Prepper Myth #1: You can defend yourself against the horde.

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This is one of a series of posts on some commonly held prepping beliefs, and reasons why they may be wrong and possibly dangerous to you and your loved ones.

Their Myth Reasoning (not me talking/writing) – Most of the beginning and intermediate level preppers I’ve met believe that they will be defending their property against a horde of starving or otherwise malicious people, and they prep accordingly. It’s important to note that no one who has actually tried to defend themselves against a large group of determined assailants actually thinks it can be done. The math is pretty simple: the horde has numbers on its side, time on its side, and its determination probably matches, in not exceeds, yours. If a large group of people decide that you’ve have something they want, that’s all there is to it. You can take a stand, but sooner or later, you’re going to run out of manpower, firepower, or sleep (or all three), and it’s all over. These aren’t slow-moving, unarmed, clumsy movie zombies who want to eat your brains – these are determined, smart people who are just trying to preserve their own lives, who can scale fences, create strategies, or simply overwhelm you with sheer numbers. This is why experienced preppers either live in a very remote location and/or conceal that they are preppers.

My Opinion – This could absolutely NOT be a myth if you define “yourself” as a larger, more organized, better armed horde than the one attacking you. Even a decent sized group (6 – 15) would have problems against 30 people of any horde. You can balance the odds a bit by communications (clear & secure), planning (clear mission/goals & planning well in advance), tactics (i.e. rings of defense, Immediate Action Drills), marksmanship, dependable weapons, defensible position, etc. But to think a family (say 4 – 6 members) can defend against a mob/horde, NO WAY! At least not for long. So your horde has to be better prepared, better organized and more determined than the other guy’s horde. It also makes sense to have a Plan B. I would suggest a Plan A finding yourself in a great community where preparedness and patriotism is a way of life.

 

 

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3 thoughts on “Prepper Myth #1: You can defend yourself against the horde.”

  1. Bingo Jim!
    My point…your horde has to be better prepared, more organized, better communications, better shots, more ammo, and more committed than the horde of bad guys! You can do it…it will just take work. Better to let the enemy die for their cause…than you and yours to die for your cause 😉

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  2. where are you going to find motivated hordes willing to soak up several casualties and continue the assault? likely after the first couple drop, the rest will lose interest or move on to easier pickings, which will be many. if I’m up against folks dedicated and cohesive enough to continue, well, it’s just my day to die. nobody lives forever….but as james alluded, first rule of survival is “don’t be there.”

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  3. Very true!!

    The only thing I’d suggest is that just because you can’t defend against 100, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan & prepare to fight at least a few.

    There would be mobs/gangs in any major.scenario. With rare exceptions (e.g., Japan Tsunami), looting and other crimes of opportunity WILL happen after any natural disaster or man-made event.

    We should definitely prepare to defend against the smaller threats, and then plan to join with neighbors, friends, family, Church or whatever for larger threats.

    Harder to accomplish than it is to write about it, of course. We should be friendly with neighbors before stressing times arrive, to make forming protective associations easier.

    Everything is location dependent, of course. If I lived in the Denver suburbs and a serious grid-down situation were to arise…it would be extraordinary difficult to defend much of anything for very long. If I lived in such an area, I’d either move or have a BOL and rapid escape plan.

    If I lived in a rural county with only one significant urban city within 75 miles, and then several hundred miles through desert or mountains to get to ANY major city – I can postulate scenarios where a household could hold off a modest group of marauders for at least a few days. I can also imagine neighbors and friends coming to assist, if only because they know they’ll be next on the list if they don’t.

    Fundamentally, though, my friend Trimble is correct: many motivated marauders will overcome few/lightly-defended home.

    Plan accordingly.

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