Community or Team building

Thanks for sharing, that was a good bit of knowledge there.

I was approached this week to do something similar to this but, they want it to start like right now. I have huge reservations about jumping in. After reading this, I am definitely going with my gut and saying No. No doubts in my mind.
I know I am difficult to get along with and I like to do things my own way (as most of us do!) and even though it would put me in the wilderness faster than my own Plan A, I just don't want to have so much on the line to feel trapped or pissed off is something goes wrong.

Thanks for that post Entropy!

Thank you, well said

NOW saying all that, i've been in the middle of no where, with over 100 people, setting up a large camp site from next to nothing (grass was cut earlier that well, but NOTHING is there)

we set up common covered areas, meal tents, comms tents, medical tent (with onside docs and Helo emergency evac if needed, one doc was a ER doc with lifeflight numbers 🙂 )bathroom facilities.

and one of the members wife said "there are all these alpha males working together, no one is fighting, or complaining, you are all getting along and working well" and my buddy piped up and said "and we are all armed too". her face dropped.

but it's true, when you have a common goal, and you are working with people that are like you. (the more you have in common the better you'll do (that's why a crazy compound leader always has crazy followers, because you all have to be LIKE minded in many ways)) you can make a team. just DON'T JUMP INTO IT!

TEAMS can work, but if you are very christian, how are you going to work with an atheist long term? are you open to accepting them? are they going to be rolling their eyes at you every meal time when you pray? how long until you snap and blow them at way at the dinner table 🙂 (then you have to deal with GOD too)

a Post Fan team needs to be closer then a marriage. it's not always going to be as smooth as it was with "patriots" in Rawles' book.

think about it, you're going to be relying on them to keep their heads, protect you, risk their life for you, not hide, steal or murder you when supplies get low. to NOT rape your wife or little girl (or boy) when things are not getting back to normal.
what if someone breaks in, you feel they should be let go, but buddy thinks they should be put down. ("they are only going to come back with more people and take it later" . . .a possible risk) how are you going to feel about buddy if he kills someone. how are you going to deal with buddies wife when she freaks out, and is not coping, and beats up on your crying scared child?

as humans we all cope differently with different situations. preppers usually are more mentally prepared for bad times,(but is your wife/children) this doesn't mean everyday isn't going to come with some mood swings, bad tempers, and frustration. what if they enter into a depression, (can your or are you willing to deal, help, and put up with those issues) remember if you're a team, that's just like a marriage.

so when building your team, you have to be willing to help them in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, to put them before you, and to give until it hurts, protect them with your life, KNOWING they will do the same.

i'm very much for networking and team building! a community would be the best situation in the worlds. but they come at a large price.

start with talking to people, work out a MAG (mutual aid group) maybe think about a team down the road. . . if you hit it off really well you could agree to bug out at one place or the other, making sure you can take care of yourself while there.

i have a buddy in Ottawa, he knows he could show up here any time and i'd help him. he said the same to me. i have a friend in Tn that i have an open invitations to go there if things get bad. they know i won't show up with nothing, but if i did that would be ok too.

i have family that prep, they are welcome here, and i know they would take me in and make it work if i had nothing. that's why i don't believe in a 72 hour kit, in three days i'm a burden to my friends and family. i carry 7 days, my back up is 3 months. more if i have time to load it. . .

this isn't something you jump into. the relationships talked about above, some are 5 years old, others are 15 . . . they didn't happen over night.

very good information to think about, glad you posted it! I think the idea of meeting new people with the same ideas is great, just havent been able to jump to that just yet. I would have to agree that the time it takes to develop a good relationship that has a strong feeling of family takes time.

Thank you Entrophy.

Great points made.
I think many out there are cautious. It is in our nature. I personally have extended invites to members with whom I have had the pleasure of reading posts they have made (it is important to post). This has helped in identifying possible new friends of similar mindsets.
A key requirment for me is also the current geographical location. A person MUST live fairly close for me for me to want to meet regularily. Kind of like going to the gym. If its not on the way from work, one is more likely not to go. Proximity makes things easier. Also since I don't think we will get to SHTF senario. It wwould be impracticle to look outside my emediate area.

Anyways. Cheers to all and good luck.

what is missing from this is that we are like minded people. we have defining personsality traits that might hinder a group like view on religion and diet and what might happen to cause this so called shtf scenario. but thease are small and really wont affect our survival if something was ever to happen. In the information age we are in we have the ability to connect that we may not have in a shtf scenario so now would be the time to capitalise on that. I would rather survive in a groupe if 20 with 2 assholes then die slowly with nice people. A life without regret is a life unlived my friend. if we dont try and something dose happen, we will look back on the oppertunitys we had and and regret it for the wrong reason and that is we never tried. After all we are not looking to vacation in paradise as a group we are looking to survive. i dont want to be forming a group after something happens and have no choice i would rather take care of that ahead of time.

Please dont take this as me trying to drum up interst in my thread. im am simply trying to point out that if the opertuinty is there and you have nothing to loose save to try then why not. You can prep all the food and guns and medical equipment you want, at the end of the day you are alone and that leaves you volnerable. security in numbers. say i have a place that can house all of us with plenty of gameto hunt and a large area for agriculture on a clean body of water with a drilled well. but if we never meet how can you get there and help us and get hep form us? the way i see it is the opertuinty is here and i have nothing to loose now and alot to loose later so why not?

My answer to someone on how to join a Community or Setup a group;
please add some more in below and we can make this a sticky post maybe

Hi new Prepper to the Forum (name removed);
I do not think your going to like my answer, until you think long and hard on it!
answer - Time

I looked at your posts, they were mostly from the same day, two in the same topic and all said the same thing, can I join your group. To people who have been on Forums for a while that screams Troll. People trolling for info, people trolling for stuff that is easy, that is probably not what you are or your intention, your just so exited ➡

💡 I am going to ask you to think on that for a few minutes; now take out a piece of paper and jot down some of your preps,
some of your stocks that you have acquired, say 50 pounds of Flour, do not get specific but list some how you store them, this will tell you and them at what stage you are at now.
what area are you looking to relocate too, bug into, or move too, all of these things make a big difference as to who will contact you and how other will answer your query!
what skills you already had going in
what skills you have learned
what skills you currently want to learn
list some of your personality traits and lastly if you are regular life long Christian, born again, Wiccan, Christian Spiritual, other other
this is just so that you do not get into a camp of all Born Again Christians who will boot you out unless you are a feverish in your beliefs as they are and do bible study 3 times a day or a group of Devout Musslims who make you wear a vail etc etc.

Another thing to add in might be what kind of travel vehicle you have now, do you have a Faraday cage for the computer parts, do you have a bicycle as a back up, an old pre 1988 vehicle that can start after an EMP pulse, from the Solar Flares or other pulses
These are just some things to take into account and some things that are relevant to everyone.

Now all of that does lend itself to the Thread that this is listed in. Sharing this hopefully this will help us all and new Preppers especially.

@ Entropy: Thank you for this post. Thanks for sharing your experience of "seeking out" a like-minded group and its benefits and disadvantages. Your future senerios are quite believable as there are so many variables in peoples' lives, situations, and beliefs. It IS like a marriage and shouldn't be rushed into.....a very important decision. But meanwhile, as we are seeking like-minded people to collectively share the aftermath of a tragedy of unequivocal proportions, we can individually continue with our prepping: read books, learn skills, interact online with others, store supplies, etc, etc.
In my situation, I' ve taken years to accumulate books, aquire skills, supplies, meet others online, and now figuring out that my country home, now a half an hour from the city after 35 years of city growth instead of the original 1 hour, is probably NOT going to be stable for the long term if the SHTF afterall. I do have a back-up site 2 hours from the city with people I've known for 30+ years (not perfect but neither is SHTF)......but presently my supplies, etc are here with me.
Again, thanks for your contribution.

what is missing from this is that we are like minded people. we have defining personsality traits that might hinder a group like view on religion and diet and what might happen to cause this so called shtf scenario. but thease are small and really wont affect our survival if something was ever to happen. In the information age we are in we have the ability to connect that we may not have in a shtf scenario so now would be the time to capitalise on that. I would rather survive in a groupe if 20 with 2 assholes then die slowly with nice people. A life without regret is a life unlived my friend. if we dont try and something dose happen, we will look back on the oppertunitys we had and and regret it for the wrong reason and that is we never tried. After all we are not looking to vacation in paradise as a group we are looking to survive. i dont want to be forming a group after something happens and have no choice i would rather take care of that ahead of time.

Please dont take this as me trying to drum up interst in my thread. im am simply trying to point out that if the opertuinty is there and you have nothing to loose save to try then why not. You can prep all the food and guns and medical equipment you want, at the end of the day you are alone and that leaves you volnerable. security in numbers. say i have a place that can house all of us with plenty of gameto hunt and a large area for agriculture on a clean body of water with a drilled well. but if we never meet how can you get there and help us and get hep form us? the way i see it is the opertuinty is here and i have nothing to loose now and alot to loose later so why not?

i have to disagree, i work with about 30 women (3 guys), we deal with a moderate amount of stress, sick people, work loads issues, staffing issues, and of course personal issues. there are some nasty catty behaviour going on, and we are one of the closest floors in our hospital too. i've been verbally abused (sexually harassed but that was ok) and for a bunch of highly educated women, there is a hell of a lot of bullying going on (to the point one nurse nearly had to involve HR) i've been personally bullied by 8 nurses. (about half if they were people on the street doing it, i would of punched them for what they did!) this is "normal" life.

when dealing with SHTF situations, you are going to be dealing with some off balanced behaviours. in some cases people will draw closer, but others will react badly.

you won't meet anyone that believes more in a team, but i beg you to take the time to make the best team possible.
i have a property with a well, large pond, lots of fruit trees, area to garden, a barn and all it needs is a lot of people. yes i'm looking for people to fill it. but i'm not rushing to fill it with the wrong mix.

i was working with some very close friends to try to fill some gaps on their preps, 2 have done a lot of anti prepping and will likely show up with less then nothing. 2 other families if they needed to come here would show up with skills and preps. but there are personality issues that will clash. the man most qualified to lead would be followed by all but the one least qualified to lead, and he would put us in a lot of danger in many situations. (and his ability to cope would not help the dynamics of the group) these people are all family.

on the other hand i've been working with what started out as 5 preppers, now 3 for a few years now. we've assisted each other in many ways to "take the game to the next level". neither of these two have ever given me less then 200%
one of my mentors has gone miles out of his way to help me. i have no doubt he'd go to the end of the earth to help me.

i'm looking for teammates closer to my area, (that's why i'm on an Ontario prepping board) but i'm looking for not only those that live the lifestyle, but those that I connect with. It takes time.

yes, make dates to meet people, do so in public places, have private online chats or skyp etc. protect yourself while doing it. you don’t have to be paranoid, and hide who you are, honesty is important. I don’t want to make friends with someone and find out they were being polite, fake, or lying. I can make a sailor blush, but I’m also a gentleman lol. This/these relationship will be one of the closest relationships you have. You’re lives may depend on it. there needs to be unquestionable trust. Can you leave your wife/kids in this team's care?

I haven’t met anyone here I’d say I don’t like, I’m new here but I’m pretty sure there are some jerks out there 😉 but I haven’t met anyone here I’d leave my dogs with, not to mention my wife! (and I’m talking about good times)

side note(wife was just in the Dominican, a guy (a Canadian) tried to “grind her” on the dance floor, she kneed him in the groin twice, when he didn’t get the point she planted a front kick there, when he came up behind her to try it there, saying “can’t knee me now” he ate her elbow! So I may worry more about you then her lol)

I no longer “chum” with my best friends in high school, an old army buddy is someone I see from time to time. I’ve only been out with non-prepping friends/family about 5 times last year. I make time for those relationships that may make the difference between life and death. To me anything less then this type of commitment to friendship is a waste of time. my friends will drop everything to help me, they know I’d be there in a second (or 4 hours and 20 minutes) for them.

Find those people you’d die for, make the best team you can, work hard at those relationship, build a strong foundation, and a castle that can withstand all the stresses and what if’s before and during a SHTF situation. But while you are looking, be mindful of your own security, the wrong people can take a strong group down. You have to consider the collective’s situation, security and lives in to account when looking for new members.

Consider a screen process and meet people, don’t kid yourself or sell yourselves short went looking for team members, more doesn’t mean better.

I’d rather have a few that I can count on 250%, then a dozen I’d have to be watching over all the time.

Im not disagreeing with you Entrophy. i just want to make sure your worning is not taking away from the simple fact that it is possible to find and build a team, weather it is on a web site like this or any other feisable way.

I, like many people on this site are aware of the fact that it would be hard to make something of this nature work given the differences between us but at the same time it is ureasonable to think that there arent 5 to 20 people on this site like me or you that have the ability to make something of this magnitude work. Taking time to from relationships and trust is a given but to dismiss it all together due to your own prior failuers or the failures of others would be a mistake and a lost opportunity. I would never advocate buying land with a total stranger or a group of strangers nor do i think it would be a good idea to inviet you all to my house or cabin the first time we meet. that is why we really have nothing to loose. to meet in a group at tims for a coffee once a week for a while to see whats every one is like will only cost you a small amount of time and the price of a coffee, a small price to pay to make a chance encounter that could have the potential of saving your life or increasing you chances of survival in a shtf situation. We are who we are, we prep food and tools and everything else we can think of to ensure we and our loved ones can survive in a crises both big and small so why not prep a group of people as a support group to better our chances.

It is easy to outline why someone shouldnt, even i could do that but it seems you are in a position where you have knowlage that could help in the sucess of a groupe venture. instead it really seems you advocat not doing it at all. i think the knowlage you have could be better used buy the people on this site if you aproched this in a positive way by giving advise about how to succeed as aposed to telling storys of failure and problems incured in your own attempt and using that a a basis to discurage any of us trying.

Entropy, you have a way with words. Thank you for taking the time to explain things so well. I must admit when I saw the "I haven’t met anyone here I’d say I don’t like, I’m new here but I’m pretty sure there are some jerks out there but I haven’t met anyone here I’d leave my dogs" my first reaction was Hey wait a minute here...I'm good with critters. Then I realized that you don't know me and you really can't know someone on line. Most times you really don't know who someone is until a lot of time has passed. Its only when you both have common stressers that you realize what a person is made of as normally you can't hide the reactions.

2012Compatible, I commend you for not giving up. Its nice to see that you haven't lost faith in people being good.

I however have lost faith in most of mankind. I will no longer let people get close enough to me to be part of a prepping group living together. Its one thing to help someone and share information, its another to live next to them or with them. I have found in the last few years that strangers have treated me better then my "friends". I always thought I could count on someone them to help me but except for my ex and one old friend that turned out to be not true. They give lip service instead of help. Needless to say, I have basically written them off. 🙁

Oldschool poeple always have short commings and stressers and problems and most people i have met will not do the things for me that i would for them. it is all part of peoples personalitys and no two are the same. It is our ability to look past the short commings and forgive that makes us who we are and defines a truly good person.

Last hunting season i brought a good friend of mine to my camp. i had just been liad off from work and had a week to relax and do some hunting. over that week he wrecked my spare atv blew nurmerous attemps of mine at harvesting game and the last afternoon hunt compleetly blew a shot at a once in a life time 600 pound black bear. he single handedly destroyed my atv , his atv and almost every chance for myself to harvest and game over the week. before we left he asked if i would fix his atv but offerd me nothing towards my atv he ruined. I was not happy but he is my friend, i know he would take a bullet to protect my myself my kids or wife. he would give me the shirt off his back if i needed it. He is still my friend and this spring he offerd me a job with him and is paying me more then i could make ANYWHERE else. he is a good friend. we forgive and look past almost anything in relationships baised on family and loved ones but have forgotten how to do it in relationships baised on friendship.

I would have said them same for my friends. People that I have in some cases know for close to 40 years. I seldom ask for help, it's a very hard thing for me to do. However I did ask for help cleaning up the mess that is my house. Since I bought this place, I have had a fire, the paint is peeling off the walls( no clue why but it started after the fire), I found out that I am losing my sight, my mom has cancer. I asked for help only after part of my kitchen wall came down. A very simple request for help cleaning up and a dump run. I was to the point of a full on mental breakdown. The help I got was pep talks saying they know how strong I am both in body and spirit. I was crushed when I realized I could not depend on my friends. A contractor working several doors down from me saw the burned mess that I managed to drag outside and offered to take it to the dump for me. I still help others in need but no longer deal with people that are all talk and no action.