So The Rich Are Getting the Prepping Bug








– There were several mentions of guns and weapons, but only one where one of the people admitted to any kind of training or practice…and that was in archery.  I’m not saying archery doesn’t have it place in prepping, but one guy with a bow is not a very good defensive tactic unless he’s starring in a samurai movie.  Just like any other piece of gear, having guns is useless if you don’t know how to employ them properly.  I could go out and buy a NASCAR rig, but without training and practice, I’d turn myself into a bloody smear on the track and probably a few spectators in the stands as well.  Guns are no different.

– The missile silos are a great idea in theory, and the guy building and selling them (Larry Hall of the Survival Condo Project) seems to have done a lot of homework on not having people go stir crazy.  However, of all the articles that I’ve read about that project, I’ve never seen any mentions of practice runs or of any periods where everyone who will be living there have interacted.  I think that’s a recipe for disaster (and one of the reasons that SouthEastern Preppers Network exists…to allow for people to get to know each other and whether or not they want to potentially spend a great deal of time in austere circumstances together); without being reasonably sure that all of the inhabitants are comfortable with each other and able to work together a SHTF situation would be untenable.  It would be like buying a vacation condo to retire to sight unseen and then finding out, after you’ve sold your old house and moved in, that you can’t stand your neighbors.  Which brings me to the next point…

– Hall mentions in the New Yorker article rotating chores to prevent cliques from forming.  I hate to say it, but at least 70% of people with $3 million to toss down are probably not in the habit of doing “chores”, they expect someone else to do that for them.  Even if there was some sort of written agreement or a provision in the purchase stipulating that chores were a part of the deal, I’m sure that a number of them will balk when the time comes, which is going to create friction.

– Skills, or lack thereof.  This goes back to my point about guns.  I read a lot in there about being stocked up, but very little about acquiring and practicing skills.  For instance, one guy noted that he kept a helicopter fueled up.  OK, if you’re worried about nukes, you have to factor EMP into the equation.  And if it’s an EMP, that chopper likely isn’t going anywhere.  So prudence would insist that he have an alternate plan of egress, along with the ability to execute that plan.  Can he hike the distance to his BOL?  Can he utilize a map and compass?  The questions are almost limitless.  Granted, some of them mention motorcycles, but the same principles apply.  Can you reach where you’re going on one tank?  Do you have fuel reserves stored or cached, because if there’s an EMP, the gas stations aren’t going to be functioning?  Do you have multiple routes mapped out and are you familiar with them, potential problems along the routes, and the time each takes to complete the journey?  Is the motorcycle a low-tech model that is EMP-survivable?

I know that’s all probably more than one article can cover and a lot of what I talked about is “deep dive”, but the impression that the writer subtly exudes as the attitude of the people he’s covering seems to be “just throw money at it”.  At least they’re moving in the right direction, and maybe they have thought about and addressed things like what I’ve pointed out.  I just hate that a lot of people might get the idea that shelling out scads of money without actually learning how or being able to do anything is the way to prep or that you can only prep if you have a few million dollars just laying around.

2 thoughts on “So The Rich Are Getting the Prepping Bug

  1. LOL at rotating chores. That only lasts a while. Inevitably, in any group, some people start to slack and others do more, expecting more power in the group concordantly with their level of work. Then they start sniping at each other, and the group begins to fray.
    It is my theory that this is why communes always fail. Some people want power, and some people want to do as little as possible. It is universal.


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