What is survival?
First lets talk about what it is not. WW3 came and went without
materializing. Y2K came and went nothing crashed. The Rapture? Right up
there with the upcoming zombie attack. The general apocalypse, decline
of civilization, government over through and/or corruption... 'nuf
said.. The "Survivalist" is not planning for any of this. Its all
fiction and makes for a great movie. Watch and enjoy. And lets face it,
when the zombies do attack most of us better just resign ourselves to
enjoying the taste of brains. We will just never be prepared enough for
the "Big One." So don’t plan for it unless you’re ready to make the full
commitment required to zombie proof your compound in the desert. Now
lets take the short bus back to reality.
Survival is making it through reality and we all do it every day. We go
to work. Buy groceries. Cook dinner. Fill the car up with gas. Have the
oil changed. Shovel the walkway. And a million other daily activities
that keep us alive to see the next morning. But that’s not what you
wanted to hear. You want to know about the disaster survival. Excellent
you’re well on your way to the first step of staying alive when reality
hits the fan. So lets rephrase the question.
What is emergency survival?
That’s what I will be dealing with here. But first let me clearly
state something that is so important that it must be repeated. And I
will often.
Evaluate your likelihoods and attempt to prepare for them.
You will never be prepared for all eventualities and should not try to
be. Instead look at your lifestyle and assess what situations you are
likely to encounter and attempt to address them in advance as best you
can. Be realistic. If you live on top of a hill in a dry climate that
has not had a flood in 3000 years, do you need an escape raft in your
cellar?
No.
Reality Reality Reality. Know your climate and weather patterns. Keep
your eye on your surrounding area. The places you usually go. The things
you usually do. Question yourself often about what could happen "here"
that I could not cope with in my current state of preparedness?
For
instance something that many people overlook is their daily commute. Is
there a long stretch of highway between your house and work? If you lost
control of your car and went off the side of the road into a deep ditch
could you survive the night with only what was in your car? Surprisingly
most people might not under even slightly unusual circumstances. Sure
you could make it on a spring evening with a clear sky but what about in
the snow with high winds and sheets of ice falling from the sky?
This is a very likely time for you to loose control of your car and even
more likely time for there to be few if not no other cars passing by.
More so it will be even harder if not impossible, for you to climb back
up that steep embankment in those $200 office shoes. Hypothermia sets in
fast and your car may not offer shelter enough. Especially if the glass
was smashed out in the crash offering less protection from the wind.
Worse still is if the gas tank is compromised you may have to abandon
the car for safer ground. This is the very likely situation you should
be thinking about as you make the long drive home from work. If you want
to throw in a zombie or two just to keep the story line going be my
guest but stick with reality when planning your Survival Kit.
With that said for most of us there are three kits that are simply a
must for each of us to have on hand at all times. The following pages
detail mine, my reasons for having them and how I use them in practice.
Remember these are mine and based on my assessment of my needs and more
so my abilities. No survival item is worth a damn if you don’t know how
to use it. Stick with what you know and practice with what you stick
with.
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