Hogwood - MAGS: The People Part of Prepping: How to Plan, Build, and Organize a Mutual Assistance Group in a Survival Situation

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Copyright 2013
P.R.E.P. Personal Readiness Education Programs, LLCCover art: Amarilis Hernandez

MAKING DUE THROUGH BASELINE
PREPAREDNESS 249

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The decision to adopt disaster preparedness as a philosophy is usually arrived at privately. At one point or another, a light bulb turns on above your head:Maybe its a good idea to start accumulating supplies to assure your continued success if, for some reason, everything else fails.

Firstly, congratulations! You have become a member of a worldwide community that, while a small percentage of the total population, will have the best chance of surviving a major catastrophe and rebuild society. That community, however, is far-flung and fragmented. Youll need to figure out a way to networklocally with like-minded folks to put together what I sometimes call a village: A set of people with differing skills and knowledge that can help each other in times of trouble. An individual may survive, but ittakes a village to thrive.

In one of my lectures, I use a slide that I call The first thing youll need to stay healthy in a survival scenario. The slide is a black and white photo of a forlorn-looking creature known as a Tasmanian Wolf. If I wanted a picture of a wolf, why not pick a magnificent red or gray wolf? Simply, because the Tasmanian Wolf is extinct, and so will you be, if you dont have enoughpeople cooperating to perform the activities of dailysurvival.

So the first thing youll need to stay healthy is a community. The concept of community is as old as time itself, but few rugged individualists realize its absolute necessity. Without it, even the most prepared person will do little more than eke out a miserable existence.

So how to put together that group of like-mindedfolks? Very few books address this subject, and this iswhy I was glad to see that Charley Hogwood has finallydecided to put his extensive knowledge of the subject inprint. I have known Charley Hogwood for many years now. His list of accomplishments is extensive and I havebeen impressed with his efforts to put together local mutual assistance groups. At last, here is useful information, in plain English, on how to exponentially increase your chances of survival after a major calamity.

Charley doesnt put out a manifesto of Do it myway, or you wont make it. There are many ways to skin the proverbial cat, and there are many ways to put together and manage a mutual assistance group. He doesnt necessarily guarantee that this is an easy road totravel. He does, however, give you several reasonablestrategies that will help you organize.

No other book has devoted itself to this important issue. In this book, youll find every factor involved in putting together a successful group discussed in detail.From picking a location to setting up rules to dealing with conflict, Charley Hogwood explains it all for you.

Without realizing it, Mr. Hogwood has even puttogether a new community by writing this book: Those that realize the importance of working together to work for the common good. This community will be a diverse lot, but will have one thing in common. Theyll have this book in their survival library.

Joe Alton, M.D. aka Dr. Bones Joe Alton is a medical doctor and medical preparedness expert who is the co-author of the #1 Amazon bestseller in Survival Skills and Safety/First Aid, The Survival Medicine Handbook.

His website at www.doomandbloom.net has over 400 articles on disaster preparedness, medicinal gardening,and survival medicine.

First and foremost it is a guide for the survivor to begin his or her journey from solo survivor to established team member. Most people have little idea where or how to start when it comes to finding peopleto safely connect with. We have established a sequence of actions whereby the novice will be able to accomplishthis task with a step-by-step decision-making program.Safety and personal security are constantly running themes throughout the following chapters. Be sure to employ both accordingly.

From our experience we have seen many people get so excited to find people that think similar to themthat both sides make poor choices. Sometimes these choices can lead to disastrous and unsafe conditions.This book is designed to service as a guide to help correct those poor choices and the relationships that went with them.

The well-established group should also find this book useful to fine tune their group dynamics and get their teams running smoothly. We address the forces of personnel conflict that cause can render a team completely dysfunctional and offer many strategies to get them back on track. As groups are always looking to prevent turnover and find quality members, we have prepared a long chapter on how to do this with the least amount of risk while still attracting the best candidates to join the ranks.