Urban Survival Gear – Battery Powered Lanterns

Although we would consider a lantern to be a luxury for the Survival Bug Out Bag, battery powered lanterns are such a great item to have on hand not only for Armageddon but for those simple eight hour power outages that always seem to hit at night. During a survival situation, if you can maintain light discipline meaning using the lights without alerting passers by, lanterns would provide a moral boost, being able to see in darkness to read, cook, etc.

There are many battery powered lanterns available on the camping market. We think your lanterns should be powered by “AA” or “AAA” batteries in order to maintain some battery compatibility with the handheld flashlights and re-charging system(s).

Another necessary feature is that the bulbs should be LEDS and not conventional bulbs which are much more delicate and will burn out. Using various reflectors, LEDS can provide a good amount of light commensurate with their power.

There are two models that we have owned and tested that we would recommend the preparing Urban Survivor to considering purchasing:

Cabelas Ultrabright 8 LED Tent Light



The Cabelas Ultrabright 8 LED Tent Light, priced around $20. This light can be used as a standing lantern with three collapsible legs or can be hung from a hook using a ring mounted of top.

This lantern uses 4 “AA” batteries and should provide 50 to 60hours of light.

Rayovac Sportsman 70 lumens Lantern




The Rayovac Sportsman 70 lumens lantern also uses LEDS and is powered by 3 “AA” batteries and reported to provide light for 60-72 hours. Price at around $14 this is also an excellent buy. Available from Amazon or your local hardware store.

We give the slight tip of the "Don't Tread On Me" ball cap to the Rayovac Lantern. At these prices you could afford several for your survival kit and their size makes them a good candidate to pack away into your Survival Bug Out Bag when you have to get out of dodge.

Surviving Armageddon – A History Channel Perspective

We recently watched the last half of a History Channel show entitled “Surviving Armageddon”. It immediately held our interest while channel surfing as the program appeared to be what we are writing about – Urban Survival, and moving out of the cities to a planned safe area, requiring Survival Skills and Preparation.

All in all a good show, depicting what we believe to be a fairy accurate portrayal of what we could expect with a total infrastructure collapse from any number of incidents; Nuclear and/or EMP attack; Super Economic collapse; Pandemic, or a host or combination of others. The program talks about the cities emptying out as people go in search of food and water and safety.

It further discusses the human condition and how people are basically nice because they are comfortable, then the program asks the rhetorical question, “how nice would you be (to people in need during an infrastructure collapse) if you yourself were miserable”. To be sure, the generosity of humans is not infinite and you can be assured that people facing death from starvation will resort to barbarism.

The key actors were a man, woman and their teenage son fleeing the greater Los Angeles area into the Mojave Desert. We did not see the beginning of the show to see what point in the collapse did they make the decision to flee. The show did a good job of forecasting what the situation would look like with armed gangs possibly taking over food warehouses, electrical grid off, fuel and water distribution broke therefore water and fuel unobtainable.

The program depicted the man approaching an armed group looking for food. The man offers paper money, which of course, holds no current value. And just as obvious, the armed group is not willing to barter. The man leaves at the point of the gun and without his expensive looking watch for his efforts. The trio stops on the highway to take a break and think of what their next actions are. Upon seeing an approaching truck, the trio hides in the brush and watches as the truck stops and armed men steal the trio’s belongings and drains the van of fuel. Which brought to light another obvious point, your firearms (but he didn’t have any) and your bug out bag or individual kit are never more than arms reach away. So at this point the trio have nothing.

The show moves on with the trio trying to walk out of the desert, occasionally searching houses, either abandoned or with dead people on the porch, to search for water. The man does locate some non-potable water in a bucket which he filters through his shirt, starts a fire with a car battery and steel wool, and purifies the water. This is the high point for the depiction of survival skills, basically everything else they do is in haste, like searching other houses for water and not realizing the potential for water in hot water heaters, for example.

Once the trio stumbles into a yard to find, what presumably is, the family pet being cooked over a fire. A young girl tries to drive them off with a shotgun. The man takes the shotgun away from the girl only for the viewer to see him without the shotgun in the next scene.

We’ll end our review of the show with that, but will say that this show was worth watching and was advertised as being available from www.history.com, however after a quick search of that site we could not locate the particular DVD. The show was worth re-checking the history channel web site for its availability a few weeks from now.

Urban Survival Skills – Recognizing and Treating Dehydration/Heat Injuries

Simply put you can live without food for many days if not a week or more befoere it begins to significantly degrade your survival ability, but 48 hours (2 days) without water and you are probably toes up. In a controlled environment, you should drink about half of your body weight in ounces of water, per day. Physical activity will exacerbate your lack of water problem in a survival situation, so you should conserve or ration your sweat by accomplishing your Survival tasks in periods of low heat and out of direct sun light, which means in the morning or evening hours and at night. Eat less food. The body requires water to digest and absorb food, so eat less of it if your water supply is limited.

Thirst is not a reliable symptom of dehydration, the other symptoms below are more reliable for indicators of a heat injury cause by dehydration.

Heat Cramps. Caused by the loss of electrolytes through sweat, a good indication of initial dehydration is muscle cramps, may be followed by a headache. Get out of the sun and hydrate now. Minimal activity should be allowed until sufficient water is taken in and the cramps go away.

Heat Exhaustion. This is the next level of severity of dehydration. Additional symptoms include headaches, dizziness, pale skin clammy to the touch. Irritability may be present, but if you are in a survival situation, who wouldn’t be irritated? Drink water! Evaporative cooling by pouring water onto the person and letting the air (not the Sun) evaporate would be a good idea.

Heat Stroke.. Again headaches, dizziness probably accompanied by nausea, vomiting, fast pulse and mental confusion are key symptoms for heat stroke. If you are at this point you probably won’t recognize it in yourself and if you are by yourself you will probably die. Immediate hydration by IV fluid and evaporative cooling are crucial and immediately necessary. If the patient is conscious and able, allow him to drink water in small amount frequently, maybe 3-5 ounces every 5 minutes or so.

If you are in a Survival (Urban or Rural) Situation with other people, train each other to watch for these symptoms and use a buddy team concept to monitor each other.

Urban Survival Skills – Field Expedient Water Purification

Just got an e-mail from Jim wanting to know if there was a way for him to purify water if he was stuck in a Survival situation someplace without a commercial water filter or purification tablets.

Sure Jim, here’s the deal: The two most common pathogens from non-potable water are Cryptosporidium and Giardia. Giardia will cause bad stomach cramps and projectile diarrhea (hope you’re not eating dinner as you read this). Cryptosporidium which is like Giardia, but can be more severe or less severe and may last for a longer time, as much as a week or more.

You can also ingest parasites which can cause you problems down the road. But we always say “you’ll be dead of dehydration before you ever get sick from parasites.” Still it pays to have and maintain water purification discipline so you won’t be laid up in a fetal position when the zombies try kicking down your door or chasing you through the woods.

Here are some field expedient means to purify water (all protocols require shaking then let standing for 30 minutes): 10 drops of 2% providine iodine to one quart or 2drops of 10% providine iodine; 2 drops of chlorine bleach to one quart; or, 5 drops of 2% tincture of iodine. I'll bet you're now thinking water purification tablets are much easier....they are. But file this information away into your kit bag of Survival Skills and Knowledge.

Of course, the best method of purifying water is to boil it to a rolling boil for about 5 minutes. That even kills Cryptosporidium and Giardia that the aforementioned field expedient mixes may not or won’t.

A field expedient Survival Water Filter can be made using socks or cloth layered with cold black charcoal (from a camp fire) and sand. This helps takes out some of the objects, bad taste and pollutants before you purify it.

I’ll bet your bottled water never tasted so good after reading this. Good night Jim.

Urban Survival Gear - Water Filters and Purification

The ability to purify water, especially when traveling on foot and encountering suspect water sources will mean the difference between life an death. A person on the run or dodging anarchists or bandits could get by for days without food, perhaps even a week without degrading their abilities more than significantly. However, without water for 24 hours and the Survivor will be laid up waiting for death. Drinking polluted or contaminated water would only hasten that with excruciating gut pains and onset of whatever disease the water carried. Simply put, you have to have the capability to purify water you procure even if from man made sources.

Water filter/purification pumps are handy, but bulky for the Survival Bug Out Bag. Instead, the Urban Survivor should focus on packing his Bug Out Bag with water filters and purification tablets. Together this would be a small package and will not degrade the survivor's ability to remain mobile.

We really like the Aqua Mira product line. In fact our organization issues some of this company's products to our personnel with nothing but good feedback.
We recommend three items in this line for the Survival Bug Out Bag: A water filter straw, water filter bottle and water purification tablets as these will provide across the needs capabilities for the survivor.

Aqua Mira Frontier Pro Filter (Straw)
This is a pump free filter straw that allows direct filtration as the Survivor is consuming water from a suspect source. The Frontier Pro comes with a straw which gives reach to the source, a bite valve much like Camel-Bak's and an ability to use this system as a gravity filter from a common water bottle. Approximately 8 inches long and maybe 1.5 inches in diameter, this is an easily packed item for the Bug Out Bag.


The Aquamira Water Bottle and Filter system

This system includes a high quality 22oz. Nalgene® Sport Bottle with a sturdy push pull valve system and polycarbonate flip cap to keep the drinking valve clean. A single filter treats up to 230 refills and replacement filters are available.
The Aquamira Water Bottle fits most bicycle water bottle cages and backpack pockets. This lightweight easy-to-use system is ideal for wilderness or adventure travel, daily use at home or work, camping, bicycling, emergency kits and more. It is easy for you and your family to have a continuous supply of safe drinking water.

Aquamira Water Purifier Tablets

These drop in purification tablets provide all the benefits of liquid chlorine dioxide formula in an easy to use solid format. Each tablet purifies one liter (32oz.) of water and is conveniently sealed in an individual foil pouch. The individual tablet pouches are stored inside a re-sealable storage pouch that can be packed away almost anywhere. To use, simply drop one tablet into one liter of water and wait the required time.

Aquamira Water Purifier Tablets contain a patented chlorine dioxide formula that produces a powerful germicidal agent when released in water. When used as directed, Aquamira Water Purifier Tablets meet the EPA guidelines for Microbiological Water Purifiers making it the safest solution on the market. Sized for longer hiking, camping, or hunting trips, the 24 pack is all you need to purify water for up to 6 days. (Based on 4 Liters of water/day consumption) Aquamira Water Purifier Tablets will not discolor water and will actually improve the taste of treated water.

Aqua Mira also makes other items, both water purification and survival oriented, such as their excellent micro-fiber blanket. All good kit for your Bug Out Bag.

Urban Survival Gear - Lightweight Sleeping Bags

As listed in a previous post on recommended items, a lightweight sleeping bag is an essential item for the Urban Survivor's Bug Out Bag. Remember we are talking survival and not camping comfort. If you live in or plan on transiting cold weather climates you are most likely going to require a heavier sleeping bag. The intent of the Bug Out Bag sleeping bag is to provide life saving shelter and not sleeping comfort. During a degraded situation the Urban survivor may most likely be moving during the night time, when it is the coldest, and holing up during the daytime and therefore be able to get away with a smaller, less warmth providing sleeping bag. Besides, unless you plan on humping a 90 lbs rucksack you are going to have to give up some comfort and capabilities in order to achieve mobility, especially if you are on foot which is the worst case scenario.

The two companies, that make or market sleeping bags, and that we have some experience with are Snug Pack and REI. A couple of the sleeping bags that each offer that we think meets the criteria for a lightweight, easily compressed sleeping bag are:

Softie 3 Merlin


This is an 900 gram bag including the compresion stuff sack. Weight with bag is 2.0 lbs. Available in Red, Olive, Desert Tan, or Black color with a full length two way zipper. Rated at approximatley 35 degree F this bag compresses, in the stuff sack, to approximatley 7 x 10 inches. Made in the United Kingdom this bag is filled with a Snug Pack material called Sofite, Reflectaherm. This is bag is a excellent product, well made and in an exceptional small package making it a good item for the Survival Bug Out Bag.

Kelty Galactic +35 Sleeping Bag


The Kelty Galatic Bag is also rated for 35 degrees Fahrenheit and weight tslightly more than the snug pack at 2.5 lbs, compressing into a 7x15 inch configuration.
One advanatge on this bag is that it can be zipped open to use as a blanket or bottom insulation on for two people. It is filled with down, an excellent insulation. This is also a first class product from reputable REI,....well known in the adventure world.

The Urban Survivor would be well equipped with either sleeping bag prepacked into his/her Survival Bug Out Bag.

Urban Survival Tools – Tactical Folding Knives

The subject of Tactical Folding knives is a Survival Bug Out – Personal Survival Tool issue we were going to cover in a later posting, however Jim sent us an e-mail asking us about purchasing a tactical folder. So in the interests of helping Jim find a good, cost effective tactical folding knife, we offer this post:

The Tactical Folding Knife as a survival tool offers a tool for several situations: 1 – as a general cutting tool for rope, packages and almost anything else; 2 – as a personal defensive tool for extreme close range encounters when other tools such as guns are not available; and 3 – in a true wilderness survival situation the tactical folder becomes a hunting and food procurement tool.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of tactical folders on the market. You can certainly spend $100 or more on several high end folders from recognizable makers. If knives are your thing, then by all means, spend to your capability. However, we think that there are several moderately priced tactical folders that are great knives. You need to stay away from the real cheap knives ($5 to $25) which are abundant. Even if some of these come from named “makers”. We think the Columbia River Knife & Tool (CKRT) products are durable and very cost effective. CKRT knives can be purchased at $30 to $60, considerably cheaper than their Benchmade, Gerber, Kershaw, etc., counterparts. The cost of CKRT knives goes up when you want other than plastic (Zytel) handles. For instance the same knife/blade style is offered in Titanium, G10 or Carbon Fiber handles but the prices goes significantly up with those options. We feel the standard CKRT with plastic (Zytel) handles is more than adequate. The addition of skateboard tape on the handles can provide a cost effective surer grip. We like the following two CKRT models:

Columbia River M16-14 Tactical Knife



This knife is from a Kit Carson design with a 3.875 inch AUS-4 bead blasted stainless steel blade in the Tanto combination straight and serrated blade style. This knife uses the excellent Auto Lawks locking system when the blade is fully deployed using the ambidextrous “thumb flipper” mounted on the top of blade, near the handle when the blade is extended.
Using a torx head wrench or driver, the user can change the pants clip to either side of the handle for left or right handed carry. The M16-14 is 5.375" when folded with an overall length of 9.25" with the blade fully extended.


Columbia River M16-02Z Tactical Knife



This knife is also a Kit Carson design with a 3.0 inch AUS-4 bead blasted stainless steel blade in the Tanto combination straight and serrated blade style. This knife uses the excellent Auto Lawks locking system when the blade is fully deployed using the ambidextrous “thumb flipper” mounted on the top of blade, near the handle when the blade is extended.
Using a torx head wrench or driver, the user can change the pants clip to either side of the handle for left or right handed carry. The M16-02Z is 4.25" when folded with an overall length of 7.375" with the blade fully extended.

Both knives have the lanyard hole visible when the blade is extended. This serves as a semi-hilt to help keep the hand from sliding off the handle as well as a point to tie down the knife when fashioning a Survival Spear for fishing or hunting. Additionally, Teflon bearings allow for smooth opening and closing of these knives.

Book Review – Green Eyes, Black Rifles, By Kyle Lamb

Although the beginning of this site is to provide an initial exposure to Survival and Preparedness oriented towards the relatively unprepared urbanite (or suburbanite), we are intending in the future to address issues and concerns for more serious practitioners of Survival preparedness and those would certainly include owners of M-4 or M-16/AR-15 type carbines and rifles. However, we have decided from time to time to reach past where we currently are and jump into advanced issues, equipment and concepts.

In that vein, we wanted to share our look at the book “Green Eyes & Black Rifles: Warriors Guide to the Combat Carbine”, by Kyle Lamb.

The readers of this site may not be familiar with Kyle Lamb, a retired Special Forces Sergeant Major, but anybody who is anyone in the shooting and training world know who he is. Kyle is probably the most experienced and talented firearms instructor currently plying his trade. From Mogadishu to Bagdad, and other places to be sure, Kyle Lamb certainly has the credentials to explain the basic and advanced employment of AR type carbine/rifle.

If you own an AR type rifle (M-4 or various clones, M16 or various models) you WANT a copy of this book as it covers everything and more, from zeros; to positional shooting; to mounting, zeroing and using scopes; to training courses, etc. Our copies of this book are highly prized and even more secured (so they won’t wander off as good kit tends to do).

Publisher: Trample & Hurdle Publishers; 1st edition (January 17, 2008); ISBN-10: 0615166547; ISBN-13: 978-0615166544

Urban Survival Tools – Pocket Multi-Tools

The Urban Survivors Kit will not be complete without a pocket Multi-Tool. These tools are commonly referred to as “Leathermans”, however Leatherman is only one of the companies that manufacture these must have items.

Having used several versions of Leathermans and other tools, we have the opinion that the two best multi-tools on the market are from Leatherman and Gerber. You should feel adequately equipped with either.

Leatherman 830038 New Wave Multi-Tool


Excellent multi-tool; easily open and handled; with many tools for common functions such as: needle nose pliers, regular pliers, wire cutters, hard wire cutters, clip point knife, serrated knife, saw, scissors, wood/metal file, diamond-coated file, large bit driver, small bit driver, 2 double end bits, large screwdriver, ruler, bottle/can opener, wire stripper, and lanyard attachment . Comes with Zytel contoured handle/grips in a leather sheath. Weight is approximately 8.5 ounces. Leaf spring type tool locking on the handle.

Gerber Compact Sport Needlenose Multi-Plier 400



Another excellent multi-tool providing the following tools: Needle nose pliers with wire cutters, crimper, serrated drop point blade, scissors, bottle opener, crosspoint (Phillips) screwdriver, large, medium, and small flat tip screw drivers, and can opener. Comes in a black ballistic sheath, weighing approximately 7.4 ounces. Spring loaded tool locking function on handle.

Whether or not you carry one on your belt or in your Survival Bug Out Bag, this is an essential piece of kit. We give a slight edge to the Gerber in terms of price and ease of opening/closing the tools, plus the scissors appear to be more robust.

Product Review – Danner Desert TFX Boots

Combined, we have worn a lot of boots over the years from the mountains, woodlands, swamps and deserts of the United States to jungles of West Africa to the harsh desert conditions of the Middle East. Having said that, footwear is largely a personal choice with 8 different people recommending 8 different brands. Durability and suitability for the environment would be our first two criteria when selecting a boot. Comfort would be a close third.

If your Survival Plan calls for vacating your home or location and moving to a safe zone house, you may have to do much of the movement on foot. Having to start humping, either on the run from bandits or mobs, or just moving through the countryside trying to make it someplace safe, you need something that is going to hold up to the elements and in many cases that means keep your feet warm and dry. There is nothing like the wet or the cold to sap your will. Good footgear will eliminate or greatly reduce the possibility of your feet giving up before the rest of your body does.
Approved for use with the Army, the Danner Desert TFX Boot with Gore-Tex lining has a lightweight hard rubber that is surprisingly stable. The Gore-Tex lining is very comfortable. Danner advertises the insulation as 400G Thinsulate and we wore these boots recently for 4 hours in 23 degree temperature doing mild to moderate activity with great comfort and one of the guys had a previous cold weather injury to his feet making him a near expert in "what is cold".
There is no doubt that whatever your job is, having a good pair of well broken in boots for doing Survival tasks in, whether be just standing watch, running from mobs or humping through the brush is a must have. You could do no better than the Danner Desert TFX Boot with Gore-Tex, model 26010.

Book Review: Lights Out by Half Fast

You won’t find Lights Out in the bookstore, but it’s a must read none-the-less. Like the book “One Second After”, Lights Out focuses on surviving the aftermath of an Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) from a nuclear device. Where this differs from One Second After, is the story location is the suburbs of San Antonio, Texas rather than the Appalachian Mountains. Lights Out is not only a good read, but serves as story where lessons learned, primarily in survival preparation can be compiled. In each instance of a problem, you should ask yourself “what would I do?”

To be sure, as the story unfolds, the survivors in Lights Out, organize together in a group comprised of the residents of their local sub-division/community. The author “best cases” situations where the survivors have local auto parts stores, grocery stores and gun stores, as well as others, open for a considerable time after infrastructure failure, which is very unrealistic. The relative ease in which the larger survival group organizes and works together is perfect world and not realistic. Falling into exceptional barter situations for weapons and ammunition deal, finding just the right auto part and other strokes of good luck populate the book. However, the challenges of water procurement, food procurement, farming, group security, communications, establishing governmental type unit are all situations the author takes the reader through with the group’s solutions.

Available from http://www.giltweasel.com/stuff/LightsOut-Current.pdf
this is a must read book for the survivor planner.

Survival Chronicles of Jim – Chapter 3

Got a Shotgun! A Mossberg Model 500 Tactical. Mine is a standard blued model, but you can buy them in Mossy Oak or similar camouflage. To tell you the truth I can't remember the difference between Woodland and Mossy Oak or whatever. I remember the Survival guys telling me to stay away from camouflaged items as they tend to stand out and bring more scrutiny, particularly from persons of authority. I also purchased 25 rounds of #8 shot birdshot, 25 rounds of 00 buckshot and 10 rounds of 1 ounce Slugs to start. I plan on buying additional ammunition every month,…25 rounds here and there until I have a basic load. I also bought a 12 gauge brass bore brush but neglected to buy a cleaning rod, solvent and oil which I’ll pickup tonight on the way home.

I got to say having a shotgun in the house makes me feel a lot safer. I realize that I need to not only start shooting it regularly but to also get one of my Law Enforcement pals to give me some pointers. I really like the shot shell carrier on the collapsible stock of the shotgun where I can store six additional rounds of 12 gauge, as I am only loading three rounds in the tubular magazine as per guidance from the Survival guys. I am also going to order a V-TAC padded Tactical Sling from www.vikingstactics.com

I picked up a Camel Bak Talon backpack with hydration bladder to serve as my Survival Bug Out Bag. Added six of the MRE’s I was given and my extra flashlight batteries, but could not decide on storing my flashlight inside the Bug Out Bag or keep by my night stand. I understand now when I was told that a person needs multiple flashlights, a re-charger and a good store of re-chargeable batteries.
Until next time - stay prepared!

Urban Survival Tools - Guns Cleaning Kit

Firearms maintenance is essential if you would like to have a gun that functions when you need it to. This means regular cleaning and maintenance and for that you need firearms cleaning kits.

We feel you need several kits all capable with tools and material to service all your guns. We’ll concentrate on two of these kits; a small portable kit for your Survival Bug Out Bag and a larger kit for your house. The Bug Out Bag Weapons Cleaning Kit ensures you have the tools and material to service and clean your firearms when in the field, on the run or when just mobile. The Main Weapons Cleaning Kit is the kit you will routinely use at your house during periodic maintenance or when you come home from the range.

We are not fans of the duel purpose solvent-lubricants. We believe you use a dedicated solvent for cleaning and separate, dedicated oil for lubricating and protecting your firearm. If you use an all-in-one solvent-lubricate, you’ll get less than optimal results in cleaning and lubricating.

On a trip to Amazon.com or to your local gun or sporting goods store you should see many decent and inexpensive gun cleaning kits that usually consist of sectional rods to put together to make a longer cleaning rod; different end pieces such as a bore brush (to clean the barrel) or patch jag (to hold patches as you push down the bore/barrel after your clean it); bore solvents or cleaners; lubricating oil; general nylon cleaning brush (looks like a toothbrush); and patches. Add a general mechanics rag to your kit and this is basically what you minimally need to perform routine cleaning and maintenance on your guns.
Outers and Hoppes (as well as others) manufactures small, inexpensive cleaning kits for specific calibers and type of guns (e.g.. pistols or rifles). Ensure the kit you buy has sectional rods long enough for your barrel(s) and has separate solvent and lubricant.

For the Survival Bug Out Bag we like the small compact kits like the OTIS Deluxe Law Enforcement Cleaning Kit. This kit comes in a small round zippered bag that contains a plastics coated flexible rod section with extenders; several different sizes patch jags; four bore brushes; and unfortunately a combination solvent-lubricant called O-85 cleaner-lubricant. However, in a pinch, we would not hesitate to clean then lube our guns with this product, it’s just better if you could add two small bottles, one of solvent and one of lubricant to this kit. There are many good solvents and lubricants, however if we narrow down our choices to which ones are in compact, plastic bottles then we would recommend Hoppes Elite Gun Cleaner or Remington Bore Cleaner as your solvent and Hoppes Elite Gun Oil or Remington Rem-Oil as your lubricant.

The OTIS Deluxe Law Enforcement Cleaning Kit is designed to clean and maintain 9mm through .45 caliber handguns and .223 caliber to .308 caliber rifles and 12 gauge shotguns. Brass scraper and handy picks will help you get the carbon and junk out of hard to clean places. A really handy item is the cut down toothbrush that is used with an extension rode. First class kit!

Survival Product Review - Mainstay Calorie Bars

We recently had a chance to re-evaluate the latest Mainstay Food Ration Bars.
Which are vacuum packed, nutrient rich emergency food bars with a 5 year shelf life. They are available in 1,200 calorie, 2,400 calorie and 3,600 calorie bars intended for 1, 2 and 3 day rations in a survival situation.

The mainstay bars are advertised as cholesterol free and non-thirst producing. The low protein and low sodium content also reduces water requirements and the feeling of thirst during consumption. In a hard dough type consistency and a light lemon taste, these food ration bars are actually not bad in the taste department.

Each pack is made up of 400 calorie pieces, easily to break apart from the rest of the bar. They are affordable enough to order a case of what size you think is convenient, placing a few days worth in your survival bug out bag and storing the rest with you other food supplies.

We see an advantage in using the Mainstay bars to serve as your emergency food supply for your survival bug out bag due to it durable packaging and long shelf life, as well as for other applications (caches and general food supply).

Survival Chronicles of Jim – Chapter 2

Getting home from work tonight I was greeted on my computer the news that stocks tumbled after the Obama administration announced a proposal to increase regulation of the nation's biggest financial firms. This was the biggest one day drop since October.

Now I know that if you were to regulate your life by the market, you would constantly on a pogo stick and drive yourself crazy. However this news did serve to re-orient me back towards thinking what my next steps would be in survival planning and preparation.

I began thinking that my next general steps should be to secure and stock a Survival Bug Out Bag like what the Survival Cadre previously created a post on. I own a couple hiking style day packs, but now wanted to center my Bug Out Bag around a back pack that includes a hydration or water bladder like the Camel-Bak systems. I really like the military style and uses the MOLLE style webbing on the outside which allows for placing additional pouches on the outside of the bag. After a little research I am partial to the Camel-Bak BFM or Mother Lode style packs, but the Spec Ops Brand T.H.E. PACK also looks like a winner. I’ll make my decision by tomorrow and place an order.

I started looking on-line for a couple low power AAA or AA battery powered flashlight to go with my Surefire 6P 50 lumen flashlight the Survival Cadre had given me. I settled on ordering one of the Smith & Wesson dual red-white LED lights listed in a previous posting on Flashlights and two of the smaller LED flashlights that would certainly come in handy for mundane tasks. On my next trip to Lowe’s I will pickup some extra 123A Lithium batteries for the Surefire and look for an AAA and AA battery charger and slowly start buying packages of rechargeable batteries. My research told me that Energizer makes a good re-charger that can be used on a wall outlet or in your vehicle with a cigarette plug adaptor that the Energizer kit comes with.

The survival boys also told me that maybe a AAA or AA powered headlamp would come in handy. They said Pelican Products makes Model 2680 LED Head/Harness-Head Lamp that was hard to beat. Coming from my perspective when I did not even own a flashlight last week to buying several and planning on buying a re-charger, I think I’ll wait on more flashlight on concentrate on some other procurements. Be safe - Jim

Urban Survival Bug Out Bag Medical Kit

The Survival Bug Out Bag Medical Kit is necessarily a fairly small Medical Kit as it needed to fit inside a bug out bag. Items that should be included are, but not limited to, small, medium and large bandages for cuts, gauze pads, antibiotic ointment, Betadine and alcohol pads for cleaning wounds and cuts, couple rolls of medical tape, self sticking ace wraps, disposable rubber gloves, CPR Mask (protective barrier to give CPR rescue breaths on a patient without body to body contact), bandage scissors, tourniquet, quick clot powder or bandage, Vaseline bandages for burns, eyes ointment and eye patch bandages, aspirin and/or Acetaminophen tablets, possibly some Ibuprofen (Motrin) tabs as well, any medications you may need, like allergy tabs or bee sting kits, tweezers (excellent for pulling thorns or cactus spines out of people).

When in a survival mode, you should treat even the smallest cut as the potential for infection is too great to take a risk in assuming that you are needing the kit since the current infrastructure including medical care have all but disintegrated.

A great idea would be to invest in some medical training as well. Such as a CPR course, local Red Cross or YMCA first aid course, as well as a good medical reference book on hand.

We prefer to make our own first aid kits and in fact have several kits, each of which complements each other. However if you are inclined to buy a ready made kit, a good buy would be the Elite First Aid M3 Medical Bag with Supplies, GI Style Issue and also buy two of the Adventure Medical Kits QuikClot Sport - 25 Grams that we are highlighting in the Amazon link below:

Book Review – Patriots by James Wesley, Rawles

There are many “survival” themed books both in and out of print. James Wesley, Rawles’ Patriots: A Novel of Survival in The Coming Collapse is by far one of the best in this genre. The story has gone through several iterations, starting in an online format titled The Gray Nineties. The current book, available at both your local bookstores as well as Amazon through our link below, is the latest update to the original story line. Bottom line - this is highly recommended reading.
The story follows a group of friends who while in college start the nucleus of a survival group. This is not a book on how to grow your own food, how to select a piece of land in an appropriate survival location, how to build your own fortifications to strengthen your house, how to develop an early warning sentry system for your property, how to perform small unit tactical movements, how to select equipment for and outfit a survival group, or how to do countless other survival-related tasks. This is a novel which just happens to serve as an “how to” for all the above, and much more.
The story begins with economic collapse (a scenario we think is the most likely cause of any future anarchy and chaos). At this time the group had been preparing for numerous survival scenarios for a lengthy period of time. When the stock market collapses and hyperinflation kicks in, the group comes together in a prepared location in the mountains of Idaho. The story progresses from an everyday normal life to the complete disintegration of our society. While this is transpiring, the story follows the characters through all of the situations the they have to deal with; traveling to the retreat, fortifying the retreat, growing food, developing and manning watch schedules, repelling aggressors, coordinating with locals, etc…


With the latest release, there are some editing errors that will be rather obvious. However if you read the book with the mindset of reading for increasing your knowledge of survival preparedness instead of escaping into a wonderful world of fiction in order to escape your real world, then you won’t be able to put the book down. We recommend reading with a yellow legal pad and a couple pens and highlighters nearby; this will be one of those books with all kinds of notes in the margins.
I have personally purchased close to 20 copies of this book over the years and given them away to friends and family. Some have laughed at me, some never read it, but there have been a couple individuals who have read this book and completely changed their outlook on living and what is important to them; to the point of relocating their families out of large cities and bringing their extended families and in-laws with them.
Wherever you are on the preparedness path, you will learn something new from this book.
Publisher: Ulysses Press, (April 7, 2009); ISBN-10: 156975599X;
ISBN-13: 978-156975599

Urban Survival Tool - Guns

The first rule of a gun fight is to have a gun. Seriously, without a firearm your ability to protect yourself and your family falls significantly. We think your mind and the ability to make quick, rational decisions is your best weapon, but without a gun you take away options.

Back to the first rule,…have a gun,……or have several guns for that matter. Another rule of ours (can’t remember which number) is “one is none, two is one”, which means have a backup whether it’s a tool, a piece of gear, or a plan,….have a backup. If you are one of those people who are 10%’ers, that is people who are minimal committed to establishing survival plans, then you may not be willing to expend a lot of money buying guns or a lot of time getting proficient with them. That’s okay,… you are the people we’re initially trying to address and the good news is that you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on guns and ammunition in order to be prepare in the survival firearms department.

We think the minimal survival firearms arsenal needs to be several guns, each with its own purpose(s). These three guns would be: a 12 gauge shotgun; a handgun for personal defense and a rifle, preferably in a carbine or rifle caliber but if it has to be a twenty two (.22 caliber) rimfire then so be it.

Shotgun. A 12 gauge shotgun is a vital survival firearm. Using Buckshot rounds it becomes a substantial defensive weapon albeit with a minimal range. With birdshot rounds you can hunt and procure small game and birds. Using slug rounds, which are usually one ounce lead slugs, you have fairly accurate firearms for up to 100 yards capable of damaging vehicles as well as hunting bigger game. Our recommended shotgun is the Remington Model 870 pump action, also called a slide action, with a barrel of 18.5 inches. A close second is the Mossberg Model 500 or 590 series shotguns which are also a pump action with a similar barrel length. Pump actions are going to be more reliable than semi-automatic shotguns with a wider range of useable ammunition. We suggest holding onto several boxes (25 rounds each) of 00 buckshot, slug and birdshot as a minimal basic load.

Handgun. A defensive handgun often becomes a necessity when performing tasks that require one or both hands,…that’s why it’s called a handgun, because it’s handy and can be operated with one hand. Some considerations for a handgun include what gun is comfortable for you and what caliber are you not only also comfortable with but what is common and fairly available. Some handguns are more complicated than others with de-cocking levers and manual safeties. We think the best options for a person relatively new to handguns would be a .38 caliber revolver. Even better a .357 Magnum revolver as .38 Special ammunition, as well as .357 Magnum ammunition can be fired in this gun. If you are bound and determined to possess a semi-automatic, then a common caliber such as 9mm, .40 S&W or .45 ACP would be much better than, say, a .45 WIN MAG. Very good guns in these calibers, in our opinion, are the S&W M&P 9mm semi-auto or a Glock Model 17 or 19 in 9mm. Having a couple of 50 round boxes of ammunition on hand would be a minimal suggestion.

Rifle. There are thousands of households in the country with “hand me down” rifles inherited from Grandpa’s, Uncles and Dad’s through the years. Old war relics like .30-40 Krag or .30-06 Springfield bolt action rifles are common, Winchester lever action rifles usually in .30-30 caliber and many others. If you already have one of these, great! Learn how to use it as you should with all your firearms. Buy several (or more) boxes of ammunition for it. If you don’t have one, then again consider the caliber that you are comfortable with. Common calibers that we recommend would be .223 Remington also known as 5.56mm (the military M16 cartridge), .308 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield and others. Magazine fed rifles, usually cartridges in a box magazine inserted into the receiver of the gun have an advantage in the amount of ammunition that can be fired before re-loading and in the speed of re-loading, but are usually more expensive. Our personal choice for survival rifles include the M-4 Carbine in .223 made well from a variety of sources including Rock River Arms, Colt and others; a M-14 or M1A1 rifle in .308 Winchester, but we recognize that these rifles are usually bought by very committed people or by experienced gun owners. If you are just comfortable with a .22 rifle, then great. The advantage here is .22 long rifle is a common cartridge, much cheaper than larger centerfire ammunition, easier to shoot and usually possess decent accuracy out to 100 yards for so. The big disadvantage is the small caliber is a poor man stopping round against attackers or even animals. Perhaps a compromise would be a .22 caliber magazine fed rifle such as the excellent Ruger 10/22 AND a less expensive bolt action, pump or lever action rifle. Rifle ammunition is expensive, running sometimes $40 per 20 rounds but certainly you can find it cheaper. We suggest having 60 to 100 rounds per rifle, unless you have a rifle in .22 LR then we suggest 1,000 rds. Our latest buy of .22 ammunition from Wal-Mart cost $16 for 500 rounds so you can see the significance and economy of having a 22 rifle, even if you have a larger caliber rifle.

Survival Chronicles of Jim – Chapter 1

My name is Jim and I must admit that prior to meeting these guys who call themselves the “Survival Cadre”, I would have defined survival as making it through Christmas dinner at my ex-wife’s, and would have defined preparation as having two days worth of snacks at the house during football weekends.

I’m a computer programmer by trade and my work brought me in contact with two of the survival cadre who work for a Federal Law Enforcement Agency. I would often find myself in the fringes of conversations about guns, repelling home invasions and preparing for some sort of infrastructure failure. Got me thinking, they did.

Living in a fairly secluded cul-de-sac near the center of a large metropolitan area I soon took their advice and bought a gun. $350 dollars later I was the proud owner of my first gun, a twenty two caliber Semi-Automatic Handgun with a couple of spare magazines. A concealed carry class soon followed with practice draws and magazine changes at my house in the evenings. I live alone, not counting my rather large dog, which I am told is another step towards personal protection – a living alarm system.

I intend to write posts for this site, in a semi organized Chapter format, as I become mentored and coached towards a better prepared lifestyle with a much higher survival quotient. I think about my next steps as the “Survival Cadre” coach me in my options and possible survival situations. I’m not necessarily buying into the total Armageddon concept, but I do see their point as storms and floods degrade the South California infrastructure and make many residents dependant upon themselves, as well as the recent earthquake in Haiti depicting looting and anarchy in that country.

I have been asked to imagine large banking failures and high inflation creating another Great Depression and to determine what preparations, survival equipment and skills I may find not only handy but vital in a situation where a large section of the population is unemployed and hungry; gas supply short and lines long, and, food expensive and getting short of supply.

Follow me as I learn survival skills, procure survival gear and make plans for my survival.

Book Review – One Second After by William R. Forstchen

This is book is one of our favorites as it takes the reader through the trials and tribulations of an very unprepared family living in the mountains of North Carolina preceding an attack of nuclear missiles detonated in the atmosphere over the East Coast causing incredible damage to the infrastructure through Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) . With all electrical components are fried,….no frigerators, no cars, no computers, no airplanes, no cell phones,…in short a trip back to the dark ages with the resultant starvation, rampant disease and security-protection issues. Not only is this a viable scenario for preparedness, the book also takes the reader through EMP 101.

Even the survival minimalist will recognize the haplessness of the book’s key figures, a retired Army Officer and his teen age daughters. Many lessons can be learned from the subjects lack of basic preparation as this book does not paint a rosy picture of a community banding together like one of our other favorite EMP books, Lights Out, an e-book available on the web.

This book is recommended reading, available from Amazon through the link at the bottom of our page, or through your favorite brick and mortar book store.

Publisher: Forge Books, 1 Edition March 17, 2009; ISBN-10: 0765317583; ISBN-13: 978-0765317582

Urban Survival Tools - Flashlights

Flashlights are indispensable tools, so much in fact that you should have several different types for the different survival applications. Artificial light provided by low powered flashlights are necessary for working and reading in low light conditions and the higher powered flashlights, with light intensity measured in lumens, can be great tools to use against attackers. In fact, the assault light concept was pioneered from high lumen producing flashlights. For instance, shining a 60 lumen light into someone’s eyes from 15 feet away will certainly make a subject look away or shield his eyes.

Flashlights using 123A Lithium type batteries produce much more light: 60 to 300 lumens in handheld flashlights, while the AA or AAA battery models produce substantially less lumens. Flashlights can be purchased in the bulb or LED model. We highly recommend the LED model as they are much less prone to breaking and won’t burn out. The problem with the high lumen output flashlights is the batteries. We are not aware of any rechargeable 123A type Lithium batteries, therefore requiring a stockpile of batteries with the resulting storage problem and these batteries have a much shorter run time.

There are numerous makers of flashlights that use bulbs or LED’s and AA or AAA batteries. Although the lumen output is considerable less, these flashlights would be of more use in most survival tasks. And very importantly, rechargeable batteries can be purchased with 110/15 v wall charger and 12v car chargers, which we highly recommended.

A couple of the flashlights we recommend are:

Urban Survival Gear and Equipment – The Basics

Some of the mistakes survivalists make is rather than ensure they have a minimal amount of survival gear and equipment across all priorities, some will focus on fulfilling one category of equipment, such as firearms ie. purchasing many makes and calibers, before starting to build their supply of food, clothing, boots, flashlights, batteries, etc.

The immediate priorities for someone just beginning to get prepared should be gear that can be carried by one person on his/her body, usually in a pack – sometimes this pack is called the “survival bug-out bag”. If you survival plan is to re-locate you and your family to a safer location, perhaps with relatives or friends in a rural area, then the following list would be a starting point for your personalized survival bug out bag built to support your plan to enable your movement to their location:

Firearm. Rifle or shotgun preferably, handgun is good backup firearms; rifle is nothing else.

Ammunition. Several boxes, consider 100 rounds or shot shells a starting point.

Gun cleaning kit. There are several small complete kits on the market.

Canteens or Camel-Baks. Better yet, a combination day pack – Camel Bak.

Clothing. Durable clothing and does not and quite probably SHOULD NOT have to be camouflage. Earth colors such as light green or brown, maybe tan will work. Camouflage may attract unwanted attention during a movement in a developed area before things got really bad.

Gloves. Probably need three sets: work, cold weather and a pair that you can operate (shoot) your firearm with.

Boots. Good pair of lace up hunting or military style boots; broken in to YOUR feet.

Sleeping Bag. Lightweight – and able to fit into, or strapped to, your combo day pack Camel- Bak type rucksack.

Gerber or Leatherman combination tool. Many uses and not just for McGyver type situations.

Water Purification device. This is usually a pump action filter. Several lightweight ones on the market.

Survival Manual. The SAS or U.S. Army Survival Field Manual, both good references.

Good large folding knife or fixed blade, with sharpening stone.

Flashlight. Even better have two or three of them. Get LED’s rather than bulbs, at least one with a red lens or red LED feature.

Spare batteries. Consider buying rechargeable batteries and a solar/12v recharger.

Lantern. There are several small LED type lanterns that run a long time on common small batteries.

Poncho or Ground Cloth. Water resistant, can be used as a rain poncho or to make a lean to tent for shelter.

Long life food items. Canned foods generally last a long time but are heavy if you have to carry them. Army style MRE’s are a lightweight, but expensive alternative.

Quick Snack Foods. For eating on the move without preparation. These would include nutrition bars, trail mix packs, beef jerky packets, etc.

Roll of Duct Tape. Buy the green stuff and not the silver tape.

Butane Lighters. Buy a three pack of these at the checkout of a local store.

Rope or heavy duty twine. Military suspension line is ideal.

AM/FM/Shortwave Radio. Hand cranked, capable of using batteries, ensure you have the weather and emergency warning frequencies on it.

Medical Kit. All necessary prescription meds - buy and rotate stocks what you really need to take. Consider heavy trauma and routine medical needs.

Vitamins and Supplements. Buy high quality products and rotate to ensure highest extended expiration date as with your prescription meds.

Matches and candles. Cheap and still effective way to provide light and heat in small places. Matches should be the wooden type. You can coat the ends in wax or even chapstick to protect the sulfur and igniter.

If you plan is to use a vehicle, you can pre-load additional items in your vehicle, primarily water, food and clothing. At the last minute you can add all the extra food and water you can load. Ensure your vehicle has a minimal tool kit as well as at least one full-size up spare tire.

Summary:

• The above gear list becomes your last ditch “personal survival bug out” bag, designed to throw into a vehicle and “bug out”. If you have to exit your car and travel on foot, then you are much better prepared to survive and get where you are going.
• Everyone in the family needs their own survival bug out bag. Ensure you cross load so that each individual has the capability to survive if separated from the main group.
  

Urban Survival Skills – Course of Action One: Retreat

If you live in an urban or suburban area and are largely dependant of grocery stores and the utilities grid for water and electricity then often the best course of action (COA) is to pack up and move to somewhere where you can survive better, be safe and provide for your family. The trick is when to recognize “when the getting is good”. For sure, there will be many people waiting it out; expecting the big government to rescue them and provide for them or just hoping that everything will return to normal. DO NOT be one of these people; you and/or your family’s survival may depend on this one decision.

Possibly the first element of your overall survival plan, where you can go and how you will get there, will be vital. Let’s assume that you kept your vehicle in good mechanical shape, ensured that you never got below ¾ of a tank of fuel before filling up, and have coordinated with whoever is at your destination so they are prepared to receive you and your family into their survival/family group.

The execution of moving to a different location includes what type of means (vehicle, bicycle, motorcycle, horseback or on foot, etc) and what route. You should have several routes planned. These would be referred to as your primary, alternate and even contingency and emergency routes. The first letter of each spells PACE which is an acronym we will be using from now on. Best case is if these routes were driven in the daytime and nighttime for familiarization and to reduce chances of getting lost.

Along all routes, you need to identify survival hides, or Hole Up areas, that if you have a mechanical problem with your mode of transportation, or end up on foot, these survival hides or hole ups would be used as a place to hide, re-group and re-plan.

Survival Hide Sites are places that offer cover and concealment should be defensible allow you to see anyone approaching and are used to remain over one period of daylight or one period of darkness before you move on. Survival Hole Up Sites have the same requirements as Hide Sites but are used for multiple periods of daylight or darkness in order to rest, recuperate, treat injuries or wounds, and/or forage for foods.

Summary:

• If your plan is to withdrawal or re-locate to a safer zone, then plan that movement.
• Consider PACE when developing your routes.
• Consider contingencies that may happen along your transit, such as vehicle breakdown, impassable roads, transition to foot movement.
• Ensure you consider all the survival gear and equipment, not to mention the survival skills that you will need not only to execute your withdrawal plan but to address contingencies enroute.

Urban Survival Skills - Threat Wargaming

The easiest way to describe Wargaming is that it is the process of thinking about “what if”. As an exercise, sit down in a quiet place and think about likely events that would challenge you and your family’s survival.

An example: Unemployment rises to 20%; Inflation continues to rise about 2% a week decreasing the purchasing power of your paycheck; Fuel prices shoot up to around $5.00 a gallon causing truck delivered commodities such as food and staples to double in price; Lay offs have a negative effect on production further effecting availability. Personal bankruptcies sky rocket; Foreclosures double, even triple and are brought home by several vacant homes in your neighborhood. You start having people knocking on your door telling you they’ll work for food or just plain asking to be fed. Your vehicle’s windows are broken probably by someone looking for something valuable to pawn or trade.

What do you do? Are you going to wait for it to get better? Is there a point where you quit work or take an unpaid leave of absence and move in with relatives at a less threatening location? Will you even have enough fuel in your vehicle to get someplace? Do you have the means to protect you and your family? What about food?

Add the utilities grid crashing and either no water pressure or unsafe water (because the treatment plants had to shut down) to the overall situation and now you have real problems.
Add hungry people banding together in groups,….or shall we say “mobs” moving systemically through neighborhoods to locate resources and take from those they can. Again what are you going to do? What can’t you do because you are either un-equipped, un-trained and un-prepared?

Summary:

• Wargaming is just the process of “what if’ing situations”.
• Develop what you think may happen, the consequences of this event and what it may mean to you and your family’s survival.
• Wargame to what is most likely to happen and what is most dangerous to your family’s existence.

The Urban Threat – Why the Need for Urban Survival Skills

Urbansurvivalskills.com is intended to address the “common man” survival preparedness. These are reasonable survival skills & tasks, just like personal and family insurance, involving the acquisition of survival gear, knives, kits, skills, equipment, food, training, books, mental preparation and general survival preparedness based on realistic threats.

Most people looking for survival preparedness don’t understand things like Defense in Depth, Cleared Fields of Fire and Withdrawal - Escape Routes. These same people don’t have several M-4 Carbines or Battle Rifles with several thousands rounds stored for each. These people just may be in the middle of “doing nothing and hoping for the best” and “being fully prepared for all contingencies”. The purpose of this site is to bring Urban Survival Skills to those people as well as also address survival issues that may be of use for more advanced urban survivalists.

Surely, firearms and the skilled used of them; a defensive mind set; and, preparations for defense of you, your family and property are all valid first line urban (and suburban) survival skills, however it is just as likely that your initial survival tasks (in a survival situation) may be procuring and conserving food; procuring and treating water; and, living a post electric world.
Certainly in a catastrophic environment where banking has collapsed, commodities such as food has skyrocketed in price and declined in availability, and public utilities are greatly degraded or nonexistent,…..you, the urban survivor, may have to make decisions regarding moving someplace or joining some organized group to give you the best chance of survival.

Again, the intent of this site to address primarily urban dwellers the void in survival education and preparedness between doing nothing and having a fully defensible military model fire base survival retreat.

Summary:

• Everybody needs to employ some level of survival preparedness, be it for the threat of economic collapse, utilities grid failure, anarchy in the streets, natural disasters or whatever.
  
• Figure out the threat and prepare accordingly even if it is just to re-locate to a safer location.

Comments or Questions for Urban Survival Skills?

HTML Form Builder by - Privacy