Prepping for Others

The Approaching Day Prepper discusses "Breaking OpSec" and notes:

About a month ago we attended PrepperFest in Columbus, OH. It was our first prepper conference and we found it to be well worthwhile. One of the workshops was by Black Dog Survival School. I found the instructor’s take on OpSec to be surprising and so much more realistic than the traditional perspective. He asked a question that went something like this: 

“How long after SHTF do you think it will take for those around you to figure out that you have food, shelter, heat, fire, and water?” 

His answer – about two days after they run out, which will probably be about three days after the catastrophic event. I think he’s probably right. That means that by Day Five, unless you live in a really remote location, your OpSec will be shot, too, and you will have to make some critical and difficult decisions: 

Will you share what you have and, if so, with whom? 

In the cozy security of life-as-we-know-it, you may be able to take a hard line and answer that question very narrowly – you’ll share only with those you’ve prepped for or with. In other words, anyone else who comes knocking at your door will be turned away, probably at gunpoint. Or maybe you’re more generous and think you’ll share with your extended family and neighbors. But how far does that extend? 

Will you really be able to say “no” to your children and their spouses and children? 

What about your in-laws and their families, including that brother-in-law who drives you nuts? What about your children’s in-laws? 

As I recall, the speaker said when they honestly looked at their family tree, they decided that they would be prepping for fourteen people. Yep, fourteen. Because to do otherwise meant that they would be saying to people they love (and/or have an obligation to), “No, I can’t give you food – you will have to go hungry.”

In the warmer months, it is pretty easy to tell when someone is having a barbecue because you can easily smell it from blocks away. Walking down my street in the evening, I can tell what many of my neighbors are eating for dinner because the scent is sent outside through exhaust fans or, in the warmer months, open windows. Wood fires are even more easily detected through scent. I doubt it will take even take 5 days for your OpSec to be shot, unless you are eating cold food out of cans and everyone is forced to stay inside because of weather or some other reason.