Hello, my friend and welcome back! Please don’t forget to enter our Independence month drawing for a New 3VGear.com Covert 36” Padded Gun case, to be given away on the 4th of July, to one lucky winner. So enter today! I was recently thinking of the different Preppers I know and how they are all Preppers, but how they prep is completely different. This is the subject of today’s post, so grab a cup of coffee my friend and have a seat while we visit.
I guess it would depend on what you are prepping for and just how serious you are about surviving SHTF. Take for example friend Jimmy, He seems to believe that 72 hrs of and water along with one extra can of gas is sufficient for most disasters. His philosophy seems to be that if it’s any worse than that then he won’t survive anyway so why waste the money? Despite repeated discussions where I try to convince him that this is not true, his mind is made up and he simply will not change his mind. He is what I call a “Minimalist Prepper”.
Now take another Prepper I know who sees things a little differently but not by much. He has food for 6 months as well as medical supplies and bottled water. What he does not stock like the Minimalist Prepper are Firearms and ammunition. He simply believes he could not make himself take another person’s life for any reason. He also believes the Government will be up and running within 6 months and things will be back to normal. He simply believes this and no amount of talking will make him change his views. I refer to this type as the “Nieve Preppers”.
Then comes your “Average Prepper”. Food for a year, a small seed vault, a small collection of guns and ammo and about 3 months worth of water stored up along with plenty of Medical supplies. Surprised to see this is your average prepper? Unfortunately, it is. Most Preppers see SHTF in their future, but simply don’t have the means to do much more and must hope they can survive on what they have. Like I said this is the average Prepper.
Next, there is the guy who spends every waking moment of his day thinking about and storing up more supplies. You know the ones, They usually keep enough guns and ammo to outfit a small army, and that is just what they plan to do. They have enough food for 5 years and water stored up for his group. These are the ones who usually have more medical supplies than the average Hospital emergency room. Their seed vault would make Noah proud and they have all of the tools needed to survive in any given situation. These I call the “Serious Preppers”.They know what they are doing and they are not fooling themselves about the future.”
Then last but not least is the “Nut Case Prepper”. These are the ones you see on TV from time to time. These are like the Serious Preppers, but they have gone over the edge and spend a good bit of time drilling for whatever particular scenario they are certain is coming. They have deluded themselves into believing they are the only ones who truly know what is coming down the pipe. These people have usually been teased so much that they actually look forward to SHTF just so they can prove others wrong. They started out with good intentions, and somewhere along the way they got lost. I actually know a few of these and in all honesty, the scare me to death. They are walking a thin Mental Health line that could snap at any time and when it does, someone will get hurt needlessly. Be careful of these and avoid them if you can.
Now let me add that there are many who fall in between these different types, but for the most part, they usually could fit into one of them.
As for myself, I think I fit somewhere in between the Average Prepper and the serious Prepper. Like many, I have a limited budget for my Preps each month, but I keep plugging along in hopes that when it does all fall apart, I will be ready. So tell me, now that you know, which one of these groups do you fit into?I know some of my readers will definitely be in the “Serious Prepper” class, and I too hope to be there some day. What ever class you do belong to, be prepared to live with your choice, because when it happens, the only person you can depend on is yourself. Well, that is it for today and I hope you have found this post interesting. Until next time my friend, stay safe, stay strong, and stay prepared. God Bless America!
-Sarge-
I guess I’m an ‘average prepper’ but perhaps on the lower end of the spectrum. I have food supply for about a year for two people, a large heirloom seeds’ arsenal (as I am a gardener and lover of all medicinal and edible herbs), we have close to a dozen firearms and enough stockpiled ammo to get through most instances.
But the Nieve Preppers have me intrigued- are they really willing to ‘give up’ their cache, supplies and in some scenarios, their loved ones? Protection and hunting people. You have to protect your family, hunt to feed the same family and having the knowledge of firearms as well as the security is a must.
And as for Mr. Minimalist Prepper- you really don’t have much faith in yourself. You’re predicting a 72-hour lifespan in a horrific event? Sad… be strong, be prepared and survive for as long as you are able.
I didn’t mean ‘hunting people’… I meant protection and or hunting, people- you need to have firearms and tools for survival- sorry, I had to clarify
I guess that I’m more or less an “average” prepper as you describe them.
I try to mimic the lifestyle of my rural grand parents. Their object was to have enough on hand to make it from the end of harvest in the fall till the next harvest. My objective is to survive the fall, the immediate aftermath, be comfortable supply wise until growing season arrives, and hope my food production and harvest after that first survival garden will carry me through to the next cycle. My grand parents were born into that reality as being the norm and raised 6 children through the depression. Proof it can be done.
I was raised with supplemental food production, vegetable garden and meat hunting, as a part of life. No doubt I can make it. My year supply of stored goods and remote homestead gives me a running start to tackle what comes next..
I used to envy those with 5-10 years of sustenance stored up until I faced the fact that no matter how far into the future you have prepped, it will, at some point, run out, and reality will set in. You will either sink or swim.
I have never met a Prepper that I would classify as a nutcase or one that I thought might hurt someone. Preppers I know are an overly peaceable lot. I think that you may have overstated a bit. I agree that there is a parasitic class. Good report and interesting subject.
Oh, beleive me they are out there and there are more than you might think. 🙂
I was working up to the Average Prepper stage, but this year hit me hard and heavy and I’ve had to fall back on my preps, especially when there have been a few months of $0 income.
That’s something that a lot of people don’t seem to prep for – the sudden loss of all income, which is more likely than an EMP attack.
Weapons won’t get you through it, unless you either sell them at a major loss, or turn to crime.
Everyone’s SHTF situation is different.
Dirt Road, Loss of income is a disaster in my book, and that is why we prep. Just think how bad it would have been without your preps. Best of luck in the future my friend!
The preps are a big help, and being out of debt is a major benefit! No mortgage or credit cards, and we try to keep the utilities low by pushing our comfort levels.
I hate to think of what the East Texas summers would be like if there was a total grid down situation!
Cowboy, I know exactly what you mean. I grew up in East Texas myself. 🙂
I wonder at times if these folks have credit cards and just intend to rely on those until the situation rectifies itself.
Another idea is that these folks don’t have storage space and the attitude ‘let the stores store it for me until I need it’ kicks in.
Bad moves, but you can’t fix stupid.
Sarge, Good article.
To round out the spectrum, I would add a class of people who believe they can survive as moochers by depending on others to provide necessary sustenance and security, whether short or long term. These are people with a fully developed entitlement mentality. Their concept of prepping is to let you do it, but with the expectation that what is yours is theirs, too. If you want to give them a tag, I would suggest the term ‘parasite.’
I’m not sure where to place this next class of individuals, but there are people who openly state that they intend to survive purely by force of arms, the theft of prepper’s supplies and, if necessary, murder. They, too, have a plan and they are prepared to carry it out.
Good point Ben!
in my A O we call them targets
Bingo…