When it comes to urban survival, there is no one size fits all solution. You must prepare in various ways when it comes to surviving an emergency or crisis situation. Each situation may require a different and possibly unique set of skills to deal with the crisis. Because of this, it’s important for you to plan and be prepared for each emergency to ensure the survival of yourself and your family.

Of course, this is an easy statement for me to make as this is easier said than done. You have to find the time to train in various scenarios and you have to be able to develop strategies and tactics that will help you to cope with these varied extreme situations.

Your most basic strategy is to try to keep calm. This will be hard, but you have to do it. Be alert and keep your wits about you. Let’s look at some other areas that will help you get out alive.

Basically, when I am advising on urban survival I talk about two main sections: honing your street skills and being prepared for danger in your home.

1. Street Skills

Let’s begin with your street skills. The type of skills I recommend here are the skills that will be helpful in extreme survival situations such as cases where you may lose your home or at least be surviving in the streets and cannot get to your home immediately.

First, you must have the mindset that you can and will survive. If you give up, you are most likely done. When I taught at the Air Force Office of Special Investigations Academy located in Washington DC, I always emphasized to my agent trainees that they could survive even if shot or stabbed. Many of them grew up on images of people getting shot on TV and being knocked on their ass and not being able to get up. You can get up and you can survive. So, do what you need to develop that survival mindset.

During a crisis situation in an urban environment, your first duty should be to follow the golden rule of three:

1. Find food
2. Find water
3. Find shelter

These 3 items, above all else, are essential to your survival in time of crises. The next two are:

1. Getting first aid
2. Getting rescued

The strategy and thought process behind this is that you need to learn lifesaving skills well before you need them. If a crisis strikes tomorrow, do you have the skills you need to survive? Have you learned them already?

First, try to acquire a better knowledge of your environment and your area. Be aware of such things as any gang territories you need to avoid for instance.

Second, sound self-defense skills are always beneficial. It may likely come down to your having to fight your way out of some situations, even if you have a weapon. You cannot just start shooting and stabbing people, if you can even bring yourself to do it… it ain’t easy!

Moreover, you need to gain knowledge about the benefits of various articles used in your day-to-day life. You’ll never know what may come in handy during apparently inescapable situations! In my Special Agent Combative course I have a section on improvised weapons for instance. Almost anything can be used as a weapon. But I am not just talking about weapons. You could have to syphon gas from a car as an example. Do you know how to?

2. Home Preparedness

So, I spoke briefly about surviving in the streets. There is much more to be said, just check out some of the other articles offered by FightFast for other ideas.

You need to learn how to protect yourself in your home. And, you need to involve your family in the planning process. In doing so, they’ll understand the importance of each of their roles during an emergency situation when the strategies you develop are implemented. Let look at a few home security tactics.

3· Home Security

You should think about different types of situations you can find yourself in during a crisis. These are called Threat Vectors. You must imagine every way you can be attacked in your home. Once you do this you focus on the attackers, who they may be and how they might actually attack you in your home.Once this is done, you check your home for vulnerabilities to each imagined threat. A vulnerability is a weakness that exists in your defenses against the threats. This is where the attacker could take advantage.

For example, in my home, I have cameras placed at the front, rear, and sides of my home. That may sound extreme to you, but a few years back thieves broke into every car on my block including mine. I bought the cameras along with upgrading my alarm system. I can now see anyone approaching my home. Once I was alerted that my front door alarm went off while I was at work. I could see via my cell phone that there was a man at my door. Thankfully it turned out to be the mailman, who wears civilian clothes. But at least I knew what was happening. My system also has sensors at every door and window as well as glass break systems to warn me if someone breaks a window to get in.

So according to the threat vectors and vulnerabilities of your home, you should find ways to secure your home. You should also make sure you have adequate transportation available should you have to “bug out” and the transportation should be well stocked with any necessary supplies. I talked about a “bug out” bag in another article.

Some possibilities you may have to prepare for include:

• Nuclear disaster: a simple fallout shelter outside your home or in the basement should be properly built.
• Biological warfare: Bio-filters, duct tapes, basic drugs, and first aid should be stocked up.
• Chemical: Chemical filters, duct tapes, steel plates, plastic should be stored for use.
• Even flood situations.

You also need to keep certain weapons handy for use in case of home invasions. You need to invest in firearms. I used to have many, but I have boiled it down to three, a shotgun, a high-powered rifle, and an automatic handgun. I used to also have a revolver and may get another as they don’t malfunction like automatics do. One other thing I plan to do is study the use of bows and arrows. This could come in handy if I have to hunt for food and either run out of bullets or need to be quiet.

You should also have sprinkler and security systems and know how to properly maintain and use them. Additionally, you should have, know how to use and inspect fire extinguishers on a regular basis.

Protecting Your Family

I mentioned earlier that you need to involve your family in planning for your, and their, protection. A good planning process and regular drills prove to be beneficiary in this regard.

All members of the family should be well versed with basic self-defense and firearm safety skills. None of you have to become black belts if you don’t want to, but you should learn some basic skills, from a reality-based system, and become proficient with those skills, meaning practice them on occasion.

Food Storage

Make sure that you have an adequate food supply. Store foods that have a longer shelf life such as freeze-dried food.

Water Storage

My wife says I have a water fetish because I keep cases of bottled water. You can stock portable water in plastic drums or canisters. If you have the budget for it, you can have a 1,000-gallon capacity stainless steel tank installed. If nothing else, keep cases of water around like I do.

Evacuation

You need to properly plan for alternative secure shelters and hold regular mock drills for evacuation. This will help you and your family to get out at a moment’s notice during emergencies. I have a two-story home, so I keep a couple of flexible ladders my family can use to escape from an upstairs window if we need to.

Getting Rescued

Start setting up signals as soon as your immediate survival needs are met. The basic idea behind this is to draw attention of your rescuers to your position. Use a mirror, flashlight, red flags, branches of trees and fire to attract attention. Don’t depend on others for help. Instead, keep a look out for non-profit organizations employed in rescuing people, like the Red Cross or FEMA, or even the national guard.

If you think crises or emergency situation cannot happen to you, just keep in mind the Louisiana flooding situations and all the weather-related disasters that have been occurring lately. These often result in looting and other situations of which you may have to survive. And during these turbulent times, who knows what’s in store for us in the immediate future.

No doubt urban survival is a ceaseless struggle to stay alive. Don’t be surprised if your wits are constantly put to the test. This can prove to be extremely unsettling and difficult. So, it’s important to plan ahead and be prepared for any emergencies.

You don’t want to be caught off guard without the right survival knowledge and equipment when something happens. Knowing the best tips and tricks to surviving a disaster can be the difference between life and death, and we here at Fight Fast are here to help.

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