Thirteen Foxtrot

Seems to be some confusion here. I am not recommending getting rid of background checks at all. I am advocating starting with a introduction process so that new people know who they are giving their information to. Militias don't have a great social reputation, so I believe it is beneficial to the militia to be a bit more open in order to encourage growth. I'm not suggesting you take them out to your training event. But just have a series of interviews availible in your process before demanding their personal information.

There is no requirement to be a veteran that I know of.

I think a vetting process can be put in place so everyone can get introductions out of the way, get to know each other, answer questions, and set expectations. Then if everything still seems cool, you can get their information to do a background check. Just my opinion.

I understand how the background check helps your group feel safe, but from an outsider's perspective, it seems invasive to have a group of people you may have never met, and don't know much about, want your personal information before you even know if you want to associate with them.

Networking will always be a challenge. Lots are meeting up that are geographically close, but in house security of a lot of groups does turn off a lot of new people. In my experience, militias are not very welcoming. Too much paranoia.

Happy new year. Benewah County here.

Great suggestions Spectre. Where do you get specific information on training on those topics? Anyone have any Instructors Training Guides? I know there are a lot of books on these topics out there, but I am not always sure which ones are actually good and few are easy to teach others from.

Yeah, trying to come up with new ideas, so not just covering old ground. I don't know.

So, my group has been on a sabbatical for a little while now. Many members stopped coming and we just kind of ran out of things to do to keep us interested. Leadership wants to continue, but things have just gone stale. Know what I mean? Got any ideas to bring new life to the dead?

This all looks really good. I don't spend much time at my computer lately, but I should be coming back soon. I am working on it.

welcome to the site.

Good response. Freedom is a powerful ideal. Everyone desires freedom, but they also need security. Ben Franklin has a famous quote relating to this. Pure freedom is total anarchy. Anarchy allows the people with the most power to force their will over the powerless. Immediately, you have new government as those who have grabbed power now need to enforce and secure it. We saw this in the fall of the Soviet Union. In the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Communist government, the mafias took over. The people did not want to have to feed from the hands of the mob, so they turned back to t

Most people in the liberty movement will answer that it means to "be able to do what you want as long as it doesn't restrict the rights and property of others." Well, ok, but as a social creature just about everything we do has some affect on others. So how do we defend freedom in the "Land of the Free", when so many people feel affected by the actions of others in their society. Who judges what actions have real affect on others? If we are to retain any sense of freedom in our nation, we must be able to clearly define what we mean by that. Our language is under attack and meaning is bei