The purpose of this article is to discuss the Human threat to your retreat location. This Human threat can take on multiple modes, some very dangerous to your safety and others not so much. The trick, of course, is figuring out the nature of each and every encounter while you can still affect the outcome.
Much like playing in a Role-Playing-Game (RPG), you won’t know the nature of an encounter until you’re in it. Will you benefit from it? Will you be in danger because of it? What type of benefit might you obtain or what threat might you face? There is no way of knowing in advance, and every encounter carries some degree of risk. With an RPG, such things are decided by a roll of dice. With real life, things are decided by the minds and morals of men though some might consider the “fickle finger of fate” in the mix as well.
Note: A RPG, such as Twilight 2000, is an excellent way to test your defensive concepts in a fairly realistic manner without having to do a full exercise with all your people as well as someone to stand in for your opponents etc. Use the RPG environment to get an idea of how many attackers a specific defense can hold against, how weapons variations can make a difference to both attackers and defenders, as well as how the introduction of other “variables” might affect things.
What kinds of threats are we talking about? I’ll start with what I refer to as two-legged Locusts (or 2LLs for short). These are people who will, for whatever reason, wander across the landscape much like a swarm of Locusts. These people will consume everything in their path, only pausing when they stumble across a well-stocked area, and then only until they’ve eaten everything available in that place. Bear in mind that while the amount of food in a place will govern how long they stay, they will likely strip most places of everything else of use or value while they are at it. Some Preppers refer to this threat as the “golden horde” which is also an apt describer of them since they will almost certainly strip the land much as the Mongol Horde did in ancient times. Why might people leave their homes to become 2LLs? They may elect to leave their home area due to food shortages, encroaching threats, or similar. Alternately they may have been physically forced from their homes. Why they ended up as 2LL is immaterial, the fact that they are is all that matters to the people they run into. The good news is that most of this type of threat won’t be very organized, nor will they have much tactical skill. Their most common approach will be what’s known as “hey diddle diddle, straight up the middle” AKA the well-known frontal assault. No real finesse, just the equivalent of a bum rush. Some of these might exhibit some organization, but it won’t be much or they’d be organized enough to stay in an area and homestead it. This is also the group I think of when people talk about zombies, as I expect these will have very similar results to a “zombie apocalypse”. Sure, the 2LLs won’t eat your brains (I hope), but whether they kill you to get to your food or devour what was going to keep you alive the end result is the same. This type of threat may be somewhat tolerant of casualties, meaning that a few casualties may not convince these people to pass your retreat up. In fact, if they are desperate enough, it may take substantial casualties inflicted on the 2LL before they will leave you alone.
The next group of concern is what I call raiders. These will be more organized than the 2LLs and in many cases far more violent. While these may be nomadic or operate from a fixed base, I see these as different from the 2LLs because their attacks will be more hit and run or grab and go in nature. In other words, these threats will be of shorter duration and typically very specific in their objectives. I expect that this threat will be far less tolerant of casualties than the 2LL, in fact I suspect if they encounter anything resembling a well-organized defense they will avoid it and focus their sights on easier prey. Of course, much depends on the “prize” they anticipate from the target of their attention. The more they want what a specific target location has, the more willingly they will accept casualties. Much also depends on the nature of the raiders themselves and how they came to be raiders. I expect many raider groups will grow from motorcycle clubs (or gangs if you prefer) though they could develop from a variety of other groups as well. I expect that the ones from clubs made up of folks who like to ride to be less violent and more opportunistic in nature. I anticipate that those made up of “outlaw” club chapters (Hell’s Angels and similar) will be far more violent in every aspect of their activities. Raiders will, for the most part, be highly mobile and heavily armed. These will be the “run and gun” threats for most folks after TSHTF. Note: A Raider group may be under the direction or control of an Overlord, see below.
Editors Note: If you are concerned about facing this third threat, then I’d highly encourage you to pick up a copy of our DVD that goes beyond weapon handling, and focuses on teaching you how to defend your homestead or property with a battle buddy. You can learn more about that DVD via this link:
Battle Buddy Tactics For Preppers
The most serious threat to Preppers is what I’ll call Warlords or Overlords. The basic concept resembles a feudal system, where a person in a position of authority provides protection or control over other people for a percentage of whatever they have or produce. In Medieval times, the person in charge would have belonged to the nobility and have knights as well as men-at-arms to enforce their will and protect their holdings. In modern times the person who ends up “in charge” of a given area following TEOTWAWKI might be the County Sheriff (as they already wield much power in their county), some other “elected official”, the patriarch (or matriarch) of a wealthy family, the owner of the largest employer in the area, etc. The “men-at-arms” could be local law enforcement, members of various “clubs”, or a local militia. The major threat to Preppers would arise if the Overlord sees them as a threat, though confiscation of weapons and/or supplies would also pose a threat to them. Secondary concerns would include things like requirements for Prepper group members to provide labor, services, or taxes as well as limitations to the group’s ability to trade etc. The severity of these threats will be based on 2 considerations; the personality of the Overlord (tyrannical, domineering, paranoid, charismatic, benevolent, etc.) and the severity of the SHTF situation that led to the current status.
There are other potential threats for Preppers following TEOTWAWKI, ranging from neighbor issues to assorted smaller groups approaching the retreat. These should not be discounted or ignored. But they will be minor in comparison to the 2LL, Raiders, or Overlords. Dealing with any of these dictates 24X7X365 vigilance for as long as ROL (Rule of Law) is not in force and the maintenance of a low profile in general. How you deal with these threats will be based on the size comparison between your group and the threat group and the specifics of the situation you find yourself in. Good luck!
This article was originally published at Ready Nutrition™ on January 26th, 2015
