TEOTWAWKI (The End of the World as We Know It)

TEOTWAWKI - The End of the World as We Know It - is the the ultimate SHTF.  This is SHTF for good, a theoretical situation where things get so bad that there's no going back to the old way of life and those who survive will be starting from scratch, reduced to fighting for their lives and eking out an existence any way possible. 

TEOTWAWKI scenarios are a popular theme in survival fiction, both in books and movies.  Every civilization comes to an end eventually, and ours will probably be no different.  But TEOTWAWK is not what most of us are preparing for, because when such an event does happen, most people won't be left alive to try to survive it.  Cormac McCarthy's prize-winning novel, The Road paints a realistically grim picture of what life would be like post-TEOTWAWKI.

SHTF (Shit Hits the Fan)

SHTF - Shit Hits the Fan, or WSHTF - When Shit Hits the Fan, is a popular topic on survival and preparedness forums.  The acronym about sums it up, it's simply a man-made or natural catastrophe, disaster, breakdown of society, civil unrest or pandemonium, and the utter chaos the prevails in the wake of such an event.

A SHTF fan scenario can be a short-term situation or a longer-term breakdown of law and order.  It can also be limited geographic scope, such as was seen in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, or potentially much more widespread.   SHTF is the the primary reason behind the concept of bugging-out, and thus will be prominent in discussions on Bug Out Survival. 

BOL (Bug Out Location)

A "bug-out location" (BOL) can be anything from a carefully-prepared private retreat on land that you own to uninhabited wilderness land owned by the state or federal government.  For most urban and suburban people who do not own such property in the country, public lands or remote private lands with absentee owners are the only option.  This is not the dismal situation that it seems.  The United States is blessed with public lands, with a whopping 30 percent of the entire nation's land area, or nearly 650 million acres, owned by the federal government. 

Bug-out locations make up a large part of my book, which divides the Lower 48 States into eight major regions:  The Gulf Coast Southeast, The East Coast, the Appalachian Corridor, The North Woods, The Midwest and Heartland, The Rocky Mountain Corridor, The Southwest, and The West Coast.  In each of these regions I describe many specific examples of good bug-out locations, including swamps, river drainages, barrier islands, mountain ranges and deserts, depending on the region.  Most of these locations are on public land of some type, including national and state forests, national and state parks, national and state wildlife refuges, national wild and scenic river corridors, U.S. Army Corps. of Engineer's land, and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. 

Some regions of the U.S., especially in the West and parts of the far north and in the Appalachians, have huge tracts of national forests and designated wilderness areas that you can choose from as bug-out locations, many of which are accessible only on foot or horseback.  Other more densely populated regions such as the Southeast and East Coast, are more limited in the availability of big wilderness, but still have large unihabited areas along the course of rivers and the shores of bays, marshes and barrier islands.  In many of these areas where public land holdings are smaller, there are still large areas of uninhabited land owned by corporations such as timber companies or by individuals who live elsewhere.  Some of the best bug-out locations, are in fact in just such places that few outside the immediate area even know about and that little has been written about to promote visiting for outdoor recreation.  Many such places are described in my book and will be the subject of posts in this blog. 

Finding a good bug-out location is a matter of exploring potential areas near your current location, beginning with tools such as maps and Google Earth and then on the ground by actually getting out there.  Advance planning and scouting will also be a big part of this blog. 

BOB (Bug Out Bag)

The concept of a "bug-out bag" means different things to many people. It is frequently referred to as a "72-hour kit," packed with just the gear and food and water you expect to need for an evacuation of three day's duration. This is fine for many situations, but this kind of short-term planning is not the primary focus of this blog or of my bug-out book.

What I advise instead is a bug-out bag packed with a survival kit that will enable you to escape a catastrophe and function in a remote wild area without outside assistance, whether for just the first 72-hours or much longer. This means carrying everything you need to provide yourself with the essentials of survival: shelter, fire, water and food. The items that go into such a bug-out back have to be chosen carefully and must be the optimum tools for the jobs required of them, because replacements will be unattainable.

Bug-out bags and the contents that go in them will be the subject of many posts in this blog.

BOS (Bug Out Survival)

The terms "bug-out" and "bug-out bag" (BOB) are frequently seen on Internet discussion forums and blogs, especially those relating to survival, disaster preparedness and firearms. Put simply, the bug-out strategy means preparing and planning to get out of Dodge when something bad happens that makes your current location untenable or unsustainable.

Should I stay or should I go? That is the question you may be asking if an unexpected catastrophe strikes where you live or work, and it is the subject of many discussions and arguments among survivalists and preppers. But if you have to ask your self this question after the SHTF, it may be too late already.

Preparing to stay, or "bug-in" means that you will have begun your planning months or even years in advance, laying in the necessary supplies and preparing defenses so that you can hopefully wait out whatever is going on around you, even if it means a lengthy stay. Bugging-in requires utter confidence that your chosen retreat will remain secure and sustainable no matter what is going on outside. Preparations will have to be meticulous and acquiring all the necessary gear and supplies will be time-consuming and expensive.

Depending on where you live, bugging-in may not be an option anyway. Consider the total chaos that reigned in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. Imagine a major disaster or terrorist attack in any big city and ask yourself how well you would fare there after the grid is shut down and millions of less prepared residents take to the streets looking for food and whatever they can plunder. Because of these possibilities, most proponents of the bug-in philosophy advocate purchasing land and preparing a retreat in advance to go to when the SHTF. But there are problems with that too. What if your carefully-prepared retreat location turns out to be near or in ground zero of an unforeseen catastrophe? Where will you go then if you've put all your eggs in one basket, so to speak and now can't use the location or all the expensive supplies you've stored there?

Another problem with planning your survival around a retreat location is that it costs more money than most people have or are willing to spend to purchase a tract of remote land, then build a second home, cabin or even simple shelter on it. In today's economy, many people can barely afford the cost of living as it is, without trying to acquire additional real estate. And most people have interests and passions beyond survival planning and would rather spend any extra money available on those pursuits rather than on investing in stockpiles of supplies to equip a bunker for months or years. The carefully-prepared retreat may never be needed at all, so it's a hard sell to get the majority of people to make such an investment.

Buying and outfitting a simple bug-out bag, however, is a much more reasonable alternative for many, and does not require major lifestyle changes or commitments. The bug-out bag can be kept in your home or carried with you in your car, always ready to go at a moment's notice. It gives you the flexibility of going anywhere you choose, so no matter what happens and where it occurs, there will likely be options available to you. Bug-out planning is fun and getting out and scouting out potential bug-out locations will get you into the outdoors and help hone your wilderness travel and survival skills. For those who already enjoy hiking, canoeing, camping or other outdoor recreation, bug-out planning will come naturally and be a welcome addition to your wilderness skill set.