David Nash - Basic Survival

Copyright 2017 by David Nash

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Tom Lau

Cover photographs: iStock.com

ISBN: 978-1-5107-2467-9

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-2469-3

Printed in China

Contents

This book is dedicated to those pioneers that have come before. Nothing in the realm of human endeavor is built on the work of a single human.

I learn from others, and seek to add to that body of knowledge.

Hopefully, you, the reader, will learn from my efforts, improve them, and pass them on in a never-ending stream of self-improvement.

In my preparedness journey, I have been lucky to have access to books, and the words of authors have molded and shaped me into who I am today.

A quote that sums up my preparedness strategy comes from my favorite author, Louis LAmour.

Long ago I learned that nothing gets done by wishing it, you have to do it.

Foreword

W hat you are holding in your hands may be one of the most important books that you will ever read. This succinct book, written for the average person, encapsulates some very important points about family and community preparedness. This book could literally save your life.

Because we live in an increasingly complex and uncertain world, and because governments have repeatedly proven themselves incapable of adequately responding to disasters, the centerpiece and key element in disaster planning is you . It is you who must plan and prepare. And it is you who must mitigate and react to threats in a well-reasoned way, or your family may become just another statistic. (Death statistics look sad when reading them in a history book, but their full tragic weight is not felt unless they are seen by someone who has stood at the graveside services of some of the victims.)

David Nash has done a great job of putting together all of the salient points about modern disaster preparedness, not overlooking discussions of micro and macro level events, short-term and long-term scenarios, and the distinction between rapid onset versus slow slide disasters. And he includes vital information on surviving everything from a deep economic depression to asteroid impacts and nuclear war. The information you need is all here in one package, thanks to David Nashs meticulous research.

Dont dismiss preparedness as someone elses problem, and dont look at disasters as just some bad things we see on television. Somedaymost likely in the span of your lifetimedisaster will come visiting you, right in your town. Even if you live a fully righteous life, respect others, live within your budget, and live in a safe neighborhood, things could go sideways in the blink of an eye. When they do, the difference between life and death will come down to your preparednessphysically, intellectually, and emotionally. But if youve prepared properly then your chances of survival will be dramatically higher. Reading this book and then putting a preparedness plan into action will be crucial in changing those odds of survival.

Please take this book seriously, and develop your own disaster plans. Once youve read this book, youve been warned. There is no excuse but to then methodically prepare yourself, your family, and your neighborhood for whatever may come. Once again, it all comes down to you .

J AMES W ESLEY R AWLES

Founder and Senior Editor of www.SurvivalBlog.com

Introduction

M any of us are worried about the future. Wars, disasters, emergencies, social unrest, economic impacts, food insecurity, and rumors about all of the above can cause a person a lot of worry. Worry can lead to fear. Fear can cause people to seek solutions.

The majority of people in the preparedness community are honest and caring individuals that genuinely want to help. I have found a few unscrupulous individuals that cash in on fear to sell bad information or cheap gear. Luckily those individuals are pretty rare, what you are more likely to find are honest folks that are trying to help but are naively passing on incorrect information.

I cannot count the times I have heard well-meaning people talk about radiation pills, Mountain Dew glow sticks, and heating a home using clay pots and a tea light candle. The explosion of preparedness communities on social media has caused bad information to be spread much faster than good information.

Preparedness involves effort. It takes work. Understanding that potassium iodide protects the thyroid from exposure to radioactive iodine released in nuclear power plants takes more work than just buying a bottle and thinking it is a cure-all radiation pill. Its easy to watch a YouTube video and see someone pour household chemicals into a bottle of Mountain Dew and use a black light to make it shine. Actually conducting the experiment yourself to see if it will glow or prove its a trick is harder. Doing the math to see exactly how much thermal energy is in a teal light compared to the energy needed to heat a room is too concrete. It is not fun to find out something cant work in real life. It is much easier to believe it does.

I grew up on a park; when I read a book on Indian lore or wilderness survival I had the freedom to experiment and learn by doing. When I joined the Marines, I found that my sergeant frowned upon wilderness survival experiments in the barracks. I got in the habit of feeding my experimental nature by reading instead of doing. After some years I started thinking because I read something I knew it.

Fast-forward a decade and I thought I was a survival expert. That is, until I needed to actually perform one of the skills I had read about time and again. Needless to say, I flubbed it up. I made up my mind after that I would start learning by doing. I created a list and started experimenting. To keep myself honest, as well as to share my journey with others, I began videotaping my actions. I soon realized that skills were transferrable, preparedness was useful, and that I was having a lot of fun.

Making cheese was one project I thought was beyond me until I got practice, now its fun.
Photo by the author .

As my skills improved, my confidence grew. I was able to take on more and more complex skills. After 10 years of experimenting I have a bunch of skills that I can rely on because I know they work. I have taken the time to learn the science behind why things are the way they are. Things that at one time seemed impossible are now easy.

This book is based upon decades of research, education, and practical experience. It is not the only way to prepare, and in the last section of the book I introduce authors, bloggers, and YouTube users that have their own ways of preparing for disasters.