Survival Terms and Meanings

I have started this thread in an attempt to organize certain terms and their meanings which often appear in survival discussion.

This thread was created because I, being new to these concepts and ideas, often found myself overwhelmed/frustrated by the amount of commonly used words for which I did not know the meaning. I am hoping that others like me can use this thread as a place to quickly find the definition of terms that they do not understand.

I am aware that some of the terms listed are common sense but, since they are often in survival discussion, I have listed them here.

Survival Terms

BOB – A ‘BOB’ (or Bug Out Bag), from what I have gathered, is a bag or sack which contains the basics for a few days survival. It is something which can be grabbed on the run and used until other supplies can be located.

‘Bugging Out’ – Bugging Out is, once again from what I have gathered, the act of leaving. You have, for whatever reason, decided that staying is not the best option –or an option at all. It is at this point that you set out to/search for a secondary location.

AWOL Bag – Another type of BOB. According to Terapin the AWOL bag is intended to hold more equipment.

Multi Tool – A small device which can be fitted easily into any BOB. It is a tool which consists of many parts serving many different functions. It is usually a bit larger then a Swiss Army Knife and the parts usually fold into the handle.

For a comparative look at multi tools, and what they can contain, please follow this link: Multi Tools

Magnesium Fire Starter and Flint – A tool that is usually packaged as one object. You scrape magnesium shavings into a small pile with your knife and then scrape the sparking rod (flint) with your knife. The sparks should, eventually, light the magnesium and you have the startings to your best friend: fire.

Katadyn Water Filter – First off, I use the Katadyn filter as an example because from, what I have gathered, it seems to be one of the best. A water filter, Katadyn or not, is exactly what the name implies: A device by which to filter potentially dirty water into clean drinkable water.

As a side note: I do not know much about this but I would assume that it would be safe to first boil the water they intend to filter…not every product is perfect and just because it looks clean does not always make it as such.

Compound, Traditional or Cross Bow – This post is great for links that pertain to specific bows. Thanks to Terapin for the post and making my job a little easier.

Rifle –

A rifle is a firearm with a stock and a barrel that has a spiral groove or grooves ("rifling") cut into its interior. The rifling produces "lands," areas that make contact with the projectile (usually a bullet), imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the orientation of the weapon. When the projectile leaves the barrel, the conservation of angular momentum improves its accuracy and range, in the same way that a properly thrown American football or rugby ball behaves. The word "rifle" originally referred to the grooving, and a rifle was called a "rifled gun."

Source

For an in depth view of the different types of rifles please see this link: Rifles

Hand Gun – A hand gun, or pistol, is a small gun which is intended to be easily concealable and can be fired using one hand. Less range and, usually, stopping power then a rifle.

For more information on hand guns please see this link: Hand Guns

Vacuum Sealing – Vacuum sealing is a way in which perishable and nonperishable items can be stored. Usually the resulting seal is water tight to a certain degree and the lack of oxygen within the seal allows for perishable items to stay ‘fresh’ longer.

Types of Traps – Snares and traps are used for hunting wild animals. These animals are hunted in the survival situation as a source of food and, if one so chooses, as a source of clothing/tools.

For information on various snares/traps please see provided links:

Link
Link
Link

Medpack – A medpack is a supply of first aid equipment. Ones medpack should contain items which they are fully capable and qualified to use. It is because of this that medical emergency training to varying degrees is advised and encouraged. With more knowledge your medpack can grow.

A good source of information regarding medpacks can be found on this existing thread: Link

Like I have said: I am new to these terms and meanings. I ask and encourage those more learned in this subject matter to correct/add to this thread.

Thank you and enjoy.

EDIT: Added to 'BOB' and fixed 'AWOL Bag'.

[edit on 1/5/0707 by spines]

You have voted spines for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have two more votes this month.

Well done!! Some of us on here are pretty advanced and its easy for us to forget what its like to be new to the survivalist way of life. So once again well done!!!

Hay mods you might want to consider making this sticky.

[edit on 5-1-2007 by angryamerican]

BOB= Bug Out Bag
AWOL is a longer term BOB that holds more eqipment. (comes from the military term Away WithOut Leave)

Katadyn water filters are issued to NATO troops( or they used to be anyway, not sure if they still are). They filter out known pathogens and there is no need to pre-boil the water. No filter will get out radioactive material nor chemical wastes. They use a ceramic filter element with a pore size of only 0.2 micron (0.0002mm or 0.000008"). This ensures 100% removal of bacteria, protozoa, and cysts, including giardia, cryptosporidium, cholera, shigella, salmonella, E.coli, etc. Because of the extremely long life of the ceramic element, Katadyn filters produce safe drinking water at a tiny fraction of the cost per gallon of most other filters. They are very long lasting ceramic filters and even after thousands of gallons, they will still do the job. Their Pocket Filter model is good for 13,000 gallons.

Katadyn Filter home page



[edit on 5-1-2007 by Terapin]

Originally posted by Terapin
BOB= Bug Out Bag
AWOL is a longer term BOB that holds more eqipment. (comes from the military term Away WithOut Leave)

Thank you for the corrections/additions to my little post.

Also, I thank you for the clarification and further information concerning the water filtration system.

If you read this and have something to add or something you would like to see changed either u2u me or post it here.

Thank you to those who have helped so far.

Originally posted by angryamerican

You have voted spines for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have two more votes this month.

Well done!! Some of us on here are pretty advanced and its easy for us to forget what its like to be new to the survivalist way of life. So once again well done!!!

Hay mods you might want to consider making this sticky.

[edit on 5-1-2007 by angryamerican]

Thank you for the show of support.

And yes, this survival forum has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I enjoyed reading through some of the what-if posts and sometimes found myself at a bit of a loss when it came to the terminology. So this post was born.

M.R.E. Meals Ready To Eat

Ah, a good term which I neglected. Thank you for the addition Angry American.

I would love to edit the post further and add it to the list but it seems that I can no longer do that.

If any mod could help me out and either 'add it in' or allow me to do so it would b much appreciated.

teotwawki: the end of the world as we know it.

tshtf: the stuff hits the fan.

Not sure if these will help...

When the bloon goes up = Term used by british servicemen to describe a nuclear attack

Rat Packs = Similar to MRE's (short for ration packs)

Tarp/Hootchie = Tarpaulin - large sheet of strong, flexible, water resistant or waterproof material, often cloth such as canvas coated with plastic or latex.

NBC = Nuclear,Biological and Chemical - An NBC suit is a type of protective suit giving protection inclusively against direct contact with and contamination by radioactive, biological and chemical substances

en.wikipedia.org...

PPE = Personal protective equipment - Loose term to desribe all protective clothing and equipment

FEMA = The Federal Emergency Management Agency
en.wikipedia.org...

Hmm... thats all i can think of for now and have got to go out for a bit... ill have a think and see if i can come up with some more

Thank you for the excellent addition to the list.

This is exactly the kind of response that I was hoping for.

Like I said before, I would love to add your stuff to the 'main list' but as for now I can not.

Originally posted by spines
This is exactly the kind of response that I was hoping for.

Ahh spines,

This is a new forum for me but I got the u2u and will add to the best of my ability.

BVR- Beyond Visual Range
WVR- Within Visual Range
SAW- Squad Automatic Weapon
LAW- Light Antitank Weapon
Bogie- Aircraft not yet identified as a threat
Bandit- Aircraft now designated as a threat

Just some of the terms that come to mind and that I have seen and/or used.
I hope this helps and i will now be into this thread, Peace, mondo

Thanks for the response and the additional terms/meanings.

I would love to see more responses like those this thread has already been recieving.

Looking forward to it.