100 DEADLY SKILLS by Clint Emerson

• When confronted with unexpected danger, in many cases the safest course of action is escape.
• People tend to imagine worst-case scenarios in highly colorful terms, but chaos and crime are the real apocalyptic scenarios.
• In a future where every stranger poses a potential threat, knowing the predator mindset is the only safe haven.
• learning how to think like a Violent Nomad will radically improve your chances of coming out on top.
• The general rule is the less conspicuous the Nomad, the safer.
• (The waistband and cuffs of pants and the tongues of shoes, for example, are ideal hiding places for handcuff keys and razor blades.)
• Because clandestine operatives cannot board commercial flights with concealed weapons or high-tech spy gear tucked away in their luggage, they favor a “no-tech” or “low-tech” approach that is highly dependent on improvisation.
• Every hotel room has a Bible or a Koran stashed in a bedside drawer—and taping a couple of those together yields a set of improvised body armor that provides significant protection against projectiles.
• Particularly when traveling, civilians are well served by adopting the operative’s predilection for anonymity. Choose clothing and accessories for usefulness and general neutrality.
• The most basic kit, the “pocket kit,” should be comprised of essential weapons, escape and evasion equipment, and one “black” (covert) mobile phone.
• A pistol that cannot be quickly and seamlessly removed from an operative’s holster becomes a deadly liability, so the choice of holster is crucial.
• A human aversion to bloody bandages means captors are unlikely to closely examine lesions or scars, so a Nomad can utilize medical adhesive to glue specific tools onto the body underneath manufactured wounds.
• When a mission involves a high potential for capture, operatives prepare for the possibility that they will be detained, searched, and stripped of any visible weapons. This leaves the operative only one method of recourse: the concealment of weapons and escape tools in his bodily cavities.
• When taped tightly together in units of two, hardcover books such as encyclopedias and dictionaries become rigid bundles or “plates” that can dissipate the energy of a projectile. Taping commonly available ceramic tiles to the outer facing of each plate provides an additional layer of protection, and the resulting armor can be concealed by a jacket or coat or easily carried in a messenger bag or backpack.
• Improvised armor must be thick enough to slow or stop a projectile and thin enough to be wearable.
• Once past basic training, they remain combat-ready by incorporating the “Run Fight Run” formula into their workouts.
• Traditional strength-building and cardiovascular exercises have their place, but integrating the Run Fight Run philosophy into workout routines builds the endurance to outlast an opponent in a fight and/or chase.
• As smugglers and refugees the world over well know, maritime borders in even the most secure countries tend to display high degrees of porosity.
• border crossings are solitary affairs best accomplished via a territory’s most unmonitored, unguarded spaces: by sea (page 28), by land (page 34), or by air.
• A single adult step spans approximately one meter, so one hundred double-steps add up to approximately two hundred meters.
• Night travel is significantly slower than daytime movements but involves fewer risks than traveling in broad daylight.
• Traveling light is crucial, so particularly when crossing into remote territory on foot, the Nomad will separate his gear and supplies into two categories: items needed for the first leg of his journey, and items needed post-mission and/or for emergency exfiltration.
• Building owners seldom set up cameras beyond the first floor—and train those they do install toward doorways, on the assumption that any invaders will be coming in through the ground floor.
• Travelers who look and act like fish out of water are prime targets for criminals of all stripes, and operatives who make themselves conspicuous are prime candidates for discovery.
• Hotel rooms are notoriously unsecure locations.
• Some hotels will actually place Westerners in rooms that are wired for surveillance.
• An operative will look for a room that is equidistant from stairwells and elevators—a room too close to the emergency exit exposes him to the risk of being grabbed and shoved into a stairwell.
• While a solid lock provides a measure of protection against lock picking, only a reinforced doorframe can prevent an assailant from kicking in a door—a few strong blows will hammer a metal deadbolt right through a wooden frame.
• Successful concealment spots should be time-consuming for intruders to unearth.
• Air vents are the perfect width for hiding laptops or tablets containing valuable information—just unscrew the grate and place them in the airshaft.
• The best vehicle for carrying out a mission is the vehicle that attracts the least attention—the vehicle that will allow an operative to tail and sit on a target for hours without risking detection.
• The optimal vehicle for any mission is the one that is unremarkable in every sense.
• Tires should be replaced with high-performance models inflated to the recommended pounds per square inch.
• Learning to depress the brake pedal without locking up the tires is necessary for precise handling.
• Most civilians would be very surprised to learn that, for those in possession of flight training, swiping the world’s most common aircraft—a Cessna 152 or 172—is no more difficult than picking the lock on a flimsy office desk.
• There is no such thing as the ideal improvised weapon, as the best weapon in any scenario is simply the one that can be reached when it is needed. If it can be easily acquired within the area of operation and carried without arousing suspicion, all the better.
• Gunfire’s two biggest giveaways are sparks and sound: an extremely loud bang as the gunpowder inside the bullet’s cartridge is ignited, along with the resulting flash.
• Because bullets and bullet holes leave forensic traces behind, the world’s most common assassination weapon is neither a rifle nor a handgun but a piece of common lead pipe concealed in newspaper.
• at a distance, human beings are recognized by the color and style of their clothing rather than their facial features. Never wear the same thing twice.
• Be on the lookout for people whose dress or behavior does not fit the circumstances.
• Most pin tumbler and wafer locks, however, can be defeated with nothing more than a couple of paper clips and a significant amount of practice.
• Never rely on door chain or bar locks to secure doors. Always use your deadbolt.
• Even in a secured garage, never leave your car keys in your car. Lock the door between your house and garage to create layers of security.
• Cameras are everywhere—always assume you are being recorded.
• Many gun-carrying civilians mistakenly practice their target shooting to the exclusion of related competencies. One frequently neglected area, the art of rapidly and seamlessly drawing a concealed weapon, is crucial to successful self-defense.
• When operatives shoot, they aim to kill—and when they strike, they aim for a knockout.
• The goal in psychological warfare of any sort is to distort a target’s perception of reality in order to bring about a change in behavior.
• A thorough full-body scrub highly reduces the odds of leaving trace DNA behind, so an operative starts from the top and works his way down, brushing his hair as he washes it.
• Denim and cotton are the most common fibers in the world—and therefore the least traceable.
• Attempting to clean a contaminated site is a search for a needle in a haystack—best to avoid leaving traces from the start. Once safely away from the target zone, he burns all operational clothing.
• Any foreign phones pop up on cellular networks as outsider devices, and as such, become increasingly vulnerable to being tracked.
• When possible, operatives prefer to purchase prepaid, contract-free phones inside the host nation rather than bringing in their own.
• Compared to a typical horizontal burial site, a vertical grave leaves a significantly smaller footprint aboveground—and less surface area means a smaller signature for dogs to sniff out.
• The least discoverable burial site is a watery grave at the bottom of the ocean floor, a few nautical miles offshore.
• A secure knot and proper rope length are key to a safe rappelling apparatus.
• When checking into a hotel room, opt for a king-size bed—king-size sheets mean more material, which translates into additional rope length. Once checked in, call the front desk and request additional sheets in order to gather enough rope length to make a potential descent. Building stories are approximately ten feet tall, and one king-size sheet should provide twelve feet of length.
• Tensile strength aside, the rope will only be as dependable as the anchor to which it is tied.
• When an operative is captured in hostile territory, the odds of survival are low. Instead of being taken to trial, he will likely simply be made to “disappear”—which is why operatives practice escaping while wearing undefeatable restraints on hands and feet, both in water and on land.
• When it comes to self-preservation in water, the key to survival is breath control. With the lungs full of air, the human body is buoyant—so deep breaths and quick exhales are key.
• To prevent the tires from rolling off the rims, ensure tire pressure is a minimum of five to ten pounds per square inch over max pressure limits.
• Never follow an attacker to a second location.
• It bears repeating that one of the most important components of any type of restraint defeat happens at the moment of capture—when the operative temporarily “surrenders” while setting himself up for escape as best he can.
• Because zip ties are made of plastic, they can be worn down by repeated friction.
• The key with all types of tape is to move quickly and seamlessly, using the momentum of a snapping action rather than muscle power to shear the tape apart.