From one American to another

From one American to another

A plea to U.S. law enforcement officers and U.S. military service-members

This letter is directed to all law enforcement officers living in and employed in the United States by any
level of government (including any type of peace officer; magistrate or officer of the court; township,
parish or city police officers; county sheriffs and deputies; state troopers; state highway patrol officers;
DOT enforcement; state or commonwealth Department of Public Safety officers; state fish and game or
wildlife enforcement; federal authorities like the U.S. Park Police or FEMA and sworn agents of the
FBI, DEA, ATF and DHS) and all enlisted or commissioned military service-members of the United
States armed forces (including all state or commonwealth National Guardsmen and Reservists; and all
active-duty or reserve Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Navy and Marine personnel employed by the
Unites States Department of Defense) stationed anywhere in the world.

The American government is broken. The “system” has failed in so many ways and our once-proud
country is in the process of collapsing. Our (yours and mine) Bill of Rights is gone and a large
percentage of the American people have lost all faith in the individuals that we've elected and entrusted
to “lead” us; however, the incompetence of our leaders is just too profound of a subject to delve into
and that's not the purpose of this letter. Most Americans who are old enough, educated enough, sober
enough and alert enough can clearly see an impending catastrophe on the horizon. The rest (the
majority, I'm afraid) are too worried about their Nike Shox or iPad to notice; or too dependent on the
same broken system to question it.

In the last year, history, sociology and economic experts have agreed that the United States of America
simply cannot continue as it has been. For a lot of us, our country feels like a runaway train speeding
towards a massive cliff with no brakes; and the scariest thing is that even though we see what is
happening, we feel helpless in being able to actually do anything about it. During the past 20 years this
helpless feeling has evolved into apprehension and during the past 3 or 4 years apprehension has
rapidly evolved into fear. Fear, driven and antagonized by mainstream media, has turbo-charged
something called “the prepper movement.” Known as “survivalists” or “doomsday preppers;” average
Americans who are concerned about providing the basic necessities for themselves and their families
have started hoarding or hiding food, burying firearms, learning survival skills like gardening or
trapping and organizing coordinated groups to pull together as prepper communities in the event of any
variation of an economic collapse. The movement exploded exponentially before the 21st of December
2012 and no one truly knows how many “preppers” there are in the United States. I've personally done
quite a bit of research in the past few months and my best guess would be at least three million active
preppers in America; but as I said, that's a guess at best.

I realize that one must tread lightly when speaking for others. As a result, for the rest of this script I will
only use the words “we, us, our” when speaking for myself and a large group of survival preppers that I
have only recently met personally and discussed this subject with at great depth. For “us,” America is
not a government or a piece of land, America is an idea. This group of people lives in my region and it
consists of families; educated, sober and functional individuals who are true patriots. Like you, they
believe in defending their Constitutional rights against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. It is
only with their permission and blessing that I post this letter.

“We” are labeled by mainstream media and possibly our own government as being extremists, paranoid
or if not yet; we will eventually be labeled as terrorists. Although part of our population consists of
both active and retired police and military personnel; we are not combatants and not fighters. We do
NOT want to fight anyone. We do NOT wish for an economic collapse, overthrow of the government,
civil war, world war or any other variation of any apocalyptic event. We are not war-mongers, we are
simply scared Americans; terrified for our loved one's futures and afraid of our own government(s).
Since you are employed by that government or governments; we are afraid of you.

One can do a search on YouTube and quickly find dozens of videos showing brutal and unnecessary
violence by American police and military personnel. We know that these videos are the “exception”
and not “the rule.” We know that the wonderful things that you do on a daily basis, the things that come
at a great personal cost to you and your family, are rarely publicized. We know that your lives are
difficult; political correctness and bullshit in general, combined with the constant threat to your
physical safety and time away from your loved ones is unimaginable for some of us. We also realize
that your sacrifices are for the most part overlooked or under-appreciated. This concept is a paradox as
there are “bad apples” in every demographic. We realize that there are homegrown terror groups
blending in with the survivalists and the militias and that it's your job, your passion, to apprehend these
people. We want these criminals and psychos caught just as much as you do.

True militias, preppers and survivalists are secretive for a reason but not because we are terrorists or
criminals. Our federal government is so blatantly incompetent and criminal that we as Americans can
no longer ignore the “conspiracy theories.” The rumors and supporting evidence of impending martial
law and civil war are too widespread and put quite simply; we are afraid. We sneak around hiding food,
supplies and weapons not of malicious intent, nor as the result of a criminal conspiracy against you or
our fellow countrymen; but out of self-preservation and concern for our future and the future of our
loved ones.

I titled this script “From one American to another: A plea to U.S. law enforcement officers and military
personnel” and as an American child or teenager many years ago, I wouldn't have believed that I would
ever write such a letter. I understand that you have an obligation and an oath to follow orders, but my
plea to all U.S. law enforcement and U.S. military personnel is to ask that when that day comes,
PLEASE don't turn your sidearms and rifles against us.

We have no intention of ever hurting another human being and almost half of us, myself included, do
not even own a firearm. From one American to another, we are not enemies. Your leaders will lie to you
just as quickly as ours will lie to us and we depend on you to protect us. Stop and think about it for a
moment, we have more in common with each other than our political leaders and news services would
have us believe.

Just like you, we believe in our Constitution, and we are divided only by our own prejudices and fears.
Despite whatever your predispositions about us may be, we are on the same side. We are fellow
countrymen and fellow patriots. Regardless of what you may read on CNN or what your commanding
officers might say; we are not your enemy and you are not ours.

Cheryl, October 2013 www.howtoburyyourstuff.com