PACE and the Everyday Way

When the SHTF: Using PACE to Build Real-World Resilience (Not Just a Bigger Kit)

We all know the feeling.

You’re out bush, the weather turns nasty faster than forecast, a piece of kit fails, or someone twists an ankle just as the light starts to fade. In that moment, “prepared” suddenly has a very clear definition: can we cope or not?

That’s really what people mean when they talk about “SHTF” (when the stuff hits the fan) — whether it’s a personal emergency, a community crisis, or a bigger disruption. It’s less about the zombies, more about the question:

When things go wrong, do I have layers of options… or just hope?

In Everyday Bushcraft we talk about practical skills and everyday resilience, not fantasy. A powerful way to build that resilience into your kit and mindset is simple military doctrine:

PACE: Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency.

PACE means you deliberately plan four layers for anything mission-critical:

• Primary – what you’ll use first, in normal conditions

• Alternate – your backup if the primary fails or isn’t available

• Contingency – a different method altogether, slower or less convenient, but still workable

• Emergency – last-ditch option to keep you alive and functioning when everything else is gone

Most people stop at Primary. A few think about an Alternate. Very few go to Contingency and Emergency – and that’s where real resilience lives.

The beauty is: PACE doesn’t mean more gear. It means better thinking and stronger skills.

Let’s walk through how PACE applies to SHTF preparedness and how it fits perfectly with the Everyday Bushcraft 5 skills: Self-Aid, Knots, Shelter, Fire, Water.

1. Self-Aid: You Are Your First Responder

In a real SHTF moment, the most important medic is you.

PACE for Self-Aid

• Primary:

  A well-stocked personal first aid kit on your body (not buried at the bottom of your pack). Bandages, wound dressings, tape, pain relief, blister care, gloves, etc.

• Alternate:

  A more comprehensive kit in your pack or vehicle – extra dressings, splint material, triangular bandages, compression bandage, trauma items if you’re trained.

• Contingency:

  Shared or group resources – your buddy’s kit, first aid station at a campsite, basic supplies in a shelter or hut. You may have to move to get them.

• Emergency:

  Improvised self-aid: torn cloth for bandages, trekking pole or branch as a splint, belt as a sling. Your knowledge becomes the kit.

Everyday Bushcraft Connection

Self-Aid isn’t just physical. It’s the skill of looking after yourself when things go wrong – physically, mentally, emotionally.

In everyday life, PACE for Self-Aid looks like:

• Primary: your normal routines – sleep, exercise, good food

• Alternate: talking to a friend, mentor, or partner when stressed

• Contingency: professional support – GP, counsellor, chaplain

• Emergency: crisis hotlines, emergency department, calling 000

  
  

The mindset is the same: don’t rely on one fragile line of support.

2. Knots: Connection, Control, and Backup Options

Knots are about control – being able to secure, lift, pull, and fix things in place. In SHTF, that might be building a stretcher, securing a load, or rigging a shelter in high wind.

PACE for Knots & Cordage

• Primary:

  Good quality paracord or similar cordage on your person (bracelet, belt, or a few hanks in your pocket).

• Alternate:

  Bank line, guy lines, webbing straps, spare shoelaces, elastic cord in your pack.

• Contingency:

  Webbing from packs, seat belts from vehicles, straps from bags – repurposed as cordage when you’re short.

• Emergency:

  Natural cordage – vines, bark, roots, or strips torn from clothing. Slow and fiddly, but it works.

Everyday Bushcraft Connection

Knots also represent the ties in our life – relationships, commitments, responsibilities.

In the Everyday Way:

• Primary “knots”: closest relationships – family, close friends

• Alternate: community – Scouts, church, clubs, local groups

• Contingency: online communities, support networks, neighbours

• Emergency: the simple human kindness of strangers when your usual support is gone

In a crisis, whether in the bush or in life, you find out quickly: how many knots are actually tied, and how strong they are.

3. Shelter: Layers Between You and the Chaos

If you get shelter wrong, everything else gets hard very quickly. In SHTF situations, shelter might be:

• Physical (hoochie, tarp, dwelling)

• Environmental (shade, windbreak, elevated ground)

• Social (group safety, community, a safe house)

PACE for Shelter

• Primary:

  Your planned shelter – tarp/hoochie, tent, swag. The setup you practice regularly.

• Alternate:

  Bivvy bag, emergency space blanket, poncho, or the ability to rig minimalist shelter using your pack and rain jacket.

• Contingency:

  Using natural features – caves (carefully), overhangs, thick tree lines, leeward sides of hills; repurposing materials to create a debris shelter.

• Emergency:

  Body-to-body warmth, sharing a single tarp or blanket, huddling in a tight space out of wind and rain. Not comfortable – but survivable.

Everyday Bushcraft Connection

Shelter is also about belonging and safety in community.

In life:

• Primary: your home, family, routine

• Alternate: extended family, friends’ places, community centres

• Contingency: temporary accommodation, short-term help, church/community support

• Emergency: crisis accommodation, emergency relief services

Everyday Bushcraft reminds us: we all need places (and people) where we can “weather the storm.” Good SHTF planning includes both physical shelter and social shelter.

4. Fire: Heat, Light, Morale, and Momentum

Fire is far more than flame. It’s warmth, light, the ability to cook and purify, and a huge psychological boost.

PACE for Fire

• Primary:

  A reliable lighter that lives on you. Ideally more than one – one in your pocket, one in your kit.

• Alternate:

  Ferro rod and striker, stormproof matches, timed with good tinder (cotton balls with petroleum jelly, fatwood, commercial fire starters).

• Contingency:

  Battery and steel wool, a magnifying lens on sunny days, char cloth with a spark source. Slower, more skill-dependent.

• Emergency:

  Friction fire (bow drill, hand drill) or fully improvising from found materials. This is where “knowledge weighs nothing” becomes painfully real – you either have the skill or you don’t.

Everyday Bushcraft Connection

In the Everyday Way, fire represents passion, purpose, and drive.

PACE for your “inner fire” might look like:

• Primary: work, hobbies, and projects you enjoy

• Alternate: side projects, volunteering, creative outlets that keep your spark alive

• Contingency: taking a course, changing direction, small steps that reconnect you with meaning

• Emergency: reaching out when you’ve burned out completely – asking for help, resetting your life priorities, reclaiming your purpose

When SHTF in life, the question becomes: What keeps your fire alive when normal fuel disappears?

5. Water: Clarity, Flow, and the Ability to Filter

We can last 3 weeks without food. Without water, we have 3 days. In any SHTF scenario, water is non-negotiable.

PACE for Water

• Primary:

  Enough clean water carried for your activity, in reliable bottles or bladders.

• Alternate:

  A quality water filter, combined with knowledge of where to find natural water sources in your area.

• Contingency:

  Purification tablets, boiling, or chemical treatment (e.g. iodine, chlorine-based tabs) when filtration isn’t possible.

• Emergency:

  Solar stills, basic sedimentation and improvised filtration, careful selection of the least-risky source, and rationing. It’s not ideal – just enough to stay alive.

Everyday Bushcraft Connection

Water is also about mental clarity and what we allow into our head and heart.

In everyday life:

• Primary: healthy information “diet” – good books, helpful news, quality conversations

• Alternate: mentors, courses, podcasts, faith, or philosophy that help you make sense of things

• Contingency: stepping away from toxic input – social media breaks, limiting news, simplifying your life

• Emergency: when everything feels muddy, you strip back to basics: sleep, hydration, prayer/meditation, short walks in nature, talking to someone you trust

PACE in this sense is about filtering, not just drinking – choosing what sustains you instead of poisons you.

PACE + The Everyday Bushcraft Philosophy

So how does all this tie together?

1. PACE turns “just-in-case” into “on-purpose”

   Instead of throwing random gear into a bag, you ask:

   • What’s my Primary for each skill?

   • What’s my Alternate?

   • If those fail, what’s my Contingency?

   • If it all goes sideways, what’s my Emergency option?

2. Skills > Stuff

   The deeper you go into PACE, the more you notice:

   • Primaries and alternates are often gear-based.

   • Contingency and emergency rely heavily on knowledge, practice, and mindset.

3. That’s Everyday Bushcraft in a nutshell: you train the human first, gear second.

4. Layered Resilience, Not Fragile Comfort

   In comfortable times, it’s easy to rely on one solution: the lighter, the phone, the car, the supermarket. PACE reminds us that when SHTF – big or small – the people who cope best are those with layers of options.

5. SHTF Isn’t Always Apocalyptic

   Sometimes “SHTF” is just:

   • Your car breaking down in the middle of nowhere

   • A storm knocking out power for a few days

   • Losing a job, getting sick, or a family emergency

6. Everyday Bushcraft uses the 5 skills + PACE to prepare you for those moments – the real ones.

Building Your Own PACE-Based Kit

If you want to start right now, grab a notebook and work through:

For each of the 5 skills:

1. Self-Aid – What is my:

   • Primary?

   • Alternate?

   • Contingency?

   • Emergency (improvised) option?

2. Knots (Cordage) – What do I actually carry? What can I improvise?

3. Shelter – Can I stay dry and out of the wind if my tent fails? What if I lose my pack?

4. Fire – How many methods can I reliably use, even cold, wet, and tired?

5. Water – Can I find, filter, and purify water in the places I actually go?

Then ask the same questions for your everyday life:

• How do I look after myself when things go wrong?

• Who are my support “knots”?

• Where is my social/emotional “shelter”?

• What keeps my inner “fire” burning?

• How do I “filter” what I let into my mind and life?

That’s the Everyday Way: using bushcraft not just to survive a night in the bush, but to prepare for the storms of life with calm, confidence, and layered options.

If you’d like help building a PACE-based Everyday Bushcraft kit – and the skills to back it up – that’s exactly what our courses are designed to do. We don’t just give you gear; we help you become the kind of person who can handle it when the SHTF… and still find a way forward.