Three things ‘The Walking Dead’ can teach preppers and survivalists

(Bugout.news) Yes, of course, it’s a fictional TV show based on a fictional event – the zombie apocalypse – but if you haven’t watched the hit AMC program, you’re in for a treat, especially if you’re of the mind that, when SHTF, you plan on not being victimized by the ensuing collapse of civil society.

There are several things that stand out in terms of survival – that mobility is important; a working knowledge of firearms is essential; having some military and/or law enforcement experiences helps; and a healthy dose of suspicion can serve you well (or be a detriment – more on this in a moment).

Time and again throughout the series the “group” of humans fighting to stay alive and rebuild society have been forced from their “safe” haven, hence the importance of mobility. At every turn they have been forced to deal with and “kill” zombies, but sometimes they have had to battle other groups of humans, hence the importance of firearms familiarity and law enforcement/military experience. But there are three things in particular that stand out as important for the prepper to know and have in a SHTF scenario, and here they are, in no particular order.

Bugout plan: While there are certainly occasions where bugging out is not a great idea, your relative cocoon of safety could collapse at any moment, and very quickly. So it is vital that you not only have a predetermined bugout location that is equipped and stashed with food, weapons, ammo, medicines, etc., but that you also have an additional bugout location separate from the first that is also equipped. In the “good times,” go to your bugout location often and if its relatively close (say, just a few miles from your suburban home, for instance) at least once per quarter you should actually hike to it. That is good fitness training and will provide you with a real-life account of what your journey will entail.

Prepare, mentally: As in the show, in a real SHTF scenario you will be faced with dilemma after dilemma, many of which will test your moral fabric. The show’s characters have often had to do things and make decisions that those of us viewing at home have found morally objectionable, but in the context of the series – and if we actually faced similar situations in real life – such decisions are completely necessary and rational.

Nobody wants to actually think about taking another life, but what if it’s you or them? Serious – that will happen in a SHTF scenario, and you’ll have to be as morally prepared as you can be to ensure your own survival. Consider that even letting someone go may come back to haunt you later, as has happened in The Walking Dead program. What will you do? You likely won’t know until that situation presents itself, but you must think about it now and be prepared mentally to put yourself and your group first in terms of survival. You have to remember you can’t feed, clothe, water and take care of everyone, and no matter how hard someone may beg you, understand that your supplies are yours and you prepared them for just that purpose – to take care of you and yours in an emergency. Further, be prepared to defend what you’ve got.

Now, if the situation allows that you can simply withdraw, preferably undetected, from a fight or potential confrontation – and you’ve got a fallback plan – by all means, live to live another day. However, those situations may be few and far between, and fighting to keep what you’ve got might just be the only alternative.

Remember, desperate times call for desperate measures, and desperate people will do barbaric things to combat hunger, thirst, and exposure to the elements.

Don’t do the lone wolf: Most people will need the assistance and skill sets of others in order to survive a societal collapse. That’s just true. So the very best thing to do is to prepare for bugging out (or surviving in place) with a group of people (neighbors, most likely) that you know and can already trust. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t take in others, you just have to be careful about that. As in The Walking Dead series, you will find that in bad times it will become hard to trust other people, especially after having been “burned” a time or two and narrowly surviving misguided trust scenarios.

That said, there are some behavioral techniques you’ll need to learn in order to make groups work. You will all have different ideas about doing things. And there are going to be times when you will be expected to do certain things as a member of a group that you don’t want to do. You’ll need to bite your tongue and keep opinions to yourself on occasion. You’ll need to follow the instructions of the group leader if it’s not you on occasion, even when you don’t want to, and so on. But always try to remember it’s the group that is important – the survival of all of you – and that can help you self-adjust your attitude at times when arguing or fighting among each other is just counterproductive and even dangerous.

The best leader in the SHTF situation will be the one that you all want to willingly follow, so keep that in mind.

(H/T OffGridSurvival)

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