Survival - Eight Deadly Dangers of Survival

When faced with an Urban or Wilderness Survival Challenge there are many dangers. The result of not dealing with these dangers in a successful manner can and will be death. We are calling these dangers, the Eight Deadly Dangers of Survival.

• Fear and anxiety. Humans will be fearful of any new situation outside of their comfort zone. Have a decayed or non-existent infrastructure; being unsure of your very survival on a day by day basis; and, fearful for the future of your children are all factors that can drive even the most mentally sound people into paralysis. We are really going to be challenged in faith. Our belief in a higher authority; our beliefs in our abilities and the overall belief that a day by day scrapping to survival will be worth it. Knowing that fear and anxiety will be dangers is half the battle. Keep observation on your survival group for people giving into fear and anxiety. If you watched the movie: “The Road”, you’ll remember the mother of the young boy not being able to deal with the situation then walking out into the cold to presumably die (from Hypothermia)

• Cold and heat. Hypothermia and Heat Stroke. The components of battling cold are clothing, shelter and a heating source. The key here will be preparation. Be equipped with Survival Gear and Equipment such as fire starters, good clothing including rain gear and the ability to make or build a temporary shelter or even a fixed substantial structure. In very few instances will we be naked in a desert devoid of anything at all. If we find ourselves in a very degraded environment with little Survival equipment, then the improvisational part of our nature, enhanced through training, will be the difference in our survival,….or not. Rocks, terrain and depressions become ways to get out of the wind to minimize the cold and tree boughs and other plants become insulation. With the danger of Heat, causing heat injuries leading to heat stroke and death, we have to minimize the loss of our sweat. Too many people have been found dead with water still in their canteens. Don’t ration your water,..just use it wisely.

• Thirst. This danger goes along with thirst,..it’ll drive a person crazy. Crazy enough sometimes to drinks sea water without distilling the water from the salt (drinking saltwater will kill you); thirsty enough to drink polluted water. You need to know enough to, again ration your sweat, limit your food consumption…you can go along time (many days, even weeks) without food; but 2 days maybe 3, without water.

• Boredom and loneliness. Being separated from family and friends, a lack of normal communications means such as cell phones, e-mail, facebook, etc., will be hard on most people, but doubly so for children, teenagers and young adults who have grown up with this technology and will at a great loss without it. The hard work of daily survival may leave little time for fun and pleasure. If you are leading or managing a survival group you will need to consider how to alleviate boredom and loneliness. You may even be faced with a situation where there are more men than women and the potential trouble that may cause. You will have to deal with this swiftly and decisively.

• Fatigue. Hard work and lack of nutrition will bring on fatigue. There also is mental fatigue to consider as the daily grind of survival will weight heavily on people. With inadequate rest comes bad decisions,…ensure you and your people are getting adequate rest to be up to the challenge of hard physical work and the mental challenge of making well informed decisions.

• Hunger. Like I said before, you can go along time without food. You don’t necessary want to. Upon the immediate knowledge of a collapse or ability to procure commercially available foods, the Urban or Wilderness Survivalist or Survival Group should implement food rationing. Smaller meals twice a day are much better than one bigger meal a day. Gives people something to look forward to more often in a day as well as is better for the metabolism. Most of us could afford to lose a few pounds anyway. If you are in a decayed situation, understand that you have several days of not eating and still have 100% physical ability before your physical abilities start to degrade gradually or in some cases a little faster than gradually. Adjust your physical work accordingly. Work slower and work smarter.

• Pain and injury. Although when placed in a survival scenario whether it’s a collapse of the infrastructure or placed as an individual in wilderness survival situation, pain can be good,….it’s show us we are alive but can be a warning that something isn’t right and that we have sustained an injury. Be very careful not to let pain develop into an injury especially when our ability to seek and get medical care is greatly or totally diminished. Same of illnesses,…do not let sniffles and a head cold develop into a chest cold then pneumonia. Death follows pneumonia with high powered anti-biotics. Be prepared. Learned alternatives treatments.

• Poor security. Survival is a team sport. Security is not just an LP/OP or lookout providing forewarning of the approach of an outlaw motorcycle group or a bunch of armed zombies. Security is not just your ability to defend you and your group, your home or base camp. The exception to the Survival team sport rule is an individual survival situation in the wilderness,…and in this situation you probably won’t have people hunting you. If so, they take appropriate precautions. Have cold camps. Dry tinder/dry fuel fires during the day only, perhaps heating rocks for nighttime warmth. Be careful crossing linear danger areas/natural lines of drift (roads, trails, power lines trails, dry river beds, etc) and sterilize the signs of your passage to avoid detection. Skirt open areas (we call them irregular danger areas). Have light, noise and litter discipline as to not provide any clues where you are at.

These are the Eight Deadly Dangers of Survival. Being aware of them and the counter measures may make the difference between staying alive or being eaten by animals or cannibals.

Survival Mindset and Keyword

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received the following comment on the post concerning Wilderness Survival Skills: …….”Ken said,…..How about being in the proper mindset for a survival situation, navigate around obstacles and crossing those obstacles, blend in with the population, and predicting the weather.”

UrbanMan replies:….. Ken, good comment! I’ll try to address some of what you say here and the rest in another post.

A proper mindset is absolutely necessary,….you know that or would not have mentioned it. The military uses “key words” so soldiers will remember a key word, such as S-U-R-V-I-V-A-L with each letter meaning a helpful phrase or reminder in order to think and perform your way out of a survival situation. I think the value in these key words, is not in remembering what each letter stands for, but in the process of trying to remember which will help calm down the survivor and get them to use their brain.

This guy did not survive....

The U.S. Army S-U-R-V-I-V-A-L key word means the following:

S – Size Up The Situation. Take stock of the environment. What are your immediate needs? What are the immediate dangers? Is it get out of the weather? Dry you and your clothes off? Find water? If anybody hunting you? Find a safe location and inventory your Survival Gear and Equipment. Do a mental inventory of your skills.

U – Use All Your Senses/Undue Haste Makes Waste. Think things through. Consider disadvantages and advantages of each course of action you are considering.

R – Remember Where You Are. Do you know where you are at? Can you develop a mental map of your surroundings and the landmarks from which to navigate by? Can you tell direction, day and night, without a compass using the stick and shadow method (day) and/or bearing on the Northstar (Polaris) at night?

V – Vanquish Fear. Erase all doubt. Believe you will survive and you will. Think you are going to die and it is now a foregone conclusion.

I – Improvise. Field expedient use of all resources is both a learned skill through survival training, and, a deep seated characteristic or trait of inquisitive people. Tree branches become bedding; large leafs become funnels for water; large rocks become heat reflectors for fires; flat rocks becomes knives and long straight ticks can be sharpened with knives to become spears for hunting or defense; bird or rat nests become fire starters.

V – Value Life. Too many people give up then die. There was a case of two young men hiking near Carlsbad Caverns , New Mexico . They got lost for two days then laid down to die. One told the other “please take this sharp rock and cut my throat, I can’t go on any longer”, the other did it and rescuers found them within the hour. He just plain gave up. Rather than giving up, just give the middle finger to your situation and drive on.

A - Act Like The Natives. This is useful for blending in and surviving the elements. Americans traveling overseas are extremely easy to pick out. The professionals wanting to blend in and not draw attention to themselves are not; In the Middle Eastern deserts you find all indigenous covered head to foot in clothing items – there is a reason for that and that is not ration their sweat rather than their water. If natives can eat it, so can you albeit probably in much smaller quantities until you get used to it. I know a guy who spent three weeks every other year in Namibia ( Southwest Africa ) with the famed Bushmen. He said he over came the language difficulty and challenge to survive by just looking at and replicating what the bushmen did.

L – Life By Your Wits. Your best weapon or tool is your mind – always keep it engaged in drive and think through all planned actions.

Urban Survival Medicine - Reader Question on Anti-Biotics

UrbanSurvivalSkills.com received a comment on the "Survival Base Camp Medical Kit" post,.....Anonymous asked,......."why not more anti biotics? Don't see alot of other medications on your list. Is it just about storage life?"

UrbanMan replies: Storage life and procurement of the anti-biotics which are prescriptions medications are the problem. I'm not willing to do anything illegal,.....ask me that the day of the collapse. There are some anti-biotics you can get without a prescription in some states, such as Penicillin from Animal Feed Stores. In fact I can remember some humorous conversations with my Vet when he told me some of his clients falsely obtained medications intended for large animals like horses, and gave them to people like their wife's. He had me rolling with that. But seriously, if you knew how to calculate weights and doses this may be an option for some of the Survivalist's anti-biotic needs.

Another option or a supporting endeavor would be to utilize plants and herbs that have medicinal anti-biotic properties. Some of these plants are:

Cats Claw. A Jungle or wetland herb that has been touted as good for infections.

Licorice Root, which is well known herb with anti-viral properties.

Golden Seal Root and St Johns Wort for viral support.

Aloe Vera Plant which the gel or sap from the leaves are used for a variety of problems to include as a substitute for triple-antibiotic gel and to keep a wound moist and prevent bandages from sticking.

Four Wing Saltbush, aka Chamisa which is natural growing feed for ruminants like cattle and goats. Four Wing Saltbush has been used as a fever reducing tea.

Horse Nettle, which has been used to clear sinus; as well as Mormon's Tea which made into a bitter tea is a decongestant. This is good to know as colds can travel from your head into your chest then the danger of pneumonia is greatly increased.

Goldenrod is a favorite of medicinal herbalists. One use is chewing the leaves to relive toothaches. What are you going to do about dental care after a collapse?

Learn these plants, and how to grow them. More information about home remedies can be found on HomeRemediesandNutrition.com

Survivalists need to ensure their preventative care is of utmost importance. Immediately wash and disinfect all cuts, scratches and wounds. Teach your Survival Group First Aid skills, in fact make this a recurring class and build on their skill sets.

We will be doing a future post of OTC Pharmacy products for your pharmacy kit. Stay tuned. Stay aware. Stay Alive. Always wanted to say that.

How would you spend $1000 Contest Winner

Last week UrbanSurvivalSkills.com hosted a contest on how would your spend $1000 on the day of the collapse, putting it in the context of what would you advise your un-prepared neighbor to buy with his $1000 in cash. To read that previous post, click here.

The winner is seigelscott. He wins a Maxpedition Gearslinger bag and a CK M4 cleaning Tool.  His entry is posted below:

Hey UrbanMan,

I posed the original question on nobullshitsurvival. My original list sucked and I’ve learned a lot spending $1000 (at least) over the past few weeks. This reflects a lot of that education and from what I’ve learned on the web and in the homestead and other books I’ve read.

This is my list, but as important, what I am trying to accomplish. This is not a BO situation, but BI. I’ll try to list locations of where I’d buy it so you know the cost is realistic, because I’ve actually purchased these items at these places:

Basic Strategy:

Food: Since I’m not BO, rely on existing food in the home at first and then switch to supplies. Rice and Beans to supply main food supply for near future. Start to raise free range livestock (chickens) to produce eggs and meat – additional forms of protein. Grow vegetables when spring comes and trade excess Chickens for gardening tools beyond the basics listed. Collect rainwater and reuse as much gray water as possible with makeshift distillation tools.

Clothes: I’ll have plenty of clothes on hand, but I need to get some heavy duty for the outdoor work. Nearly indestructible pants, great boots and a change of shirts and socks to stay warm and dry.

Medical: Good first aid kit with all the basics to help patch up any minor injuries.

Anything else comes by way of shotgun, unfortunately, if I need it bad enough.

Ability to use flashlight radio by relying on solar power to recharge daily.

The List:

Food ($220):

Costco: 6x25lbs of Rice ($45)

Costco: 3x25lbs of Black Beans ($60)

Costco: 5x5 Gal Spring Water ($15) – 25 gal of water is enough until you locate a river, or until you collect some rainfall.

Costco: 25 lbs of Salt ($5) – seasoning or at least for curing food if I happen to get a deer to wander on my land which is actually quite common.

Local Farmer: Live Chickens, 6 Hens, 1 Rooster, ($35) - now I have plenty of eggs to eat and can start breeding eating chickens as well

Costco: 3x25lbs Corn Meal ($60) = chicken feed supplement to whatever they can otherwise peck.

Protection ($350):

Bass Pro Remington 870 12 Gauge Shotgun ($300) – wouldn’t be the police/swat model, but pump action sufficient to hunt, protect yourself or do some looting if all else failed.

Bass Pro 12 Gauge Shells – Remington Buck Shot 50 shells, ($50). Keep 5 for protection, but the rest for opportunistic hunting when a big animal wanders too close to my gardens.

Hardware Store Items/Gardening: ($160)

½ Set of Heirloom Seeds Set ($50) Ideally I’d want more, but I am on a budget and am looking to supplement the chickens/eggs and hopefully utilize the first harvest to double or triple output in the future

Small bag of Fertilizer ($20) – at least the first year, you cant risk making mistakes growing food. You just don’t have enough to live on. This will help grow bigger veggies until you learn to compost.

Hand Axe ($25) – firewood will be really important

Kettle, pipe fitting and 25ft 3/8” copper tubing in a spiral (like a water line for your fridge) – use kettle to boil water and copper tubing to act as a radiator to cool and condense steam as a makeshift distillation tool ($35)

Several Tarps ($30) – tents, to catch rainwater, or a million other uses.

Misc. Items: ($118)

Adventure Medical Kit (Day Tripper, $33)

Maglite with LED bulb ($20) – long battery life

Small handheld radio ($15)

Rechargable batteries ($10)

Solar Cell to charge batteries $30 http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp?pn=3039813&cmss=solar+battery+charger

A good lighter ($10) or if not good, a hell of a lot of disposable ones.

Clothes/Personal Items: ($151)

Decent hiking boots ($75)

Canvas Pants ($35)

6 Pack Hanes t-shits (light weight and cheap) ($6)

6 Pack Crew Socks and Underwear ($12) but why wouldn’t you already have socks and underwear I suppose?

Tooth brush and 3 tooth pastes ($8) – no sense being an animal. Good hygiene is important

At least 5 books, just to read to relax ($15 from used book store)

$1 in quarters for the soda machine. A nice birthday treat if there are still any working.

siegelscott