Basic Survival Concepts

Hello everyone. Allow me to give you something along the lines of an introduction. I think it will be a bit clearer why, after years of reading ATS, I finally decided to post and why I chose the Survival forum to make my introduction.

I am 25 years old, father to two wonderful boys, and husband to a fantastic wife. I have been watching the things going on in our world, both locally and abroad, and quite frankly, it scares me. The ever rising cost of gasoline, terrorism, disease, economic threats, war, et cetera. The list is long and I have no doubt that every one of you who reads this is well aware of the state of things.

I have been doing a lot of thinking recently about what I would do for my family in the event of a Situation X actually coming to pass. I pretty quickly came to the unpleasant realization that I completely uneducated and unprepared.

So, I decided to change that.

Step one, education. I ordered three different disaster/survival books off of Amazon, and now I come here, to the ATS survival forum. I figure a good forum with intelligent, like-minded individuals will be a great resource.

All that said, now I present my first question. I know the basics of what one needs to survive. Food, water, shelter and so on. I am just beginning to think in this frame of mind, so I am sure I am missing some very broad topics.

In a very broad sense, what is necessary to survive in Situation X?

I hope my question isn't too generic or superfluous. I searched before posting, and found many excellent threads, but none that touched on the basic topics in a "beginner survivalist" point of view.

I thank you all in advance!

Yes! I think this would be great for all of us on ATS. For concepts, a great discussion, but before that, you need to find out and answer a few questions for everyone reading this, it is special and most likely different to most of us.

1. What Do I Need?
2. How Will I Attain 'It'?
3. When Will I need 'It'?
4. Who Will Need to Use/Get 'it'

For Question number one, refer to your guidebooks, I bet they have an excellent list on survival in the Wilderness/ Urban disaster. I also recomned the Red Cross site, they know what to do, and what you will need to establish camp.

For Question number two, it will vary by area. I suggest going out to a local camping gear store and spend 500 dollars outfiting yourself in 'quality survival gear'. Not too much, because many things are uneeeded and wasteful. Also something like a Sam's Club or CostCo will do you good.

For Question number three, when. I suggest as soon as possbile. As you have read here on ATS, disaster seems every looming. I suggest maybe this week, just maybe going out and buying some supplies.

For Question number four, who. For obvious reasons you and your wife should make this decision together since of its exteremly.


There are some also priorites in a disaster, in a list from greatest to least:

1.PMA-Posistive Mental Attitude, you will not get through a situation, unless you think you will, it is the most important a, increses your moral and survival. So when your watching the TV as news achor shows pictures of burning cities and fleeing citizens, you keep a determined face, and keep a positive attitude

2. First Aid- For all life-threating or transportation hindering injuries first, since your not going anywhere without fixing them. Always keep a first aid kit handy and know where it is.

3. Water. A gallon a day, per person. Period. You can never have too much water. Water is the essential of life. Go through a day measuring how much liquid you consume and eat. You will be suprised

4. Shelter. One you have all those others sorted out, you can get to the business of supporting yourself first short-term, then later long-term. Shelter can also mean supplies, needs, and other nesicities. But if heading to the hills, always keep a tool kit handy in the back seat

5. Lastly, Food. You many be supriesd. You can go a long time being hungry. In high school, I had lunch at 12:30 and a small breakfast and 6:00, you can deal with it if we all dealt with it 5 days a week for 4 years.

Its a good start, and remember to read up! Knowledge is the best tool a man can have.

I believe in the event of situation x, that if food, water, and shelter are numbers 1, 2 and 3, number 4 should be protection. I believe in the general goodness of humans, but I do not underestimate them for a second. Protect your family at all costs because when it comes down to it, we are all just sheep living amongst wolves. Now with that said, I believe step one should be risk assesment.

A. If situation x were to happen, what dangers will present it self?

B.Will I head to the hills, or stay at home base and protect it.

C.Whatever I decide, what will I need to survive and protect.

Once those questions are answered, then things should be a little clearer.
But always keep in mind that situation x is unknown, and if it were to happen, all sorts of different scenarios could play out. So be aware of all the situation x scenarios and dangers that could possible come to be and prepare accordingly.

Like the post above mine that I gave a star to, knowledge is the best weapon/survival tool that any man, woman, or child can possess. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Get fit, get healthy, get prepared, and be ready.




[edit on 25-4-2008 by schism85]

Buying books is great but you need more to actually survive. You need 'experience'. I don't know the ages of your children and if they are pre-teens, I'd suggest you let them stay home with Mom while you go out and get a LOT of real, first-hand experiences. Survival was a hobby of mine three decades ago. I'd go on 'survival trips'.

Survival Trips:
1. Leave the books at home - you only get to use what you have remembered from those books.
2. Choose your destination - a beach where nobody goes, a desert area, wilderness thicket or woods etc. In the end, you should have tried all the different types of areas, in the four different seasons of the year.
3. You get to bring along only what you can carry - and NO water or food! This means your packing tools like the military surplus shovel that has a retractable handle, compass, WIRE for snares, a handaxe, tool sharpeners, first aide kit, long-handled spoon, knife, string for a fishing handline and a paperclip, compass, a piece of canvas, a THICK piece of plastic, and an iron pot.
(It's you're trip, so, you make you own equipment list rules based on what you THINK you know how to do. Take matches in a waterproof jar until you master other techniques. Later try flint and steel, and handdrills are the most difficult, thus, the last to master.)
4. Be sure to have somebody know where you are and when to come looking for you in case you failed miserably (which I did once, no twice actually ) Drive to your destination and park the vehicle. No listening to radio!

Besides survival trips, you MUST do backyard gardening at home. It's one thing to read about gardening, and quite another to get in SHAPE.

Last, your book learning should include your local native edible plants! In some areas, you can live off of nothing but the native plants. In other areas, it's not feasible. Get to know your local 'weeds'. My spouse knows to jump to attention when I say, "You're stepping on tomorrow's breakfast!"

Another thing to learn for meat-eaters and hunters are which seasons to avoid certain animals. That holds here in Texas USA anyway. Rabbits have worms in the Summer. Over near the Mississippi they eat possum and sometime armadillo. Besides rabies and leprosy, there is also a seasonal advice on them. To get local seasonal advice, talk with hunters in your area.

Fishing is another thing you can experiment with in your area. No tackle boxes, nets, lures etc. ... learn how to fish as if you'd never see a rod and reel or pole again in your life.

edit to correct typo

[edit on 25-4-2008 by Trexter Ziam]

Originally posted by wilmiester
You can go a long time being hungry. In high school, I had lunch at 12:30 and a small breakfast and 6:00, you can deal with it if we all dealt with it 5 days a week for 4 years.

As well as any any other kind of survival training, hunger training should be something that you do regularly...you'll be surprised at just what psychological effects gnawing hunger can have on the individual, and also on a collective.

It can cause depression, fatigue (obviosly), fogging of logical thinking, irrational behaviour...the more you teach your body to adapt to operating on minimal calories, the far better you will fare, and the more 'hardened' your body will be

Can you or anybody on this thread recommend some good survival books for beginners and some good spots for 'survival trips'.