In today’s post we’re going to discuss one of the most common and highly flawed disaster “plans” out there in the preparedness community. This plan has been adopted by thousands of new and veteran preppers alike and will very likely be the tipping point that could mark a true, widespread SHTF disaster that will have dire consequences on a national or even global scale.
Whether you call it looting, scavenging, marauding or prospecting, there are thousands of people out there right now that feel that taking from others is the only way to survive in a true SHTF scenario. There are hundreds of reasons why this plan is doomed to fail, but yet more and more people both in and outside the preparedness community feel that becoming a marauder is apparently a great idea.
On more than a couple of occasions I’ve seen several discussions on various social media sites discussing the “marauder plan”. The other day I even saw a few people arguing not about whether this was a good idea or not (they had already made up their mind that it was) but were arguing about the best way to “deal” with the survivors of the groups they had attacked and stolen from. Some were advocating adding them into their “prepper group” (as long as they have good enough “skills”) while others felt that simply dispatching the survivors was the best idea after taking all of their supplies.
Wow… have we really gone that far off the cliff of sanity to the point where we need to debate whether or not to murder people after stealing from them?
Guys this is why most of the country looks at us in the way they do. This is why our community gets blamed major travesties and violent incidents. Most importantly, this is why it is so hard for us to encourage people to embrace the preparedness lifestyle.
On that note, today we are going to discuss the top 3 reasons why being a “marauder” is the worst possible plan you could make and why the people who make these plans could realistically be the spark that turns a relatively contained disaster situation into the all-out, widespread, without-rule-of-law SHTF scenario that could destroy our way of life.
What exactly do you think there will be left to steal?
This seems like a relatively easy concept to understand and yet thousands of people out there seem to think that there will just be this treasure trove of supplies out there when the SHTF and that all they have to do is go out and take it.
Let’s think about this. Even in a relatively localized disaster, what is the first thing to happen to nearly every general store out there? The shelves are stripped clean of food, water, generators, candles… all the stuff that would actually be useful in a grid down scenario. Not to mention, the people that are taking all these supplies in the first place aren’t exactly cool, calm and collected and waiting in nice uniform lines to check out. It’s utter chaos and extremely dangerous. The risk vs. reward of this plan is absurd. If you want to try and be king of Wal-Mart, you go right ahead …and enjoy your empty shelves.
So what’s left? Going door to door, breaking into people’s houses and stealing everything they can carry? I think people are forgetting that over 90% of the population barely has 3 days’ worth of food in their home in the first place and a good chunk of that food is perishable. So basically you’ll be taking a massive risk even getting into these houses, only to find out that they probably don’t have much, if anything to steal. Not exactly the brightest plan.
You’re not Rambo, and there will always be someone out there tougher than you
I know it might be a shot to the pride of some of the internet Rambo preppers out there, but it doesn’t matter who you are, there will ALWAYS be someone meaner, tougher and better prepared out there than you are.
Obviously not every single household has a firearm, but what this number means is that every single home in America has the very real potential of being protected by an armed citizen. Probably more of them than we realize. Every single time you make the choice to enter a home by force, you run the risk of the occupants using deadly force to defend what they have.
“But Ive got an AR15, I’ve got homemade body armor, I’m your worst nightmare!!”
Please…what you are is a criminal who’s not long for this world if this is the path you choose to take during a disaster.
These people might very well be able to overpower 1, 2 or more houses with this strategy, but what about long term? With as many weapons as this country has, it is literally a statistical impossibility that they will be able to sustain this plan long term. At some point their luck absolutely will run out.
“I’m sorry officer; I thought it was the apocalypse”
In every major disaster in modern history, and even during the collapse of some of the most powerful empires in history, there is always, no matter what, a rebuilding process. Law and order is restored and the people who took advantage of others during the period of time without rule of law are always held accountable for their actions by either authorities or by retribution from their victims or their families.
Also, let’s be realistic here. What kind of disaster would have to happen for this type of behavior to go unchallenged? In the majority of even the worst SHTF disasters the likelihood that complete without rule of law situation would occur for a long period of time is minuscule. You’re more likely to be hit by lightning than you are to be put in a situation like this.
Guys and gals, this type of daydreaming isn’t what being a prepper and living a preparedness lifestyle is about. Being a prepper, a real prepper, means that you understand that there are REAL threats to our way of life out there that are worth preparing for.
- Losing your job
- Natural disasters
- The failing economy
- Retirement
- Health risks
- Crime
- The rapid inflation of food prices
- Dependence on non-renewable energy
You could focus on just this small list of real disasters every day for the rest of your life and it’s unlikely that you’d be completely prepared for all of them. So it begs the question; with so many actual disasters out there, why would anyone focus even a minute of their time and attention on training to steal and harm others during an extremely unlikely Doomsday event?
It’s high time that this community stops trying to make real life out to be some sort of apocalyptic video game. If you truly think that times are getting tougher and tougher every day, well I agree with you. There’s a storm coming and I don’t think we’re even begun to realize the severity of that storm and its implications on all of us, preppers and non-preppers alike. What I do know is that planning for the apocalypse and ignoring these real disasters makes you as vulnerable and as unprepared as everyone else.
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