Ive toyed with the idea for some time , and although Ive contacted several people through various means , none panned out . They all offer a glimmer of hope , then hit ya with the real focus , like the christian groups , a little too into the bible for me , Christian Identity , racial bias doesnt have anything to do with christian values , mostly associations just want a $30 member fee and you get there newsletter or blog a decal and what not !

For me , My idea is this , get a select group of people you can trust , I would say roughly 5 or 6 families (yes families) , everyone meets and we find out what our goals are , what are skills are and then we sit down and formulate a plan , I would say having a local clube house (so to speak) or bug out if you will and possibly a long range one (at a later date) , with the local house preferably on a ranch (if possible ,I live in rural country) and open floor plan , all fmilies will have acceess to this house , stock the house well , but only enough for each family to survive (more on that later) , its imperative that each family possess or be willing to learn skills to keep us all safe in other words the ability to make fire , find water and sanitize it , hunt , fish etc , sanitation and medical , I might leave some thing out !

What Im getting at is this , there are plenty of groups out there and people always want to join , but you can tart your own group right where you live and trust is numero uno in my book , if we trust each other we can accomplish anything together !

Your thoughts?

I think for me it would be easier to start with a group of people that I already knew well and had built up a lot of trust with, and then try to bring them around to form an informal prepping group with me, rather than starting with a prepping group and then trying to find the people to join it.

Good luck,I dont see it working,aanymore than the Hippie communes did.

Too inflexible and the effort involved is not likely to be worth the payoff. Prepping is a worthwhile endeavor, but like anything else, it can be taken to an unbeneficial extreme. Good luck.

My personal opinion is that you have a good idea because you are working with people whom you actually know. That is the only way to prepare as a group.

You can figure out my main line of reasoning for yourself.

Semper Paratus; Semper Fidelis !!!

Its an idea which I'm considering. I want to start very informally with meetings at the local library, just to meet folks, share best practices, etc. I do not intend on settling here permanently, but maybe just forming an educational group.

I have at least two areas that I need to fully investigate and neither are close to here.

I have been in a number of clubs over the years.

People come and go.

I think back over the years at a local gun club I belong to and there must have been a few thousand members that came in and left during my time in the club. We see a lot of youngish members - early 20s or so, and then they get married and have kids and no longer have much time for anything else and they don't come back until they are 50ish or retired.

I would love to see some outdoor oriented clubs in the area but the few that there are seem fairly small and rather cliquish.

There is a hiking club in the area I live in but they prominently state they do group hikes at a 4 mph pace, and there is just no way I am going to keep up at that rate. I doubt they do either, but I am more interested in relaxing rather than setting speed records.

Even small informal groups of close friends and family often fall apart as people lose interest, have kids, move away, etc.

You can draw many lessons from prepping forums like this one. I don't mean the contents of members posts, but the history of the forum itself.

It is essentially a group of like minded people. You can watch a few groups ove a period of time, and notice people come & go, people who fight and leave, and forums that are deserted and left with only a few posts a month ... etc.

I have seen many forums divided in half over insignificant issues.
Same, or more, can happen in real-life groups.

Intentional communities are really hard to start, and quite impossible to maintain, and result in unforeseen consequences-think manson Family, Branch Davidians, Ruby Ridge and Jim Jones.

Best bet is to piggyback on an existing affinity group, and adapt it to your needs-Join a church. Organize your neighbors. Teach a prepper class in the local community education network. Lead a scout troop. Become a Mormon. Move to a small rural community.

Lots of possibilities out there that do not need you to start from scratch

I think anytime you get involved with small religious groups that have non-mainstream beliefs dominated by a single person you are likely to have some issues.

The problem with suggesting joining for instance the Mormon church is that while their views of secular things such as preparing for possible disasters of various types might well match up with your own, their religious views might be far outside of your own.

One thing nice about the Mormons is that they are pretty free with disseminating their collective wisdom on prepping without trying to force their religious beliefs on one. They even make their bulk food products available with minimal hassle to outsiders, although as I understand it, this is done on an unofficial "as available" basis, which is not real surprising as it is primarily done to benefit their membership.

It is too bad there are not Boy Scout type groups for adults, although to some extent volunteer fire departments and SAR squads are kind of an extension of the BSA philosophy.

CERT fulfills part of that function as well, at least it does for me.

Well said. Then there are the problems of human behavior in organizations, small group dynamics, and inevitable issues of workplace romance...which is why Doug sells survival kits rather than survival communities.

Based on my SAR experience a well organized (key word) group provides great experience that would be vital in many disaster/survival situations. You are likely to find out how you react to all kinds of stress, and you will benefit others, as well.

So often, prepping seems to follow a fairly negative, "fortress" mentality in which the prepared fend off the savage, frantic hordes of the cluelessly unprepped. SAR work kind of reverses that. Your experience on "small" SAR level emergencies comes in handy during larger situations.

I agree. So, as a community we have to better educate those we come into contact with and encourage. Prepping, in my mind and for my purposes, is aimed more at the natural disaster aspect of having enough food, water, and so on. Yes, we also prepare for the roadside and workplace emergency. I believe the focus is more about non-fantastic and non-phantasm types of events.

My $.02

I agree with MoBob!

"A group of survivalists wants to build a giant walled fortress in the woods of the Idaho Panhandle, a medieval-style city where residents would be required to own weapons and stand ready to defend the compound if society collapses."


http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/feb/05/another-survivalist-development-idaho/

This has been going around for some time. While there might be some merit to the idea, the few details available of what they are proposing and the people involved in it do not make me want to jump on board.

I always figure the more people, clubs and resources you know of, the better.

America was founded by a group of survivalists, but America's founders did it the right way. They carried out plans to move OUT of their zombie land (Europe). These guys want to wall up and hold fort inside their zombie land (America). That infrastructure is not sustainable for an extended length of time. I imagine their fort would last one year after the zombie apocalypse at the most. In contrast, America is hundreds of years old now. I say man up and look for some unsettled land outside of America to make it happen. (But is there any?) Otherwise, you're just crying for attention and being annoying.

"look for some unsettled land outside of America to make it happen. (But is there any?) "
The recent thread about the survivor family in Russia would make it seem so. Maybe along the border of a national forest, far enough back to stay away from roads?

I'm back. What did I miss? My thought on the subject is simple. I'm a loner by nature, one reason for my old MOS fit me so well. I'd be better off alone, abele to go mobile and not have someone used against me. As it is I have Bunny and Tomboy to consider. So alone probably won't be an option.