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Monday, March 21, 2011

Stealth Prepping - Op-Sec and Your Preps

Original Article

There’s an old saying that it pays to advertise but when it comes to your preps this may be a very bad idea. Everyday life is often a battle between the “haves” and “have-nots” and if you doubt this reasoning just trying making a list of all the entitlement programs that are presently available out there. During a disaster or crisis this difference will only be multiplied and become even more obvious. Those persons who have prepared (the haves) in advance of a crisis or a disaster may become an even bigger target of those who didn’t prepare (the have-nots).

Now there are many people in the prepping community that are extremely proud of their efforts and the security and peace of mind it affords them. But unlike the proud parents that can’t wait to tell everyone about their new little family member, too much talk about your preps can be a dangerous thing in a true survival situation. The “have-nots” will be looking for the “haves” to provide for them when things get bad. This is a simple fact of nature as there will be a large number of people who are unprepared and will be looking for any way to survive that they can. While you shouldn’t be totally against helping your friends and neighbors, they should also be willing to help themselves.

Now you can still have a proper conversation about your preps with your friends and neighbors without giving away too much information. You just need to avoid the tendency of going into too much detail. As is frequently said, “The devil is in the details.”

Now sometimes the best way to hide your preps is in “plain sight”. People rarely see things for what they truly are and don’t always realize their purpose or their intended value unless you give them the specifics. Although you may want to establish “bragging rights” about your preps, it may not be in the best interest of your security.

So let’s take a look at a simple example of one type of prep that everyone has (or should have). Water is an absolute necessity in a survival situation and having an adequate means of filtering and purifying water is critical. Now a Big Berkey sitting on the counter in your kitchen is going to be pretty obvious to most anyone who happens to stop in or come by for a visit and they are probably going to have a few questions concerning it. This will be especially true if they aren't actually preparedness minded. If they are of the preparedness mindset they may actually know as much or more about it than you do! While you may have a tendency to want to tell your visitors about how great your water purification and filtration system really is, sometimes it’s better to leave out the details if they don’t exemplify a preparedness mindset. Keep your explanations simple and uncomplicated when they ask questions about something. Even though you may have the “biggest and the baddest” water filtration system in town, you probably shouldn’t stress the point to your neighbors or friends, especially if they aren’t “preparedness minded” sort of folks.

So keep things simple by keeping your explanations simple. If someone notices part of your preps, keep the explanation simple and leave out the extra details. In this case, just tell them you didn’t like the taste of your water and are trying to eliminate the problem. The main thing is not to bring too much attention to your preps by giving out too much information or too many details. Save the details for later or wait until they show a genuine interest in being prepared.

Staying above the water line!

Riverwalker



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