Apocalypse Wrong Things That Apocalypse Man Got Wrong

I recently watched Apocalypse Man a documentary about how to survive the post apocalypse. It stars Rudy Reyes a former ex-soldier who shows you different techniques to survive. However once I watched the show I couldn’t help notice the amount of things that either don’t work, don’t work well, or will get you hurt or possibly killed.

Like Rudy Reyes I am also ex-military and I’ve served about the same amount of time (7 years) in an infantry unit, and I can tell you some of the things that he showed on this documentary I would never attempt. Here are some of the things that were shown that you should consider not doing.

If you haven’t seen the show yet you can watch it on my website The Razors Edge (The link is on the bottom of this page) which has a number of videos including this one to help give you an idea of what to expect if our civilization should come to an end 

1. River Crossing

Right at the beginning this show went downhill for me. In the first scene you see Rudy use a crowbar and rope to cross a raised bridge. Now I agree that it’s not a good idea to swim across due to whatever chemicals and waste could be in the water, I strongly don’t recommend trying to cross this way. I’ve tried this technique myself and the chance of getting your crowbar to stick is slim and time consuming. I spent over an hour trying just to make sure the idea was tested, and I only got it to hold once and it wasn’t a secure hold. Instead look for a boat or materials to make a raft.

2. Constant Movement

While I agree one needs to be mobile to avoid threats, and to stay off the main roads, constantly running will tire you out and dehydrate you faster then walking at a brisk pace. The average male burns approximately 2500 calories per day (Depending on age and health) If food is scarce your not going to be doing a lot of running for very long. Conservation is the key; you need to make sure you have enough energy to get out of trouble and to do other things such as clear obstacles or other types of manually intense labour.

3. Breaking And Entering

NEVER NEVER NEVER in the event the collapse comes to just start smashing down doors like you’re a one man army, this is an excellent way to get killed. First you have no idea who or what is in that house. Second you don’t know if the house is booby trapped. All it takes is a little time and twisted imagination to rig a shotgun to a door to blast away whoever tries to open that door on the other side. The other thing to consider is noise. Noise will travel farther due to the lack of background noise such as car traffic, people will hear you if you start smashing through doors and windows clumsily.

4. Generator

At one point Rudy breaks into a hospital to use the backup generator. Now having power is great for charging batteries, security, or even pumping water. But you’re not going to do it with a tiny can of diesel. That amount of fuel he managed to gather would only last 15 minutes if he was actually able to get the generator working in the first place.

These are just a few of the errors I found with the show, trust me there are others. That being said you shouldn’t completely ignore the information in the video; there is useful advice such as using steel wool and a battery to start a fire. Like any kind of research check out other videos to get ideas of what you can do to increase your chances of survival after the apocalypse.