Tactical Urban Sustainment Course at DARC

This is going to be a little vague. As a lot of you know, DARC is very protective of their IP and course materials. This is not out of some misguided sense of gatekeeping or censorship, but out of respect for its students and staff. The TTPs and SOPs developed by DARC were paid for in blood, and to compromise them for the sake of clicks, likes, and views is scummy at best. 

What I will talk about are some of the general concepts and lessons learned.

1: Water is King. It isn’t sexy or cool. Its not direct action raids with quad nods and lasers.

But the importance of water sourcing, transportation, purification, and storage can not be overstated. You need a water plan. You need it yesterday. You may think you have a secure water source, a well, a spring on your property, or a nearby river. What if they are compromised? What do you do when you find dead bodies in them? How are you going to make sure you arent killing your friends and family when you hand them a cup of water to drink?

2: Community is Queen. You need to be building a community of people RIGHT NOW. You WILL die alone, or in a small group. You CAN NOT make it with just you and a few buddies. You need as many able bodied people as you can get your hands on. They don’t need to be pipe hitting operators. They need to be good, moral, willing people who want to help one another. Without this, you are dead.

3: Mentality is mandatory, Attitude is everything, Burpees are free. You need to have the mental fortitude to do hard things for an extended period. Life in a collapse scenario is going to be brutally hard. Do hard things now so you are used to it. Your attitude and the attitude of those around you are going to be a deciding factor in your survival. Physical fitness is key. I am not where I want to be, but I was endlessly grateful for all 70lbs of fat I shed in the last 15 months

4: Sleep is a luxury, you can manage without it for a time. Security and water are higher priorities than sleeping

5: Proper tactics can defeat a technologically superior foe, but its like playing on hard mode

6: NODs need to be a priority. Thermals and drones are right behind them in importance.

7: Your kit NEEDs to be flexible and scalable. A niche focused setup means you are ill equipped for a majority of situations. Things need to work together in tandem, and separately. 

8: Good pants, gaiters, and boots are worth their weight in gold (duh)

9: You need to learn how to work with, and lead people. If you can’t do that, you are dead.