I read this and reposted here So after reading it what are you thoughts on it? Anything you may need to change with your security set up?
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“I am the leader of a band of 8-to-12 looters. I have some basic military training. We move from place to place like locusts devouring everything in our path. My group is armed with light weapons and can develop and follow simple plans of attack. We take what we want by force of arms. We prefer none of our victims survive because that could cause problems for us in the future.
It has been six months since the grid went down. You and the other five members of your party have settled into what may be a long grinding existence. The every day tasks of growing and gathering have now become routine. The news from the outside is extremely limited but you don’t really miss it much. Life is simple but physically demanding.
Although things may seem stable you will need to keep your team focused and alert. This is your first and most important layer of defense. You should hold an immediate reaction drill once per week. Keep things simple. Practice a specific response to such threats as injury, fire, attack and evacuation. Despite the challenges you must maintain contact with those around you such as neighbors for vital clues that trouble is brewing. Regular monitoring the radio will be critical in providing an early warning of trouble. You may be able to safely interview refugees with risking your party. Keep in mind the information you get from them may not always be reliable.
While you have been farming I have been learning the best tactics to employ to seize your property and your goods. I have been refining them since we hit the road right after the lights went out. I have conducted eight “hits” so far and have been successful seven times. Here are some of my “lessons learned”.
Intelligence gathering and target selection is critical to my success. Targets include those who have large quantities of fuel, food and other valuable supplies. My posse is constantly questioning anyone and everyone we contact searching for this our next victim. Anyone who has ever had knowledge, even second hand, of your preparations is someone of interest to me. I may approach them directly or indirectly. If anyone knows something I will find out about it. Who seems well-fed? Who still has transportation? Who has lights? Who was prepared? Where are they exactly? Somebody talks, either in person or on the radio. They always do.
We search for victims night and day. During the day we are listening for the sounds of machinery, cars, tractors, gunfire or generators. Day or night without a lot of wind those sounds can carry for miles. At night I look for any sort of light. Even a small flash indicates somebody with electricity and that means a rich target. I always have somebody listing to the scanner for any news, leads or insecure chatter.
Operational Security (OPSEC) is an important concept for your entire group to understand and maintain. If somebody outside your circle doesn’t have a real need to know about your plans, preparations or procedures then they shouldn’t know period. Develop a cover story and live it like was a bulletproof vest. It is no less important to your protection and survival. During an event you need to blend in with the surrounding environment. Carefully observe noise (such as generators and other engines) and light discipline especially at night. If you need to test fire weapons do it in one sequence to avoid a prolonged noise signature.
Once I find and target you reconnaissance of your retreat is my next step. Only a fool would try to rush in and try to overwhelm a group of “survivalists”. We had a bad experience with that during our second hit. Now we spend at least a day or two trying to size up a large opportunity and the best way to take it down. I will observe retreat activity from a nearby-concealed position. I will get an idea of your numbers, weapons, routines and so much more by careful surreptitious observation. If your group seems alert, I will try and trigger a false alarm with a dog or child to watch your reaction to a threat. That helps me know how you respond, where you are strong and how to attack. I may also obtain a topographical map of the area to identify likely avenues of approach and potential escapes routes you will try to use. I may coerce your neighbors into uncovering a weak spot or access point or other important intelligence. I also have a Bearcat handheld scanner. I will be listening for any insecure chatter from your radios.
Regular patrols at irregular intervals focused on likely observation points and avenues of approach could keep me at bay. You could put down sand or other soft soil in key choke points as a way of “recording” if anyone has recently traveled through the land. Dogs, with their advanced sense of hearing and smell are able to detect and alert you to intruders well in advance of any human. Motion sensing IR video cameras as a part of a security plan could play a part in your layered defense as long as you have power. A 24 hour manned observation point equipped with high quality optical tools is a must. It should be fortified and if possible concealed. It should have a weapon capable of reaching to the edges of your vision. Seismic intrusion devices, night vision and thermal imaging are phenomenal force multiplying tools. They can give you critical intelligence and warning. You should use them if you have them. Understand they are not fool proof and I can often neutralize them if I know you have them.
These tools and techniques provide you reaction time. Time to plan your response and time to execute that plan. Recognize that a “defender” is always at a disadvantage. By definition a defender will be reacting to my attack. Modern warfare has emphasized the ability of the attacker to operate faster than opponents can react. This can be explained by the OODA loop. Below are the four steps of the classic OODA loop. These are the steps a defender goes through when under attack.
1. Observing or noticing the attack.
2. Orient to the direction, method and type of attack.
3. Deciding what the appropriate response will be.
4. Acting on that decision.
As an attacker I will try and operate at a pace faster than you as a defender can adjust to. I will change my direction, pace, timing and method to force you to continue to process through the OODA loop. This creates confusion and wastes your precious reaction time. As a defender you will need to disrupt or reset your attackers timing with a counter-attack. When you are successful you become the attacker. Your defensive plans should utilize and exploit this concept. Here are a few scenarios:
1. Snipe & Siege
I will begin the attack when I can engage at least half of your party’s military age personnel in one coordinated effort. I will infiltrate my team into concealed positions around your retreat within 50 to 75 yards. I will target any identified leadership with the first volley. Two thirds of my people will be engaging personnel. The other group will target communications antennas, surveillance cameras and any visible lighting assets. I want your group unable to see, communicate or call for help. The members of my band will each fire two magazines in the initial exchange. Two thirds of my group will change to new concealed positions and wait. One third will fall back into an ambush of the most likely avenue of escape. We will stay concealed and wait until you come out to attend to your wounded and dead. We repeat the attack as necessary until any resistance is crushed.
Ensure you adjust the landscape around your retreat so that I don’t have anyplace offering cover or concealment within 100 yards of your residence. You can create decorative masonry walls that can be used to offer cover for personnel close to your residence. Fighting positions can be built now and used as raised planting beds and then excavated for use in the future. These can be extended or reinforced after any significant event. These structures or other measures such as trenching must be sited carefully to avoid allowing them to be used effectively by an attacker if they are overrun.
2. Trojan Horse
For one hit we used an old UPS truck. We forced a refugee to drive it to the retreat gate. We concealed half our group inside the truck. The truck was hardened on the inside with some sandbags around the edges. The other half of our group formed an ambush concealed inside the tree line along the driveway. We killed the driver to make it look good and had one person run away. Those preppers almost waited us out. After nearly three hours they all walked slowly down the driveway. They were bunched up in a group intent on checking out the truck and driver. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.
They could have worked together as group to sweep the area 360 degrees around the truck and they would have surely found us. A dog would have also alerted the residents to our presence. They could have taken measures to eliminate the vegetation offering us concealment on the road near the gate. They could have used CS gas or something similar to “deny” any suspicious areas. Lastly they could have done a “reconnaissance by fire”. Shooting into likely hiding spots, including the truck, trying to evoke a response. They should have established an over watch position with the majority of their group. This over watch group would have provided visual security and an immediate response if there were an attack. They were not expecting any additional threats. They didn’t consider that there might be additional danger lurking nearby aside from the truck and they died
.
3. Kidnap & Surrender
A few weeks ago we surprised and captured a couple of women out tending a garden. It was totally by chance. We were traveling through a very rural area on our way to another town when somebody heard a tractor backfire. We immediately stopped and I sent a small team to recon the noise. They bumped into a small party tending a field at the edge of their retreat. They seized two women and immediately dragged them back to our vehicles. We began negotiations by sending a finger from each one back to the retreat under a white flag. The rest was easy.
This didn’t need to happen. Better noise discipline would have kept us from discovering their retreat. Some simple boundary fencing or tangle foot could have delayed us. The women should have been armed and aware of such a threat. If they has established an over watch for the garden they could have engaged us before we took our hostages or at least alerted the others that there was a problem. They also could have had a quick reaction SOP developed prior to this incident. That Quick Reaction (QR) force could have followed the kidnappers back to our vehicles and set up an ambush of their own. Rural retreat security is a full time job. If you snooze you may lose everything.
4. Fire and Maneuver
I don’t like this option but sometimes the prize is just too tempting. We typically infiltrate quietly at night to prearranged start points. We begin our attack just before dawn when your senses are dulled by a long night watch or from sleep. Based on our reconnaissance we divided your retreat into positions or zones that need specific attention. We prepare for battle by using an air rifle to target any lights or cameras. Our first priority is to engage any LP/OP site and destroy or degrade them as much as possible. I split my forces into two supporting groups. One group keeps the target position under constant fire. The other group also fires and maneuvers, closing on the target and destroying it with gunfire or improvised weapons. Many times these positions only have one occupant and the task is relatively easy. Often these positions are easy to spot and are too far from each other to provide any effective mutual support. We will work from one position to the next. In the darkness and confusion most of the defenders are disoriented and ineffective. They fall like dominos. We have also used motorcycles to negotiate obstacles and speed through cuts in the perimeter fence. Then throw Molotov Cocktails into any defensive position as they roar past. If you fall back into your residence we will set up a siege. If we can maneuver close enough, perhaps by using a distraction, we will pump concentrated insecticide into your building or we may introduce LP gas from a portable tank into the house and ignite it with tracer fire.
If there was enough warning time from your OP you could execute a pre-planned response. Your planned response should be simple, easy to understand and execute. Half your group occupies your fighting positions, two to a position. The rest of your party establishes an over watch and concentrate its fire at the enemies trying to fix your positions. If you had more than enough prepared positions the enemy might not know where to attack. It would also provide more flexibility in your defense based on the direction of attack. I would use Night Vision if available or illumination from flares or lights as a last resort. Rats hate light.
Usually people keep main access points blocked from high-speed approach. Likely avenues of approach should also be blocked or choked and kept under observation. Remember though what keeps me out keeps you in. Typically the common techniques of parking vehicles in roadways will only delay my approach not stop it altogether. An ordinary 12-gauge shotgun, shooting slugs, can stop most types of non-military vehicles at close range.
Don’t forget the threat of fire or other non-traditional weapons in your defensive plans.
You could create the illusion of a “dead end” for your main access road by positioning a burned out trailer home or a couple of burned out cars at the false “end” of the road. Concealing the fact that the road actually continues to your residence.
Lastly, develop a plan to evacuate and evade capture. When faced with a significantly superior force it may be the only viable option. This should include simple, reliable communications or signals such as three blasts on a dog whistle. Your fighting positions and barriers need to be constructed to allow coordinated withdrawal in an emergency. You should establish a rally point and time limit to assemble. I believe this should be a priority in your practice drills. During a real emergency you may be able to rally, rearm and plan your own version of the “snipe and siege” to retake your retreat.
Key messages:
Your rural retreat defense can be visualized as a set of concentric rings:
* Location – Location – Location: High and remote are best
* OPSEC – Think of it as a form of armor or shield: Practice it and protect it.
* Observation Post / Listening Post: Your first best chance to counter attack
* Gates / Fences / other barriers: May slow me down. Might keep you in.
* Fighting positions: Must provide mutual support and allow for evacuation.
* Residence: Last line. Don’t become trapped
* People, Planning and Practice
Remember:
* An aggressive and unexpected counter strike can win the battle.
* Stay alert for multiple threats or diversionary tactics.
* Criminals excel at feigning weakness to lower your guard.
Don’t underestimate me.”
- See more at: http://shtfschool.com/forums/topic/i-am-your-worst-nightmare/#sthash.gjq0L4ea.dpuf
A great choice of article (and title)to present here. Wakes a pepper up from a slumber like a kick to the knackers!~
The thing I hate most when reading this is knowing that someday I may have to replay this story in my mind to better understand on how to deal with a prick like that. Seems one would have to go Jeremiah Johnson on his a$$ to end his reign of terror(as long as you weren't first on his shopping list when he hit your vicinity).
Again, it seems better to be a big fish in a little pond than to be a little fish in a big pond...meaning the chance of being a little fish is greater where there is more population. Folks would tend to be less trusting and therefore less organized. Folks up here would be less pressed to have to go Rambo and therefore work together as they always have. When we get a heavy snowfall(which is quite often), folks with plows just start plowing and work out the costs of who owes who later.
Years back, a new couple to the area left their 4 year old outside alone for too long and she had wondered off into the bush. Now much of our forests have never been cut and goes on for many miles in most directions without any roads intersecting. The whole town shut down and walked every inch of the area until she was found some 12 hours later. No wasting time organizing and dickering over who is in charge, just action! It's worked this way so far and I can't see it ending soon. Hopefully that group mentality and help from local trappers would end the reign terror such as those you presented from existing long in this world.
The article seems focused around defending a remote compound. That will always be a crapshoot.
Not a fan of bugging out. Living in the city, by the time raiding parties get that organized, the surviving population will already be organized enough to squash them. Strength in numbers.
Not to say city-dwellers won't face danger, but it's likely to be much less militaristic than outlined above. The challenge lies in hiding until systems reestablish. If they don't, well...
Capt,
I would argue that big cities would be worse. When people are tired, thirsty, hungry they can do crazy things. Most people don't have more than a few days worth of food at home so things are more likely to turn to heck in a hand basket. Add that most cities already have gangs, police officers may desert to look after their own, then you have the receipe for unrest.
I would say that small towns 300-3000 people, in a country setting can probably fare best. Once you start having issues with raiding gangs, a small village can probably organize a militia of sort to protect against raiders. The average village folks may or may not have stored resources, but is more likely to bond together and work out a plan : security, farming/gardening, water distribution, etc. I don't think that cities can come up with these without power struggles.
And you are right, the small group of 6 adults living in a resource-rich homestead, looking like they are striving is just calling for trouble and making themselves a target. Maintaining 24/7 security while homesteading would likely demand more than 6 adults.
Capt,
I would argue that big cities would be worse. When people are tired, thirsty, hungry they can do crazy things. Most people don't have more than a few days worth of food at home so things are more likely to turn to heck in a hand basket. Add that most cities already have gangs, police officers may desert to look after their own, then you have the receipe for unrest.
I would say that small towns 300-3000 people, in a country setting can probably fare best. Once you start having issues with raiding gangs, a small village can probably organize a militia of sort to protect against raiders. The average village folks may or may not have stored resources, but is more likely to bond together and work out a plan : security, farming/gardening, water distribution, etc. I don't think that cities can come up with these without power struggles.
And you are right, the small group of 6 adults living in a resource-rich homestead, looking like they are striving is just calling for trouble and making themselves a target. Maintaining 24/7 security while homesteading would likely demand more than 6 adults.
I don't disagree with that assessment in a no-resources scenario. But I think a low-resources scenario is more likely. In a city such as Calgary, even if the Walmarts ran dry, there would still be basic food in outlying areas (cattle, crops, etc). Possibly paradrops of rations landing here and there as well.
Since people are conditioned to take what they're given, I think they'll stand in line Soviet-style for crappy rations rather than automatically start kicking down doors.
The population will be weak and miserable, and there will most definitely be crime. But I expect more of a slum than an outright warzone.
I don't disagree with that assessment in a no-resources scenario. But I think a low-resources scenario is more likely. In a city such as Calgary, even if the Walmarts ran dry, there would still be basic food in outlying areas (cattle, crops, etc). Possibly paradrops of rations landing here and there as well.
Since people are conditioned to take what they're given, I think they'll stand in line Soviet-style for crappy rations rather than automatically start kicking down doors.
The population will be weak and miserable, and there will most definitely be crime. But I expect more of a slum than an outright warzone.
Tut Tut...it's that "help is coming" premiss that stops folks from reacting properly in a major crisis. Most preppers plan for that "what if" scenario and include "positive" outside influence as a bonus only. Presumption can place you and yours in danger far quicker than taking too many precautions ever will.
Having food supplies outside the city is good but caution approaching as many likely will have beat you to the thought and rustlers were likely the first on that list too! Supply and demand and the greedy always seem to take the lead!
Tut Tut...it's that "help is coming" premiss that stops folks from reacting properly in a major crisis. Most preppers plan for that "what if" scenario and include "positive" outside influence as a bonus only. Presumption can place you and yours in danger far quicker than taking too many precautions ever will.
Regardless of whether the remaining food is served up in neat packages with "Canada Loves You" on the label, I still believe people will gravitate to those resources. Think about it: if you know there's food in the surrounding country, are you going to pack up and go there, or risk your life attacking random homes that probably ran out of food when you did?
Well I think the thing is to continually think up more ideas of how to avoid being a target in whichever scenario
someone chooses. Be it: very Remote / Rural / semi rural close to city / in city ; and whether you are going to bug in or bug out .
If we try to think how we would find supplies if we had none, so as to think like the people that would be takers,
it would occur to many to first raid walmart , grocery stores, convenience stores, drug stores, canadian tire, sears, shoe stores, 2nd hand stores, etc.
It would be hit / miss what they will find in peoples homes. The people next door to me only keep 3 days at most of any type of supply.
So as time goes on , the supplies in peoples houses might be assumed to be used up. One would have to act like they
had nothing , because eventually they will come, to find out what you do have.
So I think we need ideas of how to hide long term supplies on your property so that if someone does invade and take,
they only see and get a small amount of this / that, and in the process they should think you don't have any more.
So that survival library needs to be hidden also, if they see that, they will know you have more somewhere.
An outside underground bunker sounds expensive. And how long before the neighbors know you have a bunker.
If you have a farm with hens, rabbits, and fields of food, would you be more of a target
than someone with no garden? I'm not saying don't have a garden, but I'm starting
to think tall fences so your garden is not on open display , and your generator is not seen and other stuff you have.
Yes your generator could be heard, but you could leave it off for most of the time, and only turn it on 2 hours a day
or wait it out long term before turning it on for emergency. But you do want to keep what you have hidden.
In places in african Continent they come to those houses to round up slaves, to steal what is worth anything. you think here it would be different in long term hardship?
there where cases of cannibalism
look what happens in a few years of turmoil
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=658_1397649000
It is not my purpose to alarm people, but please dont do around with blinders on.
it is also a call to find a community and build real ties now while things are good for when things get tough. No person is an island unto themselves.
to me there is no doubt there will have more raider than actual prepper , in particular on big city
it also one reason has prepper you dont tell out loud that you are , and that you have some reserve of food
discretion is the much warmer blanket for prepper
in some country it cheaper to buy an AK-47 than an apple , so they buy the AK and then go steal the apple
i think this post its good to open eyes to some prepper that arent prepare to any violent action against them
has military i seen by my own eyes how mankind turn evil to their neighbour wen they are hopeless and starving
chaos generate more and more chaotic situation
organised criminal are stealth on our actualy civilisation , on apocalypse scenario they will be more numerous and more organised and certainly more violent
DELETED
Whatever tomorrow brings,… I will be there! 😉
The pics of Afghanistan are a sad reminder of how little we humans truly help one another.....
"It is easy to do a kindness when there is little expense to you" ....."but far greater will be a kindness offered when one cannot afford to pay!"
(Seems Somebody just whispered that into my brain) 😮
I am trying to set up courses to teach people how to defend against just such a threat.
-S.
"It's not what you have, but what you have done".
-S.
This post honestly made me LOL. Nobody on here wants to talk unless it is about guns and military tactics. And NONE of those people can be bothered to show up to an outting, because it is "too cold", yet these people think they can organize a proper defense against raiders and canibals. Ridiculous. Lot of talkers on here. Hate to break it to you, but if u cant handle the elements then no way in Hell can you handle humans that are desprate and starving.
This post honestly made me LOL. Nobody on here wants to talk unless it is about guns and military tactics. And NONE of those people can be bothered to show up to an outting, because it is "too cold", yet these people think they can organize a proper defense against raiders and canibals. Ridiculous. Lot of talkers on here. Hate to break it to you, but if u cant handle the elements then no way in Hell can you handle humans that are desprate and starving.
Keep in mind that half these raiders and cannibals are currently couch potatoes as well. Even those with military experience (no offense) aren't, I believe, fully prepared for the realities of such a situation. So to say that a force of Arnold Schwarzeneggers will paradrop onto your house and you'll be woefully inadequate against them, is largely fantasy in my opinion. Most of the threats you'll face won't be so extraordinary.