It seems like every day I see a post somewhere discussing “lone wolf” survival plans. If you’re unaware of this term it simply means that you’re planning to ride out a disaster scenario completely alone, without any sort of support or community to help you. Many proponents of this plan seem to think that their “survival skills” (typically comprised mainly of primitive or bushcraft skills) will be more than sufficient to effect survival not only in a short term disaster but for extended or long-term disaster scenarios as well.
Being a lone wolf in a disaster is a horrible idea for many reasons. Today we’re going to discuss 5 key points for why this plan makes disaster survival much more difficult and why in some scenarios it can even get you killed.
You only have 2 hands and 2 eyes
A lot of lone wolf survivalists seem to forget that modern conveniences have taken a lot of the work out of the day to day life. If we ever find ourselves in a true SHTF, long-term grid-down scenario, day to day living is going to require a lot more work. Think about the last time you went camping without electricity. Even cooking a meal takes quite a bit of effort and work. Maintaining a fire, procuring food (if you’re not eating out of your preps) preparing that food, getting water to use in cooking and drinking, cleaning up…all that just to get a bite to eat for breakfast. Yes, you can do these things by yourself, but how much time out of the day is it really going to take?
From a security standpoint being a lone wolf also makes no sense. You have to sleep sometime. If we’re in a true, long-term post-disaster scenario, security is going to be a huge concern. I would much rather be taking security shifts with at least 1 or 2 other people to not only make sure I get some sleep but that someone is watching my back while I do.
Despite what most lone wolves say, they’re going to want to recover and rebuild just as much as anyone else.
It doesn’t matter if you’re the next coming of Rambo, Les Stroud and Dave Canterbury combined, surviving on your own sucks. Yes it’s completely doable and yes millions of people survived just fine without modern conveniences and carved out their place in the wilderness, but remembver….there is a reason why people created towns and cities. Humans require interaction with other humans to thrive. You’re highly unlikely to survive by yourself in the wilderness during an SHTF disaster anyway and being holed up in your house, alone, likely scared and without any modern conveniences is going to be a nightmare. At some point the lone wolf, “I don’t need anyone” attitude is going to fade and you’re going to want this disaster to end just as much as everyone else so you can get back to some semblance of normalcy.
Disasters have a way of building very strong loyalties among survivors. They also have a habit of making survivors extremely territorial and untrusting of new people. If you decide to tackle a long-term disaster as a lone wolf, you may want to keep in mind that when the rebuilding process starts, people are going to remember who was there helping during the disaster and who wasn’t. Even if you decide that you now want to be a part of a group, you may not be welcomed into one.
There’s always someone tougher than you are
So many of these lone wolf survivors talk about how tough they are, how much military training they have and how they can not only defend what they have but are likely to go out taking from others by force. Not only do I think this is appalling just from an ethical standpoint and gives preppers, in general, a bad name, but I also think it’s absolutely ridiculous. I don’t care who you are, there is someone out there tougher than you are. There’s someone who’s a better shot, has more experience, and has less of a moral compass. In essence, you’re not the badest fish in the pond and you never will be.
Think about this logically. In a true SHTF scenario, the world is going to be likely turned upside down. You’ll likely be without communication with loved ones, and the common comforts of our modern world will be gone. Why in the world would you immediately add an insane amount of security risks on top of all that by trying to take from others when it’s so much easier and efficient to just work together with other people?
What happens when you get injured?
In all of the posts I’ve seen from people advocating the lone wolf survival plan, I’ve never once seen any of them address what would happen in the case of injury. You can have all the ammo, MRE’s, and tactical training in the world but a broken hand or foot is going to take you down a few pegs real quick. Before you so flippantly throw your nose up at community survival, you may want to remember that you very well may need those people to save your life if you get injured. It’s probably a good idea to be on good terms with them in the first place so you can not only help avoid injuries, to begin with but that if you do get injured, you have those people to help you while you recover.
This isn’t a war game
I think there’s a bad habit in the preparedness community as a whole with people who love to fantasize and debate about topics like this but fail to put any real thought into it. It’s a game to them, something to debate about on Facebook I think it’s important to keep in mind that while a real, long-term SHTF disaster is unlikely to happen any time soon if you’re going to make a plan for something like this, be realistic. There is strength in numbers and your “survival skills” are only going to keep you alive for so long.
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