When it comes to prepping, you are not alone. Thousands of like-minded individuals and families are preparing just in case disaster strikes or preparing for hyperinflation. You can rely on these people to create a prepper community and survive when sh*t hits the fan (SHTF).
There is a lot of value in a prepper community versus trying to survive as a lone wolf. Keep reading to learn about prepper communities, the value they can bring to your survival, and the different elements you will need to create your survival community, just in case SHTF.
Prepper communities are groups of like-minded preppers who have entered into a social contract to prepare for and support one another in the event of an emergency or when SHTF. Emergencies that prepper communities prepare for include:
Prepper communities have become more prevalent in prepping culture. This is because, when SHTF, you can rely on a team of people to survive instead of going into survival mode as a lone wolf.
A lone wolf is someone who takes on a disaster scenario by themselves. Lone wolf preppers are highly-skilled individuals who have been preparing themselves to survive in a major disaster scenario. Typically, they have an evacuation plan and bug-out location, ample emergency food, best way to store water long term, ready in preparing for hyperinflation and other means for survival on their own.
The opposite of a lone wolf would be a survival community. Survival communities are groups of people who have agreed to work together and pool resources and skills in order to survive unprecedented disaster scenarios. Currently, survival communities in the USA are prepping for the worst possible scenario.
The advantage that prepper communities have over lone wolves is two-fold.
In a survival community where you rely on other people beyond just yourself and your immediate family, you get to benefit from a consolidation of efforts. In other words, multiple people can contribute smaller amounts of work to achieve an outcome that benefits the entire prepper compound.
For example, you can more easily fortify your bug-out location with a group of preppers working in unison. You can consolidate your efforts to achieve an outcome that benefits everyone. On the other hand, lone wolves must accomplish the task alone, which will take much more time and energy.
In a survival community, you also can benefit from compounding efforts. Compounding efforts is the idea that multiple people can accomplish exponentially more than fewer people. In other words, the whole of a survival community is greater than the sum of its individual preppers.
For example, suppose you need to relocate your emergency food buckets to a more secure location. In that case, you can do so more efficiently with a larger unified team instead of a handful of people or small families.
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Not only do you have more hands, but you may also have resources like carts or wheelbarrows and additional eyes for security. It’s not uncommon to feel like prepping is taboo. We’ve talked with many preppers who have been nervous to publicly discuss their prepping efforts. For that reason, many preppers are isolated from one another and sometimes struggle to find a prepper community.
However, we have found that the more you share about your prepping worldview, the more like-minded people you come across. Suddenly, a
network of preppers comes out of the woodwork, and finding a survival community becomes easier.
When looking for survival, the best thing you can do is rely on your current relationships. Therefore, we recommend that you get to know the people around you. The best place to start is with your neighbors and extended family members, because in the event of an emergency, it’s the people closest to you that become the most essential.
We recommend that you: Building a sense of fellowship is vital to the success of your survival community. A close-knit group will always do better than a group that is distanced from one another, does not trust one another, or is constantly in conflict.
A sense of community has four components: One of the most effective ways to build a sense of community is to highlight each individual's skills, and to create a clear outline of how everyone fits together in terms of how they are actively helping the group.
A survival community is much better off when it’s compiled of individuals with diverse backgrounds and a wide set of skills. Typically, the more people you can bring together, the better, because of what they can each bring to the table regarding skills and resources.
Veterans and current military personnel can also bring valuable skills to your prepper community. Their expertise in high-stress scenarios, leadership, communication skills, and logistical outlook can benefit a prepper community when SHTF.
Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. They often know the
best places to live off the grid. Homesteaders’ lives are characterized by subsistence agriculture, animal husbandry, with
best survival foods, small-scale textiles production, and other craftwork, along with other survival skills such as hunting, fishing, and trapping. In a survival scenario, scientists, engineers, and doctors have crucial skills. These individuals are brilliant critical thinkers and problem solvers. They may be able to offer medical expertise, fix a broken machine, or advise on how to treat water to make it safe for human consumption.
You never know when disaster may strike.
Preparing for civil unrest, natural disasters, or nuclear war may seem far-fetched, but disasters like these pose real threats to our livelihoods. That is why it’s so important to be prepared for the unexpected and know how to operate when SHTF.
Ultimately, the success of a prepper community boils down to trust, unflinching teamwork, and a clear delegation of roles and responsibilities.
Once SHTF and you consolidate your team of preppers who have survived, the first thing you will need to do is delegate responsibilities. In an ideal scenario, you’ve already talked about these roles with your community members ahead of time.
Preparing in advance can be the difference that allows your prepper community to thrive and not just survive. Below you find some of the most critical roles every survival community should have.
Food and water are necessities for survival, but there’s more to it than just knowing where to find the
freeze dried beef. If you do not have sufficient food and water, your prepper community will not survive for long, no matter how well organized. The nutrition and water managers in your community are responsible for answering questions such as: SHTF events can be highly stressful. Because of the stress, there is bound to be conflict amongst team members or between two different survival communities. For that reason, having a mediator is essential. When selecting a mediator, we recommend you come up with answers to the following questions.
Preparing for a disaster scenario takes a lot of work. Most expert preppers work year-round to slowly accumulate resources, learn new skills, and devise plans for various possible scenarios. But the strategic planning doesn’t stop after SHTF. To thrive and not just survive, your
prepper community will need a strategic planner to stay ahead of the game and keep things organized. When designating a strategic planner position, consider the following.
When it comes to surviving a disaster scenario, we strongly believe in the value of a prepper community. In a group, you can pool necessary resources and rely on one another’s expertise and skills to not only survive, but thrive.
If you are just getting started with prepping, take a look at our
prepping for beginners guide. If you have any questions or want to
speak with an expert,
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Building a Prepper Community
How Do You Find a Survival Community?
Building a Sense of Community Without a Prepper Compound
Defining Skills Needed in Your Community
First Responders
First responders can be significant assets to a prepper community. They have a host of skills that can be useful in a disaster scenario.
Veterans or Current Military
Homesteaders
Scientists, Engineers, and Doctors
How A Survival Community Operates During a SHTF Event
Survival Community Responsibilities
Nutrition and Water Manager
The Medic
In survival scenarios, it is not uncommon to deal with sickness and injuries. For that reason, your survival community must have a doctor or medic. However, when it comes to assigning the role of the medic, it’s essential to consider the following.
The Mediator
The Engineer
During disaster scenarios, things break. And depending on the state of the world, it's probably safe to assume that no one is coming to fix it. For that reason, you will have to fix it yourself. That is why having an engineer in your prepper community can be invaluable. These individuals can repair essential equipment when it breaks. They may even be able to fabricate new equipment because purchasing new things in stores is unreliable.
The Strategic Planner
Finishing Thoughts: There’s No Perfect Group
When it comes to
survival communities, there are no perfect groups. We are all humans, and humans make mistakes. Surviving in your prepper community will be hard work. To make it through, your community will have to focus on the following four assets: