Totally agree that "Deep Survival" is a very useful source. My practical experience in dealing with various personalities is survival, or near survival, situations came from several years of volunteer mountain Search and Rescue in Arizona. We had varying capabilities, usually most members were capable hikers - some of us were proficient rock climbers and very hardy hikers and runners. On each mission, various members would respond and you could never predict precisely who would turn up. The challenge was to form functioning teams that could handle the problem, which varied widely - operations lasted from an hour or so, to some that were in the field for more than two weeks. Some people who were only fairly decent hikers nevertheless came to play vital, useful roles, especially in the more complicated operations.

One got to be pretty good at assessing abilities and skills and assigning people to a good role in the operation. People with real personality issues tended to fall out of the group; those remaining were team players. I would expect about the same result in an "SHTF"situation.

At the time,my employers was putting us through some of the very expensive training Montanero alludes to; the odd thing is that I really got to use my training in SAR situations, not so much on the job.

Incidentally, I got inthe habit of keeping a pack loaded and ready to go. We could have anywhere from ASAP to the next morning to assemble for an operation and it was a good idea to be ready to just pick up the pack and walk out the door - very similar to what survivalists call a BOB today. From time to time I would adjust the contents of my pack. Summer in Tucson is not at all like winter..