note: edited/updated July 2019

Now that we have gone over the basic categories of post-disaster personalities, let’s talk for a minute of a couple of situations that may occur, called “hybrids”. If you didn’t read yesterday’s post…now is a good time to do so.

Hybrids will start out as one personality type and morph into another; possibly without the person themselves even being aware of their true nature to begin with.  This morphing will generally not be to the betterment of the person. Another type of hybrid will be a latent personality who knows exactly who they really are inside but they are waiting for the right time to let their real personality surface.  Again, not considered a “good” change.

There will also be those that do morph into something better, some sheep will become sheepdogs. Some sheep may become shepherds.  Even a owner/master may repent and become a sheepdog or shepherd. And yes, some herding dogs may even become sheepdogs…but rarely, they are simply too used to power and authority. But I think those changes will be rare with the exception of sheep into sheepdogs. I think that particular evolutionary personality type may be more prominent than anticipated.  Society today does everything it can to train and breed out any sheepdog tendencies. Today’s Progressive, liberal, Democrat/Republican society wants sheep not sheepdogs. But the underlying goodness of many men will not be denied, they may well become sheepdogs when needed.

In the last post on this subject I went over identifying post-disaster personality types in today’s world by occupation and personality signs.  Being able to recognize the potential typical personality types is important to good Situational Awareness (SA).  It is even more important to know about the “hybrids” and the danger associated with them.  Don’t be blind-sided…be informed and aware.

A wolf in sheep’s clothing. We’ve all heard that expression before, there is a reason for it. These types of people are readily prevalent in daily life, and they will definitely be there, and even more apparent, in any post-disaster life. This will be a person that is well versed in deception. They deceive regularly every day in their marriage, their work, their personal relationships, and their interactions with people in general. They are probably going to be business people, especially sales people, also government workers and politicians. The key ingredient that keeps them from surfacing quickly as a predator is their lack of power or confidence in successfully getting away with predatory behavior. That lack of power can come in the form of lack of support from people or lack of resources (i.e. food, weapons, etc.). It boils down to they just don’t have enough “juice” at first.  They may recognize that fact and bide their time as they acquire their power and sufficient resources.  Only then they would feel confident that they are ready to make their move against flock members. This person will likely try to keep a low profile to ensure not being easily or quickly identified. They know that if they were identified before they had/have sufficient power that they would suffer retribution.  This person will be the one that steals from an individual family or the group.

Bradley Stone & wife – picture taken less than 1 year before he killed her and 5 other family members.

They will be capable of selling out (betraying) their own patrol to an enemy force if they think there is sufficient reward for doing so. They will most likely be identified only after a period of time where a number of their acts can finally be connected to crimes or betrayals. This is a very dangerous individual because they will keep escalating their types of crimes until they are forcibly stopped. This person will likely be a rapist. And they will also stop at nothing to avoid being caught or punished. This would be a person that would kill sheepdogs and shepherds to avoid being held accountable.

Also, there is a very real possibility that one of the “wolves” could masquerade as sheepdog. In this case they will portray themselves as powerful and not to be trifled with. They will be both defensive and aggressive, appearing to be a strong Type A personality. Watch for signs of them making lewd and inappropriate comments about members of the opposite sex. They are most likely to be males and come from a profession where they had power, virtually unquestioned authority. If a particular “wolf in sheep’s clothing” is a law enforcement person, they probably had a history of citizen complaints against them, including sexual harassment complaints. They may also hide behind religion. They may appear as a “defender of the faith” and criticizing/condemning a person not being religious enough, or not agreeing with their version of beliefs. In this particular situation think…Taliban-like behavior.

A herding dog masquerading as a sheepdog.  This could be a very hard situation to recognize. The two types of dogs are very similar and appear to have the same goal, protecting the flock. But the herding dog’s desire and intent is to “control” the flock more that protect. A herding dog that is hiding in the guise of a sheepdog will probably complain about the lack of discipline, lack of use of force, or lack of weapon or ammunition, or lack of action, etc. They will likely promote more use of force, especially when dealing with external threats. They will likely volunteer for the more the dangerous tasks or where violence would most likely be used or required. They can come from a military background, but not a successful or rewarding career in the military. The most probable of backgrounds would be troubled law enforcement personnel.

Most law enforcement personnel, by a large margin, currently are herding dogs; some very aggressively so.  They will tend to be younger, 20’s & 30’s or older late 50’s+.  They will tend to be single, muscular from strenuous physical training and steroid use. The steroid users will be the most dangerous subset of this group due to the resulting and increased aggression from steroid usage. Law enforcement personnel are trained in, and function in, an unquestioned authority system. And they expect instant compliance from those they deal with in daily life. They are also used to large supporting systems (i.e. courts, other agencies, unions, etc.) to back them up regardless of the situation. They will most likely expect unquestioned support from the flock and leadership regardless of their actions. This group of personality types will be very susceptible to being influenced by a owner/master or wolf hiding among the flock. They will gravitate to them because they crave and respect “power” and “authority”…and they are willing to commit violence to reacquire it.

All the while they will be thinking and saying they are doing it for the good of the flock, that they know best, it is to protect and serve. This individual can be extremely dangerous and vicious if confronted and challenged, or punishment is attempted. Once this person is exposed they will become very defensive and susceptible to latent owner/masters morphing.  If the group continues trying to hold them accountable, this personality type can become extremely dangerous and violent…a huge singular threat to the flock.

A owner/master in sheep’s clothing.  This person is similar to a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and must be watched for with great vigilance.

This person can be very dangerous overall to the group. Left unchecked they will think that whatever power-grabbing scheme they are hatching is working.  They will feel certain that they can achieve their goal of becoming an owner/master. One key indicator will be they will tend to be a primary or constant source of conflict. Not a “complaining” type of conflict or assertively offering alternatives.  But these people will be more playing one person off against another in order to create doubt in people’s minds of someone else, probably the group leader. In others words…regularly creating conflict against or between people. This person is likely to lay low with the sheep until they can put together a sufficient power base and then move against existing leadership. They may try to gain some control over the sheep/herding dogs so they can have an opportunity to identify current or potential herding dogs. They would then use deception and promises of power/rewards to lure current or potential herding dogs into doing their bidding. Once a latent owner/master has established himself, he is likely to attempt (and succeeding in) surrounding himself with herding dogs. He may also be successful attracting some “wolves in sheep’s clothing” as well.  But this is likely to only occur should he appear to have a high probability of maintaining and growing his power. Herding dogs won’t want to be on the losing side.

The “wolves” would most likely be his “secret” weapon kept hidden while doing his dirty work for him. That would be different than his use of herding dogs which he would use as tools of intimidation. Once found out, a latent or rising owner/master is not likely to willingly give up his power base…or give up his quest for leadership. He may feign that move if needed, but it will only be a deception to buy him more time to grow stronger and improve his chances of success later. Once a latent owner/master makes a move against existing leadership he will be hard to deal with; he will know he will likely only have one real chance to establish himself as the new leader. He will place all of his efforts and resources into play once he makes his move. Watch for a hidden resource he keeps in reserve to be his “stop gap” or “last resort” option.

Hybrid Summary –

For hybrids healthy inter-personal relationships are difficult in normal times; they will become exponentially more so when you are talking post-disaster. If we are talking TEOTWAWKI it will be difficult to figure out who these people really are and what they are capable of. The reason being is our normal personal and societal boundaries, limitations, rules and morals will be absent, whether in actuality or only perception.

You, as well as all those in your family and/or group, will need to be hyper-vigilant in assessing people on a regular basis, especially “new-comers.” You will have to establish baseline behaviors for each person and then watch for deviations from that baseline. Situational Awareness of people, including your own people, will have to be spot-on recognizing deviant behavior.  Or you may suffer missing signs that could point to personality shifts. Worse yet, you could miss the signs that a person falls within one of the three dangerous hybrids mentioned above.

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