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IPFS News Link • Surviving the Collapse

Survival Training in Bad Weather: "If it ain't rainin', you ain't trainin'!

• Organic Prepper - Daisy Luther

There's a saying in the military, "If it ain't rainin', you ain't trainin'!"  That was definitely the case when I took Selco and Toby's Urban Survival Course for Women in Croatia a couple of years ago. As the cold rain fell, Toby rubbed his hands together in visible glee. The worse the weather got, the happier he was.

It sucked.

And it taught me a really important lesson. You've got to learn to deal with the discomfort of bad weather if you really want to survive. Many emergencies come as part and parcel of a weather event with high winds, extreme temperatures, and torrential rain so it's only reasonable to give yourself the best possible strategies to deal with them.

This article isn't for everyone. If you are a person who doesn't exercise for any number of reasons, I'm not suggesting you go start hiking in the rain. If you are at high risk for broken bones or other injuries, mitigate those risks as much as possible while experiencing some exposure to bad weather. If you have a serious health condition, you may not find this advice feasible.

But for those of us who spend a lot of time outdoors or who have any inkling that they could one day need to bug out on foot, consider the value of training while it's raining, snowing, or blowing.

What are your most likely bad weather events?

To be prepared for unpleasant conditions, you need to think about what the most likely weather events are where you live. Some of the things you might face:

-Dangerously high winds

-Rain

-Extreme heat

-Extreme cold

-Sleet/freezing rain

-Blizzard

Depending on what you're the most likely to experience, you should prepare by getting the appropriate gear, learning how to cool off quickly, learning how to warm up once you get wet in cold weather, how to find or create shelter from the event, and tricks to tolerate the conditions. You should also learn to identify and treat ailments related to both hot weather and cold weather. The skills and gear you need will be unique to your area.

Get comfortable with discomfort.

Next, you need to become more comfortable with discomfort. We live in a climate-controlled society in the United States. Instead of allowing our bodies to adjust to the weather outside, we change the climate indoors and don't leave. Our bodies are no longer as efficient at adapting to the extremes because we only experience them while rushing from our climate-controlled home to our climate-controlled car to our climate-controlled office and back again.


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