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| Militia Lesson: Anyone who thinks the guys in the top couldn't become the guys on the bottom doesn't know Cajuns and Texans. Anyone who thinks they won't HAVE to become the guys on the bottom, doesn't know history. |
So, FO put up a post. We replied. Then WRSA picked it up.
And FO followed up with this gift-wrapped present: What Role Will Militias Play In The Coming Unpleasantness?
Go RTWT.
And then follow the follow-ups as they come.
Because Knowledge is Power.
And if things get sporty at some point, as some of us suspect to one degree or another, high-quality local intelligence about any number of things may well mean the difference between you living or dying.
And you can't run down to Costco or Walmart and buy of case of that.
You have to plant that garden now, and harvest the fruit regularly and constantly, otherwise when you need it, you ain't got it.
Go.
Learn.
Best takeaway: If your team isn't planning on becoming part of the return of rightful ROL in a WROL scenario, you will quickly become the bug, not the windshield.
If you have some anarcho-libertarian self-masturbatory fantasy mental world you plan on living in, contrary to every lesson of 6000 years of recorded human history, spare the electrons of a reply, and go elsewhere.
Man is a social animal. Playing Batman In The Boondocks is a Hobbesian State of Nature:
solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
The freest form of individual existence is to be a libertarian. You mind your business, and let everyone else mind theirs, as much as humanly possible. But the freest form of community is a republic. Not a commune, and not a democracy. If you've got something better, because you're the philosophical superior of Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison combined, and the world has cruelly ignored your unacknowledged expertise in the matter, by all means lay it out, convince the neighborhood, and they'll subscribe to your newsletter and march in your parade. Give them anything less than what a republic delivers, and you'll be out.
Ponder: If the current nominal republic was delivering on its advertising to any great degree, the likelihood of ANY future Unpleasantness would be precisely nil. Crime and terrorism would still happen, because human nature, certainly, but in a functioning republic, we'd do as a former LAPD police chief suggested, and string those sumbitches up at the airport between the runways, and that would be the end of that.
So you'll possibly be strung up. (Depends rather much on the mood of the crowd, and what you do, did do, or tried to do.) Try to dictate your policies out of the barrel of a gun? You're nearly certain to end up strapped athwart the muzzle of a loaded cannon, while they cast lots for the honor of touching it off. Which, in all likelihood, is exactly what you'll deserve.
Learn to work and play well with others now, and be ready to do the right things for the right reasons then, or you won't be around afterwards long enough to matter.
You get a vote.
The enemy gets a vote.
The neighborhood gets a vote.
And this ain't the movies, and you ain't John Wayne.
You sure as f**k better not think you're going to be Negan.
Your lifespan would be measured in the flight speed of bullets at muzzle velocity.
And that'd just be from your own cohort. (Hollywood ignores reality for ratings in that respect.) Consult Khruschev's memoirs or the biography of Mussolini for how things work out in the real world.
The rest of the world won't even be that friendly or sympathetic to your fate.
Wrap your head around that fundamental human reality, or else prepare to learn that particular lesson the hard way.
5 comments:
Great post. While over at FO and starting the discussion I almost immediately thought of the several generations (now)of American guerillas who provide our SF Q-Course students services as "role players" who are a de facto "militia".
Love the comparison of the "Cajun Navy" with my brothers down in Stennis, though the level that the current lads are at is quite a high one comparatively.
Boat Guy
Finished Culper's post and now yours; your reference to the lack of performance in the current republic is a statement of the essential problem; and the reason we all need to be hewing to the training requirements you posted recently. The other crucial point is to be the Good Guys and support ROL - vice Rule of the Insane Bureaucratic Fiats recently foisted upon us by those who deem themselves exempt from ROL. A basic understanding of republic is vital to these efforts and I fear we have drifted so far from the Founders precepts that "basic training" in the documents, arguments and processes that delivered the miracle they bestowed upon us will be required. I was fortunate to receive such at home and am old enough that not ALL of my teachers were commies.
BG
FO article, the report reference discusses "social services." Primary among those will be food and potable water for most in this country...
After 3 months without stocked stores, many Americans will have starved, and up until that point a lot of ridiculousness will occur. Hungry and starving folks will hungry and starving kids will partake in all sorts of ridiculousness... Attempting to implement ROL from the get go seems like a fool's errand.
There's a decent tactical zombie book series called The Remaining -- main character is in a bunker at start of book per gov't protocol for 3-6 months (don't recall exact time), and then emerges. If one has the capability, that's a GREAT plan of attack anyway I can slice it.
Secondary but equally important social services include secure shelter (most modern homes in the south will be uninhabitable w/o AC and also full of mold), first aid and medicine, and sanitation.
It's cynical, but planning to arm a half dozen neighbors or transients with shotguns (w/ buckshot) or pistol caliber carbines when SHTF (or more depending on your perimeter) as conscript guards/front line security in exchange for food and shelter for them and their families isn't necessarily a bad thing to spare you and your loved ones that risk. Vs starvation and knowing that their protection is critical to keep from hungry wolves, strangers can be used for this with proper vetting... Also defense in depth should have long-term trusted folks backing up the newcomers.
To summarize -- don't underestimate the importance of social services and the challenge of ROL during the early days of any major crisis that affects food and water supplies to the American public. Setup your own perimeter as best you can, including ability to provide food and water to folks within your perimeter if need be, and ride it out. Letting unprepared others take the front line in defending might be cynical, but it is also a mercy. YMMV.
Negan character is a joke, but many folks will want a leader and to be provided for (like Eugene). And that will allow for Negan's to arise...
Ever watch Doomsday Preppers? There are A LOT of folks there who peaked in high school and would love for you to join their group to relive those glory days. In many ways, that's even more terrifying than Negan.
Re: Doomsday Preppers
Don't be Those Guys. They are, almost to a person, the shallowest end of the gene pool.
The first rule of Prep Club is not to talk about Prep Club.
As far as unprepared others, the best choice is to encourage them to move along, without revealing your capabilities.
You have no idea if the woman and three kids aren't scouts for the forty hard and hungry guys in the bushes, watching to see what you've got going on. Best response is to treat them fairly, and tell them to keep moving, without revealing the extent of your situation.
Period.
Anything else is probably inviting attention your neither want nor need, but whatever the decision, rest assured you'll deal with the consequences, whatever you do.
The point about ROL is not to make the general situation, or your specific one, worse either now or in the distant future, by not adding to the problem. MYOB is lawful. Doing things because you can, whether or not you should, is a way to end up on a "Wanted" poster, eventually.
Treat other people as if civilization were still intact, and it is. Magic.
Other people deal with you similarly, and you have civilization, enduring.
If they don't observe that Golden Rule, they find out about Rule 308.
Their choice.
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