Free Survival PDFs, Manuals, & Downloads
Information is power. We share free survival manual PDFs and other related documents for download.
BY SEAN GOLD, UPDATED:
Latest Update: Added an older Scout Handbook, Antarctic Field Manual, Sweden’s Preparedness Guide, and a Hurricane Checklist.
There is a vast landscape of quality survival materials already existing that many people simply don’t have access to or don’t know where to look. Sometimes these resources also lose their online host, making them lost to all but those who have already downloaded them. Rather than reproducing work on these topics, it is better to preserve them on a dedicated server.
This is why we started a prepping library or a repository of information that is useful to download and have on hand. We have plenty of resource space online, thanks to our faithful readers, subscribers, and supporters. Whether or not you choose to print or save to a mass storage device is up to you.
All of our PDF files are pre-compressed, conventionally named, and organized. This means you can fit more on a thumb drive and actually find what you need when you need it. We host them ourselves, so you can skip sketchy download sites and messy PDFs. You can also download all of the resources at once, using our new One-Click Download.
Contents (Jump to a Section)
US Military Manuals
These free manuals from the military can be a good starting point for your prepper library. They cover plenty of topics but are concise and easy to understand. The manuals are written for everyone, from privates all the way up to generals, so they are easy for anyone to follow in stressful situations.
Military Survival Guides
Survival-specific manuals and guides are the top priority for your prepper library. If you served in the US military, you’ll likely recognize these as they made us carry them around and learn sections from a few of them.
- FM 21-76 Survival Manual – The broad US Army/Marines survival manual covers a wide range of survival topics.
- FM 21-76-1 Survival, Evasion, and Recovery – This is shorter, smaller, and more concise than the above manual- meant to be a pocket guide.
- FM 31-70 Basic Cold Weather Manual – Clothing, movement, combat, and survival are all geared for cold weather in this guide.
- USMC Summer Survival Course Handbook – A reference manual for a training course covering a lot of info from water procurement to survival traps.
- USMC Winter Survival Course Handbook – Another survival course reference with cold-weather tactics included.
Military Survival Skills
Skill-specific or operating manuals that are useful for survival situations.
- FM 3-06 Urban Operations – This manual covers WMDs, asymmetrical threats, and many other urban warfare considerations.
- FM 3-3-1 Nuclear Contamination Avoidance – Avoidance is best when it comes to any NBC threats- this will show you how.
- FM 3-4 NBC Protection – If you can’t avoid non-conventional threats, you need to know how to detect them and use your PPE.
- FM 3-5 NBC Decontamination – Decontaminating CBRN agents is tough to get right, so having a manual on hand definitely helps.
- FM 3-25.26 Map Reading and Land Navigation – Navigation manual using maps, compasses, grids, overlays, and more.
- FM 3-25.150 Combatives – Bayonet fighting and hand-to-hand manual.
- FM 4-25.11 First Aid – Covers general first aid, specific injuries, CBRN, first aid gear use, and more.
- FM 5-103 Survivability – This field manual is focused on combat survivability and command-level planning to improve it with positioning, camouflage, etc.
- FM 20-3 Camouflage Concealment and Decoys – An older guide that goes over how to avoid detection.
- FM 21-10 Field Hygiene and Sanitation – Although they are often overlooked, hygiene and sanitation are hugely important for survival (and troop health).
- FMFRP 12-80 USMC Kill or Get Killed – A blunt and to-the-point handbook on everything from unarmed combat to riot control.
- MA 1.02 USMC Fundamentals of Martial Arts – You’re not likely to learn combat skills without hands-on training, but manuals can still help.
- ST 31-91B Special Forces Medical Handbook – A 400+ page medical handbook that covers a large range of medical topics.
- STP 21-1 Army Warrior Skills Level 1 – Army manual going over everything, from first aid to weapons platform operation.
- STP 21-4 Army Warrior Leader Skills Level 2, 3, and 4 – A continuation of the manual above, designed for leaders.
- TM 31-210 Improvised Munitions Handbook – A whole handbook on improvised munitions goes into detail about how to make the basics, like black powder.
Survival Manuals
Survival manuals are an easy way to develop a deeper understanding of specific topics or skills. Here are the ones we’ve found that aren’t US military manuals.
- Canadian Military Fieldcraft – Similar to the US FM 21-76 Survival Manual.
- Down But Not Out – Canadian National Defence survival manual.
- Introduction to Survival – CIA RDP78 (2000) manual for a wide range of survival skills with a larger focus on land nav and parachuting.
- Boy Scout Handbook [1911] – The older scout handbook is much more survival-oriented than their modern guides.
- US Antarctic Continental Field Manual – Various survival kit contents and brief instructions for scientists stationed in Antarctica.
Survival Skills
Specific skill and resource guides related to survival.
- Canadian Military Basic Cold Weather Training – The Canadians know how to handle cold weather best, and this military guide walks you through the basics.
- Deadfalls and Snares [Harding, 1907] – Over a century old, this guide covers a wide range of traps with illustrations.
- Paleo-Pocalypse by Rowan WalkingWolf – An interesting guide showing how to make primitive equipment with trash.
- Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties [Beard, 1916] – This guide on shelters is older than dirt, but still a great resource.
Preparedness Manuals
Preparedness extends beyond wilderness and urban survival and can include food storage plans, water collection, sustainable gardens, and more.
- FEMA Citizen Preparedness Guide – This 31-page “Are You Ready?” guide is like an extended brochure- heavily bulleted, to the point, and an effective guide for beginners.
- LDS Preparedness Manual – You can get this comprehensive prepping guide from the church, but we’re hosting it here for free as well (redundancy).
- Estonia Be Prepared Crisis Guide – The Päästeamet ERB in English is an easy-to-digest emergency guide designed for the residents of Estonia.
- Norway One Week Preparedness Guide – Norway’s emergency preparedness guide from its Civil Protection department covers the basics in just 20 pages.
- Sweden In Case of Crisis or War – Sweden keeps it short and sweet as well, with their 32-page readiness guide focusing on its country’s various threats.
First Aid PDFs
First aid is paramount during disasters and emergencies. Knowledge can be hard to come by when there isn’t a doctor around, and even then, resources can always help and never hurt.
- Where There is No Doctor – A Village Health Care Handbook [Werner, 2011] – A great guide for getting through difficult first aid situations with fewer resources.
- Where There is No Dentist [Dickson, 2010] – A dental guide that breaks down dental first aid in layman’s terms.
Preparedness Threat Guidance
Advanced preppers may explore ‘the why’ for preparedness, and these free PDF resources can help explain why certain preps are better than others.
- Collateral Damage to Satellites from an EMP Attack [DTIC, 2010] – A look at the Starfish Prime EMP tests and resulting damage on infrastructure satellites.
- Nuclear Winter: The Anthropology of Human Survival [LANL, 1985] – A high-level panel discussion on the threats, mitigation, and after-effects of nuclear war and the resulting nuclear winter.
Nuclear & Radiation PDFs
Nuclear-specific threats can require specific plans and gear to address them.
- Planning Guide for Response to Nuclear Detonation [FEMA, May 2022] – Updated recently to better cover non-ground impact detonations, but a long-running response guide that is very useful for planning.
- Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearny [DOE, 1987] – Originating from the Department of Energy itself, this is one of the only nuclear guides endorsed by nuclear physicists who coordinated nuclear tests. If you only have one Nuclear manual, this is the one to have. Chapters 1 and 2, as well as the evacuation checklist, are timeless foundations for Nuclear survival.
- Family Shelter Designs [DOD CD, 1962] – A civil defense manual with eight different fallout shelter configurations that scale in complexity and effectiveness.
- Build a Protective Fallout Shelter – Not as comprehensive as Kearny’s Nuclear War Survival Skills, but this homegrown guide is useful in that it shows you how to build a fallout shelter with common construction supplies.
Plan Checklists
Checklist templates make any plan easier to accomplish.
- Basic Emergency Plan – A resource developed by us here at TruePrepper to kickstart your prepping and get the important info down on paper. You can see the guide to filling it out: The Basic Emergency Plan Guide.
Survival Kit Checklists
Develop and maintain your kits with easy-to-follow checklists. We’ve developed several checklists over the years to help you plan for specific situations or threats, or to develop your main survival kit.
- Home Survival Kit Checklist – from our guide Home Survival Kit List | 53 Essentials
- Survival Food Checklist – from our guide Survival Food List | Pantry Stockpile Checklist
- Everyday Carry Checklist – from our guide Everyday Carry List | 25 EDC Essentials
- Bug Out Bag Checklist – from our guide Bug Out Bag List | 44 Essentials
- Get Home Bag Checklist – from our guide Get Home Bag List | 43 Essentials
- INCH Bag Checklist – from our guide INCH Bag List | 44 Essentials
- SCARE Kit Checklist – from our guide SCARE Bag Guide, Gear List, and Checklist
- Nuclear Survival Kit Checklist – from our guide Nuclear Survival Kit List | 16 Essential Items
- Flood Survival Kit Checklist – from our guide Flood Survival Kit Guide, Gear List, and Checklist
- Hurricane Survival Kit Checklist – from our guide Hurricane Survival Kit | 17 Essentials
- Kids’ Bug Out Bag Checklist – from our guide Kids’ Bug Out Bag List | 14 Essentials
- Dog But Out Bag Checklist – from our guide Dog Bug Out Bag Guide, Gear List, and Checklist
- Car Emergency Kit Checklist – from our guide Car Emergency Kit List | 23 Essential Items
- Bug Out Vehicle Checklist – from our guide Bug Out Vehicle List |27 Essentials
- Survival First Aid Kit Checklist – from our guide Survival First Aid Kit List | 28 Essentials
Reference Pages
Quick one-page PDF guides for specific survival topics.
- The Military Phonetic Alphabet – Brush up on your radio etiquette and communicate clearly when it matters most (full phonetic alphabet guide).
- The Universal Edibility Test – If you need to forage to survive, you’ll want to know this test and the timing (full universal edibility test guide).
One-Click Download
If you want to expedite your survival PDF library building and get everything all at once, zipped in organized folders, head over to our Patreon page. You can get it two different ways over there:
- Purchase for $5 – This includes every file on this page. It’s easy since they come zipped, labeled, and organized. The price helps us host these files.
- Join our Patreon for $5/mo – If you join our Patreon, you get every resource on there for free as well. Plus, it’ll help us make more guides, reviews, videos, and more. Also, we’re not done adding files and resources, so if you are a Patron, you’ll get notifications and continuous access to the one-click download.
This model allows everyone to get the resources they need, unburdens our site from large downloads, and lets you support our team if you feel that we deserve it.
The Final Word
Hopefully, we’ve helped you get a bit more prepared with these resources. If you have any suggestions for other guides or manuals that we should host for free, feel free to contact us and let us know. We won’t infringe any copyrights- those authors work hard to put together reliable survival manuals, and we support them for their efforts.
- Best Survival Guide Book (Hardcopy)
- Best Survival USB for Document Storage and More
- How to Start Prepping | Prepper 101
Keep exploring, stay prepared, and be safe.
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