Wow, I would think anyone who would think to capitalize on such a list might be missing the point that serious preppers don't reveal everything and have things in place that would thwart such activity . Things are not always what they appear to be .

A hypothetical story... Please read and consider the possibilities.

Hypothetically... 6 months ago, a search warrant was executed in a suburban city. A cache of ammunition and weapons were seized. Along with those items, a laptop with some interesting literature was seized. The data revealed several nerve racking things.

The hypothetical accused person wrote of training techniques and how he would use his arsenal to aquire goods such as food, water and weapons from preppers. The hard drive also revealed a list of people who were serious Preppers. The investigating officer, hypothetically tracked down some of the peppers and verified information contained in said files.

Needless to say... If this hypothetical story has any possibilities of being remotely true, one must ponder for a moment and ask themselves, "how many people know about my prepping?" "Have I revealed too much about myself in a forum or website?"

Now I do not want to cause panic amongst Preppers, I would just like them to perhaps give more thought to situational awareness and the totality of what they are doing. If your goal is truly survival, then you must add in some of that secret squirrel training or knowledge and keep a level head when deciding exactly what you will be posting. ich is wayy

Myself, I truely believe that humanity will prevail over the truely evil people once we get closer to the end. I would like to believe that I could after some time, perhaps get to know some people and know that I could get backup if we had to relocate because of a situation that leaves my location inhospitable. Those bonds will have to be built over a period of time. And so be it.

I hope this hypothetical story will just make everyone think twice before they share too much.. By all means share your techniques and advice. Just do not post your coordinates with a welcome mat... Because this hypothetical story may just be reality.

I totaling agree with secrecy.Which way my preps are in sereveral locations.

This can go 2 ways though. In the book "one second after", there is a known survivalist family (ok, enter your personal distinctions between Preppers and survivalists) living in the community. When the local government decided to go the communist way and share all resources, someone pointed out the family and how they should confiscate their stash. At that point, the local sheriff said "and how many men am I willing to lose to do this?"

The point of the story is that authorities may have to think twice to come get what they want from a determined prepper family.

There are two reasons for this topic.

One, get people thinking outside the box, and open thier eyes to possibilities.

Second, I was attempting to jump start a discussion on how far people are willing to go to protect their lives. The reality of things are, when shtf, and people become desperate. You better be prepared to take on angry mobs, some of them will be armed. How far will you go?

Having the opportunity to talk to WWI vets years ago, they shared stories of trying times and things they endured. I know first hand what humans are willing to do. If kids are willing to kill each other in the streets for $200 (present day) then you better bet donuts to dollars that most Preppers won't make it out of the gate when shtf.

Here is a radical thought....if you have to shoot it out with anyone over stuff..thats a fail....The fort always looses, sooner or later, Let alone with authorities....no thanks, you first and I will watch from over there, call me when you want the holes plugged I will share some bandages. Im just not into stuff, think of that George Carlin skit...

Now if they wanted my mind, well that I would miss, without that I got nothing....
Where are the non fear based preppers, you know...the ones not scared of thier niebours, maybe the ones that know and talk to them.
Here is a thought how about full engagement with those around you during troubled times vs sitting in the cold eating a can of beans with the rifle pointed out the window. Maybe plan to share all you can (oh god no thats communism), set up weekly meetings in your home for your niebourse to get together, see who can help with what, who is in need of what? plan for comunications and signals between houses and groups, there is no end of things that can be done during such times.
Organize...And this idea that all order has dissappeared to such a point that people are roaming freely armed, shooting everyone and robbing at will.. well this is at the extream end of anything possible, and how can you believe this is probable but think free range of movement is still possible, have none of you ever lived in the country? its range roads and township roads mostly a grid pattern and most everyone has junky old cars/trucks and if such conditions ever existed where armed people started roaming about these cars/trucks/ would be pushed out across the roads and no one is moving but on foot. How is this bandit going to carry off your fuel supplies, your food supplies, your generators, your panels, your green house...etc....not going to happen, same in cities...blocks will lock down, only known faces will be moving about in a given area. I dont believe I have ever even been in a home anywhere in rural alberta that does not have a firearm if not legal then hidden....anyone trying to roam about armed looking for stuff to take in such conditions will have a very short life expectancy.....ammo is great...I real force multiplier is comunication, and organization with those around you.

Balisticprepper...you said "how far people are willing to go to protect their lives"

Your going to die...get over it...so am I, likely way sooner than you..I am over it...while I live there are things I wont do, not to keep living, or for money..
I am certain those fearful of everyone and everything, those incapable of thoughts other than all others are evil,and want my stuff are the greatest threat. compitance and fear are inversely proportional.

A further thought since you titled it end of times...I have seen on the board, and we all know many if not most are praying for a end of time, to confirm their religious judgement and superiority over others. I have seen it posted by these type people (not saying you are one, just likely so),how prepared they are to shoot there neibour who is looking for food to feed his/her kid....Those type must have one hell of a god that would want them to kill a parent and sit on stacks of food while a child would starve,...if the day comes when you have to answer for your actions....be thankful its not me your answering too.

I agree that moral virtue is a an attribute that one would not wish to lose to easily. I'm sure that I would defend those that are dear to me and attempt to explain it to my maker if he'd listen. Yup, I'm the FenceWalker, that's me! Still got my boots in both doors.

One boots in this door...

Now as I've gotten older, it is indeed getting harder to deny that it does appear that a whole lot of crap is happening these days that never occurred in my younger days.
- "He will bring ruin to those ruining the earth"....wasn't many years ago I thought it impossible to ruin this earth....I was wrong!
- "in the last days there will be famine, pestilence, destruction and war"....all at once? No way, not all at once....I was wrong again!

Now there are too many instances to list that show Biblical prophecy is pretty reliable and yet most of us don't partake. I find the bar for their standards is just set too high and most of us are pretty sure we can't reach it so why try? Yet it seems that there just has to be some major force bringing all this evil into our world today and blinding the masses because the plot is so twisted and mankind seems so lost... it sure does seem that we can't even guide our own steps some days!

While I try to keep one in this door too!

Yet this is a long ways from capping your neighbour when he asks for a cup of sugar or maybe some table scraps. Our forefathers didn't resort to such in the dirty thirties and we don't have to either. But the reason the majority of you don't want to trust your neighbours in the city is that they also doesn't wish to trust you. So if you ever tried to talk prepping with them, they'd be twice as scared of you as you'd be of them for having broached the subject. And if any agreed with you on such topics, you'd in turn likely increase that prepper paranoia of yours because you'd realize that your neighbours may be those evil preppers which rob the nice preppers such as you! Seems there is no win here, right?

So how can you resolve any of this if you can't get past first base? Maybe now you have a better understanding as to why we have an arms race! The only obvious solution is that you have to get to know your neighbours better. Country folk have an advantage here as they are limited in the number of those they communicate with daily and so tend to know more about those they do see daily. They know their neighbour's kids and dog, and maybe some of their relations. they might even share mutual friends and family, thus they have a better bond to build trust around. If you can't get this kind of bond happening in your present situation, you should maybe try harder or relocate to where such could occur before SHTF.

"Left foot, then right foot, then left foot...don't bother me, I'm still trying to guide my own footsteps"!

I hear you Knuckle...I really wasnt trying to be hard on Ballisticprepper just the idea that we will all turn on each other, and I could have been saying right on to him decades back......not now..

I never disscuss prepping as such, rather conversations with niebours go like this...

What ideas do you got for fire protection? we will be ashes by the time a fire truck gets here...

Hey what happens if I dont see you around...and cant get you on the phone is it ok for me to just do a walk around on your property just in case you have droped a tree on yourself? or rolled the tracktor.

You lose power again like that give me a call, I got a spare genny to keep your freezer going.

Conversations like that.

I definitely understand where BallisticPepper is coming from though (being a former P/O myself), as his occupation shows him the darker side of humanity daily. I don't know if it is better or worse dealing with the civilian population over the military personnel when it comes to violence. Military are trained and can match you in the paranoia department but today's society is likely far more perverse than back in my day too.

And when we are surrounded by those who figure that mankind is screwed up, we tend to more readily agree as all you see is crap whenever you get a call. There is also very little to counteract that aspect as folks never call the police for something pleasant to say do they? It is usually a thankless job and the only rewards are within your circle. Believe it or not, the MP's were hated much more and if you doubt this, just ask any soldier to see if this is true! This is because the military uses MP's as the common enemy just as they use Russia as such today too. What a better way to unite people than to give them a common enemy.

What I don't understand is why the civilian police forces are even dressing more military these days? I noted that the OPP a few years back reacted to an event up here and they all had complete camouflage uniforms, right down to the plate vests and brain buckets. Now the MP's I can understand, but the civilian officers were bright clothing to intentionally stand out in a crowd and show their presence. This is the opposite and the intent is clear that they now want to appear military in nature instead. WHY?

This also comes at a time when the US is doing the exact same thing. And we are passing similar laws that pass in the US that remove further rights of the people and limit our freedoms. This is said to be done for our own benefits to protect us from these invisible terrorists. I'd say this is being done as our governments are paranoid as to public reaction from a variety of threats, but terrorism isn't likely any of them...

Well, it looks like some gears are turning. Great! peppercorn, half my life when I have days off I live like country folk and share the shirt on off my back. I love thy neighbour. I have a true love for life. I go out of my way to help everyone. I gave up $120 an hour running my own company to be treated like trash... Wait trash, I would love to be treated like trash... How I remember how great it was to be treated like trash. Today, they only treat me like a piece of s***. Quite a few years back, I gave up the majority of my life thinking that hey, " I must have been put on this earth to help people."

In know that after the last decade, I don't save as many lives as I used to. Maybe people don't want to be saved anymore. Humanity seems do be in a downward spiral and perhaps I took a step back to get out of its way. Hell, I don't want to get in the way. Nobody else does.

I do not profess to be anything else than the average joe. My kids think I am superman, my wife thinks I am an "a"hole most of the time because I spend too much time helping people. I volunteer too much. I give too much, and I care too much. That must be the reason I do not get ahead. I humbly hang my head in shame.

Now, forget the last decade, let's just reflect on the last 5 years. I have had 4 guys die in my arms. All suffering from lead poisoning. Do you think any of them would give me the slightest inclination as to the person who pulled the trigger, when they damn well knew who it was? I realize a gang member killing another gang member doesn't add up to a whole lot, but it was my job.

I put away a quite a few bad guys in the last few years. I ran cases successfully resulting in very good convictions. Even set precedence on some of them. Still.... Nothing... I haven't even made a dent in the can.

Last Thursday, in the blink of an eye. A man unintentionally almost put an end to my life. I stand here, actually lay here... Deciding which path to continue along.

I am thinking the path with less lead, and more nature. Nature most often is usually good, lead not so much (target shooting excluded)

So my take on life these days is to prepare for any such event as best I can with what I have. Try to get off the grid or at least to be as self sustainable as possible if the time came. This should eventually mean to start a garden, secure your home area, stock up on essentials and have a backup plan to boot.

Casually show your dislike on present events to your friends and neighbours, so as to carefully measure where they stand on such as this. Be careful not to appear as a nutcase when doing so. I choose to use economic collapse as the subject breaker as it is the most likely and also one where folks can better wrap their head around how to be better prepared. (Any mention of hoards of starving people will make you look like a nutcake.) And don't breach such subjects on a daily basis as this will also have the same bad effect.

For those who want more experience at little cost, join your local fire department as a volunteer. They will train you in alot of aspects from community preparedness to medical emergencies and at no cost while you also have the opportunity to meet others with those required skills. You get inside information on local affairs and instantly become part of the communities inner circle, accepted by all. In larger municipalities, join block watch and the local gun club too. Make it a point to wave at your neighbours daily, even if they don't! It'll have a positive influence on their psyche that you are not a threat. Note who goes to church in your area to have a better understanding of of neighborhood morals and it helps you know whom you might trust in bad times. Better yet, maybe go to church yourself once in a while and then they'll see you in a different light too.

Be aware of your children's friends as association is crucial to their development. And be aware of your own for all the same reasons! And stay upright in all your actions so at least you might make the "maybe" list, just in case these "end times" are designed by higher powers than man and the pickings are slim during harvest..... if so, they just might notice the fence walkers whose toes are always holding doors open.. 🙄

Here is My thought on the matter. For the price of one really cool, tricked out, nasty man killing tool...to add to the bunch already owned....perhaps passing on the toy and putting the cost of it into several buckets of cheap quality rice or spaghetti. Voilà. Problem solved. You do not have to shoot your friend and their rug rats. You do not have to live with the PTSD flashbacks and nightmares constantly replaying of killing your friends and family, coming up constantly wile working, trying to sleep, taking a dump or making love to your wife. You do not have to constantly consider killing yourself for what you have done. You do not have to worry about going to Hell for unrepentant Murder. If none of these mental consequences were to happen to you...then you may be a sociopath and wont here a word I am saying anyhow.
On the plus side, you can feel good about yourself knowing you did a good deed and were your brothers keeper. You'll sleep peacefully knowing that your actions didn't inadvertently set off a Hatfield and McCoy like multi generational blood feud where your decedents continue to get killed, living in fear, hate and constant payback.

Now, you can sit your friends family down and explain to them just how badly they fucked up, the amount of unpaid work they will be doing without question, how much danger they have put you in and exactly where the door is if they don't like it. You don't have to tell them how relieved you are to have friends staying with you through the troubles. A second set of eyes, potential for a show of force to those who are not your friends, and extra hands for all of those jobs that will be life consuming afterwards, like tilling gardens by hand and cutting firewood ,etc, can be the rather selfinterested reaping of what you have sown. It's a win-win for you. If they don't show up, you have got a bunch more rice and pasta to figure out whether to eat, trade, or give to charity.
Ecclesiastes 4'10-12
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. 10For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. 11Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?12 And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart

Agreed

Great topic, I think about this all the time. I have read a few books on how to help in this circumstance the first is "How to be invisible" by J J Luna, the second is called " How to disappear" by Frank Ahearn. It teaches you that you need to really think about your approach on how to make sure that whomever is trying to find you will have a difficult time and also what to do to make sure people around you do not know what you are doing. I have tried a few of the things on myself and was amazed at just how easy it is to find information about people on the internet or just by calling a cable company.