7 Top Survival Prepper Skills for Doomsday 2020

You need to read these survival prepper skills right now if you are going to survive and thrive in 2020 and beyond.

If recent events have taught us anything, it’s the fact that we’re living in a fragile world. 

As a matter of fact, it’s not just fragile — it’s wrought with extreme danger.

One of the reasons why it’s so dangerous is despite the pandemic panic, civil unrest, government clampdowns, bankrupt states, and political infighting we’ve witnessed lately – few of us are prepared.

Let’s take a look at some stats from Google Trends dated July 10, 2020.

As you can see, the blue line at the very bottom is how popular the subject “survival skills” is compared to the topic of Kim Kardashian, in red.

In other words, most people would rather look up celebrities rather than information on how to survive. So, when the ka-ka really hits the fan there will be just a few of us who’ll know how to handle it.

This is like a good news/bad news joke because we will be vastly outnumbered by hordes of people who did not prepare.  On the good side, we will have all kinds of knowledge and skills which may make us more valuable.

As the old saying goes, “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”

In this post, I’m going to show you which survival prepper skills you’ll need to become the “one-eyed man” and gather knowledge that will make you a valuable player should the need arise.

An Eye-Opening Story From an Earthquake

I’ll never forget watching it.

Back in June 1992, a powerful 7.2 earthquake hit San Bernardino near Los Angeles.  

I was watching a live feed from a city area where there was a lot of damage.  People were standing in the streets as fire department personnel ran about trying to do their jobs.

There were fires everywhere as buildings and overhead passes had collapsed.

One of the local news cameras focused on a group of people who had gathered around a fireman as he was trying to work through the ensuing chaos left by the earthquake.

Finally, he had enough.

“What are you all looking at me for?” He shouted at them.  “Instead of standing around with your mouths open, you need to get to work. Try to get your bathtubs filled with water and salvage all the food you can.  It looks like you’ll be living on your wits for a while.”

Suddenly, the people began to move with stunned looks on their faces.

The thing that struck me was the fact that these folks had no idea what to do.  They almost looked like zombies as they started shuffling towards their crumbling homes.

I found myself wondering what I would I do if a disaster like this hit my home and community?  Would I be reeling in fear, or would I be prepared and know what to do?

Knowing what to do and having a skill set which you can rely on is very important in a doomsday situation.

Top 3 Medical Skills A Survival Prepper Must Know

In a situation where disasters and dangers abound, you and people around you are going to get injured.  It doesn’t take a very big cut to get a life-threatening infection or a burn that can disable you.

Even if you save up all kinds of medical supplies, you’re still going to need to know how to use them.  However, if you know how to treat different kinds of injuries you can be a key player in the survival game.

I’m not going to go into great detail here, but these are the top 3 medical skills you’ll need to know to survive a massive disaster.

Treating Burns – In a situation where people are without power for long periods, knowing how to treat burns is a top skill you’ll need to know.

Why?

If the grid is down for a considerable amount of time, people will be using open fires to try to cook or boil things. You’ll probably see people who’ll be trying to ignite wood with gasoline or some other type of fuel and if they are inexperienced at doing that, they will probably get burned.

Not only that, but there’ll be plenty of situations where buildings, cars, and even woodland areas will be on fire, especially if there aren’t government resources to stop these kinds of events.

Being able to recognize the different degrees of burns and how to properly treat them will be used a lot. 

You will also need to know what not to do with burn victims too. (For example, putting ice on a burn victim’s skin can be very dangerous because it can cause more damage to the wound.)

Making and Using Splints – In case you don’t know, a splint is a crude medical device used to keep body parts from moving.

Primarily, it’s used to keep broken bones stable until a doctor can set and cast the injury.  (If you can learn how to do this on minor breaks it would be very valuable too.)

Knowing how to improvise a splint will be very valuable because in a perilous situation you will probably not have the proper equipment to get the job done. Being able to use a rolled-up towel, board, heavy stick or other pieces of rigid material will be extremely helpful when rescue resources are limited or not present.

Dressing a Wound – Knowledge of how to clean and dress wounds will be very useful in a chaotic situation. The reason why this is so important is that untreated infections can be deadly.

Years ago, I had a tooth extracted by an army dentist and I got a small infection in the back of my mouth from the procedure.  Within 2 days my face looked like the elephant man. 

Fearing that the infection would spread to my brain, the army called in a medical colonel who was on leave to operate on me.

The procedure to get the puss and infected area clean was pure torture but it saved my life. So, knowing how to take care of wounds and prevent infections is extremely vital.

Infections can be initiated by a wide variety of situations.

• Animal attacks, because most animals have a lot of deadly bacteria on their teeth.
• Human attacks with filthy weapons.
• Scraping skin on sharp metal.
• Stepping on rusty screws and nails.

Combat Survival Prepper Skills to Protect Your Family and Friends

In a doomsday scenario where there isn’t any law enforcement, you will definitely be an asset if you have combat skills.

There are 3 different types of these skills you’ll need to know to defend your family or friends.

Unarmed fighting – You will need to know how to get down and dirty with potential aggressors.  In this case, you’ll want to be experienced in practical hand to hand combat techniques rather than just boxing or karate. (Although, those would be very helpful to know too.)

Unfortunately, a lot of this will depend on your health and physical abilities.

But in most urban combat situations fighting experts agree that wrestling/grappling techniques are extremely important.  Very little of real street fighting is boxing and sparing as you see in martial arts movies.

(All you need to do is watch some MMA championships and count the seconds they are not grappling and wrestling; most of it consists of tangled bodies.)

The other caveat of hand to hand fighting is if you or your opponent are wielding a weapon of some sort. One technique that combat survival prepper experts agree you should know is how to disarm an opponent who has a weapon when you do not.

Just like any other fighting method, this takes a lot of practice and experience but it’s very important to master if you want to survive.

Firearm defense – Firearm experts will tell you that you can’t possibly train for every situation no matter how much you practice.   One thing the experts seem to agree on is that you’ll need to gain and learn the fundamentals.  

If you don’t at least have the basics down you’ll have a very difficult time fighting back when faced with armed opponents. 

The fundamentals you’ll need to practice to survive a heated gunfight are:

• Trigger control
• Gripping the weapon
• Body position
• Precision aiming
• Smooth and quick draw
• Reloading
• Clearing malfunctions
• Cover and Concealment
• Fire while moving

Just like martial arts, learning to fight with a gun takes time and practice.

The reason why Delta Force or the Navy Seals are so good at this is that they practice constantly; most civilians only do it twice a year. So, the more practice you can get with your firearms, the better.

Improvised weapon fighting – If you find yourself in the middle of a serious fight, you’ll want to grab onto anything you can to ward off your attacker(s).

Here are some recommended ideas you can use to put the odds more in your favor.

Rocks or bricks – These are very effective as projectiles but if you’ve only got one of them, you can hang onto it to batter your opponent.

Sharp pieces of metal- Combat experts will tell you that if you use a piece of wood it’ll probably splinter or break before you can do any damage.  A far better advantage will be a heavy or sharpened piece of metal if you can find it.

A backpack with books – This can hurt an assailant and it can also be used as a shield when blocking.  A lot of people carry them and they can be quickly removed from your back in a pinch.

Loaded drink cans or thermos – These are considered to be great impact weapons when hurled at an opponent.  If you have a full container it can be used as a thrusting weapon.

Leadership Abilities that’ll Separate You from the Pack

The ability to take charge can be a vital skill in a chaotic situation.  In most people’s minds getting together to make plans should take place when a disaster arises.   However, it will be much better for you if you can prepare for a doomsday situation before it happens. 

You will want to network with people in your community who are survival prepper experts if you can. 

Scheduling meetings with others who are prepping for a big event is a wise decision.  You’ll want to establish in advance who will be leaders and what the structure of your organization will look like. 

If you want to develop leadership skills which can help you it would be wise to assemble some of the following skills, knowledge, and experience:

• Effective communication
• Public speaking
• Body language
• Counseling
• Coaching
• Planning events

You’ll also need to know how to assess other’s abilities, navigate personalities, and delegate responsibilities based on your assessments.  When the junk really hits the fan, you’ll want to make sure that whoever you’re working with will be the best individuals for the skill sets and different situations.

Knowing how to become a community organizer and helping your local partners make wise decisions will be needed. 

If people know or can see that you know how to survive dangerous situations, it will make you a far more valuable player in the survival game. (Remember the one-eyed man analogy from the beginning of this post?)

Conclusion

There are a lot of other skills I could have included here like having a valuable trade, trapping game, growing your own food, or knowing how to use a ham radio.

The main thing to do is to learn and prepare before a dangerous event occurs. As you already know, there is a vast difference between reading and actually doing.  If you haven’t started to practice and apply some of these skills now, you will need to take action. 

To wait any longer in the wake of current events would be foolish.

Of course, there are many skills you’ll need in a survival prepper situation. If there are any you specialize in please share them in the comment box below. It would really make our day.

Mark Elmo Ellis is a survival prepper and copywriter who lives in the beautiful countryside in Kentucky. Mark writes compelling content and high conversion copy for entrepreneurs, colleges, universities and software companies.  Check out his blog and get a free copy of his 200+ page book, “Blog Profiting Secrets”. His newsletter and tutorials are sure to help you raise the bar on your own site’s content and help you take your business to the next level.