Prepare for Zombie Apocalypse? No. Prepare for National Crisis? Yes.

Preparedness is becoming more and more mainstream. However, some people will get spooked should you really lay on the Prepper routine.  Instead, print this article and hand it to them.    Tell them that Glenn Beck recently hosted Justin Wheeler on his nationally syndicated The Glenn Beck Program Tuesday December 1st to discuss a preparedness plan should a national crisis unfold.

Wheeler, the brother of Beck’s chief of content, recently asked his family members in an email to do these things: fill the car with gas and check the oil, withdraw $500 cash from an ATM and buy one case of bottled water and some canned food.

“Probably nothing, but run this as an exercise tonight if at all possible — tomorrow, early, if you can’t get that done — and, above all things, remember, remain calm, be at peace. We’re Americans. We’ll always win because we believe and defend liberty and freedom, so no worries,” Wheeler wrote at the end of the email.

Wheeler told Beck that preparedness is part of his “heritage” and that, as a child who grew up in the 1970's, he remembers going through nuclear preparedness drills in school and having food storage at his childhood home.

“As I increased my education level, an increased level of preparedness just became a rational response,” Wheeler said. “I think it is a very rational response. Very much the same way that if a weatherman said, ‘Hey, it’s going to rain,’ you would walk out of the house with an umbrella and no one would think twice about that.”

According to Wheeler, the reason people have difficulty preparing for economic crisis is because, as a whole, the U.S. has not experienced that level of instability since the Great Depression in the 1930's.

So Wheeler created a list of supplies necessary to cope for 30 days amid major national instability:

 

1. 30-day food supply

2. Five days water and water purification filters to last one year

3. Vehicle toolkit

4. Hatchet or machete

5. Shovel and sledgehammer

6. 50-foot extension cord

7. Arctic-rated sleeping bags

8. Eight-person tent

9. Flashlights and batteries for the vehicle

10. AM/FM weather radio

11. Three wool blankets

12. Winter coats

13. One tin cloth coat

14. 18 toilet paper rolls

15. Ranch clothes

16. Five gallons of gasoline

Wheeler said he devised this list when he decided he wanted his family to be prepared for “more than just an earthquake.”

“All the experts will say, ‘You probably don’t want to be in a major city in a disaster scenario,’” Wheeler told Beck. “So we want to be one of the first on the road, and that means being able to pack up, get ready to go, and go rapidly.”

Wheeler added that it is important to have a plan as an entire family so everyone can meet up in a pre-determined area. Additionally, he said it is crucial to have out-of-state contacts, should the phone lines go down.

Wow!  Someone finally talks about a P L A N.  A predetermined met up area is a contingency linkup in any other language.  Have a contingency plan.  Employ the two man rule for everything and if a group leaves the main group have a plan:  Where you are going.  What you are doing.  When you will be back.  What to do if you don't come back.  It's only common sense.  

[Source: Glenn Beck Show]

~Urban Man

Survival Stress- How to Cope

When in an urban survival scenario, many overlook the many possibilities of having to deal with stress. Not knowing how to deal with stress can mean the difference between life or death.

Weather you are in an urban survival crisis or a wilderness survival scenario, here is video produced in 1961 by the US Air Force that deals with survival stress. The information is 33 years old, but the information is still true and valid to this day.

Watch, learn and enjoy a movie from the retro era.  

~Urban Man

Urban Farming for Surviving the Collapse

With unpredecented rises in food prices many people, including urban dwellers, are trying to reduce costs by growing their own food and bartering services or goods for food, and vice versa.

The United States used to practically feed the world. Then we went from a agricultural society to a manufacturing society and now to an entitlement society and really to a "pre-collapse society", so the bits and pieces we can see of people learning to take care of themselves, especially through these urban farming co-operatives, are not only good news but gives examples for urban survivalists.

The below is from an article titled Farmscape Brings Urban Agriculture to Los Angeles http://www.good.is/post/farmscape-brings-urban-agriculture-to-los-angeles/

In a dry and sunny city like Los Angeles, planting grass is one of the more useless ways to use your property. It takes a lot of water to grow and it's expensive—but beyond that, what's the point when the climate supports much more interesting flora, like succulents, and delicious ones, like fruits and vegetables?

A company called Farmscape is proving that there's enough of an appetite for farming on residential land to turn the proposition into a high-growth business. The less-than-four-year-old company has 12 full-time employees—including seven farmers who receive a living wage plus healthcare—and is looking to keep growing. "One of the things that people don’t talk about when they talk about the food system is who is working," says Rachel Bailin, Farmscape's marketing manager. It's often poorly paid and vulnerable migrant workers.

But the company is changing that by bringing farm labor out into the open, into the yards of city-dwellers and businesses. So far they've installed more than 300 urban farms throughout the L.A. area and maintain 150 of them weekly. Projects range from a rooftop garden on a downtown Los Angeles highrise to small plots for families. An exciting project in the works is a three-quarter acre-sized farm for a restaurant in the West San Fernando Valley. And the diversity of the projects is echoed by the diversity of their clients. "When we first started, we expected that our clients would be of a higher income level and would be two-parent working families," says Bailin.

Instead, Farmscape has been delighted to build gardens for preschool teachers, single mothers, and institutions and businesses that want employee gardens as perks. Bailin says the challenges of farming in Los Angeles are manifold. "You have to account for spaces that haven't had life or biodiversity for decades and then you kind of have to bring it back." The company uses raised beds to avoid contaminated soil and drip irrigation systems to provide water. And their newest challenge? Running for office.

The company has thrown its hat into the ring for the office of mayor of Los Angeles in the 2013 election, running on the platform of bringing back farms into the city. Bailin says it's an ironic way of questioning the bounds of "corporate personhood," extended to a corporation's right to free speech by the Supreme Court's ruling on Citizens United in 2010. "We’re testing the limit of what it is. If corporations are already deciding our politics by giving a bunch of money and lobbying, why not see if we can take out the middleman that would be the politician and make corporations the politician?" It's a joke, of course, and the company will presumably never make it onto the ballot, but it's a clever way to get the word out about the company while making a statement. And perhaps this corporate candidate wouldn't be so bad anyway.

Urban Farming Sources

Another article:
http://www.good.is/post/five-innovative-urban-gardening-programs-in-los-angeles/ 
Five Innovative Urban Gardening Programs in Los Angeles
This is bad news. Here is some good news: “Let’s Hear It for Urban Agriculture,” “Mayor’s Agriculture
Plan Soon to Bear Fruit,” and “Planners Recommend New Zoning, Lower Tax for Urban Farms.” These
are just a few of the headlines that pop up from a Google search for current news on urban agriculture.

The idea is not new, but it’s being resurrected in cities throughout the country (and, for that matter, the
world), in part because it’s one way of fighting childhood obesity, which, along with diabetes, is a
serious health concern for children of all ages. The number of urban gardens in the United States has
grown dramatically in such cities as Los Angeles, Detroit, Milwaukee, and San Francisco, where local
governments and residents agree that these gardens are an important way to give children and
residents access to healthy food like locally grown fresh produce. Below is a list of innovative
programs and initiatives emerging in the Los Angeles area.

Urban Farming Food Chain Project
http://www.urbanfarming.org/
A partnership between Green Living Technologies and Emslie Osler Architects, this organization
constructs “edible” food-producing wall panels and mounts them on buildings. The people who tend
these vertical gardens use them for their own purposes (meaning produce is not sold commercially),
but they currently have four locations in and around downtown Los Angeles.

Silver Lake Farms
http://www.silverlakefarms.com/
Launched in 2004, Silver Lake Farms just began a Community Supported Agriculture program offering
subscribers a weekly box of fresh produce, grown locally in Silver Lake. They also hold workshops on
how to start your own vegetable garden, and sponsor a volunteer program that connects urban
residents with local farms, community gardens, and homesteads to help out with some of the work.

Market Makeovers
http://www.marketmakeovers.org/
Responding to poor access to fresh fruits and vegetables in their communities, South Los Angeles’s
Healthy Eating, Active Communities initiative and Public Matters have teamed up to engage young
people and convert corner stores into sources of healthy foods via an online toolkit.

Urban Homestead, Pasadena
http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/
An advocacy group for self-sufficient city living via farming and homesteading, this family-owned
operation was started in the mid-1980s on a one tenth of an acre backyard plot. Most of the produce is
sold to local restaurants and caterers.

Urban Farming Advocates
http://urbanfarmingadvocates.org/
Formed in June 2009, Urban Farming Advocates is a group of individuals, small business owners, and
organizations seeking to legalize urban farming in the City of Los Angeles. Their goal is to revise
outdated ordinances that restrict people's freedom to use residential land for urban agriculture.

Urban Command and Control Center for SHTF

I received an e-mail from anonymous concerning set up and operation of a Command and control center during a collapse: “I’m living in a condo in basically downtown (city name removed) and am prepared well for SHTF. Guns, water and food are my main preps. Read all your posts now wondering what your thoughts are on setting up a command center for SHTF.”

UrbanMan replies: I removed the city you mentioned in your e-mail. My first advice would be to get out of that city. I know that one of the first rules of life is to have an income, but even a substantially lower income than what you have now, is better than staying where you are. The city and the state are bankrupt and there are plans for razing much of the city because of cost of maintaining all those local government and state owned buildings. You may be living in a urban wasteland in the near future.

Second of all, what do you have to command and/or control?

Command and control (C2) centers also called a Tactical Operations Center or TOC are necessary to Command (receive communications and give direction) and Control (deconflict primarily) by receiving information about current friendly operations (such as routes, locations and actions) and the threat (locations, strength and actions). Really un-necessary if you are a lone survivor. As a lone survivor type or even with a very small group you may just want a situation map posted so you can keep track of intel/info you gather through observation or actual one man patrols.

I read a story in a post-apocalypse city where survivors would mark buildings with chalk to represent if they searched it already and used coded marks to annotate if this building has a safe site and which floor it was located. A Situation Map would do largely the same thing, a way to annotate things and events so you could start analyzing trends and such, which would help your situational awareness and planning.

If you have a larger survival group, and especially if you have a large enough survival group to conduct multiple operations such as security patrols, procurement/foraging patrols, observation/listening post duties, etc., then a Command Post or TOC makes sense in order to have a single point of receptions of communications be it from radios, cell phones or even just from a returning debrief.

For instance, I have eight families currently, not counting the inevitably straphangers who will come, in my planned survival group. I have a large flat roof home. The primary Listening/Observation Post (LP/OP) that will be on top when SHTF will have FRS radio, TA-1 landline communications and a pull cord to a mechanical bell as a way to alert the survival member who is manning our TOC. Our TOC’s mission is to monitor the Weather band radio, monitor the scanner, monitor FRS and VHF radios for all of other team members an deployed patrols, and, serve as an alert for all members on crew rest (that means asleep since we will be running 24 hour operations).

As a deployed patrol radios into our TOC using brevity codes, the TOC will annotate that report and position on a map overlayed with thick plastic using a grease pencil or erasable marker. For any observations such as newly vacated houses, newly occupied houses, signs of activity, sighting of criminal or gang activity thing or any other information of importance, the patrol will re-enter the Base Camp (our Bug In location) and update the Situation Map (SITMAP).

The good thing about this process is that it is exportable in case we Bug Out to a different location. All male members of my survival group are comfortable and knowledgeable about this process and can rapidly terrain others that we absorb into the group.

If this doesn't answer your question, please get back with me. Prepare well.

Request for More on Bugging In

Jay wrote "Have you thought of an article on people who, due to age, physical disability, or taking care of someone who falls into those categories and can NOT bug out? There may be something on the site that I haven't seen yet but I encountered your blog for the first time tonight. And some of us do have need to stay put. Any ideas?"

UrbanMan replies:  Jay, the primary reason I started this site was for Urban and Suburban dwellers who would, for the most part and for whatever reason, stay put during a collapse.   Having said that, no matter how secure your site is, you ALWAYS plan for a Bug Out. 

Temporary Patrol Bases, semi-permanent operational bases and permanent forward bases all have a planned and hasty evacuation protocol.  This necessarily means packing load lists, individual and group responsibilities, routes, link up or rally points, maybe caches implanted to support a Bug Out, and a destination to a temporary or permanent safe site. 

I fully realized that more many reasons people and families will not be able to Bug Out, but will have to hunker down.  This could be because of caring for infirm or elderly family members, outside situation too dangerous to attempt movement, or simply having no place to go.    I believe a person can mitigate, not eliminate, but reduce these risks and should have a Bug Out plan in case staying in place, even if intended for the duration, is too dangerous. 

I have written many times about common, low cost preps.  About the use and selection of common types of sporting firearms for protection and security as opposed to a unrealistic arming with the latest high dollar, custom semi-automatic copies of military assault weapons.

Staying in place most assuredly requires a survival team. In fact, my plan is to stay in place in my near-Urban environment, relying on my current survival team of eight families, not counting the local neighbors who are in various stages of preparation. I have a phone alert roster system, for some of my neighbors can call me or others if they need assistance, which can be to change a tire to respond to prowlers. I have several neighbors who now garden for vegetables based on me giving them some of my produce and talking to them about the advantages of growing our own crops. Several of them have stocked pantry foods, have a water service deliver so they have water on hand for several weeks, and, I have taken two of my neighbors shooting and helped them pick out guns for self defense.

If you are planning on Bugging In, you cannot do it alone. You have to have an organized effort, maximizing and leveraging people's resources and skills.

Hope this convinces you to come back and visit this site from time to time. Prepare well.

Urban Survival - Counter Surveillance and Situational Awareness

I was sent the below video seemingly because it supports the Right to Keep and Bear Arms with a Concealed Weapons Permit holder fighting back against an attempted murder/robbery. So watch the video and see what you think.

Robbery Attempt ends in shootout

What I see, hear and feel is several things unrelated to the 2nd Amendment.

1 - The citizen who fought back with his own handgun, just got plain lucky. To draw after being shot, let along drawing against a drawn gun is much more often than not a losing proposition. Sure, nothing else the citizen could have did at that point, but plenty he could have did prior to the confrontation.

2 - Developing situational awareness to "read" your environment in order to determine what is out of place and what may be "too" in place. What and who is trying hard to seem "in-place" and not arouse your suspicion? If you were in the service you have certainly been asked by a Drill Sergeant "Hey Boy, you looking for your discharge?" as a reminder to keep your head up and eyes forward. Same thing here,...don't go through life looking on the ground or fixated on where you are going. Cultivate the ability to observe all around you. Use peripheral vision and the mirrors on your vehicle. Don't just consider what is close by, say within 50 yards,.....observe and identify possible threats past your immediate area - this is called your area of influence or an area where things can occur in that can influence events in your immediate area. We have previously talked about this as the OODA Loop. In short a continuous process of Observing, Orientating (on possible threats), Deciding and Acting. Apply this now; get good at it; and it will become second nature.

3 - Know the common and routine vehicles in your area. Do the drivers match up to the vehicles they drive. Three scruffy young men in vehicle that make too much eye contact with you, or avoid making any eye contact at all should elevate your spidy sense.

4 - A cursory scan of concealed places around where you park and along your route to your front door is, necessarily, in order. Very common tactic is to wait in shadows and attack the target (meaning you) while you are in the light and especially when artificial light blinds you to the attack.

5 – Be aware of people reconnoitering your home or survival site as they are looking to complete a target package. Seemingly harmless interactions such as sales calls, religious people giving away written material, or people asking for directions can get someone legitimately close enough to gather details such as types of door and window locks; presence of dogs; you general security level; look at the interior of your house for valuables or a visual of your floor plan.

6 – Another recon technique is to do a slow roll by in a vehicle and use a video camera to film for later study. I have used video glasses for walk up visual recons on structures, so I’m sure the bad guys can too.

7 – Develop a duress code with your family or survival group members so as a routine measure or if you are suspicious of someone being in your home you can call and your family members can use a benign, innocent one word code word built into a sentence to cue you that they are under duress. Duress simply means someone has a gun on them. This is one way you have a chance at avoiding walking into a home invasion in progress.

Urban Survival Planning - Defending Jim's Last Article (Chapter 24)

From UrbanMan: Wow! Never thought Jim's posts would generate so much skunk! Took me back to a much earlier age where by ex-wife was having a piece of me!

Let me tell you about Jim (not his real name of course). Jim works government contracts in the Information/Technology/Computer hardware field. He was working in my office one day where he heard us talking about guns and he asked "if we carry guns all the time, why do we need a bunch of personal guns at home?" Therefore Jim was started to be exposed to Survivalist thinking, and preparing for any type of collapse,....and this was about the same time I opened this site. In fact Jim was one of the people who urged me to do this. Up until then if you asked Jim what he thought about Preppers, he would be thinking right wing, cammie clad, six fingered inbred extremists.

I thought it would be a good idea to have a person newly exposed to the survival preparation concept write a periodic article for this site. Jim agreed. I edit his writing very little.

In the past, what? maybe 16 months?......Jim has bought about six to eight months of prepared, long term food as well as added a routine to stock a months worth of pantry items. He has also bought silver and a little gold. Being predisposed not to like firearms, Jim now has several,....not the guns I would suggest for survival, but what he was mentally willing to have.

Not hurting for money at all, he has also acquired a lot of survival gear: tents, sleeping bags, all mmanner of odds and ends,.....good rugged clothing and boots,....

Jim's son is in college about 50 miles away. Jim has raised his son by himself since his wife was killed in auto accident when the boy was seven years old. He has introduced his son to the survivalist mentality where his son thinks it is "cool". I have helped Jim developed some "no comms" plans and linkup points. He not only understands the concept of this but has taken to my instruction in "load signals", and "far - near recognition and danger signals". Since he finished his contract at our facility, I don't see him very much, but communicate mostly by e-mail. It's kinda hard to teach him field or trade craft from an e-mail or even over the phone, but he was an apt student early on.

Jim has developed a plan to bug in but also a contingency to bug out to a safe location in a family cabin next to a government forest. He has also emplaced several small caches there. I have reviewed his primary, alternate, contingency and emergency routes from our City to his son's college and from both locations to the cabin and think he got a A+ in this endeavor.

He has made it a point to learn how to read a map and use a compass. And has conducted practicals at this art which is being replaced by GPS in this day and age.

Anonymous said in response to Jim's Chapter 24: ....stopping by the store to buy another gun and ammo? seriously? i almost laughed out loud when i read that one,......I re-read Jim's article and he said "I would have liked to stop in at the sporting goods store of a gun shop and buy another gun..." I think Jim's has the common sense to avoid situations he is unprepared for. Entering into a mob scene at a retail location would be one of them.

Maybe Jim and the Anonymous commenter both assumed alot on the scenario I gave Jim. My intent was to get Jim to think about items and material he is going to need, so he doesn't have to rely on trying to battle massive hordes for that all important lantern mantel, or box of matches or second propane tank.

Anyway, exercises develop lessons learned,...the idea is to learn from these lessons. I think Jim did. He just bought an SKS a couple days ago, for $180 including three detachable 30 round magazines, however the SKS was in the original stock with the semi fixed box magazine. Jim e-mailed me to tell me about his purchase and to find out how to convert the gun to using the detachable magazines.

Urban Survival - Tactical Movement on Foot

UrbanMan received this request from an UrbanSurvivalSkills.com reader: “Could you do a post on how to move in a group through the woods? It is predominantly for me and my family, maybe my sister's brother and his wife would be with us, if and when we vacate our home and if our vehicle goes down or transport by car is not possible. If I had to vacate my house and move to my friends rural farm I would need to move through the woods about 29-30 miles, then parallel a state road about 30-35 miles to get to the two roads that lead to my friend’s farm where it’s another 16-18 miles.”

UrbanMan replies: You have the right idea wanting to learn how to move in the woods or really any type of terrain for that matter. Aside from very specific techniques and procedures, otherwise called Standard Operating Procedures or SOP’s, tactical movement is a function combining common sense, awareness of the situation and of the environment, and just plain being cautious.

Movement techniques must be known by all in your group and regularly practiced in order to be effective. People spend years learning how to plan and conduct a small unit patrol. I cannot do that justice in one post, however I will attempt to cover some basics of movement.

Things you will have to consider when moving, above food, water and what else you are packing, are light, noise and litter discipline, and, control of your movement formation. Ensuring that all shiny objects that you and others are wearing, which will reflect the sun or artificial light are reduced or removed; use red filters on flashlights or be very careful when you use a white light and then consider using one only under a poncho or blanket; talk to your members of your group either using hand and arm signals or by whispering in their ear (sound carries more than your think!);……ensure you and your group does not leave litter behind that someone can track you by or otherwise learn of your presence or passage.

Looks like you may be moving 75 to 83 miles. Your movement rate, under good conditions is going to be .5 to 1.5 miles an hour if you want to move in a cautious tactical manner, stopping for a 5 to 10 minute blow every hour and to do map/navigation checks, check and treat people's feet, adjust loads and just to sit and listen for what is going on around you.

If you move at 1 mile per hour, you can probably move 12 miles a day then it will take you at least 6 days to get where you are going. Figuring on a minimum of 3 quarts of water per person per day that's almost 20 pounds of water weight per person starting off. Remember 3 quarts per person would be an absolute minimum,... a more realistic number is 5 quarts per person per day which would be 30 pounds of water weight.

Movement formations. There are really only two basic movement formations you should be using:

The Column or File formation (think single file) is the easiest formation to control. Interval (or distance) between patrol members should be no further than what sight allows – you need to be able to see the man in front of you and behind you. Relatively speaking, this interval will be as close as a couple feet during periods of darkness, with minimal lunar illumination, to as long as maybe 15 to 20 yards. In very open areas, that distance may increase to 25-35 yards. The idea is not to have two people (or more) needless close to each other where it would be easy to shoot two or more easily,...or have a booby trap or other casualty producing device hurt more than is necessary. Plus people close together tend to talk,...when you talk, people can hear....remember noise discipline.

The point man is the navigator and picks the route, the tail gunner ensures dangers to the rear are picked up; everyone else watches the sides of the column. Same thing when you stop, assign everyone a area to watch.

Wedge Formation. This is a arrowhead or triangle type formation used to move across a wider area, and best used when contact with a potentially or known adversary is expected. Using the wedge and making contact with bad guys to your front allows for more than one person to engage and defend the group at a time (clear fields of fire). This is also a good formation, albeit at extended intervals between members, when crossing an large open field if you have to. From the Wedge formation you can easily establish a skirmish line and either fight/move forward or withdrawal with all guns in your patrol having the ability to fire without a friendly in front of them.

The Wedge formation is much harder to control, especially in heavy brush or thickly wooded areas. Members of the patrol in this movement formation need to not only be concerned with their respective area of responsibility during movement, but will have to constantly adjust their route to keep the interval and contact with other patrol members.



Crossing Linear Danger Areas: Whenever you cross linear dangers areas, which will be roads, power line trails, dirt roads, game trails or natural lines of drift you will need to be extra careful, in both ensuring that there is no traffic or observation on this linear open area, and, careful to sterilize signs of your passage as much as you can. Cross these linear danger areas in one line so the tail gunner can more easily sterilize the signs and foot prints of your passage.

A careful way to cross these danger areas is to send one or two people across to reconnoiter (that is a fancy way of saying "recon") the other side. A speedier way is call "Scroll to the Road" or the bump method, where one person briefly stops facing down one way of the linear danger area where he or she is "bumped" by the person behind him which is the cue to cross, then face the opposite direction in order to provide observation and security in both directions.

After each linear danger area you cross, hesitate for enough time for the tail gunner to sterilize signs of crossing. The person in front of the tail gunner provides security for the tail gunner as he/she does this. If you are going to stop for a blow (rest) don't do it adjacent or near to a linear danger area you crossed.

Crossing Large, Irregular Shaped Danger areas. Really only three practical ways to negotiate a large, irregular danger area such as a large farm or field. Extended file formation. Wedge formation,....or to avoid the danger area by skirting it.

Stopping for an extended time or through a period of daylight or night. Since it is practically impossible to avoid leaving signs of your passage, one way to give you some security against people following you is to buttonhook off your route of movement into a defensive or ambush position. This is a good idea when stopping for extended times such as a remain over day (ROD) or remain over night (RON) position to rest. Ensure that you defensive ROD or RON position allows you to observe your original trail and have a patrol member (or two) positioning to watch the trail coming into to your ROD/RON.

Urban Survival - Surviving Natural Disasters - Hurricanes

With Hurricane Earl make a change in direction towards and rapidly approaching the East Coast placing people and property at risk – like a societal collapse scenario, we thought this post was appropriate. As of 1400 hours EST today, Thursday 2 Sept, Hurricane Earl is a Category 3 Hurricane with 125 mph winds.

Although no good will come out a Hurricane and the possible floods and criminal activity that can and will result…it is a time to exercise of your Survival Plans intended for a Total Collapse Scenario or what we know as TEOTEAWKI.

Understand the threat. For Natural weather based disasters, especially with forewarning as is the case with Hurricanes, go to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Weather Watch site: http://www.noaawatch.gov/ to obtain the latest information on conditions. You’ll see some graphics like the one below that will give you an idea on the, in this case, Hurricane path. A Hurricane Watch means a hurricane is possible in your area. Be prepared to evacuate. Monitor local radio and television news outlets or listen to NOAA Weather Radio for the latest developments. A Hurricane Warning is when a hurricane is expected in your area. If local authorities advise you to evacuate, leave immediately.

Hurricanes are classified into five categories based on their wind speed, central pressure, and damage potential. Category Three and higher hurricanes are considered major hurricanes (using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale), though Categories One and Two are still extremely dangerous and warrant your full attention. Hurricanes can produce widespread torrential rains. Floods are the deadly and destructive result. Slow moving storms and tropical storms moving into mountainous regions tend to produce especially heavy rain. Excessive rain can trigger landslides or mud slides, especially in mountainous regions. Flash flooding can occur due to intense rainfall. Flooding on rivers and streams may persist for several days or more after the storm. See chart below:

Home Preparation.

Cover all of your home's windows with pre-cut ply wood or hurricane shutters to protect your windows from high winds. Boy, ain’t Floridians good at this?

Plan to bring in all outdoor furniture, garbage cans and anything else that is not tied down. High winds can make anything not strapped down or secured into a missile – kinda like a fragmentation grenade.

Keep all trees and shrubs well trimmed so they are more wind resistant.

Secure your home by closing shutters, and securing outdoor objects or bringing them inside.

Turn off utilities as instructed. Otherwise, turn the refrigerator thermostat to its coldest setting and keep its doors closed.

Turn off propane tanks.

Ensure a supply of water for sanitary purposes such as cleaning and flushing toilets. Fill the bathtub and other large containers with water.

Family – Personnel Prep.

Ensure Bug Out Bags are packed and ready to go. Fill water bottles and add last minute food items. Put fresh batteries in your radios and re-charge all cell phones. This is your chance to update the BOB’s as well as to place in new medications, and/or change out expired meds and first aid items, etc.

Ensure all documents you need are included such as birth certificates, shot records, social security cards, insurance policies and paperwork, wills or trust paperwork, birth, marriage and death certificates, tax records, etc.

If you have time, get more cash out of the bank or ATM.

Family or Survival Group Emergency Plan.

Brief your family or survival group emergency plan. Ensure everyone knows the routes and location for your rally points or rendezvous locations.

Ensure everyone has a list of all phone numbers, radio frequencies and any code words you are using.

Pack and load all vehicles that you intend on using. Hey, this is a good chance to see if everything fits and/or or learn to prioritize your Survival Bug Our Vehicle Load List.

This also may be the first time you have considered what you are going to do about your pets and if you have the material and resources to take them with you during the Bug Out.

Be prepared to move on foot and use ropes to secure each to one another and strobe lights or chem lights to mark people for control and locating in periods of no visibility such as driving rain, extremely high winds, or total darkness.

Lastly, be prepared to protect yourself and your family or Survival Group. Your situational awareness and security measures should be at or near the peak. Criminal elements are active during the disasters and through the aftermath,... ...robberies, looting, looking for victims are all high on the criminal or gang operational priority list.

Urban Survival Operational Security - Reader Comments

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following comment under the Chris Martenson post,......"Anonymous said..... Interesting...If I were preparing for "the pending collapse," (looking through the eyes of the adversary) I would be targeting sites like this and finding out who the owners of such sites and map it out are (home addresses and such). That is how I would plan on "the pending collapse." The research would not take me long and cost little to nothing if at that. I know you cannot divulge allot of your survival information for evil doers with that mindset (they are out there), but I just thought I throw it out there for us readers who think the best of people."

UrbanMan Replies: I agree that developing information on prominent people who advertise Survival preparation, or some sort of Collapse preparedness, would be fairly easy to do. As far as targeting them (and them would include me) for their survival stocks would of course be possible, but people who would do this are 1 - committing a criminal act, and 2 – are cowards. Cowards would tend to seek easier targets. I guarantee you that me and mine are not easy targets. I fully expect to have at least four and maybe six people, who carry guns for a living, residing at my location just before and through a collapse. When I add family members who know how to use a weapons, then add my prepared neighbors into the mix, I have a great start for local security.

I know another group of shooters who just happen, not by design, to live in four houses adjacent to each other. They all carry guns for a living also. Each family are preppers and expect several people from their organization to rally there just before or after a collapse.

Many people, neighbors and others, know who these guys are, but I am sure they would be last people chosen to be hit for their Survival Gear, Equipment and Material….just too hard a target,…and refer back to my earlier paragraph criminals are cowards, and as desperate as they may be, will still choose to hit the easy targets.

Having said all of the above, your Operational Security (OPSEC) plans and practices must be developed to support controlling any information you do not want exposed. If you are going to be educating your friends and family on Survival Preparation you are going to be exposing critical information. You can still keep as much information covered as possible,..how much food you have stored, firearms and ammunition types and amounts, etc.

I think that most of us Survival planners have considered strap hangers and not only how we are going to deal with them, but if we incorporate them into your group how are we going to feed and supply them. This contingency has manifested itself into my Survival Preparations as in creased stocks of basic needs. I can handle additional people, but even then would be choosing the right people.

So in ending, I just did not know how to take your comment,…as a threat?,..or a warning?,..or just a tip? I going to consider it a reminder to consider OPSEC in all I do and ask readers to do likewise. Be careful when you private message other people on Survival forums as well.

Eyeryone stay safe. Stay ready.

Urban Survival - Additional Items for Survival Bug Out Bags

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received a new comment on the post, "How would you spend $1000 Contest Winner":.: “Xcalbr8 says….. Congrats- excellent list. This gives me more ideas for my needs.” (Xcalbr8 was congratulating ScottSeigel on wining the Maxpedition Gear Bag and M-16/M-4 accessory tool in the ‘how you would spend $1000 contest’).

UrbanMan Comments: Xcalbr8 – thanks for your comment. I think the proper mindset is not to have an ego about Survival, Urban Survival, Prepping,…the whole nine yards. None of us, excepting some guy named Rawles up in Idaho , have all the answers. Just this week I received some comments and tips which led to me placing or planning to equip my Bug Out Bags with small glass magnifying glasses ( to read maps and small print and also as a fire starting tool), and small V cutters (like seat belt cutters).

There has been a lot of “modern day” Survival Gear and Equipment hitting the market these last few years. Survival Preppers are benefiting from some of the lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan . I think the main reason we all visit Survival blogs and forums is to learn and apply that knowledge to our own situation and preparation. Water hydration systems, such as Camel-baks and other water bladders, are now common and highly touted. I utilize water bladders in my Urban Survival Bug Out bags as well. One day another Survival oriented gent told me I should probably look at placing some old time one quart canteens and canteen cup in my Survival Bug Out Bags – great idea since I did not previously have a metal cooking cup.

Another great idea for the Bug Out Bag are the pre-measured coffee in filter sacks, so coffee can be made just like tea bags. I took a bunch of smaller coffee filter bags and vacuum packed a dozen then put into my Bug Out Kit. My wife’s Bug Out bag as a vacuum packed tea bags.

I was also "tipped" to add folding water-ewash basins, which I also promptly ordered and placed in my Urban Survival Bug Out Bags. Useful for watering dogs or other animals and using for a "whore's" bath - no disrepect to hooker's intended!

Uurban Survival - General Douglas McArthur Speaks To Us From The Grave

General Douglas MacArthur of World War II Philippines and later Korean War fame was a very insightful man. Here are just a couple of quotes from him. I know what they mean to me.....what do they mean to you?

“I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within."

“The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself."

"The history of failure (of war) can almost be summed up in two words:......... ......too late....
Too late in comprehending the deadly purpose of a potential enemy,
Too late in realizing mortal danger,
Too late in preparedness,
Too late in uniting all possible forces for resistance,
and,
Too late in standing with one's friends."

Don't be what Gen MacArthur warned us about,...too late in preparedness.

Urban Survival - The Goal is not Literally Surviving, it's Surviving with Quality

One of our buddies reported having a recent conversation with a older gent the other night. They were discussing Urban Survival versus Wilderness Survival, the main difference being having a permanent shelter, or not. Yes, you could be surviving in a remote part of the country in a log cabin or barn and that would be different from literally Wilderness Survival. By Wilderness Survival, we mean bare bones survival,…procuring all your foods from animals or edible plants, living in a dug out or lean to, having no survival aids but want you can carry with you.

This may be survival but it certainly is literally survival and not decent living – although the first rule IS to stay alive. The whole reason to prepare with Survival Food, Material, Gear and Equipment, not to mention a re-location or Bug Out Plan to a safer location, is to ensure that we can maintain life under some level of quality.

Almost all Urban Locations will require a Bug Out plan to a safe location, as Urban locations are dependant upon city/county water supplies which will dry up once the infrastructure collapses. Water is your number one concern. However you won’t be able to drink the water that you stockpile if you can defend yourself,…….this takes a rifle,…nor if you starve to death. Long term stay in Urban locations would require a teamwork approach and a water supply – community pond or lake, several swimming pools, etc. This would eventually dry up and again we’re looking at a re-location to a Safe Location.

Urban locations because of the density of structures, lack of usable open land for growing food and bigger population will be problematic for Urban based Survival. You’ll have a hard time seeing threats coming unless your neighborhood is organized (a la “Lights Out”) as well as feeding all of the unprepared families. “What are you gonna do when the neighbor comes over begging for food for his children?” We think personalities, standards of conduct, work ethic, maybe even religious beliefs will be so diverse that long term Urban Survival will be simply too difficult to maintain in a an Urban environment.

There is the chance of a large segment of the population in your Urban environment would move on, leaving a smaller percentage of the population and therefore a better chance of organization for the better good of all. This may well open other resources such as water,……think water heaters, swimming pools and polluted sources of water that you can purify. Even then unless you have a full time water source and ability to grow food for yourself, and, maintain security this will be iffy.

So back to the conversation between my buddy and the older guy. They discuss the older gent’s plan to move to an unpopulated stretch of river were he would have a water source and where he could hunt and fish for food. This will rapidly turn into literal survival scenario,…..scratching an existence out of nothing, as opposed to decent living. A camper, six months or more of stored food, seeds and a small group of alike minded and supplied people would make this much more viable.

This all boils down to preparation. Everybody be safe and prepare well.

Urban Survival – Reader Questions on Camouflage Uniforms

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following question from a reader asking for suggestions on Camouflage Clothing.


“You mentioned having adequate, heavy duty clothing for Urban Survival. What is your take on Camouflaged clothing?

Do you think me, my family and friends should have camouflage fatigues of the same pattern/color? I read the Patriots book in which the Survival Group decided on a unique pattern so they could differentiate their people from others in the forests. Sounded like a great idea to me.”


Urban Man’s reply:


There is certainly a place for camouflaged fatigues in your Survival Kit, particularly shirts as they have more and better functional pockets than common work shirts. There are lots of camouflaged uniforms patterns and colors to choose from.


To keep this article as short as we can, I will limit to a short review on camouflage uniforms currently in use by the US Army: the Army Combat Uniform or ACU as made by Propper, and the Multi-Cam made by Tru-Spec. Both uniforms are well made and worth the cost increase over the older Vietnam era Camouflage uniforms, or the Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) that are commonly available in Surplus Stores or on-line stores.

The ACU has a zippered front closure, elbow pouch for padded inserts, tilted chest pockets with Velcro closures, shoulder pockets with Velcro, pen pocket on sleeve and is imported.

The Multi-Cam has a better zippered front closure and replaces the Velcro closures of the ACU with YKK Powerhook closure devices which won’t wear out so bad from repeated washes. The Multi-Cam is made from 65/35 poly/Cotton Ripstop fabric or 50/50 Nylon Ripstop fabric; both version have the same slanted chest and shoulder pockets as the ACU. The Multi-Cam is made by Tru-Spec here in the USA and available is a wide range of colors: Black (would not recommend); Olive Drab (best single all around color); Digital Desert (okay for desert areas but not as an all around color); Khaki (would not recommend); 3 color desert (would not recommend); woodland; midnight navy (would not recommend); digital urban (would not recommend); digital woodland (okay for forested areas); and of course Multi-Cam (recommended for a wide range of areas).

The ACU and Multi-Cam are highly functional uniforms, especially the shirts due to their roomy pockets, very well made construction, and, we especially like the elbow pouches for padded inserts. The digital urban pattern is much too dark for our likes but would recommend either the ACU pattern, the Multi-Cam pattern or plain Olive Drab (green), shown to the LEFT with the uniform features.



The problem with camouflage uniforms is that they will set you apart. Civilians wearing camouflage uniforms will scream “Right Wing Milita” to Law Enforcement – which is maybe not a concern after a collapse. I guess a small team wearing the same camouflage uniforms may give a perception of a government element with authority. If common urbanites see you in your camouflage uniforms there is a connotation that you probably have additional Survival Gear and Equipment and therefore may mark you as a target for roving gangs.


I still think having at least a few Tru-Spec Multi-Cam or Olive Drab uniform tops or Propper ACU tops per person to wear over brown or khaki pants is a good idea as they will hold tough in rugged terrain and bad weather, and, have adequate pockets in which to carry essentials.


Multi-Cam and ACU uniforms shirts are reasonable priced at $39.99 and $40.99 from U.S. Cavalry.

Urban Survival - Food Stockpiling

Every serious Urban Survival prepper knows about preparing dry foods in Mylar bags, with oxygen absorbers. Some even go so far as to then store the vacuum packed Mylar bags in buckets with Gamma Lids. All good. You can get a long storage live out of this method. I certainly recommend this method for long term storage and cache emplacement.

Another method for preparing and stocking emergency food is by using a Food Saver vacuum packing and heat sealing device. The company advises a two year storage life with dry goods using their vacuum packing device and their FoodSaver bags. I think you can get more life than that if you take reasonable care to store your food in a controlled conditions, at least until the SHTF. I don't know,...I could be wrong, but what I do know is that if a bag is two months of out date, I'm not throwing it away until I check it,...check it like you would any foods. You'll notice I wrote the food item name and packaging date (month and year) on each package in the picture below.

In order to supplement my 8 and 10 gallon cans of Mylar bag sealed dry foods, I bought a Sport Model Food Saver so I could prepare smaller packages of foods for Bug Out Bags and to prepare meals faster during movements like a Bug Out from my Urban Location to my planned Safe Location.

Today I prepared some foods for use during a vehicle Bug Out movement. I'll place the below described packaged foods in a bucket for immediate use.

$1.44 on 2 lbs of Split Pea Soup, packaged in 1 lb bags
$3.98 on 2 lbs of 16 Bean Ham flavored soup, packaged in 1 lb bags
$1.04 on Salt, packaged in 1 lb 10 ounce cans
$1.44 for 2 lbs Brown Sugar, packaged in one bag
$3.55 for 8 lbs of Pinto Beans, which I packaged into two 4 lb bags
$4.35 for 6 lbs of Enriched White Rice, packaged into one bag
$2.00 for 2 lbs of Long Grain Brown Rice, packaged into two 1 lb bags
$3.64 for a 10 ounce pack of Coffee already vacuumed packed
$4.04 for one 8 ounce bottle of Adobo Seasoning for the rice and beans

I figure I can easily get two weeks of meals out of the above ingredients. Each day having two small meals. All for a total cost of $25.48 for the food items.

I have some extra heavy duty one gallon zip lock bags from which I'll place the ingredients for my meal into, add water and let soak, if possible in the sunlight, then transferring to a pot to cook in later on. This shortens the cooking time and if you can't cook it, well you can eat it like it is.

I packed the Brown Sugar, not just as an after thought, but to use on any game like fish or rabbits or even snakes I catch. Plus I plan on adding some Steel Cut Oats to this bucket for which Brown Sugar is a necessity.

All of the above fits into a bucket I'll place in my truck, in a ready location, if and when I Bug Out. Smaller versions of the above dry foods, and other foods like peanuts and granola, are in vacuum packed smaller packages and sitting in my Bug Out Bags. I have several Bug Out bags, anticipating people to come to my location in the event of TEOTWAWKI. Who I keep and integrate into my Urban Survival Group, who I turn away maybe giving them a Bug Out Bag (no use creating enemies if you can help it) and who I just turn away cold (sometimes you can't help but create enemies) is another story, once of which I have addressed in different posts such as "Absorbing People into Your Survival Group".

Good luck -prepare well.

Urban Survival - Water Storage in Your Home

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received an Anonymous reader comment concerning potable water storage to support a “Bug In” rather than a “Bug Out”.

”We are urbanites (NYC), and our primary contingency plan is to bug-in rather than bug-out. In addition to a few cases of bottled water, I also purchased two water storage kits designed to hold 65 gallons of water in the bathtub. The kit is called the Aquapod. It is a dry bladder designed to fit inside a bathtub, which you would pull down and fill with potable water if TSHTF. If we were able to fill both of them, we would have a large supply of clean water. (We live in a high rise building, so our water supply is entirely dependent on electricity to pump water into a holding tank on the roof).”
”The only negative to the Aquapod that I see is that we would lose the use of the bathtub for hygiene. I have thought this out, though, and would probably take large pots of water into the emergency stairwell for bathing, in a long-term bug-in situation.”
For more information on AquaPod, click here: http://www.aquapodkit.com/

UrbanMan comments:

These NYC Urbanites are planning in somewhat the right direction, that is considering their water needs which is a high priority need. However even 130 gallons of water, given a planning factor or 1.5 gallons per person per day, would last 2 people about a month and a half, actually 43 days.

We thank the readers to alerting us on the AquaPod system. We plan on buying at least one, which is reasonable priced at $40 for a pump kit and tub liner.

It is problematic that these NYC Urbanites plan on “Bugging In” rather than “Bugging Out” to a safe location. UrbanSurvivalSkills.com believes that in a large scale economic collapse, pandemic, nuclear attack or whatever your flavor of scenario, the cities will be giant death traps. Certainly there will be survivors, but the density of people to the available food and water stores, bandit and gang security risks and restrictive firearms regulations in New York City making only the criminals well armed, all make it highly unlikely for a successful long term “Bug In” plan.

If I lived in New York City I would plan likewise to store sufficient water for as long of a stay as I could, but only in order to affect a “Bug Out” to a safe location at my time of choosing. I would look possibly to Up State New York or the New England area.

I build Urban Survival Bug Out Bags and would plan on several routes to various short range temporary safe locations as traveling in the city may be very difficult. Consider the refugee problem and movement flow to better plan safe routes.

I don’t know how possible it is for you to have firearms in NYC. But even a hunting shotgun and .22 pistol would be better than going un-armed.

Maybe there is other people like you in your high rise that you can count on to band together in a Urban Survival group to leverage your resources and skills. We have long said that Urban Survival is a team sport.

Good luck to you New Yorkers. Regards – Urban Man

Making the Case for a Coming Economic Collapse

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com does not represent itself as knowing much of any thing regarding how economies work or anything, however given the dire economic situation not only in the United States but all of Europe, combined with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a very probable large scale Arab/Muslim attack on Israel or even open war against Israel (because of the Flotilla incident) and what all those events will do to the economies, we believe we are facing are facing a coming large scale economic collapse.

Add in the economic blow from the oil spill in the Gulf; the North Koreans sinking South Korean ships; the Chinese emboldened to act against Taiwan (since the U.S. appears to abandoning allies); and, Iran building Nuclear weapons - all paint a black picture which holds minimal promise that we can get out of it unscathed.

The blow video, tongue in cheek as it is, illustrate the ludicrous nature of deficit spending and failing Country economic system and will take us into a collapse.

Prepare for Urban Survival, Prepare Now and Prepare well.

Urban Survival Planning – Reconnaissance and Security Patrols

If the collapse hit and everything falls apart at the seams, and you are either held up in your Urban Home preparing to move to the your Safe Location, or you are on the move to your Safe Location, or, are at you Safe Location – what in the world does Reconnaissance and Security Patrols have to do with your Urban Survival?

Reconnaissance and Security Patrols are intended to find out what the threat’s capabilities and intentions are. They are used to gather information/intelligence concerning the area around your Urban Location or your Base Camp. It would be nice to know that a 300 person Motorcycle Group created an encampment six blocks from your house. Maybe a patrol to the nearest State highway could determine extent, if any, of motor vehicle traffic such as 18 wheelers on that roadway.

A Reconnaissance and Security Patrol may also be the best mechanism for placing Observation Post/Listening Posts (OP/LP’s) in place. As the Patrol moves throughout the area, the OP/LP team drops off, using the Patrol as cover, to make their way in a covered and concealed manner to their OP/LP.

A Reconnaissance Patrol is usually separate from a Security Patrol. The Reconnaissance Patrol is usually intended to go to observe and report on either a fixed site or a generally area.

Whereas a Security Patrol is intended to detect indicators that the threat has your Urban location or base camp under surveillance; indicators that the threat is preparing for an attack; indicators on refugees transiting the area.

An Urban Survival Group may also send out a patrol for a generally or specific procurement tasks like to collect brake light and backup light bulbs on vehicles; siphon fuel from stalled or dead vehicles; collect glass panes for a green house; or a thousand and one other tasks. No matter what the procurement tasks may be, the patrol should also be observant and collect information on what they see. They should be debriefed in a formal or semi-format process when they return in order to extract information they collected during their patrol.

Especially if you are a small Urban Survival Group, you may be pressing or utilizing women and teenagers into your patrols, not optimum, but it may be necessary.

The Patrol should have a plan; without burdening the reader's on a military style operations or patrol order format, the Urban Survivor would do okay to consider and use the 5 “W’s” as a minimum patrol plan:

Who (who’s in the patrol)

What (what the mission of the patrol is)

When (timeline for the patrol – when leaving, when coming back, when the base camp should consider the patrol compromised, lost, captured or dead

Where (where is the patrol going and what route(s), remember PACE, will the patrol take

Why (why is the patrol important enough to reduce combat power at the Urban Home or Base Camp in order to accomplish the patrol mission)

There should be standard procedures for the patrol that everyone knows well. Patrol inspection prior to the patrol moving out to ensure everyone has the required equipment, knows that day’s mission, is clothed and armed adequately and all shiny objects and noise makers taken off.

Common Arm and Hand signals should also be used to maintain control of the patrol and help maintain noise discipline. There should be an individual interval (distance) maintained between Patrol Members so that no two members present one target. Consider 5 to 20 meters as the high and low side interval suggestions.

Reaction drills for common events during the patrol need to be developed and rehearsed. Reaction drills for a sniper shooting at you, an attack from any direction, etc.

Contingency planning should be conducted to cover all imagined things that can go wrong. Here are common contingencies:

Where will the Urban Survivors go to if the base camp or the Urban home is attacked and over ran while the patrol is out of the base camp? This is called the Emergency Rally Point, should be at least a terrain feature away from the Urban Home or Base Camp, be somewhat defensible, and may be supported by a few small caches.

Where does the patrol exit and re-enter the Urban Home or Base Camp defensive perimeter?

What are the visual signal(s) and verbal challenge(s) and password(s) in order for the Urban Survivors defending the home to recognize the returning patrol as friendly?

Consider a duress word so that the other party will know that the first party is being forced by gun point or threats of death.

If the patrol hears a firefight at the Urban Home while they are on patrol, how should they return to the location and from which avenue or approach?

Running patrols from you Urban Home or Suburban/Rural Base Camp may not be possible if there are only 2 or 3 able bodied Survivor Group members. However, if you are in a Larger Urban Survivor Group, like a gated community or Neighborhood Watch program coming together, conducting Reconnaissance or Security Patrols as well as patrols to search, forage and procurement items will probably be a viable option if you follow the suggestions to have a Patrol Plan (5 W’s), train all members so they know the Standard Procedures and reaction drills.

Hope this helps, be safe.

Urban Survival Preparation – Convincing Someone to Prepare

This post is actually a response from a reader comment on trying to get his wife on board with Urban Survival preparation.

This reader is in a mid-sized city close to the Atlantic coast. He said he lived in a townhouse about 8 miles from center mass of the city, whose population was between 100,000 to 500,000.

He says he doesn’t have a whole lot of room to stock Survival Gear, Equipment or Material and his wife would not support a lot of his time or money spent in Urban Survival preparation.

My response to him is: I don’t have too much advice for you other than to work on your wife understanding the need. If you can get her attention for 20-30 minutes, take her to the Economic Collapse videos and have her watch them.

Let her read my comments on how the political and economic environment are stacked against us having a normal life into the mid-term or even near future.

Tell her that Nazi Germany built and ran concentration-torture-murder camps very close to German cities without the main stream German civilian population realizing what was going on. Some of that was, for sure, people’s general disinclination not to believe things they don’t want to believe,…things too horrible to imagine…like an ostrich with it’s head in the sand.

Glenn Beck on his television program the other was talking about a probable collapse, as he believes this country has very little opportunity to avert an enormous chaotic collapse. He, like me, still hopes for the best but prepares for the worst.....like you should.

Take your wife to this site: http://thesurvivalmom.com so she can get another perspective on being prepared. Lots of females postingh survival and preparedness info on this site.

The great first danger is not to prepare. The second big danger is not to be ready to execute contingencies like when to vacate your Urban home and move to a safe location. Oh,..you don’t have safe location? Better find one and figure out how you are going to get there.

Get ready, get more ready and stay on the edge.

After Armageddon 2 of 9 - A History Channel Program and Lessons Learned

Continuing on with Chapter 2 of the excellent History Channel Program "After Armageddon" and Urban Survival lessons learned from the scenario they depict. As you watch this Chapter of the video, ask yourself if you would have done anything different and how you could have prevented the predicament that Chris found himself and his family in. Not all problems can be overcome with the latest and greatest in Survival Gear and Equipment. Sometimes you have to prepared with survival and decision making skills.

We find Chris on Day 17 after the pandemic hits L.A. Some people are leaving the city; medical care is waning with hospitals closing. Chris reports to work, sees how futile it is and ends up stealing some medical supplies which in the back of his mind he knows he might need. Even on Day 19 Chris still wants to stay put and that's because he thinks things may get better and it's more comfortable to sit tight when you don't have a Survival Bug Out plan in place.



Chris stopped going to work because the hospitals closed (he was an EMT). Are you prepared to take leave, take a unpaid leave of absence or just quit? What will trigger your decision? Day 21 finds Chris buying groceries, the ATM is not working but he manages to procure a small load of food. What will trigger you to double, triple or quadruple your weekly grocery buy? What if the stores won't take personal checks and the grid is down so credit cards and ATM machines won't work? Do you keep an adequate supply of cash on hand? If so, how much to you is adequate? How about gold or silver?

Did you notice Chris looking at the man with the shotgun in the store? I'll bet he was thinking "Jezz, I wish I had one of those." I did not see Chris buying extra fuel containers and gasoline, which would have been my priority, but then again I have a butt load of food on hand and about every other piece of Survival Gear or Equipment that I think I may need. Storing fuel, at least long term, is problematic.