Urban and Travel Survival

G

Granite

Joined
Dec 28, 1999
Messages
73
I think we should talk about urban survival;
What sort of survival gear do you carry in foreign/unfamiliar cities?
How do you protect yourself from theft?
How do you make sure your hotel is safe?

Small problems can become pretty big survival issues when you're in a foreign area; how do you guys cope?




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An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.
 
I really hate to say it, but I feel like my work place is a PRIME EXAMPLE of urban survival every day! And I'm being serious.

My high school has had one girl STABBED to death, a teacher assaulted and a bus driver beaten to include having an eye destroyed.

We have numerous bomb threats every year, several kids found in possession of drugs and 'weapons' each year and serious fights often enough the police respond QUICKLY!

So what do I do? I carry a LARGE, read bulky SAK that can be held in a fist for punching, blade folded. I carry a small pocket "kobutan" that is solid brass with a small steel blade, but I have my keys attached and can use this to punch, stab or flail.

I try to stay aware of EVERY student around me. I never allow a student to get BEHIND me. I use an overhead now, I love CHALKBOARDS, but I found my back turned towards the 'thugs' to often that way. I watch all groups of malcontents, often there are several gang members in my room at once. Last year there were SEVEN gang members in my Seventh Period class alone!! There are also RIVAL gangs in the area and they can quickly be identified by hair styles!

Also, I try to leave and enter my car at low activity times so students don't know WHAT I drive!

Now if I could only carry my .45, I'd start feeling a little better!
smile.gif


WOW! That got long and I didn't get to say ANYTHING about being in town shopping, etc! I think you get the picture.

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Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
Being a suburbanite, the operative word is DISCRETION. Because the liberal civil service "lifers" that infest suburbia/urbania see survivalist as a bigger threat than the criminals(survivalists don't roll over and be a good little victim)!!!! And the criminals hate survivalists because we survivalist believe in law and order more than law enforcement!!!!!

Sad state of affairs!

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Big-Target>>>>>>SI VIS PACEM PARA BELLUM

[This message has been edited by Big-Target (edited 02-18-2000).]
 
Do not include law and order with interpretation of civil rights. But that is a debate for a whole 'nother thread, if not a forum entirely to itself...


There are no urban areas here. The closest town, and all it's surrounding vicinities, has about 1/3 the number of people who lived in the suburb I grew up in. But, on that topic, I carry little cash in general, drive a car no one would want to steal, and generally follow my dad's advice of leaving it unlocked and with nothing of value in it. That done, I would like to think I have pretty good general SA, and better directional SA. When I lived near Denver, I avoided it when possible, skirting outside city boundaries as much as possible (Not to mention Five points, and East Colfax). My old High School had a mediocre reputation outside the city, but it was the best in the area. It had a few wannabes, but no major activity, and the only gun incident involved a freshman girl with such terrible aim that the only thing she managed to hit in three shots was a steel door than barely dented under the .22 round. I was at least as well armed as the average disgruntled high schooler, and carried a small blade that I was semi proficient in (Oh,the good old days, before zero-tolerance).

Around here, I worry more about running into a moose than running into some unhappy soul. Unless I show up at some bar packed full with drunk junior enlisted types, who have a tendancy to forget they left their old civilian 'hoods.


Stryver
 
I live in a smaller urban environment but still one never knows what may happen.

My vehicle has a survival kit on the back which could work in the advent of a "disaster", urban or not. On my person I usually carry a Myerco folder, a SAK or Gerber Muiltipliers and sometimes a WOO Little Peck** neck knife. In the inside breast pocket of my leather jacket I have a Bud Kneely blade in a kydex sheath, this gets switched to a suit jacket when I dress up. I also carry several photon microlights on key chains and a compass on my watch, started thinking about these for everyday more when I heard of the World Trade Center bombing and how people were lost in the dark and using glowing watches for lighting.

One thing about urban survival that is of the utmost is being alert. This was driven home one time at the local Kmart. My wife was in the store and I was sitting in the truck. It was a warm spring day and I was drowsing with the window down when I heard a voice say. "wanna buy a watch?". I must have drowsed off a bit too much because I didnt here or see him coming, it was a man holdign out what looked to be a decent gold watch. It scared the heck out of me because the first thought was, I was his, if he had wanted me he would have had me before I knew what was happening. And here I was always priding myself on how alert I was. This is a constant reminder and helps me not to make the same mistake again. And we are not a large city, not Mayberry by any means but no where near Detroit either.

When on buisness or personal travel and staying in hotels, I take a .45 bedside companion and a 5 C Cell Maglight. Ther mag light fits nicely in my nylon "briefcase" for walking around also.

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Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde

[This message has been edited by MichLee (edited 02-18-2000).]
 
AN "Urban/Sub-urban/Travel survival site would be more realistic in our world. All of my BOBs are set up for this schenario. We have been an industrial civilization for over 100 years. This is what you will have to cope with.

The best thing to happen to the prepaired man is the acceptance of the ruck/backpack as an everyday fashon item. Also do not discount the shoulderstocked handgun as a solution without a problem.

I'll bite this thread spool it up and put it in my pocket for use later.

Cheers,

ts

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Guns are for show. Knifes are for Pros.
 
For my own part, I always carry enough junk in my truck to keep me fed and warm for a few days, as well as tools for repairs and to extract the vehicle from being stuck.In another thread I referred to a man freezing to death twelve miles from where I live. This began by him getting his vehicle stuck on a remote dirt road during the beginning of a blizzard. He waited for it to stop snowing and attempted to walk out through knee deep snow.Had he been properly equipped he could easily have survived. A Hi-Lift jack is an extremely versatile tool,particularly for getting vehicles unstuck,it can be used to lift or pull, and can be used in an emergency to extricate victims of automobile collisions. An ABC rated fire extinguisher also travels with me, it can keep a minor annoyance from turning into a major catastrophe. A friend of mine was severely burned trying to rescue his family from a burning vehicle years ago. His wife and child died. Perhaps they would have survived had he had an extinguisher.
 
I do alot of international travel for business. The recommended safety precautions are very similar to precautions we tend to take at home.

1) When possible blend in. "Tourist status" doesn't provide any of us with immunity from Germs, Bacteria, or wrongdoer. Many people tend to relax their guard when they travel to exotic locations - they shouldn't.

2) Carry your passport securely on your person at all time. This is your only valid ID in a foreign land.

3) Rely, on travelers checks or credit cards. Do not flash a significant amount of cash (although I usually carry some cash somewhere on my person).

4) Assume your hotel is not safe. If its valuable or confidential either leave it at home or ask a trusted frend or co-worker to keep an eye on it when you go out.

5) Stay alert and obey obey local laws. Resoving legal problems (even minor ones) in foreign lands can get expensive.

6) Check your immunisations, and make sure you have the recommended minimums.

 
I think that the operative terms for survival in all scenarios; wilderness, urban, or legal are: Preparation, Avoidance, Improvision and Innovation.

We all spend time preparing as shown by most of the threads on this forum.Nuff said.

Avoiding a survival scenario is better than having to try and survive it. Whether it is making a decision to not travel cause of weather, not going into a bad part of town/city, being discrete with cash and belongings, choosing to camp for the nite rather than keep hiking, maintaining Situational Awareness,or obeying laws when travelling to prevent legal hell, all come under the word Avoidance

Improvision can be using a pen 7 different ways to feed and clothe you or utilizing a cell phone and credit card to realize solutions to impeded travel plans to get yourself or family home.

Innovation is finding new solutions to problems. It could be devising a new way to distill water, provide "machine" energy to move a trapped vehicle, or devise a clever counterattack in a sticky legal situation.

One of the reasons I enjoy the various mental scenarios that Greg and Plainsman and others put out is because they exercise the "out of the box" thinking apparatus that is needed, ALL the time, to meet life's challanges.

Maybe a tad off topic but the thoughtline recently gelled into place in my grey matter so I thought I would write it.

John



[This message has been edited by squatch (edited 02-18-2000).]
 
Great concept for discussion! Certainly the urban world is much more dangerous than anything mother nature can throw at you. Last year I took my wife and 2 kids to China, I was a little worried about security. We traveled with some family friends, Chinese citizens, for a week and then just winged it. We had a great time and never had a scary moment. I must tell you that China is a much safer place to travel than the US.
One thing that I learned long ago, always look people in the eye and greet them in their own language! Smile and NEVER act afraid. This even works with dogs to some extent.
Of course if all this prevention fails I prefer to be as heavily armed as possible!
 
A good city map, cash and big folding knife have seen me through many an epic.
In the car I have tools, mag light, matches, knife, atlas of US/Canada/Mexico and misc. first aid supplies. I'm thinking about adding a shovel and an axe to deal with lousy dirt roads.

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An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.
 
Granite, look at the Cold Steel shovel. I have been trying one out the past few weeks, even used it as a makeshift ax and it has exceleld at everything I have asked of it. Very cool little tool.

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Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde
 
How about travel to foreign countries... is it typically illegal to carry a pocket knife like a BM CQC6? How should you go about checking on this sort of thing? Here in America, I've had police ask me what the purpose of my CQC knife was? My reponse was that it was a tool... heck a forensic test would probably turn up traces of peanut butter on it *L* When I first moved to my new apartment, it was the only cutlery I had. At any rate, the declaration that it was a tool rather than a weapon cirumvented a problem. Would this stand elsewhere, I wonder?

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When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty.

 
Your primary weapon is your mind. There are few material objects that cannot be used as a weapon if you think about it. When I'm traveling in the U.S. I have enough stuff behind the seat of my pickup to keep me relatively comfortable for a few weeks, and it doesn't take up much room. I've never been outside of North America, when in Canada or Mexico I've carried a Leatherman super tool and a Leatherman Micra. The supertool has a pretty seriously sharp knife blade, and the authorities see pliers and scissors, not knives. One other thing I value highly is my Surefire 9n flashlight. It's bright enough to easily disorient any bad guys in the dark, which would enable me to strike first or just evade the problem. But, they are expensive.
I have two photon microlights on my keychain that I wouldn't be without in any circumstances, They are so inexpensive that everyone should have a few on hand.

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"Actions speak louder than words"
 
Sorry, but this is going to be a little long.

I travel about 20% of the time for the folks I work for. As such I'm staying in hotels, driving rental cars and frequently eating in restaraunts in communities as varried as St. Louis, MO to Brookhaven, MS. I follow the same rules regardless of where I am.

Stay at Hotels you trust. That can mean spending more money or it may not. Do not stay on the first floor and do not stay above the 7th. First floor access is convenient but is also convenient for criminals. Staying below the 7th floor is advisable because many fire department ladder trucks don't reach above the 7th floor. If the hotel is clean, and don't hesitate to look at the rooms first, then the staff is usually professional and too busy to bother your things. Use the hotel safe for valuables and get a receipt for what you put into it. Use a Tote Locker, or similar, with a pad lock if you need to keep things in your room. They are just bulky enough to deter. Think about putting the Do Not Disturb sign out and then hanging one of the door knob alarms in your room. (you can always ask for clean towels). If you're going to be in town for more than a week check on the Extended Stay sort of places with minimal cooking facilities to help you avoid going out as much.

Get a map of the town before you go and call your client/local office or the local cops and ask what parts of town to avoid. Red-line those parts of town and don't enter them unless you need to. Look at the local papers on the net for information about the character of a town. Blend in! Don't look like a tourist and don't act like a victem. Plan your day and pre-locate sources of help. Your credit card company can list locations that can help with money problems. Get the list and carry it. These folks can be of more help than the police at times. If you can't get medical recommendations from your local contacts locate the local hospitals and at least one clinic that you can visit. Ken Onion sent us to his doctor in Hawaii instead of using the clinic I had on my map and we were much happier.

Carry one VISA with very little on it for emergencies. There's nothing worse than finding out you've hit a wall on a credit card. In these competetive days it's no trouble to get a high limit card with no fees and a high interest rate. These make great backup credit cards. Carry ~$200 cash with you at all times. Don't flash it and carry it in 20s inside you neck wallet with your backup ID.

Wear pants that have button rear pockets and keep them buttoned. If you can tolerate one, wear a sport coat or jacket and keep your everyday wallet in an inner pocket.

Carry a butane lighter, pocket knife, multitool, mini flashlight, space pen and large handkerchef in your pockets. Put a couple of bandaids and a Betadine packet in with the handkerchef. I carry a Teguderm pad there also.

Carry a larger flashlight (P6), larger folder or fixed blade, mini first aid kit, meds and a space blanket with lawn bag in some small pouch/shoulder bag.

Carry a 3X5 card with telephone numbers on one side. Include the local contact, medical facility, credit card company, airline, rental car, hotel and as many other possible numbers as you can fit on one side. Leave the other side blank for notes. Carry a few business cards with you. This marks you as a responsible professional when dealing with authorities and makes an additional place for notes.

If you can carry a gun legally, do it. If you can't, then consider the consequences of the authorities finding it on you. Remember that your best defence is avoiding trouble in the first place and staying aware of your surroundings.

Whew, sorry about that being so long, but these things have worked for me in Manhatten, Paducah, St. Louis, etc.

Take care,

Mike

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TANSTAAFL

[This message has been edited by hso (edited 02-22-2000).]
 
A few things about foreing travel, especially to the 3rd World--forgive my political incorrectness.

Keep your valuables--passport & money--secure on you at all times. I suggest a good money belt, the kind that straps around your waist inside your shirt, or a security pocket that hangs down inside your trousers and is secured to your regular belt.
Another alternative, for convenience, is to have a security pouch that hangs around your neck. It's easier to get to your passport, and less embarrassing than unbuttoning your pants in an airport. Also, you get used to it and always know it's there.

Your should keep your passport, traveler's checks, and excessive amounts of cash there.
NEVER walk around with money in your rear pocket, shirt pockets, or pants pockets--unless you're wearing a pair of tight jeans that have pockets impossible to pick without you knowing it.

I once got cleaned out on a bus in Guatemala City. I didn't realize what happened until I got back to my hotel and was a lot lighter than when I left. They got cash, and worst of all, my plane ticket--which I shouldn't have been carrying on me. Keep your ticket in a "safe" place in your hotel room. Genrally, thieves are not interested in them--they can't redeem them. What they want are passports and money.

I realized afterwards who the "ladrones" were: an old man and a boy working in tandem. The old man was standing in the crowded aisle ot the bus and bumped me as I moved toward the back, cleaned out a front shirt pocket and a front trousers pocket and passed the goods to the boy, seated on the aisle. The man tried to distract me; the boy looked scared, when I glanced down at him.

Another tip--be careful on crowed buses, trains, anywhere someone could naturally bump you.

If you're in a place where you feel like you might need protection. I suggest an Asp Tactical Baton (16" to 22"). Unextended, they're less conscpicuous than a knife, especially in airports (I once tried to get a 4" lockblade through airport security and was forced to ship it separately in a cardboard clothes container.) Unless you're good with a knife, batons may be tactically sounder--at least safer--than a blade.

It's good to carry a wad of 50 $1-bills on you. They come in handy. They are excellent for bribes, and I've never been anywhere where a local wouldn't accept American money. Use them for emergencies when you can't or don't want to cash a high denomination traveler's check (especially good for paying airport exit taxes).

Finally, don't be a bad tourist--try to look like you know what you're doing--and don't get smart with a local national wearing a uniform. They're the law.
 
When travel internationally you should try to get the actual airline coupons instead of E-ticket. If thing get nasty with your airline you can use the ticket as a voucher on other airlines. If a country is in turmoil then you should carry the airline ticket with you so that you can go directly to the airport and get out. Your life worths more than your luggage at the hotel.

Carry a good flameless lighter (e.g. Windmill). In a grappling situation you can shove the lighter up your opponent face or body and light up. You would not believe how fast he/she/it will let go of you. A mini tear gas canister is also useful. A small light like a Sapphire or Photon is also very good to have.

I usually buy a large knife locally when I am oversea and leave it in its original box/wrapper when I carry them around. It is always legal because I tell the authorities I bought it as a souvenir. Sometimes, a locally made shoddy machette is a cheap insurance for less than $15.
 
Mrs E and I periodically travel to South Florida to remind us what sunshine is like. There is a substantially higher percentage of predatory bipeds indigenous to that clime, so I have taken the time to secure a concealed weapons permit for that state.

Last time, I discovered that there are some places that are posted that firearms are prohibited, beyond the prohibitions in the statutes. An example of this is the beach park in South Beach. Now, I wouldn't generally recommend carrying a handgun to the beach if you are considering going into the water--certainly hiding it in a towel wouldn't do and "passing the bacon" to a friend who is staying on the beach is less than ideal. Also, with the regular crowds on the beach during the day, a firearm could be unsuitable as a defensive weapon.

That being said, I have been know to stroll along the beach with the Mrs. at 3 or 4 in the AM (South Beach is still going strong) and the beach is much more deserted. I am considering adding a colapsable "ASP" baton to my bag of tricks before my next visit.

I also always carry a cell phone, cash distributed in multiple pockets, and the card of a locall attorney. Finally, I maintain a high degree of awareness, visually "lock" on possible hostiles, and get to know the bouncers/doormen at the various clubs and resturants we frequent. (I know that handguns are prohibited in taverns, but haven't verified if that prohibition extends to all "weapons" encompassed by the concealed weapons permit.

Danm, I'm getting wordy! Sorry.

E
 
well all of these guys have said most of my stuff for me however one more thing: forget the pepper spay and forget the mace/cs gas. there is one word for the best spray out there its HALON. yep thats right halon the stuff they used to put in fire extinguishers but they stopped because of the fact it is a deadly poison. i have a friend who carries it in his car to use as mace. if you can find a small one that says halon on it it is what you need. be careful not to inhale it or it will kill you dead as a doornail.
 
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