TOTM - November 2015 OPSEC

Some of the boards I've been on in the past were chock full of predator preppers who were quite open about their intent to hunt down preppers during a collapse. There's even a guy here in my town who, when into his second six pack, will go off about his own plans to loot and pillage to his heart's content. He's part of a shooting club and the other members roll their eyes and say he's just drunk, but it's always seemed to me like alcohol shows you what's really underneath. If TS ever does HTF I think that is one guy who needs to... well never mind that.

I liken them to rats. For every one you see out in the open, ten more are lurking in the walls.

 

Keep an eye on. That's what you meant, right?

 

Beer muscles will get you whipped every time, reminds me of a time in the Mil. Never mind the details, it wasn't pretty and the next morning he was in a sorry state, not only did he loose the fight, when he ambushed his intended victim but he then wore his mistake on his face for several days for all to see.

So too will the Beer Preppers be.

 

Yeah, the old song and dance about being 10 feet tall and bulletproof. And the next morning they find out it ain't so. Used to work with a guy about 40 years ago who came in to work almost every Monday with bruises all over his face from bar fights. And he wasn't some young upstart either. You'd think he would've learned.

Still, the law of averages tends to suggest that there are enough of these idiots to present a threat, intoxicated or not. Whether or not the honest down to earth prepper will be forced to defend his turf may be dependent on numerous factors - but basically may boil down to the luck of the draw even after implementing OPSEC. And geographic isolation may be no guarantee of safe haven (except maybe in the case of BT).

 

I prep under the assumption I will have to fight to defend possession and people. A lot at first and less as time goes by. Those who run out of their preps will be just as desperate and dangerous as those who had none, perhaps more so. They will know who is in their area, they will know what's down that dirt road; you.

 

Aloha Monkeys,

Great posts @Altoidfishfins @ditch witch @HK_User and @T. Riley ...

@PeterPiper 's post has another "sinister" theme underlying what most here think is obvious... and that is... that the threat or predator is an "outsider"...

My comment about "Betrayal" speaks to the threats from within... the unexpected... the unthinkable... Peter could be one of your own... an immediate family member... the one friend you trusted... a wife or husband....

My neighbor across the street was having things stolen from his garage and then from inside his house... tools, jewelry and cash out of wallets and purses... turned out to be his own Son... I won't speak to the motives but my neighbor was devastated when he caught the Son one night... he called the police in tears... and turned his Son in ....

My Uncle was missing items and cash from inside the house for a period of time... turns out it was his nephew who he took in to live with him for a short while...

I also won't go into things like "Divorce" ... which in some cases have their roots in some pretty nasty betrayals.... and I am not speaking about situations where the love is gone... trust me ... I have seen and know all about not really knowing what goes on in the mind of the one you are sleeping next to and are supposed to trust the most....

So as the hours wind down on this months topic.... be careful out there...

As much as @PeterPiper 's post may disturb you... Peter could just as easily be the one you think you can trust the most... the enemy already inside the walls... the trojan horse....

As I recommended to one member.... OPSEC... on a particular subject... don't even tell your immediate family... as hard as that is to swallow sometimes... that's OPSEC to me.... choose very very carefully...

They won't come when you are ready for them... your preparations and plans won't be effective on them... they will take what you hold dear and leave you with nothing... don't kid yourself... they will be so close and you won't know until you hear "the sad flute"...

That "Last Plan" I spoke about is the most important one ... even if you never need it.... it's a worthy exercise and a plan worth having....

JMHO...

Have a great week all!

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear

 

Excellent point, Bear.
Prime example -

My sister had her son stay with her awhile. When he left (or she finally kicked him out) all of her prescription pain meds walked out the door with him, as she discovered a few days later. This turkey is in his late 30's and hasn't worked more than a few weeks out of his whole miserable life. She has one daughter that's just as bad (almost 50 years old). I wouldn't trust either one with a red cent, let alone in a SHTF scenario.

Her other daughter is a hard working manager at a grocery store chain. Has been for years. She's a wonderful person. But, as this daughter is always trying to "help" her other two siblings, particularly her worthless brother, it would not surprise that even she could orchestrate the turnover of scarce assets or some portion thereof belonging to myself and my wife such that those two wouldn't have to scrape the insides of dumpsters for their next meal. After all, it appears that my wife and I have sooo much, when in fact we scrimped and saved, purchased and preserved, canned and dried it all for several years, and it needs to last just as long.

It's just an example of the kind of thing you're alluding to. Fortunately none of these people know where my BOL is, and it's extremely difficult to find - that's intentional. My sister no longer trusts very many people (myself not included) and, as I just found out a few weeks ago, has herself been a prepper for the last two or three years.

 

I share only what I want to share. For those that think that is info they can use to come and take what I have or what they think I have, all I can tell them is what I tell my government...molon labe, baby. Never underestimate your prospective victim lest you want a little OJT on Sun Tzu. Nuff said.

 

Our pantry is now an out building. Like BT said, yeah it's a bit of a pain to go out to get something, but its out of sight. Before summer hits I plan on installing a little one room AC unit to keep everything at a decent temp.The new kitchen has lots of storage space so DtD stuff is inside and looks "normal". Down here most everybody has an extra fridge or freezer so one can go into the mud room without raising any eyebrows. Samesame for home canned goods from the garden.

He was just turned on by yer boots...

That is one thing that Sass is very good about. I've watched her in our driveway in the mornings. She fires up locks up and then checks her company ipad thingy for her appointments. If she does it here w/o thinking I know she does it when shes out "in the world".

Moved them beforehand. We chose to buy a storage building and had it delivered to the new site instead of renting a storage unit that we would just have to move everything out of later on. If you can do this I think its the best way. In our case, when everything is out of that building I will use it for a "hobby area".

 

It also behoves one to also have a contingency plan for recovering the occupied BOL if forced to abandon it to MZB's, (and having the means for doing so, cached offsite). Defending to the death a BOL, doesn't make much sense to me, if it may be easier to re-take the locality than to pursue an untenable defence.

It bodes well for you and for her that your sister has been able to maintain OPSEC even from you for a few years that she is prepping.

 

Excellent point @chelloveck

 

Broken promises and betrayal will always be a major part of life.

May that type person receive what they deserve.

 

PeterPiper's plans leave a lot to be desired and show he is quite naive.

"2) We know where he works"
So his target will be going to work after SHTF? Everyone, please include going to work, keeping your work clothes clean, and your gas tank filled after SHTF in your preps.
I'm surprised no one here has a plan for going to work after SHTF. I know I sure didn't.

"We infiltrate by starlight, from the lake"
Perhaps some barbed wire, punji pits under the water and more might be a surprise? Making noise from pain or loud splashes when one steps into a hole and one is in a very bad spot.
Break wire at the shoreline leave PeterPiper's crew a lot of open ground with no cover to cross.

Anyone in a defensive posture would have both alarms and booby traps as part of their perimeter. We put out corn to feed the deer and the Pitts tell me when the deer are feeding at night and 75' feet from the house. What is weird, is they know even when the TV is on.
Dogs have a couple of hundred times better hearing than humans.. No matter how good us humans think we are; dogs know.

PeterPiper's plan is typical of a person well read in internet hype with no military experience and a flare for writing. His tale is focused on what he would do while ignoring what the OPFOR has done.
He puts his force in a total over-match situation. I guess when one has such a huge force; losing a lot of people is irrelevant?

I can easily continue; however, I believe the point has been made.

File it under entertaining fiction.

 

Copy and thanks.

 

Y'all are making me crave pickled peppers for some reason.

 

Well thought out reply - I know "it" made me (re)think even if I haven't done much verbalization about preparations. I'm sure when all is said and done, I've probably given out way too much information (here, email, online purchases, web reading, cc purchases, etc.). It's just too darn hard being invisible!

I'll continue working on the list of "Emergency Levels" that I started because it's a part of OpSec that's relevant today for my family. It probably needs to incorporate some of the new "topic-of-the-month" subject of "3s".