Tell us about your survival skills

Can we count my first marriage?   

But lesser disasters I've gone thru include:

Hurricane Donna (put a tree thru our roof)
Hurricane Agnes (rescue worker)
Hurricane's Elena & Bob (rode both out on my sailboat!)

Forrest Fire (rescue worker-evac'd people)

Lost roof of my house to a tornado in 1979

As a paramedic I've worked a number of small scale disasters: Multi-car wrecks. Plane crash.  Several Tropical Storms.

The swine flu debacle of 1976 might qualify as a disaster, too.

What I've learned . . .

1. Nothing beats being prepared
2. A little fear is useful, too much fear can get you killed
3. You can get thru damn near anything, if you don't give up
4. Nothing is more important than having someone you trust to watch your back.

The Balkans Conflict.

What I learned:

How to survive when the odds are against you in every way imaginable.  That fear can paralyze you if you let it.  That the people you'd least expect to fall apart at the seams are the ones who do. The most unlikely people perform acts of heroism. A single flower in the midst of an entire village of wreakage is very important.  Water is key to surviving.  You can, and will eat anything if you are hungry enough. Sleep is a requirement, not an option.  You can never carry enough ammunition.  Flesh wounds don't really count.  Most often the person that saves your butt is yourself.  No plan survives past the first five seconds on a battlefield.  A cigarette now and then helps tremendously.  All children love chocolate.  Stress builds character.  Women can shoot just as well as men.  That you can wade through death and destruction for months on end and emerge as a human being when its all said and done.

That about cover it.

Not involved in any of the above scenario's, but Prison riot and a few personal disasters. Lessons learned:

1. Keep your head during the crisis, fall apart later.

2. Women are just as capable as men, but we have different skill sets. Use them!

3. Make sure you get proper rest: your cognitive function falls apart fast without it. If you're thirsty, DRINK!!!

4. don't let fear stop you from functioning . FEAR  = False Evidence Appearing Real.

5. Use your eyes! Check out your environment! Trust your gut!!!!!!

 

floods and tornados, just a couple of years ago a tornado touched down about 60 meters from my residence.  mostly killed alot of trees and roofs.  it came up the back side of a ridge, then jumped over the crest of the ridge and sort of fell into a small valley on the other side.  i was taking a nap after working an early morning case and as it went by the train sound partially woke me up, i looked out my bedroom window and saw 18 feet of the neighbors rain gutter spinning in midair like a propeller.  then i went back to sleep for about an hour.  i almost soiled my shorts when i went onto the porch to get the mail and saw the damage on my street and realized the power was also out.

  i also served in the army in central america in the 80's.  disasters there are mostly floods [flash and otherwise] and mudslides. you'd think people who have lived in the same village for 200 years would know where the mud comes from.  bus accidents as well, they are bad in less developed countries, not including the livestock. 

  where i grew up in WV we had a goodly number of twisters [that's why i slept through the pgh one, BTDT] in rough terrain a twister will fall into a valley or hollow and then move along it and bounce from side to side [probably to score the most trailers]  walking down a road and seeing every other house hit is pretty disturbing.  teaches you about the random nature of mayhem.
pat

Thomas Angel wrote: The Balkans Conflict. What I learned: How to survive when the odds are against you in every way imaginable.  That fear can paralyze you if you let it.  That the people you'd least expect to fall apart at the seams are the ones who do. The most unlikely people perform acts of heroism. A single flower in the midst of an entire village of wreakage is very important.  Water is key to surviving.  You can, and will eat anything if you are hungry enough. Sleep is a requirement, not an option.  You can never carry enough ammunition.  Flesh wounds don't really count.  Most often the person that saves your butt is yourself.  No plan survives past the first five seconds on a battlefield.  A cigarette now and then helps tremendously.  All children love chocolate.  Stress builds character.  Women can shoot just as well as men.  That you can wade through death and destruction for months on end and emerge as a human being when its all said and done. That about covers it.

Thomas Angel wrote: The Balkans Conflict. What I learned: How to survive when the odds are against you in every way imaginable.  That fear can paralyze you if you let it.  That the people you'd least expect to fall apart at the seams are the ones who do. The most unlikely people perform acts of heroism. A single flower in the midst of an entire village of wreakage is very important.  Water is key to surviving.  You can, and will eat anything if you are hungry enough. Sleep is a requirement, not an option.  You can never carry enough ammunition.  Flesh wounds don't really count.  Most often the person that saves your butt is yourself.  No plan survives past the first five seconds on a battlefield.  A cigarette now and then helps tremendously.  All children love chocolate.  Stress builds character.  Women can shoot just as well as men.  That you can wade through death and destruction for months on end and emerge as a human being when its all said and done. That about cover it.

 

I love this forum already!!

My kinda guy.

I live in So-Cal, and frequently am in L.A. However, I live in the country at my super secret compound.

Since the L.A. riots in 1992 (?) I have been, let's say, practicing the skills of preparedness. I enjoy it, for I enjoy knowing my beautiful wife and four children will, God willing, be safe and sound. That is my duty.

Let's see, we made it through the L.A. riots, the Feds like the A.T.F. being out of contol in Idaho and Texas. No earthquakes though we are due for one.  Made it through Y2K and terrorist threats, (so far).

Onward we go!

Optimism, and being prepared for most threats, is a good place to be.

Oh, don't forget to enjoy life. Fear causes hesitation and depression. 

 

Urban flood 1991

Things I learned -

When nature is insufficient by herself to cause a disaster, she can always count on human ineptitude to make up the difference.

Government cannot be counted on to save the day, only to clean up belatedly after they have made the situation worse thru bureaucratic bungling.  They won't really care how much you've lost, what it's cost you, or how you'll pick up the pieces and go on.  You'll be lucky to get an explanation, let alone an apology, and forget about compensation.

Red Cross ROCKS.  They deserve support.

Just because there's nothing on the media (radio, tv etc.) doesn't mean there isn't really a disaster in progress.  I seriously misjudged the situation because our LOCAL RADIO STATION had ZILCH about the disaster in progress.  I though anything "really serious" would be covered.  WRONG!

Get ahead of the curve and stay there in responding to a disaster in progress.  Once behind, windows of opportunity will be closing fast and you may find yourself stuck.  If you have time once you think a crisis may be in the making, use it for ACTION instead of waiting to see if action will be necessary.

Don't listen to the little voice that says "Oh, it'll never get THAT bad..."  It LIES.  Just assume that it WILL get that bad, you'll be much better off, especially if it DOES get that bad.

The last Hurricane Rita.

Think about entertainment, especially if ya have kiddos. Mine were used to their computer chats, video games, TV.

No electricity can make for unhappy kids. After the first two days, things got into a routine and it wasn't so bad. But the heat and humidity was BAD! We got our electric back on, but family members just a few miles from us went 2 weeks with no elec and water that had to be boiled.

A good cast iron pan with lid, a must for cooking or baking all those refrigerated items that will go bad with no electricity. I had to cook up my canned biscuits and family members down the road. The cast iron pot is like an oven, heat it up over a fire, put in food, cover and remove from fire. I spent the first day just cooking all the meat and stuff that could not be saved long term. Something to perc coffee, like a campfire pot.

SOLAR powered radio. After Rita, this was my Christmas list item and I got two. I thought I had plenty of batteries for Rita, nope, they went FAST. Nothing worse than losing contact with the outside world. It keeps ya sane.

Protection, a must, as soon as most folks boarded up and left it was amazing how many strange cars and trucks were rolling through. We stayed cause we saw the news that the eye was turning. We knew the back roads so could wait till the last minute and we are far enough inland. We still have downed trees we have yet to clear, but glad we stayed, we learned a bit from the experience. If it had stayed on course headed to Houston, we would have left though.

My next purchase will be a solar powered battery charger.

Check out some girl scout sites. They have great ideas for Pringle can ovens and milk carton ovens. Very basic but inexpensive cooking plans.

 

 

 

I was homeless and hungry for awhile on an island as a child.

Fat is VERY important in fighting hunger! Make SURE you stockpile FATS!!!

Children love candy. Make sure to stockpile that too! Look for candy on sale after holidays.

A deck of cards and a book of rules can go a LONG way in keeping children AND adults happy.

I was on duty the day that the tornado hit Detroit in 97(?) at a hospital ER we had just dropped off a patient.  The tornado path was less than 1/8 of a mile from the ER.  The only ting that saved our ambulance was the fact that the hospital had both bay doors open so that the wind could blow through.  We stood there watching the ambulance "bunny-hop" in the bay.  We were the 1st EMS unit through Chandler Park.  I've been on a lot of storm and accident scenes over the years, but have never seen anything like that.

On 9/11 I was on duty again (in the suburbs now) and watched the second plane hit the towers on TV, within 30 seconds the SWAT team was activated and I spent the next 12 hours riding around in the back of a SWAT van as the teams medic-armed to the teeth.

What I have learned is:

1. A gut check should be your first move, learn to trust it, ALWAYS!
2. Know your limitations
3. Know your equipment, and know if you can trust it.
4. This is their emergency not yours, remember risk vs benefit
5. Advancing in the other direction is not always retreat, it's discretion
6. If the situation "goes south" be prepared to go toe-to-toe and or lie convincingly with a straight face.

ravendawn,

yes, same here,

mind you the people who have been laughing at me for the last few months are not laughing so much now.

which part of the uk are you in.

(dont be too specific)

anywhere near the sw?