Hey all,

Been looking into building a survival kit for a few weeks now and been surfing and came across this site. I signed up a few days ago and just spending some spare time looking thru old posts getting a 'feel' of the forum.

But I do have a question... There are a lot of abbreviations being used on the site, is there a page where one could reference and find out what they mean (such as FAK, PSK, BOB, etc)? If not, could someone help out a newbie?

And i'm doing some research and trying to put together a kit. Would it be possible to post up a suggested kit and get feed back on it?

Thanks in advance,
Kris

FAK, PSK, BOB, etc

They are all TLA's

BAD PONDER! NO cookie for mistreatment of the noob!

FAK - first aid kit
psk - personal survival kit
BOB - bug out bag
TEOWAWKI - The end of the world as we know it
EDC - every day carry
FUBAR - $#%#ed up beyond all recognition
SNAFU - situation now all @#$%ed up

Thanks garland. Welcome Kris! I am also a newbie who also stumbled in. These guys have been extermely helpful and they have a wealth of combined knowledge. Not to mention some twisted humor. I to spent a week reading old posts and asking questions.
kmat

Welcome New Guy.

Here are all I am aware of. Please do not use too many of them, they give me a headache...

List of acronyms used on the ETS- forum:

AIRSAVE - (USAF) (see also, PALS & MOLLE)
ABCDE= Airway/ Breathing/ Circulation/ Disability/ Exposure
ABD-pad= ABDominal pad
ALICE - All-Purpose Lightweight Carrying Equipment
ALS= Advanced Life Support
ATLS- Advanced Trauma Life Support
AM - Amplitude Modulation
AIRSAVE - (USAF) (see also, PALS & MOLLE)
AMK: Adventure Medical Kits
ASAP= As Soon As Possible
ASP: Aviation Survival Pak
ABG= Arterial Blood Gas
AFAIK - As Far As I Know
AOT - As Opposed To

BLS= Basic Life Support
BOB=Bug Out or Bail Out Bag
BOT= Bag of tricks
BOV= Bug Out Vehicle
BTW - By the Way
BK or BK's = Bloody Kid(s)! i.e. Anyone under 60.

CB - Citizens Band
CHP - California highway patrol
CPR - Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation
CRKT - Columbia River Knife and Tool
CW - Continuous Wave (synonymous with radio Morse Code)
C.D. or C.D's. = Coffin Dodger(s). i.e. Anyone over 60.

"DW" means "Dear Wife"
"DH" means "Dear Husband" (or sometimes Damn Husband!)
"DD" is "Dear Daughter"
DIY - Do it Yourself

EDC=Every Day Carry
EAS - Emergency Alert System
EMP - Electro-Magnetic Pulse
Epirb: Electronic positioning indicating radio beacon
EBR - Energy bar wrapper (??)
EDC - Everyday carry
ETS - Equipped to survive
E&E= Escape and Evasion
EMS= Emergency Medical Support
EMT= Emergency Medical Technician

FCOL= For Crying Out Loud
FWIW - For What it’s worth.
FM - Frequency Modulation
FRS - Family Radio Service
FSK: Fire Starting Kit
FAK: First Aid Kit
FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency
FUBAR - Fouled Up Beyond All Repair (polite form)

GMDSS=Global Maritime Distress and Safety System
GMRS - General Mobile Radio Service
GPS - Global Positioning Satellite

Ham - Amateur radio operator (not really an acronym)
HF - High Frequency
HTH - Hope this helps

IIRC - If I recall Correctly
IMHO - In my humble opinion (also; In my honest Opinion)
IME - In My Estimation
IOW - In Other Words
IANAL - I am not a lawyer

KISS= Keep it Simple, Stupid

LBTOJ - Little brown truck of joy ( UPS)
LED - Light Emitting Diode
LTS - Long Term Survival
LE - Law Enforcement
LEO - Law Enforcement Officer

MOLLE - Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment (USMC) (also PALS)
MRE - Meals Ready to Eat (Military Rations)
MURS - Multi-Use Radio Service
MMT: Mobile Medical Team
MVA= Motor Vehicle Accident

NOAA - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
NBC= Nuclear/ Biological/ Chemical

OTOH - On the Other Hand
ORS= Oral Rehydratation Salts

PSK: Personal Survival Kit
PALS - Pocket Attachment Ladder System (US Army) (also MOLLE)
POV - Privately Owned Vehicle
PSP - Pocket Survival Pak
PHTLS= Pre Hospital Trauma Life Support
PLB= Personal Locator Beacon
PM= Private Message

RSK - Ritter survival knife
RSKM2 – Ritter Survival Knife w/ M2 High Speed Steel
RTG’S - Radioisotope thermal electric generators

SOS= Save Our Souls
SAK: Swiss Army Knife
SAR=Search And Rescue
SEP= Survival Equipment Pack (in a life-raft)
SWAT: Special Weapons And Tactics
SF: Special Forces
SAME - Specific Area Message Encoding (NOAA EAS feature)
SCUBA - Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
SAR - Search and rescue
SAS - Special air service
SRLB - Self Righting Life Boat
STS= Short Term Survival
STOP= Stop Think Observe Plan
SIFMS -Sugar I forgot my stuff (polite version)
SNAFU - Situation Normal All Fouled Up (polite form)

TANSTAAFL= There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.
TEOTWAWKI= The End Of The World As We Know It

UPSK=Urban Personal Survival Kit

WRT - With Respect To….
WTF= What The F**k
WTSFTF= When The S**t Hits The Fan
WYSIWYG = What you see is what you get

YASKT = Yet Another Survival Kit Thread
YMMV = Your Mileage may vary

Thanks all!

No worries about newbie froshing. If thats all it is, then nothing to worry about!

Are there other abbr. out there other then those?

OldBaldGuy,

HOLY CRAP!!!!

I never knew!
BK,
kmat

Thats a list I made up, together with some previous posts on this subject. If anyone knows more ETS-used acronyms, please post them here (or send me a PM). That way I can keep the list up-to-date

Thanks

Welcome to the forum Kris.

As far as a suggested survival kit goes it really depends on what you mean by "survival kit" because your definition of the term would dictate the suggestions to be made.

For example "survival kit" may mean a small everyday carry personal survival kit which would be one list of items, it could mean a 72 hour bug out bag which would be a very different set of items or it could be an end of the world as we know it, out in the woods survival kit which again is a very different list of items. So to give you some suggestions it would help to know more about what you are planning for with this kit you want to make.

I as well as many others on this forum have several different kits set up for different purposes and situations. My different kits include:
Car kit
Office kit
Home kit
Bug out kit
Personal daily carry kit
...as well as kits for my family members

Thanks Gatormba,

Good points. The kit i'm trying to put together is a combo personal daily carry/bug out kit.

I will be using a pelican 1060 case. Yeah, its a little big (not a true believer in the altoids canned psk), but I always have a bag with me, and more then enough room to keep that thing in there. As a trial, i've been carrying it empty for about a week with no issue.

It won't be on my person (so, probably not a psk - if i understand the definition correctly), but the bag is always within feet of me.

I work in corporate and venture into the wilderness and marine environments as often as possible, so the kit will be reflecting that. I will be changing key points of the kit depending what i'm going to do, and hoping for more of a modular system with ALOKSAK bags (i.e. first aid, liquids like sunblock in squirt bottles, steril hanky/bandana, cordage, or however it all goes together).

I've also have a very portable vhf radio that i carry on my person at all times. Used as a backup when the mobile goes, or in an area where that will be more useful for communication then the mobile. That is in its own waterproof vhf bag with a lanlard attached to my all carry bag. This this is over kill?

Kris

Welcome aboard! Sounds like you've got a good start.


What type of signalling device(s) do you have if lost at sea? Also, do you have any desalination equipment?

-Blast

Jim,

Another acronym:
PICNIC
Problem In Chair Not In Computer

-Blast, finally noticing the "num lock" key had been pressed.

That is also called PEBKAC- Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair.

It is a horrible, horrible virus that opens your computer up to other viruses and other malware, spyware, spam and just flat out bad software.

Welcome Kris.

It sounds like you have two different EDCs- one for when you are in town, and the one for when you are off the pavement? Or am I misreading that?

If I am reading it right, I would say that maybe you need a tiered or layered kit, where you have the stuff you have with you unless you are sleeping or in the shower, and then determine what you need from there, depending on your environment.

As for overkill... That's hard to do unless you start needing pack mules and/or local bearers.

Blast,

I'm looking at getting amk's signal mirror for a signal device. I don't think i would have room for desalination equipment in my 'always on me' kit. Besides if some form of vessel is close enough i'm counting on the vhf for the audio communication.

_____


Ironraven,

You pretty much got it. Two very different types of EDC's.

Hard to overkill, eh... I imagine if anyone can do it, i'm a good example of one who can!

I'm also looking at items that one would need for city survival
*stuck in an elevator - would a pry bar from www.countycomm.com work?
*personal defense - I always carry a caribeaner (sp?) with me that fits my hand. Never had to use it but imagine metal against someone would hurt
*smoke mask - would a hanky folded and over the mouth and bandana holding it on suffice?
*Anything else?

I think you forgot:

LOA - List of Acronyms

Sorry, couldn't resist

HAND (Have a nice day)

buckeye

And just so the newcomers get the joke…
TLA = Three-Letter Acronym

Yes, we live in a world where we have acronyms that describe our acronyms. God help us. And, again, a hearty welcome to all the newcomers! Glad to have you around!

We also have meetings about the meeting we had last week to the plan for a meeting a month from now that will be a finalization of topics for a meeting to be held next year about the results of a survey that was conducted in response to a meeting 10 years ago. *twitches*

Yay for being civilized.

Stuck in an elevator- put yourself to sleep so you don't have a claustrophobic attack. Really, prying open the doors only really is worthwhile (assuming the building isn't likely to collapse for some reason) is if you know you are at a floor. And even then, with my bag of tricks, I'd rather take a nap.

I cheated, I cut and pasted it from a post someone else put up a while back...

Sorry I didn't give you credit for the list, I didn't remember who I copied it from. I also don't remember what I had for breakfast today, but that is another story/problem...

NightHiker,

Thanks for that... I figured as much, but in all honesty I never tried to open an elevator door!

As for more abbr., this one applies outside of the tech world just as equally as it does inside the tech world:
WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get

Kris

Thank you OBG, I missed saving that list the last time it was posted.

You mean like...

BTW, AFAIAC & IMHO you should keep your EDC (9mm or .40), RSK, PSK (contains a SAK) and FAK in your BOB (AKA Backpack) in case of a local SHTF which will be a STS situation. AOT a TEOWAWKI situation in which you will need toss your BOB into your BOV and head to your BOL ASAP. Also FWIW remember to KISS. AAA so you can PM. GTG so AFK for now... BBS - LOL

After all of these acronyms, I'm going to need AA

I’m still lost on the highlighted portion. That kind of stuff is why I just choose to spell everything out. Having things easier to type isn’t much of a benefit if nobody can read it.

By the way that mini-pry bar looks interesting. It appeals to my amature dentist hobby...

"Amature dentist hobby"?

Why does that phrase make me want to run screaming from the room?

You are soooo mean.

Now, where did I stash the aspirin???

I've been around here for years & missed a few of those.

Reminds me of a place I used to work. Engineer tells them something, customer's representative tells them same thing. Next meeting same question.

AAA = Any Advice Appreciated.

A year or so ago I came across a website which had hundreds of acronyms on it. I printed them out though I still come across new ones that aren't on that list.