Wyoming Survival: Building Your Tribe

Republished from my friend Tango1Papa’s new site, Wyoming Survival. -NCS
After fitness this is probably one of the biggest failures in the prepper/survivalist community. Alot of these people believe all they need is their food and guns. They believe they don’t need a team or a group or a tribe. They have their wife and 2 kids and thats all they need. They believe that letting people in will compromise their security. These people are destined to fail.
Let’s look at a few reasons you need a tribe/team/group.
Number 1 reason is you CANNOT be everywhere all the time doing everything. You have to sleep at some point. In an emergency situation you are going to be doing many jobs. More jobs than 4 people can cover. During an emergency security is our prime concern. We will need security while we are collecting water. We will need security while gardening. We will need security while our foraging. We will need security while we are sleeping. The only way to get this much security is with people. People you know and people you trust. These people are people you will have trained with. People you have had dinner with. People you spend your free time with. People you share similar interests with.
Another reason for building your tribe is skills. As much as I would like to know everything about everything its pretty much impossible. That’s where different people with different skills come in. We need as diverse of a skill group as possible. What skills should we be looking for?
I think medical skills are number one. Any Dr., EMT, or veterinary would be a HUGE addition to your tribe. People will always get hurt and you need someone with the skills to deal with them.
Ok I don’t want to sound like a crazy gun guy but next up would be multiple guys or girls with extensive firearms training and team tactics training. As the emergency extends, violence will become more and more likely. You will need people who are trained in violence and can train people in violence. You are going to need to train EVERYONE in your tribe the use of firearms. They will need to be armed at all times during any extended emergency. The people who are in better shape and are willing need to be trained in team tactics to help defend the group. They will need to be taught patrolling, camouflage, radio procedures, long range shooting, immediate action drills, ambushes, survival skills, tactical medical, and recon skills.
This is also where being physically fit comes in. I’ve seen TOO many preppers/survivalists who couldn’t run 25 yard and fight for 30 seconds to save their lives. They believe they will get fit after the collapse comes….. all they are going to get is robbed, killed, and possibly eaten after a collapse. If you’re overweight do yourself a favor and start cutting weight now. It’s not that hard. If you’re a male. Only consume 1500 calories as day. No beer and no fast food. I guarantee you after 7 days you will start dropping weight. Add in some cardio and strength training to keep muscle and build endurance.
Some other skillsets I would be looking for is gardening, canning, auto mechanic, carpenter, distiller, ham radio operator, gunsmith, blacksmith and so on.
So now the question is how do we build this group? This is probably the hardest part of all this. First off we start with our family members. If we are a family of four living together we already got a start on our tribe. After your family members start looking at like minded friends. Have them over for dinners. Start discussing the idea of a mutual support group. See how they take it. If they are receptive to the idea keep working forward with them. Start discussing food storage and emergency preparedness. Maybe take some classes as a group. Firearms classes are always fun. Do some other classes also. Canning classes or gardening classes. You need to spend as much time with your possible new group members as possible. You need to know before an extended emergency that you can even tolerate them for an extended amount of time. You need to see that your friends are a good mix with members of your immediate family. Can we put these two family’s together without them killing each other??
So what do you do if you have no family and no like minded friends? Well let’s talk about what NOT to do… do not join online groups! They are not your people no matter what they say online. Your tribe needs to be known, local, and offline! I can’t stress this enough. I’ve seen WAY to many groups fail because of thinking their online group was there REAL group. Most online groups/pages have FBI informants in them. You don’t want any part of that. You don’t need to get flagged. Another thing is that your tribe is supposed to be a support group for you in time of need. If they are 250 miles away they are of NO support to you. And do you really think they would leave their family to help someone they don’t know?? Probably not..
Really from my experiences the best thing someone can do to meet like minded individuals is to take local firearm training classes. You know when you meet people in these classes they take the subject seriously. They are also willing to spend money to become better skilled. Guys who use their own vacation time and spend there own money on classes are way more reliable and serious than guys who just buy supplies and talk about it. The last class I was part of I seen the most networking of students than I’ve ever seen. It made me happy to watch guys who have never met but live in close proximity to one another swap information so they could get together outside of class. That’s how building a tribe is done!
Ok now having said all that don’t just pull someone into your tribe. You need a vetting process. You need to know this person holds the same values as you do. You need to spend as much time with them as possible. You need to spend time with them that is rough if possible. Maybe a small unit tactics class like NC Scout’s Scout class or a field craft class with Badlands Fieldcraft. You need to see how this person acts under stress with lack of food and water. You need to see if they just give up and quit or they look at their team mates and keep going. Doing classes this rough really show people’s true colors. The vetting process should be about a year or more. Don’t just drag guys in because they shoot.
Building your tribe isn’t an easy process and it won’t happen overnight but if you keep at it, it will happen. Just remember my main rules with building your tribe. Known, local, and offline!! You follow those rules and you should be ok.