Good point!

 

Recce Rifleman posts this image from social media:

However, he believes it leaves something to be desired:

Please point to one societal collapse from the past 200+ years where these skills trumped combat skills.

This point is certainly not putting down skills of growing food and general "survivalism," but is pointing out that combat skills have been mandatory in every collapse in recent history.

Good point!

I'd like to confirm his perspective.  I've seen societal collapse in ways that are infinitely worse than anything we've experienced (so far) in the USA.  I've traveled through most of sub-Saharan Africa, and seen civil wars and conflicts, actual wars, tribal conflicts, and what have you.  I've "been there and done that" for years, and written about some of that in these pages from time to time.  I'm here to tell you, those with food, fuel and other supplies are always, repeat, ALWAYS targeted by those who have weapons.  It's a fact of life.  I've never, ever seen a situation of unrest or collapse where "those who have" got away unscathed from "those who have not".

This applies to both individuals and mobs, and to both gangs and governments.  If you have something they want or need, they will come after it - and after you, if you don't give it up right away.  This can be a nasty surprise to those who think the rule of law will protect them.  The rule of law is only skin deep.  In fact, the forces of "law and order" will be among the first to come after the "haves" when things go pear-shaped.

• Do you really believe, when everyone's short of everything, that the cops and other officials won't come door to door, demanding to inspect your kitchen and pantry, and confiscating your "excess" supplies under "emergency powers"?  All too often, those powers already exist, even if they've never been used.  Check out your town's and state's emergency legislation, and see for yourself.  They can - and, in my experience in other countries, they will - commandeer everything they need.  Jerry cans of fuel?  Propane cylinders?  Kerosene heaters?  A nice pickup truck?  Your building, even if it's your home?  If they decide they need it, they'll try to take it from you - and, in an extreme emergency, they'll jail, even shoot you if you don't give it up.  See what happened after Hurricane Katrina, and learn from it.  That was mild compared to some situations I've encountered.
• In an emergency, do you really believe that "hoarding" (which any sensible person would describe as "prepping" today) won't be declared a crime in the same league as murder, rape and child molestation, with those guilty of it to be punished?
• Do you really believe that officials won't first apply confiscated stolen food and other supplies to their own needs, before they distribute any to the general public?  "We have to make sure that emergency and essential workers and their families have enough food, clothing and fuel.  Anything less would harm the community!"  Yeah, right... and it's amazing how many people, particularly seat-warming bureaucrats and elected office-holders, will suddenly classify themselves as "emergency and essential workers", and make sure they get theirs ahead of everybody else.  If we did the same, what will you bet that we won't end up in jail for it?
• While officials are doing their thing, do you really believe that the "golden horde" - the mass of people who have very little or nothing - are going to sit back and wait for what they need to be delivered to them?  I'll lay dollars to donuts that the mob will come after those who have what they want.  If you live anywhere near a poorer neighborhood, particularly our inner-city ghettoes, you are going to be targeted for what you have by those who don't have it.  They regard themselves as entitled to it, and they'll try to take it - and if you try to stop them, you'll be accused of racism, "abusing your privilege", selfishness, greed, and anything else that comes to their fevered minds.  They will not leave you alone - and in this day and age, officialdom may well side with them, regardless of what the law has to say.  Sadly, in many places, the rule of law is now more often encountered in the breach rather than the observance.

If you think those things won't happen, you're living in cloud cuckoo land - a fool's paradise.  I've seen them all, repeatedly, in many countries, and I fully expect to see them here as well if things go any more wrong than they are already.

The only time - I say again, THE ONLY TIME - I've seen the "haves" come out of such a conflict relatively intact (albeit usually with at least some damage and casualties) is when they applied a Biblical concept:

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.

It's up to you to defend, protect and preserve your family and loved ones, and the supplies and tools they need to survive and thrive.  If you don't, nobody else will.

What's more, you probably won't be able to do that on your own.  If a mob comes down the street, looting and burning, one or two individuals won't be able to hold them off.  It'll take cooperation, coordination and working with others to defend everybody's property and possessions.  You need to be thinking about and planning for that now, while there's still time to do so - and also taking into account the danger that the authorities may side with the mob, and may not want you to defend yourselves.  Beware surveillance technology that might be used against you.

The meme at the start of this article proclaimed, "We will only survive with benevolent skilled communities working together".  True - provided those benevolent skilled communities are also ready, willing and able to defend themselves and their members.  If they aren't, they'll be plowed under by the mob.

I'm not expecting total societal collapse anytime soon;  but I am expecting limited, localized collapse in some urban centers, particularly those with a broad mass of impoverished people who are dependent on one or more forms of state aid (EBT, food stamps, welfare, Social Security, whatever) to survive.  I predict disruptions in those forms of aid, particularly as aid budgets are overstressed by millions of illegal aliens and others who refuse to work.  Couple that with stores closing due to theft and other factors, and entire neighborhoods may run short of essentials.  That may lead to unrest and turmoil in those areas, and those evils may spread from there to neighboring suburbs and towns.  Look for them to be aggravated and intensified by ideological and political agitators such as Black Lives Matter, Antifa and their ilk;  and look for police to back off and let them riot, due to pressure - if not direct orders - from local administrations.

If I'm wrong about all that, great!... but if I'm not, you'd best start thinking right now about how that might affect you, and how you're going to deal with it.  If you live near such areas, I'll lay odds it's coming to you sooner or later.

If you aren't already reading Recce Rifleman's blog, I recommend it.  He's very focused on the practical rather than the theoretical, and I find myself nodding approvingly at a lot of what he has to say.  I've learned rather too much for comfort in the School of Hard Knocks, over the course of rather too many years.  From that background, I'd say he's right on the money more often than not.

Peter