Urban Survival Skills To Keep Your Ass Alive

survive2thrive.ne ^ | 7/14/11 | Steve

[Kartographer]

Even if you are fortunate enough to have a retreat out in the country getting to your safe haven maybe impossible during upheaval. Roads blocked by wrecked and fuelless vehicles will stop most bugouters in their tracks. Maybe you were born lucky and can make it out safely before the balloon bursts, then what? People in rural areas, will start shooting if threatened by mobs of refugees fleeing the city. Don’t expect to be welcomed with arms outstretched. Most country folks don’t trust outsiders; you will likely be greeted with a load of buckshot and not the cup of fresh coffee and meaningful conversation you hoped for.

[Travis McGee]

Are you serious? A farmstead/estate will be like a combo supermarket and hardware store to desperate wanderers.

Who may also have scoped deer rifles, and a lot of patience. Just hide in the bush 400 yards away, recon who comes and goes and when, then shoot the biggest man who seems to be in charge.

Even if it doesn’t work, (say, you call neighbors adn they rescue your family and roust the bad guys), Dad is still dead.

Or do you have some super NV/FLIR setup, operating 24/7 in 360* in automatic mode, that will alert you to every human approach within rifle range of your abode?

Or do you have enough troops living at your house to patrol the rifle-range distances 24/7?

Most people don’t.

[Travis McGee]

There are a few aspects of marine mobile survival I’m keeping close to the vest, but I’ll private mail you.

[Travis McGee]

That is frigging AMAZING! Landing uphill on a mountain ridge at 11,000 feet! Wow! What a pilot!

Driving from Tucson westward, you pass Table Mountain AZ. I always thought there HAD to be a landing strip on top. If you helo’d in a small dozer, you could improve the runway and build homes up there. And there are plenty of table mountains in the West.

[SUSSA]

I understand. My question was more your advice to someone whose skills are light going out and buying a 30 ft yacht thinking they can sail off when TSHTF and be fine at sea for 180 days.

[Travis McGee]

If folks are infirm or suffer motion sickness they can’t get over, then sailing is out. Otherwise, if you can learn to ride a bike, you can learn to sail.

But the utility of the sailboat escape pod option is not only for pulling thousand-mile voyages. A sailboat allows you to coast-hop from a really horrible location to a better one. One state might be reduced to Somalia or Rwanda, while another might be relatively safe. Forget driving, you will just get trapped in fatal gridlock. A small plane or a sailboat will allow you to bypass the gridlock, roadblocks and ambuses.

Read about John Guzzwell, who sailed a home-made 20 footer from California to Australia to return to his girlfriend. Or many other similar stories. It’s viable, if you are healthy enough for hiking and camping and agile enough to ride a bike, you CAN sail. As long as you are not chronically seasick, which some folks are.

[CodeToad]

To paraphrase someone else: I don’t see how with those balls that airplane wasn’t overweight!

[Roccus]

As I said earlier, the topography of WV is our biggest asset. You talk about 400 yard shots. Are YOU serious. Do you understand what the land is like here in WV? 400 yd. shots would be more than a ridgeline away. Roads are narrow and winding. The surrounding woods were timbered in the early 20th century and are now grown back full of near impenetrable undergrowth. There are NO “farmstead/estate combo supermarkets” in or near my holler (hollow). Towns around here are little more than a wide spot in the road. The county seat, pop. 7K, is several miles and many hills and valleys away. The nearest city of ANY size is about 50 miles. The only threat I and my neighbors believe we will face, is that of urbanites trying to forage in the country while the grid is down. Though some MAY know what they are doing, the cost of taking our area will be very high with little to gain from the loses. Remember, these groups will NOT BE INTERESTED in capturing territory. Their goals will be goods and women.
You seem to be talking about invading (or perhaps our own) armies. That would be an entirely different matter and one that I do not see happening.

[Raven6]

BFLR...

[Travis McGee]

Clearly you have planned for every possible contingency, and nobody will ever sneak inside of rifle range in all that cover. Good luck, I mean it.

[Ditter]

bump for later

[Roccus]

Though I've often enjoyed and learned from your posts in the past, right now I have a different take. It seems more like you're in a “I'm the smartest guy here and I'm gonna live and you're all gonna die” mode. That you've managed to take the steps that you have is laudable. Circumstances permitted you to take those steps. Others are in different circumstances and prepare commensurately.
Good luck to you too.

[Errant]

Here's something that I consider essential for anyone who may be thinking of mobility or who may need to bug out.

With a large enough microSD, it will hold a Topo of an entire continent. The Garmin satellite images from their download service are amazingly accurate. I've found them to be within 10' while driving around my property on an ATV and the resolution allows you to view down to individual tree level. I have the Oregon model since it's small enough to put in my shirt or pants pocket. Uses 2 AA rechargeable batteries that last over 12 hours.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

What makes you so convinced that those services will still be available? If the electricity goes off, there will be nothing to relay the data from the satellite network.

[RegulatorCountry]

If the situation has deteriorated to such an extent that fleeing becomes necessary, why do you believe Garmin’s GPS service would still be functional?

It may or may not be. Leaving familiar terrain in a societal breakdown sounds suicidal to me. The only way I’d consider it is if remaining where I am removed all doubt and the mere possibility elsewhere would be an improvement.

[Errant]

GPS satellites systems are not your average DirectTV sats. They have more hardening and more backup. It would take at at least an EMP to take them out or direct targeting by anti-satellite weapons. Both not likely in a economic collapse.

The above said, I never travel without backup maps or my trusty compass.

[Errant]

Leaving familiar terrain in a societal breakdown sounds suicidal to me.

I take it that you don't live in or near NYC, LA, or NO then.

Also, what if you needed to go rescue a loved one or friend and get them to safer area? For a few hundred bucks, it could prove to be a life saver. That's my call and what your personal equipment list consists of is certainly up to you.

[little jeremiah]

Within the next few months (haven’t been keeping close track though) a bunch of comets are going to pass by, earth will likely or for sure be swept by some tails; many of which have asteroids and other stuff in them.

And funny thing is NASA not too long ago sent some kind of “be prepared” memo to employees. Junk passing by could potentially damage satellites. I would not count on GPS but would always have all kinds of reliable backout that I knew how to use.

[Errant]

I would not count on GPS but would always have all kinds of reliable backout that I knew how to use.

And what might that be??? Yes, this is a test...

[little jeremiah]

I guess compasses and maps! And being familiar with terrain.

Personally I’m not bugging out or planning to go anywhere. I am as remote as I can get without hiking off into national forest.

[Errant]

Sometimes plans change and it is good to have options. My point was that most people don't have even the basics for navigating overland or over water for that matter. Many don't even own a road map, much less a topographical map of their area or a useful compass.

POWs hoping to escape, risked their lives to obtain or create what today can obtained from Walmart or Amazon for only a few bucks.