Rhody Survivalist Home: Scenarios and The Basic Plan

Here in Rhode Island we have regular hurricanes, blizzards, cold snaps and heat waves. If you are ready to survive a long term disaster, the hurricanes and blizards will seem like minor nuisances. To really be prepared you need to be ready to walk into the wilderness and live comfortably for months or even years. This is not as easy as it once was. Many of our natural resources have been depleted or contaminated. Just to name a few examples, the water today is laced with Giardia, the mighty Chestnut tree, once making up 1/4 of the hardwood population of this region is gone, and there is now an tick borne infectious disease called "Lyme Disease" which can be debilitating and lurks in nearly every vegitative patch of land. To make it worse, we are un-practiced and un-tested in the ways of the natural world. We all have a duty to prepare for the worst. If you are not prepared, you are part of the problem. When a truely major disaster hits, you don't want to be relying on the government to save you. Save yourself, your family, your friends and neighbors and show them how they too can survive winthin nature. Remember that survival is not about the "battle with nature". Instead, imerse yourself into the natural world and take your place as a part of it.

The Sacred Order:

The purpose of this presentation is to introduce to you to the notion that it is possible to survive off of the earth like our ancestors once did. This series should give you a starting point from which you can begin your journey into your native mind. When presented with a survival situation you need to prioritize your needs. As they teach at Tom Brown Jr's Tracker School: Always follow the sacred order when prioritizing your survival needs:

• Shelter
• Water
• Fire
• Food

 

Trilogy of the Survivalist:

There are three phases of the survivalist in order of importance they are: 1.Inward Feeling 2.Outward Sensing, 3.Physical. This presentation is mostly about physical survival. To be a complete survivalist however you need to be have all three legs on the survival stool. To only teach the phsyical aspects of survival without mentioning the other two would be wrong.

1. Inward Feeling
2. Outward Sensing
3. Physical

1. Inward Feeling: If you gain nothing else from these words remember this one survival skill: Have a positive attitude. Attitude is the number one survival tool. You NEED to have a positive attitude regardless of what is going on around you. If you find yourself in a survival situation it is imperitive that first you take a moment, check your attitude, and adjust it if necessary. Good practcse now is to go camping, get used to the uncomforts of living outdoors, and accept them. You will find that things that you used to find uncomfortable such as sleeping on the ground or being wet all day in the rain suddenly become energizing and envigorating. It is amazing what happens when you wake up your native mind.

Gordie works on his "Inward Feeling"

2. Outward Sensing: Allowing survival to become a spiritual experience is what makes it a magical experiecne. If you practice these survival skills and approach nature as you would a family member or cherished friend with respect and adoration the magic will happen. Once you have immersed yourself into nature close your eyes and try to sense where the animals are or a certain type of tree might be. Then, go find it. One of the best exercises to practice outward sensing is to find a quiet spot outdoors and sit there quietly twice a day and clear your mind. Become completely absorbed by nature and then, watch the magic happen.

3. Physical: Mostly what we will discuss in this presentation. Survival skills and techniques.

The Scenario:

To be ready for a disaster of any length and magnatude you need to be prepared for a "Progression to Primitive" over a course of ten years. In other words, as time goes on you will gradually shed the crutches of the modern world and become proficient with the ancient forgotten skills of our ancestors.

Initially, this involves having a "ditch bag". Your ditch bag contains everything you need to make the progression comfortably and safely so you can shed items as you no longer need them. Your ditch bag should go everywhere with you. It will keep you safe if you are stranded in your car in a blizzard and it will keep you safe if you decide to take it backpacking in the wilderness for an extended survival camp.

You need to get together with your family and friends, or your "tribe". You and your tribe should assume that in a major disaster all forms of communication will be lost and everyone should converge on your primary survival camp with their individual ditch bags. The primary survival camp can be your home or the home of a friend or loved one who has a little nature and diversity around their home. You should also have a secondary survival camp in mind where you and your tribe can escape to if your primary survival camp is compromised or unsafe. The secondary survival camp should be much more remote, perhaps a family vacation home or camp deep in the mountains. Both survival camps should have a survival cache burried on site. Burying the cache keeps it safe from murarders so that your items are still there when you get there. Finally if your secondary survival camp is compromised you will have to move deeper into the wilderness with your ditch bag probably hiding and evading other people as much as possible. The chart below illustrates a basic disaster flow of events:

Progression to Primitive:

Progression to primitive is a transition period that a person must go through on their way to the Native Heart and Mind. Modern man cannot be expected to walk into the wilderness prepared to live the way our ancestors once did, at least not right away. A slower progression will increase your chances of survival and decrease the stresses of making the adaptation. A good example is this: If you don't know the basics of firebuilding how can you ever be successful with a bow drill? Also, the first two weeks after a disaster will most likely be critical. Having the supplies available to make it through the first two weeks will give you time to get your skills ready for the next year and so on.

Ditch Bag ~ What to Carry:

The Ditch bag is the most important componnet of this survival system. It will enable you to not just save yourself but help others less prepared than you. The ditch bag needs to be small and light or else it won't be convenient to carry around. You should use your ditch bag often to get familiar with its consists and make changes where needed. Backpacking and taking survival trips with just your ditch bag is an excellent way to test your equipment and hone your own skills. Remember, after 2 years the ditch bag is gone and you have made the progession to primitive. The ditch bag is just a temporary means to get you there. Below are some suggestions of things you may want to stow in your ditch bag.

 

Primary and Secondary Caches ~ What to Stow: (Bury if Possible)

The Caches will replenish your ditch bags and provide you with the items you need for a whole group to survive. You want to have as much stuff as possible in you caches as you will be helping other people who weren't as prepared as you. If your Primary Survival Camp will be at your home remember that your house may be destroyed in a major disaster. If you bury your caches they will be less likely to be lost with your home and they will be out of sight from theives. This is especially important at your secondary survival camp as you won't be there initially to protect your supplies and you know that if you need to head to your secondary camp things are going to be bad out there and you may really need your cache supplies. As people are making the progression to primitive they are really going to value some of the things in your caches. You may be able to barter items for some of the things you need and you may be able to help people out. Your caches can be burried in waterproof plastic tubs or even metal trash containes which act like faraday cages protecting electronics inside. You want to be prepared for several different scenario from Nuclear attack to major Solar Flare power grid failures. Go over several scenarios in your head and try to determine which items you may need in these situations. Always keep the progression to primitive in mind and determine what items you need to make the transition. The following table contains sugestions for survival caches:

 

 

Could it happen?.....

On a cold January night an earth-facing sunspot erupts in multiple CME's (Coronal Mass Ejections). The plasma wave leaving the sun is recorded only for an instant before NASA satallites observing the sun are overcome by the wave and cease transmission. On earth the flare is visible with the naked eye and warnings are immediatly sent out to utillities around the world. Only 20 hours later the blast hits earth and bright red auroras like none seen since 1859 cover the planet. In the first minutes of the magnetic storm indiuced direct currents in transmission wires overwhelm and destroy large transformers worldwide causing a global blackout. Over the next 24 hourse Earths magnetic field is continually battered by solar storms. Power lines around the world feed currents into businesses and homes causing small fires. With no water to fight these small fires they quickly become large fires. Just 12 hours after the first Solar Flare hits, there are raging fires all over the world. Cities burn, forests burn, homes burn. The biggest catastrophe in the history world has begun. Over the next week people try to help each other, putting out fires by hand if there is water near by, helping the sick and injured. The skys are dark with smoke from fires buring uncontrolled around the world. Food rots in warehouses, hospitals struggle to function without power, Diabetics cannot get insulin, existing clean water supplies are quickly becoming poluted by the acrid runoff of the burnt landscape. Within a month the food riots begin as survivors begin fighing over what little food is left. The masses that have been left homeless have been crowded into shelters where there is no food, dirty water, and no sanitation. Diseases long controlled by modern medicine are now free to infect the population. Starting in the shelters the sick begin infecting others and as people flee the shelters they begin to infect every group of humans they encounter. Nuclear power plants around the world begin boiling their spent fuel pools. Reactors across the country go critical. As people become more desparate they begin looking for protection and order and start forming gangs. These gangs, controlled by power hungry warlords try to control the remaining parts of the population. As food and clean water become more scarce these warlord sand their gangs begin hunting some of the only food that is left: people. To escape this madness you pack up your loved ones and head to the woods. You and your family need to maintain a low-pro for a while while disease finished off the gangs and warlords. Lets say: 10 years.