Neighborhood Preparedness
OK, let’s recap a little bit. First, if your individual preps are not up to speed, you need to square that
away fast. Remember, if you are not ready, how can you have your family ready for a minor
disaster, much less a major disaster. Global wars are not for the weak and timid. There are no
winners or losers, only victims and survivors. Which will you be?
Second, make sure your family is prepared. You can be of little or no use to your neighborhood if
your family is not squared away. You will not be able to participate in much within your base camp,
which is your neighborhood, if you are worried about your family’s immediate needs and security.
You first, family second, neighborhood third!
Now let’s get into your neighborhood preparedness. First things first. Develop a detailed plan. Do
not make it complicated, but do focus on details. Even if you are unable to implement your plan
prior to a major event, you will be way ahead of the game by having a plan. Remember, people will
want to be led by a competent leader, not a dictator. If you have a plan that makes sense, your
neighbors will be more interested in participating, especially if they know their survival is at stake.
So, let’s get into the nuts and bolts of your plan. This may be the hardest part of setting up your
Neighborhood Protection Plan (NPP). YOU HAVE TO TALK TO YOUR NEIGHBORS. This is
difficult at best, because some people don’t want to be bothered or just don’t care. The average
American does not want to hear about World War III or EMP attacks, or full-scale economic
collapse. You will probably find that the vast majority of your neighbors will not be receptive to
your information. That’s OK! Focus on the ones who want to hear what you have to say. That will
be your core group. Others will fall in place later.
I have seen this happen during a minor disaster – the 1994 earthquake in Southern California, when
the power went down and the water was off for a while. Neighbors came out of what was left of
their houses and worked together to get by. This will happen! With a good plan, these people will
be put into slots where they are needed and the “machine” will work.
Neighborhood preparedness starts with Neighborhood Watch. Crime prevention is first priority to
maintaining semblance of order. You need a security plan. After a major event, looting could be a
factor. An armed presence will be a strong deterrent. This will take a good screening process. Look
for former military or law enforcement. They will have training they can fall back on. Other able
bodied citizens can be paired up with experienced neighbors.
After a major event, it would be wise to check on your core group first. Divide up the neighborhood
and have everyone check on the rest of the people near you. If you have a former law enforcement
member on your block, let him or her be a liaison with your local Sheriff or Police Department, to
find out from them what the situation is and what they recommend, depending on circumstances as
they know them. Law enforcement may be patrolling during the initial phases of the event and have
information you may not have.
If you have medical people on your block, set them up somewhere where first aid can be
administered. Reassure the people you will do the best you can to maintain semblance of order.
Most importantly, project calm in times of disaster. Try to work together as a team. Try to include
as many local people as possible. Giving people something to do helps to keep them calm, and they
can be of real assistance to others.
Next, establish communications with other groups, to be able to share resources like supplies and
personnel, i.e. a doctor, nurse, security advisor, etc. This is where our HAM radios come into play.
The Oath Keeper Communications Team is working on an emergency communications plan that all
can use. If you have extra radios, such as FRS/GMRS, get them out, learn how to use them and how
to link with the communications plan. Have plenty of extra batteries and a way to recharge your
batteries. Make sure your security people have radios also, ASAP.
Finally, but not the last to consider, The Oath Keepers have been working on Neighborhood Watch
and a Neighborhood Protection Plan, as outlined in the manual, “A Failure of Civility”. This manual
is key to our survival, and many of our members have them and have studied them. It is a very
detailed plan that will be covered in future meetings.
If you have a copy of this manual, study it intensely. If you don’t, we are hoping to be able to get
some soon and will tell you how to get one. Stay in touch with Oath Keepers.
Now, this last part of the class is going back to paragraph four. We mentioned that the average
American does not want to hear about Economic Collapse, an EMP attack on the power grid, or
World War III. So, if they don’t want to hear about that, then they definitely wont want to hear about
a second Civil War. Well, too bad. This is a major part of our training scenarios. If the country goes
into a full scale Civil War, then everyone will be affected.
Most people of differing political backgrounds will work together in times of disaster unless the
disaster was caused by differing political backgrounds. My point here is that in your own
neighborhoods you may come face to face with the enemy. This will be a problem. As we stated
before, Civil Wars are the worst case scenario of all conflicts. So what do we do about this problem.
All we can do is begin to gather intelligence information in our own neighborhoods to determine
who may or may not be a threat in the future. It’s not hard to strike up a conversation with a neighbor
to determine their political persuasion. As distasteful as it seems spying on your own neighbors, it
may well be a valuable piece of intelligence you may need in the future.
In closing, Keep an open mind when prepping for an uncertain future. No one has all the answers.
All we can do is be as ready as possible, work together and share information that will be necessary
to plan for our survival. Keep the faith and keep prepping.