It is unlikely that you will end up in a deserted, inaccessible place where you will hunt game, filter water and light a fire by rubbing sticks together. This kind of wilderness survival is the basic type of survival, one that can be trained by people who work in conditions where they may find themselves in a situation requiring such knowledge. So what does real survival in human society mean?
Survival in human society is the material, mental and spiritual readiness to leave a crisis area at the right moment with minimal material provision, and then to settle in a new, safer homeland, whether temporary or permanent.
If for some reason you have decided not to fight for survival where you stand, but to save your loved ones first, then only by leaving the crisis area in time will you be able to secure a future for yourself and those close to you.
The Basic Questions of Survival
- What is a crisis situation, and what is a crisis area?
- When does the moment come to leave the crisis area?
- Where should I go with my loved ones — that is, the choice of a destination area?
- How do I reach the destination area most effectively?
- What material provision do I need for the journey?
- How do I protect myself and my loved ones?
Why? Simply because questions one to five depend on your knowledge, your assessment of the situation and your mental balance, and only the last question requires more developed material skills and a somewhat better-trained body. Even that last point will be pure horror for less intelligent individuals, because by acting unwisely they may endanger themselves and their loved ones before they ever reach the destination area. You must always be aware that when you intervene, you set off many reactions that may slip out of your control, and for that kind of presence of mind you need certain innate and learned abilities. This holds many times over for the use of violence.
Everything, however, has its cause and its consequence, and it may happen that, although you are prepared to the utmost, you fail, and neither your physical body nor the bodies of your loved ones survive. To be at peace with this is the most important thing in survival. Without accepting the final death of the physical body as part of human existence you cannot survive, because the fear of death and dying is the greatest fear a human being faces. It is important to build behind your actions a philosophical concept that will help you survive — and not, on the contrary, one that will make you indifferent to the future.
[1] Crisis and the Crisis Situation
A crisis in human life is a moment of distinct imbalance that forces us to make radical changes and so bring life back into a temporary balance. In the social sense, it is a critical disruption of the balance of the current political and economic order, which may result in civil unrest or even war.
A crisis situation in human life is a situation marked by crisis — that is, by imbalance, a state of hardship, shortage or decline. From the standpoint of the security and protection of our state, the crisis situation is governed by Constitutional Act No. 227/2002 Coll. on the Security of the State in Time of War, State of War, State of Emergency and State of Crisis [Slovak Republic]. It is a period during which the security of the state is directly threatened or disrupted, and the constitutional authorities may, in order to deal with it, declare war or proclaim a state of war, a state of emergency or a state of crisis.
It is important to understand these terms in depth, because understanding them will help us with the analysis in the second point of our discussion.
[2] The Critical Tipping Point of a Crisis
The critical tipping point is the moment of crisis, of imbalance, from which a return to the initial state is no longer possible, and further events take a course beyond our control.
It follows from the definitions in points one and two that your decision to leave the crisis area must come before this critical tipping point arrives. If the government declares war, if a state of war is proclaimed, if martial law is declared, or if uncontrolled violence takes hold of the city streets, you have missed the tipping point. If border protection is stepped up, or the borders are closed entirely, or the call-up of reserves begins — and likewise if commercial transport options are cancelled — you will find it very hard to manage leaving the country with your loved ones.
Recognising the moment when the die is already cast is therefore very important, and it demands sound analytical reasoning and skill in following the socio-political and socio-economic situation. A simple example from life will make it easy to understand when the die is cast and when you still have time to turn the situation around. If your fist is flying toward another person's nose, then even if you miss, the die is cast — ALEA IACTA EST. As long as you have not yet struck, you have a choice, and can handle the critical situation differently.
[3] The Destination Area of Migration
The choice of a safe country for the rest of your life is influenced by many factors, but the most important are those that delimit the various levels of the crisis area. A crisis area has its hypocentre, its epicentre and its radiation zone, much as in the explosion of an atomic bomb or in an earthquake.
- The hypocentre is the source of the crisis, something rather hidden beneath the surface and not visible at first glance. It is the ideological centre of the crisis.
- The epicentre is already a concrete area, city or country from which the crisis or conflict spreads into the surrounding world. There may be several epicentres.
- The radiation zone is an area where the crisis is felt, but its impact on life is not critical — though there remains a possibility that the conflict will spread into this area too.
Everything outside this complex area is a temporarily safe area.
Which country you set out for depends on your knowledge of the geopolitical situation. The great powers have their strategic plans, and these contain certain points of interest. They are mostly areas with great mineral wealth, fertile land and water, or they are so-called transit territories, or bases for defence and attack. You should avoid these countries in the event of global conflicts. In the event of local conflicts, you must choose a country that has a sufficiently strong army and is sufficiently far from the epicentres of the conflict. Should you feel the need to take part in the fighting for your original homeland, your family is outside the danger zones, and you can go back and fight.
[4] Transport
Let us assume you have judged the situation well and are leaving the country in time. You have chosen a country that, in your view, will not take part in the conflict directly and is sufficiently distant from all the epicentres. Next comes choosing the most effective means of transport. Simple at first glance; at second glance, not quite.
The greatest freedom of movement will be given to you by a private means of transport that you can operate. Here a principle applies that is more important than ownership itself: what decides is your ability to operate the vehicle and to have access to it at the right moment — not ownership on paper. Access to an aircraft is worthless if you cannot take off and land safely.
That is why the strategic solution to transport is made in advance, in time of peace, and rests on three pillars:
- Redundancy. Never one vehicle and one route — a car in working order, a full tank as the standard and not the exception, a second route away from the main roads, and a walking variant for the last kilometres thought through in advance.
- Contacts. Cultivate relationships that will let you obtain a vehicle legally and quickly when you need it — an arrangement with an acquaintance, a shared vehicle, access to a means of transport you know how to operate. A network of trust is worth more than property that can be confiscated or that gets stranded.
- Documents and legitimacy. In a crisis, the person who gets across the border is the one whose papers are in order and who gives the security forces no reason to deal with him. Every reason to detain you is lost time — time you do not have at the tipping point.
If you have not managed to secure a private means of transport, all that remains to you is public transport — trains, buses and air travel. If you have judged the moment well, these services may still be usable. If you are late, flights are probably cancelled, and bus and train connections run only sporadically, because the roads and railways are beginning to be used for moving troops and equipment. Reckon also with modern reality — GPS jamming, road closures and checkpoints on the main exit routes, and fuel restrictions — so carry paper maps as well as offline navigation, keep fuel as a permanent reserve, and plan your route away from the corridors the army will take over first.
Short distances can also be covered on foot. If you go on foot, you should plan your journey so that your whole group can manage the terrain, and so that throughout the march everyone has enough water, food, rest and protection.
[5] Materiel and Technical Provision [MTP]
Every member of your "evacuation team" should be able to carry his own materiel and a food supply for at least 72 hours [3 days]. The weight must be reduced for children, the elderly, the sick and the wounded. A very important part of your materiel, however, is not only the things you will use to start a fire, or medicines and food, but also financial resources — in cash and in virtual form.
In cash you should have at least six (6) of your current monthly salaries. The rest of your finances you should hold in gold [Aurum] and silver [Argentum]. As for silver, there is one more use that matters for your materiel. Silver is highly antibacterial and antiseptic, so it is a good idea to have cutlery and a water cup (or a whole bottle) made of silver, or at least silver-plated. If you cannot afford silver, use stainless steel. Under no circumstances use aluminium [Aluminium]!
If you also rely on virtual money, it is important to keep your money in several foreign accounts, and not only in the country where you live. If no fatal social crisis occurs in your lifetime — God grant it — properly invested resources will surely grow in value. If you do not use them, they will remain to your descendants or other relatives.
WARNING! In the event of total crisis = apocalypse = financial resources are unusable. In a state of chaos and shortage of everything, barter is what works above all. Financial resources become usable again when civil society begins to reconstruct itself. Gold, silver and jewellery are worthless in a post-apocalyptic world. What has high value at such a time is above all water, food, medicine, hygiene supplies, clothing, and weapons with ammunition.
A separate chapter of your materiel is weapons and ammunition. A simple rule applies here: if you are migrating in peacetime, rely on edged weapons, which are easy to conceal and need no ammunition; if you are moving through a country where unrest is occurring, firearms are appropriate. Every member of your "evacuation group" should have a weapon and should be able to use it and look after it.
For the choice of weapon a simple and timeless rule applies: Carry a weapon and ammunition that are widely available in your area. Do not use weapons that need special ammunition or special resources to function, because you will either not get them, or they will cost you too many resources. This rule does not change — what changes is the answer to the question of what is widely available, and that answer must therefore be read on two levels:
1. Military "resupply" logic — what standard army and security units use. This answer changes over time according to procurement decisions. For Slovakia, for decades, it was rifles in calibre 7.62×39 mm (the vz. 58 assault rifle). Today the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic are moving to the NATO standard 5.56×45 mm (M4A1, Grand Power M4M, CZ BREN 2), which is also the most available round across the allied armies. So if you are counting on resupply from military sources, your reference today is 5.56×45, not 7.62×39.
2. Regional civilian availability — what actually circulates. Here 7.62×39 mm remains dominant: decades of the vz. 58, the ubiquity of the AK platform throughout Central and Eastern Europe, enormous surpluses and a low price. For the pistol, the answer is clearly 9×19 mm Parabellum — the most widespread pistol round in our country, in the army, the police and on the civilian market.
In practice: for a peacetime move, 9×19 (pistol) and 7.62×39 (long gun) will give you the cheapest and most available ammunition in the region; if you are preparing for a scenario dependent on alliance logistics, add 5.56×45 NATO. If you are taking only a hunting weapon with you, long guns in .22 Long Rifle are ideal [e.g. the Ruger 10/22 Takedown]. .22 LR ammunition is quiet, light, and above all commonly available and cheap almost all over the world.
To the four classic categories of materiel there now inseparably belongs a fifth — information and digital provision. In a modern crisis you are being watched, your money can be frozen with a single order, and your mobile phone broadcasts your location. Therefore: keep your documents both in physical form and as an encrypted digital copy in two places; spread your money across several jurisdictions, with part of it in self-custodied cryptocurrency (you either remember the seed phrase or keep it split across several places); download offline maps and navigation in advance; ensure energy independence (a power bank, a small solar panel, a spare phone and SIM); and practise conscious management of your digital footprint — the mobile phone is a tracking device, social networks are intelligence for anyone, and you must also reckon with passive surveillance (number-plate-reading cameras, drones over moving groups).
Your materiel thus consists of the things you carry with you, and these can be divided into the following main categories:
- Clothing, water, food, and the tools for preparing and consuming it.
[If you have nothing to eat, you will have no strength; you will waste away, fall ill and die.] - Medicines, sterile material for treating wounds, and hygiene supplies.
[After food, cleanliness and hygiene are the most important thing on journeys through hostile surroundings.] - Weapons, ammunition, and the equipment to carry them.
[Without weapons you will not be able to defend yourself: resisting one or two people is possible without an effective weapon, but resisting a starving mob or an armed group is impossible.] - Financial provision, in cash and non-cash form.
[If you have nothing to buy materiel with, you will have to steal — and that will make you hunted game.] - Information and digital provision: documents, communications, and management of your digital footprint.
[Without documents you are nobody at the border; with a dead or unmanaged device you are blind, mute and trackable.]
You should have all your materiel prepared as a "Bug-Out Bag", alias BOB — that is, in one place, so that within a few minutes you can throw it on and leave your home.
[6] Combat Skills
You can see for yourself how much knowledge and how many skills you should master in order to handle the first five points of strategic survival. The sixth point is more practical, and "less" demanding in strategy than the previous ones. We may also call it tactical survival, which is where practical martial art and skills belong — that is, how, when and where to use violence, and where not to. To study this point you can use the manuals mentioned at the start of this article, but it is better to find someone who acquired his skills through personal experience. Avoid people whose skills have never been tested under crisis conditions — you can play at survival more cheaply!
Finally, one small thing that you may already have realised yourself while reading this article; but if not, let me remind you.
The worst thing you can do if armed conflict breaks out in your country is to stay at home with your family [especially in a city] and try to protect your property and family on the spot, and alone. If you stay at home, you will be called up into the army, and your family will be left unprotected.
If you have a family, it is your duty to protect it first — and then you can throw yourself into the war on whichever side your convictions lead you.
Note for readers outside Slovakia: This article was written for Slovak readers and cites the legislation and conditions of the Slovak Republic (in particular Constitutional Act No. 227/2002 Coll., and the calibres and armament of the Slovak Armed Forces). Laws on states of emergency, mobilisation, border crossing, and the possession, carrying and transport of weapons and ammunition differ from country to country. Before acting on anything in this article, check the legislation of the state in which you live and of every state you intend to travel through.
