This subject is hard to address. Perhaps the reason it is so hard to address is because it deals with the worst side of humanity, or the lack of humanity. My mission was in Germany in the late 1960s. The scars left on individuals in that society from World War II could not be talked about in their society. We missionaries were not considered part of their society. So, there were many instances where they would talk with us. I guess this is why the subject has been on my radar all these years. I have followed the subject somewhat on the darker side of the web where I keyed into those who had the experience behind what they posted. Whether it was retired, combat hardened soldiers, CIA officers, or rubbing shoulders with Law Enforcement Officers, I found them credible resources for what I feel is important intel on the subject. We all know about what the Holocaust Jews and dissidents in Hitler's Germany experienced. The unsuspecting Jews in particular could not understand how it could happen to them. Not being willing to recognize the reality of what was happening and make plans to evade or escape it cost many their lives and terrible deprivation. Will we do the same because we love the bliss of our self imposed ignorance?

We like the comfort of feeling that our laws and law enforcement infrastructure will take care of us in an emergency where we cannot depend on our infrastructure. That is a false hope. Our society cannot afford enough good officers to do that. We budget for almost enough to get by with in the good times. Tough luck in the bad times. Right now our law enforcement agencies cannot find enough good officers because the good people do not want anything to do with the political mess "defund the police", etc. has caused. Who do you really think might be hired in the place of good officers? That is reality. I have witnessed how some officers think and the mechanisms they might use to get their way. Fortunately for me, I lived in my ivory tower, the Crime Lab, where I could see some of what was going on without being directly involved on the ground floor.

I am also somewhat aware of how the gang mind-set works. Whether it is a group of Law Enforcement Officers in an agency, a group of anyone feeling somehow disenfranchised or claiming it for some reason because it is the basis of their entitlement attitude that whatever anyone else has should be theirs even if it must be taken by force, and as part of that nebulous gang they can take what they want from anyone they want even if it means killing them. Gangs tend to operate based on fear, whether of their own leadership or instilling fear in their prey. Yes, I have witnessed the reactions of Law Enforcement Officers who did not want to play into the demands of the gang in an agency they once worked for. It is much more common than you might think. It seems that the same mentality operates to maintain a gang. Even though I did not have to deal with it myself because I took the advice of a mentor colleague in the first lab I worked at, which was that I would be OK if I kept my nose clean no matter what pressure I encountered, I recognized the pressure to conform. One boss said of me, in my presence, that he could not use appealing to my vanity on me because I was not vane enough. Consequently, I stayed out of the lab and law enforcement politics for 30 years on purpose.

That is enough for what the subject might be and why I think I know something about it. Now, what are the pointers that might help in not falling prey to the social unrest that will become a real threat to those who are too comfortable in their own self imposed ignorance?

Simple Guidlines

First, being invisible keeps you from being a target. It is easy for me being an old, white haired man. If I use a cane and exhibit an unsteady gait, which is closer to natural for me than I wish to admit, and add a well worn jacket, then I become invisible because the gang people are looking for anyone who might be a threat or have access to something they want. A decrepit old man without any appearance of having anything is overlooked. If the electricity is out, covering my windows so they cannot see the lights from my LED lamps to draw attention is advisable. Leaving old play things out front that my grand kids use says that I probably do not have much because I am raising kids. I think that is enough to get the idea across.

Second, while being invisible may not be enough, the last thing someone who wants to prey upon you wants to have happen is to be recorded. It is not that expensive anymore to have battery operated cameras that have sound capability. If someone wants to break in, just warn them that their picture has been taken and will be sent to the authorities. I can even send my pictures over Ham radio to people involved in safety and security. My wife would be able to if she wanted. This is not a subject she wants to consider. The very last thing you want to do is show that you can and will use force to protect yourself and your people. That makes you a prime target that is seen as a real threat. That does not mean that you should not be able to protect yourself. You just do not want to appear capable of protecting yourself. Do everything you can to avoid a gang drive-by.

Third, it is best to shelter in place if possible. Any resources you have, and may have been using, are at your place of residence. Even if you can no longer use the bathroom and kitchen with all your appliances, you have a place for all your other resources. Because of all my scouting work and backpacking, including on skis in deep snow, I have the fuel, kerosene, red 2 diesel and wood to cook in my backyard. Simple meals, like I used in backpacking, conserve fuel, time and effort during an emergency when all the infrastructure we are used to relying on is down. I can set up a privacy shelter with a 5 gallon bucket and toilet seat for going #2. A gallon plastic bottle full of water with holes in the cap hung on my 55 gallon diesel fuel tank stand with a bar of soap hung beside it in a nylon stocking serve for washing after toilet duties. There is plenty of old wood to burn in small, rather efficient, wood burning stoves for cooking my simple backpacking meals. While I can, rather quickly, put together my backpack like I used to for all the backpacking I did, I will probably be using that for deploying for Amateur Radio Emergency Service for the community. If I can manage to stay, even though I may deploy sometimes, at my place of residence, I would definitely want to. You may not know what you might end up doing if you leave your residence.

Fourth, most survivors of those preyed upon in all the conflicts over the ages usually did it in a group. The team effort greatly enhanced their chances of survival. The patrol method we used in scouting, which is a team working together in a shared style of leadership, worked well for, especially, those long backpack trips. Anything to develop that type of team effort is worth more than sitting around talking about it. Being taught without experience is worthless. Because my kids learned that on the trail, they have developed their style of teaching around that concept with considerable success, not only in their employment as teachers but in their parenting. The priesthood paradigm implemented according to the true doctrine of the priesthood and not the precepts of men really works. It is too bad that the many who are called, who cannot afford to understand the true doctrine of the priesthood as Joseph Smith claimed, are unable to wrap their heads around how it really works. That is the way it was prophesied that it would be in the Church in the last days..