The deep purpose for preppers

[sfcfinchrs]

Hi all,

As I have posted I have returned to this forum after mistakenly participated on a small prepper forum in my home country of the US.

Aside from that disaster. I wanted to communicate a very important principle that my family ascribes to in terms of prepping.

I believe that the prepping community should in actuality be the modern day equivalent to the Civil Defence Corps of the past.

I fully understand the desire to focus on the survival of the individual and those close to us. Believe me when I say I feel that to the extreme. My previous life in the US Military took me to some very interesting places. Many of them where I was not welcome.

Aside from that I in my very old age recaptured the purpose of those times. I can keep mine and my own safe with no problem. However I cannot ignore the community around me.

We preppers have the foresight to take a small amount of our time to think about how to guide and advise our communities when the rubber meets the road. On how to weather the storm when it comes.

This may seem idealistic. However I invite everyone to take a moment to think about this.

I welcome any thoughts of the community here on this.

Thanks all

[Yorkshire Andy]

Hi all,

As I have posted I have returned to this forum after mistakenly participated on a small prepper forum in my home country of the US.

Aside from that disaster. I wanted to communicate a very important principle that my family ascribes to in terms of prepping.

I believe that the prepping community should in actuality be the modern day equivalent to the Civil Defence Corps of the past.

I fully understand the desire to focus on the survival of the individual and those close to us. Believe me when I say I feel that to the extreme. My previous life in the US Military took me to some very interesting places. Many of them where I was not welcome.

Aside from that I in my very old age recaptured the purpose of those times. I can keep mine and my own safe with no problem. However I cannot ignore the community around me.

We preppers have the foresight to take a small amount of our time to think about how to guide and advise our communities when the rubber meets the road. On how to weather the storm when it comes.

This may seem idealistic. However I invite everyone to take a moment to think about this.

I welcome any thoughts of the community here on this.

Thanks all

Welcome back

It's a interesting concept but with today's society you'll get looked at like your nuttier than a box of crunchy nut with a squirrel in the box

Just look at the flack the government protect and survive text system is attracting on any newspaper Facebook pages

UNTIL the moment the shtf and people will take any assistance they can grab

Know a few 4x4 responders signed up vehicles matching contrasting high Vis vests. Don't go down there mate the roads flooded.... Gtf out my way you can't shut the road .... 10 mins later fire service are collecting Mr gtf out the way in a dingy and not happy his cars still bobbing in the water and no one's offering to get it out ... Or offering him a lift home.... Or a phone as his got wet so he can't ring his wife that the responders are conspiring with the fire service and police as it's not fair that he's getting a ticket for ignoring the big road closed signs

[Arzosah]

Hello finchers! Yes, I can see what you mean - but if it has the name "prepper" anywhere in there, people will be dismissive of it - there's too many American programmes over here (as you probably know yourself) that equate prepping with armageddon and doomsday and whatnot. I think there's a lot of organisations that already do the work, without calling themselves preppers or civil defence corps or anything. Here's a list of the top of my head:
- RNLI and independent lifeboats too.
- St John Ambulance
- RAYNET
- Mountain Rescue
- Scouts and Guides Leaders
- Hospital visiting
- Citizens Advice Bureau advisors
- National Childbirth Trust group leaders
- Royal Voluntary Service members.

And that really is off the top of my head. The end of the list, those aren't so much about emergencies, its true, more about crises of everyday living. And there's dozens of much more local organisations. When covid hit, there were hundreds of thousands of people who volunteered to help, at hospitals and wherever they were needed. I don't think we're going to get a national prepping type organisation, I think it would be scorned, quite frankly (like Yorkshire Andy describes immediately above this post!) but once an emergency hits, if there's time a national organisation would emerge, PDQ. If there *was* no time, I think there'd be local responses: they'd be less efficient, by definition, because there'd be duplication and wastage, but they'd work.

As for the military not being welcome - I think its been a bit different here, eg in 2012 I had seats at a couple of events at the Olympics in London, and the army stepped in because the private lot were doing such a poor job of it - and they were very firm, quite strict, but I was awfully glad to see them! So were most people. But they might not get the same reaction now, I'm afraid - its not party political, but there's been a loss of trust in every organisation which I've felt myself, I must say.

Not sure if that's what you were looking for, but it's what I've got

[sfcfinchrs]

Thank you all for the response.

My way is definitely not the only way.

[jansman]

…this is UK Preppers,not USA Preppers. I’ll go with Yorkshire Andy on this and use a similar phrase to him; Nuttier than a fruitcake is this.

This is the United Kingdom.

[Kiwififer]

Hi all,

As I have posted I have returned to this forum after mistakenly participated on a small prepper forum in my home country of the US.

Aside from that disaster. I wanted to communicate a very important principle that my family ascribes to in terms of prepping.

I believe that the prepping community should in actuality be the modern day equivalent to the Civil Defence Corps of the past.

I fully understand the desire to focus on the survival of the individual and those close to us. Believe me when I say I feel that to the extreme. My previous life in the US Military took me to some very interesting places. Many of them where I was not welcome.

Aside from that I in my very old age recaptured the purpose of those times. I can keep mine and my own safe with no problem. However I cannot ignore the community around me.

We preppers have the foresight to take a small amount of our time to think about how to guide and advise our communities when the rubber meets the road. On how to weather the storm when it comes.

This may seem idealistic. However I invite everyone to take a moment to think about this.

I welcome any thoughts of the community here on this.

Thanks all

Welcome back

It's a interesting concept but with today's society you'll get looked at like your nuttier than a box of crunchy nut with a squirrel in the box

Just look at the flack the government protect and survive text system is attracting on any newspaper Facebook pages

UNTIL the moment the shtf and people will take any assistance they can grab

Know a few 4x4 responders signed up vehicles matching contrasting high Vis vests. Don't go down there mate the roads flooded.... Gtf out my way you can't shut the road .... 10 mins later fire service are collecting Mr gtf out the way in a dingy and not happy his cars still bobbing in the water and no one's offering to get it out ... Or offering him a lift home.... Or a phone as his got wet so he can't ring his wife that the responders are conspiring with the fire service and police as it's not fair that he's getting a ticket for ignoring the big road closed signs

That literally happened last night to me. They shut the road just down from where I live to finish the repairs and paint the road, we have huge signs saying ‘ROAD CLOSED’ and folk still went down it. Of course they scuttled back up shortly afterwards. One had the cheek to give me a two fingered salute as I tried to wave him down, it said more about that dafty than me.

Folk have rights and boy do they use them. You can’t make me, tell me, my feelings are more important than yours and so on.

Practically few know that with rights come responsibilities.

[itsybitsy]

…this is UK Preppers,not USA Preppers. I’ll go with Yorkshire Andy on this and use a similar phrase to him; Nuttier than a fruitcake is this.

This is the United Kingdom.

Sad, but true. Sadly, the prevailing attitude in this country by and large is 'my personal rights are far more important than the common good'. Actually, thinking about it - that does seem very much like some of our US friends across the water!

[jennyjj01]

I believe that the prepping community should in actuality be the modern day equivalent to the Civil Defence Corps of the past.
...
However I cannot ignore the community around me.

I'm with Arzosah on this.

I think there's a lot of organisations that already do the work, without calling themselves preppers or civil defence corps or anything.
...
The end of the list, those aren't so much about emergencies, its true, more about crises of everyday living. And there's dozens of much more local organisations.

If the rubber hits the road it will be a bit late for us to try to advise. But also, it's not welcome now.
We can, just lead by discreet example, showing good housekeeping and community spirit.
I'll add to Arzosah's list, foodbanks* and community kitchens. They will be central to any civil defence or community rebuilding efforts. I can well see government needing to work with them if/when supply chains get broken. To volunteer with a foodbank is to get in early in a 'good gang'.

*My only reservation with foodbanks is there linkage to religion, but it is what it is. They do great work. NOW.

[Kiwififer]

Good points Jenny.

Down in New Zealand, the Salvation Army are always present at and emergency.

They say the first to go in is the army.

The second is the Sally’s to feed people.

I’m not religious in any shape or form but I do recognise the effort the Sally Army puts in down there to help people. Yes there is still a ‘soup, soap, salvation’ part to them but from what I saw, they didn’t push it down people’s throats.

[Arzosah]

My way is definitely not the easy for others

It's not just about "easy", its about being appropriate, homegrown, and sustainable. The Civil Defence Corps has been gone a long time in this country, and the urge to protect, to help the community, has long since transmuted into other organisations. It exists in tandem with, and opposition to, the selfishness and disregard for others described above. The polarisation of society is demonstrated in many ways, this being one of them.