This thread doesn't support the idea that we are in immediate danger of financial collapse and the chaos that follows. Instead, this is a preparedness thread, to present ideas and strategies to those who need to know what to do IF it does all go wrong.

I will be adding posts on food, shelter, water, defense, offense (limited), understanding your particular situation, and on fight or flight reasoning.

Collapse Survival Strategies

Just like the ancient civilizations that have come before, our consumer-driven apex may be at an end. Many writers on the economy fear the worst-case scenario, due to overwhelming consumer debts, rising oil costs, and the sheer number of banks saved by public policies. If our economy does crumble, it could mean total disaster for a society that uses oil to transport goods. Infrastructure could cease. Food shortages, anarchy, violence, and fear for one's life could become the norm. The following will help you learn more about collapse survival skills you will need in your daily life in an economically unstable or anarchic land.

One particularly high-risk situation that could abruptly create an economic collapse is called peak oil. Several theorists, including Michael C. Ruppert, have been following the course of oil and the West's need for fossil-fuel made manufactured goods. Just about every study of oil supplies projects its disappearance. The production of oil has peaked - there is just not enough remaining in the many wells we have drilled to support our needs and our expanding, oil-starved infrastructure. When oil prices inflate, an economic collapse might occur, destroying our "normal" everyday way of doing things. Preparedness is the key to survival.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/news-and-society-articles/collapse-survival-strategies-4040087.html

This article is very interesting and lays the ground work for understanding how empires end and the consequences that follow.

Economics of Empires


A nation-state taxes its own citizens, while an empire taxes other nation-states. The history of empires, from Greek and Roman, to Ottoman and British, teaches that the economic foundation of every single empire is the taxation of other nations. The imperial ability to tax has always rested on a better and stronger economy, and as a consequence, a better and stronger military. One part of the subject taxes went to improve the living standards of the empire; the other part went to strengthen the military dominance necessary to enforce the collection of those taxes.

Historically, taxing the subject state has been in various forms—usually gold and silver, where those were considered money, but also slaves, soldiers, crops, cattle, or other agricultural and natural resources, whatever economic goods the empire demanded and the subject-state could deliver. Historically, imperial taxation has always been direct: the subject state handed over the economic goods directly to the empire.

For the first time in history, in the twentieth century, America was able to tax the world indirectly, through inflation. It did not enforce the direct payment of taxes like all of its predecessor empires did, but distributed instead its own fiat currency, the U.S. Dollar, to other nations in exchange for goods with the intended consequence of inflating and devaluing those dollars and paying back later each dollar with less economic goods—the difference capturing the U.S. imperial tax. Here is how this happened.
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/12125

Economic Collapse – National Debt Collateral is You

You can not multiply wealth by dividing it. The Government can not give to anybody what the Government does not first take from somebody else, by force. This Government is now out of money.

“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”
By the late Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931- 2005
http://www.morningliberty.com/2010/11/18/economic-collapse-national-debt-collateral-is-you/

the modern survival manual: surviving the economic collapse More PDF Books... (http://search-pdf-books.com/the-modern-survival-manual:-surviving-the-economic-collapse-pdf/)

Several Articles Germain to this discussion (http://html-pdf-converter.com/pdf/the-modern-survival-manual%3A-surviving-the-economic-collapse.html)

www.SecretsOfUrbanSurvival.com

GUERRILLA WARFARE TACTICS IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

Current Special Forces doctrine is very limited concerning the conduct of guerrilla warfare combat operations in urban environments. The focus of the current doctrine is on conducting combat operations in rural environments. The material available on urban environments is defined in broad terms primarily focused on the larger picture of unconventional warfare. Some considerations and characteristics of urban tactical operations are addressed but are so general they could be applied to a conventional infantry unit as easily as to a guerrilla force.

Traditionally, Special Forces guerrilla warfare doctrine has focused on its conduct in a rural environment as historically, most guerrilla movements have formed, operated, and been supported outside of the cities. Increasing world urbanization is driving the ?center of gravity? of the resistance, the populace and their will to resist, into urban settings. As populations have gravitated to the cities on every continent, the ability to prosecute a successful guerrilla war has often depended on the ability to conduct combat operations in these environments.

Predominantly, the aspects of unconventional warfare that were executed in urban settings were those such as intelligence activities, recruiting, sabotage, or subversion. Guerrilla warfare combat operations were done in urban environments only when absolutely necessary.
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=89679

Army Special Operations Forces
Unconventional Warfare
FM 3-05.130

EXERP:
Competition between contending groups using all their means of power has always characterized the international environment. In the modern era since the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), this competition has generally been conceived as occurring between nation-states. Such competition involved all instruments of state power: diplomatic, informational, military, and economic (DIME) expanded in some recent policy documents to diplomatic, informational, military, economic, financial, intelligence, and law enforcement (DIMEFIL). The overwhelming majority of these competitions were peaceful. Most often, nation-states used the military instrument of power peacefully for static defense, as a force-in-being that enabled
diplomatic posturing or a credible deterrent, or for essentially nonmilitary purposes, such as engineering projects or disaster relief. Only when other instruments of national power were exhausted or proved inadequate was the military instrument of power wielded to settle international differences. Claus von Clausewitz famously characterized such use of state military power as, “an act of violence to compel the enemy to do our will.” This assertion has been profoundly influential. However, it is too constrained of a vision for applying national power in today’s world. The ancient Sun Tzu is more relevant today; although battles should be won, “winning 100 victories in 100 battles is not the acme of skill; defeating the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.” There is more than one way to compel an enemy.
http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-05-130.pdf

THE LAST ALIVE
SHORT & LONG TERM URBAN SURVIVAL

Every emergency situation requires different skills to cope with the crisis. Being prepared is essential to your survival. The following is the most basic urban survival skills that everyone should know, and practice in order to be prepared for survival.
http://www.lastalive.com/survival_guide/urban/urban_survival.htm

Fight or Flight

A man's fight or flight reaction is stimulated the moment he is faced with a potentially dangerous situation. The smell of danger keeps the adrenaline rushing through one's veins, until one feels that all his blood vessels have been dilated and the blood all rushing to his neck and to his head. He is trembling, and his legs shaking! At this stage, a man reacts; he can either become aggressive and face the danger, or be passive and retreat, to prepare his fight for another day.

Once this reaction is activated, a man becomes sensitive to his surroundings, perceiving everyone as his enemy. While the fight or flight reaction open up two choices to man, it deprives him of his reasoning. What matters now is his survival, and he will choose the best option which will enable him to survive.

A person whose fight or flight reaction is active, takes everything said to him in this context. Such a man becomes less rational, more cynical and reactionary. Every word spoken to him can have as many meaning as possible, and his action would be determined by his interpretation of such words.
read more: http://www.confidencemanual.com/fear/fight-flight.htm

How To Select And Prepare Defensive Positions
In Built-up Areas
FM/90-10

This appendix provides "how to" guidance for the:

* Selection of defensive positions in built-up areas.

* Preparation of buildings as defensive positions.

* Selection of defensive positions for armored vehicles.

POSITION SELECTION

Analysis of the type of area in which the building is located and the individual characteristics of the building is basic to selecting a building as a defensive position (appendix A). As a minimum, leaders consider the following factors to determine a building's suitability for defense:

* Cover.
* Fields of Fire.
* Covered Routes.
* Concealment.
* Dispersion.
* Fire Hazard.
* Observation.
* Preparation Time.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/90-10/90-10apc.htm

Escape and Evasion Tactics

In today's world, there are two areas of escape and evasion. One is urban tactics and the other is in the country. In some ways both require many of the same tactics. However, some are very different.

When you find yourself in one of these situations, there are several things that you have to seriously consider for survival. First you must keep an attitude that you are in a dangerous environment. You cannot trust anyone, but your own judgment and decisions. You must maintain silence, move swiftly and be in stealth mode until you are safe. It could mean doing things that you would never consider doing in your regular life.

When you are in an urban environment, you must dress like the locals. This includes everything from clothes, shoes and head wear. Don't plan on camouflage. It will stand out. Rain gear should also be avoided. Most people use umbrellas or nothing at all. Before any daylight movement, you must scout your area. Remember the landmarks and their location. Do not travel along a street or roadway. You can use it as a landmark, but you must travel at a distance off the road way. If you have a pen and notebook, use it to make notes of these landmarks. Use a zigzag pattern when moving.

The Army refers to escape and evasion as "survival."
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2147221/escape_and_evasion_tactics.html

Survival Training

Springing from the legendary scouting, tracking, wilderness survival skills of Apache warriors, onPoint Tactical offers superior training for modern-day professionals and civilians who require or desire advanced outdoor skill sets to survive and thrive in today’s demanding world.

onPoint Tactical has trained elite military units from all major branches of the U.S. military (SEALs, Rangers, Force Recon, SERE, etc.), as well as major Federal and State law enforcement units (FBI, Secret Service, US Marshals, etc.). onPoint Tactical also provides exclusive training to domestic military contractors and civilians.

onPoint Tactical offers professional certification in Scout, Tracker, and Wilderness Survival disciplines. Course topics include Urban Escape and Evasion, Survival Evasion Resistance Escape (SERE) training; Search & Rescue (SAR) tracking, primitive wilderness survival, winter survival, scout reconnaissance, animal trapping, booby traps, sniper fieldcraft, camouflage, off grid medical care, force protection, combat and pursuit tracking, counter and anti-tracking, animal tracking, hostile environment training, and land navigation.
LINKS: http://www.onpointtactical.com/

YouTube - SAS Survival Secrets Ep1 Pt 1/6

YouTube - How to See in The Dark!

YouTube - How to Escape from Handcuffs

Places to scavange after the collapse of society?

Ok, what happens when you lose access to your food supplies? Has anyone here given any thought as to where to locate food when society finally breaks down? Super Markets would be picked clean but there should be areas that might have escaped the looters and destruction.

Some Ideas:
Resteraunts
Gas Stations
School Caferteias
Some Industrial buildings have food/soda machines
Churches
Hospital Cafeterias
Small Airports
Warehouses might contain treasure troves of food
http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=77388

How to Find Emergency Drinking Water Supply in Buildings After a Disaster

http://www.inspectapedia.com/water/Emergency_Drinking_Water.htm

Survival and Self-Sufficiency Links

LINKS (http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/survival-resources-2/)

Prudent Food Storage
Topical links in left column.

This work is a compilation of answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) concerning long term food storage. Its purpose is to promote an understanding of the concepts, methods and techniques of long term food storage.

http://www.survival-center.com/foodfaq/

What If US Collapses? Soviet Collapse Lessons Every American Needs To Know

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More good advice follows: http://madconomist.com/what-if-us-collapses-soviet-collapse-lessons-every-american-needs-to-know