certain items like firearms and uniforms as well as a years’ worth of food supplies through them and keep it all stored on their property. What they don’t tell you is that this same document also states that you can be evicted from the group at any time for any reason without warning and forfeit anything you may have purchased that is stored on their property. It usually cost the average around twenty thousand dollars to purchase all of the supplies and fees that are required. One year later they send you a letter saying that they have decided that you are not a good fit for their group and that all of your supplies have become property of the group as stated in the document that you signed. The bad part is that it is all legal and you have no recourse for recovering what you have lost. Any group that requires you sign a legal document to become a member and places financial requirements on you should immediately raise red flags for you!
So how do you know if a group is legitimate or not? First off, a legitimate group will not just take in anybody that asks. It’s like dating, you need to get to know each other and get a feel for them. Are they a group of escaped psychotics from a mental hospital or are they an intelligent group who can see the writing on the wall and want to be prepared in case? Is the group made up of individuals with specific skill sets for surviving or is it just a bunch of family members that have grouped together? An outsider rarely does well with a family group in stressful situations. I’m not saying that it can’t done, it’s just rare.
How are decisions made in the group? Are they made by everyone voting on issues when possible, or is there one person who makes all of the decisions? A key phrase to watch out for is: “It’s my land and my rules!” If you here this from anyone in the group, leave now. This person will only become a Tyrant after the SHTF hits. Get to know all of the members of the group well and get a good feel for them. They well be doing the same with you if they are legit. If members of the group and you feel that you are a good fit for the group and bring some type of valuable skill set with you, then you may have a survival group that you can live with. If not, then just move on to the next one. You didn’t find your spouse overnight, and chances are that you will not find the right group for you the first time out either. Keep looking for one where you fit in well and like all of the members of the group. They are out there; you just have to keep looking for them and not give up. Just remember that when it comes to selecting and joining a survival group, you really need to get to know all of the members of the group well before you make a commitment.
Well that’s it for today and I hope I have given you some information that you can use and help you become a better Prepper. Until next time, stay safe, stay strong, and stay prepared! God Bless America.
-The Sargent-
