The idea of forming a survival group has been discussed before here. There is no doubt that being part of such team will increase your chances of surviving a disaster. However, when forming a survival group, several roles are necessary for all the members to withstand a significant event.
At first, your survival group might not have a wide range of choices when it comes to the skill set possessed by its members. Most survival groups will be formed ‘on the spot.’ Each team will take in family members, close friends, and trustworthy neighbors. This is the reality and only a few people actually spend the time to develop a survival group that can survive and thrive even under the harshest living conditions.
If the event has world-changing outcomes and if your survival group manages to make it past the first few months, you will be forced to accept new people to consolidate the survival efforts. Each survival group has to mature in order to last. To do that, you will need to seek out individuals that are cross-trained in more than one of the skills necessary to survive. Your crew should have members that are able to express more than one role, as versatility and adaptability is the key to self-sufficiency.
Here are the roles that need filling in any survival group:
The leader
This is the person who guides the team. The one who has to make the hard decision when times are tough. The leader must be intelligent and charismatic. He or she must inspire trust and most of all; the leader should be able to spot problems before they arise. Some believe that the person who founded the survival group should be the leader, but that may not always be the best option. In any survival situation, the leader position is filled gradually and somehow organically as the group develops.
Leaders can be formed, but most of the successful leaders were born with the ability to organize, delegate and inspire others. A good leader knows that every once in a while, he needs to implement a leadership rotation. This means that each person should take a turn at leading the people during a non-life-threatening situation.
Everyone should agree to this plan for the group to become united. However, for life-threatening events, the survival group must trust only on one person to lead them.
Recommended article: How to form a survival group
The mediator
Nobody seems to consider this role when it comes to planning a survival group. It is something overlooked by many. If you ever interacted with people under various circumstances (like working in retail), you should know by now how important it is to have someone that’s good at conflict resolution and negotiation. In a survival group, having a mediator is crucial to the success of the team.When dealing with stress and harsh living condition, your group is going to develop internal conflicts. That’s just the nature of human beings.
The mediator will be the only one who can help everyone to resolve arguments and disputes. While conflicts are not necessarily a bad thing and it may lead to functional changes, it is essential how the conflict is resolved. How the mediator can restore the peace of mind needed by everyone in the group.
The medic
Having a person inside your group that has extensive medical knowledge is critical. Especially if your group has to prepare for extreme long-term events. The doctor is the one who keeps everyone healthy and the one that helps members with setting dietary changes. Having a medic trained in everything from battlefield surgery to herbal remedies will give your group an incredible advantage. The other members should learn from the doctor in order to disperse this life-saving knowledge. There’s no use in stressing this anymore as it should be common sense: if you want to survive you need a medic in your group.
The scout
This person is the one that knows the region very well and knows where resources are located. He or she knows how to reach them when needs arise. This is the type of person that knows how to explore the surrounding areas without leaving a trail. The scout will not spend too much time at camp. The type of person that can provide you with any material or supplies you need if given a list. He will know exactly where to look for what you need and how to obtain it. Since the scout will do most of the exploring, he or she will be in the best position to alert the group of incoming threats.
Recommended reading: Know your region before disaster strikes
The solider
Each survival group will have one or more soldiers and these persons are responsible for group security. This is actually the role that has no problem being filled, given how many preppers and survivalist have military or law enforcement backgrounds. Most survival groups consist mainly of soldiers.
Even though many believe that this is a good thing, if you want to survive a long-term disaster you should really consider cross-training. Having a bunch of soldiers in your survival group is perfectly fine in my opinion. However, if you overlook the other roles that are necessary for the group’s survival, it’s just a matter of time until the group falls apart.
The farmer
This is another critical component of the group if you have to face a long-term disaster. This is the person responsible for growing the food consumed by the group. The farmer has a good knowledge of what types of plants grow best in the area. An experienced farmer knows how to organize gardens for a year-round success. He or she knows how to raise and breed both small and significant livestock. Not to mention that most farmers are already prepared for the next growing season.
Chances are, he or she will already have a seed bank stacked away. Those resources will come in handy during a crisis. The farmers will be able to involve everyone in labor needed with the crops and each member will learn things by doing. An experienced farmer can also share his knowledge about food preservation or use his butchering skills when needed.
The planner
Although many overlook this position as well, every survival group needs an organizer that can handle the logistics. It doesn’t matter if you have a bunch load of supplies if the group goes through them in one week. A planner will help you keep track of available resources and he will communicate to the group when supplies are low.
He or she will know just how long the food will last by tracking the consumption level of the group. The planner will need to find ways for the supplies to last. He or she will need a close collaboration with the scout in order to find new supplies or at least, get the proper replacements.
Suggested reading: How to establish prepping priorities
The hunter
This is the provider of the group and this person should have a vast knowledge when it comes to hunting, fishing and trapping. Regardless the area in which your group lives, the hunter should have the equipment, knowledge and experience to bring home food. A good hunter knows how to use every part of the animals so that nothing goes to waste. Most importantly, he or she knows how to practice sustainable hunting to avoid destroying the biodiversity from the region. It will be ideal if the hunter also has knowledge about foraging wild edibles and medicinal plants.
The handyman
There are all sorts of handymen out there. While most of them follow the rules by the book, there are those who are able to improvise and do all sorts of MacGivery tricks to create something out of nothing. That’s the type of handyman you need in your survival group. The one that can create a water collection system using nothing but duct tape and some PVC pipes. Having a good handyman in your survival group will help you build sturdy shelters and improvise various life-saving systems that can last for years to come.
My two cents
Ideally, your survival group should have members that can cover all the roles listed above. If that is not the case, sooner or later, you will have to let in “domestic refugees, ” and things will get complicated. You will have to make a thorough selection, to quarantine the new arrivals and to close monitor them until they’ve earned the leader’s trust. You can find more about these tasks by reading my previous article regarding how to deal with domestic refugees.
If you think that it’s unlikely to have domestic refugees, take a good look at what the good people from Alberta, Canada are going through. Even their prime minister called them refugees and admitted that they don’t have a real plan for all of them.
The lone wolf may survive a long-term disaster as Hollywood tries to teach us. However, in the real world, the reality rarely mirrors fiction. Facing a disaster solo will have only one outcome. If you want to make it in the long run, you should plan on forming or joining a survival group.
Recommended self-sufficiency resources:
The LOST WAYS 2 (The vital self-sufficiency lessons our great grand-fathers left us)
Drought USA (A DIY project to secure unlimited fresh, clean water)
Survival MD (Knowledge to survive any medical crisis situation)
These are great starting points for any group, but I would like to add to them.
First, characteristics you need to identify traits in someone that will help placing them in the position that best suits their abilities.
Leader: This person should have skills in all of the positions noted. They don’t have to be a master of all of them, but a general knowledge is great. A Jack of all Trades is the type of person you are looking for. So why? A leader needs to be able to assess from their own knowledge, the ideas being presented by those who follow them. If the farmer has an idea for sustainable crop management, then the leader should at least know what he is talking about to offer criticism or ideas to add to it. This way efforts and resources are not wasted by a bad decision.
Mediator: A person fitting this position is often someone who has worked in customer service or HR or both. Conflict resolution is what they do best.
Medic: A personal choice would be a combat vet medic, EMT, or Registered Nurse. They know well how to handle crisis situations and stay focused on the task at hand.
Scout: The scout should be a person that usually does not speak much in the group. Silence is not ignorance, but verify knowledge of scouting techniques. Often the best person to fit this personality is the one who knows how to listen, watch, and estimate specifics such as; distance, colors, signs of nature, etc.
Soldier: My personal preference is a Sergeant in the armed forces or law enforcement. These are no BS people who know how to lead, follow direction, and expect a lot from themselves.
Farmer: Locate a person who understands modern and historical farming techniques or at least someone willing to learn them. Also farming is hard work and you need someone up to the task who loves what they do and understand how critical their job is.
Planner: I would pick an individual that was anal in everyday life; kept great personal records, and maybe even had a great credit score with multiple accounts, even someone with a CPA or auditing skills. Another person great in this position is someone with logistical knowledge.
Hunter: A Bow Hunter or Trapper makes a great provider in bad times. This person is used to using weapons that could draw attention to themselves.
Handyman: Another Jack of all trades is great, but someone with a vast knowledge in something like mechanics or carpentry skills can often apply that knowhow to other fields.
Second, training and cross training. The information provided suggested cross training members for different tasks, and that is exactly right. Go one step further, hold meetings where each department manager gives a presentation illustrating what they are doing. A monthly meeting by department managers will help to keep all group members knowledgeable about what’s going on. The presentation do not need to be elaborate but they should cover the basics in the event sudden personnel shortages occur.
Intelligence
Another point I would like to espouse on would be the Intelligence Officer. This person could be your scout or soldier, but would best be filled by a separate individual. I have a little knowledge in this field, but often ramble so I will try to keep this short and to the point.
First, after WWI George S Patton knew in his gut that the war didn’t end Germany’s ambition let alone the feeling he got talking to locals of many countries. So feeling that a new war would come eventually he began a long effort of Intelligence Gathering. Traveling throughout Europe he mapped bridges, crops, grain storage, castles, and every geographical feature he felt would be important when the time came. When the time came he had in his possession priceless intelligence, that he gathered himself.
Take Patton’s lead and build an Intelligence Product that will illustrate; bridges, roads, hospitals, urgent care’s, pharmacy’s, grocery stores, convenient stores, police and fire stations, water towers, farm and ranch stores, pet stores, etc. Make a great product by fully analyzing all aspects of each entity, such as; drainage ditches near each location, high crime rate neighborhoods, tree cover, etc.
Second, your intelligence should also illustrate everything inside your immediate area, your community, your county, and the surrounding counties. You cannot over think your geographic area. Consider anything within three-day walking distance as your immediate territory for people walking thru your area and 100 miles by vehicle.