The Modern Survivalist Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre explains why some of the survival tips you may have read are simply not practical and why they may get you killed if the SHTF.
1)Concentrating on rifle skills instead of mastering the handgun you can carry every day. “But I can´t hit the broad side of a barn with a handgun”. Then practice more! Whatever happens, chances are you won´t have the time to go get your rifle when you need a weapon. At the very least don’t count on having the time to do so. Now carrying every day and begin proficient, that’s how at least you’ll be armed when you need it the most.
2) Lack of firearms training and ignoring the local laws (because there will be no law after SHTF, WROL, remember?). Expecting to rise to the occasion is foolish, you wont gain the skill you never developed by magic and target shooting, hunting, skeet, plinking or whatever other activity you do that involves firearms DOES NOT count for defensive shooting training. Ignoring the laws may not kill you but it can land you in jail for most of your adult life. Know when and in what circumstances it is legal for you to use your firearm. That’s how you learn what happens if you “shoot to wound” or what happens if you shoot criminals on the sidewalk and “drag them inside” like its sometimes adviced by self-claimed experts. Knowing the law may mean the difference between rotting in jail or not. As things get worse, these things will actually happen more often, soon enough the odds will be that it may happen to you too.
3) Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. Don’t ever underestimate the lethality of a knife. Most fights occur within zero and seven yards, and within that range chances are you will get cut. If you lack the basic training and plan on improvising, you will most likely get killed by a determined attacker.
4) Throwing stuff at armed robbers. I read this one in a survival manual and didn’t know if I should have cried or laughed. This expert believed that simply showing hostility of some kind was enough to send bad guys away. The truth is that an excited criminal, probably high on drugs and full of hatred towards you, will shoot you if you do something like that in such a dangerous moment. Either know what to do, have the weapons for it and fight like you´re supposed to given the situation or don’t, but acting like a hysterical brat will do little to increase your survival rate.
5) Houses pretending to be abandoned and/or empty. Make it look as if there’s nothing worth stealing, use blinds or shutters so that no one knows there’s people inside. How many times have you heard or read these nuggets of wisdom? Truth is that a house with no people inside is a temptation and favorite target of any criminal. Even good people during desperate times may try to take shelter in an abandoned house, maybe see if there’s something they can use. You want your place to look clearly occupied, and spotlights places around the perimeter so as to make it clear you´re ready to defend yourself is even better.
6) Distance equals safety. It doesn’t. Its just a false sense of security and the only reason nothing may have happened to you yet is because no one ever tried to get to you. Its even easier to attack a house that is isolated than pulling off a home invasion with neighbors near by. Isolation and distance doesn’t mean you’re too far away from anything. If you go t there, so can others.
7) Bug out! Where? How long will it take? Why abandon a defendable, safe, stocked position? You better have a reason for it. Don’t just run like a fool at the first sign of trouble because someone told you to do so. 99% of the time you’re better off staying put. If you have to leave, have a place to go to. Its not just a matter of abandoning your current location. Even if you have a bug out location, if it has been left empty chances are that during the disaster someone may have broken into, stolen what was of use, or even worse, decided to take for themselves that nice place you so conveniently left ready in case there was trouble. If you cant leave the place with people watching over it, then its better to count on friends and family members and make arrangements ahead of time so that there’s no surprises.
8 ) Gear and Supplies, but no money for emergencies, medical bills, medicines, no financial preps for the future and ending up in the poor house. Certain experts will say money will become useless after the “ballon goes up”, the same ballon many of them have been predicting for almost half a century. You don’t need to worry about the system because it will utterly fail, money is just paper with pictures and “…. After SHTF”, people will barter and trade for whatever it is they need. That’s a great way to end up broke once you get old, suffer some injury and have to face medical bills or be in desperate need of a real investment that creates actual income flow.
9) Running and jumping across jungles, forests, and freaking volcanos, Baer Grylls style. You don’t run, jump and dash through places you don’t know, hang over cliffs with a vine or shrub that just happened to be there. Do that for real in a forest or jungle and you’ll break a leg or neck in a matter of minutes. Jumping your way across land covered in lava that may or may not give under your weight, not to mention melt away your shoes, is a ticket to an excruciatingly painful death.
10) Going barefoot. 95% of the survival TV “advice” is dangerous. Its about having a minimum rating, not teaching you true survival skills. People actually watching it and having fun is the real priority for them. When you see a guy going barefoot just know that’s short of actually cutting off your own fingers or pocking an eye out with a stick on purpose, its one of the best ways to cripple yourself, limit your possibilities and endanger you basic mobility. If there’s debris, glass, and sharp objects after a disaster or terrorist attack you’re doomed. If you have to deal with snow and cold weather, cut yourself in the city and risk an infection, its such a bad idea for so many reasons and has no benefit whatsoever.
