Surviving Is Your Personal Responsibility

By Brian Brawdy

In his new book Obama’s Wars, Washington Post Columnist and perennial White House fly on the wall Bob Woodard writes that President Obama believes “We can absorb a terrorist attack.” As many in the media line up to slam him for his comments, there are now reports on the wire of a “Credible but not specific” threat of new terrorist attacks. Coincidence? You make the call.

I’m certain that in President Obama’s mind, surrounded by 24-hour Secret Service protection, Military aircraft cover and a small army of police officers wherever he travels, I’m sure he, his staff and their protectors can “absorb a terrorist attack” but how about the rest of us? What will us regular people do? How will we soak up the coming storm?

I learned first hand in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that many of us believe we can simply dial “911” and “Help” is on the way. Many suffered in the region terribly at the hands of this cruel, albeit popular misconception. To believe in the myth, to bet on outside assistance after a major disaster is to gamble with your safety, well being and perhaps the lives of you and your family. No slams. I’m not berating the government at any level or the local emergency responders. No politics. No FEMA or Red Cross critiques. No finger pointing.

One need only look at the ratio of police, paramedics and fire personnel to the general population. As well intentioned as first responders are, there are simply not enough of them to go around. It’s a numbers thing. Do the math. Call your local emergency room. Ask them just how many beds they have in ER and how many doctors and nurses are, on average, on duty. In a major emergency and its wake, you are on your own. No fear mongering. No sky is falling. Just break it down. To believe that they are “coming for you” is both naive and dangerous.

When it comes to survival, be it a terrorist attack or a tornado, whether the assault is man-made or originated by Mother Nature, preparedness comes down to asking yourself one question. Survival has nothing to do with low-crawling 100 yards with a tactical knife in your teeth. It has nothing to do with installing a machine-gun turret on your roof or learning to eat cockroaches and ant soup. It’s about jungle survival, it’s about surviving and thriving when you can see your jungle gym through your family room window. There’s nothing foreign to contemplate, just elementary survival at your own front door.

For a majority of us, survival comes down to answering one simple, straightforward question. “When you can’t call on anyone else, can you call on yourself?” In an emergency situation, can you be the one to help yourself, your family, your close friends or neighbors when nobody else can or will?

Now, you don’t have to be Rambo. No killing rabbits with your bare hands or wrestling anacondas for a quick snack. A true survival expert simply plans in advance.  They visualize the worst-case scenario and then craft a plan to make the best of it.

Do you know how to do CPR if a family member is having a heart attack or the Heimlich Maneuver if one of your children is choking? Would you know how to get water to drink if your local government issued a boil order but, as fate would have it, your power is out and you have no gas or electricity to make your water drinkable? Do you have a first-aid kit and could you use it to save the life of your closest friend in a panic situation? If you lose your power, what will you do for light at night or to keep infant formula fresh or your valuable medicines refrigerated when your power is out? What will you do if your heating gas gauge reads zero and the temperature drops below freezing in your home? Do you have a communication plan to contact family if the emergency hits and you are separated? NO phone. NO internet. Do you have an old fashion communication plan and have you practiced it sufficiently? What happens if your local grocery store or favorite restaurant is having the same trouble you are having? What if they have no food to sell? What will you do then? Better yet, what can you do now?

There is a saying in the survival community; “If you panic, you perish.” Imagining a survival situation well in advance of the actual emergency, helps keeping the panic in check if not almost eliminating it. Survival is more mindset than mechanical, more temperament than technology.

Surviving an emergency situation begins long before you find yourself in the middle of it. Ask yourself these questions. Find a way of answering them affirmatively today so that no matter what tomorrow throws at you, you’ll be a true survivor.

Editor’s Note: Photographs by Brian Brawdy. Brian Brawdy is a former Police Investigator and military weapons specialist. Called upon as a Survival Expert and political analyst, he focuses on educating international audiences on the importance of individual responsibility and political accountability. He is the Editor of BrianBrawdy.com and Host of The Brian Brawdy Show, Liberty’s Line in the Sand.