Survivalism
Survivalism is a social movement of individuals or groups (called survivalists, doomsday preppers or preppers[1][2]) who proactively prepare for emergencies, such as natural disasters, and other disasters causing disruption to social order (that is, civil disorder) caused by political or economic crises. Preparations may anticipate short-term scenarios or long-term, on scales ranging from personal adversity, to local disruption of services, to international or global catastrophe. There is no bright line dividing general emergency preparedness from prepping in the form of survivalism (these concepts are a spectrum), but a qualitative distinction is often recognized whereby preppers/survivalists prepare especially extensively because they have higher estimations of the risk of catastrophes happening. Nonetheless, prepping can be as limited as preparing for a personal emergency (such as a job loss, storm damage to one's home, or getting lost in wooded terrain), or it can be as extensive as a personal identity or collective identity with a devoted lifestyle.
For other uses, see Survivalism (disambiguation).
Survivalism emphasises self-reliance, stockpiling supplies, and gaining survival knowledge and skills. The stockpiling of supplies is itself a wide spectrum, from survival kits (ready bags, bug-out bags) to entire bunkers in extreme cases.
Survivalists often acquire first aid and emergency medical/paramedic/field medicine training, self-defense training (martial arts, ad hoc weaponry, firearm safety), and improvisation/self-sufficiency training, and they often build structures (survival retreats, underground shelters, etc.) or modify/fortify existing structures etc. that may help them survive a catastrophic failure of society.
Use of the term survivalist dates from the early 1980s.[3]
7 S's: Shape, Skyline, Silhouette, Speed, Shine, Sound, Shade
:
10 essentials
Ad hoc: A usually improvised/temporary stand-in.
: Level of danger/threat etc.
Alert state
Alpha strategy: The practice of storing extra consumable items, as a hedge against inflation, and for use in barter and charity. Coined by John Pugsley.[64]
[63]
Blockhouse: A type of fortified house/shelter.
BOB: Bug-out bag. A pack containing everything needed to leave your home and get to a safe location until able to return safely to your home or residence. Whether heading to a BOL, Retreat, MAG, MAC or Redoubt.[66]
[63]
: Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear.
CBRN
Code name/Handle: For CB radio/Walkie talkie usage. Used with /brevity codes and simplex communications.
ACP 131
:
Critical infrastructure
: A dead drop or dead letter box is a method of espionage tradecraft used to pass items or information between two individuals using a secret location. By avoiding direct meetings, individuals can maintain operational security. This method stands in contrast to the live drop, so-called because two persons meet to exchange items or information.
Dead drop
/SERE: Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape.
Escape and evasion
EDC: . What one carries at all times in case disaster strikes while one is out and about. Also refers to the normal carrying of a pistol for self-defense, or (as a noun) the pistol which is carried.
Everyday carry
EOTW: End of the world
[70]
EROL: Excessive rule of law. Describes a situation where a government becomes oppressive and uses its powers and laws to control citizens. Sometimes this is used interchangeably with [71]
Martial Law
Ersatz: A "better than nothing" substitute.
Fieldcraft
: An entity set up by and controlled by another organization.
Front organization
: To slog on tenaciously through hard times
Ganbaru
Golden/Zombie horde: The anticipated large mixed horde of refugees and looters that will pour out of the metropolitan regions when SHTF. Coined (in the survivalist context) by James Wesley, Rawles.[73]
[63]
G.O.O.D.: Get out of Dodge (city). Fleeing urban areas in the event of a disaster. Coined by James Wesley Rawles.[74]
[63]
G.O.O.D. kit: Get out of Dodge kit. Synonymous with bug-out bag (BOB). Sometimes referred to as Go Bag. [75]
[63]
Grey man/woman: A person who blends in with the crowd/surroundings etc and less likely to draw attention to him/herself.
[76]
Hidesite: A hidden shelter for concealment used for surveillance etc.
INCH pack: I'm Never Coming Home pack (a sub-type of Bug Out Bag, often used by experts in the preparedness field). A pack containing everything needed to walk out into the woods and never return to society. It is an often heavy pack loaded with the gear needed to accomplish any wilderness task, from building shelter to gaining food, designed to allow someone to survive indefinitely in the woods. This requires skills and proper selection of equipment, as one can only carry so much. For example, instead of carrying food, one carries seeds, steel traps, a longbow, reel spinners and other fishing gear. Often INCH bag gear is designed to be more sustainable and durable, and include tools to fix gear. Common examples of this include files and Arkansas stones, or whetstones to sharpen knives, machetes, axes, and other blades. This is due to the idea that when using an INCH bag, materials and resupply will be rare, if not nonexistent, and as such tools need to be durable and self sustainable.
MYOG: Make Your Own Gear. An advanced specialist form of Improvising/Manufacturing clothing/kit/equipment etc from scratch or modify existing examples. MYOG kit/equipment etc differs from improvising from surrounding leftovers found on spot during a survival operation.
Operator: An individual tasked with a survival mission operation.
: A shelter, often used as an observation post/checkpoint on behalf of a larger area used as a substitute in a sparse outback area.
Outpost
PAW: Post-Apocalyptic World
[77]
Prepper: A term often used as a synonym for survivalist that came into common usage during the early 2000s. Refers to one who is prepared or making preparations, such as by stockpiling food and ammunition. Can be contrasted slightly with survivalist, which emphasizes outdoor survival skills and self-sufficiency.
[1]
: Information gathering and surveillance on behalf of a survivalist group operation.
Recce/Recon
RV point: A rendezvous/meet up point.
Situation room: A room containing CB radios, maps/charts etc for survival planning etc.
Sheep: A person who trusts the government, institutions, or popular culture blindly. A similar term to Pollyanna.
SHTF: Shit hit/hits/hitting the fan
[73]
Splinter group: a smaller division, cell, group etc that (for various reasons) has split off from a larger organization or movement.
Staging area: A room/area used for rigging up equipment etc for a survival operation.
: A reserve of supplies/items/resources etc that is held back from normal use by governments, organisations, or businesses in pursuance of a particular strategy or to cope with unexpected events.
Strategic reserve
: Refers to the techniques, methods, and technologies used in modern espionage (spying) and generally as part of the activity of intelligence assessment.
Tradecraft
TEOTWAWKI: The end of the world as we know it. The expression is in use since at least the early 1960s (tagline to television film ).[63][79][80] However, others claim the acronym may have been coined in 1987 by REM in their song "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" or 1996, in the Usenet newsgroup misc.survivalism.[81][82]
Threads (1984)
Uncivilization: A generic term for a great catastrophe.
[83]
WROL: Without rule of law. Describes a potential lawless state of society.
[84]
Zombie: Unprepared, incidental survivors of a prepped-for disaster, "who feed on the preparations of others”
[86]
Zombie apocalypse: Used by some preppers as a metaphor[86][2] for any natural or man-made disaster[87] and "a clever way of drawing people's attention to disaster preparedness".[86] The premise of the Zombie Squad is that "if you are prepared for a scenario where the walking corpses of your family and neighbors are trying to eat you alive, you will be prepared for almost anything."[88] Though "there are some... who are seriously preparing for a zombie attack".[89]
tongue-in-cheek
Survivalists maintain their group identity and subculture by using specialized terminology/slang etc not generally understood outside their circles. They often use government/military/paramilitary acronyms such as OPSEC and SOP, and terminology common among adherents to gun culture or the peak oil scenario. They also use terms that are unique to their own survivalist groups; common acronyms include:
by Cresson Kearny (1979, updated 1987 version). Read at the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine.
Nuclear War Survival Skills
that circulated online during the BBS era, includes several Kurt Saxon articles from his old newsletter. Textfiles.com.