Playing Checkers When the Game Is Chess: Prepper Survival Strategies

Of course, survival is not a game, but it is about strategy, planning, and then following through with your plans. The game, if you will, is also about adaptation, because even the best-laid plans can go off the rails when disaster strikes.

Chess is a game, in which strategy matters and the smallest of players in the game have a place, and have the ability to change the game. In other words, the smallest of details that are overlooked or outright ignored can change the balance, can change the game and not always in your favor.

Like in the game of chess if you move before you have all your pieces in place (or your plans in place), you could lose the game. You have to build from the bottom up, develop a strong foundation, with a solid core and in the case of Prepping your core is your supplies, your shelter, and those you surround yourself with that are trustworthy and know what the ultimate goal is.

Each person, each piece of gear and equipment must be leveraged in your favor. You have to know the limitations of your people and equipment to use them effectively. If you know a person’s limitations then you are less apt to put them in a position to which they are destined to fail.

For example, if you have a plan to protect your family, home, and supplies from others during a crisis you need to know the shooting capabilities off all those tasked with defense. Not knowing means, you may end up with someone that has little or no firearm training out front defending the homestead.

Know before you need to know because once the battle starts, you are in it for better or worse. Aces in their places, because everyone has talent, you need to know what that talent may be so they can be fitted to a position. Additionally, should have a training program in place to train people for other tasks or jobs. This is leveraging your assets fully so when the SHTF you actually have assets that can step forward and get the job done.

You as a leader must create a win/win situation and this means people are in positions that they are trained for, and that they are comfortable with their level of training, they have confidence in other words. Someone or a number of people in the group must be charged with defense, Intel gathering, food procurement and preparation, medical care and someone has to tend to the children and the elderly just to name a few of the task required to keep everyone alive.

Every person or piece, if you will, on the game board must know their position before the game starts, before disaster strikes. The confusion of a crisis is overwhelming and if your personnel have no idea if they should go, left or right at zero hour, then this is mission failure. Mission failure in a survival situation can mean death to you and yours.

Finding an Answer before There Is a Problem

Albert Einstein once stated, “That if he had one hour to save the world he would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution”. This goes back to a previous article about reacting to information or to a situation before fully understanding the problem. The problem often times is to know what the problem is (History.com, n.d.).

When it comes to preparing for a crisis, you know in some cases, what the problem is. A blizzard is on its way, a hurricane is forecasted to make landfall in three days, and if you live in an area prone to tornadoes or flooding then you know what the problem is and can make preparations accordingly.

We can only make assumptions about man-made disasters, but we do know they are a possibility anywhere at any time. It is easy to get overwhelmed with the details, so break it down into pieces. You know that regardless of the crisis there are certain things you need, so start there in defining and solving the problem. Again you will need your core, and people in place.

It is not so much about the crisis but the aftermath. A disaster always has an aftermath, and that in many cases can be the hardest part. The aftermath in and of itself is a crisis often times worse than the actual event.

You have to have a plan in place to survive the damage to homes and to the infrastructure, the disruption of water supplies, food supply chains and damage to hospitals and to the lack of first responders and not so much the crisis itself. Redefine your problem and plan for the days after as much as the crisis itself.

History.com. (n.d.). Retrieved 2017, from http://www.history.com/topics/albert-einstein

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Source: prepforshtf.com