Getting Prepared for Beginners #13 Keep it Quiet aka OPSEC

OPSEC is a military term for operational secrecy. I am not talking spy stuff. Just thinking about what you say to whom. 

There are all types of warnings out there that pertain to not letting people know what you are doing. We have all seen and possibly been guilty of posting online that we will be on vacation or away from home during a certain period. If we think about this we must realize that this opens us up to theft.

As I start I realize that it may seem like I am telling you to do something that I don't. I am writing these articles trying to encourage people to be better prepared so that puts me on the radar. Yes and no. Sadly, very few people in my area read my blog. I try to tell as many people as I can and I encourage people to read what I write but there are still so many that just don't see the need. Even after a major event it doesn't take them long to get back into their normal routine. Remember normalcy bias.

You may also notice that I have not listed specific things that I have. There is a reason for that. I have listed things that every person should have but with only a few exceptions I have not said "I have this". Even with that I want to teach. That is what I believe I was born to do. I am willing to take the risks.

Why It is Risky

Getting prepared is exciting. I have heard it compared to becoming a Christian. As soon as you get started being more prepared you want to tell everyone. You want everybody to see how important it is to be self reliant. I believe one of the biggest mistakes new self reliance people make is trying to evangelize. You can be too pushy and not even realize it. 

Everyone who has talked about being more prepared has had someone say "Well if something happens I will just come to your house" a lot of them mean it. They do not want to do the work. Some people only want to take advantage of other peoples labor. Just look at the welfare state. I know there are some on welfare that do not want to be there and for them it is temporary, but others have made welfare a career choice.

I believe you should talk to people about being more prepared, but I do not like when people start asking specific question. Questions and statements I think you should be leery of include:

                  What kind of weapons do you have?
                   I bet you have some really cool gear.
                  What if someone tried to take your stuff away from you?
                  Where do you live?
                  Do you have a generator?

Questions like these should throw up a major red flag. These questions tend to be more of opportunistic interest than preparedness interest. Keep this person in mind. There will be people that you trust completely with whom you will want to share what you are doing. That is fine, but do not be discouraged if they reject what you say. Some will even call you crazy. Even for just preparing for short term emergencies. People ridicule anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.

In normal times I do not think people will break into your home to steal food. Someone who breaks into your home during normal times is going to be after higher dollar stuff. Firearms and generators being primary, but anything that a person can easily sell is high on this list. The more people know what you have the more you are at risk.

What to Talk About

Unless you are already on the fringe, when you start talking about being more prepared there is a percentage of the people you interact with that will listen. They may not take your advise (at first), but they will listen. Don't be pushy. Others will talk to them as well. Each person gives a different piece of the puzzle.

Do talk about weather and current events. If someone can look around and see what you are talking about they will be more open. I know that there are several things that I see coming that others do not. Some of these threats I do not see how anyone could deny the possibility. People just do not see the world the way I do. If I am talking to someone who is asking general questions about preparedness I talk about weather events, job loss, and things like that. If they bring up other and more devastating events I will talk about those, but I am not going to bring them up.

Answer questions do not preach. If you do not know the answer admit it. Tell the person "I don't know, but I will find out". Follow through. There are a lot of people out there who know a lot about preparedness, some are very level headed. If you have a question you can email me. I will be honest. theruraleconomist@gmail.com

There are some things that people prepare for that I do not think are credible threats. I admit that upfront. I do not discount their beliefs, but if ask about it I am going to tell you what I think. EMP and global polar shift are two that I just am not concerned about. If you are that is fine. I just think that statistically they are so unlikely that it is not very high on my concerns list. Besides the better prepared I am for the things I am concerned about the better prepared I will be for those.

Being Prepared Feels Good

If you had just gotten started being more prepared when we started this series than you are probably farther along than you ever thought you would be. We have tried to cover cost effective ways for anyone to take responsibility for you and your families well being. You probably feel pretty good right now and you should. You have taken a vital step toward self reliance.

You can still be an ambassador for preparedness. Do so through your actions. Allow me to explain. A couple of years ago, my wife and I were on our way to town. We saw an older couple who's vehicle had overheated. We stopped, and just took water out of the vehicle. We were able to help those folks. The man in the car asked if I always kept water in the car. "Yup, always do. Just a good idea to be prepared." 

This little event started a conversation. I don't know if he started working on being more prepared or not. I do know that at least for a little while he thought about preparedness. I am sure he has started taking water with him.

Conclusion

It is a really good feeling to know you are prepared for the things that are most likely to occur. Achieving a basic level of preparedness should be the responsibility of every adult. Sadly that is no longer the case.

Talk to your friends and family, but don't be pushy. Be selective about what you tell someone until they have proven trustworthiness. Lead by example. Be the person someone can come to for help. This is worth the effort.

I wish you

Rural Dreams and Homestead Wishes

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More Posts in this series:

#1 Why Prepare

#2 The Preparedness Mindset

#3 Priorities List

#4 Getting to My Family

#5 The Backpack

#6 Food Storage

#7 Basic Energy

#8 Water
#9 Security
#10 Medical
#11 Travel and Communications
#12 Fuel Storage
#13 Keep It Quiet aka OPSEC
#14 Building Community and Helping Others
#15 Skill Development (Home)
#16 Don't Fear the Reaper

#17 A Case for Long-Term Preparedness

Affiliate Link Disclosure: The post contains affiliate links. I may receive compensation for links, endorsements, testimonials, or recommendations for any products mentioned on this blog. Any time you use one of our links for Amazon, if you purchase something The Rural Economist receives a small commission and it doesn't cost you any more. Even if you do not purchase the items I list. In this way you will help support us trying to teach people about self reliance and homesteading. Thanks for your consideration.  

Getting Prepared for Beginners #9 Security

Security is a little tricky. What I think isn't tricky, but public opinion can be. I really do not care about public opinion in my personal life at all, but for this article we are going try to avoid both extremes of this discussion. Security can be tricky in another way. Unlike all of the other things we have covered up until this point security is unique. If nothing goes wrong a person can live their entire life and never have to think about security. On the other hand if something does go wrong nothing can hurt you as quickly.

Allow me to explain. In normal times security is provided for us by others. Police and even neighborhood watch groups help keep the seedier side of society under control. There are ,however, times and situations when the providers of security may not be there. At this point the divide about security becomes very evident. There are some that fear firearms and there are some that almost worship them. We are not going to cater to either group.

No matter what side of the discussion you fall on I am sure you will find something interesting in this post.

There are things that actually work against us when it comes to security. No, I am not talking about some super secrecy society or some big hidden agenda. Most of us have not had to worry about security for so long that we have developed some bad habits.

Normalcy Bias or The Blinders

Even if this is not you I am sure you have seen someone walking down the street either listening to music or playing around on their phone or other electronic device. A person who does this all the time is oblivious to the world around them. I have been guilty of this myself.

Blinders were invented for horses. Blinders are small pieces of leather that are either built on to the or attach to the bridle. The bridle is the part that fits on the horses head. Blinders keep the horses attention forward. They were designed to keep the horse from getting distracted or frightened.

People put blinders on themselves. This keeps them from seeing things that are out of the ordinary. Another term commonly used is normalcy bias.

Wikipedia has a great definition for normalcy bias. 

The normalcy bias, or normality bias, refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This may result in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations.

The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It can result in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.

Situational Awareness

The cure for blinders or normalcy bias is situational awareness. Notice the world around you. Look for things out of place. There are ways to practice situational awareness everyday. On your way to work, school, or going about your daily activities challenge yourself to notice something you haven't seen before. It could be a house or building off the main road or a vehicle that you have never noticed before.

This should become a habit. Notice odd clothing, a different gate, anything or anyone that appears out of place. This is not paranoia. This is just paying attention plus. Not a single dangerous situation just explodes out of nothing. There are always warning signs. Not one criminal breaks into a house without first trying to learn the schedule of the occupants.

Situational awareness is so much more than paying attention. Situational awareness has an evaluation component. Notice things that are different and determine if there is any cause, or importance to the difference.

Situational awareness applies to a variety of situations. Weather, traffic, and a whole host of other scenarios can be made better by being aware. This applies very heavily to weather. Knowing gives you more time to make last minute preparations.

Security Audit

A security audit should be done regularly. Jack Spirco of The Survival Podcast calls it an, "Am I being stupid?" audit. Allow me to explain. Something as simple as making sure all of the doors are locked could mean a difference. A locked door will not stop determined scum. But it will slow them down.

Secondly, first alert is critical. There are hundreds of products out there that will give you a heads up when someone is approaching your property and some of them are very good. The one I like most is a dog. Unless you are allergic, I think every house should have a dog. Thing is you do not have to have a "guard" dog. Any dog that will bark is an asset. Any pre-warning helps. In a home invasion situation everything counts. 

My wife has wisely said that locks only keep out honest people and for the most part that is true. Locks slow scum down. Determined scum will still get in. Opportunistic scum hate noise. A dog or basic alarm system can many times scare off a would be criminal to flee. I am going to include some links to affordable alarms you can install yourself.

Locked doors slow criminals down, a dog or other alert system will let you know someone is trying to get in your home. 

Defense

Okay, we have slowed the bad guy down, we know he is there, in fact he has gotten into your home. Now what? As I said at the start of this article I am not going to cover deadly force. I may cover that option in a later post if enough interest is shown in the idea.

Let's do an evaluation at this point. What are your assets? What are your strengths? How can you use these to your advantage? What things could you use in your defense?

1. Asset and Strength

You know your home.The invader does not. As a mental exercise think through all of the possible ambush points. Any possible location to surprise your unwelcome guest. 

2. Asset and Possible Strength

Look around for anything that can be used as a weapon. A chair, a knife (though I would not suggest it), a lamp, a belt (a good leather one), anything that can cause pain and/or render someone unconscious or incapacitated. 

At this point you need to make a decision. Are you going to defend or are you just trying to get away? Defense is my automatic response, but everyone is different.

Additional Tools

There are some things you could add to increase your ability to defend your home. Before we dive into those I want to make one thing perfectly clear here. You have done everything right. Your door was locked you had some form of alarm system (hoping to scare the scum away), and someone has gotten in anyway. They have made themselves an invader. That means they are your enemy. In another situation this would probably not be true, but the invader made that so. 

If a person has a real need I believe, no, I know most of you would be willing to lend a helping hand. Sharing produce out of your garden is a time honored tradition. But this is no longer the case when someone breaks into your home. They have proven they would rather take something by force than humble themselves and ask for help and that only applies if there is a REAL need. Stealing your or my TV does not count.

The things that I included are non lethal and if a child messes with any of them they cannot kill themselves. All of these can be an effective deterrent. The bat is self explanatory. 

Pepper spray can be placed all over the the house. Cans can be velcroed under tables or left at several locations around the home. I know that everyone has heard the story about someone who can be sprayed in the face and it does not affect them. People like that are one of a million. I wouldn't worry about that.

A stun gun. You will need to check the laws in your area. A stun gun can incapacitate someone fairly quickly. While my wife and I were researching stun guns she decided she really wanted the one above. The ratings were really good. This unit has a flashlight, an alarm, and a very powerful shock. Any of these will be very valuable tools in protecting your home.

I hope this series has been helpful.

Rural Dreams and Homestead Wishes to you.

You can subscribe to The Rural Economist by email by simply filling out the form at the top right of the page. Your information will never be sold or given to anyone else. You can like The Rural Economist on Facebook follow on The Rural Economist on Gplus. Or you can even follow The Rural Economist on Pintrest. We now have a YouTube channel and are doing a series on wild edible and medicinal plants. Hope on over and check them out, oh and don't forget to subscribe.

More Posts in this series:

#1 Why Prepare

#2 The Preparedness Mindset

#3 Priorities List

#4 Getting to My Family

#5 The Backpack

#6 Food Storage

#7 Basic Energy

#8 Water
#9 Security
#10 Medical
#11 Travel and Communications
#12 Fuel Storage
#13 Keep It Quiet aka OPSEC
#14 Building Community and Helping Others
#15 Skill Development (Home)
#16 Don't Fear the Reaper

#17 A Case for Long-Term Preparedness

Affiliate Link Disclosure: The post contains affiliate links. I may receive compensation for links, endorsements, testimonials, or recommendations for any products mentioned on this blog.