Rainer Stahlberg - The Armageddon Survival Handbook: How to Prepare Yourself for Any Possible Scenario

H ere is a list of publications that you should try to acquire for your library. It is not exhaustive, but should provide much of the information you will need to survive. Note: Some of these may be out of print.

• American Survival Guide, all back copies
• Back to Basics, Skyhorse Publishing
• A Barefoot Doctors Manual
• Barnacle Parps Guide to Garden & Yard Power Tools, John J. Mettler
• Boobytraps (Field Manual 531), U. S. Army manual
• Breathe No Evil: A Tactical Guide to Biological and Chemical Terrorism, Stephen Quayle and Duncan Long, Safe-Trek Publishing
• Browns Alcohol Motor Fuel Cookbook, Desert Publications
• Build Your Own Low-Cost Log Home, Roger Hard
• Building Underground: The Design and Construction Handbook for Earth-Sheltered Houses, Herb Wade
• The Canning, Freezing, Curing, and Smoking of Meat, Wilbur F. Eastman Jr., High Country Enterprises
• The Chemical Formulay, CRC Handbooks (more than twenty volumes)
• C. I. A. Improvised Sabotage Devices, Desert Publications
• Combat Skills of the Soldier (Field Manual 2175), U. S. Army manual
• The Competence Factor, Bradford Angier, Stackpole Books
• The Complete Survival Guide, Mark Thiffault, editor, DBI Books
• Designing and Building a Solar House, Donald Watson
• Encyclopedia of Survival, C.M.I.C. Group, Safe-Trek Publishing
• Engineer Field Data (Field Manual 534), U. S. Army manual
• Explosives and Demolitions (Field Manual 523), U. S. Army manual
• Farming for Self-Sufficiency, John and Sally Seymour
• Food Drying, Phyllis Hobson
• Fortunes in Formulas for Home, Farm, and Workshop, Books Inc.
• Gun Digest, all back copies
• Guns and Ammo, all back copies
• The Herb Book, John Lust
• How to Do Just About Anything, The Readers Digest Association (Canada) Ltd.
• Live Off the Land in the City and Country, Ragnar Benson, Delta Press
• Making Your Own Motor Fuel, Fred Stetson
• Medicine for Mountaineering, James A. Wilkerson, The Mountaineers (Seattle, WA)
• Mother Earth News , all back copies
• The Natural Foods Epicure, Nancy Albright
• Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties, D. C. Beard, Loompanics Unlimited
• Survival (Field Manual 2176), U. S. Army manual
• Survival at Sea, R. P. Brandt, Paladin Press
• Survivalists Medicine Chest, Ragnar Benson, Paladin Press
• Tools and How to Use Them, Albert Jackson and David Day
• Urban Alert!, Mary Ellen Clayton, Paladin Press
• Wood Heat, John Vivian
• Work Horse Handbook, Lynn R. Miller

S urvival of what? Whatever happens is the answer. Websters dictionary defines survival as the continuation of life or existence in the presence of or despite unusually difficult conditions. Note that we are not talking about conquering, winning, or even overcoming. We are talking about simply keeping alive. Under some circumstances, this can be a tall order.

What are the essentials? First comes the attitude to survive. Then comes breathable air. Without air, you would last only a minute or two. The third essential is potable water. Without it you would not last much beyond three days. For long-term storage, you should have a supply of sterile or disinfected water. To disinfect water, to each gallon, add sixteen drops of liquid chlorine bleach (Clorox or Purex-type bleaches, containing four to six percent sodium hypochlorite). One teaspoon of bleach disinfects ten gallons of water. Then there is food, shelter, protection, clothing, and a host of other vital items. One purpose of this book is to show you what you will need to do without, what you can make, use as substitutes, or scavenge.

Almost all scenarios recommend that you have food on handin some cases, enough for a week or two; in others a years supply is suggested. Start to build your food stockpile now! Add to it as you can afford it. Having food will enable you to sit out the immediate panic associated with emergencies.

Many otherwise clearheaded people cant accept the decline in our social systems as a result of climatic change, overpopulation, reduced resources, government deficits, and other causes. This has happened before. Just read history books. Civilizations have come and gone. We have had Ur in Chaldea, Babylon, the Medes, the Roman Empire, and even perhaps the famed Atlantis. Yet some people have survived all of these declines. (Even Atlantis. There have been too many mysterious finds that show this large island was more than a myth and that there were those who reached other civilizations.)

In most cases, survivors were rural dwellers. City people are the first affected, and in our society, we are looking at 80 percent of the population being urban dwellers. Do not rely on your gold supply to get you food in the initial period of a panic. Remember you cant eat gold!

There are four steps to making a disaster plan. These are:

1. Make a list of disasters than can happen to you.

This is where this book can be of the most use to you. As part of your preparations you should:

• List the types of disasters that can happen in your area.
• Take a first-aid course and learn about animal care after a disaster.
• Find out about local warning signals and plans.

2. Create a disaster plan.

This plan is partially prepared for you on the following pages. You should sit down with your family and friends and fit the ideas provided in this book into a site-specific plan.

• Discuss what to do in different situations.
• Prepare an evacuation plan.
• Decide on places and contacts to reunite your family and your group.

3. Put your plan into action.

• Have emergency numbers with each member of your group.
• Review your insurance coverage.
• Accumulate equipment and supplies.
• Install smoke detectors and have ABC-type fire extinguishers in your home.
• Find the escape routes from your home and safe spots in the house for different types of disasters. List the hazards in your home as part of this preparation.

4. Update your plan and conduct drills.

• Update plans as the situation changes or every six months.
• Test your equipment frequently, and rotate batteries and perishable supplies.
• Replace stored water every three months.

Throughout this book, references are made to the government as an alien entity. In theory, we are the government, you and I. Alas, that is not so in practice. What happens to honest people of high ideals when they are elected into office is an age-old mystery. The net result of the difference between what the government says and what it does has created a deep mistrust in all forms of governments by intelligent people. The Armageddon Survival Handbook is written for intelligent people.

We do not place too much reliance on the law enforcement authorities. Why is that? Although the United States made short work of the Iraqi army, it has been less successful with criminal elements at home. Why? The answer to that question is the result of complex social, political, and economic forces at work. The bottom line, however, is that lack of money is not the only factor that makes law enforcement agencies incompetent.