Top 8 differences between American and EU preppers

Everything in this article is just my personal opinions and feelings. Therefore, the reader does not have to agree with my views, but can freely express them in the discussion. I like to look at this topic from another point  of view.

 1. History

I do not want to have a broad discussion here about when and where prepping took place, I will just focus on recent prepping, which has spread rapidly with the development of nuclear weapons during the Cold War, especially in the United States. At that time, the construction of anti-nuclear shelters brought not only the civil defense on both sides of the Cold War front, but in the USA, people who owned family houses and did not have deep to their pockets built their own shelters. In addition, stocks of food, medicine, weapons, ammunition, etc. were added. It has constantly influenced people's awareness of being prepared for the worst. Fear begun.

In addition, the United States, and not just the United States, has been regularly affected by natural disasters such as the season of tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, floods, snow disasters associated with a sudden blackout of food, electricity, transportation and fuel. Only a small number of people, the more responsible ones, realized how vulnerable the whole supply system was and how much risk there were with such outages, and therefore began to pre-supply themselves to such situations. The first stone shops dedicated to this issue appeared. New magazines, clubs, organizations and communities were also created. They were joined by survivalists who opened various courses as well as shooting clubs, creating a new business with a small but rapidly growing membership base. There were also several voluntary armed groups militia, which, of course, became a thorn in the eye of the federal authorities.

From the beginning, the public looked at the preppers very negatively. The public was under constant pressure from the mainstream media, where preppers were purposefully referred to as freaks or fools, fringe lunatics, paranoid, antisocial, or even racists or even anti-government elements. As a result of the tireless pressure of the media, the preppers, in order to avoid ridicule and some public shame, went into a kind of anonymity to illegality, which lasts until today, but for a completely different reason.

In the 1990s, there were many street riots in the United States caused by racial incidents that resulted in uncontrolled looting. The robberies will end, during which many innocent people will needlessly die, and over time the public will slowly become aware of the nature and usefulness of prepping.

With the new millennium, the media will gradually begin to change the current view of preppers. New television reports, series and reality shows are emerging to help develop the preping. With the development of the Internet and social networks, the boom progressed not only in the United States, but also in Europe and other countries around the world.

The events surrounding Hurricane Katrina, which caused huge flooding in New Orleans in 2005, only confirmed and made clear what the preppers had pointed out long before. Simply put, if there is an SHTF, then the prepper has to rely only on himself and take care of himself, the government will not help him. Katrina fully confirmed their theory. Due to the interplay of several unfortunate factors, there has been a delayed, slow and insufficient response and assistance from the government authotities to the affected population. Despite the immediate release of large federal financial funds to help the affected population, we could see that the aid either did not arrive at all or arrived too late. Many were able to see for themselves what the reality was and how state authorities had failed at all levels of government.

Another shift in public understanding of what prepping is about occurred after an event such as the global Covid-19 epidemic. Lockdown in many countries around the world has helped people fully understand the meaning and importance of prepping.

The pre-election period in the USA 2020, exacerbated by almost 6 months of violent protests by ANTIFA and BLM, brought a clear answer to the question of what will happen after the elections. The high rise in the purchase of firearms, the rise in ammunition prices, and even its shortage were clearly a sign that Americans were no longer leaving everything to the last minute and were able to stock up well in advance.

Global as well as local events have always confirmed and confirm the correctness and necessity of the existence of prepping. The general public is beginning to change their attitudes and views on the basis of these events.

The situation in Europe was a little bit different. While war has avoided in the United States for the past 200 years, war has been a rampant in Europe. I am not telling that no world war has affected the United States. During the First and through the Second World War, several European states, but also the USA, supported the development of the so-called "Victory Gardens" as a patriotic role. In 1944, 20 mil. such gardens, which produced 8 mil. tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, which at the time represented 40% of US production of the commodity.

Every generation of war that has gone through the threats of war has learned various lessons from it, and one of them was the supply of food. To this day, most European families do not lack a small pantry for food.

40 years of communist rule in Eastern Europe left a remarkable phenomenon on the people. By the fact that generations had to deal with a shortage of goods or a limited assortment during their lives, people learned to improvise and inadvertently became them, for example very skill handyman. Also, the Iron Curtain did not help the development of travel as we know it today. And so Eastern Europeans went on holiday, whether in summer or in winter, to mountain cottages. Which is ideal for American preppers, Bug out location.

2. Rural versus Urban

The second important factor that I would like to mention in connection with the differences between the USA and Europe is the distribution of population and population density on both continents.

In the US, only 19% of the population (about 60 miles) live in the countryside. Rural areas in the USA cover 97% of the total area of ​​the USA. So the population density in the American countryside is falling sharply.

In Europe, the situation is completely different in this respect. Europe is the third most populous continent. A much larger proportion of the population in Europe than in the US lives in the countryside.

EU statistics from 2018 show that 39% of the European population lives in large cities, 32% live in suburbs, housing estates and small towns, and 29% live in rural areas.

Predominantly rural areas make up 44% of Europe, where about 29% of the population lives.

In some Eastern European countries, even more than 50% of the population lives in rural areas.

This does not mean that everyone who lives in the countryside today is also food and energy self-sufficient. No, unfortunately, there are more and more people living in the countryside who breed and grow less and less, or even nothing at all. But these people, in my opinion, still have a higher chance of survival than people in cities. These people do not have to live today the way their ancestors lived, but they still have their knowledge, skills and conditions, they just do not use them for various reasons.

Still existing and fully functional and self-sufficient families and communities of Mormons and Amish can be found without any problems even today in the USA. Fully self-sufficient in food. Each house had its own well with drinking water. Poultry and cattle, orchard, vegetable garden, fields.

Families in the countryside in Europe lived the same lifestyle even after 2nd World war. With the advent of electrification and gasification, life in the village became more comfortable. Of course, the quality of life and also the productivity of work have increased. E.g. In September 1960, Czechoslovakia became only the fifth country in the world to be fully electrified. Today, the whole of Europe is already fully electrified.

Why do I mention this factor urban versus rural?

At the time of the SHTF, American preppers recommend leaving cities to disperse in the countryside, or hunting game in the mountains, which is not a bad idea, but this procedure seems very difficult to implement in Europe.

Europe has a higher population density than America. In Europe, the percentage of uninhabited areas is much lower than in the US, and moreover, in Europe, the population is almost evenly distributed in all areas except the higher parts of the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Apennines, the Scandinavian Mountains and the Carpathians. Yes, European cities can be depopulated if something happens, because many people living in cities have their origins somewhere in the countryside, or have weekend cottages, but it can be assumed that the part that will have nowhere to go will eventually be barricaded in the cities.

3. American cult of gun.

By American constitution and the Second Amendment every Americans citizen have the right to own a weapon. However, some states have strict restrictions. Europe is much worse off with a few exceptions. From the prepper's point of view, the best in Europe are the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, Germany and of the former socialist countries, probably only the Czech Republic and Serbia. In some states, it is not allowed to wear even knives or defensive pepper sprays. I am not saying that it is not possible to obtain firearm legally in Europe, but various legislative restrictions make this purchase very difficult, complicated  or even discouraging. Also, the various fees are not negligible. So, compared to the possibilities in the USA, Europe is much worse off.

According to The Guardian, more than 5.4 million firearms are registered in Germany and are in private hands. In terms of population, there are legally more weapons than in Mexico, Russia or South Africa.

There are 8.5 million people living in Switzerland, who are estimated to own 2.3 million weapons. This number is probably much higher, as it only counts on weapons purchased and registered after 2008, when Switzerland entered the Schengen area.

SIG 550 or 751 assault rifle and Glock 21 pistol. These are the weapons with which all men aged 19 and over are equipped in Switzerland.

After reaching the age of 19, every adult man  will get the mentioned weapons and a thousand rounds of ammunition from the state. Complete equipment. From uniforms, shoes, tents, shovels to bicycles. This basic armament and equipment is at home by every soldier who completes basic training for 18-21 weeks (depending on the specific weapon). More than one million three hundred thousand soldiers are able to mobilize the Swiss in full combat readiness within 12 hours! Service is compulsory for unpunished men. It is open and voluntary for women.

Switzerland is also known for being riddled with anti-nuclear bunkers like the Emmental. The capacity of the shelters is sufficient for the whole population. What is most interesting is the construction of shelters is required by law also for every private builder.

There are approximately 300,000 firearms holders in the Czech Republic who own more than 819,000 firearms.

In Slovakia, almost 150,000 people have a firearms license (which is only less than 3% of the population), but less than 90,000 people are authorized to carry a firearm.

4. Improvisation

The above has led European preppers to adapt to the facts and eliminate the disadvantages they have for American preppers. The result of their adaptation is improvisation. Therefore, the EU preppers are forced to improvise in the use of defense equipment and to pay more attention to their production, self-education and self-defense. The trend of self-education is significantly more pronounced in the EU than in the USA.

Although I have to mention the fact that the boy-scout movement and woodcraft have spread well on both continents. In the countries of the Eastern bloc, young people were also raised in youth defense organizations such as Zväzarm in Czechoslovakia or Dosaaf in the USSR. Here, generations have found the basic knowledge of almost lifelong hobbies such as shooting, cynology, diving, skydiving, aviation, radio communications, orienteering run and more.

The fact that in some post-communist countries young people maintained good physical fitness through mass exercises on Spartakiads was also positive. There were far from as many obese children and young people as there are today.

The ban on arms ownership among the population prompted the establishment of Airsoft in Japan in the 1970s. From there, it spread in the 1980s through the UK to Europe and the USA. In the last 5 years, the largest trade turnover recorded in the US is 38%, followed by Europe - the UK, Germany, France, Italy and then the countries of Asia and the Middle East.

http://www.airsoft-guns-gas-electric-spring.com/countries-airsoft-are-played-in-legal-and-illegal.html

In addition to airsoft clubs, various guerilla/militia groups are established similarly to those in the USA, with the only difference that in Europe groups are founded mostly by young people who have never been to military or war (their weapons are mostly Airsoft type), and in the USA they are mostly obese fathers or elderly war veterans (with real weapons only).

The expansion of such activities helps to boom the shooting clubs and their membership base. Active Airsoft players develop good shooting habits through regular training, strengthen shooting safety and help them create muzzle memory, not to mention that one learns at least the basics of small unit  combat tactics, defense, camouflage, tracking, etc.

5. Hamstering, stockpiling.

Personally, I think it's the most distinctive feature of the American prepper. For me, a typical American preper is someone who buys supplies of food, toilet paper, some weapons (as much as possible of each caliber) and boxes of ammunition. It throws it somewhere in the basement or garage and doesn't care about it anymore. That is all. There is not a word about some self-education and practice of survival techniques in real situations.

Notice popular bloggers on Youtube as they do „independent“ reviews on various products, gadgets, tools and equipment. They praise them to heaven (they must because they get them from the manufacturer for free, some of them don't even hide this). You have to have this! This is amazing! This will save your life! While in most cases it is clear that those advertised products were never used in real life. It often happens that in their videos, the products are obviously brand new, never used, without signs of usage or wear. Even if they used a completely new product for review, it is often clear at first glance that sometimes they do not even know how to hold it properly in their hand, open it or close it, unlock it or lock it, secure it, disassemble it, fold it back, etc.

Prepping in America today is a highly commercial affair. The clientele is growing and various marketing techniques are spreading at an unprecedented rate in this relatively new commodity. However, it should be noted that Europe is not lagging behind in this development either.

6. Languages ​​and borders.

The USA is a united country without real internal borders between individual states and with one language, which guarantees smooth movement throughout the entire country.

Europe is a multi-national with borders between countries. Yes, the Schengen agreement between EU member states allows citizens to travel freely, but recent event with the Covid-19 epidemic have shown how member states have behaved and closed borders within 24hrs. Suddenly no freedom of travel. From this point of view, the planning and operation of preppers in the USA is much easier.

7. Refugees

Europe has gone through many wars. In order for people to survive, they had to leave their homes and possessions in a hurry with only the essentials they had to take with them and take refuge in the nearest safe country. This has been the case in every war that has affected Europe.

In America, the idea is that a prepper will build a hidden mansion somewhere deep in the mountains, or in hidden desert valleys, which he and his family will defend if well armed, fortified, and supplied.

The latest conflict from the war in the former Yugoslavia in 1991-95 confirms that any well-armed, stocked and trained solo prepper will not survive. At first, those who had chance they  escaped the war-torn country. Those who remained in the country, if they could, moved to the family in the countryside. Those who had nowhere to go and stayed in the cities were the worst. Groups of people made up of large families, a united block street of residents, a well-organized community had the best chance of survival.

In rural Europe, there are strong family ties and good neighborly help. Small villages have the best chance of surviving different STHF scenarios as long as they have a reasonable prepper leader. But here we are not talking about the classic war conflict, because in such a case, everyone has a minimal chance of survival.

8. Cultural differences

Unlike Europeans, Americans have much less confidence in their government. They think that the government is against them, that the government is not take care on them if they get into trouble, that the government is only interested in taxes, etc. Unfortunately, the reality of recent years in America proves them in many ways.

Then there is fear. Served daily by the media, Hollywood, politicians, religious sects, etc. Fear is an excellent marketing tool. If you add to this the strong individualistic approach of the American to solving life situations and problems, then there is nothing to wonder how and why American preppers think so.

Europeans, on the other hand, have more confidence in their government and more confidence that the government will help its citizens if something bad happens. In critical situations, the community can come together as a common cause. European preppers, therefore, do not go to such extremes as we can see in the American ones.

Do you think there are more differences? Maybe so, but only these came to my mind.

EuroPrepper