Three minutes without air,

Three days without water, and

Three weeks without food

As we continue to honor National Preparedness month, let’s look at how we can prepare for the possibility that we will not have sufficient air to breathe as a result of a natural or man-made disaster.

The most obvious urban survival technique is to invest in a good respirator, hood or “gas mask.”  There are many commercially available ones out there but because you are all good urban survival consumers as a result of reading my blog, I will not go into detail about them.  I would rather discuss what to do if you are caught without one.

Okay, you are in your  home or apartment and the emergency response system comes on notifying you that as a result of an explosion nearby, the air around you is toxic.  For this scenario, you have determined it was not safe or it was too late to get out of the area without a respirator.  First, get to the room furthest from the exterior, seal off as much of the area as possible, then consider constructing a homemade mask so that you can make your escape.

If you do, please know that your homemade gas mask is of course, only a temporary solution that will not be as effective as commercially made gas masks. However, they are better than using a simple towel pressed against your face. Homemade masks will, most likely, only protect against the most common gases used in chemical warfare. Against smoke, some other gases and carbon monoxide, they will be ineffective. Moreover, homemade masks will only be as effective as they are airtight. Your homemade mask must fit securely around the head so that air is unable to slip inside (except through the breathing canister) or else chemical agents can also get through.

So here are two possible homemade gas masks you can try.

1. The bed sheet method:

Cross-stitch together two 12-inch squares of bed sheets or similar fabric. Put a layer of baking soda between the two sheets before sewing them together. When you need the mask, simply dampen it and hold it firmly over your face while exiting the area contaminated by gases. This provides temporary protection and is not intended for any lengthy use.

2. The swimming cap type:

I think this type is a modern variation of the 1942 gas mask made by the American Women’s Voluntary Service

American women’s voluntary service-1942

Use a swimming cap, oriented backwards and upside down, for the face covering. You’ll cut holes in the cap for both an eyepiece and for the breathing canister apparatus. Secure these pieces with tape. For the eyepiece, use a see-through, celluloid box, the sort used in women’s facial powder boxes. For a snug fit, the cut hole should be slightly smaller than the box. For the breathing canister use a can with both the top and bottom cut out. Over both ends of the open can you’ll fit wire screen mesh. Old fashioned, wire-screen flyswatters will work, but you can also use screen door material. Inside the canister you’ll need the actual gas mask filter. For this, use handkerchiefs stuffed with charcoal (you can get at pet supply store or make your own by burning coconut husks) and soda lime (old fashioned mom and pop drug store). With elastic, create straps across the back of the mask to hold it onto your head.

Although the masks are to be used for a very short period of time, it will give you enough time to escape to a better place. You may even want to try making one now.  Having said that, I still recommend you go buy one.  I hear Canada has a bunch that they can’t sell….. really!

Kayaking Preparedness

In honor of preparedness month coming up, I decided to expand my knowledge base and take on kayaking.  Although kayaking may primarily be thought of a wilderness survival skill, there are many waterways around our cities and the skill of kayaking may come in handy if you need to get off an island, like Manhattan, in a hurry.  During the attack on 9/11 many people were trapped by the edge of the water and were rescued by good samaritan boaters.

So I signed up with Mountain Valley Guides in Cornwall on Hudson, NY and Bill was my guide/instructor for my three-hour tour.  Yes, I really did sing the Gilligan Island theme several times.  Mountain Valley Guide’s instructions were to bring only things you do not mind getting wet.  I emptied out my pack and brought only my snacks, my EDC and insect repellent.  What else could I really need?  I didn’t want to lose anything in the river that I would miss, so I left everything else behind.

Bill was a great instructor, he explained the mechanics of rowing a kayak, the procedures in the event we rolled out and how we were to communicate with each other on the water.  We rowed to several points of interest on the Hudson river and beached so we could have a snack and others in my group could go for a swim.

Unfortunately, as I exited my kayak, my sandal broke and I had to walk on the rocky shore barefoot.  I looked at what I packed to ascertain if I could repair my sandal. Nothing on my EDC could be used to poke a hole in the sandal to repair it.  It really didn’t matter because I didn’t bring my paracord bracelet so I didn’t have any cord to repair the sandal.  Ugh, I made the rookie mistake of assuming I didn’t need my basic kit!

I asked Bill if he had a multitool and he whips out the biggest Swiss army knife I have ever seen.  Well it helped poke a hole in the sandal bit I had nothing to fasten the straps together.  Once again, Bill came to the rescue with some cord and I repaired my footwear.

My McGyver moment

Lesson learned.  We take the time to put together our personal kits and we should trust that we made the right decision.  Although we always need to balance what we carry with us; there are people out there who carry tons of “needed” equipment, we should always assess our needs based on any given activity or environment.

If you haven’t taken a class/tour on kayaking, I highly recommend it.  That little boat may be your only way out someday. In addition, it is a really fun activity!

September is National Preparedness Month!  Yey!!!!!!  Whoo hooo!   Let’s celebrate! Okay……. enough of that.

National Preparedness Month gives us the opportunity (or excuse) to take stock of our preparedness abilities.  FEMA has a site that is dedicated to helping the average folk prepare for disasters.  www.ready.gov

It is a good site, if you are worried mostly about natural disasters and live in rural areas.  Their basic go kit is okay and is a good start for someone who has never put one together.  I went on recently to see if they had a section dedicated to the urban environment.  Hidden within the section for businesses there was a link to “Neighborhoods and apartments.”  When I clicked on it…. Lo and Behold, this is what I saw:

So, nothing for the good ol’ urbanites.  Well that is why I write this blog!  Here are some suggestions that can help start you off on your journey to urban preparedness.

1. Make a Go Bag.  Start with the basic one here http://www.ready.gov/basic-disaster-supplies-kit  add or subtract items based on your needs.  For instance FEMA recommends a gallon of water for each person per day for three days.  For me and my two kids that is 9 gallons of water.  Each gallon is over 8 pounds (weight) each so that is almost 75 lbs of weight just in water!  I’ll buy a filtration kit.

The lesson, put in only what you need and can carry.

2. Put together a small tool kit.  Consider investing in a muti-tool, add a small flashlight, cutting tool, compass and lighter (easier than carrying matches).  This you can carry on your person.

3.  Figure out what best personal protection device you will need and feel comfortable carrying.  There is no looting in the jungle, but there is in the urban jungle.  A tactical flashlight and a legally obtained knife (check your state for rules) are a good choice to start.

Alright I know what you are thinking…… he didn’t mention a firearm.  That doesn’t mean I do not recommend them. Unfortunately not all states allow it.  But if you can legally carry one and can practice with it….. go for it.  Like everthing here,  it is your personal choice.

4. Subscribe to your local emergency notification sites.  Local emergency management offices and police departments have systems that will notify residents of issues that come up.  The one that I subscribe to for my areas also has traffic announcements.  This is helpful when you are trying to bug out of town and want to avoid others who are doing the same.

5.  In addition to road maps (try to get topographical ones and learn how to read them), obtain bus maps and subway maps for your area.  Plot out potentially dangerous areas like nuclear power plants (really, I have on in my neighborhood).

6.  Stock up on medications.  Pharmacies will be looted or closed.  Make sure you rotate your stock.

7.  Write down a plan to communicate with friends and family.  Establish check-in points and places outside of your area that will be your first choice to go to.  Understand that it may not be accessible and that you will have to designate an alternative place.

8.  Include in your go bag some items of comfort.  Pictures, books, ipod.  Yes, it will make the difference.

9.  Practice-Practice grabbing the go bag and going.  Practice driving northern routes, southern routes, etc.  Practice having to walk and plot along places that you can shelter in place if necessary.

10.  Suggest other things here to your fellow urban survivalists!

Happy Preparedness Month!

Ode to Joy….

Martial Arts vs Self Defense… true or fake?

THE SUPER EGG

How can you beat the mighty egg as an awesome Urban Survival food?  It has great nutritional value, is cheap and has a long shelf life.  There have been recent studies that actually show that eggs are good for you! Many of our Urban Survival recipes contain eggs.. the mighty matzo and the mighty ramen noodle to name just two.

To qualify as an Urban Survival food, a food must have nutritional value, be cheap, be able to be prepared quickly and be able to be modified for taste.  I just bought a carton of 18 large eggs for $1.99.  That’s cheap!  The egg also has great nutritional value (see below) can be prepared quickly and can be modified for taste.  Below is some egg facts I found.  Don’t let the bad reputation of eggs deter you- go try one of our recipes!

EGG FACTS

A large egg represents less than 4% of the daily calorie intake of a person eating 2,000 calories a day; it provides 10% of a person’s daily recommended protein, and valuable iron, B vitamins, and minerals, including the folate recommended for pregnant women.

A hen requires about 24 to 26 hours to produce an egg. After the egg is laid, the hen starts all over again about 30 minutes later.

Egg protein is both high in quality and low in cost. It’s easy to compare the price of eggs to the price of other protein foods. A dozen Large eggs weigh 1 1/2 pounds, so the price per pound of Large eggs is two-thirds of the price per dozen. For example, if Large eggs cost 90¢ per dozen, they cost 60¢ per pound. At $1.20 per dozen, Large eggs are only 80¢ per pound.

Dates on egg cartons and all other food packaging reflect food quality, not food safety. An ‘expiration’ or ‘sell-by’ date on an egg carton tells the grocer to pull the eggs if they haven’t sold by that time. A ‘best-by’ or ‘use-by’ date tells you that your eggs will still be of high quality if you use them by that date.

You can keep fresh, uncooked eggs in the shell refrigerated in their cartons for at least three weeks after you bring them home, with insignificant quality loss. Properly handled and stored, eggs rarely spoil. If you keep them long enough, eggs are more likely to simply dry up. But don’t leave eggs out. They’ll age more in one day at room temperature than they will in one week in the refrigerator.

Photo and fact credit:

http://photobucket.com/images/super-egg/

http://smarteregg.com/can-eggs-make-you-smarter/

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/eggs-friend-or-foe

http://www.incredibleegg.org/

PERSPECTIVE

Reblogged from What is Self Defense:

For the sake of this exercise let me qualify what kind of gang I am talking about:

This kind of gang

Not this kind of gang

I usually get answers like run to a crowded place, look for a police officer or find a nice store to run into.  My martial arts friends would say something to the effect of first trying to defuse the situation then take a combative stance/action.  All of the above are good things to do.  However, I would like to introduce you to a different way of looking at this problem. The concept of the psychology of combat as it relates to urban survival.

To illustrate what I mean, I will answer the question posed above.  What would I do in this situation?  I would initially turn around, look then turn back around.  This action serves several purposes.  The first and foremost purpose is to break the gang’s learned behavior when they are trying to determine whether I am a potential victim or not.  I assure you, you are not the first person they preyed upon.  Since they were wee little baby gang bangers they learned what a victim response is and what an adversary response is and how to test it.

The taunting and derogatory remarks about you was the test.  They are looking to see if you behave as the other victims did.  It makes sense if you really think about it.  They could have just robbed you without saying anything.  Why make their presence and intentions known?  Because if you do act like a victim, they can reasonable assume that your behavior henceforth will be as a victim.  This what they learned. Others before you did and the roles of prey and predator have been well established.  You will act as prey and they will act as predator.  It boils down to a learned response.

When you break from the possible responses that have been learned, the gang does not know initially what to do.  Hopefully by the time they figure out a response you will be gone or would have gotten in better position ready for combat.  There is a practical reason to look back also.

Let’s go back to my response.  The gang conducted their test by taunting me.  They expected a victim to possibly cower and walk faster, certainly not at all confrontational.  An adversary (like a cop) would turn around and confront them.  I did neither.  I simply turned around, looked at them turned back around. I acted in a manner in which they were not accustomed to.  In addition to breaking their learned responses,  it gave me more information if in the event I do have to go into combat with them.  Had I not turned around I would not know how many were there, their positions, sizes, weapons etc.  All of that information was gathered within the one second I took to look at them.  I now know how many opponents I will have, who may be the first person I choose to engage and where I should go to engage them.  But that may not be necessary, my hope (and experience) is that the gang will pick on someone who reacts in the way in which they are used to and leave me alone.  What do you think?

Photo credits:

http://www.streetgangs.com/news/030110_crips_powerful_history

http://sf-theaterblog.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

Are survivors born or made?

Why is it that some people jump out windows when they lose some cash, when others who have suffered some of the most horrific abuses one can imagine trudge on?  When discussing urban survival, this question comes up a lot.  I say that the questions posed are not really on the mark.  The questions should be:  Why do some people jump out of windows when they lose a ton of cash and others who lose similarly do not?  And….Why do some people who suffer some of the most horrific abuses trudge on and some give up?    Resilience

What is resilience?

re·sil·ience (r-zlyns) n. 1. The ability to recover quickly from illness, change, or misfortune; buoyancy. 2. The property of a material that enables it to resume its original shape or position after being bent, stretched, or compressed; elasticity.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Or put another way, it is an individual’s capacity to handle stress and not become dysfunctional because if it.

Urban Survival requires us to continually build our resilience.  An event that requires one to employ urban survival techniques is a set-back from your daily routine.  So, is resilience something you’re born with or can you learn to be more resilient?  The answer may save your life, or at least maybe your sanity.

Yes!  Thankfully, you can build resilience!  You just have to go seek challenges out and survive  them.  In a 2000 study in Biological Psychiatry, the authors showed that immediately after a military training exercise, soldiers showed higher levels of a stress buffering hormone called neuropeptide-Y (NPY).  NPY works on the prefrontal cortex of your brain and helps keep you focused on tasks under stress.  The higher the NPY, the more resilient you become.  The offshoot is that with higher NPYs you will actually perform better when stressed…. a highly sought-after ability during times of crisis.

What doesn’t kill me will make me stronger…..or maybe not

So what to do….. Do you have to walk alone at night in the projects wearing your Birkenstocks and hemp sweater whistling show tunes to challenge yourself and build resilience?  Nah….I think we can come up with better and safer ways.  How about a challenge like the Bataan Memorial Death March?  Or maybe a climb or experience that you have on your bucket list.  Whatever you do, it must challenge you.  It also must give you the opportunity to fail, which will then give you the opportunity to recover from your challenge, thereby building resilience.  If you succeed at your challenge… great!  That builds resilience also.  Just don’t wimp out and choose something you know you can do.

Okay folks, go out and challenge yourself.  I would love to hear about it!  If you have a story of something you experienced in the past that helped build your resilience, I would love to hear about that too!

Recently, I happened to come across two of my colleagues talking about how long it would take to respond to various scenarios such as some of the scenarios you may have read right here on the Urban Survival Blog.  Specifically, they wanted to know how long it would take to respond to an unforeseen threat.  The problem of course is once you tell someone you are going to do something it becomes impossible to really catch them off guard.  Nevertheless, they wanted to give it a go.  So they had to come up with a way to “test” reaction time to an event (stimulus for those egg heads out there).  Now most people would choose to do this by, I don’t know…… dropping a ruler and seeing how far the ruler drops before the other person catches it.?  You can find this very intuitive experiment here: http://www.raftbayarea.org/ideas/Human%20Reaction%20Time.pdf

Well….. that’s for namby pamby 7 year olds!!  Not Urban Survivalists!  They decided they wanted to try something more realistic.  So they agreed they would test if one could block a slap in the face.  One person would slap the other.  The person being slapped would try to put his hand on his cheek to mitigate the slap. To be fair they would take turns slapping each other. It kinda looked like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=5D8LaFAZMZ4

So folks what have we learned?  Well…… no one likes getting slapped in the face. When you think you were hit just a little harder then you hit, you make up for it and voila!  You get a slapfest. Okay…. I really did not want to post a video of a slapfest but I couldn’t help myself….  for those too high brow to watch two people slapping each other just skip the next video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foCW-tPkiks&feature=related

Okay, now that we got that out of our system, let’s talk human reaction time.  We all have different reaction times.  These times are dependent upon the stimulus, our own physical condition, our mental/emotional condition and of course, the environment.

Believe it or not there is a lot of science behind the study of human reaction time. Think about if a 100 yard runner could react to the sound of the starter pistol 100th of a second faster.  That may very well mean the difference from obtaining a gold medal rather than a silver medal.  But what would happen if there was a slight incline in that person’s lane?  Would that affect how fast that runner could run?  If that runner had a big bowl of egg foo young the night before and is feeling that wonderful queasy eggy side effect?  Would that impact how fast that runner would hit the finish line?  Lastly, what if that runner heard some devastating news the minute before the sound of the gun?  Would that effect the runner’s start time?

Makes sense.  In the world of Urban Survival, reaction time can mean the difference in making it and not making it.  So what do you do?  Can we do things that will potentially improve our reaction time in the event we are faced with a life and death situation?  The answer is yes!  My colleagues, although funny to watch actually got better at protecting themselves as time went on.  Now, I don’t suggest you grab your friend and start slapping each other (if you do please post the video here).

There are fun and easy ways to improve your reaction time starting right now.  One simple way is to be in better physical shape.  Exercise more.  You cannot respond if you are gassed out.  Second, be in better mental/emotional shape.  Practice meditation, and practice mind enhancing games (see below). Lastly, be aware of your environment at all times.  You can read the post on situational awareness here:  http://urbansurvivalblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/urban-survival-situational-awareness/.

To start you off,  here is a fun reaction time game my friend Bill sent me.  I warn you, it can be addicting!  So get to it!  Thanks Bill for the game and the inspiration for the post. http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf

Reblogged from findingravity:

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A few months ago, I featured a post titled "Ten Things I Learned From My Mom."  I've spent the last few weeks reflecting, and decided that I also wanted to feature a similar post dedicated to my father.  I'm fortunate enough to have two loving parents that I am very close with, and I hope some day that I can take everything I've learned from them, and apply it to my own parenting techniques.

Read more… 2,719 more words

The Mighty Matzo

Today, I’d like to mention one of the best survival foods available.  The mighty matzo!  Let me start by elaborating on the history of how the matzo became an urban survival food.  Many of you may know the story of the Buddhist monk who travelled from India to the northern regions of China and taught the Buddhist monks there how to protect themselves.  These techniques are what is widely regarded as the precursor to modern martial arts.  What is not so well-known is that at that very same time, a Polish rabbi name Shlomo Epstein emigrated to feudal Japan where he studied under the most knowledgeable samurai and ninjas.  They taught the rabbi the secrets of samurai and ninja combat and survival.  After twenty years of training and several bat/bar mitzvahs, Shlomo emigrated to Brooklyn, NY.  After witnessing the great turmoil this country was going through at the time, Shlomo decided to combine what he learned from his time in Japan with his Jewish heritage and opened the first ever school of jew-jitsu.

Solomon’s legacy can be seen in the arts of krav maga as well as Tiger “the mensh” Shulman’s Karate. Tiger and I actually studied together and I even went to his Bar Mitzvah.  We had such a meshuga time!

Me and Tiger. I'm 5th from the left (the asian kid) and Tiger is 6th from left. You can tell by the look on his face he knew he could kick everyone's butt's even then!

But I digress. What is even less known about Shlomo was his knowledge of urban survival food.  I found this recipe mixed in with old Judy Garland and Barbara Streisand records that Shlomo left behind and am sharing the recipe with you today.

Okay……. none of that is true.  I’m sure Tiger has a lawyer in his family so I apologize and say that I am only using legally allowed satire

The matzo brei recipe I am presenting today was passed down to me from my mother.  Nevertheless it fits the criteria for an urban survival recipe:  it’s quick, cheap, easy to make and can be modified for taste.  Matzo also never seems to spoil.  I think because it has a low moisture content.  I had boxes of matzo last for over 6 months! This recipe has a decent amount of carbohydrates and protein.

Below is the recipe.  It takes about 10 minutes and cost about $2.00.  I just got 5 lbs. of matzo free because I caught a sale at my local supermarket due to Passover coming up so my cost was much lower (such a deal!).  Let me know what you think and if you vary the recipe, please share.

Ingredients ( for one serving)

two matzos, two eggs, butter and salt

Directions:

Soak  matzos under cold running water for about a minute on each side.  Crumble matzos in a bowl.  Beat the two eggs and then add them to the broken matzos.  Mix the matzo and eggs together.

matzo in bowl

In a skillet add a pat of butter.  Place over medium heat. Pour the egg/matzo mixture in the skillet and flatten like an omelet.  Add a dash of salt over mixture.  In about two minutes, flip matzo over and cook for about two minutes.

matzo mixture in pan

Enjoy.

Finished matzo brei... yum!

Sometimes I truly wonder if it would be easier to try to survive in the jungle or on a desert island rather than our urban jungle.  In the real jungle you have very few, albeit very important concerns; food, water, shelter.  In the urban jungle you have to worry about people stealing your identity and your credit card information.  My friend Ted has been traveling the world and has used many products that he found helpful.  This is one of them.  Maybe we need to start a topic of where in the world is Ted today and what the heck is he buying…..

Take a look at this video:

you are standing in an enclosed bus stop and this guy, a 5’10″ 265 lb. mental patient comes up to you and says “you owe me a chicken sandwich from yesterday!”  You politely inform him that he must be mistaken because you are allergic to mayonnaise.  He then starts to yell and scream around you that you stole his sandwich and he wants it back.  You decide to walk away, but he still follows you yelling about his sandwich.

Before you answer…. this is a real story about how one mentally ill man “terrorized” a neighborhood.  Please read below:

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-05-30/local/17923748_1_96th-larry-hogue-wild-man

What would you do??

The first step is to recognize there is a difference between situational awareness and “being aware.”  Just being aware is passive.  Employing situational awareness is active.  Situational awareness is taking environmental cues and reacting to those cues.

Why it is important to use situational awareness

You were taught situational awareness early on in your life. The first time your parents said look both ways before crossing the street, they were teaching you situational awareness. You look at the traffic (both ways) then you take that information and then decide whether or not you should cross the street.  While crossing, you continually look for changes in the environment and decide if you should walk slower or faster.  This may take a fraction of a second.  Check out these illustrations.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, a lot of us have lost the lessons our parents taught us and have to be reminded about this kind of  basic situational awareness; common sense.  For instance, who would in their right mind would walk on a train track?  And if they did, would not constantly look around them for a train?  Well, this guy…

Even those people who are in theatres of danger have to consciously and constantly practice situational awareness.  It does become easier as we practice it, but we have to practice.  So the next time you are walking on the street take a second and take a 360 degree look around you, above and below you.  Ask yourself,  “do I see  any possible dangers that are within striking distance of me and how much time will I have to react?”

How much time did this guy have?  Sometimes you just have to be lucky……

Thanks to Bill B. for sending the videos and inspiring this post.

Next… Situational Awareness in the dojo.

I grew up in the golden age of American Martial Arts. We had Enter the Dragon, the TV series Kung Fu and even the Pink Panther.  All had an influence on me and my choices of study.

I remember being about twelve years old and finally getting up enough nerve to walk into a Kung Fu school in NYC’s Chinatown.  It was noisy, hectic and smelled like old Dim Sum.  I stood there for what seemed like an eternity until this guy with a cigarette hanging from his mouth and a bad hair cut asked me what I wanted.  I said I was interested in learning Kung Fu. He asked what kind?  I said whatever Bruce Lee was doing.  He laughed and told me to follow him.  He opened a door and asked me to step inside.  I did….  the door closed behind me and I found myself in the alley outside. Well, at least I found out where that old Dim Sum smell was coming from.

I wish I could tell you it was easy to find what martial art and school fit me.  It was a bumpy journey.  I tried Tae Kwon Do (pulled a groin muscle trying to kick someone in the head), Karate (dislocated my thumb waxing on), and even Capoeira (I just looked like a jerk dancing like that!). It took me a while, but I finally found my place.  I offer the following tips so you can be spared what I went through.  Incidentally, this applies if you are looking for a school for your child too.

Research the different martial arts online.  There are very good descriptions out there.  Stick with the big traditional martial arts.  Stay away from one person’s”new” style that he developed when he went on a pilgrimage to the top of some mountain. Once you find a martial art that interests you, go visit some schools. This is actually the most important part. I will let you in on a secret…….   All martial arts are essentially the same.  It is the schools that make the difference.

Visit many schools and see if they greet you with sincerity and answer your questions with patience.  Some schools  may offer a free trial class.  Take it.   Do they take the time to explain the rules, etiquette and the location of the bathrooms to you? How’s the energy?  Does it match your personality?  Talk to the other students.  Would these people be people you would be friends with? Lastly, consider cost.  I understand that dojos are business that need to keep the lights on but primarily the schools that attracted most were more like communities.  It was my experience that the schools that insisted and pushed contracts or was a pay by the rank system did not emphasize community. Therefore, not for me.

I have been in the same dojo for over 15 years now.  I can say that aside from learning great techniques, I have made great friends and learned how to navigate all that life has thrown at me.  That was more important to me than being able to break a board held over my head with my foot.

If you need a recommendation, consider this dojo:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CGMWlXosp4&list=PL2FF995289A6FC7CD&index=1&feature=plpp_video

Lastly,  Chuck Norris was and still is the most deadliest man on the planet.

So, what does this story have to do with urban survival?

When I am teaching newbies at the dojo or conducting a self-defense class, it always amazes me (until I recall the above story), how many people think they can handle a mugger, rapist or general a-hole.  For the record, some actually had a good sense of what they can do.  They were brought up in tough neighborhoods or were from countries where survival was an everyday occurrence.  Most were not.  Most were like me in my younger years.  This attitude is the first barrier to teaching urban survival. How to realistically give a person a baseline without putting them in actual harm. Without establishing a baseline for yourself,  you cannot realistically assess what you can and can not do in any given situation.

So the next time you are on the subway or on the street and you see a suspicious, burly scary person, ask yourself not “what would I do?” if this person decided to make you a target, but “what COULD I do?” Be honest then take a course on self-defense.

P.S. It took me a good year of working out with my friend but I ended up losing 70 lbs and eventually bench pressed 225lbs regularly.  Now…….  not so much. But I know that.

The Times Square New Year celebration always gives me the opportunity to hone my urban survival skills.  Where else can you be trapped in a pen for upwards of 12 hours with people you never would be with otherwise?  This year  because of the mild weather, it was extraordinarily packed with revelers.

I had the privilege of being privy to a conversation my brother had with some European tourists on the way to Times Square.  My brother told them he was a retired police officer, so the tourists naturally asked him if there was any guidance he could provide to them as they celebrated the New Year in the Big Apple.

He explained that the police are forced to be there for a very long period of time so they have developed some strategies to get through the night. These strategies will help them as the police pen people in at a first come first serve basis.  The tourists needed to get there hours before midnight and once penned in, they could not leave. Here are his tips:

1.  Do not wear any New Years “bling” such as 2012 glasses, mardi gras beads or funny hats.  That stuff makes them look incredibly stupid and is just a homing beacon for perps.

2. Go to the nearest pharmacy and buy something called Imodium.  Take one and you will not have to do #2 for the entire night.  You do not want to be the one smelling like poop with hundreds of people surrounding you.  You will also save yourself from the brown spot walk of shame home.

3. While at the pharmacy, buy adult diapers. (the tourists never heard of them). He explained these are diapers that adults can wear and if they needed to do#1 they can just go ahead and do it at their leisure.  When the ball drops all they need to do is take them off and cast them into the nearest receptacle.  He further explained that this is the reason that cops’ asses look so big in their uniform pants.

4.  Wear waterproof shoes…. not all people heed suggestion#2

5.  Lastly,  he recommended they stay home, watch Dick Clark and kiss their honey.  They will not have to worry about poop, piss and crime (hopefully).

Although this actually did happen, he was joking and told them so. 

Have a Happy New Year!

We all struggle with this issue everyday.  When do we fight and when do we flee?  The decision to do either is not easy.  This is especially true when you are confronted with being a potential crime victim.

When I was teaching Crime Prevention in the Police Department, we always told the audience it was not worth fighting.  “Give up the money, comply with the perp’s demands…..nothing is worth your safety.”  “You will suffer more if you resist.”  But, is this true?

As a Social Scientist, I am amazed at how much information is out there that is not supported by the facts. For example, it is often asserted that most people do not report crimes.  Really?  How do you prove a negative?

So what are the facts about fighting back?

A study examining 733 rapes, 1,278 sexual assaults and 12,235 general assaults on women over a ten-year period revealed that resisting an attempted rape lowered the odds of the perpetrator completing the act by almost two-thirds.  It also found that fighting back increased the likelihood that the victim would be injured and it doubled the likelihood that the victim would suffer serious physical injury (Kleck, G. & Tark, J. 2005). I know this sounds contradictory, but stay with me.

Another study of 3,206 assaults during a three-year period found that women who fought back early in an attack were half as likely to be injured (Thompson Martie, P. et al 2006). See, glad you stayed with me?

Lastly, a study examining federal crime statistics over a ten-year period showed that victims who utilized self- protective techniques (e.g. physically fighting back, pleading) resulted in less injury to the victim than those victims who did not resist (Klack, G. & Tark, J. 2004)

So, what does this all mean?  I know from experience that criminals are lazy cowards.  They want an easy victim and they do not want to suffer any consequences for their actions.  Fighting back creates a consequence for them.  There are plenty of people out there who will not fight back.  The bad guys will look for them.  When you decide that you will not be a victim, that you will fight back, you will act and do things (often unconsciously) that will telegraph to the bad guy you are not the person who will willingly acquiesce.  This, unfortunately, requires you to be willing to suffer a possible consequence also.  The question then is, what are you willing to do?

In my seminars I teach people to look behind them when they hear something that scares them; not to cower and hope that they are wrong.  I teach them to recognize how their minds and bodies innately react to danger so they can access the danger and respond accordingly.  I teach them that they can be free….. free from fear.

This attitude reminds me of a latin phrase I often saw on many of my fellow police officer’s lockers.  It read, “Nemo me impune lacessit.”  Translated it means, “No one attacks me with impunity.”  Good words to live by.

Morris complains that …I’m a little sick of the government and the media bunching preppers in with domestic terrorists just because I have a Bible, a gun, a garden, and some food to feed my family with if a natural or manmade disaster happens… I don’t blame him for feeling this way; many, in fact probably most in the prepper community feel the same way, including me. It’s rather unnerving the first time you find that you’re being followed and photographed, but you don’t know by whom. After that it gets rather aggravating. But why are various government agencies treating the people who pay their salaries as a threat to this nation?

What is the real deal behind what is going on today? David also comments that …Things are so messed up that DHS does public service announcements saying that you should have 72 hours to 7 days of supplies on hands in case of disaster, but then tells law enforcement that preparedness is a sign of potential domestic terrorism… There are reasons why one hand does one thing, and the other hand does another. Many people fail to realize this, and that is why it appears –and rightly so- that the government is sending a “double entendre” message. But are they really sending us a double meaning message, or is there a reason for what they do?

Let me put this thought first, and then we’ll look at a couple of other comments from the Urban Survival Guide’s post. Everybody knows the government. Almost everyone in the prepper community agrees that the government has gotten too big for our own good. But what is the government? The government is not your friend. The government is not your enemy. The government is you servant, albeit a mighty uppity servant as of late. There are many in the government who really do have our best interest at heart and are genuinely concerned for our well being, and I find no fault with these true public servants.

The problem is not government in and of itself, the problem exists in those people whose livelihood and futures are tied to the continued growth and permanence of big government. Let’s look at a third clipping from this piece, David Morris writes; The more preppers an area has, the more stable it will be after a breakdown in the supply chain and the quicker it will recover. Preppers create stable micro-environments after disasters by being able to take care of themselves without outside help. And in his second point also writes; Local authorities and first responders NEED preppers after disasters. These are the exact reasons why we see a double meaning message coming to us from the government.

Preppers and survivalists are people that are self sufficient, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, and cure the common cold. This isn’t what will keep the government growing at its current rate of growth. Uncle Sam needs for us to be totally dependent upon him for all things. The more we need him, the bigger he grows. If we don’t need big government to wipe our noses every time we sniffle, big government shrinks. This is not what the powers that be want. The powers that be want to grow ever more powerful, powerful enough to be able to control every aspect of life on this planet.

To accomplish this they have learned that we need to be afraid of terrorism, as we should be. Unfortunately, we have become unable to distinguish between true terrorism such as the Jihadists attempt to destroy the free world, and simple acts of terror wrought by your demented neighbor. By lumping the prepper and survivalist community together with terrorists, mostly because we may not only own firearms, but we are also well able to defend ourselves from terrorism. But more importantly, most of us take the time to educate ourselves and thus become aware of what is going on around us. We do not fear the government because we require it to function from day to day, we fear the government because we are aware of the threat it presents to our freedom.

The entitlement mentality being bred and provoked in this nation, fed by both big government as well as various activist groups and communities, i.e. unions, political activists, educational organizations etc. teaches us that only big government can meet our needs. Only big government can feed us, cloth us, and take care of our health needs. This is pure crap, and we of the preparedness community realize it, preach it, and otherwise share this fact. And because of this fact we have become a threat to the growth of big government.

Morris contends that he needs to develop and share ‘markers’ or traits that identify preppers and survivalists to the law enforcement community, ostensibly to encourage them to utilize us in the event of a disaster because of the very same qualities and skills that allow us to go on even after life has come to a screeching halt around us. Mr. Morris may not realize this, but this is exactly what the powers that be want to see, but not for the same reasons Morris wants to develop these markers for.

The powers that be, whether in FEMA, DHS, FBI, CIA, NIS or any other federal, state, county and local law enforcement agency want to know who to single out and persecute when the going gets tough. Their latest program, known as “If you see something, say something,” recommends or requests private citizens to report on people who do the very things we do because we pose a supposed threat to the stability and safety of the neighborhood. Terrorists hoard guns and food, or so the evening news tells us. Therefore, preppers must be terrorists because we hoard guns and food.

The government already knows the difference between a terrorist and a prepper/survivalist. It doesn’t care what the difference if. Anything that poses a threat to the continued growth of this big government needs to be eliminated, and it eventually will be. It is as it must be for the will of God to be fulfilled. We strut and crow in our patriotism, one hand clutching a gun and the other clutching a Bible. We think America is above the rest of the world because we, as a nation, were founded upon Judeo-Christian principles.

We have fallen a long way since the days of 1776 when we clasped our guns, but put both our faith as well as our trust in the One Almighty God. We are paying the price today. Forget not that Revelation 17:17 says that; For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled(KJV). I believe there will be a remnant of believers left in the coming days, but as long as the prepper community exists as it does today, we will continue to be targeted and persecuted for our beliefs.

You must also remember that many in the prepper community are also Christian believers. And that is where the real threat to big government lies. If we as a nation follow God, then how can we allow the ruler(s) of this nation to give this nation over to the power of the Beast? We cannot, and therefore we must be eliminated. This is already happening. In many ways our beliefs and freedoms are being stripped from us, and we are not even aware of it.

We allow rampant homosexuality to exist. We encourage abortion. We embrace the practice of Gaiaism by worshiping the environment and believing the lies of global warming. The list goes on. And on, and on. But you get the point, I’m sure. There is only one ultimate act of preparedness that can truly save us, and that is to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, repent of our sins and accept the gift of eternal life. If you have done that, or once you have, then you will truly know that there is absolutely nothing to fear in this world. And you will also know what the truth really is, and what you really need to do to prepare for the coming times.