Austere First Aid

FAQ

Is this online, downloadable, a book, DVD… ?

These courses are entirely online, where you stream videos in a special classroom area of this website. You can stream on your computer, phone, and possibly your TV. Most lessons also have associated text notes, links, etc. Videos are not downloadable for now, but we intend on making that possible later on and are looking into how to do that the right way.

Who’s this for?

Total head-in-the-sand beginners, weekend warriors, all the way through experienced preppers advancing their skills. For example, the knife sharpening course isn’t going to make you a professional bladesmith, but it’ll get you close!

But I’m not a “prepper”

Are you a responsible adult? Gone are the days when most preppers fit into stereotypes. All that matters is you’re aware enough to know life can be hard and smart enough to do something about it. You’ll join a diverse community of kind, like-minded people.

Are there politics, conspiracies, preaching, etc?

None. There are plenty of other places for that. This community prefers to keep that stuff separate.

Can I talk to the teachers?

Yep, either them or someone like them. There are discussion areas on each topic, or you can email privately.

Can I get my money back?

Sure! If you’re not happy, just let us know within a month and you’ll get a full refund.

How long do I have access? What about updates?

Lifetime access, including free, automatic upgrades for anything we add or change in the future to that course.

What emergencies do you cover?

Modern, sane prepping means focusing first on things that are more likely than a doomsday zombie fantasy… fun as those might be 😉

Prepping is about anything that could majorly disrupt your life, which might be as simple as a car accident or sudden job loss. Natural disasters are another biggie, as are things like pandemics, economic crashes, civil unrest, and worse. Here’s more.

These courses are meant to apply to normal life as much as possible, but they also explain what to do in the really bad scenarios.

What are the courses like?

No boring slideshows with someone talking into a cheap webcam! Many scenes are shot on location so you can see things ‘for real’. Some classes are more like an in-person course, where it feels like your teacher is talking to a small room of students to explain concepts before getting into demonstrations.

Courses are broken into lessons (eg. “Dehydration”) and their topics (eg. “Symptoms” or “Treatment”). You move through at your own pace and in whatever order you want. Most topics have a main video with additional pictures and text beneath.

How much / what will I learn?

Prepping can be overwhelming in general — and you shouldn’t have to dive into the deep end of a topic just to learn the basics. We focus on Pareto Preparedness, based on the 80-20 “Pareto rule,” so you get the right info you need and none of what you don’t. That way you can get back to enjoying real life … just a lot smarter!

Once you finish a course, you’ll know enough to get you through the vast majority of emergency scenarios you’ll face and you will be better prepared than 99% of people around you.

But Youtube is free?

How often have you wasted hours browsing through videos to not really learn anything or get a clear answer you’d trust with your life? The old adage “you get what you pay for” is definitely true in prepping.

You’d be shocked at how much dangerously-wrong “advice” is taught online. Skip the rambling amateurs, extremist hermits, and ineffective lessons that don’t actually make you safer.

Even if you can find good free needles in that massive haystack, it will take days of hunting just to come close to these high-quality, professionally-taught courses — and you won’t get the ‘whole package’ of a structured, memorable flow built specifically for modern preppers.

Online vs. in-person lessons

We won’t offer an online courses unless we think it’s just as good as an equivalent in-person weekend course. Some are even better than a week-long 24/7 course.

In-person learning is great, especially for getting dynamic feedback as you practice your skills. And for hanging out with other people. Here’s a list of local training centers. Many of our video instructors also offer in-person lessons. But physical classes are often multiple times more expensive than these online courses, require you to travel, and you can’t go at your own pace.

You might want to take an online course so you can warm up at your own pace before your limited and expensive in-person time. Maybe you want to try the cheaper online version first before deciding if you want to go to a more advanced physical course. Or maybe you’ve taken an in-person course and want the digital version as a refresher you can go back to over the years.