Prepper Scouting ( recon) discussion paper

Doomsday Prepper Forums

Help Support Doomsday Prepper Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Silent Earth

A True Doomsday Prepper
Joined
Sep 25, 2013
Messages
6,926
Reaction score
10,994
Location
watching from afar
The Prepper " Scout"

A suggested rough draft of a guide for preppers to safely recon after TSHTF FEEDBACK, Discusion and TWEEKS welcome.

Sooner rather than later when TSHTF you and your family will need to venture out to assess the damage, secure your property, salvage supplies, look for threats, gather intel etc.

This is Recconaissance (to Recce UK and Aus, Recon US and Canada) its a French term to describe a combination of preliminary survey, survey, exploration, observation, investigation, examination, inspection, probe, scrutiny, scan;.

It is gathering intelligence, information, identifying possible threats, to locate allies, supplies etc and to see what everyone else is doing.

To safely Recce or Recon your area of operations its both prudent and wise to try and employ some sensible precautions and practice some skills. With this in mind below is a rough draft of some guildlines that hopefully will assist you in your mission.

These rules are NOT written in stone and to be used with considered judgement

RULE 1 The Prepper Scout is a Civilian not a Soldier.
You are probably just one person, with a family to take care of and not some fictitious super soldier with the combat capabilities of 100 men, remember that fact and work within your ACTUAL not IMAGINED skill set.
Your job is to venture forth to seek out what you need be it food, fuel, building supplies, medical kit, transport, or just to see how safe it is for your family.

When you have ventured forth your SOLE job is to carry out that selected mission and return home to your family unscathed and safe and UNDETECTED and not to accidently leave a trail back to your home that others can follow .

RULE 2 is " Get out and back safely and undetected"
RULE 3 is " Leave no sign of you having passed by"

Watch where you walk and try not to leave noticable footprints or trampled grass to show your recently passed by.

RULE 4 is " See all you can without being seen, Learn all you can without giving anything away"
Use Binoculars or scopes to observe from afar. Look and listen to your environment and surroundings, Has surface dust been disturbed, has debris been recently moved, has foliage recently been cut, are those footprints recent, can you smell a recent cooking fire all are "tells" of recent activity.

RULE 5 is " Sh'oot and Scoot"
If by some misfortune you are located by unfriendly people, you should try to not get involved in a prolonged firefight, Your family needs you more than you need to feed your ego. Fire only enough to allow you to safely withdraw, remember that gun fire can also attract MORE people to the area.

RULE 6 is " Watch and learn"
If your passing through insecure or unfamiliar territory its always a good idea to lay up and observe the area for a while before moving on, You may detect possible ambushes or security threats, so BE PATIENT and OBSERVANT.

RULE 7 " Go around, dont go through"
If your objective lays beyond where others are based, it is better if and when possible to take a wide diversion to avoid endangering yourself.

RULE 8 " Write it down, Make a note, Take a Photo"
Along your route you may come across other useful materials, supplies , locations that may benefit your family later on, so make a note of what you come across.

RULE 9 " if it looks to good to be true, it probably is (a trap)"
After a major crisis few people are going to leave food, vehicles, fuel, weapons and supplies laying round, and most bridges, tunnels, streets etc that look WAY to accessible may be there to draw you in (ref rule 6)

RULE 10 " Different routes out and Back"
For your patrol dont use the same route out and back, keep pausing and LISTEN, if you are being follow they will make SOME noise.

Avoid roads and paths instead walk parallel to the road far enough away to avoid ambushes but to be able to follow the route. At your destination RULE 6 every time.

RULE 11 "Short broadcast then move"
If you need to use your radio to communicate back home, Broadcast short and brief then MOVE, It is best if your home base station does NOT respond to prevent others triangulting your home location.

RULE 12 " Get off the path before you rest"
On longer trips you will obviously need to R & R, if the patrol has more than one person then One sleeps/cooks/eats the other goes on guard, then swap around.

If your on your own then get away from the path or trail, get under cover and ensure you have more than one escape. Make no cooking smoke / flames or strong smells and leave no rubbish.

RULE 13 " Dress for the occasion"
Wear clothing that matches as best possible the territory you are operating in EG Cammo in the Countryside, Tans and greys in the towns, and make sure NOTHING shines or rattles.
Dont forget foul weather clothing if needed.
 
Last edited:
For rule number 5, I'm a big fan of smoke grenades. If you have to leave, it's a good cover for which way you went.

good post though.

We would definitely focus on soft, easy, abandoned targets. I've no wish to be in a firefight.
 
on the note it down subject I have for many years had a map on which I drew 5, 10 and 15 mile radius of my present location, I figured 15 miles was probably as far as I was going post SHTF and more likely to be 5 or 10 miles, I note anything new in my travels within those distances and write it down, also anything that chances so my info is up to date.
 
By the way, I'd never send such a scout out solo. I think a team of at least two is prudent. For one thing, can watch each other's six... For another, one radio may fail, but two is a bit unlikely.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top