I have a problem with the militant style of prepping. What I like about survivalists is: their enthusiasm, ingenuity, vast practical and theoretical knowledge, and their willingness to discuss the possibility of apocalyptic events (where the human race is all but extinct). However, what I don’t like are proponents of a aggressive us-against-everyone-else attitude. Perhaps you know what I’m talking about. The people who spend a lot of time thinking about how to be the top dog in a dog-eat-dog world. People who know 9 ways to booby trap their house and have this by their beds:

But I don’t believe disasters work like that. First of all, it’s a common myth that people turn to lawlessness and looting during a disaster. As this writer and field expert at Emergency Management Magazine states,
While personal security and family safety are valid concerns, the vast majority of people around you will not be a threat. In fact, though looters gained a lot of media attention after Hurricane Katrina, there were far more stories of heroism and of people making new friends through shared adversity. We suggest a balance between personal security needs with the desire to help others.
It’s far more likely that we’ll need to work together to survive and rebuild. I want a different kind of militant prepping. A “no one left behind” kind of prepping. We need to prepare our selves and our community to be useful to each other, to defend each other, to share food with each other. We are always at our best when we work together instead of tearing each other down. And when times are hard, we’ll need to be at our best. Robin Wheeler–homesteader and survivalist–says it beautifully:
“Several community members have reminded me that if I put up food for the winter, ‘Men will come with guns and take your food.’ Well! The first time I heard that, you can imagine the huff that caused in me. Who were these poorly raised sods, that they sit on their bums, watching bad sitcoms no doubt, only to come and loot my last three jars of peach chutney when times get tough? Who raised these people? I wanted a word with their mothers and fathers. And when the fourth person said this to me, right after apple butter time, well, I got into a real snit. I decided to go find these people lurking away outside of our healthy community, and give them a piece of my mind.
They could be saving their own food, or better yet, helping others save food and taking home some of the spoils. They could be using their great skills to make their community strong, and be part of it, and then I would have less to worry about. Instead of being my problem, they could be someone else’s solution. Yes, on a tiny scale, and even a large one, this could work. I earmarked a couple of the more likely culprits and planned my next visit. My clever friend Terry heard my rant and thought me up a slogan for my upcoming campaign. ‘Women will Come with Food and Take Your Guns‘. I liked it and I like the planetary shift I felt when I said it. It sounded like a big job, but I was willing to chip away at it for a few years. And if anyone would like to help with this project, that would be great.”
Count me in.