If you’re living in the city during a disaster, the last thing you want to do is draw attention to yourself. Whether it’s a short-term disaster like a hurricane or a long-term disaster like an economic crisis, you can expect crime to be very high. Police will be stretched to the limit, and many ordinary people will become criminals if they’re desperate.
Sure, you could stay at home. But there are many scenarios where you would have to venture out into the city. Especially if it’s a long-term disaster. In that case, you might even still have a job to go to. So how do you make yourself unnoticed? You become a “gray man.”
There’s some confusion surrounding this topic, but Black Scout Survival clears it up. Check out his video about it below.
It’s entirely possible that police and or military may be the greater threat to our well being. Something to consider, that being grey or even invisible…be a high priority. WROL situation, could be a military coup or an illegal use of martial law powers.
Generally the grey man idea is garbage.
Other than you do not want to be looking way out of place.
The problem is that if you are to plain, you will be noticed. Maybe not by everyone, but by me and others that you would not want to notice you. You will only appear to “blend in”, to the other “sheep” or to unwary, unskilled predators.
For instance in the video he brings up caps with some thing on them, a logo, a patch, etc.
99 % of the caps out there have something like that on them. Although everybody notices it, that it is not remarkable. However a cap with out anything on it, is very remarkable and memorable.
So which is more “grey” ?
Who is more noticed the guy that never speaks, or the one who does not say a lot but is not terribly silent either. A lot of the “Grey Man” thinking, over thinks what is ” grey”. Just being normal is being “grey”, for the most part. Trying to go unnoticed WILL get you noticed. Because no one can do it well enough.
By looking like one of the ” sheep”, you are also looking like a victim to any predator that is out there.
Predators do not attack other predators, they attack the average, the vulnerable.
This applies to everyday life, but gets even more enhanced post SHTF.
The chances of being, sick or injured (at some point) in a SHTF scenario are greatly increased. So if you are dress out as a “sheep”, you are now looking like an “injured sheep”, the perfect prey.
Now a predator’s first choice is always one of these, unless it is recognized as another predator or a dangerous choice to attack, at any time.
Something to think about.
The next problem is one of mentality. All of these guys think they know what every one will be dressing like or carrying post SHTF, but will they really?
How many people will be wearing Camo? How many will have regular Back packs? Military Back packs? Tactical vests? Weapons? Etc?
No one really knows, so how are you going to plan to blend in?
Some of this will be area specific, so if you are forced to travel, to relocate, what makes you a “grey man” may change. In the Country, everyone might be wearing blue jeans, western hats and pistols or hunting attire and rifles. But they probably will not be looking like that, in the City.
So by not having acquired these things prior to SHTF, you can no longer be a “grey man”, because your wrong choices, ( wrong mentality), will make you stand out!
The Grey man stuff is better suited to current spies and undercover operatives, than to Post SHTF operations.
Becoming the invisible man, women, person. In our so called techo society with every kind of way to track you, aka ipads, ipods, lap tops, computers, automated billing systems of every kind, camera’s all over the place, satellite technology, e-mails all over the place and so on and so on it becomes more and more difficult. It remembers me of the episode on Star Trek, 1960’s titled I Mudd in which the android’s would take over the galaxy by serving all, aka humans and others. Once they were all being served they then would be dependent and controlled by the android’s forever.
Long ago and far away some wise man said of becoming the Gray Man: “If you live in the ocean, you must become a fish.” If you can follow this reasoning it makes perfect sense. Do, look, speak, act and smell as those around you.
The problem with looking like a fish, is that it makes you food for sharks and other creatures.
Fish give predators a wide berth, so do most other predators,(try studying predator behavior).
It is easier to attack a fish, rather than another shark.
So all you are doing is making your self into prey and hoping that you do not get in the group that gets eaten. Not a real bright idea, IMO.
It is true that the fish don’t notice you, if you look like you are another fish, but then they were never a threat to you in the first place.
I think that put the Grey man thinking in it’s proper perspective.
Get the book by Matthew Dermody. Worthwhile and you can hold it in your hands.
Some of this practical info, you’re gonna want to print up now, make a place to keep them.
Just because you read and have knowledge… members of your family/group may not and if you’re incapacitated….well, everyone’s screwed.
We have books, papers…so that the wife won’t be too freaked out if something happens to me. We also frequently camp …she knows about shelter and firemaking…
She doesn’t like the guns, but knows how to use them.
same here please not so many vids
What good is a video on blending into the crowd going to do when the SHTF and we’re without computers or even electricity? If I can’t print out a matching article, there’s no point in watching because I can’t possibly remember all the tips that are published daily on the ‘Net.