The importance of your network

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about gear and theory but I don’t think we’ve mentioned something incredibly important yet which shouldn’t be overlooked – your personal network. That is, your circle of friends and people you can count on if and when you need them. Of course taking precautions to make sure you are covered yourself is important but a larger group can have it’s advantages as well. Similarly, just knowing that you have a friendly place to turn if you can’t get back to your own place can be very reassuring.

We all have this to some extent, mostly on an informal level. We know where our friends and family live and if you were driving one day and got a flat tire and knew your friend lived half a block away it would be natural to go there for help rather than sitting on the side of the road. In the scope of a larger disaster those connections become even more important, as does a little bit of forethought. Everyone has a different skill set and if you know someone with medical training or something who is a really good mechanic, these are people that it would be beneficial to be near should something terrible happen.

On a small scale local level, just knowing where your friends live around town can be helpful. Another step would be making sure you know a few friendly spots in cities you visit frequently. If you are out of the country and the government of the country you are in falls apart, simply going back to your hotel might not be the best idea. Even further along would be having a plan ahead of time with a circle of friends that if something ever happens, everyone knows where to meet and what to bring. Or better what to stock up on ahead of time. Trying to create a fully stocked survival compound becomes a lot more realistic when several people are splitting the tasks and costs.

I’m currently reading Patriots and while the book has plenty of issues on it’s own (which I’ll cover in a review soon enough) a core part of the story is friends who thought and planned ahead to work together which is a very valuable thing to have.

Traveling for Metblogs has helped me realize that quite a bit. I’ve been able to visit cities I’ve never been to before and have friendly faces waiting to greet me and show me around. This always makes me realize how important having those connections are, and makes me think about what I should be doing in regards to future planning. I’m curious how much other folks have though about these issues and what arrangements others have already made. Do you have a group of friends already organized? Do you have friends not so organized but like minded enough that you know you could count on them if need be?