I'm hardly an expert and I never served in the military, but there is one thing I do know: local intel is what makes or breaks your preparation and your success in moving through an urban population unnoticed, and escaping if you are detained unlawfully. Knowing what you can have with you legally, what will attract the wrong kind of attention, how to get from A to B safely, places you should go and place you should avoid, are critical.

I don't travel internationally much but I have a small ceramic blade along with a plastic handcuff key that I can easily keep unnoticed. While I can pick handcuffs with a paperclip or bobby pin it's a skill that degrades quickly and I don't practice often.