Another Expert Agrees With Dark Comet Theory

Prepping is a deadly serious occupation. If nothing terrible happens (probably the most likely scenario), then it can be joked about, it can be a humorous anecdote. But if the SHTF, then everything you have done until that point can become deadly serious:

• Did you forget to pack identity documents (or copies) in your B.O.B?
• You encounter a collapsed bridge and didn’t formulate a Plan B escape route?
• You get to your safe spot and somebody else, armed to the teeth, is already there?

All those years of preparing and one mistake could ruin it all, and could genuinely be the difference between your family making it or not. My safe spot is a critical part of my preparations, and it is essential that I manage to get my family there, and that no strangers know of its existence.

I’ve had the privilege of being approached to present my thoughts on “doomsdays” to the general public via TV shows. That means a far greater reach than my blog or book are likely to achieve. That means many lives potentially saved, should something go wrong. But at what personal cost?

Most of those opportunities have been null and void due to me not being in the USA. Nat Geo flew out here, that was cool. Doomsday Preppers asked if I wanted to be their first international subject. I declined. It’s not worth the risk. There are too many ways it can go wrong, and my safe spot can become public knowledge. An anonymous reader posted their similar story over at The Intel Hub:

I was flattered that my story was good enough to be on national TV.  I thought it would be interesting to offer some advice to others.  Heck, it might even be fun.

So we began talking.  I told them I had three requirements: no face shot, no real name used, no real boat name used and no real location used.  I was contacted by the associate producer; everything agreed to except the face shot.

Nope….you got to do better.  I was then contacted by the executive producer…..must have face in video to make the story.  Nope…..I must retain my secrecy.  Then they threw in $500 cash.

The author has come up with some basic rules for Prepper Privacy:

1. Trust no one that you do not personally know.  Even the little old lady down the road will rat on you if she is hungry when the SHTF.
2. Keep your prepping to yourself.  Again, do not tell anyone you are prepping.  If they know you have stores of food, where will they think of first when the SHTF?  Oh and don’t forget, the Department of Homeland Security thinks people who stockpile food and weapons are potential domestic terrorists.
3. Don’t share any prepping articles on Facebook or other social media.  Don’t draw attention to yourself by posting prepping articles or discussing the topic on a website.  You may think you are educating your friends, but in reality you are just letting them know of your actions and plans.
4. Make sure boxes are not labeled with the company name if your order emergency supplies.  Most companies will publish this in their ordering information.  You don’t want to tip off the UPS driver that you just received a year’s worth of freeze dried food.
5. Do not tell anyone what you are up to. You don’t know how hard it is for me not to tell people I meet that I was almost on the National Geographic TV show.  That would be a disaster.
6. Be alert to what others are saying.  I was sitting in my dental hygienist chair a week ago and she told me about another customer that was storing food.  She thought he might be prepping and she said if it ever got bad, she knew where to find some food.  I just acknowledged the statement and let it rest.

Now that’s pretty extreme and paranoid. Nothing wrong with that!

It’s different when you are a blogger/author. I have a minor smoke screen in that Bast is not my real name. But I’m not shy about telling acquaintances that I am a prepper – I’m on a mission to get the word out. I have lots of supplies at home, but my main stash is somewhere else, and virtually nobody knows where.

It is possible to provide your story without showing your safe spot. When Playboy interviewed four 2012 forum members, only one of us had photographers visit – the other three got to share their thoughts while keeping things private. I might be on a major TV show in the coming months, and they are respecting that I won’t show my safe spot (even though it was almost a deal breaker). That’s because they want to tell a serious story, rather than being a reality TV freak show.

I’ll leave you with a great example that serves as a lesson. There’s a U.S. bunker business that has had a lot of publicity in recent times. They are selling spaces in a converted missile silo. As part of the publicity they have shown external photos of the location, and have let on which state it is in. That was enough for outsiders to determine the location and post it on forums. The safety of everyone investing in their bunker spaces has been compromised. All it took was a highway in one background shot, and a hill in another – combined with the fact that missile silos can’t really be kept secret.