The second tier of the Preparedness Pyramid is Skill Sets. These contain specific Critical Essential Tasks (CET) that enable you to prevail in a crisis. I broke them down into six areas that I think are critical to an individual’s requirements to stay alive. They are in the order of importance.
Skill Sets (Defense, Medical, Survival, Navigation, Driving, Technical)
Defense (Pistol, Rifle, Knife, Hands)
One of the first skill set you need to learn is how to defend yourself. First learn solid weapon marksmanship fundamentals from a good instructor. A good instructor should always be a student. Constantly learning, testing, evaluating and fine tuning his techniques. He should be able to pass on his wisdom to others in a clear and concise way. “Our time is too short to waste walking down paths to nowhere.” (― Timothy Bax, Who Will Teach the Wisdom) In other words be careful on wasting your time and money on the wrong path (instructor) just because he is dynamic, entertaining, and cool. Research his background and understand his training philosophy.
Obtain your Concealed Carry License for your state. Carry all the time, practice safe weapon handling techniques. Own the basic set of weapons, Pistol, Rifle and Shotgun and become proficient and train with them regularly. Also stay in good physical fitness by regularly working out. Learn martial arts or hand to hand training. Basically, understanding and learning a way to “fight” with your hands, feet and body is the one thing that will also help you instill the right mind set. Learn how to properly box or grapple, these will be crucial to you staying up on your feet in a fight. Then learn how to defend yourself from a knife attack and how to use a knife offensively.
Medical (TCCC, Trauma, Natural, Medicinal)
First aid skills should always go hand in hand with your skill set of defense and offense. If you are carrying a gun, knife or have the ability to use improvised weapons to defend yourself, you must be prepared to render first aid to those you are protecting from an attack if they become injured. Focus on TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care) as your basis and expand into other areas such as suturing, pharmacology, and herbal/natural remedies. With TCCC, you will have the skill sets to plug a gun shot or knife wound properly, apply a tourniquet to stop the loss of blood and evaluate a person quickly to see where the most life-threatening wound is located. The Medical world is always evolving with the latest technology and technique. So, get training from qualified instructors and continue to train to stay up to date on the latest curriculum.
Survival (Shelter, Fire, Water, Food)
This skill set is the basis of your remote existence where you might find yourself in after an accident or a major national crisis. These skills apply both in urban and rural, now they may differ in technique or procedure. Understanding on how to find water or build a tactical fire in an urban setting will require different TTP’s than you would use in a wilderness setting. But developing and practicing these basic skills can be lifesaving. You don’t need a lot of gear to survive; most people pack too much gear in their bug out bags or get home bags. Most of the items are comfort items; you can acquire skills that will go a long way in keeping you alive in many situations. Knowing what to pack is always a hard decision. Do I need it? Can I live without it? Having good skills will help you decide these decisions. Keep in mind, having enough supplies to sustain until you get to your bug out location or your home is critical. Sometimes you will need to have a cache staged along your primary and alternate routes. It all starts with the Survival Mindset.
Navigation (Compass, Map Reading, Terrain Association, GPS)
Now having a sense of direction when moving from your place of business to your home or from hole up site to hole up site, will be as important as your basic survival skills. Bottom line, if you can’t get to where you are going, then you will not be able to survive, defend, attack, evade or migrate. Learn multiple ways to find your direction in both daytime and nighttime. Learn techniques of navigation to get you through or around difficult terrain safely. Know your regions different types of terrain, weather patterns, and hydrographic topography. Understand how to read different types of maps and apply them to your current situation. For example, be able to use a standard road map to travel cross country where it does not show the detail terrain but covers a large area vs a topographical map where it shows the terrain in greater detail but does not cover as large of an area as a standard road map. Always make notations about terrain features and add those that are not noted on the map. Keep a notebook to keep a log on your route, danger areas, populations, etc. Understand how to use a compass, map, pace count, and terrain association as your base. Then use available technology to augment your navigation and/or confirm your location and route. Technology assists you in finding your home or getting rescued, but it also fails at the most critical times. It also means you have more things to maintain (batteries, updates, software, reception etc.) Don’t rely on it only but use it to augment your basics.
Driving (Off Road, Highway, ATV, Route Selection, Planning)
Pretty much I am going to assume you know how to drive already, but I have come across individuals that have lived their whole life in a city and never obtained their driver license or even driven. Learn your vehicle, understand its capability and limitations. This is key to keeping your vehicle in adequate shape to get you from point A to point B. Too many people overestimate their 4×4’s capabilities and at the same time have never learned how to drive off road (clearance, route selection, speed vs. momentum). Just because you don’t have a 4-wheel drive does not mean you can’t go off road. Yes, it will be more difficult, and you may get stuck easier, but if you have the right recovery tools and pick your path correctly you will make it. One area that some people and off-road enthusiasts forget to consider is high speed driving. Understanding your vehicle dynamics as a base to both off road and on road driving will aid you in making it through most obstacles. When driving in an urban scenario after a crisis where the road is littered with other vehicles or debris, you may find yourself in an ambush situation like a roadblock where you need to be able to escape by doing evasive driving. In this case you may need to drive fast, conduct hard turns, reverse your direction quickly to survive. Write down your vehicle’s height, width, curb weight and gross weight. These are dimensions that will come into play moving around and through obstacles. Establish a good load plan where all your gear is secured and tied down. Keep the most important items accessible, like go/bail out bag, weapon, etc. If driving in a small convoy, have communications between the first and last vehicle at a minimum, preferably all vehicles.
Technical (Mechanical, Welding, Electronics, Communications)
These skill sets will be more like your ability to pick a lock, fix or repurpose electronics, fix an engine, welding, work on a generator or communicate over long distances with HF, UHF, VHF radios. These skills will be very beneficial in both a group setting and for yourself. But if you find yourself locating and joining a group of like-minded individuals, you will be an asset and not a liability.
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