since9
Campaign Veteran
Some have said the end is near. Then again, someone or another is always saying the end is near, and in a true Biblical apocalypse, it's better to be caught up in the rapture than suffer 3.5 yrs of "wtf..." followed by 3.5 years of "omg!" Thus, I'm not sure of the value of an apocolyptic vision when it comes to survival plans, unless one either isn't a believer or one subscribes to one of the other flavors of the end times.
Regardless, I do find value in looking at various survival plans for other reasons, such as inadvertent or deliberate nuclear war, natural disaster, becoming stranded while travelling cross country, etc. Thus, I find it prudent to always have a "go bag" loaded with what one needs to survive for 6 months (minus the food and water). For years my "go bag" has been my backpack, loaded with the bare minimum of equipment I feel is necessary for wilderness survival.
I've always called it my "bugout bag," but I realized this afternoon that I hadn't developed a sound, well-developed bugout plan! This is what brought the idea of this thread to fruition.
I went through two USAF survival course in 1990. I did a little bit of camping and backpacking before then, but the course really opened my eyes to what's really important, and what's really not important. The instructors are absolute experts. After their initial training, same as ours, they get the distinct pleasure of months of intense training in all environments, including jungle, forest, desert, arctic, and oceanic. Most of what they taught was followed with a personal anecdote about why what they're teaching us is the right stuff. They've been there. They've done that. In addition, they were thoroughly briefed on the adventures of just about every military and civilian survival experience on the books, both those which ended in success, as well as those which ended in failure. They knew the why behind both success and failure, and their sole purpose was to ensure we did, as well.
I'll get into the details in a subsequent post, but let me tell you a bit about the courses I went through:
The first was the standard survival course, where they taught us the basics of living in the wilderness with nothing on us but boots and a flight suit. We did most things with a pocket knife, but we were also taught how to get by without one. They focused on basic needs, such as first aid, quick to permanent all-weather shelters, safely procuring water, food, and clothing, and land navigation. They also covered various hazards, including environmental, water/food, vegetable, animal, and psychological.
The course took 8 hrs a day, plus an hour or two of homework in the evening, except the week in the field, which was 16 hrs/day (yes, we did sleep).
The second course was water survival, which all aviators heading towards ejection seat aircraft get, and that was much shorter, about a week. It focused mainly on using various water-specific survival gear, including personal and group life rafts and the equipment found aboard them, but it also went into the water, food, and shelter opportunities and hazards present on the high seas, including oceanic flora and fauna (plants and animals). As always, we practiced for real, including being airdropped into the water training environment of Miami's Biscayne Bay, the world's largest breeding ground for hammerhead sharks. At least that's what they told us... I did see two of them during our training. It was only a little daunting, as we knew we could always grab onto those nice handles on either side of their craniums and catch a ride back to shore.
Yeah....
So why did I start this thread?
I'd like to talk about some serious, but realistic SHTF-types of survival situations, and throw the discussion open for what other people think, as I know most of you have a lot of opinions.
Over the course of however long people remain interested, I'll cover the following topics:
Survival by Location:
- Forest
- Desert
- Urban
- Jungle
- Arctic
Survival by Primary Threat:
- Nuclear
- Biological
- Chemical
- Invasion
- Civil Unrest
As we work through this, I invite serious commentary, particular that which discusses some of the specifics.
Well, that's all for now, except for a simple poll.
Regardless, I do find value in looking at various survival plans for other reasons, such as inadvertent or deliberate nuclear war, natural disaster, becoming stranded while travelling cross country, etc. Thus, I find it prudent to always have a "go bag" loaded with what one needs to survive for 6 months (minus the food and water). For years my "go bag" has been my backpack, loaded with the bare minimum of equipment I feel is necessary for wilderness survival.
I've always called it my "bugout bag," but I realized this afternoon that I hadn't developed a sound, well-developed bugout plan! This is what brought the idea of this thread to fruition.
I went through two USAF survival course in 1990. I did a little bit of camping and backpacking before then, but the course really opened my eyes to what's really important, and what's really not important. The instructors are absolute experts. After their initial training, same as ours, they get the distinct pleasure of months of intense training in all environments, including jungle, forest, desert, arctic, and oceanic. Most of what they taught was followed with a personal anecdote about why what they're teaching us is the right stuff. They've been there. They've done that. In addition, they were thoroughly briefed on the adventures of just about every military and civilian survival experience on the books, both those which ended in success, as well as those which ended in failure. They knew the why behind both success and failure, and their sole purpose was to ensure we did, as well.
I'll get into the details in a subsequent post, but let me tell you a bit about the courses I went through:
The first was the standard survival course, where they taught us the basics of living in the wilderness with nothing on us but boots and a flight suit. We did most things with a pocket knife, but we were also taught how to get by without one. They focused on basic needs, such as first aid, quick to permanent all-weather shelters, safely procuring water, food, and clothing, and land navigation. They also covered various hazards, including environmental, water/food, vegetable, animal, and psychological.
The course took 8 hrs a day, plus an hour or two of homework in the evening, except the week in the field, which was 16 hrs/day (yes, we did sleep).
The second course was water survival, which all aviators heading towards ejection seat aircraft get, and that was much shorter, about a week. It focused mainly on using various water-specific survival gear, including personal and group life rafts and the equipment found aboard them, but it also went into the water, food, and shelter opportunities and hazards present on the high seas, including oceanic flora and fauna (plants and animals). As always, we practiced for real, including being airdropped into the water training environment of Miami's Biscayne Bay, the world's largest breeding ground for hammerhead sharks. At least that's what they told us... I did see two of them during our training. It was only a little daunting, as we knew we could always grab onto those nice handles on either side of their craniums and catch a ride back to shore.
Yeah....
So why did I start this thread?
I'd like to talk about some serious, but realistic SHTF-types of survival situations, and throw the discussion open for what other people think, as I know most of you have a lot of opinions.
Over the course of however long people remain interested, I'll cover the following topics:
Survival by Location:
- Forest
- Desert
- Urban
- Jungle
- Arctic
Survival by Primary Threat:
- Nuclear
- Biological
- Chemical
- Invasion
- Civil Unrest
As we work through this, I invite serious commentary, particular that which discusses some of the specifics.
Well, that's all for now, except for a simple poll.