I've read loads of Preppers' and Survivalists' glossaries and found
that most (not all) of them are direct copies of others on the internet,
without a thought for a better definition. What I've tried to do
here is take the best out of them, simplify the explanations, remove
the dross and add things that I believe are essential. If you
think that something should be added or better explained then please
email me at
mal@survival_supplies.co.uk .
ALICE |
Military
Acronym - All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment. |
As The Crow
Flies |
The shortest distance between
two points, i.e. a straight line. |
ATL |
Acronym -
Attempt To Locate. |
Barter |
Trading goods or services you have for something you want. |
Batoning |
Splitting wood down the
length of the grain using the sharp edge of a knife and striking the back of
the knife with a heavy object (such as another log). |
BBE |
Acronym -
Best Before End. A date usually printed on processed food packs to
indicate the product's end of "Shelf Life" (see below). |
BIB |
Acronym -
Bug-In Bag. A kit of essentials designed for use at home. |
BOB |
Acronym -
Bug Out Bag. |
BOL |
Acronym -
Bug Out Location. |
BOV |
Acronym -
Bug Out Vehicle. |
Bowie Knife |
A long fixed blade knife with
a cross guard and clip point, although James Bowie's original knife was
described as having a straight back. |
Bug Out |
Leave home
in an emergency. |
Calibre |
The
diameter of a bullet from a gun. The calibre is the measurement
(in inches or millimetres) of the inner diameter of the barrel.
E.g. a .22 calibre rifle measures approximately .22 inches from one side of the barrel to the other. The inner diameter of the barrel of a 9mm pistol is 9mm. |
Char Cloth |
A piece
of cloth (usually cotton) that has been carbonised by heating in the absence
of oxygen, which easily takes a spark to start a fire. |
Cluster Fuck |
Military term for an operation in which multiple things have gone wrong,
occasionally replaced by the NATO phonetic acronym "Charlie Foxtrot." |
CYA |
Acronym -
Cover Your Assets (or Cover Your Arse). |
DIY |
Acronym -
Do It Yourself. |
DLP |
Acronym -
Defence of Life and Property |
EDC |
Acronym -
Every Day Carry. What an individual person caries on them on a daily basis. |
ELE |
Acronym -
Extinction Level Event. |
EMP |
Acronym -
Electromagnetic Pulse |
EOTW |
Acronym -
End Of The World. |
Faraday Cage |
A shielding enclosure for electronics. |
Ferro Rod |
A rod of Ferrocerium which, when scraped with a steel, can make hot sparks (1,650 °C) to start a fire. Often misreferred to as a “flint”. |
Fiat Currency |
Any currency that is issued by government not backed by gold, silver or other tangibles.
These days that includes most currencies, including the US Dollar. |
Fire Steel |
See
Ferro Rod. |
FIFO |
Acronym -
First In, First Out - used for food and other degradable stock rotation. |
FLC |
Acronym -
Fighting Load Carrier |
Force Multiplier |
A capability that, when added to and employed by a combat force, significantly increases the combat potential of that force and thus enhances the probability of successful mission accomplishment. |
FUBAR |
Military
Acronym - Fucked Up Beyond All Repair (US version of SNAFU). |
Full Tang |
In
knife parlance this indicates that the blade and handle are constructed from
one continuous piece of metal. Scales or grips are typically attached to the
handle portion for a more comfortable grip. This makes for a very robust
knife. |
Gauge |
Refers to number of lead balls the size of the inner diameter of a shotgun that it would take to make a pound. E.g. a 12-gauge shotgun means that it would take 12 lead balls the size of the inner diameter of the barrel to weigh a pound. So, in the case of a 20-gauge shotgun, 20 lead balls the size of the inner diameter of the barrel would weigh a pound. |
Get-Home Bag |
This is a smaller light weight bag you keep in your car to help you get home. |
Grid-down |
A situation where the National Electrical Grid has failed - possibly long-term |
GMO |
Acronym -
Genetically Modified Organism |
HRC |
Rockwell scale
of hardness. The higher the number the harder the material. Most bushcraft
knives tend to have an HRC of 54 to 60. |
INCH |
Acronym -
I’m Never Coming Home |
Isolated Retreat |
A privately owned stronghold designed to be entirely self-sufficient and self-contained. |
Jimping |
Notches/grooves
that are machined into the back part of a knife blade or on the knife handle
for better grip and/or thumb control. |
Kindling |
Small dry twigs and sticks used to build a fire. |
KISS |
Acronym -
Keep It Simple, Stupid (i.e. avoid unnecessary complexity). |
LOS |
Acronym -
Line of Sight. Many communications technologies require an unobstructed path between transmitter and receiver, as in microwave radio, satellite communications, and laser/infrared optical communications links. |
MAD |
Acronym -
Mutually Assured Destruction. |
MIL-SPEC |
Military specification. Something made to military standards |
MOLLE |
Military
Acronym - Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment. MOLLE is a
replacement for the All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment
system (ALICE). |
MRE |
Acronym -
Meal, Ready to Eat (usually term for army field rations) |
NBC |
Nuclear, Biological,
Chemical. |
Off-Grid |
Not connected to the power, water and sewage utility grid; self-sufficient. |
Potable |
Water that is safe to drink by humans. |
PPPPPP |
Acronym
- Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance |
Prep |
Prepare. |
Prepper |
A person who is prepared for emergency situations. |
Preps |
Preparations. |
PSK |
Acronym -
Personal Survival Kit |
Retreat |
A place of refuge that is prepared in advance, usually in lightly-populated rural regions. |
Rockwell Scale of
Hardness |
The Rockwell Scale is a
measurement system used bto determine the relative hardness of a material
(such as a knife blade) based on the depth of the dentat made by a heavy
object impacting them. For knives they use the “C” scale in units labelled
HRC (see above). |
Rule of 3 |
The Rule of 3 states that you cannot survive
much more than:
• 3 minutes without air
• 3 hours without shelter in extreme conditions
• 3 days without water
• 3 weeks without food
|
SERE |
Acronym -
Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape. |
Sheeple |
Sheep People
- people who mindlessly give up their rights and follow others who they
think have authority. |
Shelf Life |
The useful life of a product. In processed foods it is the time that it can be stored before
the manufacturer states that the product may becomes inedible. See also "BBE"
above.Also the period of time that a battery can be stored and still have at least 85% of its original charge. |
SHTF |
Acronym -
Shit Hits The Fan. |
SITREP |
Situation Report |
SNAFU |
Military
Acronym - Situation Normal, All Fucked Up (British version of FUBAR). |
SOP |
Acronym -
Standard Operating Procedure/s |
SSSSSS |
Acronym -
Sound, Shape, Shine, Shadow, Smell, Silhouette. |
STOP |
Acronym -
Stop, Think, Observe, Plan. |
TEOTWAWKI |
Acronym - The End Of
The World As We Know It. |
Tinder |
Fine flammable material that will easily catch a spark; used to start a fire. |
UXB |
Acronym -
Unexploded Bomb. |
WROL |
Acronym -
Without Rule Of Law. |
YOYO |
Acronym -
You're On Your Own - when you can’t expect help from
any of the normal emergency services. |
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