Demeanor - This is an area that possibly more mistakes are made than in any other area of self defense. The mistake is that if a man doesn't look violent then he isn't. Violent men sometimes do look violent, but most often they look nothing like a violent person. We also think instinctively that there are certain classes of person that are not a threat eg., a 14 year old school girl. But can't a 14 year old school girl throw a broken beer glass just the same as anyone else? Even if you have a black belt and weigh 260 pounds won't you be seriously injured if hit by a broken beer glass thrown by a 14 year old school girl?

What it all comes back to is this: what a person looks like, what he talks like, whether he carries a Bible, or just simply because he doesn't have a hair style like Clint Eastwood, is absolutely no indicator of potential violence. Much more important is the history of that person going right back to the day they were born, and this is something we cannot see.

Remember - every hitch hiker ever murdered thought the car looked safe to get into, every housewife murdered by somebody she let past the front door thought that person looked safe, every policeman gunned down after pulling a car to the side of the road thought the occupants of the car were not violent. Appearance, demeanor, age, sex, speech, none of these are indicators of a potentially dangerous criminal.

Personnel history, criminal experience, emotional makeup, ideology, and whether they live by a moral code are what counts, not appearance or demeanor, and these are the things we cannot see. Criminals are not responsible for the shapes of their noses, their complexions, whether their hair blows out of shape in the wind. And believe it or not most policemen and others who should know better are fooled by these false indicators every day. These false indicators are very powerful psychological persuaders and it is almost impossible to see past them.

Consider the teenage girl who shot dead two Coffin Cheater motorcycle gang members in Melbourne in 1982. They didn't see that coming, and unless you take this warning seriously you won't see an attack coming either.

Common mistakes in judging demeanor.

1. That a person's eyes give a liar away. The eyes are only another organ of the body and truth and falsity can no more can be judged from them than from looking at his toe nails. And as for being able to look someone straight in the eye, any actor will tell you that this is a skill that can be learnt in two minutes in front of a mirror.

2. A person who is talking calmly doesn't have violence on his mind. The demeanor of a person is irrelevant and this includes the way he talks or whether he appears calm or not.

3. A person with a sense of humour can't have evil intent. This is all pretty subjective but it is quite likely that it is not an indicator. It is also likely that many victims of violence are the butt of a criminal's joke.

4. That because a person does very human things that we all do he must be the same as us. Because he eats peas with his knife, likes The Simpsons and makes jokes about feminists and Sumo wrestlers does not mean that person isn't dangerous.

Self defense and reality.

All of us have watched action movies and we think that there is a certain class of persons who are tough guys or heavies. In reality there is no such thing as a tough guy.

In reality the skinniest, weakest, most pathetic weed can, and often does, win the confrontation because he is prepared to step outside the cultural assumptions we have about violence. Indeed it is essential that such people do step outside cultural assumptions as they couldn't hope to win a confrontation otherwise.

How much of a tough guy does it take to walk up to a car in traffic, ... censored.? It is easy to do, the one doing it needs only motivation and the victim is history.

There are indeed thousands of scenarios that could happen and that have happened. You can walk into a room and be hit in the head with a fry pan by an irate teenager - you might well be history; you can be stabbed or shot in the back while waiting in line at McDonalds, you can be run down while walking along the pavement. The general rule is that if anybody wants to get you enough they will get you - it doesn't matter who you are and who they are.

The only defense against this is to never rub anyone the wrong way. Never treat anybody with contempt, especially the powerless. Don't instigate negative emotion in anybody, even if you have to defend yourself against them. Don't engage in any kind of violence if you don't absolutely have to. There is nothing like violence to instigate hatred. You cannot win with such emotions against you.

To listen to some martial artists you would think that they can kick, punch, maim and kill on the flimsiest of pretexts and somehow their victims will never come back to haunt them. In reality such killers wouldn't last long - their life spans would be very short indeed. The power of emotion is astonishing and very long lasting.

Do some general reading to see how many policemen have been murdered by small, seemingly insignificant people, then think how easy it would be for anyone to kill or maim you by doing something they are not supposed to do. Self defense experts teach only about a very narrow band of possibilities, it is up to you to avoid confrontation in the real world by keeping hatred and other negative emotions as far away from you as possible.

City Survival

Holding up in your apartment

The type of equipment and supplies you'll need depends on the type of emergency. An emergency could be a plague, war, riots, etc. Surviving in an apartment has its advantages in that you can stock it up, you can make it secure and you already have some conveniences. Apart from the things you already have in your apartment here are extra things you will need.

1. Several boxes of candles.

2. A fuel stove and 5 gallons of fuel.

3. A battery radio, preferably capable of receiving local stations and short wave signals.

4. 300 gallons of water. This can be stored in garbage bags tied in knots and placed under beds or wherever space is available. You must also fill your bathtub and lots of plastic containers.

5. A flashlight and several changes of batteries.

6. A pistol of heavier caliber such as a .45 and at least 400 rounds of ammunition

7. A ladder. This will come in handy in a variety of ways,

8. A basic tool kit.

9. A comprehensive first aid kit.

10. Extra blankets.

11. Several rolls of duct tape for sealing windows etc. Duct tape is also good for stopping bleeding by using as a pressure bandage..

12. A supply of food for six months.

13. A length of rope about 10 mm and 100 metres long.

14. A bullet proof security door made from clear bullet proof plastic which goes in place of your screen door.

15. Several dozen garbage bags for storing body wastes.

16. You must have maps of your city such as a street directory and maps of the surrounding countryside as well as a nation wide touring map or directory. If escape becomes possible you must know where to go and how to get there.

17. If you have a car you must store gasoline for it in case escape becomes possible

18. If you have a telephone that must be plugged into an electrical outlet, you must buy a cheap handset that doesn't require a power source to operate.

19. In a civil disturbance there are likely to be snipers scattered throughout the city. In such a case you must avoid leaving your apartment for anything and windows must be covered with curtains, but not with paint or newspaper, as this will advertise the fact that your apartment is occupied. It is strongly advisable to cover the windows of at least the most populated room with bullet proof metal sheet.

20. A pair of earmuffs or earplugs will also come in handy if you have to use your weapon inside your apartment, otherwise you will, in all likelihood, do permanent damage to your hearing.

21.The type of food that you choose to store is important. Don't store frozen food as this will go bad when the power goes off and if you cannot step outside to get rid of it the food will cause such a terrible odor that you might have to evacuate the building anyway. Store only canned food, packet food, and grains, and anything that needs the shortest cooking time, also store enough prescription drugs to last for several months and have a stock of books - you will need them.

22. If venturing onto the street your main worries in a civil disturbance will be snipers and bombs, especially snipers and machine gun fire where there has been a curfew put in place. Remember to always play by the rules whatever they are and whoever has put them in place. If there is a curfew, stay inside, if you will be arrested or shot for carrying a gun, don't carry it, or think about it twice. Your chances of survival are always greater if you obey the rules.

Try never to go into no-man's land or stray across sectors, sniping activity and machine guns are always busiest in these areas. If there is a sniper present, try to work out his position and direction of fire and always try to move at ninety degrees to the line of fire as you will be a much harder target to hit. Run in short hops from cover to cover and try if at all possible to move behind anything that gives cover or concealment.

23. In an area of civil unrest there will likely be house to house searches by troops or paramilitary organisations looking for illegal weapons or terrorists or any evidence to link you in any way with their enemies.

Don't have any subversive literature, no matter how mild, or anything that could seem like subversive literature to troops who may lack general knowledge, even a camping manual could seem like a military manual to such people.

24. A good place to hide your pistol, or indeed anything else, is to cut as hole in an interior wall, place the article into the cavity, reinsert the cutout, replaster and repaint it and do it near the bathroom as the bathroom will have lots of pipes that will confuse a metal detector. A good deal of food can also be stored in wall cavities near the beginning of the civil disturbance as troops may come looking for food.

Always keep some food in your cupboards so they will know what you've been living on and may look no further. In times of food shortage, even if you have a lot of food, lose weight. If everyone else in your city has lost fifty pounds, you'd better lose at least forty or there'll be plenty of people wanting to know where your food stash is..

25. In any dealing with troops always think about impressions. These impressions may be based on something shallow indeed but it is impressions that will pacify the enemy and allow you to survive. Walk right through your apartment often as if you were a soldier who has just entered and is searching from room to room, and adjust anything that will give you away or create even a question in the soldier's mind. And remember, familiarity breeds contempt. Because you have been looking at your apartment for years might make you unconscious of the impressions somebody looking at it for the first time might have.

The questions that goes through a soldiers mind might be, "He said his daughter sleeps here, why then is there only a bed cover but no sheets? Why can I smell tobacco when it hasn't been available for three months? How is it that this apartment always looks the same whenever I inspect it, even that cardboard box is in the same position on the floor?"

In times of great stress and fear these instincts will be further heightened, allowing them to think three or four steps ahead instead of one or two, and deception will be much harder. Always assume that such people follow no social conventions, and therefore are unpredictable. Also beware of women and children as they often have less social inhibitions than men and are more prepared to ask awkward questions that don't readily have convenient answers.

Also think constantly of worse case scenarios and ask yourself what would happen if such and such an article was found or if such and such a suspicion was aroused. How would you answer? what facial expressions would you use? e.g.., a soldier searching your apartment looks up at the ceiling and asks suddenly, "What is that ventilation shaft for, none of the other apartments have one?"

And just because you have gotten away with some deception a hundred times before doesn't mean that you can do it again. If anything, try even harder, never get lazy, as laziness or overconfidence will get you arrested or killed.

26. Don't appear to have any areas where something could be hidden, or if you do, make access easy for casual searchers. Always constantly think six steps ahead, i.e. if this happens it would cause this, then that would make a possibility of this happening, and if that happens it could lead to this or that, so I better do this as insurance against that happening etc.

27. Be careful of positive image makers such as an open government newspaper on your coffee table, or a picture of the dictator on your wall, as there is a high chance that whoever sees it will dislike your pretended politics, or hate the dictator, or if you scatter around beer cans in your apartment hoping to pass yourself off as a boozer, that person who is also a boozer knows that beer cans never scatter randomly.

Remember, deception is a twenty four hour a day game and is hard work.

Never make assumptions about people. E.g.., you put an empty bottle of nitric acid into your trash can which is also used by an old lady, but you don't worry about her, because you ask, how could that old lady know what this stuff can be used for?

But that old lady might have worked for counter terrorist intelligence for the last forty years for all you know, or her son in law might work for the pigs and she casually mentions to him what she saw in the trash can. Treat everybody as if they were the worst possible person to be present in any given circumstance. Assume that the old lady is the chief investigator in guerilla munitions manufacture, as indeed she might be.

Remember - you only get one chance but there are thousands of ways you can be captured or killed. Be paranoid!

Maps - a map is a classified document whether it's a street directory from K-mart, a contour map from the surplus store, a handwritten map, or an aerial photograph or any other kind of map. To unfriendly eyes any map in your possession will tell them the area you intend to travel to and perhaps how you intend to get there. Never draw on a map, or mark it in any way as this will tell the enemy your destination, you rendezvous and a lot more possible information. Maps are for your eyes only and whomever else you choose to authorize.

Here are some things you can do that will greatly increase your efficiency and therefore your survival. The police can do them which is why it only takes one pig to keep 1000 civilians in line.

1. Turn up on time. If you are to meet somebody don't even be a minute late. Arrive half an hour early if possible so that you won't be even a minute late

2. Be reliable. If you promise something, deliver.

3. Be knowledgeable. Have a wide knowledge base. Read magazines, books on unusual subjects and talk to interesting people whenever you get the chance.

4. Always have your kit with you.

5. Always have the latest communications devices - a cell phone, a home phone, Internet access, and understand call diversions, answering systems etc. Make sure any friend can contact you at any hour of the day or night.

6. Your car must be in good shape.

7. Make a habit of knowing your way around. Study the street directory and explore the routes in your car.

We come to an area now that may not only save your life but in most cases will prevent it from being in peril in the first place. That is being competent at small things. What this means is that you mustn't overlook seemingly insignificant detail. This often happens with tragic results. What happens for example if a friend who lives two miles away calls you because he is under attack by a gang. So far so good, except for the fact that you can't remember where you left your car keys; was it on the sofa or on top of the refrigerator? or are they in the pocket of a pair of jeans in the washing machine?

Many have died in house blazes because the key to the deadlock couldn't be found, others have found themselves in life or death situations because they left their cell phone at home and didn't have a coin for the pay phone.

Others have left home to drive long distances to find when they came to fill up that they had left their wallet at home. Countless numbers of soldiers have died because somebody scribbled a note and the recipient couldn't tell a 6 from a 0 or a 1 from a 7 and artillery was aimed at the wrong area.

All of this is bad enough, but when people are under great stress incidents of these kinds multiply. It is much better to become proficient in small things than have a black belt and an M16; such competence will save your life and of those you care about far more often.

Murders and assaults rarely happen out of thin air . There is usually a string of events that lead up to an assault or murder beginning with some minor oversight. This can be losing your house keys, being given the wrong location to meet your spouse, your car breaking down and having no means to get assistance, losing your bus fare and having to walk home through unfamiliar streets.

After losing countless lives to these type of blunders the military have developed systems to try to overcome them. These systems must also take into account the biggest contributor to these oversights and blunders which is stress.

1. Always write things down and never rely on memory if you can possibly avoid it.

2. Carry a small calendar. If Monday is a public holiday it is easy to think that Tuesday is a Monday when it is the first day of work week. You go to meet someone you always meet on Monday to find out that they are not there and neglect to pick up your kids from school. Your kids are waiting outside the school gates until 6 PM. Sound dangerous? The same mistakes can be made on a changeover to or from daylight saving time.

3. Don't walk around in a dream. If you lose only money and time you'll get off lightly. If you don't it could easily finish up in murder, rape, serious assault, robbery or many other unpleasant and unnecessary experiences.

SPECIAL END NOTES

A notice to survivalist mockers.

To survive and operate in the real world you have to be tough. Toughness means being physically, mentally and emotionally able to operate in a huge range of circumstances without falling to pieces. When you come up against the real stuff middle class trickery won't work, finding a civilized human being to leech off won't work, last minute push ups won't work and stealing might get you killed.

Realistically assess yourself. Can you fight? Can you use tools? fire a gun? reload magazines with cold fingers? find your way out of a jungle without a compass? start a fire? Do you have the guts and the skill to break both legs of an attacker before he even lands a punch, or to survive an interrogation, escape in an urban or wilderness environment, face a savage dog - and all done under a lot of pressure?

Basically, do you have any brains? If you've never read a book, don't know how to change a tire, don't know which is the safe end on a firearm and don't know where China is on the map, don't get involved with tough men, they will eat you. You stand no chance of survival. There are many situations where even most of the tough men won't survive and there are many, many types of individuals out there who will beat you, rob you, pour gasoline all over you and light you, kick your teeth out, or beat you to death with a baseball bat just because they don't like you.

If you are one of those who won't venture out if it is raining, will fall to pieces when a workplace bully pokes his tongue out at you, will not own a gun, the only tool you own is a screwdriver in the kitchen drawer, and your first reaction in any stressful situation is to call the police, then it is all over for you. All I can suggest is to elbow women and children out of the way at a food queue, or contact some Christian organization who may be able to feed you.

The nitwit will not survive and shouldn't survive.

Rules. .

It is a mistake to assume that big drug cartels operate on completely different planes of morality than other people. They look on the murder of the innocent just as you or I would and kill only when others have broken the rules. No organization can operate without rules and those who break them know what the consequences will be.

You will have to look pretty hard to find any person who has been murdered by a drug cartel where they obeyed the rules. They will even tolerate a certain amount of theft, and even give repeat warnings to Mr. Average types who have been turned into monsters through greed, but in the end, drug lords will kill without conscience those who have broken serious rules.

This isn't an apology for drug cartels, but rather an illustration that in any situation rules govern interaction with others. Every group has rules, from drug cartels and prison populations to police departments and citizens groups, and even hobos living under bridges have rules. Understanding and keeping rules is freedom, ignoring them, at the very least, will mean finishing up on skid row.

Some life long principles of survivalists are:

1. Always arm up, never arm down. Never think you don't have to be as formidable as you are. Always increase training, increase overall resources and increase preparedness, not the opposite.

2. Never let others know how formidable you are, whether it be how well armed you are, or how much training you have. Pretend to be just another guy in the street. The less formidable people think that you are the less caution they will have in attacking you which will give you a big advantage.

3. Obey the law . Nothing can help a habitual law breaker or nuisance. Mostly you won't be persecuted by the system if you obey the law.

4. Don't make enemies needlessly. E.g.., why make an enemy of a prison heavy when his strong arms can be better employed digging an escape tunnel? Why make an enemy of a street gang when they might just as well be used as a source of weapons or information?

5. Don't take revenge just for the sake of it. Always run at a profit. Why throw a brick through a window to get even if you can steal fifty gallons of gasoline from the same premises?

Stress.

If placed under even moderate stress it is impossible to do many things that you take for granted. You may not be able to add up a single column of figures, you won't remember how, you can lose your voice and be unable to communicate.

The ways to overcome the problem of stress are these:

1. Train, train and train some more. Training involves discipline - laziness is the enemy of discipline. Be relaxed, be cool, but disciplined, not lazy.

2.Keep everything ridiculously simple

Never rely on complicated procedures to get you out of trouble. Don't even rely on your ability to read simple instructions or carry out a sequence of actions that require any thought at all.

3. Always have the equipment you need which must be of the highest quality consistent with simplicity of use. Do not put any new item into commission until it is fully tested and you are sure it works and you can operate it.

4. Train for every possibility. Can you load a magazine quickly with cold fingers? Can you pull a hammer back with a wet thumb? Can you operate a radio amid the panic and screaming of a hundred people as an airplane is sinking in a lake