5 Tactics To Survive The Early Stages of Collapse - Add Yours Below!
When society collapses, you don’t get a warning. No sirens. No alert on your phone. Just chaos.
Here are 5 tactics to stay alive when everything falls apart.
1. Lock Down and Secure Your Home Immediately The first wave of chaos brings looting, panic, and violence. Close and lock your windows and doors. Boarding up your windows will be even better. One really simple thing you can do is If you have a battery power driveway alarm, make sure its on.
Arm your alarm system and check your cameras, they may still work for a little while and blackout curtains. Get your family inside and stay quiet. Don’t go outside unless it’s life or death.
2. Don’t Say Anything Against the Police or Government
In a collapse, tensions are high and governments may crack down hard on dissent. Avoid posting, texting, or talking about the police, military, or leadership—especially anything negative. You don’t know who’s listening, and in chaos, freedom of speech often disappears first. Stay silent and stay safe.
3. Fill Water Containers Before the Tap Runs Dry The grid may still be barely functioning in the first few hours—use that time. Fill every clean container, bottle, tub, sink, pot, or bucket you can. You want at least 14 gallons per person, ideally more. Once water stops, it could stay off for weeks.
4. Go Dark and Lay Low No lights, no fires, no noise. Stay out of sight, especially at night. People will be desperate and looking for homes to raid. Don’t advertise that you’re better prepared. Silence and invisibility are your greatest weapons in the first 24 hours.
5. Arm Yourself and Stay Ready for Defense Keep a weapon within arm’s reach—firearm, blade, or improvised tool.

PREPAREDNESS TEST
1. Has your family rehearsed fire escape routes from your home? YES - NO
2. Does your family know what to do before, during, and after an earthquake or YES - NO
other emergency situation?
3. Do you have heavy objects hanging over beds that can fall during an earthquake? YES - NO
4. Do you have access to an operational flashlight in every occupied bedroom?
(use of candles is not recommended unless you are sure there is no leaking gas) YES - NO
5. Do you keep shoes near your bed to protect your feet against broken glass? YES - NO
6. If a water line was ruptured during an earthquake, do you know how to shut off the
main water line to your house? YES - NO
7. Can this water valve be turned off by hand without the use of a tool?
Do you have a tool if one is needed? YES - NO
8. Do you know where the main gas shut-off valve to your house is located? YES - NO
9. If you smell gas, do you know how and would you be able to shut off this valve? YES - NO
10. Gas valves usually cannot be turned off by hand. Is there a tool near your valve? YES - NO
11. Would you be able to safely restart your furnace when gas is safely available? YES - NO
12. Do you have working smoke alarms in the proper places to warn you of fi re? YES - NO
13. In case of a minor fi re, do you have a fi re extinguisher that you know how to use? YES - NO
14. Do you have duplicate keys and copies of important insurance and other papers
stored outside your home? YES - No
15. Do you have a functional emergency radio to receive emergency information? YES - NO
16. If your family had to evacuate your home, have you identified a meeting place? YES - NO

IF AN EMERGENCY LASTED FOR THREE DAYS ( 72 HOURS) BEFORE HELP WAS AVAILABLE
TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY......................................

17. Would you have sufficient food? YES - NO
18. Would you have the means to cook food without gas and electricity? YES - NO
19. Would you have sufficient water for drinking, cooking, and sanitary needs? YES - NO
20. Do you have access to a 72 hour evacuation kit? YES - NO
21. Would you be able to carry or transport these kits? YES - NO
22. Have you established an out-of-state contact? YES - NO
23. Do you have a first aid kit in your home and in each car? YES - NO
24. Do you have work gloves and some tools for minor rescue and clean up? YES - NO
25. Do you have emergency cash on hand? (During emergencies banks and ATMs are closed) YES - NO
26. Without electricity and gas do you have a way to heat at least part of your house? YES - NO
27. If you need medications, do you have a month’s supply on hand? YES - NO
28. Do you have a plan for toilet facilities if there is an extended water shortage? YES - NO
29. Do you have a supply of food, clothing, and fuel where appropriate:
For 6 months? For a year? YES - NO
These are all questions that need answers if you are to be safe in an emergency.
If you answered ‘No’ to any of them, its now time to work on getting those items done.

Assessing A Safe Property After The Collapse
Alright listen. If you want to survive a real collapse, you need to understand one thing: your terrain can save your life or get you killed.
And the people who survive are the ones who know how to read the terrain and ground. That's where OCOKA comes in.
OCOKA is an acronym. It stands for Observation, Cover and Concealment, Obstacles, Key Terrain, and Avenues of Approach. you can use it to evaluate any environment before you move. And preppers can use it the exact same way for home defense, bug out locations, or choosing a safe shelter in a post collapse world.
First, O is for Observation. This means what you can see and what others can see of you. If you're defending your home or evaluating a building, ask yourself: can you spot threats early, or are you blind until they’re right on you? The more visibility you have, the more reaction time you have.
Second, C is for Cover and Concealment. Cover protects you from bullets. Concealment only hides you. You need both. Look at your house, your cabin, or any structure you're checking. Where can you take real cover that actually stops rounds? And where can you stay hidden without exposing yourself?
Third, O is for Obstacles. These are anything that slows movement. Fences, debris, locked doors, terrain features. Good obstacles slow down attackers but don't slow you down. If you enter a building and everything is wide open with no chokepoints, that's a bad defensive position.
Fourth, K is for Key Terrain. This is ground that gives you a major advantage if you control it. High ground. Narrow entrances. A structure with only one staircase. A cabin overlooking a valley. If you're choosing a bug out spot or evaluating a random shelter, always choose the one that gives you a natural tactical advantage.
Last, A is for Avenues of Approach. These are the routes someone can take to reach you. Roads, hallways, alleys, staircases, trails. You need to identify every single one. Which paths attackers would use, which ones give them speed, which force them into bottlenecks, and which route is your safest exit if things go bad.
OCOKA turns any location into a tactical map. Your home. Your bug out location. A random building you find after a collapse. Once you understand the acronym and apply it automatically, you stop looking at terrain like a normal person and start seeing threats, advantages, and weaknesses instantly.

Drones Will Be Used Against You After The Collapse, Here's How To Fight Back!.
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When society collapses, whether through war, economic destruction, civil unrest, or some other large-scale disaster, most people imagine chaos in the streets, empty grocery stores, and people fighting over basic resources. But there’s another threat you need to be prepared for. One that flies silently overhead and could strike you before you even know you’re being watched. I’m talking about drones.
As someone who’s been researching prepping, reading articles, studying books, and creating survival content, I see a lot of talk about the same cookie-cutter topics. Water filtration, food storage, home invasions, and civil unrest. But I rarely see anyone talking about drones, or even asking me about them, and that’s a mistake. Drones are already a massive part of our world. They are used by hobbyists, by militaries, by law enforcement, and even by cartels. After a collapse, I truly believe drones will become a major concern, and not many people are thinking about it now, but they should be.
To see for myself how accessible this tech is, I even ordered a couple drones off of AliExpress. They were cheap, around thirty dollars each. And they worked. I also saw higher-end models being sold with full HD cameras, 50 times zoom, and flight times of twenty-two to thirty minutes, all for under two hundred dollars. You can get much better ones from companies like DJI. This kind of technology is available to anyone. After the collapse, criminals will absolutely use it the wrong way. Let’s break it down.
How Criminals Will Use Drones After the Collapse
If the power grid fails, the economy crashes, or civil war breaks out, drones will quickly become a critical tool for attackers. They are cheap, quiet, and extremely effective. And they will be used to scout, surveil, and attack.
The first and most obvious use will be reconnaissance. Criminals or roaming gangs will launch drones to fly over neighborhoods, countryside roads, and forested areas to look for signs of human activity. They will be scanning for solar panels on rooftops, vegetable gardens in your backyard, rainwater catchment barrels, smoke coming from chimneys, or even livestock.
If you’ve bugged out to a remote camp, don’t think you’re automatically safe. Drones can cover miles of wilderness and pick up trails, tracks, or even heat signatures from above. That camo tarp you set up may look hidden from the ground, but from the air, it might stand out like a billboard.
Some drones will have thermal imaging, which means they do not need daylight to find you. They can detect your body heat, the warmth of a running generator, or even a campfire. If you're cooking outside, they’ll see the heat plume. If you're walking in the dark, they’ll see your body glowing in infrared. Unless you actively work to hide that heat, you’re vulnerable. And they won’t just use these drones to watch. Some will use them to strike.
Drones Will Be Weaponized
In war zones like Ukraine, we’re already seeing what’s possible. Commercial drones are being modified to drop improvised explosives on enemy positions. You can find footage of drones dropping grenades through sunroofs or into trenches. The same thing can happen to you.
Post-collapse, criminals will use drones to drop pipe bombs, Molotov cocktails, smoke bombs, or homemade incendiaries onto homes, vehicles, or camps. A single road flare dropped into dry brush could start a wildfire. A smoke bomb tossed into your backyard could confuse you long enough for them to rush your property. Some may drop rocks or debris through skylights to distract you before a ground attack. This is asymmetric warfare adapted for the collapse.
If you’ve made enemies, or if you’re guarding something valuable, drones will be part of their toolkit. They will scout, test your defenses, and possibly attack from above.
Do Not Advertise What You Have
One of the biggest mistakes people make in a collapse is showing what they have. If you own something that desperate people might want, keep it covered or bring it inside when it's not in use. That includes your generator, solar panels, rain barrels, even buckets and gardening tools. A drone flying overhead for two minutes can take a dozen high-resolution photos of your property. They’ll know what you have, what time you’re active, and whether you’re worth robbing.
You don’t need to live in fear, but you do need to live smart. If you’ve got gear, hide it. If you’re growing food, put it behind fencing or netting that breaks up the visual pattern from above. If your generator is running, place it in a shed or behind a sandbag wall. Muffle the noise and block the heat. Noise attracts people. Heat attracts drones. You cannot afford to make yourself a target.
How to Defend Yourself from Drones
You are not helpless. You can fight back. Start by limiting your visibility and heat signature. If you’re moving during the day in open areas, you’re easy to spot. Travel at night. Stay close to trees and shaded terrain. Forest canopies interfere with a drone’s line of sight and break up your outline.
To protect yourself from thermal drones, use mylar emergency blankets. These shiny blankets reflect heat and can distort your infrared signature. Wrap your shelter. Line the inside of your tarp. Cover stored gear. They won’t make you invisible, but they may throw off the drone’s thermal sensor just enough to protect you.
Now let’s talk about how to bring them down.
Shotguns. In Ukraine, soldiers and mercenaries have confirmed that 12-gauge shotguns with birdshot are highly effective against drones. One operator said he uses a Mossberg 500 and has downed multiple drones with ease. Birdshot gives you a wide spread, so you don’t need perfect aim. Just the right timing and angle.
Slingshots. If you want a quieter option, a high-powered slingshot is a great tool. Loaded with steel balls, marbles, or rocks, it can take down drones silently and without giving away your location. Slingshots are legal in most places and don’t require ammo you can’t find or make. They are light, reusable, and surprisingly powerful.
Anti-drone guns. These are more advanced tools that jam a drone’s signal using radio frequencies, causing it to crash or return home. They are expensive, starting around four thousand dollars, but if you are defending a large property, a group, or critical resources, they may be worth it.
Sandbags. Don’t underestimate them. Stack sandbags around your rooftop, generator, garden, or fuel stores. They block line of sight and absorb damage from explosives. Even a small sandbag wall around your gear could be the reason a drone fails to hit its mark.
Fire is a Weapon. Prepare for It
If drones are dropping flares or incendiaries, fire is going to be one of your biggest threats. You must be ready.
Every household should have at least two to four fire extinguishers rated for Class A, B, and C fires. That means fires caused by solids, flammable liquids, and electrical sources. Keep one near your back door, one in the kitchen, one in your garage, and one near your generator or tools. If you live on a homestead or larger property, have extras near fuel, outbuildings, and sheds.
Fires can spread fast, and in a collapse, there’s no fire department coming to save you. Your only option is to put it out yourself or watch everything you’ve built burn.
Expect Injuries. Build a Trauma Kit
Drones dropping explosives or sharp objects will cause injuries. And if you’re hit, you need more than a box of bandages.
You need a trauma kit. A real one.
Here’s what every prepper household should have:
Tourniquets like CAT or SOFTT-W
Pressure dressings such as Israeli bandages
Compressed gauze for wound packing
Hemostatic agents like QuikClot or Celox
Chest seals for puncture wounds
Nitrile gloves
Trauma shears
A nasopharyngeal airway with lube
Burn dressings or sterile burn sheets
Antiseptic wipes or iodine swabs
Eye shield and eyewash solution
SAM splint for fractures
Permanent marker to note tourniquet times
Emergency blanket
Basic trauma instructions in case someone else has to treat you
Train your group to use these tools. Don’t just own the kit. Know the kit. At the very least, if you don’t want to take an in person course, watch youtube videos from experts to see how you can use each item. Remember that when the collapse hits, you are your own medic.
My Final Warning
Drones are not just military tech. After the collapse, they will be used by gangs, looters, and anyone with bad intentions and access to basic tech. They do not need the power grid. They can be charged using solar panels, car batteries, or scavenged power stations. They’re quiet, fast, and deadly.
They will be used to scout your property, track your movements, cause chaos, start fires, and even kill. And they will be used by people in your own community, not just by organized forces or governments.
Hide your gear. Conceal your heat. Fortify your home. Train your eyes to the sky. Be ready to defend not just against what’s coming through the door, but what’s flying over it.
Keep prepping!

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5 items every prepper should consider for emergencies
Alright guys, today I want to give you five items every prepper should have, and these are not the typical rice and beans or the flashlight everyone talks about. These are real tools that give you an advantage in a crisis.
First is a gas siphon pump. Most people forget how fast gas stations run out during any disaster. If the power is down, the pumps are dead. A siphon pump lets you pull fuel from abandoned equipment, cars,, lawnmowers, generators, anything that has fuel in it. You stay mobile, you keep your generator running, and you are not stuck hoping a gas station magically opens back up.
Next is a bulletproof jacket. Yes, they make these. Level 3A jackets that look like normal clothing. I talked about this inside Prepper Academy. You get quiet protection without drawing attention. In a real crisis you do not want to look tactical. You want to blend in and still be protected from handgun threats. These jackets are perfect for that.
Third is sandbags. Preppers forget about these. Sandbags give you an instant barrier around doors, windows, and weak areas of your house if things get dangerous. They slow down incoming fire and give you a fighting position if the neighborhood goes bad. And they are also useful for floods. If a water main breaks or a storm hits, sandbags keep water out of your home. They even help with embers and small debris during a fire. They are cheap, easy to store flat, and you can fill them in minutes.
Fourth is a good countertop water filter. Not a basic kitchen filter, I mean a real gravity fed system that can take outdoor water, lake water, rainwater, and make it safe to drink. The one I use filters the equivalent of sixty eight thousand plastic water bottles. In a crisis, clean water is everything. If you can filter your own, you have a massive advantage over everyone else standing in line for bottled water.
For the fifth item, Get a handheld thermal camera or binoculars. This is one of the most underrated tools in prepping. You can detect people or animals in the dark, see heat signatures through smoke, locate intruders hiding behind bushes, and even check your house for heat loss in winter. In a post crisis environment, being able to see what others cannot is a huge edge. Maybe you guys don't agree with me but I think for tactical purposes at night, its so valuable.
These five items might not be on every prepper checklist, but they give you mobility, protection, water security, and home defense, That is the level you want to be operating at.
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Winter survival lessons from Ukrainian soldiers:
The first tip they gave is that those who dig, stay warm and stay alive. So first off, moving their body keeps the blood flowing and keeps them warm. Also the lower you dig, the better, you basically built a wall around you to protect from the cold wind.
Another thing, sometimes the actual ground is frozen solid so they actually carry an axe and use that to break it apart first then they shovel. All of them have to carry a shovel, and which brand do they use? One said they use the brand fiskars, which I'm sure A lot of you are familiar with.
Another odd thing that some of them is do is when their feet are cold even with the boots on, some of them put on and wear a sock over their boots and that seems to work for some of them.
Next is something they call a trench candle which looks very similar to a Sterno can but these are hand made by civilians. All you need is an empty can like one for food, you put in wax or paraffin and some cardboard inside and you light it. Some of you guys make these at home too.
They use it to keep warm, cook a meal, make instant coffee which A lot of them live off of, you can use it to boil a litre of water in 20-30 minutes or dry out an entire dug out during their burn cycle. They love these because it keeps them warm, cooks food and boils water. They also light it and use as bait for snipers, because the snipers see the heat signature, shoot it and it can give away their position.
The other thing that's a lifesaver for them is chemical hand warmers, very simple, everyone knows what this, and for us also its worth putting a bunch in our survival kits and vehicles for emergencies.
Next is layering, very important, they use thermal underwear, base layers, fleece layers, another layer on top and then a waterproof jacket.
Next is boots, its very easy for your boots to get wet or ruined, so they keep an extra pair in their kit sometimes, which we should do as well in our bug out bag or vehicle.
Along with that, they make sure to keep extra socks incase they get wet, they change them out because having wet, cold feet is extremely dangerous. A soldier is useless if they cant use their feet.

Getting Home in A Crisis or Emergency Scenario.

Most people never think about this, but if something happens while you are at work, you might have to walk home. The average person lives more than twenty miles away from their job. If the roads are blocked or there is gridlock, your car is useless.
Your feet are what get you home.
So take care of them. Keep a pair of broken in boots in your vehicle. Keep extra wool socks, moleskin, foot powder, and electrical tape. Change your socks when they get sweaty. The moment you feel a hot spot, stop and fix it. One blister can ruin your entire walk.
Next is water. You cannot walk twenty miles without staying hydrated. And water alone is not enough. You lose minerals when you sweat. Keep electrolyte packets in your vehicle. Liquid IV, LMNT, or basic sports powders. Keep one to five gallons of water in your car at all times and rotate it monthly. And have a way to carry water if you abandon your vehicle. A simple filtered bottle works.
Your vehicle should also have a small bag with basic gear. Flashlights, extra batteries, a blanket, a first aid kit, and a power bank to charge your phone or any device. None of this is expensive and it can save you in a real emergency.
You also need conditioning. You do not rise to the occasion. You fall to your level of preparation. If you cannot walk long distances now, you will not suddenly do it during a crisis. Go for a walk with a backpack every other week. Run once a week. Just enough to build the ability to move.
Know your routes. Do you actually know how to get home without your phone. Do you know back roads, side paths, and areas to avoid. Keep a physical map of your area and learn how to read it.
Backup transportation helps. A folding bike, electric bike, or even an electric longboard can save miles on your feet. If you need to ditch it, ditch it and keep walking.
Keep simple food in your vehicle. Jerky, granola bars, peanut butter, tortillas, nuts, pop tarts. Stuff you can eat while moving.
And if you have kids or heavy gear, a folding handcart can save your back. They collapse flat, fit in any trunk, and carry hundreds of pounds.
Getting home during an emergency comes down to preparation. If you set this up now, you will not panic later.