Friend ripped off at survival school

Two things you always want to do.

1. Always ask for names and numbers of satisfied clients.
2. Always ask for paperwork that references the program in detail.

If they won't supply either, look for another school.

One other thing you may want to do.

I know this person is your friend, but is it possible that he/she may have fabricated a little in their description of what actually took place or was taught? The reason I ask is, I have an aquaintance that attended a survival school and wasn't satisfied with how and what he was taught. First off, he was a complete greenpea and didn't take the gear that the school asked him to bring. He took camping equipment instead of the minimal gear asked for. He didn't have a knife, didn't have the appropriate clothing, etc and when they called him on it, he left and didn't return and then came to me complaining that they didn't know what they were talking about. I called the school and got the truth.

Before slamming the school on a public forum, verify, verify, verify everything that you intend to say.
 
longbow50 said:
The reason I ask is, I have an aquaintance that attended a survival school and wasn't satisfied with how and what he was taught. First off, he was a complete greenpea and didn't take the gear that the school asked him to bring. He took camping equipment instead of the minimal gear asked for. He didn't have a knife, didn't have the appropriate clothing, etc and when they called him on it, he left and didn't return and then came to me complaining that they didn't know what they were talking about. I called the school and got the truth.
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:eek: Didn't have a knife! :eek: :thumbdn: Blasphemy! :thumbdn:

Very true, I think several people have asked for the name of this school and the course in this post, in order to checkup on the story as well as the school, as Longbow has pointed out.

I did a google search and didn't come up with much, found an Idaho State University class, that's about it.
 
saturnine138 said:
My Boy Scout Wilderness Survival merit badge trained me better than that, and that was only a few hours a day for a week. For any real amount of money, I'd expect primitive cooking, edible plants, hunting and tracking, shelter making(not the tarp kind), fire starting, and rope making at the very least. How much did he pay for it?
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Ditto. He got ripped
 
Skunk with your new found bladesmiting skills you should teach fiels procurment of weapons and scotch. LOL
 
SkunkWerX said:
Most in here have done enough reading and research to do some level of training, the books an coursework typically go like this:

Chapter 1: The Survival Mindset
Chapter 2: Shelter
Chapter 3: Fire
Chapter 4: Water
Chapter 5: Food
Chapter 6: First Aid
Chapter 7: Orienteering (getting out)

Beyond that, add some woodcraft /bushcraft/ improvised tool & weapon making and you have a good start on a Course.

I'll teach AirMatress101! :rolleyes:

Really, there should probably be 3 levels, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. It would allow people to enter at different levels based on their skills, and also would allow a novice to move through the program, each time building on what they had learned in a prior class.

I would view the "Advanced" course, as "The real thing" , but Instructor led.
Bring your gear, (it would have been checked-out and OK'd during the Intermediate Course) head out into the bush, and perform the learned skills in a fluid manner, proving students competence and knowledge of what to do, and when to do it.

The Begiinner's Courses in any field are always tough to put together, because they must be taught from ground zero. This would mean assuming very little of the student's knowledge and abilities. Imagine taking the time needed to go over "proper safe knife & tool usage".
It would be necessary to do so before any student picked up a sharp object, for fear that blood would be flowing in under 10 minutes without proper coverage of safety issues.

This would be doable with the right staff/personnel and a good location.
Beginner's would need to be closer to "civilized" facilities, Intermediate level could set up a camp within a 15 min. walk from facilities, while Advanced would be hiking "in" leaving civilization behind.

Great idea Mymindisamob.
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COme to think of it, thats exactly how the "Wilderness survival" class at Truckee Meadows Community COllege goes, but then it gets into case specific situations...in the snow, in the desert and urban apocolypse stuff.
 
The Chef said:
COme to think of it, thats exactly how the "Wilderness survival" class at Truckee Meadows Community COllege goes, but then it gets into case specific situations...in the snow, in the desert and urban apocolypse stuff.
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There is so much info to cover, you would almost need "workshops" that dealt specifically and In Depth with specific issues. Cold climate, Desert, Jungle.
To correctly cover skills like Climbing, they would be their own course. Even Orienteering could easily become it's very own coursework.

Tballetta: I don't drink hard liquor, so I'm not the scotch guy. :confused:

When the going gets Tough, the Tough look to me to have lunch ready. :D :D
 
I'll teach AirMatress101
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Skunk doesn't that involve a female? :D

...I couldn't resist!

On topic though, it sounds like a rip-off to me. Lesson learned though, pick up and learn more the bookworm way!
 
Hard to say whether or not the class was a rip-off, but obviously it wasn't what your friend expected.

Many people seek out classes that specialize in teamwork, leadership skills, personal growth and development, and "touchy feely" sessions. Other people are attracted to classes that offer reasonably comfortable outdoor living and a laid-back recreational atmosphere, picking up spome outdoor skills along the way. And other people take classes to learn hard-core survival skills.

My point is, there are dozens (hundreds?) of outdoor classes offered throughout the country, each with it's own emphasis, teaching techniques, and target audience. Either the promotional material didn't accurately describe your friend's class, or he didn't shop around enough to find the type of program he was interested in.

-Bob

BTW, I had to snicker at the air mattresses. I've never used one, not even when car-camping. I've never even used a foam pad.
 
What do the good schools assume you will have with you when you are in a survival situation?
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I took a 21-day desert survival class in college. The first portion was a "knife and blanket" backpacking trip, three or four days. We had backpacks, but no tents, sleeping bags, prepared foods, or matches.

We did always carry our Ten Essentials - that's not something to take lightly, even in a structured setting with professional instructors, when you're days from help in a true wilderness setting.

But the most important part of survival training and being comfortable outdoors, is learning to do without. How to get by and make due with what you have, have to fully utilize the items you do have, and how to improvise or actually make necessities.

-Bob
 
'Survival' is a curious industry fueled by a market with consumers equally uneducated as savvy customers let alone outdoor skills. I've quietly attended a few, keeping quiet about my own skills ( far from 'expert' in any) and association with ETS. Some folks are good and some you wonder where they came from; the guy telling me I was wrong about plant I.D. ( I took several graduate classes in California botony for my degree) while he stood in Poison Sumac was a lot different from Chris Nyerges eagerly letting a student TEACH HIM about a folk use for a plant their grandmother taught them. Some schools employ a 'tough love' philosophy and put students under physical stress. I disagree with this, as do their family members who sue for needless deaths every few years. You are not going to learn everything from one instructor. As good as they are, nobody can predict 100% whats coming at you. But if they can get 51% of what you need across it will be enough to let you muddle through and live. It may be the next instructor has a 'campfire manner' that clicks with you and passes on another 23% and so on. Many years ago I suggested, on the glowing reports of friends in the environmental movement REEVIS MOUNTAIN SCHOOL in Arizona. I suggested them to a friend who had taken many courses and was moving there. Well, he came back a little disgusted. He didn't like the food (vegetarian) or the campfire talks about reincarnation. I finally heard praise forthe incredible botanical knowledge they have, and then he excitedly demonstrated making a bowdrill fire, a skill he could never master under several instructors. It seems Peter has an exceptional talent for teaching this critical skill in between campfire talks about reincarnation. So again, you have to do your research, have a clear idea what you expect for your time and money and what you do not. French foriegn Legion death marches and dreamcatchers with a new spirit guide name are not my critera for a survival school. $350 goofy knives are not my choice when Mors Kochanskie instructors and students use Moras. But if I learn bowdrill fires? Sure, I'll talk about reincarnation around the fire I created.
 
$350 goofy knives are not my choice when Mors Kochanskie instructors and students use Moras.
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Our instructor was a long-time desert skills instructor from Salt Lake City. His own knife was a ring-lock Opinel. :D

-Bob
 
fedaykincmndr said:
Skunk doesn't that involve a female? :D

...I couldn't resist!

On topic though, it sounds like a rip-off to me. Lesson learned though, pick up and learn more the bookworm way!
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Bromance is in the air! :cool: :rolleyes:

I was thinking though that if you truly are a survival instructor wouldn't you at least have a knife or a hatchet? Seems like clanking rocks and making do with a non functioning fire bow isn't a good way to survive.
 
Any survival school with no water or signaling content is sub-minimal. And if one had tarps, sleeping bags, etc., sounds like no shelter content either.
 
I know Peter Bigfoot at the Reevis Mountain school- not well, but I have spent a couple of days with him. He is certainly a hippy (not vegan anymore at last contact though) but he knows his stuff backwards and forwards. Really a nice guy, but not everyone's cup of tea.

He grows AWESOME fruit. The best peach I ever ate was one he raised in the desert.

As far as not teaching water and shelter, I agree- but with this caveat...
Teaching PRIMITIVE SHELTER in the same area over several classes is environmentally expensive. We usually make one "hardcore" shelter, and focus on the concepts. Other shelters we make might use things like straw or cornstalks to keep the area from being stripped.
 
Horse said:
Teaching PRIMITIVE SHELTER in the same area over several classes is environmentally expensive. We usually make one "hardcore" shelter, and focus on the concepts. Other shelters we make might use things like straw or cornstalks to keep the area from being stripped.
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A constant issue.
 
Perhaps it was a homeless school? Could come in handy....
 
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