Organizing

The other day, my friend Mike Shelby pointed out that people into preparedness aren’t organizing – they are preparing individually, but not organizing into larger community groups. He’s right. However, many folks criticized him for this. That’s because they don’t want to put in the work. Organizing is hard, buying and stockpiling stuff isn’t.

The Ultimate Tactical Wisdom guide agrees:

Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
    But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiates 4:9-12

Mike suggested starting your own Search and Rescue team as a way to organize, and I think that’s smart. You could also set up a private Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), as there is no legal requirement for it to be sponsored or lead by a government agency. These give you “cover for action”, and establish that your group is a force for good, rather some rogue “militia” getting in the way.

I just wrapped up a Community Security Operations class with some good dudes this weekend and I pushed this point hard – Your team has to be seen as an agent of good, rather than as some fringe element. You have to be involved in serving the larger community. We do that here at Camp Ponderosa by holding community events and things like first aid training (thanks to Project 223 Preparedness).

The biggest hurdle we have to overcome is the fear of meeting together. You cannot build trust via online-only interaction. Gather together. Come to events like Shield Field Days in MT, Mountain Readiness in NC, or the Self Reliance Festival in TN. Come to class and meet each other.

Humans have built relationships around the campfire for millenia. Also, we build them over meals. That’s why at Camp Ponderosa, we either have our outstanding cook Jason (boilerman09 on Twitter) make meals for everyone or we go to a local restaurant together. Once in a while, we draft The Watcher on the Web to make Derby Pie (IYKYK). Share meals and fires together. At all of mine and NC Scout’s classes, we gather together in the evening for networking and fellowship.

When the folks challenge guys like Mike, NC Scout, or me to “then do something to organize”, I laugh. What exactly do you think us hosting classes and events is for? ORGANIZING and BUILDING NETWORKS. The guys who resist this will never come to class and will never get off the couch. Come and join us. Be bold. Organize in spite of the fear.

I have a whole training week coming up where you can attend Fieldcraft (Aug 22-24), Community Security Operations (Aug 25-27), and Combatives (Aug 29-31) all in one week (with both weekends). In the fall, you can join us at Mountain Readiness (Oct 17-19), then take Fieldcraft (Oct 21-23), NC Scout’s Scout (Oct 24-26), and NC Scout’s Recce (Oct 27-29). There ARE opportunities to organize, you just need to put in the effort.

“But aren’t you worried about feds??” No, I’m not, because we aren’t doing anything illegal. We are learning skills related to self-suffciency. If you are not coming to classes or events due to this irrational fear that everyone is a fed, congratulations, you are doing exactly what they want you to do, which is NOTHING. Join us and have fun.