I've been thinking about this since my first lucids, and would like to open a discussion about the nature and effectiveness of reality checking.
Many of us perform reality checks during the day, to question our state: are we dreaming?
This seems to be a relatively simple and easy way to get ourselves to question our state, a habit we hope to carry into our dreams. However, I have two main discussion points about this:
- Many of us, especially beginners who 'need' RC's the most, struggle with dream control. One of the challenges there is losing our expectations based on waking life restrictions: we can walk through walls in a dream; we can fly. In reverse, these expectations may limit the success of our reality checks; we try to breathe while pinching our nose, but we can't because we don't expect it to be possible. We try to push our finger through our hand, but we can't, because we don't expect it to be possible. In these moments, we risk missing a lucid because our check fails.
My point is, reality checks are not perfectly effective. Could there be a way to bypass this? A way to make it foolproof?
- In my own experience, I have never actually become lucid from a reality check. I have performed them in a dream, but I never needed them to convince me. The moment I even thought about checking my state, I already knew it was a dream. I'm not sure how to describe it, but some of you probably have similar experiences.
How many of you have the same experience? And do some of you actually need the RC to know whether you are dreaming?
These points taken together, I would like to discuss the following: how could we 'bypass' reality checks and become better at recognizing this 'dream feeling' that actually makes us lucid?
via Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Attaining Lucidity https://ift.tt/2Eqxup5
We are fortunate to live in an age surrounded by means of easy communication, and like never before we can have friends on the other side of the world as well as just down the road. But as many readers will know, this ease of communication comes at a price of sharing public and commercial infrastructure. To communicate with privacy and entirely off-grid remains an elusive prize, but it’s one pursued by Scott Powell with his LoRa QWERTY Messenger. This is a simple pager device that forms a LoRa mesh network with its peers, and passes encrypted messages to those in the same group.
At its heart is a LoRa ESP32 module with a small OLED display and a Blackberry QWERTY keyboard, and an SD card slot. The device’s identity is contained on an SD card, which gives ease of reconfiguration. It’s doubly useful, because it is also a complement to his already existing Ripple LoRa communication project, that uses a smartphone as the front end for a similar board.
We feel this type of secure distributed communication is an exciting application for LoRa, whether it be for kids playing at being spies or for more serious purposes. It’s certainly not the first such project we’ve featured.
Bugging out is a central idea in prepping, and serious preppers are constantly refining, inventing and debating which procedures are best suited for keeping themselves and their families alive when the time comes to hit the road during a major disaster or some other crisis.
For many preppers, making use of a motor vehicle’s speed and cargo capacity to ferry themselves and their gear to a selected bug-out location features centrally in their plans.
But one spin on this option that they might not have considered is actually surviving the duration of an SHTF event in their vehicle.
It might sound a little odd, but your average motor vehicle has many positives for this task. Vehicles are flexible, highly mobile, and allow you to carry drastically more gear and provisions than you could on foot.
So long as you have fuel and a clear route of travel you can reposition on demand and quickly, a process that will take considerably more time, and dramatically more effort to do the same on foot.
Any vehicle also makes sense as a central fixture of a camp at any bug-out location, providing generally weatherproof shelter for multiple people while still allowing you to get away quickly if called for.
Before you view your car as nothing more than a taxi to get you to a BOL, give this article a read, since we will be providing much information for surviving a SHTF event in your car.
Bugging Out: The Necessities Don’t Change
No matter who you are, no matter where you live in, no matter what kind of situation you are facing, you will be forced to deal with and provide the exact same survival requirements. These are the true fundamentals of survival.
Genuine needs, real needs never change: I’m talking about shelter, water, food and security. Of course, you will also need clean air to breathe, but that is usually taken for granted.
How you provide for all of these things is completely up to you. Some preppers plan to bug-in, staying home where they have all their well-stocked shelves and defensive accoutrement ready to sustain them.
This is generally a good idea, but sometimes you don’t get a choice in the matter, as the situation might become so dangerous and so untenable that you are better off getting out of there.
For those who face the dire choice of leaving their fortified and provisioned home behind, or those who are already living on vulnerable ground or amidst a shaky, risky situation, bugging out is a better (or perhaps their only) choice.
The idea that greener pastures, not to mention safer ones, are just around the next bend that will furnish the things someone needs to survive if only they are skilled enough to obtain them is central to prepping.
It is here, during a bug-out, that a vehicle takes on an entirely new level of importance.
Compared to bugging out on foot, using a vehicle for the purpose will ensure that you can travel faster, with generally better security while carrying significantly more equipment, supplies and provisions then you could otherwise.
Time often equals life in a crisis situation, and saving your energy and your effort for the other necessary tasks of survival instead of spending it on locomotion is generally a winning strategy.
But you can take this idea several steps further by relying on your vehicle as a sort of mobile camp, in a way, and you don’t even need a larger vehicle like an RV or truck to do it.
How Your Vehicle Can Fulfill Your Survival Requirements
Almost any automobile can afford you many advantages when it comes time to an evacuation, and can enable you to survive living solely out of the vehicle with a good plan and a little bit of foresight.
Have a look at the list of pros and cons below. We will break them all down further in the next section:
Vehicle Advantages
Excellent Carrying Capacity – Compared to hauling supplies on your back, any vehicle will enable you to carry dramatically more equipment and bug-out supplies.
Mobility – A vehicle affords you far greater speed, range and climbing capability with exponentially less exertion than on-foot movement.
Weather Protection – A vehicle in good shape provides very good to excellent weather resistance from wind and rain, and some protection from cold. Assuming you have fuel, its climate control features might be a boon!
Power Supply – A functional vehicle will ably charge all small devices with the necessary adapters, and can even run small appliances like air compressors and refrigerators.
Transport Capacity – If anyone in your family or group is injured, infirm or just less able, a vehicle will move them all the same with no additional exertion required on their part.
Greater Work Capacity – A vehicle can tow, push and pull with force far outstripping any human.
But every rose has its thorns, and despite all the advantages that vehicles can afford you they do come with some distinct drawbacks that you will need to be aware of and work to minimize if you want to survive SHTF in one:
Fuel is a Necessity – Without fuel, the only thing your vehicle can do for you is provide rapidly diminishing battery power and some shelter from wind, rain and cold. It’s utter dependence on fuel of one form or another means your plots and plans will hinge on storing enough and resupplying when required.
Terrain Restricted – Compared to a human on foot, any motor vehicle, even the most capable of off-road rigs, will be confined to the places it fits, and further restricted by underlying terrain. It is comparatively easy to immobilize a vehicle, especially off road.
Required Secondary Skills – Truly relying on your vehicle means you must be able to take care of it. That means spending time, money and effort on both the skills and the tools to effect hasty, field repairs, lest you suffer a show-stopping breakdown when you can least afford it.
Visible / Noisy – When it comes to security, staying unseen and unheard can go a long way toward keeping you safe. It is much harder to hide an automobile or to move discreetly in one, and their engines can be heard from a significant distance away.
Regardless of these drawbacks, the capability that a car can afford you when the time comes to survive in a SHTF situation is often invaluable, especially when compared to bugging out on foot, and trying to survive a rapidly changing situation on the ground.
If you play your cards right, and work to minimize these drawbacks, your vehicle may very well become your mobile sanctuary.
In the following sections we will examine all these advantages and disadvantages in detail so you may best take advantage of or avoid them, and also provide you with more tips to help make you ready for a vehicle-borne bug-out.
Breakdown of Vehicle Advantages for Survival
Carrying Capacity
Obviously, any vehicle is capable of carrying quite a lot more cargo than a human on foot, no matter how strong your back is or how big your bug out bag is.
This attribute takes on a whole new level of significance when you consider just how much you will need in terms of equipment, survival supplies and provisions for surviving any length of time out in a world currently experiencing chaos.
Assuming you have not done much in the way of multi-day hiking or deep expeditions out into the wilderness, ask any prepper who has, or who has better yet done a bug-out dry-run on foot.
They will tell you that a bug-out bag fully laden with supplies can easily top 50 lbs or more, and some of your most essential provisions like water and supplies for security like firearms and ammunition are darn heavy.
These are things you have to have if you want to have an honest chance of survival, and so will everyone else in your group compounding the logistical burden even further if certain members are not as capable as others.
A vehicle that is operational can greatly alleviate the strain, providing ample internal and external cargo room along with the brute mechanical power needed to move it with a little more than a press of the accelerator.
Even so, your average vehicle cannot carry absolutely everything you want plus the kitchen sink. You’ll still need to develop a load plan, check the total weight, and then upgrade the vehicle and drive accordingly to compensate if heavily laden.
Action Items
Plan load according to requirements/number of people in group.
Determine gross weight of vehicle when loaded; upgrade suspension and brakes as necessary.
Learn how to handle a heavily loaded vehicle.
Mobility
Perhaps a vehicle’s single, greatest strength. Any vehicle not mired in bad conditions or stuck in gridlock will take you farther, faster and with much, much less effort than going on foot.
When you are in a time-is-life situation (as so many true SHTF events are) the speed of a vehicle will translate into a much better chance of getting out of the danger zone before things turn against you, or reaching minimum safe distance when peril is imminent.
Range is part of mobility, and in a head-to-head contest a vehicle blows any mere mortal out of the water so long as it has a reasonably clear path.
Even a gas-guzzling SUV or pickup truck can go for over a hundred miles in a single day on a single tank of fuel, taking you far from harm when the chips are down, or enabling you to reach distant locations in a reasonable amount of time.
This can also afford you the capability to get to family/group members quickly when the chips are down.
Journeys that would take many grueling hours of travel on foot can be accomplished in a short time by a vehicle, and this level of mobility is a boon that you should definitely try to take advantage of if at all possible in a crisis.
Action Items
Assess what BOLs and routes are made viable due to vehicle mobility.
Determine range under worst-case scenario conditions so you don’t overextend.
Weather Protection
So long as your vehicle is in good repair, all you’ll need to do to gain protection from wind, rain, a degree of protection from cold and possibly even sweltering heat is climb inside, shut the door and relax.
For all but the most spartan vehicles its body work and weather sealing will keep out rain and wind water, allowing you to stay high and dry. This is an important consideration when you understand that simple exposure is one of the biggest killers in any emergency situation.
A vehicle provides a certain amount of protection from cold also, even when it is not running.
It will definitely keep snow and frigid wind off your back, but it also forms a proper shelter that is more easily heated by both body heat and other methods, allowing you to raise the ambient temperature using little more than your own body, and perhaps a couple of candles.
Of course, if your vehicle has a functional heater you will stay toasty as long as the engine can still provide power.
While oftentimes not the best idea, your vehicle can even give you some protection from the heat in the form of shade. With the windows down or doors open for ventilation you can get momentary respite from the sun’s singeing rays.
Obviously you should not shelter inside a closed car on a hot day since it functions in essence like a solar oven.
It can provide all of these attributes with virtually no more extra effort. Compared to setting up a tarp, tent or some other temporary shelter, this will save you even more time and energy.
Power Supply
For all but the most traditionalist preppers, electronics of various kinds are integral to their SHTF survival plans.
Everything from flashlights and headlamps, smartphones and GPS, drone batteries to UV sterilization wands, so much of what we depend on to survive in this modern era is completely dependent upon electricity.
Naturally, a considerable amount of planning and effort goes into providing the requisite power for these hungry devices.
Thankfully modern preppers can rely on such field-ready contrivances as solar recharging systems, power banks and even miniature hydroelectric turbines and windmills to generate and store electricity when far from home and the grid.
But as nice as these modern wonders are, none compare to the on-demand power in abundance made possible by a vehicle.
The electricity supplied to a vehicle’s outlets by its battery, itself charged by the alternator whenever the engine is running, can all but guarantee a steady supply of electricity so long as you have fuel to run the engine.
If care is taken to supplement the vehicle’s batteries, one can even run certain electricity gobbling appliances as air compressors and small refrigerators, to implements that can make all the difference depending on your requirements.
A compressor can run air-powered tools or just inflate your vehicle’s tires. A refrigerator can keep food fresh or life-saving insulin viable.
Action Items
Determine what adapters are required for devices included in your bug-out kit.
Consider the installation of additional power points in vehicle.
If heavy-drain equipment required, enhance vehicle power system with higher capacity battery.
Transport Capacity
Another boon provided by vehicles is their ability to carry passengers of any age or ability, and in spite of otherwise hobbling injuries.
If you stop to consider how many people you have in your family right now that you are responsible for, if your family is like most people’s, you’ll probably have a mix of young and old, fit and out of shape, healthy and ill.
It does not take much imagination to see how trying to get all of these people out of danger on-foot during an emergency will turn into a practical and logistical nightmare.
Those worries will be a thing of the past with a car, so long as your vehicle has ample room for your passengers plus the necessary cargo. All they need do is climb aboard, strap in, and sit back.
This is the height of efficiency compared to attempting, vainly, to devise an on-foot route that is navigable by all members of your family or group as they are shortcomings and all.
Obviously, there are risks to this method, not the least of which is that any emergency or accident involving the vehicle will imperil everyone aboard, and trying to extricate those people from the vehicle in a time-is-life situation can be harrowing.
Even so, the return-on-investment when it comes to ensuring everyone is able to evacuate regardless of fitness or capability is priceless.
Action Items
Determine max passenger capacity of vehicle for short trips.
Determine max passenger capacity of vehicle for longer trips with cargo.
Work Capacity
Sometimes you just need brute force; to push something, to pull something or to tow something. With enough raw manpower you can do anything, or you could cheat and use… Horsepower!
When you need to move something seriously heavy or break something that could otherwise resist the puny attempts of men, your vehicle can serve as an excellent piece of heavy equipment capable of getting the job done so long as you use a little caution and common sense.
There are all kinds of situations where this might come in handy in a survival situation, like knocking down or pushing through barricades, retrieving another stuck vehicle, or even pulling or hoisting another stuck vehicle through the use of recovery gear.
In grave extremes, a vehicle can also easily plow through a hostile, violent crowd of people that would otherwise spell certain death for survivors on foot trying to pass them.
All sorts of options for heavy work open up to you when using a vehicle by itself or in conjunction with simple machines.
You should not imperil your vehicle needlessly, but done cautiously it’s just another advantage to recommend a vehicle as your primary SHTF survival strategy.
Action Items
Consider adding winch and/or straps to your vehicle.
Simple block and tackle pulley with strong rope can enable serious lifting.
Adding front and rear bull bars or reinforced bumpers can protect vehicle from bumps and nudges.
Vehicle Disadvantages for SHTF
That takes care of the advantages. Now how about the disadvantages? These are not necessarily showstoppers, but you would be foolish to ignore them and would be wise to work toward mitigating or eliminating if at all possible.
Depending on your precise plans and other factors, some of these might make a vehicle your second or even third choice for surviving a SHTF event. It is all about context:
Fuel is a Necessity
Your vehicle, no matter what kind it is, will require fuel of some type or another in order to operate. It could be gasoline or diesel, it doesn’t matter: if you don’t have it, you aren’t going anywhere.
This is no different from any other day, but your vehicle’s crucial reliance upon fuel means it must factor very highly in your planning if you want to attempt to survive a crisis in it. Generally speaking, the farther you want to go no more fuel will be required.
Fuel economy is a subject entirely unto itself, but other factors involved in the calculation include power of the engine, gearing, load, idle time, road conditions and more.
For your purposes you should principally be concerned with how far you have to go and how easy or difficult the travel conditions are.
A big, V8 SUV that must endure heavy traffic on congested roads will be getting fuel economy in the single digits. A performance optimized 6-cylinder sedan carrying a light load over an open highway at optimal speed will be able to go several hundred miles without stopping to refuel.
Keep in mind that even sitting idle with the engine on will sip more fuel than you’re probably expecting over time. This will be of particular importance if you are relying on the vehicle to provide air conditioning or heating for ambient weather conditions.
Since fuel is one of your most critical resources when relying on a vehicle, you must make plans for procuring more, and also for extending your vehicles “up time”, are there by the installation of expanded, high capacity fuel tanks or by installing external carriers for fuel cans.
Obtaining fuel will likely not be as easy as you are expecting in the aftermath of a major disaster.
Action Items
Analyze your vehicle’s range based on varying conditions.
Perform a cost-benefit analysis regarding installation of an expanded fuel tank.
Consider carrying additional fuel separately in specified, heavy-duty containers to extend range and runtime.
Terrain Restrictions
The vast majority of consumer vehicles are highly dependent upon paved or at least smooth and graded road surfaces for swift, certain travel.
Beyond this, the rubber tires that wheel vehicles are dependent on are surprisingly fragile and vulnerable to deflation. Almost everyone has experienced the aggravation or even the minor emergency unto itself that happens when we get a flat on the highway.
This scenario could take on grave new significance if it happens while trying to escape from a major situation with family or group in tow.
You can absolutely count on the roads you are used to traveling upon being made at least partially impassable by the events you are fleeing from, be it a natural disaster or man-made havoc.
Debris, detritus and wreckage will clog roadways and form a significant hazard to flesh and rubber alike.
Human agitators might deliberately season roadways with caltrops, spike strips or other implements designed to puncture the delicate tires of vehicles in order to discourage or prevent passage.
Special run-flat and even “airless” tires that function normally when punctured are a specialized (and expensive) option that can guarantee mobility even when ventilated with sharp objects.
And don’t get too confident in the idea that you can depart the roadways entirely and just take off cross country, winging it.
Even specialized off-road vehicles find cross-country travel challenging, extreme conditions due to seasons, recent weather and other velvets are highly variable, and it is very easy for wheeled vehicles to become stuck even on well-traveled unimproved paths.
You can improve your chances of successfully bugging out in a vehicle going off road or cross-country, but you would be well-advised to invest in significant upgrades to the vehicle suspension, drivetrain and other systems in order to enable this, and it also calls for significant experience and its type of driving and navigation in all but the most pedestrian settings.
Action Items
Devise alternate bug-out routes in case primaries are made impassible.
Learn off-road driving techniques, and routes.
Vehicle recovery skills and equipment are a must; prepare for stoppages!
Required Secondary Skills
As a prepper you should be very comfortable with the idea of taking care of things yourself. That is why we all do the things we do, after all!
It is certainly a good idea to be able to take care of things such as changing the oil, changing the tires, replacing fluids and so forth- but it is absolutely crucial if you truly want to be able to rely on it as an integral part of your SHTF survival plan.
Most of us can afford to outsource expertise to professionals as we go about our lives and day jobs, and we simply take the car into the shop when that dashboard light comes on, or when it starts making an unusual noise.
You won’t be able to do that during a major crisis. If any parts breakage occurs that incapacitates greatly hinders your vehicle, you must be able to take care of it, or at least patch it up, so you can get moving again. This requires a not inconsiderable amount of know-how, and you had better start learning now.
If you want to keep your vehicle on the road and rolling you should know how to change a tire, but also replace a tire on the rim or patch a tire that has been punctured.
You should be able to change all fluids, and also know you harvest them from other vehicles as well as what other varieties can work in a pinch.
You must be able to replace all major components that are likely to break, or at least ones that are able to be replaced in field conditions without the benefit of a lift or hoist.
There is much more besides these, and learning how to best affect these hasty repairs in a variety of settings and conditions; it won’t be as easy as it is in your home workshop!
This is one case where the knowledge does almost no good without the appropriate tools.
A comprehensive but compact mechanic’s tool set containing all the sockets, ratchets, wrenches, pliers, jacks, mallets and other tools you might conceivably need is a necessary part of your vehicle survival kit, and this will take up a room like anything else you carry, and also contribute to the vehicles maximum gross weight.
Action Items
You must learn how to perform at least basic repairs and parts replacements in order to be “SHTF Ready” in a vehicle.
A comprehensive toolkit and common spares must be part of your vehicle equipment complement.
Endeavor toward being able to make repairs in “field” or roadside conditions without benefit of a shop.
Vehicles are Noisy and Highly Visible
There are no two ways about it: any motor vehicle, except perhaps electric vehicles, are noisy, highly visible and will attract considerable attention, especially during situations where people are desperate to escape or obtain supplies.
All the attributes we have discussed that make it so attractive for you and yours make it doubly attractive for people who have not prepared and are willing to do anything in order to survive…
There is very little you can do to reduce the noise your vehicle makes except turn it off or install a highly-efficient muffler system. Loud and braggadocious performance pipes are not a positive attribute in a survival situation.
You aren’t impressing anyone, and you sure as hell aren’t scaring anyone. Using basic direction finding and listening skills, it is entirely possible for someone to ascertain your general heading or vicinity just by listening for the sound of your motor in the distance amidst the silence of a world gone quiet.
Hiding a vehicle visually is somewhat easier, at least when it is stopped and can be accomplished through a variety of camouflage methods to include painting, terrain masking, constructing of blinds and a variety of other simple techniques.
This will become especially important when you have stopped to make a temporary or semi-permanent camp, since it is a much easier thing to spot a vehicle silhouette, color or shiny surfaces from any distance compared to smaller human habitation or equipment.
You must be prepared to face down people who want the vehicle itself or just its contents in the aftermath of a major disaster.
People will be able to see the gear stacked high that you carry, or if they cannot they might assume the fact that you have a working vehicle at all is a worthy enough prize to risk trying you.
Since you will not, much of the time, be able to effectively reduce or conceal your presence while operating the vehicle, this means you must be prepared for the worst.
Action Items
Be prepared to hide vehicle with camo tarps or netting.
Learn how to field-improvise camo paint, or keep some handy for quick “day before” paint jobs.
Understand that a working vehicle might put a bullseye on your back.
Vehicular Survival and Sustainment Considerations
Some of your survival and sustainment procedures will change when relying predominately on your vehicle in a SHTF context, but some of them will not.
Below you will find additional advice, cautions and modifications to typical readiness considerations in the context of vehicle-borne survival:
Long Term Sustainment in a Vehicle
Your long term sustainment requirements are not particularly altered by the presence of your vehicle. Typically, in fact, they are made much easier!
Shelter and sleeping arrangements are one we have already touched on, and so long as your vehicle is not completely crammed with your bodies and gear it is an easy thing to lower the seatback, fold out a bench or climb into the bed or cargo compartment for some decent-quality shuteye.
Obviously sleeping in your vehicle will rarely be as comfortable as your bed at home, but often beats sleeping on the ground!
On that note, some vehicles, notably pickups and SUVs, can be equipped with rooftop tents or camper modules that will make setting up a proper, comfortable camp a snap, and are an easy way to extend your sleeping “quarters” for passengers who would otherwise have a tough time getting some rest in a cramped vehicle.
Even so, while the close confines of a vehicle might make for humid and fragrant sleeping arrangements, it is still entirely possible to do without these modern niceties in a real emergency.
Important Note About Sleeping In a Vehicle: Most of us are aware of the danger posed by carbon monoxide, or CO, generated by any combusting materials; car exhaust is full of it, hence why you should never let your vehicle run in an enclosed space like the garage.
CO intoxication can take effect quickly and incapacitate or even kill you, so you must treat it seriously.
Where some preppers go astray is in downplaying the threat of CO in outdoor environments; not buttoned up, not a problem, right? Maybe, maybe not.
CO can still be a major threat in a sealed cabin (doors closed, windows up) since anything that causes exhaust to back up at the tailpipe, like snow, for instance, can result in CO entering the cabin where your vehicle’s weather sealing will do a good job of keeping it bottled up until it kills the occupants or is vented.
This is especially dangerous when sleeping, since CO is such an insidious killer; a drowsy feeling followed by unconsciousness is one of its effects, and extremely dangerous to sleepers for this reason.
Ensure you always allow for ventilation if sleeping in your vehicle while the engine is running!
Food and water procurement are made much easier by a vehicle, since both will afford you the opportunity to carry additional hunting and fishing gear, or water cans, that would otherwise be superfluous in a BOB or left behind for weight considerations.
One should be careful to park a good distance away from any hunting prospects though since the sound of a running engine will easily spook game.
The searching and scavenging of materials is likewise unaffected by your vehicle, since it will only extend your range and speed, making your “foraging” area bigger than it might otherwise be on foot.
This might become doubly necessary since you might be searching for “field expedient” spare parts after your supply runs out! No worries, since you are guaranteed to find plenty of immobilized, wrecked or otherwise abandoned vehicles after a major disaster of any kind.
The only consideration when it comes to employing your vehicle for this purpose is that you may need to leave someone to secure it if you are rummaging far from where you park it. More on that in a bit.
Performance and Defensive Driving Skills
Obviously, actually driving your vehicle is going to be a big part of using it for SHTF readiness, and it pays to know what you are doing when the time comes to get a little froggy; it isn’t going to be like your Monday morning commute, most likely!
You could be contending with roadways clogged with debris, jammed with traffic or blocked by unruly bands of rioters or marauders. Freezing in place or waiting for your turn is not going to be an option when seconds count and lives are on the line.
Your first order of business is to understand how to avoid roadblocks and other obstructions that would stall your forward progress. To do this, you must start understanding and practicing (where you can) the utilization of alternate routes and paths.
Just because your vehicle belongs on the pavement does not mean you cannot hop up on to a sidewalk, jump over a curb or island, or barge through light obstructions like gates and fencing.
Start thinking about where your vehicle can physically go, not where you have always driven. I cannot tell you how many times I have watched people get mired in a bad situation during an emergency because they tried to drive like they always had.
Gridlock traffic is different. Ideally, you do not want to get so webbed in, you have no chance of egress, so if you notice a sea of cars ahead, you likely want to take the first available exit, detour, ramp or whatever so you can try for an alternate route.
If you are sure of it, you might hop onto a shoulder, sidewalk, or even try for the middle grass divider of a major highway. Be cautious that you do not “run out of road” doing this since you’ll definitely be SOL in that case!
One timely and topical issue a vehicular survivor might well be forced to cope with is a road full of, or flanked by, rioters.
This is a scary scenario and one that can lead to tragedy if you halt, get stuck, or allow people to start swarming on your vehicle. There are a couple of methods for coping with this.
First, don’t stop. Ever. The end. If you have a path that is otherwise clear, with “clear” being defined as free from obstructions that your vehicle cannot push, drive over or otherwise move through, then you keep rolling.
If your life is in danger, bump people out of the way or run them down by applying steady accelerator pressure to roll along at about 15 MPH.
You don’t need to blast people at high speed to get past them, as such an impact might set off your vehicle’s crash sensors and cut off the engine.
Ffurthermore, this is unnecessary: it never fails that some unthinking fools think the can prevent an automobile’s passage by leaning into it, even en masse, but these people are wrong.
Second, if dealing with a roadblock made from heavy obstructions or vehicles, don’t attempt to blow through it like you see on TV unless it is actually just a cart full of stuffed animals. This is another way to wreck your car and injure the occupants.
Look for a way to reverse out and get away from the roadblock, or if that is impossible or untenable then a way to slip around it; most improvised roadblocks will not completely block a road.
If they do, try to push through the roadblock at its weakest point. For vehicles, this means the end of the car opposite the engine, which is its heaviest part.
Last, treat your vehicle with a modicum of respect whenever possible: ramming and blasting over obstructions might set off crash sensors that will kill the engine, as mentioned, and can also result in damage that means your escape will be short lived.
If you need to perform dynamic, rough maneuvers attempt to do so in a way that will not result in a skid, serious collision or other adverse effect.
Safety and Security
Probably the biggest changes to your survival plans will come in the safety and security procedures, both the vehicle’s and your own. Since the vehicle is your combination sleeping quarters, supply room and of course conveyance, you will need to keep it safe.
This is easier said than done. Keeping yourself safe from harm while in the cramped cabin of any vehicle is another can of worms.
Let us first consider physical safety while occupying a vehicle. This could be imperiled by people or by events.
Generally speaking, you want to keep a good, compact fire extinguisher inside the cabin of the vehicle at all times since a vehicle fire will not only strand you, but destroy all of your possessions needed for survival as well.
Seat belts are a contentious issue, since many preppers see them as a greater hazard than benefit when it comes to SHTF survival. The idea of being tangled up in a seatbelt after a crash or during an attack has kept many preppers awake at night.
On the other hand, a seatbelt is likely the only thing that is going to save your life if you are involved in any kind of significant crash. What to do?
My attitude is simple: Seat belts off when at slow speed or rolling though a congested area where people might be the primary hazard. Seat belts on when at high speed or travelling cross-country.
Simple, and makes best use of your equipment’s safety features, while mitigating secondary risks.
Self-defense against humans is another biggie preppers worry over. Bottom Line Up Front: You are either driving, or shooting, not both.
You are not Jason Bourne, and sure as heck not John Wick. Trying to drive and shoot means you’ll do both poorly, and either crash or shoot yourself, or your vehicle.
If you are driving, drive. Let passengers do the shooting, if they can and it is required. If they cannot, use the vehicle to get away from a threat quickly or as a weapon itself.
Keeping the vehicle safe when you are not in it is tricky; essentially, you cannot, unless it is guarded and/or well-hidden. Vehicles attract attention, no two ways about it, and are themselves seen as prizes or loot-boxes by opportunists.
If your vehicle, resplendent with all your gear and supplies, is left unattended and unguarded it is vulnerable! You cannot count on any vehicle security system, even armored bodywork and windows to resist a determined attempt to get in.
Lastly, there is one more vehicle survivability factor that you should keep in mind, even it is a fringe threat: EMPs. EMPs, or electromagnetic pulses, can be generated by natural cosmic phenomena, or as a byproduct of a nuclear warhead detonation.
However they occur, they are speculated to fry absolutely anything with a computer chip or circuit board.
That means the vast majority of modern vehicles, so dependent on computer-controlled everything, will be done for, and will require extensive repair and refit to work again at all.
Older vehicles, especially those that rely on carburetors, are far more likely to resist these effects. If you want a truly comprehensive level of readiness, you should consider one of these older models, and keep it in tip-top shape.
Conclusion
A vehicle can be an excellent choice for surviving a SHTF scenario if you work hard to maximize its advantages, and work equally hard to minimize its disadvantages.
The passenger carrying capacity, cargo hauling capability and sheer power, range and speed of a vehicle make it indispensable for escaping disasters or dealing with the aftermath.
Don’t think you can only try to escape on foot, or that your vehicle will not be viable: with the right plans and the correct preparation, it might be just the ticket to whisk you and yours out of danger.
There was a time when it was easy to eavesdrop on police and other service radio networks. Police scanners fans can hear live police, fire, and ambulance calls. However, it isn’t as easy as it used to be because nearly all radios now are trunked. That means conversations might jump from channel to channel. However, P25 can unscramble trunked radio calls intercepted by a cheap SDR dongle and let you listen in. [SignalsEverywhere] shows you how to set it up for Windows or Linux and you can see the video below.
Trunking radio makes sense. In the old days, you might have a dozen channels for different purposes. But most channels would be empty most of the time. With trunking radio, a radio’s computer is set to be in a talk group and a control channel sorts out what channel the talk group should use at any given time. That means that one channel might have several transmissions in a row from different talk groups and one talk group might hop to a new channel on each transmission.
P25 is the APCO ( Association of Public Safety Communications Officials) Project 25 standard used for public service trunking radios. You can, of course, get commercial equipment to monitor these radios, too, but what fun is that?
With everyone spending more time at home these days, radio monitoring is a great way to live vicariously. Not the first time we’ve seen an SDR dongle scanner, of course. Just watch out for kiddy toys.
Hi, I’ve had this quite a few times now, may be others have too. When I set a really strong intention to become lucid, I struggle to get to sleep infact some nights I have to ditch the intention otherwise I’ll be laying awake in bed for hours. Has anyone got any tips on how to get over this?
via Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Attaining Lucidity https://ift.tt/304p2nO
There’s no denying that the reach and variety of internet radio is super cool. The problem is that none of the available interfaces really give the enormity of the thing the justice it deserves. We long for a more physical and satisfying interface for tuning in stations from around the globe, and [Jude] has made just the thing.
The other encoder is on the left side of the globe, and reads whatever latitude is focused in the reticle. Both encoder are connected to a Raspberry Pi 4, though if you want to replicate this open-source project using the incredibly detailed instructions, he says a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ will work, too.
In the base there’s an LCD that shows the coordinates, the city, and the station ID. Other stations in the area are tune-able with the jog wheel on the base. There’s also an RGB LED that blinks red while the station is being tuned in, and turns green when it’s done. We totally dig the clean and minimalist look of this build — especially the surprise transparent bottom panel that lets you see all the guts.
There are three videos after the break – a short demo that gives you the gist of how it works, a longer demonstration, and a nice explanation of absolute rotary encoders. Those are just the tip of the iceberg, because [Jude] kept a daily vlog of the build.
I'm making these little daily reality check lists, and could use more suggestions. I'm using the prompts to create daily lists of 4 targets each day, then rotate every day. Also, making monthly targets (4/month) that are less frequent, and a little more unusual. That way it combines building prospective memory and also critical reflective attitude.
I have a list already, but no worries, I want all of your ideas. Better to assume I haven't got that one yet :)
If you're going to help me out, I would appreciate if you separate your suggestions by 1) common reality checks and 2) unusual reality checks.
Then, further separate them into 4 distinct categories: visual prompt, auditory prompt, passive kinesthetic, and active kinesthetic. Examples: Seeing something, hearing something, having something happen to you (feeling, tasting), and doing something. Seeing a mushroom, hearing your name, feeling pain, using a key.
Thank you :)
via Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Attaining Lucidity https://ift.tt/2P3VTCR
Michigan knife laws all around are surprisingly solid and easy to follow, with a couple of standout exceptions being restricted concealed carry of fixed blade knives. Open carry of fixed blades are permissible, but I would advise most of our readers to do so with great care.
But things aren’t all bad in Michigan, where concealed carry a folding knife is legal, so you don’t have too much to worry about when it comes to carrying your favorite folding pocket knife.
There is also more to celebrate, as Michigan’s knife law statutes have seen continual reform and improvement for a few years now, starting with a big mouth of legislation back in 2017 that legalized the sale and ownership assisted open knives.
Prior to the passage of this reform assisted-opening knives were lumped in with switchblades. First, a little bit of need-to-know info and then we’ll get on to the bulk of the discussion.
What You Need to Know
What Kinds of Knives Can I Own?: Any kind of knife, but there are prohibitions on carrying several types of knives! See below.
Can I Carry a Knife Concealed?: Yes, but you cannot carry any fixed blade, dagger, dirk, stiletto or front-deploying automatic knife/switchblade concealed. Be cautious carrying any concealed knife.
Can I Carry a Knife Openly?: Yes, any knife can be carried openly.
General Ownership
Michigan does not have any major restrictions on the general ownership of any particular kind of knife, so as I mentioned above carrying those knives is another story.
But as with all states that have restrictive language in their statutes covering citizen carry of weaponry, you must always be extremely cautious lest you run afoul some overzealous law enforcer. You might be able to prove your innocence in court, but you will still have to go to court!
Carry
Carry, be it open or concealed, is where the fun begins in Michigan. In an odd turn, it seems that Michigan doesn’t really care what you carry openly so long as you do not carry it with any unlawful intent.
The law specifically states that any person may not go armed with the following with any intent to use it unlawfully against another person: daggers, dirks, razors, stilettos or any knife having a blade of over 3 in. in length, or any other dangerous or deadly weapon or instrument.
That sure sounds at first blush like a total restriction on open carry of any knife with a blade over 3 in., doesn’t it?
That is understandable, but a thorough reading of the law says a person must not go armed with any of those knives with the intention to use them on lawfully against any other person.
That means if you are going forth armed with no intent to use them on lawfully, you are not breaking the law.
Now, concealed carry is an entirely different thing. In the state of Michigan, a person shall not carry any dagger, dirk, stiletto or double edged non-folding stabbing instrument of any links, or any other dangerous weapon, except a hunting knife adapted for the purposes of the relevant statute.
Carrying any of the above on your person or in your vehicle counts as carrying concealed, unless you’re in your house, your place of business, or any other land that you may own.
The relevant section seems to be predisposed against the specialized knives named and also fixed blade knives, which are expressly forbidden, but the inclusion of the phrase “any other dangerous weapon” might make certain folding knives, especially of the tactical variety, verboten as well.
Any folding knife that might be classified under the broad category of dagger, dirk or stiletto is probably going to get you in trouble, so leave the super killy and vicious looking knives at home. A more pedestrian, typical pocket knife is probably your best bet.
You have been warned: of particular interest to preppers going armed in the state of Michigan, concealed carry of any prohibited weapon is a big deal in the state, a felony, and the sentence can be up to five years in prison or a significant fine of $2,500.
Prohibited Places
Schools. You may legally carry a knife into a school if the knife is a legal type, carried in a legal way, and you have a valid concealed weapons permit or the permission of the principal or other administrator of the school to carry the knife, or the permission of one of the principal’s designated agents.
That there is no provision for leaving a knife in your car in the parking lot in the state of Michigan if you are not a student (or are a student, for that matter) but there is one for firearms.
Just because there is one for firearms does not mean knives fall under that umbrella; they don’t. Words mean things, and Michigan knows what they are about when they exclude knives from that statue.
Also be aware that Michigan has no statewide preemption, meaning that counties and cities might have their own laws governing knives that are not overridden by the statewide law.
That means it is up to you to remain completely up-to-date on the weapons laws and whatever area you are living in, working in or traveling through. Ignorance is no excuse!
Assessment
Despite their obvious and peculiar hatred for the carry of fixed blade knives, Michigan is otherwise a fairly friendly and permissible state for knife owners.
Not having statewide preemption to unify the local laws throughout is a bit of a pain, and can make navigating the legal landscape complicated depending on what kind of knife you are carrying.
Hopefully the progress being made to modernize the states knife law will continue and soon all of this will be a worry of the past.
Important Michigan State Statutes
Below are a few of the most important Michigan State statutes governing knife laws. Note that this is not the entirety of the law you need to know, but only a selection of the most important and the most relevant. Read these over, and get familiar with them:
750.226 Firearm or dangerous or deadly weapon or instrument; carrying with unlawful intent; violation as felony; penalty.
(1) A person shall not, with intent to use the same unlawfully against the person of another, go armed with a pistol or other firearm, or a pneumatic gun, dagger, dirk, razor, stiletto, or knife having a blade over 3 inches in length, or any other dangerous or deadly weapon or instrument.
(2) A person who violates this section is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a fine of not more than $2,500.00.
750.227 Concealed weapons; carrying; penalty.
(1) A person shall not carry a dagger, dirk, stiletto, a double-edged nonfolding stabbing instrument of any length, or any other dangerous weapon, except a hunting knife adapted and carried as such, concealed on or about his or her person, or whether concealed or otherwise in any vehicle operated or occupied by the person, except in his or her dwelling house, place of business or on other land possessed by the person.
(/)
(3) A person who violates this section is guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or by a fine of not more than $2,500.00.
750.235b Threatening to commit violence with firearm, explosive, or other dangerous weapon against students or employees on school property; specific intent or overt act; violation arising out of same transaction; definitions.
(1) A person who verbally, through the use of an electronic device or system, or through other means intentionally threatens to use a firearm, explosive, or other dangerous weapon to commit an act of violence against any students or school employees on school grounds or school property if the threat can be reasonably interpreted to be harmful or adverse to human life, or dangerous to human life as that term is defined in section 543b, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 1 year or a fine of not more than $1,000.00, or both.
(2) A person who violates subsection (1) and who in the course of violating subsection (1) had the specific intent to carry out the threat, or had undertaken an overt act toward carrying out the threat, is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 10 years or a fine of not more than $20,000.00, or both.
(3) This section does not prohibit a person from being charged with, convicted of, or punished for any other violation of law arising out of the same transaction as the violation of this section.
(4) As used in this section: (a) “Dangerous weapon” means a knife, stabbing instrument, brass knuckles, blackjack, club, or other object specifically designed or customarily carried or possessed for use as a weapon. (b) “School” means that term as defined in section 237a. (c) “School property” means that term as defined in section 237a.
750.237a Individual engaging in proscribed conduct in weapon free school zone; violation; penalties; definitions.
(1) An individual who engages in conduct proscribed under section 224, 224a, 224b, 224c, 224e, 226, 227, 227a, 227f, 234a, 234b, or 234c, or who engages in conduct proscribed under section 223(2) for a second or subsequent time, in a weapon free school zone is guilty of a felony punishable by 1 or more of the following: (a) Imprisonment for not more than the maximum term of imprisonment authorized for the section violated. (b) Community service for not more than 150 hours. (c) A fine of not more than 3 times the maximum fine authorized for the section violated.
(2) An individual who engages in conduct proscribed under section 223(1), 224d, 227c, 227d, 231c, 232a(1) or (4), 233, 234, 234e, 234f, 235, 236, or 237, or who engages in conduct proscribed under section 223(2) for the first time, in a weapon free school zone is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by 1 or more of the following: (a) Imprisonment for not more than the maximum term of imprisonment authorized for the section violated or 93 days, whichever is greater. (b) Community service for not more than 100 hours. (c) A fine of not more than $2,000.00 or the maximum fine authorized for the section violated, whichever is greater.
(/)
(4) Except as provided in subsection (5), an individual who possesses a weapon in a weapon free school zone is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by 1 or more of the following: (a) Imprisonment for not more than 93 days. (b) Community service for not more than 100 hours. (c) A fine of not more than $2,000.00.
(5) Subsection (4) does not apply to any of the following:
…
(c) An individual licensed by this state or another state to carry a concealed weapon.
…
(e) An individual who possesses a firearm on school property if that possession is with the permission of the school’s principal or an agent of the school designated by the school’s principal or the school board.
(f) An individual who is 18 years of age or older who is not a student at the school and who possesses a firearm on school property while transporting a student to or from the school if any of the following apply:
(b) “School” means a public, private, denominational, or parochial school offering developmental kindergarten, kindergarten, or any grade from 1 through 12.
(c) “School property” means a building, playing field, or property used for school purposes to impart instruction to children or used for functions and events sponsored by a school, except a building used primarily for adult education or college extension courses.
(d) “Weapon” includes, but is not limited to, a pneumatic gun.
(e) “Weapon free school zone” means school property and a vehicle used by a school to transport students to or from school property.
When most people think of a safe room, they envision a completely enclosed, hardened vault-like room within an existing structure that is completely safe against any threat, against any form of attack or natural disaster.
While these popular conceptions certainly do qualify as safe rooms, and very good ones at that, this typical imagining is more a product of popular media like movies and TV shows.
In reality, a safe room can be almost any room in your home, or even your office that serves as a designated fallback point to withstand a natural disaster or intruders.
You don’t have to spend a fortune or re-engineer your house to benefit from a safe room, but it does have to meet certain criteria.
It has to be accessible in short order to all members of the house, it must be at least nominally hardened against forced entry and should ideally be stocked with supplies and other provisions to help you wait out any bad situation, at least in the short-term.
Most homes that people live in will have at least one room that can with a little ingenuity and perhaps a few choice upgrades be made into a serviceable safe room.
In today’s article I will share with you tips, procedures and other considerations that will help you make your safe room the best that it can be no matter your budget.
Every Castle Needs a Keep
Even a castle surrounded by high walls and battlements, virtually impregnable from the outside, should have within its confines a keep.
A castle keep is typically a tower, itself fortified, surrounded by another set of walls, used as a fallback point for the royal family and their defenders if the greater castle grounds and bailey was compromised by invaders.
While real castle keeps were rendered irrelevant by constantly improving artillery and other siege weapons, we can still use this concept today to our benefit in the form of a safe room.
If you are like me I will go ahead and assume that you have fortified your home externally and internally in order to make it a hard target for dedicated intruders and to also see it scratched off the list of potential targets posthaste by lesser criminals.
Security cameras, improved lighting, defensive landscaping, hardened doors, locks another entry hardware- the works. All of this adds up and helps keep evil people out of your home, or at the very least buys you plenty of time to muster a meaningful defense if they are hell-bent on getting in.
But you would be a fool if you did not count on those invaders getting in. It is a mistake to stop thinking about contingencies just because you have made the walls of your personal castle seemingly impregnable.
The question is, what do we do once they get inside? One valid answer is to, of course, fight them off and we should in order to protect what is ours, both our family and our holdings, but that entails a certain amount of risk.
As a corollary to the question of repelling boarders, you should ask yourself if anything you have is truly worth your own life, and the life of your family.
If you are like me, the answer will again probably be “no”. When confronted with armed and violent intruders, it is oftentimes best to disengage if at all feasible.
For most folks, this won’t be an option because they will not be able to simply run out of their house in good order with their family members in tow.
But if you do have the option to retreat further inward on defense, in the form of a safe room, you’ll be in a much better position to both protect and to ensure a positive outcome with no one injured or killed.
Safe Rooms on Defense
Inside your safe room, you will have every family member accounted for, an easily defensible, hardened entrance that should be proof against most attempts to break in, and all the supplies and equipment you might need to deal with injuries or call for help.
Safe rooms can take the form of a simple room with a sturdy door and barricade and some pre-placed supplies, or a purpose-fabricated and installed miniature bunker proof against any breaching attempt and replete with air filtration system, communications gear, weapons and more.
That being said most will fall somewhere in the middle for most folks, so we will discuss the criteria for designating, fortifying and equipping a safe room in the sections below.
Some of these items will be achievable for you, others will not, and perhaps for reasons besides cost. That’s alright. What is important is that you fix up your own safe room (so you have a safe room) according to what you can achieve.
Some of the items for consideration when designating and equipping a safe room:
Location and Accessibility
Hardening – Against Gunfire and Entry
Supplies and provisions
Defensive Weapons and Other Equipment
Communications
Escape Route
We will talk about each of these in turn just below.
Location and Accessibility
The location of the safe room inside the house or structure will be of paramount importance.
For a safe room to be effective against intruders you must be able to reach it along with all of the other people in the house that you care about and then secure it against further entry.
If accessing your safe room in an emergency will take you through hallways or rooms that are already likely to be occupied by intruders, you might as well not have it.
For many people, locating a safe room immediately off of the master bedroom makes the most sense, and plenty of people will choose to make the master bedroom itself the safe room.
For families, this is usually a smart move as it is a fairly easy thing to train all the members of the family in the home to head for the master bedroom in times of trouble.
Many home layouts also feature the master bedroom co-located near the other bedrooms, meaning little time will be wasted in heading for the safe room.
If you happen to live alone or it is just you and a partner inside the home, all you will need to do to secure your safe room against entry is close, lock and secure the door.
This is the picture of simplicity in an otherwise high-stress situation, and unless there was some other reason why that won’t work should be your first option.
But assuming that the “master bedroom as safe room”, or safe room located off the master bedroom concept will not work, it doesn’t mean you should abandon it entirely. It just means a safe room may not be a viable response for the entire family in case of home invasion.
It might still be an excellent option in response to civil unrest, disaster and other crisis situations- you will just need a little more time to access it.
That is something that is entirely achievable so long as you have a little more notice than “team of robbers break in at 3 a.m.”
In a multi-level home, or a home with a basement, think long and hard about locating your safe room underground or above the ground floor.
One key element to a good safe room is a secure, or at least hidden, emergency escape exit that will allow you to get out of the safe room and preferably out of the house in case of really dire straits like fire or a prolonged siege. A safe room located above or below ground can complicate that.
Below is your checklist for locating your safe room and making it accessible:
Located in or very near master bedroom, if possible?
Readily reachable by all members of household?
Located on first floor if possible.
Does location allow for emergency exit?
Hardening: Gunfire and Entry
For a safe room to truly be considered a safe room it must be impregnable to the people who want to harm you, or at the very least delay them considerably enough that they give up for fear of the cavalry arriving in the form of reinforcements you have summoned or the police arriving.
This means that the entryway to your safe room must be hardened against attempts to pry or kick it open and also that the walls and potentially even the floor and ceiling should be constructed of material or armored in such a way that they can resist gunfire.
Top of the line, purpose-built safe rooms will also be resistant to explosives and other hardcore breaching methods.
This is one part of safe room siting and construction that will require a considerable amount of money for improvement or an awful lot of laborious DIY, at least if you want to harden the room beyond the most elementary upgrades.
Opening up or rebuilding walls with the intention of adding purpose-made armor or just laying in bullet-resistant material takes time and a not inconsiderable investment in finances. The larger the room, the better the armor and the more advanced the hardware is the higher the price tag will climb.
At the most basic level, your safe room should have a solid, heavily-built and high-quality door installed with equally high-quality hardware within a heavy-duty frame that will resist kicking or prying.
No matter how good the door is and how good the hardware that it hangs on, it should be backed up by some type of reinforcement, anything from a horizontal bar that goes across the frame or an angled bar that slots into a receptacle on the floor (commonly called a burglar bar), to a full frame anti-kick device like the Door Devil.
On the opposite end of the price and complexity spectrum you can install something akin to a bank’s vault door with multiple hardened steel pins that slot into a specially made frame for the ultimate in strength and breach resistance.
Of course, a door is only as good as the wall surrounding it, as some witless homeowners have discovered when burglars literally tunnel around their top-of-the-line security door to gain entry to a room in the house.
Wall reinforcement is a bit more complex than merely purchasing a new door and adapting the opening accordingly. The walls must be able to resist mechanical breaching as well as gunfire.
Common construction materials that are resistant to gunfire include concrete, brick and other masonry and certain thicknesses of sheet steel. All of the above are relatively affordable, but can be highly complicated to install in an existing house and are best put to use during the construction phase.
All of them also have the disadvantage of being very heavy, and structural load limits around the safe room will be a legitimate factor, especially when the safe room is on a second floor or near the center of the ground floor if not on a slab.
Purpose made armor is another option, and can take the form of man-made fabrics like Kevlar or Dyneema, armor-grade steels or other alloys, and potentially even ceramics.
Any of these may garner weight savings over conventional construction materials that are merely bullet-resistant, as well as providing you enhanced ballistic protection, but the disadvantage is that they will be extraordinarily expensive to install completely around a room of any size.
Regarding ballistic protection it is crucial that you keep in mind not all armor is up to the task of stopping repeated hits from rifle fire!
With enough time and repeated hits or with powerful enough weapons your safe room’s armor can fail, and though it is likely to degrade projectiles that defeat it it may no longer stop them.
Regardless of the cost and aggravation involved you must not skip on this step if you can afford it, as mechanical and ballistic protection provided by the door, walls, floor and ceiling of your safe room is very literally integral to the concept of the safe room itself.
Your safe room hardening checklist:
Door, door hardware and frame must be of high strength and grade.
Wall reinforcement is a must to prevent intruders from bypassing door.
Ceiling and food may optionally be hardened to protect against prolonged siege or determined intruders.
Armor or enhancement with bullet-resistant materials is a must for protection against gunfire.
You must carefully assess load-bearing potential of your host structure before installing any of these upgrades!
Supplies and Provisions
You wouldn’t jump into a life raft without any provisions if you had the choice, and so you should not retreat to your safe room without having all supplies and provisions you might need for an extended stay already inside.
This does not mean the safe room must be equipped and appointed the same as a luxury hotel, but you should always include at a minimum basic life support supplies, food and water.
Considering why you might need your safe room in the first place, and for those of you in the back I am talking about human violence particularly, medical supplies are a must.
I’m not talking about the dinky first aid kit you keep in the medicine cabinet, but instead a properly outfitted trauma kit that can take care of everything from penetrating trauma to blunt force impact and everything in between.
Of course, it will not hurt to have items that are capable of taking care of lesser boo-boos, but those are not what we are mainly concerned with when we have to retreat to our safe room.
One item you should have inside your safe room in abundance is water; in small bottles or large jugs, makes no difference. You’ll certainly need this for hydration, and also for potentially cleaning wounds.
Considering you might be buttoned up for some time, basic food supplies in the form of long-lasting, high-calorie and ready-to-eat meal replacements or snacks are a good idea also.
Take the time to consider what you might need after barreling into your safe room in a frenzied rush. What is something that will be left outside that you would really like to have while inside?
How about prescription medication or prescription eyewear? Perhaps a set of clothes that is more suitable for the situation than your pajamas or your underwear? How about some footwear to go with them?
Nothing is necessarily off the table: take the time to think the situation through and emplace ahead of time all of the supplies and provisions you will need under the circumstances that saw you scampering to your safe room in the first place.
Below is a checklist for supplies and provisions to include in your safe room:
Comprehensive medical kit including trauma supplies.
Water, jugs or bottles.
Food, high calorie, stable meal replacements.
Any and all prescription medications and eyewear.
Clothing.
Footwear.
Defensive Weapons and Other Equipment
Again, count on the fact that you will likely have cause to retreat to your safe room under duress from hostile intruders and you will see the wisdom in pre-emplacing defensive weapons inside.
This is not to say that you will need them at the instant if you have constructed your safe room appropriately, but you might.
Eventually, you will have to come out, and if the situation is not defused by then you might have to do so with guns blazing. Alternately, emerging from your safe room into a world that is half upside-down will probably make you glad to be armed.
At the most basic, you should keep some spare magazines or other ammo sources for your primary, bedside defensive guns or concealed carry guns within your safe room. This will provide you with ready replenishment in the event you need to fight prior to entering.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the overall security of a safe room means it is an ideal location to emplace multiple, redundant guns and plenty of ammo in anticipation of needing them during a SHTF scenario.
But let’s assume you cannot have or choose not to own guns for whatever reason. That does not mean you shouldn’t include defensive weapons in your safe room’s complement at all.
A large “riot” can of pepper spray is an excellent choice, as is a sturdy fighting knife or some other melee weapon.
Pepper spray at least gives you some standoff capability but knives will only be good when at bad breath-distance from your assailants.
No matter what weapon you choose to arm yourself with or prefer for self-defense, make sure at least one is waiting for you inside the safe room.
Besides weapons, other tools of self-defense and self-preservation will be paramount if you must call on the refuge of your safe room. Flashlights and lanterns with batteries aplenty should be kept on hand, checked and rotated regularly.
A fire extinguisher or two might be the only thing that can stop you from getting smoked out of your safe room or seeing your house burn down. For longer stays, a self-contained toilet or at least a bucket with a lid along with some odor-control media is a great thing to have.
Lastly, spartan creature comforts in a safe room can help when the time comes to take rest. Some blankets, pillows and even a folding cot might help make the difference.
For the highest-end safe rooms, an independent air-handling and filtration system can help keep you comfortable and safe from all kinds of airborne hazards and contaminants, though such a system is naturally expensive, and requires considerable upgrades to the room itself to be viable along with regular maintenance even when not in use.
For the most well-off or dedicated DIY preppers, such a system can truly see your safe room serve as a SHTF “lifeboat” no matter what kind of disaster is occurring.
Consider the following equipment checklist when outfitting your safe room:
Firearms and/or extra ammunition.
Pepper spray canister, large.
Knife or other contact weapon.
Flashlights and extra batteries or chargers.
Small, self-contained toilet or bucket with absorbent media.
Blankets and pillows.
Folding cot.
Air-handling and filtration system.
Communications
No matter what kind of safe room you are building and no matter where it is located, you must have some form of reliable communication to the outside world within.
The ability to call for the cavalry and wait for reinforcements or relief to arrive is essential. This can take many forms depending on what methods of communication will be most reliable in your area and from within your safe room.
For most preppers who are equipping a modest safe room likely all you will need is your cell phone assuming you have signal from within the room itself. This is dependent on having both power for the cell phone and the phone itself on you when you slam and lock the safe room door behind you.
For this reason, it is not a bad idea to keep a dedicated cell phone within the safe room and charged at all times.
If you have poor or dodgy signal in the safe room, consider running a cell phone signal amplifier and antenna arrangement within that can help “pipe” the signal clear of the safe room’s heavy and interfering walls.
A landline telephone is another viable option, but one that is vulnerable to attack by bad guys who might cleverly decide to cut the line where it ties into the house.
Some safe room owners for this reason setup a dedicated, shielded phone line just for their safe room that will ensure they can make use of the telephone even when the primary line is severed. So long as the network is intact and powered, of course…
More advanced self-contained communications options that are excellent safe room candidates include a family-service, or ham radio set with its own power source.
These devices will be proof against anything that might cripple the cellular or landline phone network or its power supply, but will take training and experience to use to best effect, and summoning help is no longer as simple as dialing 911.
It is a good idea to make prior radio contact with known persons who might help you summon aid in such a scenario.
Even more advanced communications options include satellite phones which are completely self-contained and further insured against terrestrial mayhem so long as the infrastructure servicing their satellites are still operational.
The worst “dirtside” disasters will not often hamper these ingenious marvels in the slightest.
One commonly overlooked element of communications for safe rooms is a simple intercom system that can let you talk to people outside the door, throughout the house and even at the entrance to your property.
Also, just as important is the ability to listen to these external mics even when you are not actively transmitting; this is another vital source of intelligence that you should invest in alongside cameras.
The ability to communicate and coordinate with people outside your safe room while you are inside is crucial. Consider any or all of the following options for your safe room:
Cell Phone with dedicated charger and/or power bank.
Dedicated landline telephone, if available in area.
GMRS/Ham radio set.
Satellite phone.
Whole house intercom system.
Interior/exterior surveillance cameras.
Escape Route
One fatal flaw that some misfortunate preppers bake-in to their escape room is a lack of secondary escape route. If your safe room is one way in and one way out, it might become your tomb when the situation becomes unsalvageable and unsurvivable.
Fire is one such scenario that will spell doom for all but the most cleverly constructed and advanced safe rooms since even ones that can survive the extraordinary heat of a house fire will usually asphyxiate their occupants.
It is also not out of the question that bad guys in the wrong state of mind and not fearing any retaliation or friendly reinforcements from your side might decide to crack your shell and drag you out, doing so with power tools, explosives or massed gunfire. This is another potentially grisly end you can and should avoid!
And avoid it you should, if you have a secondary exit from your escape room. Your secondary exit can deposit you somewhere else in the house or even outside the house depending on how it is set up.
The style and furnishment of such is up to you and once more dependent on your budget and inventiveness.
I personally know a prepper who has their escape route lead from the safe room on one end of the house via a smallish, crawlspace-sized tunnel to a hidden door beneath their kitchen island, and another whose basement safe room has a full-size tunnel that leads to a hidden, sealed hatch in the woodline over 50 yards from their home.
No matter what kind of escape route you are installing it must be completely hidden both from within and without or secured in the same manner as the primary safe room door, or else you risk letting the clever and the nosy into your unprotected backside.
Considering how logistically burdensome a proper escape tunnel can be to install in existing structures, these are usually built during the construction phase of a home or other building.
You should think long and hard before omitting an escape route from your safe room. Consider the following:
Escape route leads elsewhere in home or outside home?
Escape route must be completely hidden at exit point and/or secured similarly to primary door.
Installing safe room and escape route during construction affords many more options.
Conclusion
Safe rooms are not just the stuff of paranoid characters in movies and on T.V., and serve much the same role for preppers today that a castle’s keep did for the occupying royal family in eras gone by.
A safe room need not be a technological and expensive marvel to work for you but it must have certain essential features in order to be worthy of the name and do its job, features we have laid out in the article above.
Using this article as a guide you should be able to intelligently and correctly install and fortify your very own safe room!
Armed robbery is an ancient crime that persists even today. Call it whatever you want: a hold up, a mugging, a stick up, daylight robbery, a shakedown, the outcome is the same. If you don’t part with what the crook wants, it may cost you your life, or if you’re lucky, just some flesh and blood.
Armed robbery is one of the first “serious” crimes that a young criminal may commit in his career, and can happen anywhere, from small-town rural communities to the largest of metropolises.
It is a simple puzzle, this one, a fat purse or wallet, and precious jewelry means easy money and that makes robberies the literal bread-and-butter of most criminals.
You may never simply assume that you won’t be the target of a robbery. It takes genuine skills and heightened awareness to keep yourself or your loved ones from being targeted for robbery, or stopping it once it is already in progress.
Now, if you listen to the vast majority of so-called self-defense experts, you’ll find a dozen or so purportedly easy ways to get yourself out of a robbery attempt without losing your wallet or your life. Some of these methods have merit, but most are just going to get you killed or severely maimed.
The truth is this: there is no failure proof technique or strategy that will get you out of a robbery every time, no matter what. Extricating yourself from a robbery attempt alive is no easy trick, and you shouldn’t think it is.
But if you can keep your wits about you, think quickly and act decisively you stand a chance. You cannot count on anything else. In this article I’ll give you some advice to show you how to do just that.
Not All Victims are Created Equal
Robberies usually happen for a reason. This is to say that most criminals aren’t out committing robbery for fun and games. True, they may do it as part of some initiation or blooding exercise, as it were, but typically you’ll see a robbery occur when a criminal needs to make a payday.
Robbery is very literally part of their profession. They are doing it for sustainment, to get what they need to survive, or just some money to get what they want. This is an important insight into a criminal’s mindset.
If you’re doing this for a reason, and not just to prove how tough you are, or how ruthless, that means you’re looking for a certain kind of person to rob. You’re looking for the right kind of victim.
What is the right kind of victim? The right kind of victim is a person, first, who has the things you want, i.e. valuables, and second is a person who is easy to rob.
What kind of person is easy to rob? Simple! A person that is easy to rob is someone who is not likely to fight, is not likely to create a lot of chaos and draw attention to the event, and is someone who is easy to approach, to make contact with.
Putting it another way, it is someone who is not paying attention to who and what is around them.
There is no nice way to say this: criminals who commit robbery professionally, serially, are predators. The predators’ modus operandi in nature, and civilization, is to make a score without substantial risk of injury.
For predators, getting injured is bad. Get injured and you can’t hunt. If you can’t hunt, you can’t eat, and if you can’t eat then you die.
Applying that logic to our criminal in question, our robber, injury may be literal in the case of a would-be victim who puts up a fight or creates enough ruckus call assistant to them, perhaps police who will beat up the robber, arrest them and drag them to jail.
This victim selection criterion informs us what a good victim looks like, but also what a bad victim looks like. A bad victim is someone who is physically fit, looks like they can handle themselves, and most importantly is alert to ambush.
If you were a robber, why would you go after the jacked-up male bodybuilder who is paying attention to his environment, when you can wait for the meek, mousey, nervous-looking woman getting a huge wad of cash out of an ATM?
Exactly. If you were smart robber, and I hope you’re not, you would go for the latter every time, and not the former.
Let this deduction inform your own behavior and countermeasures: you don’t want to look like a good victim! I’ll give you a checklist later on it will help you do exactly that.
Knowing Where to Hunt Counts for a Lot
Continuing our predator analogy, choosing the right prey is the first step to getting a meal. The second step is knowing where to find the prey.
For robbers stalking the settlements of men, good hunting grounds could be a place where people are typically distracted, or not paying attention.
Even better if it’s a place they are going to have a lot of valuables and money already on them. The ATM I just mentioned is one such example where prey fits both criteria, distracted and flush with cash.
Other such places include any place where you are distracted by a task at hand, say getting in or out of your vehicle, or are forced to go through a narrow space or confined area. Apartment building stairwells are notorious for this as are buildings that have vestibules with blind corners.
An increasing number of people get robbed preparing to enter their own home or apartment.
Fishing for your key ring and then fiddling with your keys while you’re thinking about making dinner, doing the laundry or firing up the old video game console is a perfect distraction for some robber to sweep up to you and put a gun in your ribs.
Another good example is any out-of-the-way, hidden or semi-hidden place where intervention is unlikely to come, and attention is unlikely to be drawn to the situation transpiring.
The more likely it is that a robber can bushwhack you without anyone seeing it, without anyone coming to your aid, the better. People who witness robberies, in most decent places anyway, are very likely to call the police, and if you are a robber, police invariably mean trouble.
And, while rare, a robber should not discount the presence or intervention of a Good Samaritan who would beat, stab or more likely shoot them for their nefarious act.
The more isolated or cut off from other people you are, the better the odds you’ll start to look like food to a predator.
The Ideal Victim for an Armed Robber
Do you think profiling is wrong? Well, prepare to have your feelings hurt and your jimmies rustled because the ideal robbery victim does indeed fit a profile.
The ideal victim for an armed robber is someone who is infirm or weak, and furthermore someone who does not appear confident, looks lost, or nervous. Basically someone who is not a hard target in the classical meaning of the term.
An ideal victim is distracted or otherwise in a transitional space that confines them or occupies their attention, allowing the robber to close in undetected until it is too late. This video is illustrates this perfectly:
Suddenly appearing in the victim’s personal space, the robber will then often make a soft pass to gauge the victim’s attitude and determination.
Someone who is quick to tell someone else to back off, or that they cannot help them is usually not a good candidate for a robbery. Note, this does not mean you will not be robbed if you behave in this way, only that it may deter a more conservative robber.
A soft pass is an innocent question or request for help. Common passes are things like asking for a light for a cigarette, asking for directions, asking for charity- for an empty gas tank, for a meal, etc.
If a robber is unsure of the target, or gauging his chances, the way in which the victim handles this part of the “interview” is crucial to determining if the robber will proceed.
At any rate, at this point the would-be robber is already way too close to his victim, and has a high chance of corralling them or impeding their escape.
The Least Ideal Victim for an Armed Robber
So now you know what an ideal victim looks like, so what does the least ideal victim look like?
The world’s worst robbery candidate is someone who is the polar opposite of the above. This person is confident, observant and knows where they are going, or at least looks like they do. They move it a reasonable pace, they do not rush, nor do they tip toe.
They’re aware of who is around them and what is going on around them. They acknowledged the presence of those people around them by looking them in the eye, not with challenge, but merely as a notification that they see them.
When someone makes eye contact with them, they do not flinch and look away in fear or nervousness.
The least ideal victim appears fit and strong, equally able to run away or fight back. This is not a guarantee they will not be robbed, but for a robber an easier mark is just around the next bend.
Unless they have a serious chip on their shoulder they will not risk a serious confrontation with a hard case when, with just a little patience, they can have a pushover.
Most of all, a poor choice of victim is careful to avoid dangerous ground, evading the choke points and distractions the good victims fall into. If they are forced into such a place they set themselves up, and move through them defensively.
One note of nuance: if there is anything criminals can smell on the wind, it is false confidence. Swaggering bravado or acting like a tough guy when you aren’t won’t fool anyone but the most junior crook.
Confidence is one thing, playing at being someone you’re not is another, and will be seen through immediately. If you cannot appear truly confident, at least try to appear in control of yourself and your emotions. Think the appearance of coolness.
Pre-Attack Indicators
Do you ever take note of stories about robbery on the news, or on the Internet? Doesn’t it seem strange to you how often they all start the same way? The hepless victim always says that the robber appeared out of nowhere, or they never saw him coming. “No kidding, there he was!”
There’s a reason these stories all start the same way: the victims were either distracted and did not see, or were ignorant of the pre-attack indicators that often signal a robbery is imminent.
Once you know what they are and have a little experience spotting them, they will stick out like a neon sign.
The trick, if you want to call it a trick, is that you have to actually be looking for them! You won’t see them if you’re playing around on your phone, watching dust motes float on a sunbeam, or are daydreaming about your weekend plans, however boring they might be.
Spotting these pre-attack indicators doesn’t take a degree in criminal justice, experience as a cop or any other stereotypically criminal-centric professional experience. All it takes is a little self-study, understanding of human psychology and basic observation.
The only subtle part is staying alert to the context. Context is everything dealing with pre-attack indicators, and what you might take as an indicator could be plain and innocent nervousness.
One of the biggest and most urgent pre-attack indicators is the one I mentioned just above, the soft pass.
You must be cautious of anyone entering your space and asking you for anything the fixes you in place, even if for a moment, say to check your watch or offer the time.
Closing on the victim is an essential, mandatory part of executing a robbery. You cannot be robbed from across the parking lot, or even across the street in most instances. You’ll simply have too much opportunity to evade the robber.
While telling people off who ask for simple favors may strike you wrong, especially if you were a social, kind, decent person, you should do it if you value your safety.
I know what you’re thinking, “what kind of monster is that rude to their fellow man, especially over such small things!?” I’ll tell you plainly: smart people do it, when your reward for being wrong is being robbed, wounded, and possibly crippled or killed.
The correct answer is always, “I cannot help you,” right before you move away. Anyone who tries to remain in your space at that point is likely up to no good and you should escalate your force appropriate to their actions.
You might be thinking right now, “Tim, there is no way I can keep everyone out of my personal space out in public. I have a life! I need to do things, run errands!” You’ll get no argument from me, you are quite right.
Unless you live your life on Red Alert status you cannot get through the average civilian life, at least most people’s lifestyles, without having people close to you. Let’s face it; people are all around us all the time.
What you should do though is screen people that are in your space. What does that mean? Think of it this way, does anyone near you have an excuse, or a reason, for being near you? If they don’t, you need to be buying distance, and fast.
Here’s an easy one: Say you were standing in line to get a cheeseburger and milkshake at your favorite fast food joint. Chances are you have people well inside your personal space boundaries the entire time you’re inside the restaurant.
Those people have an excuse for being there: you’re all waiting in a line together. Note, don’t take this out of context, of course you still need to be paying attention to those people are, but chances are they are no threat.
An obviously disturbed or aggressive person does not get a pass just because they have the “right” to in line, too.
Here’s another easy one in the opposite direction: Let’s say you’re walking down the street to meet some friends at a local bar, when you notice a man on the opposite side of the street, walking the opposite direction, take notice of you, glance around and you then turn around, reverse course, and start moving briskly towards you from across the street. In a word, danger, danger, danger!
Always, always, always remember: anyone who’s asking you for something and/or trying to close in could be trying to fix you in place in order to come to grips with you, control your movement and inflict their will upon you.
They may be working as part of a team, who is right now sneaking up behind you or taking your flank. Don’t let that happen!
Below you find a list of other pre-attack indicators. The more pre-attack indicators you see in a single situation, the higher the chances are that it is actually an attack about to take place.
Most people under stress, like say the stress of preparing to commit a felony crime that can get them imprisoned for decades or potentially killed will be nervous and will show this nervousness through a variety of behaviors.
On the other hand, some people have the nerves of snakes, real cool customers like, and will show very few or even none at all:
Trembling. A common reaction to serious anxiety. This is especially common pre-attack indicator for new or nervous criminals. Hardened bad guys and ex-cons are less likely to show fear this way.
Serious sweating. A common companion to trembling. If you notice someone who seems very sweaty, for no reason, check them out. Sure, maybe they have hyperhidrosis or just sprinted here before you arrived, but probably not. What’s bothering them?
Wringing hands. A common grooming or self-soothing behavior. People who start working, massaging, or cracking their hands may be making ready to use them.
Rubbing or stroking the face neck or scalp. This is another tic in the grooming complex. This is notably very present in males preparing to engage in violence.
Shifting, glancing eyes. Another nervous tic, and also practical. A bad guy might do this to check for accomplices, police, witnesses or companions for their potential victim.
“Big arms” motions. Large, expansive, theatrical looking movements with the arms are common precursor to striking. Think of this as sort of a mental dry run to delivering a blow. Take care when your arms start moving around above the waist.
Shifting, adjusting, patting. Hands that jump to a location on a person’s body seemingly to adjust a little something, fidgeting, picking and similar movements might be doing so to secure a weapon or just to reassure the carrier that the weapon is indeed still there.
Cannot see hands. This is a major warning sign without cover for it. It is always someone’s hands that will kill you, not their eyes, not their words, not their attitude. Their hands. Anyone, and I mean anyone, who approaches you with a hand or hands that you cannot see must be escalated to implausible or even probable threat. Hands in pockets, behind their hips, under their arms, or even inside a bag or other piece of luggage might be holding presently or accessing a weapon. Be prepared to act instantly!
Struck First, Struck Hard, With No Mercy
As I said above, if you have a life and things to do they’re always going to be times where your attention is on something else.
Many robbers will use this as an opportunity to close in on you, and shake you down. Sadly, there are some who will simply use it as an opportunity to tee off on you.
Your first clue that you are being robbed, or rather attacked, might come only when you are physically wounded.
Certain yellow-bellied monsters may seize the initiative by stabbing you, shooting you beating you right out of the gate, no warning, no asking, and no chance to comply. Some of them may even try to kill you right off the bat so they can take what they want right off your body.
It sucks to say, but victims of such brutal and cold blooded attacks are often chastised by Monday morning quarterbacking self-defense gurus.
They admonish these poor people that if they would have just paid a little more attention, been a little more aware of their surroundings that that wouldn’t have happened or they never would have been in that situation. This is just not the case.
Sometimes, your number just comes up. Your opportunity to react is zero. Sometimes you just get targeted by a scumbag so slick and so good you really never saw him coming, even when you’re looking for him.
This doesn’t mean you’re out of the fight! If you aren’t dead, there’s always a chance. You may have to prepare to fight like the Devil himself, but fight you should and fight you must
Extricate Yourself from a Robbery
Despite your best efforts and strict situational awareness, you find yourself at barrel’s end, or at knifepoint. Perhaps you have a hard-bitten sort in your space and asking for a favor in no uncertain terms.
Whatever the case, you are getting robbed. Yes, it is happening to you. Time to get yourself out of the situation, and away to safety.
Checklist for Robbery Survival
Use the simple list to help you remember the most important elements for robbery avoidance and survival.
Know the robbery hotspots: Isolated areas, high crime areas, commercial shopping districts, ATMs, parking lots, parking garages.
Mind your personal space: Anyone approaching you with a request may be innocent, or they might be planning to whack you. Don’t take chances with any stranger approaching you.
Don’t look like a good victim: Be confident, stand up straight, walk with purpose at a steady pace, be aware of who’s around you and what they’re doing.
Watch for pre-attack indicators: Consult the list above. Look for nervousness, furtive movements, hidden hands, and large motions of the arms.
Always stay alert: Be mindful of the environment. Be mindful of who is at. Pay attention to who other people are paying attention to.
Have a plan to get out of a robbery: Fight, run or cooperate. Whatever you choose, have a plan, and execute it as well as you can.
No matter what happened, no matter how you got here, it turns out you are, in fact, being robbed. So now what? It’s time to do something, I’ll tell you that much. Precisely what you should do depends on your assessment of the situation.
Let’s start with the most fundamental scenario: you have a lone dirt bag in your personal space pulling some kind of weapon, let’s say it’s a knife or a gun.
Now is the time to stay cool, rapidly assess the situation, and act. Because we have a robber here who decided not to blast you and then take what he wants from your body, you are in fact dealing with a sort of social interaction, as sick as it sounds.
In this instance, your robber wants something from you in return for not putting holes in your body. This alone means that you will have time, even if it is only a few seconds to formulate and execute a plan. Generally, you have three plans to choose from:
Fight – Attack the attacker. If you neutralize or at least stun him, you’ll buy yourself a window of opportunity to escape.
Run – No shame in it. Put enough distance between you and the attacker quickly enough and you’ll reduce your chances of being wounded.
Cooperate – There’s always a chance that giving the robber what they want well in the robbery, and see you get away unharmed. One possible spin on this strategy is feigning cooperation long enough to enact another plan, namely running away or fighting back.
Do keep in mind your strategy may change, and rapidly. You might cooperate initially until you see an opening to strike back, potentially disabling your attacker and allowing escape.
You might try to escape straight away, hitting the afterburners and making tracks, but if your attacker pursues you and catches you, you then might have to fight back immediately.
You might sincerely cooperate, using your valuables like your wallet or some jewelry as a sort of decoy, tossing it at the robber before immediately running away.
We’ll break down each potential strategy just below.
Fight
Fighting is statistically a good option for getting out of a robbery alive, but you must keep in mind that if you do not disable the attacker immediately there’s a high likelihood of getting seriously wounded or even killed. Another sobering thing to consider is that you will very likely be facing two or even three robbers.
Again, that’s a statistical average. No matter if you have a weapon or not, ask yourself honestly: do you have the chops to take on multiple attackers and win before they can seriously injure you? If the answer is no, it’s time to try a different plan.
And don’t get too cocky if you get held up by a robber who does not have a weapon in his hands.
You might have a concealed ready for a quick draw, or have an accomplice nearby who is providing cover for him so as to better not draw attention to himself and his nefarious act.
You must also remember that most of these people, and I’m talking about criminals in general, are much more comfortable inflicting and receiving violence than you’ll be.
This means they will benefit from more experience in such matters. Many of them will beat you for no reason at all; just imagine what they’ll do to you if you fight back unsuccessfully.
That being said, have your red line moment in mind. Your red line moment is a thing you absolutely, positively will not tolerate and will in turn respond to with force.
What might a red line moment be? It could be a robbery turning into a kidnapping. It might be a threat towards your significant other or your child. Everyone has a different line in the sand. Just make sure you know what yours is ahead of time.
No matter how you arrived at a decision to fight when it is time to fight, fight like the Devil himself. You must strike brutally, repeatedly and rapidly.
If you have weapons, use them, assuming you can access them in time. You cannot stop until you have disabled your attacker. Down for the count, breathing or not, get away at best possible speed.
Run
If you have any real opportunity to get away from a robbery, take it. The trouble you usually run into attempting such a strategy is choosing the wrong time to attempt it.
If you think you’re going to get away from someone who has the drop on you with a weapon, especially a gun, without losing a pound of flesh you’ve got another thing coming.
Remember that robbers who use knives often latch onto their victims with their free hands to, you got it, control them. This makes running away extremely difficult as you might imagine.
But let’s say they don’t latch onto you. Do you presume to tell me that you can, starting flat-footed, turn 180 degrees and get away from an attacker who is statistically younger, fitter and faster than you are?
You mean to say that you will be able to run at full speed long enough to get away from him?
If you can, that’s great. Running away is an option for you. If you’re someone who is neither fast nor fit, perhaps you are someone old, infirm or injured then running away is not an option until you first completely disable your attacker.
When I say completely disabled, I mean incapable of even pulling a trigger, to say nothing of pursuing you. You have to know your own limitations. You can only bring with you into a fight what you already have.
Cooperate
While it goes against most macho conceptions of self defense there are times where compliance is the right call in a robbery situation.
Compliance is generally a valid strategy during any type of “social” robbery where your attacker is at least giving you a chance to comply with his demands. In such a situation, compliance will usually see you get away with your life.
But even with the statistical likelihood that’s such a strategy will end with a positive outcome, it is still not guaranteed. Your attacker may decide to wound you for kicks and grins at the end of the interaction or kill you outright.
He might have been planning to kill you all are, how did it get rid of witnesses or just for good sport.
There are some truly monstrous, evil people out here; no matter how your attacker is acting you can ever make the mistake of assuming you know where their limits are.
Do not forget that cooperation, or fake cooperation, can be used to set up an escape attempt or a counterattack.
Conclusion
It is always best to avoid getting robbed if you can, but if it’s not, take heart that it is possible, entirely possible, to get out of a robbery with your life and even your valuables intact.
But you must have a plan to do that, and the only way to apply the right plan is to keep your wits, assess the situation and your attacker, and then act decisively.
