The First Moments AFTER! What YOU Need To Do Immediately After SHTF…

Intro: As I read the posts on MD’s Blog the other day I was thinking about our prepping. I figured we are very well prepared but it was also obvious that there were some areas where we could improve. One thought led to another and soon I was deep into thoughts of #10 cans and ammo! I was brought back to attention by movement outside of my office window. A small group of deer was browsing the forest floor. I was pleased to see that they had survived an especially hard winter and thought how it was that they didn’t have to prepare for each season …….. just eat as much as they could before snow covered the ground and their browse.

One thought led to another and then it hit me! We are all working so hard to be ready; everyone is talking about their preparations for the SHTF ……….. we all want to be ready for whatever unpleasant times the future may hold. But……….What about “AFTER” the SHTF? I mean immediately after! How we act during the first few critical moments or hours after an event will to a great extent determine if we’re even around to live in a new world and enjoy all those dehydrated meals. Kind of like we are all athletes preparing for the big game, exercising to get our muscles in shape, eating healthy food, buying special equipment but not giving much thought to “getting” to the actual game we’re preparing for.

Seems like every now and then this issue arises as a sideline to another topic but, as far as I know, it hasn’t been addressed directly. The “Conflicted Tuesday” scenarios are great as they tend push our thoughts in this direction as we try to figure out what we’d do for a given set of circumstances. This article offers some of my thoughts about what we can/should do to successfully ride out those initial moments after the SHTF. Acronyms are a great memory aid and teaching tool and, as you can see, I’ve used that technique here.

A = Assessment: The first thing to be done is to assess your actual situation. This must be done pretty much without regard for whatever it is that has caused the SHTF. To use an oft quoted saying; “It is what it is”. Regardless of what you were doing when the SHTF, you have now been forced into a state of flux. An immediate and accurate critical assessment of your situation will be the best tool you have at your disposal to ensure survival. As you make observations you will begin to develop a picture of your surroundings. Use this mental picture to help you establish the facts.

F = Facts: Are you hurt? What has happened? Where are you? Must you decide between fight and flight? What do I do next? Odds are good that there will be little to no information immediately available for you to base your decisions on. Expect all electronic communications to have ceased so you’ll have to rely on your observational skills and powers of deduction. I’ve only been in a SHTF type situation once and then it was what would be considered a local event ………… if you call something that effected several hundred square miles local! Let me share the story with you: I was living California when the 1989 Loma Prieta California earthquake occurred.

At work in Sunnyvale, I knew right away that it was a bad quake. When the ground had stopped its initial rock and roll there was a total loss of power. The silence after the quake was unsettling. From one end of the radio dial to the other there was nothing being broadcast ……. just static. Nearby buildings appeared to have ridden out the quake with minimal damage but I could see smoke rising in the distance.

I’ve always thought of myself as a logical thinker as I’m an engineer and it kind of goes with the trade ……….. but the magnitude of this event was outside my experience. The quake had put me into a situation where immediate decisions were required. At first, the only facts I knew for sure was that there had been a big quake knocking out all power and there was a fire somewhere.

I didn’t know if the problems were localized, whether or not my wife was okay (she’s a nurse and was working in the O.R. on the third floor of a large hospital), how bad the roads would be as I tried to get home (10 miles away), would our home still be standing when I got there, and so on. My fact sheet at that time read: Big Earthquake, No Power, No Radio, Car runs okay, I’m not hurt nor is anyone else around me! I decided that I needed to get home ASAP. As I slowly drove I found traffic gridlock. No traffic lights were working. Many large storage buildings had partially collapsed into the road and sections of the roadway were damaged. (Much later I would find out about the collapsed freeway to the north).

Each of these observations added to my growing ‘known facts” list. I made it home safely without incident. Once home, I focused on the immediate situation and adjusted as conditions changed. I knew that my wife would stay at the hospital and contact me as soon as she could (if she was able to). I decided to wait 24 hours before trying to go to the hospital. It was more than 20 hours before I talked with her ……… she was okay! The hospital had extensive damage and all of the patients had been evacuated to the parking lot! She finally made it home two days later.

Itemizing the facts should be done before you take action. Prioritize the known facts with regard towards those that threaten your immediate survival heading your list. Your fact list may be small to begin with but it will grow as things evolve. Be prepared to revise your immediate plans if the circumstances dictate. Once you’ve evaluated the facts you will then be able to take action with a greater chance of survival.

T = Threats: Analyze your situation in terms of threats to your safety. Identify them and quickly categorize them as immediate or intermediate. Once you’ve assessed the situation and the known facts you will need to take action. You won’t be any help to your family if you don’t survive! What do you need to do first? The sequence of your actions will prove to be critical to you and your family’s survival. “Temerity” is defined by Webster as “unreasonable or foolhardy contempt of danger or opposition, Rashness or Recklessness”. This is not how you want to act! If you’ve taken time to assess the situation and have made note of the facts as you see them, the last thing you want to do is proceed with abandon throwing caution to the wind as you try to bull your way ahead. Of course things will be moderated by considerations for your loved ones. Issues such as whether or not you’re alone, where you are, where your family is, what actions you must now take and so on must all be quickly determined. Only you know your limitations so the answers to these questions must be realistic. Prioritize the “immediate” from the “eventual”. Focus on gaining control of your circumstances and you will begin to find the strength that comes from having a plan.

E = Engage: “To actively participate”, not the wedding ring thing. The military and others tend to use the term “situational awareness” to describe this. Every day we are all actively engaged as we go about our routines (driving, working, going for a walk or hike, etc.). But, we do this all more or less subconsciously. We’re usually operating in a somewhat relaxed mode (unless you happen to live or work in a very bad neighborhood) where we are surrounded by the familiar. Our senses are turned on but they are operating like elevator music ………… low and in the background! After the SHTF we must shift gears and become more like a hunter after a dangerous predator. We must pay heed to all that is going on around us. You may find yourself in an area where you are intimately knowledgeable of your surroundings ……… but things have changed. The buildings and roads may look the same but the people around you are not! The sights, smells, noises, and especially our natural animalistic intuition for danger must become more pronounced if we are to survive.

R = React: Based on what you have discerned you will need to react to your situation. Being a Prepper is a pro-active condition ………. you’re preparing for the future. At this point in time your ability to react quickly and thoughtfully will enhance your chance for survival! I repeat: Surviving an actual event will depend on your ability to react appropriately to your circumstances in a timely manner. If you are suddenly thrown into a frightening or threatening crisis you must be able to react according to an intelligent plan. In my opinion it is not true that any action is better than no action. (See “Temerity” above!). Be sure you take time to think through what you’re going to do before you do it! But be quick about it! If you freeze (deer in the headlights) you’ll find yourself to be a victim rather than a survivor.

Summation: The comments above were written with the first few minutes after a SHTF or TEOTWAWKI event in mind ……. those first moments when you realize that it has happened, it’s real! I believe that they are applicable to the long term situation as well. If we are able to survive the first few minutes, hours and days of an event we will find ourselves able to take advantage of all our preparations ………….. we’ll be ready to put our prepping plan to work.

Discuss this with your group. Take time now to create a simple plan that will give you, your family, and any other folks in your group a common “initial reaction” to a SHTF event. We all react to stress differently so this guide is a simple way to tip the odds in your favor. Plan as if phone communications and transportation will be nonexistent. Decide on and agree to the critical details:

– Where will you all go to meet up? Home, BOL, etc.
– Determine the length of time (walking) for each person to get from their furthest expected location to the gathering place.
– If you have a short or long term BOL, but a different location will be used as the initial gathering place, how long will you wait for missing members before you bug out?
– Will you attempt SAR if members of your group are missing?
– How long will you wait for everyone to show up at the agreed upon location before any SAR is attempted?
– Will anyone, such as children at school or the elderly, need to be gathered up or escorted?
– Will those people to be escorted remain in place? Where?
– Designate realistic responsibilities while paying heed to the ability of each person to accomplish their assigned task.
– Which of you will be the decision maker? Designate an alternate leader.

Most of us spend our daylight hours in repetitive patterns; home, work, school, shopping, etc. Unless you are a long haul trucker, pilot, travel for business, etc. the odds are good that you’ll be fairly close to your castle when the SHTF. Use this proximity to your advantage. Consider making a simple map with multiple alternative routes for each member of your group. Show where they are likely to be and the subsequent potential routes to your gathering location. Figure out alternate ways to get everyone to the chosen gathering location. Print out a small note (specific to each individual) with the details of your overall plan and listing their assignment and instructions. They should keep this note on their person at all times. Make a copy of each note and, along with the individual route maps, store them for future reference. That way those at the gathering location will know where a “missing” member may be travelling.

The power of positive thinking is one of the best tools you can carry with you. You will not survive if you don’t believe you will. Resolve to succeed! Bravado and tentative actions will only put you in harm’s way ……… you’ve got to have faith in yourself to follow through with your decisions. If you’ve got a plan, whether it is a plan to simply get you through the early stages of a SHTF situation or one to be followed for the longer term, you are more likely to be successful.

By Dan W

www.thesurvivalistblog.net

When Man Becomes Zombie

This is what happened in Haiti, after the 2010 earthquake, when trucks came loaded with food and started handing it out to hungry residents.I must have watched this video about 10 times in a row. It terrifies me every single time, but I still watch it. I can’t help it. You don’t get to see people acting like starving wolves every day. It’s shocking, like an exotic disease that us, Americans, can only see on Discovery Channel. But the truth is… this has happened here, in the USA, a million times. And it will happen more and more often, as soon as the food crisis ravages stores and supermarkets and food prices hit new records.

It’s not a matter of if, but of how soon? And I’ll show you exactly why.

It all started with an article I read on shtfplan.com, “Zombie Entertainment: A Lesson in Cognitive Dissonance and the Red Pill”. Sounds very complicated, but the idea behind it is very simple: in extreme situations, people forget how to be people and become animals. Zombies, if you like, since it’s fashionable.

source: shtfplan.com

It’s a proven scientific fact: when confronted with uncomfortable, surprising situations, people are more likely to engage into immoral, violent behaviour. According to Kimberly Paxton, the author of the article, this is called “cognitive dissonance”, one of Dr. Festinger’s behavioral theories.

It can be described as a powerful mental discomfort when a person is caught between two opposite (or different) values: the reality that requires a behaviour society would normally reject… and his/her moral belief system.

Want to guess which one of these two completely vanishes? It’s the moral system because it gets in the way of survival. Unconsciously, your mind blocks your principles, your values, your education… and unleashes an animalic behaviour that will help you survive. How scary is that? Imagine that, in half a second, everything you knew about yourself disappears and Dr. Jekyll suddenly turns to Mr. Hyde.

Something like this:

The classic Black Friday compilation. Starts off alright, people laughing and having fun, waiting to get in the store and buy lots of stuff they don’t need… and then… hell breaks loose. Men, women, children, elders… they all fight, bite, swear, yell and threaten each other. And all for a few useless items on sale. Can you imagine what these people would do if they had NO food, NO water, and NO power?

They take over YOUR town.

source: www.ebaumsworld.com

New Orleans was kneed down by looters after Katrina had already ravaged the city. People who once were friends and neighbors started breaking into each other’s homes and looted like there was no tomorrow.

Right now, you might not be able to picture just how easy it is to turn from a respectable human being to an animal blinded by hate. But, as it has been proved over and over again for centuries… all it takes is a frantic mob, the feeling you’re under pressure and someone to start a fight or break a window… and there you go! Chaos sets in.

source: abcnews.go.com

And it doesn’t even have to get that tragic for the fight to begin… People start acting like beasts the minute they’re pulled out of their comfort zone. And Hurricane Sandy showed us that, better than ever. Just look at what happens right here, in the U.S, when gas becomes rare and precious:

That was filmed about a month and a half ago. Not during Medieval times. Not for the movie Fight Club. And it’s not some candid camera kind of prank, either. It’s for real. Somewhere, at a gas station in New York, people were attacking each other like madmen, because they were frustrated from sitting in line for gas!

So why are we even surprised when we read something like…

source: www.foxnews.com

“As the small amount of food ran out, the survivors debated whether they should eat the pilot (who had previously died from a head injury).

“We thought about the pilot, I don’t know how to say it … to feed ourselves from him. We thought about this, but some people were not in agreement because the situation was already so extreme,” Suazo said.”

That sounds absolutely gruesome, doesn’t it? And it’s remarkably similar to that plane crash in 1972 when members of an Uruguayan rugby team actually fed on their friends and teammates to stay alive. When I first heard of this, many years ago, I was disgusted and couldn’t even imagine what kind of monsters would do that for their own survival. And then, in 2008, I read the news on the Chilean plane crash… and somehow, the picture became clearer.

I realized people will never be people when dealing with disasters or crises. Not ever! Not because humanity isn’t evolving, but because there’s a stronger urge deep down that takes over like a demon, to make sure we survive.

Unfortunately, this is a burden we have to bear. And, to keep it under the surface, we must prepare for the coming crisis, before we find ourselves losing control. There’s no need to fight the demon. You just have to lock it inside.

By Alec Deacon

9 Martial Arts Systems For The Survivalist

Physical strength, endurance, flexibility, adaptability, and mental discipline are all attributes of a true survivor. Unfortunately, they are also attributes that are often neglected by the average survivalist. The popular assumption is that if you have sizable food storage and can shoot straight, you are ready to rock-and-roll. Reality has some harsh lessons for those with this mindset. The first and most important weapon in any prepper’s arsenal is his own body; strong, healthy, and well taken care of. If a person’s body is left to decay, no amount of gear is going to save them in the middle of a crisis situation…

Hand-to-hand combat training is sometimes treated with cynicism amongst preppers who have spent all their lives enraptured in the world of firearms. The common retort is “Why use my hands when I have my Glock…?” Indeed. Why should we? Perhaps because one day we may not have a weapon in our possession during a dangerous circumstance. Should a survivalist simply give up because he loses his gun or he runs out of ammunition? I think not.

The concept of survival in the midst of collapse and calamity is not necessarily dependent on having all the right tools at all the right times. Sometimes, you have to improvise, and the only tools you can always count on are your hands, and your (hopefully well oiled and attuned) brain. Martial Arts training hones and refines these assets to perfection, and also teaches the mind to deal with the stresses and fears associated with combat. In fact, 95% of success in martial arts revolves around learning to accept the idea of someone trying to kill you, so that you can move past the terror of the scenario and deal with it calmly and logically. Adrenaline, tunnel vision and unchecked emotion are the true enemies in any fight. We defeat ourselves long before our assailants ever touch us.

Another concept within martial arts that I find fascinating is the philosophy of Bushido, which is often mistaken as a brand of Eastern religion. Instead, it is a kind of warrior’s code; a way of dealing with adversity in one’s life. Struggling with obstacles whether self-created or created by others, requires balance and the ability to take control of the problem and apply one’s own terms instead of the terms other people try to set for you. It is about leading the battle, instead of being led, while staying true to your conscience. In the end, we should feel no need to prove anything to anyone but ourselves. Traditional martial arts still contain elements of Bushido within their methodology, and I believe such practitioners are some of the few people left in the world who operate on a legitimate warrior’s code; something we desperately need in our culture today.

I have studied multiple forms of martial arts for over 26 years, and have found many methods that would work well for the worst survival situations, and plenty that would be utterly useless. When I started my training classes for Liberty Movement individuals and families in Northwest Montana, my idea was to combine all the strategies that I felt were intuitive, easy to learn, and quick to utilize. My goal was to help students to become physically capable of self-defense within a very short period of time, without running slapdash over important factors like mental strength and intelligent application. I feel that the program has done very well so far. The following is a list of styles that I use in my curriculum…

Shotokan Karate:

Shotokan is a Japanese martial art using movements derived from defense methods common in Okinawa and streamlined for easier application. At first glance, Shotokan seems stiff and impractical, but this is not the case. Shotokan training is extremely intense, and the sparring matches can be brutal. Deep stances and sharp strikes train the body to hold ground even against a larger opponent. Shotokan practitioners can take physical damage, unlike any other style I have seen beyond perhaps Thai Kickboxing. As the student advances, the stiffness disappears, and their strikes become coldly logical and precise, almost like a killer robot…….no….seriously. Shotokan is a perfect foundation art for beginners in self-defense. If they can handle this style, they can handle anything…

Thai Kickboxing:

Thai is world famous for its fast devastating steamroller type strikes and the ability of its practitioners to take a hit and keep on going. For a crisis situation, it is imperative that the survivalist is capable of absorbing and moving past the pain of a fight. In the street, it may be a matter of life and death, or it may be a drunken adolescent brawl. In a SHTF scenario, it will ALWAYS be a matter of life and death. There is no such thing as a hand to hand fighter who can avoid every attack and come out unscathed. Plan on getting hit. With the heavy arm to leg blocks of Thai Kickboxing that act as a kind of self-made brick wall, along with devastating leg sweeps and knee breaks, this art form is perfect for the dangerous possibilities of collapse.

Western Boxing:

It’s not an Eastern martial art, but Western boxing teaches incredible punching power. Eastern martial arts focus on speed in order to inflict damage, but the bottom line is that Western boxers hit harder because they assert more body weight behind their punches; I have seen it, I have felt it, and I have dealt it. Of course, it is more important to learn speed and timing before learning to hit hard. The most powerful punches in the world are useless if all they do is sweep the air. Western boxing is an incomplete fighting system, but a fantastic addition to the survival martial artist’s repertoire.

Jiu Jitsu:

Jiu Jitsu is a grappling martial art from Japan, though you wouldn’t know it by the way the Brazilians have commercialized and franchised it. Jiu Jitsu is indeed the flavor of the decade for self-defense, and though I feel it has been way overhyped, it is an incredibly effective style for ground situations. That said, let’s be clear; Jiu Jitsu is actually a very limited fighting style, especially when you’re not in a cage and you are confronted with more than one attacker. Survivalists should learn grappling techniques so that they know how to defend against takedowns and return to their feet. In a real combat situation, you NEVER try to go to the ground on purpose. Multiple opponents will decimate you within seconds while you are trying to put a chokehold on the guy in front of you. Add a knife to the picture, and purposely jumping into close quarters with the intent to “grapple” will be a death sentence. Successful fighters will always combine Jiu Jitsu with other art forms in order to round out their abilities.

Hapkido:

Hapkido in my view is the perfect antithesis to Jiu Jitsu and any other grappling art for that matter. It should be at the top of every survivalist’s list of fighting methods. Hapkido focuses on joint locks, joint breaks, using centrifugal force, pressure points, eye gouges, throat attacks, etc. Generally, it is very difficult for someone to grapple with you if you break their fingers, wrists, hyperextend their kneecaps, or crush their windpipe. One twisted wrist could put a dedicated grappler or wrestler completely out of commission, which is why you never see these methods used in the UFC. The fights would be over quickly, and the sport’s flavor would be lost. Knowing how to counter grappling using grappling is fine, but knowing how to utterly disable a grappler is better. As a survivalist, it is important to learn both.

Eskrima / Kali:

Filipino in origin, Eskrima, and Kali revolve around a stick and knife training, and some of the deadliest blade-wielding martial artists on Earth are known to originate from these styles. The point of practicing the Filipino arts is not only to learn to attack with edged weapons, but also to defend against them. Knowing how armed assailants, trained and untrained, will move to harm you gives you a distinct edge. Understanding the motion of a knife strike allows the defender to create or close distance effectively while timing arm and wrist locks to reduce cuts and control the knife hand before serious damage to your body is done.

Taekwondo:

A Korean style, Taekwondo has received a bad rap over the past few years as an “ineffective” martial art, but usually, this criticism comes from people who have never actually practiced it. Like Jiu Jitsu, it is a style limited to a very particular range of attacks and scenarios. Taekwondo focuses on kicks to the extreme. Sport Taekwondo is not a practical measure of the style’s use, and this is where its tainted reputation comes from. The truth is, Taekwondo has the fastest and in many cases the most devastating kicks in the world. The use of kicks depends on the mastery of the fighter. If he is fast and precise, then his strikes will make his opponents feel like they’ve just been hit by an oversized utility van. If he is slow and unfocused, he will be tackled to the ground like a rag doll and pummeled in an embarrassing manner. That said, one well-placed kick can crush ribs, crack skulls, and knock an opponent into dreamland before he ever knew what hit him.

Jeet Kune Do:

Created by the venerable Bruce Lee, Jeet Kune Do’s philosophy is to adopt what works and set the rest aside. It is essentially a combination of the short-range tactics of Wing Chun combined with the long-range tactics of Japanese and Korean styles. Jeet Kune Do’s goal is to be a truly complete martial art, and so far, it has proven itself in this regard. If you can only practice one style of self-defense, this should be it. Some people attribute the adaptation methodology in self-defense to MMA, but really, it was Bruce Lee that pioneered the idea of studying multiple styles and modernizing martial arts. Because of his efforts, the offensive and defensive capabilities of Jeet Kune Do are astounding, and perfect for the survivalist delving into the world of hand-to-hand.

Ninjitsu:

When I was a kid back in the 80’s, the ninja was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I think the allure of it was its simple mythology; if you could learn martial arts, and get your hands on a black mask, you could be a superhero. No need for radioactive spiders or genetic mutation. You were a man – in a mask – with badass fists of fury, and that’s it. Of course, the portrayal of ninjitsu has become so cartoonish that people today scarcely believe it is an actual martial art. In fact, it is, and a very deadly one. The brilliance of ninjitsu really dwells in its “think outside the box” mentality. There is a sort of cleverness and unpredictability to it that makes it so dangerous. Ninja’s in feudal Japan were assassins, but they were also the guerilla fighters of their age. The combat methods of ninjitsu revolve around surprise, and misdirection, which are factors that always work in the survivalist’s favor.

There is no way around it. The Martial Arts make a survivalist better at his job, which is to thrive in the very worst possible conditions. It’s not just about fighting; it is also about developing a fighting spirit. Beyond the utility of self-defense, as survivalists, we must strengthen our inner world as much as our outer shells. It takes time, and patience, and a willingness to struggle. Any person who masters a martial art has not only shown a dedication to his own physical prowess, but he has also proven he has a mental toughness that will carry him through any catastrophe. That kind of toughness is a rare commodity in America today, and when found, should be greatly valued and encouraged, especially by the Liberty Movement.

By Brandon Smith

www.shtfplan.com