Sunday, July 31, 2011

Just when you think you have all your bases covered....

You know you have blown OPSEC when you discover that you are everyone else's only contingency plan!

(Click on comic to enlarge)

8 comments:

  1. Funny you should mention that...a friend at work saw my garage with some of the food storage and remarked he knew where to come when tshtf. I reminded him I had a like amount of defensive preparations.

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  2. The thing that really struck me about this cartoon is its matter-of-fact portrayal of prepping. Perhaps we survivalists are gaining some credibility as more people see how screwed up this country has become? As far as OPSEC, loose lips sink ships - keep your lips sealed.

    NoCal Gal

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  3. yeah...that's when I start talking about guns and raiders. lol

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  4. Many years ago (31) I regretfully made a similar comment to an older mormon woman that I worked with and respected. She was simply trying to educate me on the value of storing some food for hard times. I flippently joked that my next door nieghbor was a mormon and I would go take his food. I was a lot younger and a lot stupidier then. I wish I could take those words back, it seemed funny at the time but it must have hurt her even though she brushed it off. I am reminded of that old European saying "Too soon old, too late smart".

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  5. Poor Dilbert. If he is planning on living through a complete meltdown of our financial system, he should be looking to put away much more than a 6 month supply! It will take a decade or more to recover. Also, regarding co-workers, it is best to keep your mouth shut.

    But lets talk about our immediate surrounding neighbors. Perhaps this cartoon is a wake up call for us prepper kinds to start doing some informational teaching on the consequences to the neighborhood and their families if this debacle we're currently living through ends up in a meltdown. This cartoon is a good place to start a conversation opener. Using humor to calm the fear associated with a harsh reality of what's to come is an effective provocation of consequences to asking, What if? If nothing else, it will give you valuable information to guesstimate who in your neighborhood is also concerned and willing to participate in a protection plan.
    Those that think that guns are the ONLY answer to a neighbor that comes knocking on your door in hunger, are being unrealistic. We need each other!
    Perhaps it's time to pull out the tiller and offer to help the neighbors to break a plot of ground to put in that Fall garden, or how to start a water catchment system from rainwater runoff.
    When the TSHTF, we will all become targets of the house to go to, merely by the fact that we are still working our land, fields, and animals. You can't hide them! You have to continue to caretake them. So, use this opportunity to get your small immediate neighborhood as ready as possible now.
    Oh, don't forget to pray for protection, guidance and fortitude.
    Prayers are best heard in numbers from many, and they are heard!

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  6. there are still too many people out there who flatly refuse to prepare for the inevitable shtf..they will look you straight in the eye and tell you that you are crazy out of your mind and wrong, wrong, wrong...they are so determined that you are wrong and they are right that they refuse all offers of help starting gardens, water info, etc.. this is the kind of neighbors that i have..and it hurts me something fierce cause they are not just neighbors but are relatives and i love them and care for their well being. it is gonna be really hard to have to say no.

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  7. It seems like all of us know someone we trusted with the information that we have second thoughts on. Years ago when my husband and I started thinking about just Earthquake prepareness my sisters started calling me their survivalist sister. I didn't think anything of it, because I wasn't a prepper at the time. Over the past 2 years we have switched modes to prepping for more serious situations. The other day my sister commented that everyone would be okay if they had someone like me in their family. That got me to thinking and realizing that she wasn't taking the food storage preparations that I have been trying her to get. Then following that she made a comment in front of some people about how our lifestyles was anything but normal. She didn't go into details, but my red flag flew up fast. I realized that our OPSEC was totally gone because my family thinks what we do is just a joke. Big reality check for me, a little to late.

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  8. If your family members are not on board and also actively contributing toward the groups preparedness, then they can be your WORST OPSEC nightmare.
    If you cannot get them to commit to the need to prepare for themselves FIRST, and to the need for OPSEC, then do not divulge your preps to them at all, or you are setting yourself up for major heartache and losses later.
    I learned this the hard way with my elder mother. She's a thousand miles away, but she loves to brag to others about how hard working and self-sufficient I am to her church friends and also to my siblings. I eventually had to cut our email communications off to her when I learned she was forwarding them to her friends, even when I requested her not to share them with others, including other family members! All because she just can not wrap the ugly concept of the Golden Hordes ransacking the countrysides in attempt to meet their hunger. This just won't happen, in her minds acceptance. She has decided I am carrying the need for security too far. For her, yes. For me, who carries the burden of risk for responsibility to ensure my security of all my hard work, definitely no!

    Same with neighbors. They MUST have an active interest at least, in assisting themselves first before you jump in to assist them. The only way to find out if you can help them, is to ask in a friendly neighborly open ended questioning manner.

    We will not be able to live isolated inside our dwellings. Better to nudge those around you now than to have them begging for handouts later.

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