17 MENTAL & PHYSICAL PREPAREDNESS

YOU CAN BUY GEAR. You can buy survival books like this one. You can’t buy mental and physical readiness. You also can’t buy the survival skills that only come from practice, repetition, and experience. That level of preparedness is reserved for those willing to train their mind and body.

Yes, survival tools are important—very important. But tools alone are insufficient and can be a false sense of security. Packing and storing a BOB is just the beginning of your preparedness journey. You must also be mentally and physically ready to follow through with your Bug Out Plan.

MENTAL PREPAREDNESS

No matter what anyone says, you can never be 100 percent mentally prepared for an emergency disaster. There’s just nothing in life that trains us for that kind of “jolt” to the system. Mental readiness comes down to two basic truths:

1. having the mental fortitude to handle the stress of the situation without panicking
2. having the know-how to use the resources on hand to meet necessary survival goals

As far as the first truth goes, either you are the type of person who can keep it together when the going gets tough or you’re not. Be honest with yourself. If you can’t handle that kind of mental stress, I’d suggest becoming close friends with someone who can.

Truth number two is completely and wholly in your control. Knowing how to use the resources in your BOB comes down to one thing—practice. Survival knowledge is not an inherent talent or gift. It is the direct result of experience, repetition, trial, and error. Some of the best survival experts in the world are self-trained, and I’ll take hands-on experience over classroom instruction any day of the week. You can read the best books and study under the best instructors, but until you practice the skills with your own hands, you have a slight advantage at best.

Take control of your destiny and truly understand how to use your BOB as the life-saving resource that it is. The only way to master a skill is by practice and repetition. Most important survival techniques are practiced skills—not black-and-white facts:

• fire building
• navigation
• rope work and knot tying
• food prep with few tools
• shelter building
• effective signaling

At this point, you have meticulously assembled your BOB. Now it is time to build your mental readiness. Task + Repetition = Skill. Your mind is your most valuable resource —train it.

PHYSICAL PREPAREDNESS

If your mind is your most valuable resource, then your body is your most valuable tool. Just like any piece of mechanical equipment, your body requires routine maintenance and care to be in peak condition. Have you ever let an engine just sit in the garage for a long time—a car, a lawn mower, a chain saw, or weed eater? The engine can be very difficult to start after sitting idle for so long. And when the engine does start, it doesn’t run like it should. The same is true with your body. If you sit idle for a long time without proper diet and exercise, your body will not perform well when it’s suddenly needed to get you through a Bug Out.

You can have the knowledge and the tools but if you don’t have the endurance and strength to perform, nothing else matters. Unfortunately, the time when many people realize the importance of health is when they lose it or when they need it most. It would be a shame to go through all of the effort to assemble and prepare your BOB and not be able to physically handle a Bug Out journey. Below are some basic minimum guidelines to keep you on track physically.

Regular Exercise

A Bug Out could potentially require you to walk for many miles with a loaded pack. If you don’t exercise routinely, this will be a big struggle. Being out of shape can be a real danger—slowing your progress both to your destination and away from potential threats. Don’t be a liability to your group. Establish a regular exercise schedule to strengthen your muscles and boost your endurance. Join a gym or consult with a personal trainer if you need help getting started.

Diet

I’ll keep this heading short and sweet. You are what you eat. Garbage in, garbage out. Make a concerted effort to eat a healthy, balanced diet. Your body will reward you for it.

Regular Medical Care

Do you have nagging medical conditions that could impede a Bug Out? Are there any debilitating physical problems that need to be addressed? For example, as I write this book I have a hernia. I’ve had it for a few months. During times of extreme physical exertion it bothers me. I believe it would impede my peak performance if I were ever faced with an extreme Bug Out. It’s not life threatening but needs to be addressed and fixed. How about you? Do you need to schedule an appointment with your doctor to take care of an issue? Just get it over with already!

KEY PRACTICE EXERCISES

All competitive activities and sports have their own unique set of mental and physical exercises. Horse jockeys train different from long-distance track runners and tennis players. Competitive chess players have a completely difference training regimen from archers. Mentally and physically preparing for a Bug Out is no different. Although I mention more than thirty different practice exercises in chapter nineteen, there are six areas I feel are most important. Practice in these six areas will not only improve your chances of survival but will also build confidence in your abilities and tools.

Exercise 1: Fire

Practice building a fire using the fire kit in your BOB. Familiarize yourself with the different ignition devices and fire tinder.

The test of a good fire is if it can boil water. Position a metal container of water above or beside the fire and bring the water to a boil. Below is a list of fire drills to practice:

• Start a fire at night using your headlamp to help you see to prepare your materials and search for fuel.
• Start a fire after a good rain when the ground is damp and wet. Practice building a fire platform and finding dry fuel.
• Start a fire when it’s cold out. You will quickly understand how the cold weather can limit the mobility in your fingers and hands.

Exercise 2: Preparing Meals

If you’ve decided to pack meals that require any kind of preparation, a few practice runs can work out any potential problems in your kit. Become comfortable with the following:

• Prepare a meal for yourself and your family using only your Bug Out Bag. For this meal, use whatever heating device you’ve decided to pack, i.e., solid fuel tablets stove or canister stove. Just have a Bug Out dinner in the backyard one night. Also practice cleaning the items with the resources in your BOB and packing everything back up. Take note of how much water is used and think of ways to make the entire process easier and smarter.
• Do exactly as listed above except heat your meal using an open fire.
• If you are really ambitious, take a weekend camping trip and bring only the meal items in your BOB and see how realistic your food items are. Did you pack too much or not enough?

Exercise 3: Shelter

The ability to quickly and safely set up a reliable shelter system is critical. Get this wrong in a real Bug Out and it could very well be game over. The following exercises will help:

• Set up your main shelter system. Make sure you have enough cordage, stakes, etc. Take mental notes about how much space you need to set up the shelter.
• Do the same as above but do it at night with only the light from your headlamp.
• Pretend your primary shelter system has been lost, damaged, or stolen. Practice setting up a backup shelter system using a poncho, tarp, or emergency blanket. Do you have the proper materials in your BOB to get this done? Don’t worry, this exercise takes practice. I’ve set up tarp/poncho shelters many times over the years and am still perfecting the process. Many variables can affect the set-up configuration including weather, trees or lack of trees, and soil consistency, such as rock or sand.

Exercise 4: Take a Hike!

I remember my first Bug Out Bag. I was an overzealous survivalist and got a little carried away … until I decided to take a ten-mile practice hike with it. I realized about one mile in that I needed to make some serious changes. First, the pack did not fit me well. It did when it was empty but not loaded to capacity. Second, it was way too heavy. I immediately started to refine my pack list to reduce weight and bulk.

• Hike five miles with your BOB. If you have a family, take them, too. Take the Bug Out Wagon and the dog. Do a five-mile Bug Out dry run. Don’t forget to wear your Bug Out Boots. Make any necessary changes based on this experience.
• Do this at least once every two months.

Exercise 5: Water and Hydration

In any survival situation, potable water is at the top of your priority list. It is very important to be comfortable and confident with using the water purification resources you have in your BOB: boiling, filter systems, or chemical treatment. Following are some important exercises in learning and understanding your hydration equipment:

Boiling: Using your metal water container or cooking pot, bring water to a boil. Do this with both your cooking heating system and an open fire. Use your multi-tool or leather gloves to handle the hot container and manipulate it around the heat. Take note of the following:

• How long does it take to bring water to a boil?
• How close does my container need to be to the fire?
• How big does my fire need to be?
• How much fuel did I use?
• How did my container perform? Do I need a different container?

Filtering: First, practice pre-filtering water from a nearby stream or pond through a bandana into one of your water containers. Remember to always keep at least one container sanitary and untouched from contaminated water. Then, using your filter system, filter your pre-filtered water from your “contaminated” container into your sanitary container. Be sure you understand how to assemble, disassemble and store your filtration system without written directions.

Chemical Treatment: Memorize the instructions and doses of your chemical treatment tabs. This information might wear off the bottle and you need to know it by heart.

Exercise 6: Self-Defense

The average person has zero self-defense training. Unless your job requires some kind of close combat training (i.e., police, security, professional or amateur fighter, military), you’ve probably never taken any formal self-defense instruction. You should really consider enrolling in a local self-defense class to understand the basics of a few demobilizing striking techniques that may allow you to escape if ever attacked.

I’m not asking you to go get a black belt in karate. I am asking that you become familiar with the human body, it’s weaknesses, and how to exploit them if necessary.

SUMMARY

Your mind and body are your two most important Bug Out resources. They both require proper and specific training to be prepared for the demands of a disaster Bug Out.

There are hundreds of ways to die and none of them require skill or repetition. Increase your chances of survival by practicing the mental and physical exercises in this book.