*What Is A Survivalist?*

By Jaden

30 March 2004

Please bear with me, this got pretty long and in depth.

What is a survivalist? Well I guess that’s all a matter of opinion. There are many different definitions, but let’s go with what I found. I went to http://www.dictionary.com/ and did a search query of "survivalist". Here’s the definition they gave "One who has personal or group survival as a primary goal in the face of difficulty, opposition, and especially the threat of natural catastrophe, nuclear war, or societal collapse." I like that definition. In England, survivalists are thought of as super boy scouts :o) Too bad the rest of the world didn’t think the same way.

Stereotyping survivalists- There are people out there who think that survivalists are anti-government, heavily armed, crazy, whacked out psychos. Others think that Survivalism is a waste of time and not necessary. Not true. To anyone who thinks the prior let me ask you this. Are you a deathist? If you don’t intend to survive then you intend to die! No gray area there, it is black and white. I seem to remember (if my gray matter serves me correctly) a few months ago about a serial killer that was labeled "the survivalist killer". He was going around shooting people and escaped every time while living in the woods. The media labeling him a "survivalist" killer gives Survivalism a bad name. He was no different from any other serial killer other than how he lived.

Let’s look at dictionary.com’s definition.

Difficulty- There’s a broad topic there. Difficulty could mean anything from unemployment to the loss of your home due to fire/flood etc. A survivalist will have food storage (for example). If this survivalist loses his/her job, they won’t have to worry about where the next meal is coming from. A good survivalist will also have preps pre-positioned in other locations, if this person’s house burns down they will still have something to fall back on.

Opposition- There has always been opposition in the world. One thing that comes to mind is the story of Anne Frank. How during the Holocaust her and her family hid from the Gestapo in the secret upstairs of her father’s business in Amsterdam, Holland for more than TWO YEARS. The only reason they were discovered was because of a "friend’s" betrayal. During WWII the Nazis especially oppressed the Jews. If you were Jewish the Gestapo carted you off to a concentration camp. There you either were executed or died of starvation or abuse. The Franks and the others who hid and remain undiscovered were survivalists. The Gestapo searched Otto Frank’s business and they never found the secret stairway. Could YOU live undiscovered for two years when there is an army trying to find you? True they had outside help…which is why the Rubicon stresses teams. You can’t make it alone, at some point you WILL need help.

Could this happen again? You bet, it IS happening right now. Look at the world today. Al Qaeda is killing Iraqis, Americans and ANYONE who disagrees with their "religion". (I have nothing against the muslim religion, I believe Al Qaeda just uses "religion" to try and justify their "holy war". They kill their own people and justify it by saying "They did their part for Allah". They launched major attacks on the USA in 2001. They are threatening more in the near future. Look at what just happened in Madrid, Spain.

On February 25 the news reported that Osama Bin Laden's right hand man, Ayman al-Zawahri called on ALL Islamics to strike at America. One month later on March 25, the FBI issued a warning to Houston, TX area refineries that they may be the targets of soon to come terrorist attacks.

IMO these Al Qaeda terrorists are oppressing the United States of America & anyone who disagrees with them. I firmly believe that we are living in times of opposition.

Natural Catastrophe- That’s an easy one. Look at the annual forest fires that tear across the western US, or the floods and tornados of the cental/south, or the ice storm that hit New England back in 1998. Natural disasters WILL happen and there’s nothing that ANYBODY can do about it. Survivalists prepare to survive these disasters. Preps are packed and ready to go, a bug out destination has already been established. At the first word of trouble, they bug out and get out of the area before the disaster reaches them and it’s too late. Fortunately a lot of Rubicon members know each other personally and have mutual plans and agreements. For example, a forest fire is heading toward Rubicon member A’s area in California. He receives the news and decides to bug out. He doesn’t want to bug out to a national park or a motel. That’s where everybody else will probably go. He makes contact with his friend, Rubicon member B up in Washington and says, "I’m coming your direction". A knows that when he arrives at B’s house, he will have a place to stay until the threat in his area has past. B knows that A is bringing as many of his preps as he possibly can. Heck, A might even have pre-positioned preps at B’s home or retreat.

Nuclear War- I’ll extend that to include biological & chemical. Think about Hiroshima, Japan. Look at all the events that have happened over the last 2 years and the events that are going on in the world RIGHT NOW! North Korea was just itching to nuke somebody, Al-Qaeda is carrying out attacks in Spain, Iraq and God only knows how many other places, they’re trying to carry out more attacks in the US, the US government is talking about dirty bombs and NBC attacks and the list goes on and on. We have a great potential for an NBC incident. SARS went from Asia to Canada like a rocket and spread into the US. The Avian flu is the latest and greatest and isn’t going away any time soon. Just this weekend the news reported that a Canadian worker has contracted the virus in Vancouver, BC after coming into contact with dead chickens.

Societal Collapse- Yes it’s happened. The Great Depression is a perfect example. People were unemployed and starving. One of our Rubicon members was a child during the Great Depression. Our very own Relic has written about her experiences during that time. Here are a few excerpts-

Society collapsed, few people had jobs and what jobs they had barely got them by. Look again at those excerpts from Relic, she is living proof that you CAN live, you CAN survive even through the worst of times. She’s shared her memories with us and has proven that you can survive on very little. Hats off to you girl!

The same thing could happen again. The stock market was booming before the depression. Then in October 1929 it crashed. What little that was left of the economy was uncertain. It took many years to recover.

It’s a proven fact that history repeats itself. Napoleon the Conqueror, Adolph Hitler’s rise to power, Saddam Hussein’s rise to power. How many people ever thought that there would be a 2^nd Hitler? I’m sure many people thought that once Hitler was gone, the world would be a better place. Years later Saddam Hussein rose to power and essentially did the same thing. Killed anybody who wasn’t loyal to him and anyone he didn’t like. Well Saddam Hussein’s gone now and we can all relax, right? Wrong! Remember, history repeats itself. Don’t believe me, ask somebody like Relic who’s seen it. Ask your great grandparents or maybe your grandparents are old enough to remember.

• Ok, now onto survivalists-

I categorize survivalists into 2 groups.

Group A= Armchair survivalists

Group B= Active survivalists

Armchair survivalists are those who do not actively practice, prepare and train for emergency/survival situations. They are the type who buy the commercial survival kits, watch a videocassette to gain all the knowledge they could possibly need and call it good enough. I was looking through an outdoors equipment magazine awhile back. They were advertising a 72-hour survival kit. It came in a small cardboard box. I looked at the contents list and the outrageous price and thought….geez, I carry more than that in my truck. Today at work I was looking in a Gall’s catalog. They were selling an "MRE" type kit that contained enough food to suffice one person 3 days. The price was $180!! You can do much better than that eating real MRE’s. Probably taste better too. An armchair survivalist doesn’t have decent food and water stores, no alternate power, no Bug-Out-Bag etc and they don’t have the skills to light a fire, build a shelter or survive out of the comforts of their own home. They probably don’t have the skills to survive IN their own home.

An active survivalist practices, prepares and trains to AVOID survival situations. There will be times when it is unavoidable, an active survivalist prepares and trains for those times too as best they can. An active survivalist has good food and water stores, has alternate power, has NBC gear and the knowledge to use it, has a Bug-Out-Bag and knows how to use everything in it and practices with their equipment.

I quote the header on the Alpha Rubicon site. "We must prepare for the worst and work for the best."

Survivalism isn’t just about living when things go south; it’s also a day-to-day thing. You’ll notice the wide variety of information here at Alpha Disaster Contingencies. Rubies getting their ham licenses so that we can have reliable communications, Rubies learning the basics of electricity, plumbing, heating & mechanics, Rubies learning about the threats that are before us today so that we can prepare to handle them when/if the time comes.

Self-reliance plays a key part in Survivalism. Knowledge is power. During a TSHTF (The turd hits the fan) situation, don’t count on being able to call the plumber to unclog your toilet or the electrician to reset your circuit breaker and then bill you 50 bux. Don’t count on a mechanic to change the oil in your BOV. Knowing how to use and maintain all of your possessions will save you money and possibly save your life.

Being able to heat your home if needs be without outside support (electricity & fuel oil), being able to eat and drink indefinitely (gardening/hunting & good water supply) etc is self reliance. Looking at the depression, would you be able to afford the electric bill and fuel? Would you be able to buy food? You could until you ran out of money. If you aren’t working, you aren’t earning.

Now ask yourself…. "Am I a survivalist?"

Good luck to you.

Jaden