Each one has their pros and cons when looking at solo vs group.
Solo allows the person to do whatever he or his family sees fit and there is not any chance of disagreements with others, but it does put the entire onus of prepping and maintaining a property on just one or two people.
A group has more to work with in terms of division of labour but the hardest part of a group is in making sure that everyone gets along with everyone else. I don’t mean in a communal type living arrangement but rather with each family having their own property (acreage) people would still have to interact with other members of the co-op, for lack of a better word, and that interaction can and often is the start of dissent.
What I foresee, or actually foresaw when I was trying to put together a group, was buying a large piece of property (over 150 acres,) which included a lake and selling affordable parcels of 5 or 10 acres of waterfront and retaining a large non-waterfront piece for the grazing of communal livestock and what was needed for their upkeep.
What I envisioned was up to 10 families being part of the co-op and everyone having their own acreage, which included some waterfront, and each family being able to do their own thing other than to “donate” X number of hours per week to helping tend the communal livestock etc.
I was able to get a couple of families that wanted to be part of the group but never enough to actually make it worthwhile to continue so I let the property go.

Basic survival few weeks is doable but probably for far less people than think they could achieve this. In the long term groups are a perquisite for both survival and some form of recovery.

There are some members of this forum that have already formed or are part of a group and there are other who are in that process. However, I would suspect by are the majority of members are not currently members of a group. There has been a lot of discussion on this topic in the forum, much of it location based. I think that an general discussion on the topic is a excellent idea and could be very useful to those new to prepping.

Watch the AB forums in the spring as we have regular meetings and some naturally aligned people have formed some casual groups from that. We have people from all over southern AB and from many different backgrounds so check out the AB threads and sift through the many pages of topics. Pay attention to who says what and what they focus on; then when you meet some of us in person, you'll have an idea of our ideals and perspectives ahead of time.

welcome!

Hey, MLP. Any military man should understand that there is no such thing as an army of one. I, personaly, would say that you dont even have to like the people in your group. The important part is that there is the level of maturity that you all work together well and support each other no matter wether you like each other or not

Hey, MLP. Any military man should understand that there is no such thing as an army of one. I, personaly, would say that you dont even have to like the people in your group. The important part is that there is the level of maturity that you all work together well and support each other no matter wether you like each other or not

Precisely.

My career path and trades were all very objective oriented. There were quite a few people I didn't get along with, but they still did their job and we got the tasking completed.

Now back to the question nobody has answered;

How would you organize and execute such a plan?

Just saying that you'll get all your ducks in a row when it happens will result in a much weaker/slower/ineffective group than preparing ahead of time. Contrary to common belief, building up a prepper group takes a lot of work to accomplish, you have the optimal formation, the common formation and the sub-optimal formation. I prefer the optimal formation where there is a commonality of support, training and goals to consider as well as the compliment of skill sets.

Even after you have the group planned, the gear is all interchangeable, you know what your mates will do when the chips are down and you know where you're headed strategically and tactically, there is still the rest of society's remnants to encounter and deal with. You may plan for your group to be a set size and allow for attrition, but what about integration of individuals or other groups? How will you handle being integrated yourselves? What is your plan for initial contact with other groups? Do you fight? Parley?

Again, you, the prepper community will be the cornerstone of rebuilding society, if it comes to total breakdown, or in the case of a stutter, you will be there to help hold up the walls until the help arrives.

I learned a little alliterative passage while doing some work with the US DoD... They call it the "seven P principle"

Proper
Planning &
Preparation
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Performance

They love their acronyms, lemme tell ya. And it works.

-S.

Here is the bad news. Trying to organise preppers is like trying to herd cats. This has been my main goal for almost 2 years. 100 and 1 false starts and heart breaks. Ive come out of it with a couple other prepper friends and thats all. Ill beggin my 5th attempts soon. Just taking some recovery time. Unfortunately I consider this as the single most valuable prep on wich all other preps stand or fall. If I form a group, I survive. If I dont...I dont. You will have better luck in alberta. I have a small pond to fish from.
My first advice would be...Forget all the Alfa Team Warrior crap. You really have to take what you can get and just foster their best atributes. My Moto has become." If all else fails...lower your standards" A middle aged fat lady with 20 chickens is as valuable as a sniper that doesnt know how to garden. A sales geek that know how to tune a corborater and his waitress girlfriend means you can get a few hours sleep at night. I would rather have almost anyone that I KNOW is going to show up over a special forces medic that thinks he is something special and you cant count on him being all in.

Here is the bad news. Trying to organise preppers is like trying to herd cats. This has been my main goal for almost 2 years. 100 and 1 false starts and heart breaks. Ive come out of it with a couple other prepper friends and thats all. Ill beggin my 5th attempts soon. Just taking some recovery time. Unfortunately I consider this as the single most valuable prep on wich all other preps stand or fall. If I form a group, I survive. If I dont...I dont. You will have better luck in alberta. I have a small pond to fish from.
My first advice would be...Forget all the Alfa Team Warrior crap. You really have to take what you can get and just foster their best atributes. My Moto has become." If all else fails...lower your standards" A middle aged fat lady with 20 chickens is as valuable as a sniper that doesnt know how to garden. A sales geek that know how to tune a corborater and his waitress girlfriend means you can get a few hours sleep at night. I would rather have almost anyone that I KNOW is going to show up over a special forces medic that thinks he is something special and you cant count on him being all in.

Okay right off the top I have to get this off of my chest...

Herding cats! That's hilarious! I'm gonna steal that one. 😉

As for Alberta being a bigger pond, since I don't know your location, I'll have to take your word for it. You are right about your group being the single most important prep. But don't sell that middle aged fat lady short, she might surprise you, big time. I have been very impressed with the what "regular" people can do time and again. So really, you don't lower your standards as much as alter them. I have first hand experience that mind set is 80% of the game.

As for the Special Forces medic, if he said he'll show up but doesn't... go find his body. If they say they're gonna show, they either show or are dead.

I may have given the wrong impression about the topic. I'm less talking about the who and am more interested in getting folks to think about the how. Getting a good group together is certainly not easy, but keeping it together and making it effective can be just as difficult. I just put what my fields were in the post to illustrate that I am not Captain do everything. Sure I can sew up a cut, field triage and stabilize a gun shot wound for CAS EVAC or put in an IV, but I am still not a doctor! I was trying to show that everybody in a group should have a role, a complimentary set of skills to help and a common set of skills to pull their weight, as it were.

What I would really be looking for isn't necessarily a SEAL team, but people who want to learn together, can plan ahead, problem solve and act. You don't need a troop of SAS for that, you need people who are interested and want to succeed. I am by no means an elitist. Very few guys where I come from are, they can't afford to be that stupid!

-S.

Hey, MLP. Any military man should understand that there is no such thing as an army of one. I, personaly, would say that you dont even have to like the people in your group. The important part is that there is the level of maturity that you all work together well and support each other no matter wether you like each other or not

Well being ex Millitary I can say depending on what is going on that could be vary rong. If things have gone nutters then anyone with less skill could not only slow you down but could also get you killed in an offence/defence issue.
Having people around that you dont trust with your life is a bad idea and even worst haveing them around your loved ones.

Out here.. its going solo in a group. Sound confusing? Not really. 🙂

We are each doing our own thing on our own land and compliment each others on skills.

Let me start at the beginning and how it was brought about. It took a couple years of getting to really know each other.
Learning each others ways and nature of the person (people) and what we each did and attitudes and is there is respect and responsibility.
Are they go getters or those that will sit back and watch the next one work...this we have learned over the years. Are they hot heads or willing to employ common sense?
Do they pitch in now to help those that need help or ignore?

There is so much that needs to be established before anyone was willing to say anything, as it should be.
After all, we all know loose lips sink ships..right? 🙂

Once trust was made firm by each other we all started to put our toe in the water, so to speak, we related a little more on what we were doing.
Still all being careful about runnin our mouths. 😉

Turns out several of us were already well into prepping for a long time and had already established certain 'things'. It was already way of life so to speak.

Many hunters that live in between the first and furthest person, that's in this group. All agree that when the time came the main roads would be shut down. A few different types of farmers and loggers with said useful machinery, in that span also.

It appears we have all different ages and all do different 'things'. It all completes a circle, so to speak. From sawmillers, to welders, to teachers, to health pros, to bakers, etc..

Now about age...never look down on that.
There is an elderly fella that can take machines a part, I am sure blindfolded, and put back together. His son is only 2nd to him, he has learned well. 🙂

There are many of us old farts that has much knowledge, then those that are younger, that haven't had the chance to learn yet. That can be very helpful, specially in educating the youngsters.

And no its not all about who has what gun or how much amo, etc..tho yes, it's important to have such.

But if you are at a lose what to do after you stop whatever comes...then what?
How do you get more food, saving seeds to ensure more food for the next years coming, breeding of animals, slaughtering and preserving, making clothing, teaching of kids, making more amo and different weapons, taking care of mechanical machinery, making tools, repairs on buildings, etc.
You need all types and ages of people that know how to do these things.

All this starts with trust and that takes time. Once you know that trust is there, the respect comes into play, you are freed to further plans.

So guess what I am trying to say..never discount those around you that you might have known for years and never base it on age.
Even a youngster can reload a rifle while you are shooting! 😉

Take the time to really get to know people that you want to trust your loved ones with and don't rush into things. It could make all the difference in the end.

I hope I made some kind of sense, cause this migraine is not helping, but I wanted to say this for a while now.

Good luck on forming your 'circle.' 🙂

Excellent advice. One of the problems I am finding is people who are commited to this... to the idea of developing a group and building. There are a few...but very few. Many seem to be sunshine preppers.

JAB

Excellent advice. One of the problems I am finding is people who are commited to this... to the idea of developing a group and building. There are a few...but very few. Many seem to be sunshine preppers.

JAB

Thanks JAB.
I like to share what has happened to me thru life. Gives others a better idea maybe...?

I took years to get where we (circle) are. Made some friends with a few of the folks, but always sat back and watched what they did with their lives first. How they treated others. Never said much really, but asked advice on normal day to day things, every now and again. Basically to see what they would come out with or if the gossipy type. 😉

Then one day a guy came down to do a service that was urgently needed. I had never met this person before, even with all the years I lived here.
I had put out a call for help with taken big trees (bad leaners) down that were a danger of taken out my one coop.
He even bucked it all up instead of leaving them there in the way!
I asked how much...? He said nothing, glad to help.

So it ended up I got him to do other work but paid him by bartering. He was more then happy about that.
Took about 1 yr before I trusted enough to say anything to him, but did in that time, talk about currents events and such and got his views on them. Also got his views on family as well. which were all good.
So right there that told me a lot about said person.

Another year I got stuck in my driveway....many feet of snow. Someone came down and plowed it out. Never would accept a $ for it. He let me in on his and his wive's secret after awhile. He started 'preaching to the choir' (me) about being prepared with extra stuff at home, but he didn't know that I had been for years already. lol

And from there it went further, cause both would referred someone else to me but was all left up to me to decide to say anything or not.

That's the other part of this circle. No one tells the other exact what that person they are referring has or doing, that is left totally up to the other person.
So I guess one could say no tattle tails either about what someone else told you.

TAB, its the start that is very hard to get going cause no one wants to give it away what they are doing or have.
Again thats where trust comes in. Once you can trust someone you know they will not go shoot off their months either by running and telling someone else. Even if its to another trusted person.

Also I think another thing is, that people that are already somewhat settled, they don't want to go some where else. They have done preps, they have gardens, made housing for critters, etc.. To start all over again and with someone they don't really know, it can be very daunting.

I have heard ppl doing this and got stuck without anything so many are more leery as well.
Its not easy to pull up your life for what you are not sure will happen either.

And yes you have the armchair preppers as well. May have good intentions but no way to do it when it comes time to do so.

It does take time talking with people about daily things to see what they think of a lot of things and how they react to those things you talk about.

I have watched ppl on different boards and after a several months, I say: oh no would not want so and so when the shtf.
Others I say: dang to bad they are so far away sure would like to get to know them better.
Even that can fool you cause I offered shelter to one family if they were stuck and I kept watching, only to find out it would never have worked.

Its like weeding a garden that has just coming up. Do you take out this little plant or is it a weed?
It all takes time and careful watching to make sure you do pull the wrong one out. 🙂

You make good pionts. Depending on what happens a group could work not for myself but maybe for some. I consider the possibility of 1 other family no more. I guess my issue has always been the fact that if things that I belive will happen (natural disaster) do and are not global and stay fairly localized then it may just be a matter of waiting it out a few years and living the way we all used to, not to difficult, if it is getting bad then staying at the house is not going to happen, staying dug in, In the typical home/farm etc... wont work! and moving around to stay undtected would be impossible in a large group Staying put in a large group or moving ether way your a soft target and easy to hunt.
I guess it really depends on what happens if it happens in are lifetime.

Absolutely well said Gardener!