Give careful thought to whom you bring into your anticipated situations. If you have the safe base that folks are coming to, then you are in charge. People who will not accept this fact should not be invited in. Sadly, there will be people whom you will have to turn away, especially if they know about your preparations. There was an excellent episode in the original Twilight Zone about this. A group of friends was having dinner together at the home of another whom they’d made fun of because he’d built a nuclear bomb shelter in his basement (in those days, that was the preeminent threat that people lived with). In the show, a nuclear attack is launched. Everyone went to their homes to await the arrival of Soviet bombers and missiles, but only for a while. They then drifted back over to ask, then demand, admittance to their former friend’s bomb shelter, a place that provided only enough room for the owner, his wife, and his son.
Eventually all the neighbors ended up there, and they broke down the door to the bomb shelter. In the story, the shelter owner did not have a gun. Right after mob rule took over, the radio announced that the threat was over and the nuclear attack had been averted. The group of friends had to deal with each other and themselves in the aftermath. Not pretty at all, but a very realistic look at what one could expect to happen in our world, the world outside the Twilight Zone.
My friend “Bill” was very concerned about my revealing information on him and his survival setup. As you can see, I have kept his identity and location anonymous. His caution is important. When you are “Bill,” you cannot brag to friends that you have no intention of supporting them or bringing them aboard with you in the event of a collapse. Your survival preparations are strictly on a need to know basis—and the people outside your trusted circle don’t need to find out about it from you or the people you are teaming up with.
Field Movements & Patrol Formations
I won’t pretend to be an expert in field movements and military formations, because I never served in the military. But I can tell you about some basics for small group movements based upon formations we use for active shooter intervention or S.W.A.T.-type entries and area searches.
There is one basic concept and one concept alone when it comes to moving afoot to get to a safer location, and that is 360-degree coverage (which, by the way, also includes up). Beyond that, foremost you will need a person to “take point,” the lead. This point person is usually the most trusted person, the best fighter and shot, the one with the most experience, the person whose job it is to keep the rest of the patrol or group out of danger. They will be placed slightly ahead of your group, but not so far as to be out of contact. The individuals in your group will be assigned their own areas of responsibilities and they have to stick with them or the unity and functionality of the group will be lost.
That imperative of controlling and sticking with your area of responsibility is one of the hardest things I’ve found to impart to new officers during basic training or to officers undergoing S.W.A.T.-related training. It is natural human instinct, at least for those who are good cops or soldiers, to want a piece of the action, to get involved and assist. But unless the situation is dire to the extreme—as in part of the group is down—you have to let the other members of the group handle their own. Resisting that urge to overtake and assume the responsibilities of others requires discipline and practice.
Training of your group in anticipation of a calamity should be accomplished as much as possible without making it obvious to the casual observer what you are training for, or that you are even training at all. Group movement, for example, can be practiced, unarmed or at least lightly armed, without calling attention to your activities. Think of going through your practice scenarios as if you were simply taking a nature hike. It will be somewhat harder to do this in densely populated areas without calling attention to yourselves, but it is possible to do. In addition to your point person, you will need coverage at the following points based on a clock face, if you have enough armed personnel. The point will be at 12 o’clock, with other personnel covering at the two, four, six, eight, and 10 o’clock positions. In the center of the protection will be the people who cannot provide well for their own defense, the aged or infirm, young children, and anyone else who needs assistance.
Do not rely on a GPS when you travel through locations unfamiliar to you. None of us know how bad things will be, but you should consider that the satellite system that relays the information to your GPS may not work anymore. Furthermore, it is possible that, depending on what the situation is, civilian access to the signals could be limited. So a compass and good regional maps that include topography will be essential. Don’t know how to use one? One of my Army Special Forces friends, who had been an Eagle Scout, recommends the Boy Scout Handbook or Orienteering Merit Badge book to the soldiers he trains as being one of the best laid out and easiest way to comprehend map reading with a compass.
Cover/Concealment/Body Armor
It’s important to understand the concepts of cover and concealment, as well as how body armor might play into your plans. Let’s start with the basics and assume that you are entirely new to this topic.
On its face, cover versus concealment isn’t difficult to understand. Cover is a barrier that tends to stop incoming bullets and helps hide your position. Cover can be earthen banks, trees, vehicles, buildings, etc. Concealment, on the other hand only hides your position. Think tall grass, for instance. Concealment is selected when cover is not available—cover is always your first choice. Simple, right?
Hold it a minute, cover is only cover based upon what kinds of rounds are coming your direction. For example, a motor vehicle, such as the police cruisers involved in the great L.A. bank robbery of 1997, were Ford Crown Victorias or former Chevy Impalas (the real ones built body on frame with 350 CI V-8 engines). These work great as cover when the rounds being fired at you are defensive-type pistol rounds like 9mm, .40, or .45—not rounds like the .500 Smith & Wesson—and most shotgun rounds. However, the officers in that 1997 situation were being shot at with weapons firing full metal jacket 7.62×39mm rounds traveling about 2300 fps. Those rounds tore up the cars that were in direct, straight-line proximity to the robbers.
Dirt and trees are usually good cover, but if someone is shooting a .338 Lapua or .50 BMG at your position, then all bets are off. I instruct my police cadets that cover is usually a fleeting thing. It may be effective for a while, but it can be eaten away by the right round fired against it.