Posted: 4/8/2009 6:32:08 PM EDT
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Everything I have read tells me that if we are to survive we must be in a COMMUNITY. 'surviving' on your own is not the way to do it, because sooner or later a group of baddies is going to run into just you and your family.
Hope you are a good shot. Does anyone have a list of survival groups in East TN? I'm looking to find/form a group of like minded individuals with complementing skills. I'm a licensed mechanical engineer myself and have a number of outdoor skills as well as your usual skills in metal fabrication, design, hydraulics, etc. etc. |
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This is the whole dilemma "preppers" have. On one hand, we would need to be a community if we expect to survive and on the other hand we have a hard time getting over the OPSEC issues.
Unless you have a group of like-minded friends that you have had for a loooong time and trust, it will be very hard to form a group of all new people. Maybe it's just me, but I don't trust people in general. With me, trust must be earned and that just takes time and there's no way around it. I would love to find a group around here but I have no desire to be linked with any type of "militia" or survivalist group. btw, E. TN is not that far from SE MO. You never know 
Good Luck! tr eta: Welcome to the site and SF in particular. |
| Unfortunately, while camp outs and get togethers are about shooting and meeting internet friends, right now is not the time to be having them as I believe the government is actively searching for subversive "patriot" type organizations so they can label them domestic terrorists and track their activities. There are real domestic terrorists out there, but it's hard for .gov to tell real terrorists from a bunch of gun guys that just want to shoot. And right now, hell they'd prosecute you for being a "gun guy" if you give them half a chance. |
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Quoted:
Does anyone have a list of survival groups in East TN? I'm looking to find/form a group of like minded individuals with complementing skills. I'm a licensed mechanical engineer myself and have a number of outdoor skills as well as your usual skills in metal fabrication, design, hydraulics, etc. etc. I am betting that there IS no "'list of survival groups in East TN". Folks that go to the effort to organize and work with such a group certainly are NOT going to advertise it.
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The only realistic way I could count on others would be a bug-in, circle the wagons scenario. That means your partners would have to be your neighbors. Best bet is to live out in the country around like-minded folks and become good neighbors with them.
Everyone around me either has farms, pasture, woods, livestock or gardens and/or chickens at the very least. I take the old gardner a cake every now and then. I buy eggs from the guy with the laying hens and have offered to keep the coyotes in check for him. The pecan orchard owner next store (that I bought my lot from) cleaned out a hardware store going out of business and offered for me to get anything I need out of his barn. My brother-in-law is 2 miles down the road and has a tractor I can borrow when I need it. And he knows I have plenty of .308 to feed his and his son's rifles and a shop to work on his vehicles. That's the kind of relationships you need to build. |
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It would be nice to be able to stay where I am. It's a very good situation survival wise as i live in the country and have good neighbors. Too bad the wife decided she would try to start her own business and ran us up thousands in debt with no results to show for it. My house will be the bank's when the SHTF.
I'm selling it now and will be able to be debt free and own a piece of land but with new neighbors. Catch 22. Stay in a good situation but lose the house. Get out of the house and go to who knows where. There are a lot of good places around here but almost too isolated. |
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While it will probably be easier to survive as part of a group, most people find it hard to meet, get to know, and organize such a group during "normal" times. A group organized in advance would be much better(and ahead of the 8-ball) than a group organized after the collapse, but sometimes you have to settle for what you have. I've said for a long time that the smartest survivors would realize the benefits of grouping together within hours of the crisis. The rest of the "civilians" would take longer, many of them never getting the chance to organize before they got run over by circumstances.
For those who figured it out, they would probably be looking desperately for people to join together with. For me, that's a sure sign that they're smarter than the average sheeple. If something was to happen, I might wait a short while to see what happens and who started looking around, but I probably wouldn't wait TOO long before trying to get together. 
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I am lucky to have such a good group of friends...I count myself truly blessed in that regard. BOL is all set, preps stored, we train together, great skill sets, the orchard is maturing nicely.......we just need an ER doctor and a millionaire to be all set  .
I just have to get there if and when..... To try to add some useful info..... Some I have known for years (I was a junior prepper of the apocalypse in high school and had a few like minded friends), one I met by chance at the range. Having a shared background we became friends...he had his clique, I had mine, we merged...we've had a few come and go, but we have a solid core with attachments. One nurse, one paramedic, one GP doc, among the skill sets are machinist, HVAC, part time farmers, general handymen, a mechanic whose shop as at his BOL, most of the men are vets (Aviation Mech to SF) or PMC's (or both). Seamstress, wood cutters, fishermen...we've had folks who were back to the earth types who owned no guns when they started hanging out with us and we've had folks with 50 guns and one day of food. |