Political views aside, its completely undeniable that the Department of Homeland Security understands terrorism better than you are I do.  Well now you can get some step closer to having a deeper understanding of terrorism thanks to a new ‘text book’  recommended by none other than the DHS.

“Homeland Security: A Complete Guide to Understanding, Preventing and Surviving Terrorism is the authoritative textbook on one of the most important topics facing our nation.

From complex policy issues to common terrorist tactics, Homeland Security provides a practical foundation for professionals, students, and concerned citizens alike. Designed for readers who need to understand both the “big picture” and their own roles in the war against terror, the book provides a clear, comprehensive and fascinating overview of an increasingly complex and misunderstood topic.

This indispensable reference, filled with fascinating real-life examples and tips, covers the basics of homeland security such as: national strategies and principles; federal, state and local roles; terrorist history and tactics; cyber-terrorism; business preparedness; critical infrastructure protection; weapons of mass destruction; and key policy issues. Perfect for academic and training classrooms, each chapter includes an overview, learning objectives, source document, discussion topic, summary, and quiz.

Media Reviews: “Homeland Security is much more than a textbook. It is an indispensable reference resource for those seeking to understand how terrorists operate and the structures and mechanisms that have been developed to respond to the magnitude of the terrorist threats confronting us””

This is one heavy duty book, and its not cheap.  Im going to hit you below the belt and ask you if you can put a price on your saftey (did it work, are you clicking the link below with your wallet in your hands? No? eh, I tried)

Buy it here, or figure out that you can READ IT HERE FOR FREE

MRE’s are fine, freeze dried food usually tastes better, but with a 6-10 dollar price tag, chances are if you are low on money you can only buy enough of either of these to last you a short time.

Pemmican is a concentrated high energy food made of fruit, fat and meat that you can make in your kitchen, or in an alley if you are really in a pinch.

Pemmican is great for a number of reasons, namely its inexpensive to make, you don’t need to consume a lot to create a significant amount of energy and it doesn’t require refrigeration.

It doesn’t tastes THAT BAD and can literally sustain you for days.

CLICK HERE FOR A GREAT STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO MAKING PEMMICAN

Its worth noting that Pemmican is  best consumed in smaller amounts when you are  being active, and not for longer periods of time. Eating quantities of hard fat when leading a more sedintary life can lead to health issues.

I was speaking with a friend of mine who is homeless yesterday morning, talking about some of the more tactical aspects of his life ( evading police, keeping clean etc..). Our conversation got off topic and we started speaking about OUR neighbors….yes OUR neighbors.

This bring up a simple but very valuable point. The homeless population in your new up and coming downtown community ARE YOU NEIGHBORS. They may not have a swanky loft like you, but they eat breathe and sleep in your shared community. If possible try to remember this and treat them as such. The more time I spend learning and interacting with this group the more I realize that many of them are just like you and I with a slightly different set circumstances.

From a survivalist standpoint they offer a wealth of knowledge on every topic you could google and then some.  And sometimes even a good laugh. Be good to your neighbors.

Seriously, if you see this guy tell him to email me, I need some help ..I mean, have you seen this site??!!

If you are here, chances are you have watched Man Vs. Wild with Bear Grylls at least once. His viewers seem to belong to one of two camps; Love him because he is bad ass, or Hate him because he is a fraud.

While the final cut of the show usually shows Bear conquering nature in some way or another there is a building wealth of evidence that seems to contradict the “reality” of this reality show.

So here is my take: A while back my buddy Brad turned me on to a GQ article where Bear addresses some of these accusations, and surprisingly he acknowledges them head on (because he IS bad ass).  Hes response is basically this:  Its TV, there is a production crew and yes they assist him, as well as create more interesting situations than may not always be found in a totally unaltered survival situation, but he does this in the context of entertainment WITH A FOCUS on education.  He is trying to pack a lot of information into each show and to do that there are times where situations need to be created in order to have a forum to teach the viewing audience about specific survival techniques.

Here is a little clip of some of the Bear “Fraud”

Bear In Hawaii

Either way, no matter what your take on Bear is, if I was ever stuck in the wilderness with the guy who filmed the above video or Bear, I think I would choose Bear, because of stuff like THIS.

You better stop buying all that fertilizer and all those guns STAT.. ( to bad my hobbies include gardening and guns…)

The Pentagon announces the development of a data base that will be used to track all consumer purchases to help identify suspicious patters to help fight terrorism.

Read the artical here..

Today, while eating lunch with a friend downtown we walked right into a hostage situation in the middle of downtown San Diego.

From what we could tell the San Diego police were storming a building while surrounding snipers covered windows and entrances.

I think it goes with out saying that this is proof that extraordinary situations happen in our own back yards ( or condo balcony’s in my case ) every day. Its the responsibility of each and every one of us to do whatever we can to make sure the odds are in our favor.

Sorry for the crappy pic, I wasnt planning on shooting a hot zone at lunch

This really only applies to the operators out there as most normal civilian folks dont carry full sized flashlights these days. But if you happen to carry a MagLite or Steamlight you are in luck.

Bust a Cap makes a flight light add on that screws into place at the base of your light turning in into a glass breaking machine.

With a 20 buck price tag I will probably not pick one up, but I have seen them in use and they do a good job at what they were designed for.

In case you have never tried to break auto glass with your flash light here is what it looks like (over and over and over again)

And here is what happens when you add Bust a Cap. BAM

If you have the spare bucks, dont have a jaws of life type tool in your car AND happen to have a solid light, this is a great buy.

News segment featuring Niel Strauss and a few others. I’m not sure if this piece is telling the world that we are living in fear or that we are the saviors of the population..either way its an interesting watch.

With wilderness survival your knife can be the ultimate multi use tool, replacing your axe your gun and your toothbrush (if you have to ask you don’t want to know).

But in an urban survival situation chances are you still have your gun, and if you planned ahead you may even have a tooth brush. So what does a city dweller need with a good knife?

In an urban disaster or survival situation knives have a slightly more direct use: cutting food, cutting small animals, and cutting people.

That being said my recommendation for urban survival knives has changed over the years. These days I carry two knives from two ends of the value spectrum, one very expensive fixed blade knife that has been my go to for knife fighting for a few years, the other being a low cost neck knife (which I just upgraded).

I will be reviewing these knives individually in a later post, but its worth noting the above when shopping. If you are focusing on fortifying your home or urban BOB, remember you are not a woodsman cutting down trees with your blade, you are defending your self in a close combat situation.

Because you cant deny the power of twitter, I have installed a twitter widget that should both update my twitter with new blog posts and update the blog with new tweets.  Fingers crossed

Follow me on Twitter @DTsurvivor