Getting Started In Survivalism

Most people who are just getting started with there survival preparations look at the extensive cost of BEING PREPARED". Around $1,000.00 to $2,000.00 for a years supply of food, $600.00 to $800.00 for an assault riffle, 15 to 20k for a suitable small piece of land in which to start your retreat, the list goes on. Quite a lump sum of money for most of us. However, due to the advice of many people, these "NEW GUYS" start shelling out the money in a hope to get as much of the needed supplies as they can get before anything goes down.

What most of these kind of people have forgotten is to 'start out with a broad base of KNOWLEDGE!! I will bet 25-50% of the survivalists out there don't know the basics, like reading a compass or basic first aid techniques, although they may have a $100.00 compass laying around or fully stocked medical bag. To be successful in almost any venture you make in life you must first have some prior knowledge of what you are doing. This means arming yourself with KNOWLEDGE FIRST, and weapons second. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying go lay out $1,000.00 to get all the books you should have and THEN start putting back food, guns and ammo, etc. All I am saying is that you will fair a lot longer in the long run if you do even the smallest amount of reading, study and practice.

Knowledge is so important in a survival situation it is unbelievable, think about it. What good is that $800.00 rifle if either A. You don't know how to use it, or B. You don't know how to do simple repairs to it when it malfunctions or parts break! How about this, after the collapse your little girl has broken her leg and it has become infected with gangrene. You have ample supply of penicillin but what do you do with it? How is it administered? Is it given Intra-muscularly? Intravenously? At what point do you inject at? What do you do if she.has a reaction to it? What if that doesn't help, how do you amputate her leg? Anyone planning on surviving almost any disaster had better be able to answer most or all of these questions. Especially lone survivalists and survivalists with families.

Being in a good survival group allows for some leeway because there are usually specialists such as medics, HAM radio operators, gunsmiths, farmers,etc. However, if you plan to go it alone (which in my opinion is the WRONG choice) you had better be able to be your own: doctor, dentist, farmer, mechanic, gunsmith and carpenter among other things.

Reading is perhaps the best way of getting needed survival information. It is also the most legal way to gain survival information. There are literally hundreds of books on the market with survival related subjects. However, it should be noted that any survival techniques should also be practiced until the point they become second nature, such as reloading or field stripping your main weapon in the dark. Some subjects won't be able to be practiced regularly, such as doing amputations, suturing a nasty wound, etc. This is not to say that there aren't ways to practice them. After you learn how to suture and do basic emergency war surgery, I might suggest making long, jagged and nasty cuts in pieces of meat that maybe have been in the refrigerator a bit too long to eat. Then practice cleaning them up and suturing them. you might even practice doing localized anesthesia by using water instead of Lidocaine in an old syringe. For sutures, you could use regular needle and thread instead of wasting precious Chromic gut or silk sutures. It was something that anyone can do to practice and to keep skills up in this critical area. If you don't work in any medical field this is great practice.

As you strive to acquire your needed supplies and harden yourself physically for coming tasks you may face, don't forget to harden your mind as well. If someone wanted to, they could take away everything you had, your supplies, your family, friends, everything, .but no one, ever can take away your education and the things you know!! That is all you can truly say you will have for life, think about that.

Recommended CD's and DVD's for survival:
Ultimate Survival
Maximum Survival
Combat Medicine DVD's-Where There Is No Medical Support
Basic Survival Skills and Long Term Food Storage DVD

#1 Recommended survival book for 2011. Order your copy NOW before it's too late!

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