Know Your Enemy: 9 Prepper Truths You Need for Defense Preparations

ReadyNutrition Readers, we just covered a segment on self-assessment and knowing yourself.  I had mentioned a paraphrase from Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” that covered that segment as well as this current article: “Know yourself and know your enemy.”  We are focusing on the latter part of that one: the enemy.  There are several subtleties attached to that short phrase. 9 Prepper Truths You Need to Prepare a Mental Foundation 1. As men are almost identical in many respects, if you know what you are, then you will know what your enemy is.

We’re going to really get into this one in a second.  Here is another subtlety:

2. By knowing your own weaknesses and shortcomings, you recognize things that can stop you in your tracks…where you become your own worst enemy!

We covered most of the thought of that in the first article.  But wait!  There’s more!

3. By knowing your weaknesses, you also understand weaknesses and shortcomings that other men are subjected to and suffer, just as you.

Oh, that’s a deep one!  The “drives” that you may have are the same weaknesses and drives that hamper other people…the ones you will have to face on the Day of Collapse.  Let’s summarize this and not “blow away” the English-speaking minds:

1. By knowing your own qualities and capabilities, you can surmise those of others…for we are men (human beings).
2. Recognizing your own qualities that are negative helps you to prevent them from making you your own worst enemy.
3. Recognizing that where you are weak and fall short…others suffer from the same shortcomings.

Perhaps this sounds as if it’s a psychological treatise.  Perhaps.  Consider this: there’s a great deal that can be learned and accomplished in the application of this “pseudo-science,” as most people consider it…although many behavioral patterns and actions are spot on.  Know yourself, and know your enemy.  What are you?  What is your enemy?  Well, there was a psychologist by the name of Abraham Maslow.  He came up with a “needs pyramid” with the “hierarchy of needs” as human beings run.  Here it is:

There is a lot of truth to this.  Analyze the pyramid.  Here is the key:  You need all of these things, and so does the enemy. 4. The true challenge is to identify the enemy…when he is not you.  What will we face?  A foreign invasion?  A government that lapses into total tyranny?  A band of marauders?  Or will we simply be faced with neighbors that band together to kill us and take our supplies?

In any of those cases, all of the men and women you face have those needs outlined in that pyramid.  It is not so much an “oversimplification,” as it is examining humans from an anthropological perspective and trying to determine what drives them.

5. If you have anything you can use (foodstuffs, medicine, tools, clothing, or weapons, among other things), then you can bank on the fact that others will want it, as well.

I will give you some of my personal stances.  I don’t believe in a policy of appeasement.  What this means is (if you’ve ever watched the movie “The Postman,” for example) you can’t give an aggressor something to “buy off” his or her aggression and think you’re done there.  If anything, it will just be the beginning.  It didn’t work too well for the allies prior to WWII kicking off.  It never works.  It may buy you a little time, but the raiders will be back, to demand more and more from you, until eventually they’ll just swoop in and take it all away.

6. Appeasement is a weakness that leads to conquest, enslavement, and death.

This is why you must follow Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War!”  It gives the answer (albeit I paraphrase, and from different sections):

7. “Where strong in numbers, appear weak.  Where weak, feign strength.  All of warfare is based on deception.”

These are true.  They work if you will employ them.  Part of knowing your enemy takes another form, an aspect that is just as much a key to your victory as knowing the general makeup of man/humanity:

8. You must conduct proper reconnaissance and know your enemy specifically.

What are his numbers?  What are his strengths?  What are his limitations?  What weapons is he carrying, how mobile is he, and can he call on any allies for support?  What drives him?  Is he driven as a wandering Vandal or Visigoth, simply plundering and stealing at will, or does he have greater organizational capabilities and some kind of “vision” for himself and his marauding band?  How committed is he?  How experienced is he?  How strong is his personal leadership?  Is it augmented by cadre, by “officers” as committed to his cause and to him as he, the leader is?

Do you see how much detail there is to this?  You can’t just go through the motions: you must follow through!  I emphasize this because I know from experience.

9. I emphasize these matters because you’re my countrymen, and when the battle comes to you, your homes, and your families… I want you to win it, and live.

If you don’t have all of these bases covered, these strategies and approaches worked out before you engage, then you’ll have your “fourth point of contact” handed to you on a platter.  Trust me: I was instructed how to do all of this, and I truly learned these things by making the mistakes.

To summarize, know how we are as men/human beings.  Know the things that drive us (from positive and negative drives), and understand these inherent weaknesses and drives are common to all mankind.  When you have that base covered, conduct good intelligence…it is not found…it is made.  Make good intelligence out of recon conducted on your enemy…those that threaten your home and family.  Know everything about them, and then know when to engage and when not to.  When to hold ‘em, fold ‘em, walk away, and run…as Kenny Rogers would state it.  Fight that good fight, know your enemy, and most of all make sure you know the one who can be the greatest enemy: know yourself.  JJ out!

Additional Reading:

Adaptability: the Key to Ongoing Survival when the SHTF

Little Victories: Lessons in Mental Preparedness from SERE School

Hardcore Walking Dead Survival Tips for Preppers

The Warrior Mentality: Controlled and Purposed Action in a Post Collapse Combat Situation

This information has been made available by Ready Nutrition

Source: http://readynutrition.com/resources/know-your-enemy-9-prepper-truths-you-need-for-defense-preparations_10112017/