Many people ponder how to defend themselves and their families against bad people, or general disorder. Some approach this by moving to places where they believe there will be less need to do so, or by preparing to go to such a place, if things look bad. This is sometimes called “bugging out”. It requires extensive, expensive advance preparation of a “safe” place to go to, and an assured ability to get there. Even if you get to your well-prepared retreat, expecting that you will instantly develop and proficiently exercise all the skills required to survive there, may be optimistic.
Many people cannot or will not make such radical preparations, so they try to make their current location safer, better supplied, more defensible. Some call this, “bugging-in”.Whether you decide to stand your ground where you are now, or at some other location, taking refuge from a threat or enemy in a perceived place of safety, perhaps fortified, instead of moving in the open to flee, or to neutralize or eliminate the enemy, is an ancient tactic. But once your enemy appears, and you are relying on fortification, static defense, and stored supplies, you are “under siege”.
A siege ends when your attacker breaches your defenses, you surrender or die of starvation, or, if and when the besieger is decisively defeated or decides that the prize is not worth the cost. The besieged does everything he can to increase that cost, but that requires a lot of resources beyond supplies for your own survival, such as lots of things to throw at the enemy.
The besieger has the advantages of freedom of movement, and potentially unlimited re-supply. He can usually encircle you at a safe distance, minimize his losses, and starve you out.
A siege can also be lifted if you have a powerful outside ally, to whom you can communicate your situation, and who will travel to your aid, and encircle (besiege) or openly defeat your attacker.
The best defense against siege is proactive. Control the country. Do not let yourself get trapped. Trusting in a “castle” is IMO a desperate tactic. Most sieges end with starvation and capitulation. Relief by an ally from outside is a long shot. Your FIRST consideration should be, choosing a location that is less likely to be attacked, and easier to defend. MOST people who plan on “bugging in” at their urban or suburban home, are evading this step, and sentencing themselves and their families, to death.
But, is there another path, less desperate, more survivable, maybe even less expensive than buying and moving to a farm in Idaho? Maybe you can have allies. Maybe you can build a network for intel, so you have early warning and can plan to neutralize the enemy in the open. Maybe you can control the country around you.
Suddenly, this does not look like a family’s hopeless, if heroic, last stand.
Our forefathers and foremothers in Colonial America faced constant threats from, weather, fire, sickness, crop failure, hostile natives, and the gradually increasing rapacity and disrespect of their own government. But they generally throve, overcame adversity, and laid the foundations for the security and prosperity that we have enjoyed through most of our subsequent history.
Their faith, energy, and thrift were crucial to their success, and if we are to have any hope of continuing it, we must emulate them. But one of the ways in which they expressed these virtues, together with prudence and courage, was through an ancient social institution called, “militia”. There are many other resource on this web-site that will dive deep into the details of its organization, operation, and legal standing, that I will not duplicate here.
But at its most basic, it is the collective expression of the God-given and unalienable right of self-defense. It is neighbors planning and practicing together, to secure by defending , their territory, homes, livelihoods, and families. Neighbors working together can meet threats and develop resources far beyond the ability of a lone family. Far beyond this, militia has a unique place in American Constitutional law, as defender not only against immediate physical threats, but against the totalitarian creep that once forced us to break from the British Empire, and has now become a fulminating infection in our own government.
In fact, militia is the critical and necessary element, together with Grand and petit juries, and courts kept honest by effective oversight, not only for physical defense but also for its Constitutional role in cleansing the rest of our government system.
“Bugging-in” may involve you (posthumously) in a moving and tragic story in bittersweet remembrance, that is, if anyone survives to tell your story. But would you not rather be there yourself, to tell the story of how you and your neighbors learned and planned and worked and taught and persuaded, and, yes, fought, to save not only yourselves, but your neighborhood, and perhaps your Republic?