Community Defense and Sustainment Planning

[runawaygun762]

There have been a lot of discussions about what people would do during SHTF/EOTWAWKI/Zombie Apocalypse/Whatever, and a community-based system of defense and cooperative effort is always brought up, but I'd like to know what steps, if any, members here have taken to ensure this happens.

I have a house in rural Missouri, but I bought it during my PCS leave before coming to this glorious (Dripping with sarcasm here) place called Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. When I get back, it is my intent to meet every person that lives down my road, if for no other reason than to try and determine what kind of people my son lives near. I have already met one guy, a retired engineer first sergeant, who was extremely helpful when we first moved in by bringing his brush hog over and clearing our entire front yard and pond.

Having met a former army engineer, I know someone in my area who has training and experience in building fortifications and defenses, as well as knowledge in breaching them. That may help should the need arise to seal routes of ingress during complete social breakdown.

Obviously, approaching your neighbors right away with "Hi, my name is David and I'd like to know what skills or materials you can provide for our common defense if the world goes tits up." is not going to meet with the best results. I'm thinking maybe a barbecue now and then with invitations up and down the lane with some games for the kids, that'll allow me to get some idea of who I can talk to about it and who to avoid.

So, does anybody here have what they consider an effective community network?

[mantis]

As far as defense goes....it's a pretty pointless exercise...people not trained to be able to render such service (the average joe on the street) aren't going to do much good besides the likelihood of any sort of disaster of such a magnatude as to require some sort of community defense force (meaning that law and order has broken down and there are no longer any actual authorities in place) is virtually nill. If such a disaster did happen, I'm not sure who we would be defending against anyway. Communuty cooperation is good but if you try to turn it into some sort of defence force/militia you'll turn off more people than you will attract. I'd tackle it more from a preparedness point of view which is more practical and makes more sense.

[Blacksmith]

The only place I was ever able to pull this off was where half the people on the street were military or former military. It was a one street neighborhood too, basically a really long court. People got worried after Katrina with all the refugees coming in. They saw pics on the news about armed neighborhood watches and started thinking it was a good idea. They never stood it up as it turned out to be unnecessary but it got me to thinking that if it ever did turn out to be needed than it would happen.

So I guess what I am saying is that unless there is a clear and present threat most people will not organize like that.

[civvie]

Obviously, approaching your neighbors right away with "Hi, my name is David and I'd like to know what skills or materials you can provide for our common defense if the world goes tits up." is not going to meet with the best results. I'm thinking maybe a barbecue now and then with invitations up and down the lane with some games for the kids, that'll allow me to get some idea of who I can talk to about it and who to avoid.

Getting to know people is good, but I think you'll get the best intel on the neighborhood by having one-on-one conversations. Not only do you need to know who's competent and who isn't, you need to know who the threats are. Might be a guy a half mile down the road who is a church-going straight arrow, but has a son who is on the pipe and runs with a B&E crew (or worse). Make friends, tune into the local gossip, then ask a few questions.

Asking for advice is one way to figure out who knows what. For example, ask about mowers, lawn tractors, chain saws, etc and eventually you'll figure out who the amateur mechanics are. Concerns over a real or fictitious elderly aunt might be a means to finding the retired doctors & nurses in the area. If you can get an invite over to someone's house, you can learn lots of stuff. If the guy has 3 or 4 deer heads on the wall, chances are pretty good he knows how to shoot a rifle and probably isn't too squeamish about blood.