To be honest as soon as I saw who the author was, I knew I'd not need to read the book.
I went through a pretty serious Jerry Ahern phase in my teens, and have all the "Survivalist" books in a box somewhere.
However, if you plan to survive the coming Zombiepocalypse, JA is probably your man (complete with Detonics Combat Masters)
Have you actually got them all? Keep in mind I think there are nearly 30. I am missing some in the 20's.
He was a director of Detonics for a while.
I think he is a good writer most of the time. He just has these bad habits i.e. I bet anyone who has read more than one can almost quote line for line his description of anything carried by John Rouke.
If in UK you buy Land Rover, best 4 x 4 ever made. Maybe you look hard at Hi Lux, even Hi Lux like you describe, lots of extras for your pound.
You in US, whole different story, they got pick ups that start the size of a 130, and then get bigger. The big Fords are huge vehicles.
He does have certain set ideas, and I do really wonder about some of them (Harleys top of that list). That said I think the most interesting thing about people's viewpoint comes from the first survivalist book, everyone tells him he is wrong in what he is doing, until it all goes wrong.
We get flooding, over a year before some people could go back.
I know people who now have a BOB, most important item in it is paperwork. Why have one, because they do not want to run round the house like a mad person looking for stuff as their house floods.
I know someone else who sold his expensive 4x4 made by a nice German company, when they had fixed it after a flood. The fuse boxes are on the floor, it not like big puddle.
Know someone else who has food in pantry because of snow. If it snows it takes about 3 days on average for the plows to reach them. Keep in mind they live in a normal area, not some far off part of the UK. This happens nearly everytime it snows.
Ok, look at Japan.
Could you plan to survive that, and stay there. No, I think if you live in a place that has these natural events, you are rolling the dice. I bet there are things you could do but money would get in the way.
The thing from my point of view would be, ok I survived it now what?
Do we have anything to learn from it? Yep, these events always have after effects. Japan's is power. Which could happen here, and did in London for 2 days a while back.
I think the main reason for this book putting forward different ideas is Survival! A survival book that does not touch on defense, is missing a wheel.
In the US, defense is the Gun.
A) Because you can get them.
B) So can nearly everyone else.
C) Parts, Ammo etc are not going to be a big problem.
In the UK, defense is not so easy.
A) Because the only people with guns are the law, or breaking it.
B) Even if you got one, what you do when out of bullets?
C) We have places were you could lock the door, and short of a tank or air support. No one getting in.
There is a really interesting character in the latter survivalist books, who is a Bushcrafter, or Jerry Ahern's take on one anyway. He goes out into the wilds, and explores. He can get ammo etc, but he carries black power weapons. His argument, is he can reuse and replace almost everything. The only time he would need civilisation is if he needs a new gun.
I think another example of were the point of survival is missed, is the medical book. A St John's book is written as if you have back up. The Military manual would be written so you could do a lot more. A modern first aid at work course is designed on the fact that you are 8 minutes away from help. That is why there is an Oil rig course, and Wilderness courses. Say four years after major manufactoring dies down, and the most valuable thing on the planet will be usable anti-bioticics. You can make a knife, but can you make useable drugs? Not to go to far down this road, but give a thought to pain meds....
A lot of this type of book is written with the end all event in mind. It comes from the cold war times, when that was a big threat. A small to mid level event is planning for a longer wait for back up to arrive or even taking yourself out of their way. I do not need help, because I have planned for this. A big event is planning to be your own back up, no one else is coming.
