SHTF reciprocal agreements?

[RichardR]

Is anyone interested in helping to organize something like this? Essentially the way it would work is folks would agree to offer up food/water, shelter, etc to other agreement folks if for whatever reason one of the other reciprocal agreement folks were forced to evacuate or were burned out, etc during/after a shtf event.

It would need to be semi-local, for instance I can offer up assistance to folks on the far west-side of Tennessee, more specifically in the Memphis to Jackson area.

Depending on the situation I could also provide other essential gear like emergency radios, flashlights, I can even loan out weapons &/or ammunition if needed.

Is there any interest in putting together something like this?

[xRUSTYx]

IMO ... and again, this is just my opinion.

Agreements don't mean sh*t when SHTF. Its sounds good in theory, but outside of close family, I don't want anyone knowing what preps we might have or where we live.

Unfortunately - People don't keep their mouth shut.

[RichardR]

Rusty,

Your right, this sort of thing probably isn't for everyone, there would have to be a certain level of trust involved, trust that the folks you hosted wouldn't rob you, trust that if you were the one "in need" that the other person would honor their end of the agreement to host you & your family, etc.

Family would be my first choice as well, but I am sure that there are some other folks like myself who are transplants from other states & only our immediate families are down here with us, unfortunately the rest of my family is 9 hours drive from here.

Besides I have a couple of spare bedrooms not being used at the moment, one with a queen size, the other with a twin, plus a couple of couches, a queen sized inflatable mattress, a few sleeping bags, etc so I could provide shelter for quite a few folks if the need arose.

And I don't mind sharing my food & water with the hungery, or providing medical supplies to the sick or injured or even loaning out a firearm & some ammunition to someone who was unarmed, don't get me wrong I would like to have any firearms returned to me after the shtf crisis dies down though.

Maybe I am just being nieve but I doubt that there would be any reason for someone I was hosting to rob me, considering I am more than willing to provide as much assistance to them & their family as I possibly could.

[Dolomite_supafly]

[quote name='RichardR' timestamp='1353146006' post='847085']
Rusty,

Maybe I am just being nieve but I doubt that there would be any reason for someone I was hosting to rob me, considering I am more than willing to provide as much assistance to them & their family as I possibly could.
[/quote]

You are being naive. In a true SHTF situation they are going to rob or kill you for your stuff. Heck, people rob and kill when it isn't a SHTF situation. And if you let a few people know you have food, shelter and supplies you are going to have 10x that actually show up. Kind of like that discreet highschool party. And when you have to turn away some people things are going to go south very quickly. Or those you tell could pass it on to bad guys to save their own skin and then the bad guys will rob or kill you for your stuff.

I would not advertise or let anyone know what you have. You will have plenty of chances to help the needy that wonder by you place.

Remember the key to survivng is to not become a target. Keep you and your supplies hidden. And as much as I hate to say it you need to suspend your compassion if you want to survive.

Dolomite

[monkeylizard]

I think there may be some confusion here over what constitutes a SHTF event. Richard, you seem to be thinking it's short term and will pass, like say from a regional natural disaster. Hold out for a few days/weeks and things get back to normal. If that's your definition, then sure, you can shelter some refugees/displaced if you have supplies to last everyone that long and don't mind having to pay out of pocket to replenish afterwards. a local tornado for instance, or regional flooding. But that's not what's usually meant by SHTF around here. Around here it means it's all gone and it's not coming back for the foreseeable future. In that case, +1,000 to Dolomite and xRustyx.

[Jamie Jackson]

There's some solid thoughts and suggestions in this thread.

I certainly believe in and participate in the concept of a M.A.G., or a Mutual Assistance Group. But this is with people I know, and that have already proven their trust and integrity. I think the MAG concept would prove an absolute necessity in a real SHTF scenario such as described by monkeylizard.

Being able to charitably assist members of your community in a local or regional disaster is simply being a responsible member of your community. We've done it numerable times before...but always keeping a low profile and definitely not revealing our resources. This is very doable.

But as already mentioned, there are predatory creatures roaming this planet that will shake your hand & smile to your face all the while thinking about what to do with your body when they are finished with you. Then there are everyday Mom's and Dad's that will do [b]anything[/b] not to see their children starve. [b]Anything[/b].
It's a reality we all have to deal with.

RichardR;
If you have a group you can trust, I mean really know you can trust, then I think you are on the right path. Just stay low-pro and be careful. Good Luck with your decisions.

[RichardR]

Ok gotcha, I was thinking more along the lines of a local/regional temporary type shtf, not an end of the world as we know it sort of event.

Although even in an EOTWAWKI event, I still wouldn't want to see our society devolve to the point where it is "every man for himself" and where everything goes, including cold blooded murder but I guess there wouldn't be a whole lot I could do to change it once it got to that point eh?

I think that in such a worst case scenario like that I could probably support joining a small mutual assistance group of people long-term, as long as they were all willing to pitch-in and do their part, the Mississippi & Hatchie rivers would provide plenty of fresh water & fish, the land around here is fertile & there is plenty of local wildlife, security would probably be the biggest concern, as most of the able bodied men in such a "mutual assistance group" would need to be spread out into various small work detachments.

I'd have to give that sort of scenario some more thought.

[Guest HvyMtl]

Again, you would have to be careful as to who you pick. There are a few people I would trust with my life, and know they would trust me with theirs. These are the people you have the agreements with, if you make them.

[RichardR]

Agreed, in an eotwawki scenario regular folks could very easily get really desperate really quickly, a few days without food is all it would take before some of those regular folks would resort to what they would have thought of as unthinkable crimes back when they had a full belly.

Unfortunately in 2012 America the vast majority of folks have no idea of how to get food other than from buying it a store & if our infrastructure &/or economy collapsed they would get awful dangerous awful quickly, and I am guess that in such a scenario it probably wouldn't take to long before canabalism started happening, especially in the cities.

[zgunbear]

I agree it has to be people you can trust.
I live in Spring Hill and would need people in this area.
I doubt we could stay here so my wife and I would need a place to bug out to.

[Jamie Jackson]

[quote name='RichardR' timestamp='1353337264' post='848137']
Agreed, in an eotwawki scenario regular folks could very easily get really desperate really quickly, a few days without food is all it would take before some of those regular folks would resort to what they would have thought of as unthinkable crimes back when they had a full belly.

Unfortunately in 2012 America the vast majority of folks have no idea of how to get food other than from buying it a store & if our infrastructure &/or economy collapsed they would get awful dangerous awful quickly, and I am guess that in such a scenario it probably wouldn't take to long before canabalism started happening, especially in the cities.
[/quote]


Good points Sir. I assume you're joking about the cannibalism..imho that's a stretch...unless it's something a person is already into...


But, in all seriousness, the veneer on our society is pretty thin already. The JIT or "Just In Time" delivery model practiced by nearly all food stores would allow even moderate panic buying to empty the shelves. Just consider what happens when a snow or freezing rain forecast hits East TN. A disruption in fuel availability can wreck havoc on deliveries as well.

The JIT system has negated "ware-rooms" holding several weeks worth of food items to be rotated out to the shelves as we had in the past.

Take current events like Sandy, or recent events like Katrina. Without constant electricity, and near constant delivery, coupled with the fact that the vast majority of American homes only 3-5 days worth of food, and doubtfully that much water stored...things can get hinky fast.


We lived in SW MS during and immediately after Katrina. It took weeks, several, for regular food and fuel delivery to be restored...we had no power for 6 weeks and no flowing water for 4 of those, and then the water had to be treated. Many, many homes were burglarized, vehicles broken into, gas tanks siphoned...tempers were short...and you could generally only trust those you knew. By day 9 as alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs were running out...things got pretty tough in certain areas. (But, "A armed society is a polite society" and situational awareness is your friend.)
But that didn't stop us, and many others from helping within our community. My wife and I are R.N.'s and we set up an impromptu clinic to help locals initially (no 911 to call), exhausted our supplies pretty quickly...but helped as we could. But...away from our dwelling and without revealing our resources. Many other did similar things.


imho, the things we can all do to help the most is to be as prepared as we can ourselves (to lessen the drain on limited resources), develop our self sufficiency skills to the best of our abilities, and develop our local support groups, and plan out your security contingencies. Then we can consider helping others, as we choose.

Edited November 19, 2012 by prag

[RichardR]

[quote name='zgunbear' timestamp='1353342082' post='848175']
I agree it has to be people you can trust.
I live in Spring Hill and would need people in this area.
I doubt we could stay here so my wife and I would need a place to bug out to.
[/quote]

I am guessing that you are not the only TGO'er who might be forced to relocate if the S ever H the F.

Spring Hill is up there by Nashville correct? Anyway you'd probably want to find a place that is no further than an hours drive, that way you can limit the amount of time you & your family spent on the roads, where I believe folks will be most vunerable.

Also limiting your distance to an hours drive or less you could still hike that distance on foot in a couple of days time if you were forced too.

Anyway Zgunbear you might want to include some more details in your application so to speak, to join a reciprocal agreement, things like your &/or your family member's skill sets or how many folks you could shelter if the need arose, stuff like that.

You might also want to include things like any known medical issues that your potential hosts might need to be aware of, but serious stuff only like a heart condition or cancer or that condition where your blood doesn't clot, or say if one of your kids had a severe allergy to something, etc.

While it is a shame it is also a reality that some folks might only be willing to shelter you & your family if there is something in it for them, a promise of some sort of payment or something, personally I would recommend avoiding making any agreements with those sorts of people.

The folks who would take advantage of other people during a major life/death crisis will keep taking advantage of you & everyone else that they can, as it is obviously in their nature to do so.

I would like to see this sort of thing kept as every average day folks freely banding together in order to survive whatever ####storm comes our way, yes it does mean that there will be more mouths to feed, but there will also be more hands to do the work, more eyes to keep watch & more guns to fend off bandits.

I think that the potential pros are worth the risk of the potential cons.

[RichardR]

[quote name='prag' timestamp='1353348933' post='848249']



Good points Sir. I assume you're joking about the cannibalism..imho that's a stretch...unless it's something a person is already into...


But, in all seriousness, the veneer on our society is pretty thin already. The JIT or "Just In Time" delivery model practiced by nearly all food stores would allow even moderate panic buying to empty the shelves. Just consider what happens when a snow or freezing rain forecast hits East TN. A disruption in fuel availability can wreck havoc on deliveries as well.

The JIT system has negated "ware-rooms" holding several weeks worth of food items to be rotated out to the shelves as we had in the past.

Take current events like Sandy, or recent events like Katrina. Without constant electricity, and near constant delivery, coupled with the fact that the vast majority of American homes only 3-5 days worth of food, and doubtfully that much water stored...things can get hinky fast.


We lived in SW MS during and immediately after Katrina. It took weeks, several, for regular food and fuel delivery to be restored...we had no power for 6 weeks and no flowing water for 4 of those, and then the water had to be treated. Many, many homes were burglarized, vehicles broken into, gas tanks siphoned...tempers were short...and you could generally only trust those you knew. By day 9 as alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs were running out...things got pretty tough in certain areas. (But, "A armed society is a polite society" and situational awareness is your friend.)
But that didn't stop us, and many others from helping within our community. My wife and I are R.N.'s and we set up an impromptu clinic to help locals initially (no 911 to call), exhausted our supplies pretty quickly...but helped as we could. But...away from our dwelling and without revealing our resources. Many other did similar things.


imho, the things we can all do to help the most is to be as prepared as we can ourselves (to lessen the drain on limited resources), develop our self sufficiency skills to the best of our abilities, and develop our local support groups, and plan out your security contingencies. Then we can consider helping others, as we choose.
[/quote]

Great post Prag!

Agreed on all parts except the canabalism thing, humans are by nature predatory animals & very dangerous ones at that, if there is no other food source that they can find or steal, I am guessing that a decent percentage of folks will eat what is availible to them.

As sick as it sounds, starving to death isn't something that some folks will willingly do, or allow their children to do ... then again maybe I've just been playing to much Fallout on the PS3!

[Jamie Jackson]

LOL Richard. You may have a point. And Thank you Sir.

There are certainly some depraved and animalistic creatures masquerading as humans. They visit that brutality on folks already.
But in a protracted scenario they [u]should[/u] be weeded out pretty quickly...at least one would hope.
And that's the reason having your own house in order is a priority, that and having a group of people you could depend on.

Good Thread folks.

[mr.ak47]

I see a lot of good points brought up in this forum,some I agree with others I don't, I agree a lot with Richards point of view. What's the point of surviving if we all turn our backs on our fellow men and women. I'm not saying we can save everyone,hell i'm not even recommending that you attempt to save one.I know my plans involve helping my family and friends first and foremost and then helping those in need if I can. My plans for doing this are extremely cautious ones,and running over what to do should a stranger come knocking,but i think developing friendships now and setting up networks is vital right now to everyone's survival. I understand some don't want to disclose their preps to others,and I get that but how about try meeting up with the people in your area and actually working on a friendship and then a partnership. There are roughly 25 people in my network already, and each one of them has a role to play, come a SHTF situation everyone knows where to meet everyone's knows what to bring and what to do when they reach the location. There are strength in numbers my friends.Plus I've got 4 nurses what do you got lol

Edited December 11, 2012 by mr.ak47