Urban Survival - Volume 1

During this lecture we will examine why it is so essential to remain cool, calm and collected in crisis situations to ensure that you make the best decisions and take the most appropriate actions relevant to the situation you face. The lecture will discuss the necessity we each face in honestly accepting that we are probably not well equipped to face life & death realities. It is about determining where we are at in that regard and then committing to addressing any deficit. The lecture will close by introducing you to the emotional resilience concept of learning to 'ride the tiger' in terms of managing your internal fight or flight response. 

This lesson explains to you one of the unique design attributes of this survival system. Survival-in-depth is a unique concept and one that emanated from the background of your current instructor. Based on proved SAS training, planning and operational principles the In-depth concept is to ensure that you have layers of capability and conversely redundancy built into all that you do. This ensure that you have a solid set of foundations to your physical capability. By the end of this lesson you will understand where this concept originated, how it is employed in other disciplines and how your instructor has applied it to the design of your urban survival system. 

This lecture will discuss the human body's fight or flight response when faced with life and death circumstances. We explain that this is part of our primal survival design and that it is hardwired into our neurology. It is software that will activate whenever we perceive a threat to life or limb and that we need to understand how to mange it effectively or else be driven blindly by it. By the conclusion of this lecture you will have a good level of understanding of exactly how your fight or flight response will affect you in any survival situation. This knowledge will allow you to begin working with it to ensure that you make the best decisions and take the most appropriate actions possible under survival duress. 

This lesson continues the exploration of the hidden primal software that each of us operate on when placed under extreme duress situations. It expands on the Swiss researcher Elisabeth Kubler Ross's work in explaining how the human mind performs in times of individual crisis. This is essential knowledge for any survivor as simply being 'aware' of it in your own psychology allows potential to manage it effectively. By the lecture's end you will have a solid understanding of the the D.A.B.D.A model and its relevance to survival mindset.

Today's Special Forces soldiers have benefited from enhanced training efficiency and effectiveness. This new understanding owes its development to ongoing research and expanded understanding of the physiology and psychology interface. Combat breathing techniques have been taught to modern soldiers to enable them to operate complex battle systems including their personal firearms under the 'fog of war' conditions that characterise the battlefield. 

Survival breathing has been derived by the author to extrapolate proven benefits combat breathing to the survival space. This empowers the survivor to control breathing rates, manage your increased heart rate and to effectively ride the tiger of fight and flight. This lecture will introduce survival breathing practice to you, enabling you to master it and apply it to any stressful situation you may face. Doing so will assist you to remain cool, calm and collected.

W.O.W Technique; Wide Eyes, Oxygen and Walk. A totally unique technique derived by the author to assist survivors to develop increased emotional resilience in the face of calamity. With origins embedded in diverse experience areas such as being bullied, tracking and patrolling, close quarter battle and unconventional operations this technique has been conceptualised and taught by the author to explain what many Special Forces soldiers do naturally. This is a stand out explanation of how you can add it to your emotional resilience platform and handle all manner of extreme stress events.

By the lectures end you will own this technique and be able to begin practicing it immediately to bolster your personal survival system. 

Many real survival situations only become apparent to the survivor as they slowly realise that they are facing a problem. There is no sudden impact rather there is a slow dawning realisation that something is now very wrong. Perhaps the weather has closed in on some hikers unexpectedly and they suddenly need to make shelter and lay low for days, while only expecting to be completing a short hike. This 'low speed' unfolding of events calls for an emotional control technique that is paced to its nature. Sitting still and practicing 'busy hands - quiet mind' with the aim of increasing situational objectivity, enhances self-control and problem solving potential in the human being. 

After completing this lesson you will understand how to apply 'Survival Tea Ceremony' concepts to your life and to any low speed emergency situation you may face. A simple but pragmatic technique that helps you think to survive.

Humans are a gregarious species, they survive best as a collaborative group. This lecture discusses this concept in contrast to the popular media 'survivor' stereotype of every family for itself. After competing this lecture you will be conversant with the benefits afforded by a collaborative group approach to survival and be capable of incorporating it into your emergency planning.

This introductory lecture leads us towards the examination of the requisite knowledge and skill layers evident in the 'Survival-In-Depth' approach adopted by the course. We start to consider the respective life support priorities of urban survival. These being shelter/protection, water, food, fire and other important survival considerations. Developing capability to achieve each of these life priorities is where we go to next on the course, while always remembering that without the emotional toughness to keep it together even these basic needs can be more challenging to meet.

In this lecture we examine the vulnerability of the human being to the extremes of heat and cold collectively referred to as exposure. We outline the accepted temperature tolerance boundaries of the body to ensure that you have a sound understanding of why you need to protect yourself and others from crossing those boundaries and finding yourself in a health crisis. We also introduce the concept of using the built environment to establish security protection to you and group in urban survival situations. By the end of this lecture you will have an enhanced understanding of your body's level of vulnerability to the external environment and physical threats to well being.

In this lecture we consider what is likely to be available in the urban space to be utilised as an emergency shelter. We do we need to think about? What resources might we stumble across? How big should we make it? How do we ensure that it is secure? All these questions and more will be addressed in this lecture. After completing this lecture you will understand the fundamentals of what you will need to do to achieve shelter from the elements and security from threats when constructing an urban survival shelter.

In an urban survival situation you may need to take refuge in an abandoned building or some other structure. You will have concerns regarding your personal security. How do you manage to get some down time and rest? This lecture will discuss the basics of hardening a room or building to enhanced the level of protection it affords you. Rest is a weapon and a necessity. You must have a strategy in place to allow you to rest and recharge without continual stress and anxiety. Here we provide you with simple tactics that allow you to do just that. 

This short lecture introduces you to the necessity of having safe drinking water available, a factor that becomes problematic during many disaster events. The lecture explores the approximate timeline that most experts agree is the length of time it takes the average human to expire from a total lack of water. We discuss the ‘why’ of water purification and treatment. We explain that a strong immune system is key to survival and that failing to treat drinking water may compromise the integrity of your immune system.  

During this lesson we consider the various forms of pathogens/non-beneficial life forms, that may exist within our drinking water and would consequently compromise our health were we to ingest them. By appreciating how our water may harm us we should foster the discipline to ensure that all water we consume in survival situations is treated. By lectures end you will have a good understanding of what the nasties living in your drinking water look like, what they might do to you and that will knowledge will assist you to combat them. 

Treating your water in any survival situation is essential. Failing to do so sets you up to for failure. During this lecture we discuss the various, portable, methods of treating your drinking water to make it safe to consume. By the lecture's end you will have a sound appreciation of the various methods and techniques and be better informed as to which ones will serve you best. 

This lecture considers the matter of storing your drinking water. We examine pre-packaged options in terms of purchasing off the shelf supplies through to treating and storing your own in a range of different containers. Again we focus in on the key issue of ensuring that if we need to evacuate we can carry bulk supplies of precious drinking water with us to some extent. After completing this lecture you will understand what you need to do to best ensure you have sufficient quantities of drinking water on hand during any emergency. 

This lecture begins the discussions concerning food in emergency situations. We consider the concept of 9 meals to anarchy as a timeline for the point at which the stored food supplies run out and the supply chain has ceased to import food into the city space. We examine where fits into the priority order of human life support necessities and we discuss the reality of food stress as a pressure point in your decision making and survival mindset. By the lecture's completion you will understand these concepts well and be able to prepare your emergency food supply in a balanced and common sense manner.

In this lecture we will examine what food as a vital and necessary survival resource and life support priority. That means we need to understand what to eat, why we should eat that in order to develop our 'strong body' strategy to survive anything. We explore how the body has adapted to be able to utilise varying food options to create the vital energy it needs. We consider what and where you might source emergency food in the urban space, particularly sources of both protein and carbohydrates. Additionally, we consider minerals and vitamins that you might wish to include in your  food preparations. After completing this lecture you should have an improved understanding of how your body uses food, what foods need to be sourced by you as the urban survivor.  

In this lecture we look at the various options for storing and carrying your emergency food. We discuss pre-packaged food options such as Military rations as well as explain how we can prepare our own emergency food. By the end of this lesson you will possess a sound level of understanding how much to prepare or purchase and how you can stretch available food supplies. You will also be conversant with how to store and rotate your emergency food items. Could you sit down to a meal of roast rat? Well that is something you may need to seriously consider in you are restricted to an urban environment during a longterm outage of the supply chain. We will discuss the urban hunting and foraging aspect of survival as well. 

This introductory lecture concerns how fire fits into the survival priority order in urban survival situations and introduces you to the upcoming fire lighting lessons. 

Within this lecture we consider the use of fire as part of our urban survival priority system. We will examine the dynamic of fire by learning about the combustion triangle. By understanding how fire combusts we have a diagnostic tool when attempting to light fire and a management tool when needing to run a fire for a long period of time or in adverse weather conditions. By the end of this lecture you will possess a sound understanding of how fire works and how to enhance its efficiency in any survival situation. 

The aim of this lecture is to demonstrate to you the construction, components and use of a DIY fire lighting kit. This is a resource you should take with you everywhere and be fully conversant with by way of use. Keep it simple stupid is the primary guidance and when utilised in conjunction with your new understanding of how fire combusts you will be well positioned to ensure you always have the ability to light fire safely and effectively. By the end of the lecture you will know what to include in your own fire kit and how to employ it effectively.

This lecture has the intent of teaching you a range of principles and concepts to light fire reliably with what you can find or scavenge from the urban environment in a crisis situation. We will explore the use of objective lenses, convex mirrors, chemicals and electricity to light fire. By the lessons conclusion you will have a good level of understanding regarding different fire options with the aim of maximising your level of adaptability in survival situations. 

How to you cook your food in the urban space when the grid is down, people around your are an extant threat, it is freezing cold and you need to keep warm and keep your body well nourished? In this lecture we demonstrate to you some hobo wisdom in setting up rocket stoves and drum fires. By the end of this lecture you will understand how, why and when you might consider these alternate cooking and heating methods as useful to your situation. 

Being able to remain highly mobile and carry light weight cooking stoves and equipment that still allow you the flexibility to boil water and cook available food is an important consideration to ensure that you are able to maintain a 'strong body'. Selecting the appropriate equipment can be tricky and this lecture aims to help you make common-sense choices regarding this aspect of your overall equipment profile. You might not always be in a position to light a fire to boil and cook with, you may need to rely on cooking gear for a period of time as you transition from short term to longer term survival living. By the end of this lecture you will be better informed as to what works best and why. Then it is up to you to make your choices. 

Welcome to the end of Urban Survival - Volume 1. In this close out lecture we just wish to thank you for coming on the journey with us so far. By now you will be conversant with the essential 'life support' survival priorities that you should be focusing your preparedness efforts upon. 

The journey doesn't stop here though; we invite you to join us again for Urban Survival - Volume 2. In Volume 2, we will continue to develop your skills and level of readiness. We cover the necessities of survival medical equipment and training, explore survival equipment layers, examine planning & reconnaissance, urban communications and re-supply, trade & barter as well as some specific preparation considerations for pandemics, EMFs, financial collapse, global war and more.

Our hope is to be able to provide you with the best training possible to ensure you and your family is as fully prepared as possible. Preparation based on common sense, reality and real world experience. 

Thank you and 'Always, Dare to Survive!