Escape & Evade

Whether you're trying to evade a hostile military force, kidnappers in a foreign land, or a group of looters or rioters in a situation of civil unrest, the following information can help for disguising your movement and remaining undetectable while on the run.

1) Mask Your Movements

When moving, a key tactic is to zigzag. Moving in a straight line can lead pursuers right to you.
Always check behind yourself. Duck into alleyways, duck behind the sides of buildings, use the shadows of overhangs to your advantage, and always know if someone is following you.
In the wilderness, avoid walking ON ridgelines but walk below the ridgeline to prevent a distinctive silhouette.
Shoes leave footprints. Pad your shoes with cloth to avoid leaving a distinctive imprint.
When possible, walk IN moving streams or waterway to avoid footprints.
Wear natural clothing, such as greens, blacks, and browns. Ditch bright-colored clothing or dirty them to dull the color.
Hide shiny objects, which can act as mirrors that will draw attention to you.

2) Avoid "Flagging"

Flagging is when you step on a plant, a blade of grass, or leave a broken bottle or a piece of obvious trash in your path behind you.
Flagging leaves clues to your pursuers of where you are going. Don't touch any small trees when in the wilderness.
Move in a zigzag pattern and always be aware of how your passage is affecting the environment.
If building a fire is necessary, build it in a (Dakota) fire pit to avoid spreading the light and smoke. Remove the bark from wood to reduce smoke. Remove all traces when finished.
When engaging in escape and evasion, think like the pursuers. Look at your path through their eyes.
Ask yourself what you are doing, and what mistakes you are making, that could lead these people to you when you are trying to escape.
Seeing your path through the enemy's eyes is the most important tactic of all.

3) Look and Act Like a Local (Gray Man) [Blog Link]

Study them. See how they walk… how do they bend… how do they stand… and how they carry themselves.
Learning to imitate these movements can prevent you from looking like an outsider. Act like the locals and look like the locals.
If someone comes right up to you and interrogates you directly, there may be nothing you can do. But if you can blend in with the local from a distance, you've mastered something that will save your life.

General Rules:

Stay hydrated and fed.
Keep rest stops to a minimum but rest in places that can provide security, have an escape route and can monitor a wide area for approaching pursuers.
Avoid any activities that can cause injury to slow travel time.
Avoid light at night. Use a red filter if lighting is necessary.
Avoid loud talking or noises even when walking.
Before approaching someone for help, take time to monitor/observe them for a period of time to make sure they are friendly. If traveling with companions, approach from different directions with a pre-arranged signal to identify possible trouble.

Shelter Considerations: [Blog Link]
Shelter is the #1 priority in survival. When in an Escape and Evade situation, other factors need to be considered for shelter. That's where B.L.I.S.S. comes into play:

camouflage

Stalker and Surveillance Detection and Response:
There are a number of reasons why a person has the potential to be stalked or under surveillance in everyday life. Having the skills of detecting surveillance and thwarting it is an underappreciated survival skill many don't learn. It is an important tool to help you prevent becoming a victim. Those wishing to do you harm follow the rules that all predators do; they watch before they attack and wait for the opportunity to get you alone. Be a survivor, not a statistic. Here are some things to do:
Always be aware of your surroundings (situational awareness)
If you "feel" or notice you are being followed
- Change your routine. Be unpredictable.
- Detect your stalker by walking/driving in circles to see if they follow the same route
- Set up an ambush to scare or have the stalker arrested. Continue your route while calling the police with your location and description of the stalker.
- If you want to evade your stalker, use the Escape & Evade tactics identified on this page.
Understanding how surveillance works will help you defend against it. There are plenty of resources on the web but here are a few:
What to do If You Are Being Followed
How to know & What to do If You Are Being Followed
How to Check if You Are Under Surveillance
Secrets of Countersurveillance
The Art of Surveillance 1
The Art of Surveillance 2

Hiding From Thermal and Night Vision:
Thermal Imaging, also called passive infrared, works by picking up the infrared radiation – basically heat – radiated by objects, and displaying the different temperatures. It doesn’t matter how expertly camouflaged something is – if it's warmer or cooler than its background, it will show up. Unlike standard night vision devices, thermal imagers don’t need any light at all to pick you up. They can see through mist and smoke. They penetrate rain and falling snow, although those can reduce their range by more than half. If a thermal imager is scanning for you it's much harder to hide but not impossible to evade detection. Read How to Trick Thermal Imaging    [Video 1]    [Video 2]

Night Vision, basically, allows what can be seen in the daylight to be seen in complete darkness. You can see clearly what people are wearing or holding or what they are doing. It is also very flexible in that it can work in a lot of different environments—indoors and outdoors, cityscape, woodland scape, etc. It can see through glass, where thermal may not, but it doesn't see through fog, smoke, tall grass, foliage and walls, as thermal might. [Video]

Hiding from Night Vision or a Thermal Imager follows the same basic principles as hiding from anything else. Your challenge is to avoid standing out in the sensor display. If your pursuer has a conventional scope you do that with camouflage; if he has a thermal imager you'll need to adapt your techniques to focus on hiding body heat, but the basic aim is the same. Hide behind things, Block your body heat, Match your background, Use the crossover times of day (just after sunrise (dawn), and again just after sunset (dusk)).
How to Choose Between Night Vision Or Thermal Optics
Night Vision or Thermal: What’s Better for Your SWAT Operation?

How to Evade Surveillance Recognition Cameras/Software:
Everywhere you walk you're subjected to an array of CCTV (Closed-circuit Television) cameras. When you're in the convenience store, the shopping mall, in a restaurant; all of these cameras are continually capturing your photographs. No big deal, right? I mean, you're a twitter and tweet social butterfly with e-mails, texts, and Facebook posts . . . what could be the harm in that?

Our Anonymity is a Thing of the Past. Why? Because, not only does government and "big tech" want to control the population, they want a complete audio and video surveillance of every person to know where they are going and what they are doing. The following provides suggestions on how to defeat surveillance.

In his article Low-Tech Solutions To High-Tech Tyranny, Brandon Smith provides suggestions on how to defeat surveillance such as:
- Become aware of, and educated about, security cameras
- Wear baseball caps and sunglasses to break up the outline of your face, ears, and noticeable facial "quirks" and characteristics peculiar to you
- Wear a Balaclava - most useful in the winter to keep warm and appear less conspicuous
- Remember the movie Minority Report with Tom Cruz? Eyes are an identifying characteristic that should be covered or disquised.
- Cover identifying scars, birthmarks and tattoos with clothing or masking creams
- Wear a decorative "surgical mask" as fake protection from illness
- Avoid spending large amounts of time directly underneath the little camera-domes, camera lenses, and recording devices
- Position yourself so others (and cameras) can't see what's on your smartphone or computer screen
- Use mylar emergency space blanket material (reflects about 90% body heat) to mask from heat-sensing equipment
- Use makeup and prosthetics to help hide bone structure. By styling hair and wearing makeup in certain patterns, facial recognition can be fooled. Wear a knee brace to change the gait of your walk
- "Blind" cameras by shining a bright light in the lens of a camera
- Learn How to Build a personal EMP disrupter to destroy electronic surveillance equipment.

If Abducted / Kidnapped:
How to Survive an Abduction or Hostage Situation
The Initial (Corporate) Response to a Kidnapping
8 steps to negotiate kidnap & ransom demands

Escaping Restraints:
[Video]    [Article 1]    [Article 2]    [Article 3]

TRACKING / SEARCH & RESCUE:    [Blog Link]

Knowing how to track, to find a lost person or food source animal, may save a life but it can also help in evading an enemy. If you are the one seeking to be rescued (or being tracked), be sure that those who may seem to be your rescuers are actually your rescuers. Observe them for a period of time that satisfies you that their intentions are to your benefit and not to do you harm. Not all who find you are your rescuers so don't assume they are worthy of your trust.

How to track a person in the wilderness – and avoid being tracked by a human

References and Related Links:
Street Survival: What the Homeless Can Teach Us When Life Throws a Curve Ball
Camouflage: Hide in Plain Sight
SERE Training Tactics: Best Way To Turn Yourself “Invisible” On The Run!
Escape and Evasion: Surviving Kidnappings and Forced Captivity
Building a Personal Defense Strategy

Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Handbook

SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) Student Handbook - Free PDF Download