Most survivalists are reserved and quiet individuals who have lost faith in society's ability to protect its own, and who have taken steps to lessen their dependence upon society for aid in an emergency situation. Survivalists realize that modern society is a long and twisted chain of interdependency. Each link of this societal chain is dependent upon every other link to maintain its integrity. At various points within this chain are links that provide the rest of the chain with food, shelter, power, water, communications, transportation, and medical and physical protection. Should enough of these links be suddenly broken, the entire chain may collapse.
Survivalists attempt to reinforce the chain of society by strengthening their own links.
They do this by actively learning and practicing the necessary skills to provide or obtain the basic necessities of life for themselves, their families and their friends. They learn to build and maintain their own homes, provide their own clothes, find, store and purify their own water, establish and maintain their own communications and transportation. They learn to grow, hunt or gather their own food and how to process and store it. They learn to produce, maintain and distribute their own power. They learn to maintain their health through diet and exercise, and how to avoid or handle basic injuries and illnesses.