If a disaster struck, who would you want at your side, helping you? A doctor? Lawyer? Policeman? Teacher? While they all have special skills, I submit that the overwhelming choice would be a Special Forces Green Beret. Someone trained in survival, medicine, weapons, tactics, communication, engineering, counter-terrorism, tactical and strategic intelligence and with the capability to be a force multiplier. This last one is key. Another way this book is unique is because your goal should be to plan for dealing with emergencies with a team/family, not a lonely individual holed up in a bunker deep in the hills.
I was part of the committee at the JFK Special Warfare Center and School that revamped the Qualification Course and made SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) training an integral part of it for every Special Forces soldier, rather than a separate school.
This book is a step-by-step guide giving you the tactics and techniques Green Berets use to plan for and train to succeed under the toughest of circumstances; thus they will work in every situation you could find yourself. Don’t feel that you have to be a Green Beret to use this book. I’m like most people. I’m not a prepper or a hard-core survivalist. I’ve been trained and have a lot of experience, but my day to day life is pretty normal. I’ve prepared just like you need to prepare, but prefer room service over sleeping on the side of a mountain. I’m passing on the key knowledge and experience I have acquired through the mindset of someone living in a non-emergency day-to-day lifestyle.
As I began to research the amount of information out there about survival, I was quickly overwhelmed despite having extensive experience in this area. Between the books, the videos, the internet and the ‘reality’ shows, the casual person will get swept under. I’m trying to keep this is as simple as possible and looking at it from the point of view of your ‘average’ person living in an apartment or house who will have to face situations they are probably not prepared for right now. I prefer a lighter rather than making a bow, then a fireboard, then finding a stick, and using all those to start a fire. Let’s keep it simple until it gets hard! Then we’ll also be prepared to deal with that.
We’ve seen glimpses of what’s coming. The Indian Ocean tsunami; Katrina; 9–11; Haiti; the Japanese quake and subsequent tsunami, Hurricane Sandy, the Louisiana floods, Puerto Rico hurricane recovery, California wildfires and so on. But there are many, lesser, emergencies that are more likely.
A key tenet of success for the Green Beret is to act rather than react. When the disaster strikes, it’s too late. The clock is ticking. So let’s get prepared! First, let’s make sure we have key information about our team members.
Task Two: Mild: A-Team Contact Information & Alert Flow
*A-Team Member #1
Name:
Cell phone #:
Work/School address/phone#:
*A-Team Member #2
Name:
Cell phone #:
Work/School address/phone#:
*A-Team Member #3
Name:
Cell phone #:
Work/School address/phone#:
*A-Team Member #4
Name:
Cell phone #:
Work/School address/phone#:
*A-Team Member #5
Name:
Cell phone #:
Work/School address/phone#:
*A-Team Member #6
Name:
Cell phone #:
Work/School address/phone#:
Out of Area Contact Location/Phone #:
Immediate Rally Point location:
Emergency Rally Point location:
Poison Control: 800–222–1222
Family Doctor:
Health Insurance Phone # and Account #s:
Insurance Company Phone # and Account #s:
Closest Police Station Location/Phone:
Closest Emergency Room Location/Phone:
Closest Fire Station Location/Phone:
Power/Gas/Utilities Company Phone #:
Water Company Phone #:
*The out of area emergency point of contact is someone who would be unaffected by a local disaster or weather event and everyone on your team can contact to update their status. This is in case you can’t contact A-Team members in the midst of the emergency/disaster.
We’re on a roll. You now have more information and are more prepared than when you started this book. Many of us don’t have phone numbers memorized. We rely on the address book of our cell phone, but in an emergency, that might not work, you might not have your cell phone and have to use someone else’s, or, as you shall see, there are many other reasons to actually have these numbers and locations written down.
Make sure everyone has an ICE (in case of emergency) phone number on their cell phone.
Android users running 7.0 or higher can program emergency information and contact details through the emergency call screen that is available even when the device is locked.
On the iPhone go to your Health App.
1. Launch the Health app on your iPhone.
2. Tap the Medical ID tab.
3. Tap Edit in the upper right corner.
4. Tap Edit Medical ID.
5. Under Emergency Contacts tap Add emergency contact.
6. Select a contact from your list.
7. Select a relationship.
You can add as much information as you like on this app in the appropriate places. Think about it. If you were found unconscious and your phone is locked, could anyone contact someone who would need to know? Would medical personnel know your blood type and allergies?
To access it, when the passcode screen comes up, you will see emergency in the bottom left of that screen. Tap that and you will get a phone dial screen; on the bottom left it will say, in red, Medical ID. Tap that and you will get all the pertinent information.
For future tasks, I include specific information about gear and equipment. The items linked are for reference. I personally have all things listed. Feel free to search further for what you want. I need to disclose I am using affiliate links for items on Amazon and the GAIA app later on. Not just because it’s required, but to understand I am giving examples and linking to things on Amazon to make it easier to show gear as there’s an overwhelming amount of things out there.
All money generated from affiliate links is donated to charity, the primary one being the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
If you find a broken or outdated link, please let me know at bob@bobmayer.com
One rule of thumb: the cheaper the gear costs, the cheaper the gear. Also, sometimes things are no longer available, so I add the item description.
Please get whatever you want, wherever you want. Also, if you want to talk to experts, I recommend finding the closest REI store or local outdoor store and talking to the people who work there. They will be more in tune with your specific area and needs.
Task Three: Mild: If you don’t have one, get a first aid kit for your home.
Example:
M2 Basics First Aid Kit
More to come.
This is excerpted from: The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide
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