The Armageddon Survival Handbook: How to Prepare Yourself for Any Possible Scenario

421 Pages·2010·74.93 MB·English

by  Rainer Stahlberg

The Armageddon Survival
Handbook
How to Prepare Yourself for Any Possible Scenario
Rainer Stahlberg
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Photo Credits
Introduction
1 - General Survival
2 - Economic Survival
3 - Climatic Survival
4 - Survival Terrorists
5 - Warfare Survival
6 - Ecological Survival
7 - Political Survival
8 - Bizarre Occurrences
Appendix - Suggested Publications for a Reference Library
Photo Credits
Page XI—Photo courtesy of iStockphoto.com.
Page 25—The new First Strike Ration includes items such as the First Strike!
Bar, beef jerky, nut and fruit mix, caffeinated gum, applesauce, tortillas, honey
BBQ beef pocket sandwiches, and filled French toast pockets. (U.S. Army photo
by Juan R. Meléndez Jr.)
Page 43—Gore Dryloft sleeping bag. Photo courtesy of W. L. Gore &
Associates.
Page 47—Photo courtesy of Matthew Du Puy.
Page 49—Photo courtesy of Matthew Du Puy.
Page 53—Gore-Tex outerwear. Photo courtesy of W. L. Gore & Associates.
Page 54—Gore-Tex boots and pants. Photo courtesy of W. L. Gore &
Associates.
Page 60—Water beading on a Gore-Tex tent. Photo courtesy of W. L. Gore &
Associates.
Page 62—Photo courtesy of Matthew Du Puy.
Page 200—The remains of the World Trade Center after its collapse during a
September 11, 2001, terrorist attack. (U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate
2nd Class Jim Watson/Released; 010913-N-1350W-003.)
Page 205—Ground Zero, New York City, N.Y. (Sept. 17, 2001). (U.S. Navy
photo by Chief Photographer’s Mate Eric J. Tilford/Released; 010917-N-7479T-
509.)
Page 208—New York, N.Y. (Sept. 13, 2001). (U.S. Navy photo by
Photographer’s Mate 2nd Class Jim Watson/Released; 010913-N-1350W-002.)
Page 251—Iraqi Police officers from the Riot Control Company in Mosul, Iraq,
February 25, 2010. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jillian Munyon/ Released;
100225-A-4351M-127.)
Page 286—Canadian gunners wearing nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC)
protective gear. (U.S. Department of Defense photo by SSGT Fernando Serna;
DF-ST-88-05640.)
Page 312—Oil floats on the surface of the Mississippi River in Louisiana July
24, 2008, following a collision between a fuel barge and a chemical tanker. (U.S.
Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Nick Ameen/ Released; 080724-
G-000X-002.)
Page 328—A controlled burn of spilled oil from in the Deepwater Horizon/BP
oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico June 9, 2010. (Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer
First Class John Masson; 100609-G-5030M-3198.)
Page 330—An oil slick on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, May 7, 2010. (U.S.
Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Adrian Cadiz/Released; 100509-F-0848C-043.)
Unless otherwise indicated, all other photos courtesy of Shutterstock.com.
Introduction
In 1651, Thomas Hobbes published the Leviathan. In this book, he introduced
the concept of the “state of nature,” a description of a state of pure anarchy.
Hobbes says life of man is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” That is,
each man must provide for himself all things, including defense. In this state of
pure anarchy, one cannot even sleep for fear of never waking up.
The solution was to introduce some other kind of state, be it tribe, nation,
empire, or dictatorship. Today there are some states that are in anarchy, but they
are the exception. States were invented because they are very difficult to kill.
Unlike individuals, states never sleep. Yet within each state, the individual is
important, particularly if that individual is you. This book was written to help the
individual rise to a statelike security.
The coming years will divide America by lifestyle . . . income . . . outlook . . .
and even geography. Which side will you end up on? The haves and the have-
nots will grow light-years apart, separated by a technological wedge that is about
to be driven right through the heart of the middle class, with the world drifting
apart on religious, ethnic, and age lines. Just look at Ireland, Israel, and France.
Your first duty is to stay alive. You are of no use dead.
You know, it does not take any special genius to end up on the right side. All
it takes is a determination to look beyond the headlines and the willingness to
seize opportunities. Suppose, for example, that a couple decades ago a person
had come to you with a blueprint of the years ahead—specific, matter-of-fact
details about major events to come. It explained how the U.S.S.R. would fall
apart and that they would dismantle the Berlin Wall. Yugoslavia and parts of the
former U.S.S.R. would erupt into civil war. It would explain how the dot-com
boom would bring unprecedented financial gains before a catastrophic crash and
how just a few years later the crash of the U.S. housing market would send
countries around the world into economic upheaval. Real estate investors (and
the rest of the world) would face a disaster. It would explain how a Texas
governor and son of a former president would become president of the United
States in the two most controversial elections in American history. It would tell
of the attacks on September 11, 2001, the collapse of the twin towers, and the
two wars that the United States would become entrenched in as a result. Finally
it would explain that the nation’s first African American president would be
sworn in on a cold morning in January 2009.
Chances are you would have looked at these predictions with much
skepticism. Because when you look back, the world was a much different place.
Just think how far ahead you would be right now if you had that glimpse into the
future. For one thing, you would own a self-sufficient retreat paid for by your
shares in Google.
This is why we urge you to pay close attention to what is happening in the
world today. Some scenarios detailed in this book may seem farfetched, but
remember, the events of the last twenty years would have seemed really
farfetched a couple of decades ago.
One word of warning: Some of what you are about to read will not please you.
You may not want to believe it. Once-beautiful cities will be destroyed.
Formerly rich suburbs will turn into crimeridden slums, with a lower quality of
life than Third World nations and sinking life expectancies.
But remember that this is only half the picture. There is another future—a
future in which people reading this book live longer and in style, too. A future
where safety and security is once again provided by your immediate community.
You must begin to use self-help in crime control because government both
cannot and will not protect us under any circumstances conceivable in the real
political world.

Most Americans are totally unprepared to make the shift to the future. There is
a lack of education, training, and gumption. Seduced by the promises of big
government, big unions, and big business, they think the world owes them a
living. When disaster comes and government, unions, and business can’t afford
to help them muddle through, many people will not be able to cope. Even worse,
they will simply die. Many people would much rather die than think. You will
see proof of this statement in almost all scenarios that will be presented.
You must accept the fact that you cannot prepare for everything. Only the
government can afford to do that. Prepare only for those scenarios likely to
happen in the next three to five years in your specific area.
For instance, where I live, I can expect:
◆ Severe winter weather
◆ Political instability due to breakup of a country
◆ Heavy thunderstorms
◆ Chemical spills
◆ Conflict from rat packs
Our society is facing emergencies on a daily basis. They are emergencies
because we are not prepared for them. These range from economic, climatic,
ecological, military, terrorist, all the way to a major depletion of the ozone layer.
There are books upon books on how to cope with this disaster or the other and
how to mitigate their effects. Then there are works of fiction that deal with
different scenarios. But there has been a need for a concise, one-volume
checklist to use as a logical, sequential guide on what to do, when. And that is
precisely what The Armageddon Survival Handbook is.
In the course of preparing the scenarios, I used Herman Kahn’s advice stating
that we must think about the unthinkable. Unfortunately, if you follow through
any scenario to its conclusion, you will feel quite depressed. This book is not for
the fainthearted, but I had to carry the scenarios through to their conclusions in
order to be of help to you. With a little thinking about them, you will be able to
form a scenario applicable to your circumstances or your area. Preparedness is
the name of the game. Most people are not even prepared for a good storm.