the rogue turtle the rogue turtle
Our Mission
We provide information on survivalism, camping, food storage, cooking and grilling, and self reliance.

Our goal is to ensure you are prepared for natural and man-made disasters, before, during and after they occur.
Home Research Sign Up Links About the Rogue Turtle Contact Store


Sign up for newsletter updates!
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
© 2006 RogueTurtle.com

As a beginning step, consider these areas that will need to be addressed by any survivalist group:

  • Logistics & Transportation: How to get from point A to point B by the safest and most expedient means available. This includes scheduling transportation of supplies, people, and anything else that will walk, drive, fly or swim to a destination of your choice. "Trains, planes, and automobiles...plus walking".

  • Supply: The actual purchase from a source of funds of the group-selected survival items. This can be either group-owned (not a good idea) or group-purchased but individually owned items.

    Anything from bottled water to bullets, to tents, to parts for vehicles. This person could double as the financial manager - or this job could be a separate position.

  • Housing/Shelter: In a survival group, this means selecting a secure location for group approval along with a location for intermediate travel stops along the way. Once under way, this person should be familiar with all manner of temporary or field expedient shelters. They don't necessarily have to be in charge of building them, just know how they should be built in the locations of your choice. Kind of like an architect with a background in stealth.

  • Security: This can be either armed or unarmed, by either group choice or individual selection. This should include training for all ages in unarmed defense. Also included is a skill knowledge in booby traps (possibly including explosives), arson, and maintenance and security of firearms. This persons job is to make sure the route of travel is secure, as well as the destination security both upon arrival and after settling in for the long haul. A knowledge of electronic surveillance and computer security would be a plus. This person will be in charge of intelligence gathering and dissemination to shelter occupants. Communications security is critical in a hostile environment. Scheduling of roving or fixed guards is part of the security protocols for any environment open to hostile action.

  • Maintenance and Construction: This person needs to be a builder. A worker who enjoys working with their hands and not afraid to get them dirty. This person will supervise and construct the shelters along the survival route, and modify or maintain the destination shelter. This person has to be able to delegate jobs without hurting feelings, and following up on the thousands of details any construction job entails. Once in a permanent location, this person is in charge of fixing things that break. A "Jack or Jill-of-all-trades".

  • Health Care: A board-certified doctor would be nice...but usually not available. A nurse is the next choice. After that you may have to select someone who doesn't faint at the sight of blood. This person should (at the least) be certified in First Aid, for both humans and animals (if applicable). This person supervises and tests all water sources and supplies, and provides direction for sanitizing contaminated water. Other jobs would be testing food for diseases, and cooking sanitation. He or she also supervises safe sanitary facilities such as toilets, sewers, and waste disposal. In a nuclear fallout scenario, the Health Care person monitors all radiation levels and maintains records for the shelter and for individuals in the shelter. He or she will determine safe outdoor times and activities. The task most disliked is the care and disposition of deceased group members. The grim reaper.

  • Food Service: This includes the location of food sources commercially, and a familiarity with local edible plants and animals. He or she will coordinate with the supply person for the funds to purchase food in bulk. In the field, this person should be able to direct and supervise the safe handling of animals killed for food, as well as the identification and collection of edible plants. This person is chief cook and bottle washer, combined with an outdoorsman's skill in hunting. Also functions as the group nutritionist.

  • Hunter/Trapper: Paul Bunyan is a myth. "Trapper John" was a doctor on M*A*S*H. The real person has to have skill with firearms, bow and arrow, or whatever system the group selects to get wild animals for food. He or she should be totally familiar with the wildlife in your area, and the condition of the animals as reported through official agencies. For example, don't hunt wild raccoons if there is a rabies epidemic of raccoons in the area. He or she should be a licensed hunter or trapper in the state or states you will be traveling through. This person should be familiar with field dressing wild game and the transportation of this game back to the shelter. Once that job is completed, this person is usually a natural addition to the Security force.
What's in a name? The title of the job is not important. The person in the job is.


This is a sample administrative "wiring diagram" or organizational diagram of a group whose purpose is survival. Many of the jobs listed can be moved around from "title to title", but the jobs need to be done by someone. Even in a shelter for only 2 people, all these tasks need to be done, albeit on a smaller scale. For 100 people, organizational tasking is a must.

Some people love these diagrams since they insist they know who's who and who they are responsible to. Some people love cubby holes. However, in a survival group, roles are many times mixed and overlap.

In a survival group, it is critically important that everyone has a backup. This person can step in and take over immediately if something disastrous happens to the primary responsible person. Accidents happen. Illness happens.

Have you got unique problems in your shelter area? Then you need to assign one responsible person to handle it. You CANNOT do it all yourself.