The Manual by Eduardo as told to Tim Kern (Revised, 2nd English Edition) + Survival in Various Situations +Water and Food + Shelter + Fire + Emergency Medicine / First Aid Considerations + Evasion + Caching + Booby-Trapping + Organization of Resistance Groups + Codes + Expected Insurgent Scenarios: Tactics and Equipment + Resistance to Various Insurgent Actions and Equipment + References to Valuable Books + Checklists for First Aid and Survival Packs This pamphlet may be produced in full or in part, and may be translated, stored or transmitted electronically, or excerpted, provided that 1) credit is given "The Manual by Eduardo" and 2) in the case of this manual's being part of a talk or seminar for a fee, that the complete manual is available to all attendee's free of charge; or that this reference is not a material part of the presentation; or of a publication. SURVIVAL IN VARIOUS SITUATIONS Survival Requirements: Water Shelter Fire Food Medical/Emergency Routine prescription drugs and Eyeglasses Self-protection How much you need: Water (approx. 8 lbs/gal) Drinking - from 2 quarts/day/person under ideal conditions (cool, no travel, humid, no wind, with healthy people) to 2 gallons/day/person under adverse conditions (any of the above). Extreme conditions may require even more drinking water. Preparing food - plan on one quart/day/person Washing - at least one quart/person/day. Reuse as appropriate on lesser tasks. Re-distill or boil, or throw out on dry land if it becomes irrecoverable. Where you get it: Homes - Go to lowest water tap in house, drain system from pipes by opening highest tapes one at a time (5 to 10 gallons per house) Toilet tanks (generally potable unless some kind of sanitizer in tank. Do not drink if sanitizing device is in tank, even if it looks used up!) Uncontaminated toilet tank water can also be used for food preparation. If "sanitized," use this water for washing, fire fighting, etc. Toilet bowls - NEVER drink this water! It can be used for washing (not wounds or open skin), fire fighting, plant growth, cooling, etc. Hot water tanks. This is generally safe to drink, but bad tasting . A tank can hold twenty gallons or more. Hook up a clean garden hose to the bottom of the tank, open the cock (faucet), and open the faucets on top. Cached water. You should store as much fresh water as you can, ideally thirty gallons per person minimum. Store in clean, full containers of 1-5 gallon capacity. Dump, air dry, and refill containers every 90 days before the disaster, and you will have a month's supply of drinking water for your family. Some families will abandon their homes. Look for their stored water. Public buildings Generally same as homes, except that many public buildings will have higher pressures due to their height, so use caution. Note: Many public buildings remove tap handles; you may have to bring a vise-grip pliers or a hacksaw and other tools. If you cut off a tap, or cut into a pipe, you may get more water than you bargained for, so be ready to catch large quantities, and have a tapered plug ready for the hole(s). Outdoors Always purify the water before drinking or using it for food preparation (purification tablets, boiling at least five minutes, iodine, distilling). Note: Surface water is usually more polluted than under-ground water. Do not be fooled by "pure" looking streams or lakes! Purifying water: There is no safe way to remove some contaminants (e.g., nuclear fallout, some chemical agents). These procedures should be used for all cases when the water is not known to be safe: Distilling. This is the best method to recover clean water, provided the equipment is clean. See figure 1 (creating a solar still), or build from available pots and pipes for more permanent installation. Tastes fine, and is as free of chemicals, bacteria, viruses, etc., as is the equipment used. SOLAR STILL fig. 1 drinking tube / _______ __/_____________________ | \ / /| earth floor | \ / / | | \plastic sheet/ / | | \ / / | | \ / / | | \ / / | | \ / / |3' cubed hole in ground | \ / / | | rock> \O/ / | | V / | | / | | |/ | | | | |cup | | |__| | |______________________| Place in sunny area, fill with greenery Dig a hole 3' on a side and 3' deep. Set heavy plastic sheet (4 mil+) over hole, anchor edge with rocks. Place 1 rock in center, over cup. Fill pit with wet leaves. Use drink tube to avoid having to dismantle. These methods will kill bacteria, will not affect nuclear fallout, will not generally affect poisons: Water purification tablets. (Source: Camping stores, discount stores in camping section.) These kill bacteria, make the water taste funny. Use per directions. Note: Do not open the package containing the tablets until you need them. These tabs deteriorate with age and humidity, and opening the original package "starts the clock" on deterioration. For better taste, treat then filter the water, then shake it up. Let it stand fifteen minutes or so, shake, and drink. Boiling. Filter after boiling at least five minutes on a heavy, rolling boil. SHELTER (10 sq ft/person , min.) Shelter can be found in your own home (in a small area, insulated from the rest of the house to ease in heating), or in other buildings. Improvised shelters can be built from available materials or carried for use when needed (tents, tarps). Requirements: Keep occupants dry, eliminate wind, insulate (block or retain heat), allow sanitation and hygiene. Secondary requirements: Provide security from detection and/or invasion. Homes: Best results achieved when you remember that this is not a "house" (complete system of shelter and convenience), but a shelter only. You must not take any "system" (heat, water, toilet) for granted, and must be ready at any time to take over those functions. Immediately upon determining the need, 1) Construct outdoor sanitation (latrine) in a location which will not contaminate your water supply. A slit latrine, a ditch a foot deep (deeper is better) and as long as you can make it, will suffice, provided you bury all solid wastes, every time. 2) Insulate the smallest room you can all live in, or the smallest room which contains a working fireplace (if you will be able to use it). Seal all doors but one, seal and cover all windows and heating vents. 3) Bring in all bedding and food. Keep firewood covered and outdoors. Take an inventory of all survival items (water, food, medical supplies and prescriptions, batteries, radios, matches, tools, firearms and ammunition, blankets, sleeping bags). 4) Assign areas for each family member to care for, and determine the common area. Assign fire extinguishers to all appropriate members. 5) Assign common items to common area, individuals' items to their areas, and remove other (non-essential) items to another area of the house. 6) List items which will need to go with you, if you would need to leave. Include sleeping bags, medical supplies, a "survival kit," and at least three days' worth of food and water (and plan to take as much as you can carry!) Pack these items for rapid evacuation, and don't use them, or use them only after all other supplies are gone. 7) Plan to establish communication with others who would help. Work with them to use passwords for one another. Determine what your neighbors have available, which they would be will to share (special tools, extra medical supplies, communications equipment, batteries), and work with them to develop a list for each other. Never steal from a neighbor! Always work out a payment of some kind! 8) Establish a re-grouping point for your neighbors, so that, if you are forced to leave, you will be able to find each other. Establish what you can count on each other to bring to the rendezvous. Establish a secondary rendezvous, in the event that the primary location is unattainable. Other buildings - You will be trespassing here , so you must determine that your stay will be a safe one. Landowners, police, and fellow trespassers will have to be accommodated; or you must hide. You will be limited in what you can bring by what you can carry, so, if there is time, perform steps 3 and 6, above. Sanitation is a primary requirement, so establish your own, and inform and help others to pursue that goal with you. If conditions become septic, you will all die. Using rapport built when addressing the sanitation issue, develop a plan with the others to share whatever items you are willing to share (get guarantees before you give up anything). Find out what other resources (water, food, fuel, medicine) are nearby, who controls them, and if there are hostiles in the neighborhood; and what threat they constitute. Plan for the common defense, if necessary (see appropriate sections). Follow step 8, above. Set up details to get food, to stand watch, to care for babies and the sick. Children can help in "exploring," (in groups) if the area is safe enough. Their perspective is valuable! Establish rules of inheritance: Have each household prepare its will, to reduce squabbling when someone dies or disappears. Plan for whatever outcome looks likely: Rescue, invasion, rising waters. These plans, established before the ultimate crisis, will be better-made, and the planning process helps comraderie and efficiency. Outdoors Shelter is readily available nearly everywhere, from construction sites in the cities to the plains. Natural features should be used wherever safe. Embankments, hillsides, caves, forested areas - they all offer abundant shelter. The real considerations are for water, food, and secrecy (if detection is to be a problem). Nearly anything can be a shelter. Make sure it keeps you dry, out of the wind, and provides a spot to keep warm (or out of the sun). A basic shelter and a fire can feel very much like "home," no matter how rustic. Considerations: Location should be safe from natural disasters: Stay out of river and creek beds, whether they are full or dry, regardless of season. Weather is unpredictable; and man- made disasters (dams collapsing) are always possible. Mines are dangerous. They often are filled with noxious gases, poison water, and free-falls. Unless the mine is scouted by someone knowledgeable, don't even go in. Caves can be good places to find shelter. Make sure that the cave cannot be flooded. If you are in danger from others, be sure that you can defend the cave's entrance from direct (ballistic) and indirect (smoke, gas, grenade) attack. Also, everybody knows that caves are good shelter, so expect to have to cooperate with others. Caves are often used by animals and children, and often are filthy. Clean them out, one area at a time if necessary, but do not let a cave stay filthy! That invites disease, and the critters which lived there will feel still at home if their mess isn't disturbed. Trees may be felled (or already fallen), and these can anchor a good lean-to. Though not as waterproof as a cave, they are clean, and can be made quite cozy with boughs or a tarp. The lean-to design effectively uses reflected heat from a fire, if discovery is not a problem. Tents are good temporary shelter, and should be part of the home evacuation kit. They can be pitched nearly anywhere, are dry, relatively windproof, secure, and can be camouflaged if necessary. Stakeless designs are preferred. Other items can provide good shelter: overturned canoes, boats, sheets of plywood, roofing material, shower curtains, panels from autos (hoods, doors, trunk lids), or entire abandoned autos can be put to good temporary use. Just get dry, get warm, and have a drink of water, and you're ready for another day! References abound. One favorite, which has good information especially about mountaineering, is US Army Field Manual FM 31- 72 "MOUNTAIN OPERATIONS." FIRE Have ready at least three different means of creating fire ready at all times. Several methods are mentioned below. You must practice with all these methods! Simply having a stick, rock, and a bow will not be enough, if you don't know how to use them under adverse conditions! Getting a light will not be enough if you do not know how to shelter the flame and create a good fire lay. Practice! 1) Matches. These should be in a waterproof container. Waterproof matches are a good idea, too. The "strike anywhere" matches, regular and extended ("fireplace") matches are a good idea. 2) Lighter. Sealed lighters (non-refillable) are good because they're full (at least if you don't use them!). They're bad at altitude because they are extremely flammable, even explosive. The fillable lighters (e.g. Zippo) are great if they're full. Empty, they are good flint-and-steel. Better than nothing, but not good. 3) Magnesium fire starters. These are commercially-available, and produce a hot flame by burning magnesium cut from a block, then sparked by striking flint and steel (flint included). They require a lot of shaving, and the flame is brief. 4) Steel wool. Using 0000 steel wool and a 9-volt battery will always start strips of paper on fire, if you blow on it enough. (You can use an SOS pad and a car battery instead. Just have the kindling ready!) 5) Flint and steel. Generates sparks. You must practice a lot with this method. Works well to light fumes. 6) Bow, stick, rock, and block. This is the old Indian fire- starting trick. If you practice enough, you can make this one work, too. Probably toughest of these listed methods. 7) Lens and sunlight. This method is fairly easy, provided you can count on sunlight, and have plenty of dry tinder, when you need a fire. Many lenses can be used- binoculars, photo lenses, rifle scope. Note: It is good to have accelerants (fire "cream," small quantities of gasoline, alcohol) available to use if your fire- starting method is marginal, or if conditions are terrible, or if an unskilled member needs to start a fire on his own. A handy item to carry is a bunch of the "trick" birthday candles which are hard to blow out. These will remain lighted under fairly bad conditions, until you can get other tinder going. FOOD Food is essential, especially for the mind's well-being. First, some hints for when you're hungry: a) Suck on a rock. Find a clean rock, close your eyes, and imagine a great feast. In your mind, savor each morsel of each course, turning the rock over and over in your mouth. b) Have a sip of water, with or without your rock. (Don't swallow the rock!) Imagine a different feast, or maybe a frozen treat. c) Graze. Try a little greenery, or some fiber. d) Remember that most Americans carry twenty percent or more of their body weight in fat. This will last a long time, generally a month or so (with zero food intake). You'll feel weak, and be grumpy without any food; and people with existing health problems (diabetes, ulcers, hypoglycemia) will be in a bad way, so it is best to hoard and cache before the problem, and locate food as soon as shelter, water, and fire are attained. Hoarding Pipe up as much food as your cupboards will hold. Concentrate on non-perishable, non-processed, high-calorie and high-protein foods. It is OK to stock your refrigerator and freezer, but remember, when the power goes off, you will have a maximum of two days (maybe with no way to cook) in which to use your refrigerated food. Rotate your food stocks! Eat the oldest food first. Caching food In every food cache, include a large container (unopened) of high-potency multiple vitamins. Take one every other day. Include a carefully-wrapped container of salt. Not only is it good for cooking and preserving, it may eventually make a good medium of exchange (money substitute). Foods for caching need to be capable of being left alone for extended periods (a year or more). Make sure that these foods and their packages are of the highest quality, with no opened bags or containers, which will attract critters and allow molds to spread. Cache carefully, where you think you will be able to retrieve the cache (see section on caching). Locating food In populated areas - Food stores will be empty within 48 hours of the disaster, and will be heavily protected. Even if you have money to spend, owners will probably be unwilling to part with what's left. Go back in two weeks and see what's still there. Look for medicines, paper towels, aluminum foil, tools, plastic sheet, fuel. Don't count on this source. Restaurants will be empty immediately, and most of what they have is perishable. Ask, don't take! Public and business buildings, left unguarded, are good places to look. Vending machines will most certainly be looted, so look elsewhere. Desk drawers and file drawers often contain "snack food," which keeps a long time. Any fresh fruits found should be eaten right away, even during the search. Make your food sweep at the same time you are gathering water from these buildings. Apartments and private homes - abandoned only - may have quite a stash of foods. Empty and eat from refrigerator and freezer, if you are not too late. Gather all food from cupboards, pack according to shelf life. Trucks which carry food are likely to be either empty or guarded, but it's foolish not to look. Abandoned only, or pay for what you take! In rural areas - Treat buildings same as above. Always ask, pay, or determine that it's abandoned before taking anything -- the owners have a right to not starve, too! In cultivated fields, try to locate the owner. If unsuccessful, gather only the best specimens, as inferior, infested, or infected produce will destroy other food, and can make you sick. Livestock should be kept alive as long as possible, to provide fresh meat when you really need it, and possibly milk in the meantime. If you can get a breeding pair, so much the better. In the "wild," game will become scare rapidly. Make sure you know what you really want. (If you kill the squirrel, you won't be able to track him to his stash!) High-protein insects (most of them, especially grasshoppers) become tastier, the hungrier you get. Insects are good food, either raw or broiled and mixed with other food. Most plants are edible, and many show the way to water. The general rule is to eat first whatever is most-perishable or nearly-spoiled, and never waste anything! Foods to stash, which have good nutrition, require minimal maintenance, and are readily available: Beans (almost any type), lentils Boullion (for flavoring stone soup) Candy bars, foil-wrapped "pop tarts" Canned foods (but protect from freezing!) Dried fruits Dried milk Fruit cloth ("fruit leather" - see section how-to-make) Honey Jerked or salt-dried meats (essential amino acids) Nuts (almost any type) Roasted in oil is OK (remember, we need the calories!), and salted is likewise OK. Packaged pasta Pemmican (your favorite blend - see how-to-make) Salt, pepper, other spices Tea (for flavoring icky water, to make poultices) Whole grains (wheat, rice, corn) Water (use and re-fill every four months). Note: You must pay attention that you rotate your stocks carefully. These foods have widely varying shelf lives, and storage can be affected by temperature and humidity. Do not open the packages until ready to use. Write the expiration date on each package in an evident location. Contaminated foods can rapidly ruin neighboring foods. Check often. Store everything in plastic bags, jars, bottles, in coffee cans, or in other moisture-proof containers. Sprinkle mothballs around the storage area (do not get moth balls in contact with food!). Caloric requirements (really rough guide): Plan on twenty calories per day per pound, for a medium-build adult, ten to fifteen per pound of obese adult, thirty per pound of active pre-teen or teenager (even more for babies), and fifteen calories per pound per day for seniors, more or less. (E.g., A 100-lb adult would receive 20 * 100, or 2000, calories per day when engaged in active outdoor work. Less is required for sedentary people or days, but you need to plan as though everyone will be active, moving things, building a camp, defending an area, retreating, gathering or hunting, etc.) Calories should be from as diverse sources as possible, and should be supplemented by as much water as is practical, along with "daily" multiple vitamins (taken at least every other day). How-to-Make Fruit cloth ("fruit leather"): Core, pit, etc., a large quantity of fruit (apples and dates work well; kiwi and pears , for example, are poor for this process) and run it through the blender until it is "mush." Spread this out on a pan 1/4" to 1/2" thick, and heat it until it is partially dried and rubbery. Cut into strips about 4" to 6" wide and roll up tightly. Store in airtight containers. Keeps about a year. Pemmican: "Classic" pemmican dates at least to Roman times. People would dry or jerk meat, chop it up into little bits, add fresh or dried fruits, nuts, and whatever else was handy, and mix this glop into fat, grease, or suet, and then push it into sections of intestine. Later, people loaded it into waxed rolled up paper, peeling it as necessary to eat the pemmican inside. Modern pemmican is more palatable. The base for this is usually peanut butter rather than suet; and the mixture can be "thinned" with honey. Store this in heavy zip-lock bags, squeezing out all the air before sealing. Keeps a year or more in sealed bags in the refrigerator, up to six months (sometimes more) in reasonable room temperatures. One "1-quart" bag, an inch thick, plus adequate water, will provide food for about two days of hard traveling. Good references from our government: ST 31- 205, "CACHING TECHNIQUES," US Army Field Manual FM 21 - 76, 'SURVIVAL," (Older editions are titled, "Survival, Evasion, and Escape). MEDICAL/EMERGENCY First aid kit needs to contain the basics: disinfectant, salve, covering, and closure. Painkillers will be helpful, as well. Also include hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, iodine (for disinfecting, or to purify water), sunscreen, vaseline (thousands of uses), ace bandages, butterfly bandages and super glue to close wounds, and tools. Tools include needles and thread (unwaxed, non-flavored dental floss works well, and serves other purposes), tweezers, nail clippers and file, small scissors, burn cream, antiseptic ointment, and plenty of gauze and self-adhesive bandages and tape. Medicines include painkillers (aspirin, Percodan, and topical anesthetics (lidocaine, novocaine), antibiotics, as well as morphine, if you can get it , toothpaste, mouthwash (Listerine type recommended, due to its other practical disinfectant uses, but don't get the soda pop kind; it's sticky rather than clean), flea shampoo, collars, and powder (for anyone who comes in contact with fleas or ticks), and maintenance prescription drugs. ROUTINE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS AND EYEGLASSES To get antibiotics and prescription painkillers such as morphine and Percodan, you must explain to your doctor why you need them. Try different doctors, or get a referral from a "patriot" source. Veterinarians are also good sources of equivalent drugs. (Be sure to understand equivalent doses!) For regular maintenance drugs (insulin, lithium, Tagamet), you can usually keep aside 5 - 10 % of them each time you refill. Rotate your stock, and you will build up enough spare medicine to see you through a reasonable time. If the looting starts, your pharmacy is a good place to pick up those essential medicines, but your're better off planning, hoarding, and caching those items. Buy and keep a spare pair of eyeglasses available at all times, in your "good-to-go" kit. Sunglasses may also be handy. (Often, the chain optical shops offer two pair of their ugliest frames for $49 or so. In an emergency, you'll be glad you have them.) Do not count on contact lenses' lasting through a disaster. Have glasses at hand! (Keep your old dentures for the same reasons.) Get, read, and keep a good first-aid manual (such as those put out by the Boy Scouts or the Red Cross). Practice emergencies with your family and your immediate "primary" cell. Innovate as much as possible, especially concerning splints, bandages, and bindings, as these might not be available when you are in distress. Reference: a really good book, by Dr. James Wilkerson, MD, is called "Medicine for Mountaineering" (the Mountaineers, Seattle, WA). SELF-PROTECTION This section begins with a discussion of the likely types of adversaries and their probable armaments, and gives a general idea of how to survive against them. Detailed sections follow, and will show specifics of evasion, defense, harrassment, and combat of those antagonistic forces. Adversaries Neighbors. These folks, whom you know, may come around looking for food, water, medicines, or supplies. They can be dangerous, although usually they will move on if so told. If you have something to share, these are the folks to share with. Try to barter, rather than donate. If they refuse to barter, you can run them off using whatever level of force is necessary. Usually, they will simply go to another neighbor's house, or find an abandoned place to scavenge. If they barter with you, you may find that you want to include them in more of your survival activities. You may also find that they are being deceitful in order to gain your confidence, so be cautious. Strangers fall into two broad categories: the above-mentioned neighbors, and roving gangs of scavengers and looters. Scavengers will generally go somewhere else, if confronted with any sincere resistance. Looters are thugs, are usually armed, and are always to be considered dangerous. The key with looters is to present yourself as the most-capable target in the area, so that they go away. Looters who return should be dealt with as the enemy. Paramilitary (police) groups are always armed, wear body armor, have bad attitudes, and will try to destroy anyone who resists. You have choices, based on your perception of the problem: hide, cooperate (at least on the surface), or prepare to counterattack with all the force at your disposal. The last choice is the most dangerous, and should be attempted only if death or removal seem imminent. Military ground groups may come. If friendly, it is still good advice to hide, to keep quiet, or to appear cooperative. Do not abandon your house! If these folks are hostile, the best defense is to hide or escape. Otherwise, you must be ready to face high casualties. Armored troops (tanks, armored personnel carriers, Bradley vehicles, etc.) may be encountered. If you must fight, some tactics are included in a following section. If you live in a coastal area, you may be attacked from the sea. Dig in, cover yourself, and hide with your gas masks; escape to your first sale rendezvous if possible. Similar defenses - hiding - are best for attack from the air. (The exception is the low-level helicopter-gunship attachk. If you are likely to be killed while trying to hide, you must try to destroy the enemy. Some field expedients for this eventuality will follow. ) Defenses "Neighbors," "looters," and "scavengers" usually travel in small, finite groups, carry common weapons, and do not wear armor nor travel in armored vehicles. Defense consists of perimeter warning devices (booby-traps, signal wires, sentries), simple defense ordinance (home-made baby mines, booby-trapped entrances), and hand weapons (rifle, pistol, shotgun, sword, knife). "Paramilitary" groups may be on your side, so determine that first! These folks usually have light armor, body armor, smoke generators, gas, flamethrowers, communications equipment, and good-quality sidearms. They also likely have night vision equipment, sensitive hearing devices, and may have ultrasound weapons for surveillance or as offensive weaponry. Hiding (bring a gas mask!) is a good first idea. Escape (if return is possible, or if you can reach your cache) is another good idea. Remember, you do not want to be relocated! Once you are away from your home, your family, your food, water, medicine, and weapons, your're as good as dead, so you might as well fight right now. "Military" groups are similar to the "paramilitary," but may also have sea and air support, heavier mobile artillery, and larger numbers. Same comments as for "paramilitary," except these folks are rarely friendly; you'll probably know before they're there. You may have more time to evacuate or booby trap, because these groups, being larger and more confident, may travel more slowly. Make sure, if you are evacuating, that you are not merely being "herded" to a place where it is easier to kill or capture you. Your defensive tools: Silence: be quiet, even when you think you're safe. Move quietly, talk little. Develop sign language. Territory: You know it, they don't. You can prepare it, and they cannot anticipate your preparations. Caches of food, medicine, weapons are yours to make. Hiding places can be set up; your cell can arrange rendezvous, regroup, and initiate flanking or harassment actions. (Don't try to attack real military forces unless you are discovered and there is no way to surrender, or if surrender means death. Fighting means death, too, so if you must fight, just inflict as many casualties on the enemy as you can.) Your brain is your most useful tool; use it! Home: You should have a booby-trap program set up, and ready to implement. Even if you leave, a booby-trapped neighborhood can slow down a large force. Cover: Have a place to hide, near your first cache and rendezvous point, unknown to anyone other than your family. You can observe the rendezvous from there, safe from the danger of having the enemy tipped off about the point. With some food and water and first-aid supplies, you will have a bit of flexibility in your next action. Equipment: You will need gas masks in your home, plus a way to stay warm, and enough water to see you through. Outside your home, bring water, purification tablets and containers, sleeping bags, and your regular survival kit. Offensive weaponry: This will consist of your knife, axe, blowgun, bow/crossbow, rifle, pistol, shotgun, and ammunition. (Once you have left your home, your shotgun becomes drastically less-important except for downing helicopters - see section -, and your rifle ever more so.) If you must leave things behind which could fall into enemy hands, it is best to destroy or booby-trap them. (Destroy them if they may be recovered by friendly elements. Friendlies need not become victims of your booby-traps!) References which you may find handy are (US Army) SH 21-76, "RANGER HANDBOOK" and US Army Field Manual FM 31-21, "GUERRILLA WARFARE and SPECIAL FORCES OPERATIONS." These are interesting, although not "must-haves." ORGANIZING SURVIVAL GROUPS The family (or "member") consists of blood relatives and others who have lived together for a long time, who have total trust in each other. A family can be as few as one, is usually five or less, but as many as a dozen can function together. The cell is made up of five families, but a cell seldom is made up of only five individuals. Each cell "family" (member) is attached to two other ("secondary") cells, and therefore knows four members of his own primary group, three more members from each secondary group, and has a contact (through secondary groups) with more cells, by knowing members in his three (one primary, two secondary) cells who are members of other cells (see diagram). Information travels from cell to cell by way of the common members, who attend cell meetings each week, and stay in touch with members of both primary and secondary cells by telephone, FAX, or e-mail. Each member (or family) is a member of a "primary" and no more than two "secondary" cells. Each member knows ten other member, and no more, and has up to three group rendezvous points. Only "primary" cell members are privy to that cell's cache locations. Cell members contribute to the caches of their primary members, and no more than four. Members communicate weekly with all their cells (primary and secondary), and at least monthly, meet face-to-face in their primary cells. Members should take turns hosting their primary cell meetings in their homes, and should attend, in person, their secondary cells' meetings at least every other month. Weekly telephone contact with all primary and secondary members is required. No written records of anything the cell does, says, or plans should be in writing, nor stored electronically, except by the cell leader. The leader is prohibited from storing by any means the MPCR (Membership, Plans, Cache, and Rendezvous) information. These must always be memorized. (Do not store the phone or FAX numbers electronically, either: in a speed-dialer or on disk!) Assure that any maps showing rendezvous or other strategic locations are marked in coded manner, so that discovery of such a map will not lead the finder to the actual location. Members are encouraged to use code for other member's names, for names of rendezvous points, for speaking of caches, and other sensitive information (see "Codes" ). Recruits to a cell must be sponsored by a primary cell member, and attend cell members at only that member's home until acceptance. At that time, the recruit will either find a spot in the recruiting cell, or be recommended to another cell by all the recruiting cell's members. Recruits must be carefully checked during the recruitment process, to weed out opportunists, agents provacateurs, others of low personal integrity, and the occasional "loony" who could compromise security of the cells, members, and plans, including caches. An initiation, consisting of a lot of work preparing cache materials (and contributing food, time, weapons, or money to the cache), is recommended. (The recruit must NEVER prepare a cache site, or know of where one is, until he becomes a primary member of a cell.) This committment is enhanced by (later) attending additional meetings, until the recruit's background and intentions are acceptable to the cell's members. Recruitment must be from known acquaintances only; never is recruitment to be a goal of itself, and never is there to be any overt recruitment (booths at fairs, newspaper and TV ads, etc.). All recruits must request entry without prodding by cell members. Training will consist of study of the US Constitution and relevant Supreme Court cases; of world and US history; of economics; of languages likely to be encountered in the region; of food procurement and preparation; of first aid and medicine; of outdoor skills; of building and repairing things; of electronics, physics, and chemistry; and self-defense training, including weapons training. Topics will rotate among experts, and area experts will give public seminars to interested parties (which cells should publicize, and which members should attend as individuals). A cell should strive to have a broad knowledge among its members, even if its background tends to be homogenous. Stoicism and silence in cell activities are of paramount importance. Differences need to be addressed by calm reason rather than hot rhetoric. Complete honesty is required among members; and if deception occurs, it must be coordinated through a cell's spokesman. (The title of "spokesman," however, is never to be conferred. No contact regarding cell activity is to be released outside the cell structure; if an explanation is required for some reason, a pre-arranged story and spokesman should handle it.) Never should any cell or general activity be characterized as part of a "group" or "movement," and never should the concept of "membership" be discussed outside the group itself. Silence should be the rule at meetings, during presentations, and especially in the field. Amateurs are brought down by their mouths. Green troops are killed because their noise alerted the enemy. Do not ever give the enemy, real or figurative, the benefit of your mouth. Strict silence is the rule, regarding cell activity, to all on the outside of the cell. (This applies to members of other cells. There may be infiltrators. If communications are to be made, if notes are to be compared, this must be done in the public forums in an innocuous way, or through cell communication channels.) Be suspicious of any "member" who appears friendly, opinionated, or curious about cell activities when outside his cells. Since there is no "membership," as far as anyone outside is concerned, there is also no "organization," there are no "leaders," and there is nothing to attract media attention . If a member wants his fifteen minutes of fame, ban him forever, move the caches, and deny that he was ever a "member" of anything. Since the cell officially doesn't exist, and since his contacts outside his principal and secondary cells do not occur, his damage can be limited. His knowledge will be limited, regardless of his tenure in the structure. If any member communicates with a banned (former) member, that member will too be banned. If a cell collapses because of this, security will only be strengthened. The cell members will strive to join other cells, or will recruit from outside to form a substantially new structure, which will soon be unrecognizable, even by the recently-departed member(s). Any member who leaves due to malice or breaking the code of outside silence should be harrassed within the law, to the full extent available to his primary cell's remaining members (only). This includes recovery of any personal debts, providing information to government groups as appropriate (IRS, Social Services ), or other methods, without identifying any other members. Those who leave under reasonable circumstances are not to be harassed. Whatever contribution any incoming (and thus also any departing) primary member made to a cache is considered a donation to the cell; and the remaining primary members should immediately recover or relocate the cache, and arrange new rendezvous points. Codes for sensitive things should also be changed. Codes Codes are substitutions of words or expressions, or are superfluous words in communications, or misleading or ambiguous constructions in communications, designed to mislead or confuse anyone but the intended receiver of information. Codes must be used when names of members are used, if mention of cache contents or locations are discussed or marked on maps, when discussing the location or supremacy of rendezvous points; and if possible, in discussing cell or inter-cell activities. Codes are especially useful in necessary FAX and email communications, in telephone and radio communications, and whenever members are in public, or may be overheard. Members should always act as though they are being listened to; and should take precautions against eavesdropping whenever they discuss any cell activity. Eavesdropping covers many methods: listening to conversations in restaurants, phone booths, bathrooms; wiretaps, interception of telecommunications (especially portable phones!), and such tactics are recovering someone's garbage from home or office, and going through it. No stranger should ever hear, or be able to lipread, what a member says to another member. Crowds are no defense against eavesdropping; neither are open spaces. Sound travels hundreds of feet in and through buildings, along walls and down ductwork; and around corners and through doors and walls. Lip readers can do a fair job through windows, even at a distance. Do not ever assume you are in a secure area. Use no more volume than necessary in your communications. Make no unnecessary communications about cell activities. Make liberal use of codes. A note about ciphers: Aside from electronic encryption (as performed by PGP and other software), ciphers are largely a waste of time. CPUTY EFJWP KQNSP ERSOG FKEOV WSPVI WLFPS EMCLQ may look really "spy," but amateur ciphers can be broken by amateurs, and pros won't even slow down for them. A cipher note is therefore a mark of desperation. (That in itself may be a code!) Defense, Weaponry, Booby-Trapping Defense and Weaponry There are two keys to effective weaponry: the right tool for the job, and the proper training for that tool. More of one quality can make up, in part, for a lack of the other, but a proper match of both will lead to victory (or survival!). Cell members are expected to be proficient in appropriate weaponry. A child may learn to use a sling or slingshot, and graduate to an air rifle. A small woman may use a .22-caliber lever-action scoped rifle to take squirrels. A "warrior" may be versed in all weapons available, or which can be expected to be purchased or captured (depending on the nature of the disaster). Both manual and ballistic weapons should be mastered. Members should be familiar with the basics of several martial arts (tai-chi, karate, judo, boxing, kick-boxing) and martial arts tools (stars, chukkas, broomhandles), and practice when possible with other members, trading tips and experience. Blade weapon offense and defense should be taught (defense from age four or so; and offense from about age eleven) to both boys and girls. Expedient weaponry (stone-age weapons) should be improvised on all field trips and practiced at home. Firearms training should commence around age eight, with air guns being the primary tool. Stress proper handling and safety at all times, and never allow children, even for a moment, to be unsupervised with any weapons! Firearms training for teens and adults should begin with proper cleaning and assembly, and firing exercises should include training in rifle (scoped and open sights), shotgun, and finally handgun, through progressively awkward positions and attitudes, with more intense training as progress is made. All weapons, as far as is practical, should be shot both left- and right-handed from all positions, and handguns should be fired single- and double-action (if applicable) and with one, and with both hands. Shotguns should be fired from the shoulder and from the underarm position. Accuracy, rather than rate-of-fire, is always the goal. Every cell should ideally be graced with a reloader. All members should learn reloading basics, and should also be taught to refurbish primers, and to make a rudimentary gunpowder (see section) for desperate situations. Expedient and Special-Purpose Weapons Expedient anti-helicopter ordnance can be made from hardwood doweling, cable, washers, and a shotgun with one shell. Cut a hardwood dowel (sue a 5/8" diameter dowel for a 12 ga shotgun) 3" long, and drill a 3/32" diameter hole down its center. Drill a 3/32" hole the long way through a 10-24 (3/16 ") softened (heat it red-hot , and let it cool slowly a few times) allen head machine screw , and tap it into a slightly-enlarged hole in one end of the dowel. Capture a 5/8" steel washer against the head and a rubber washer the inside diameter of the bore (you can make one from an inner tube, or from a faucet washer). Feed the 1/16" diameter cable through the dowel. Knot the end of the cable which protrudes from the non-washer end of the dowel, and pull the knot tight. Wrap a small piece of tape around the cable right as it protrudes from the cap screw's head, leaving at least 10 feet of cable hanging from the washer end of the dowel. Prepare the 2 3/4" shotgun shell by removing the shot and half the powder. To fire: With the safety on, and with the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, load the shell. Then, from the muzzle, drop the free end of the cable into the barrel, followed by the dowel. Without looking down the barrel, followed by the dowel. Without looking down the barrel, and keeping hands and everything else clear, push it down as far as it will easily go, but at least halfway down the barrel. (Some practice may be required to permit the maximum of unkinked cable to enter the barrel.) Fire this contraption at the center of the tail rotor (preferred target) or the center of the main rotor of the helicopter, at any altitude up to about 300 feet (if directly above). The idea here is to get the cable to tangle in the rotor, cause an imbalance, and bring down the chopper. (This is risky, but so is being mowed down by a gunship.) Best to do this with a borrowed shotgun, while wearing protective clothing. The gun will likely be destroyed. Booby-Trapping This consists of rigging common or concealed objects with destructive capability, so that an unsuspecting enemy may hurt himself. Booby traps are activated by the victim or by an outside party. They are typically activated by mechanical means, radio, or electro-mechanical means. The more-complicated the activator, the higher the probability of failure. Typical mechanical activators include trip wires or string, motion sensors (even a mousetrap will do), and the like. A small-animal snare is a typical application of a mechanical activator (which, in this case, is also the booby-trap). Radio activators (similar to remote activators for car alarms) allow better concealment of the booby trap, but require electrical power. Electro-mechanical activators are common and easy to contruct. A spring-loaded clothespin with contacts on both fingers, separated by a popsicle stick which gets pulled out when the victim trips over a string, is a good example of a simple electro-mechanical activator. Another can be activated by a bullet, which can be fired from afar: Two squares (12" or so) of copper or steel screen, 1/8" or smaller mesh, are clipped (with wood clothespins) to each side of a 14" square of light cardboard (like a file folder). Keep the screens and wires from touching! Attach one wire to each screen. Firing a bullet through the sandwich will close the circuit. The detonator (first charge) can be fired directly by the activator (as in a mousetrap setting off a shotgun shell), or by another detonator (such as a blasting cap, either mechanical - fire activated - or electrical). Note that the detonating charge may itself be the booby trap, as in the case of, say, a soap dispenser which contains a shotgun shell. Often, booby traps are larger destructive devices. They differ from "standard" bombs in that they are deliberately tripped, whereas a bomb, in classic terms, detonates on impact, or is fired by a timer which cannot be set remotely , or by the victim. For detailed information on booby traps, see the US Army Field Manual , FM 5-31, "BOOBY-TRAPS," and the Army Technical Manual, TM 31-210, "IMPROVISIONED MUNITIONS HANDBOOK." Beware the "home-brew" books, as many of these contain erroneous information which can result in a defective device , which may not detonate, or which may even kill you. You can trust the US Army to provide good information on building destructive devices. Basic Anti-Armor Warfare (cont'd)