Opinions or Advice on Survival Camps

dougo83 said:
Ok...I am majoring to work in the Lutheran Church Missuori Synod as a youth pastor and am looking to start a Biblically founded survival camp. I want something harder than your basic weekend church camp. I am looking for suggestions of survival centers, similar to BOSS in Utah to attend and possibly use some of their ideas, with permission of course, as the framework for my idea. Any help or links would be greatly appreciated...

PeACE
Click to expand...

I applaud you for you goals and enthusiasm. From your explanations, it sounds to me like your feet are on the ground, not walking on clouds. Good!

I am a know-nothing on the subject of organized professional survival camps/schools. I've never been to BOSS or even any of the better (IMHO) programs like Marty & Kevin's.

But... (and away we go! :D) MY OPINION is that the safest, surest way to launch the program you have in mind is to do it through an established program with an excellent track record, such as the aforementioned.

It would give you experience in administering such a program, limit early liabilities, remove the need to vet instructors yourself, set up facilities and curriculum and logistics.

Then, your first students get a quality experience, you get hands on training and one-on-one instruction from some of the best established people out there with real "dirt time" doing what you hope to do.

I have no doubt that most of them would be very willing to allow you to modify their base program, "planned for every Joe", to include the religious component that makes your intended program different. You might be surprised (maybe not) how well your idea is received and integrated into an existing program and instructors for a customized session.

Codger - forever the optimist - :)
 
I've done some research into this genre of wilderness activity for my own course. I found that there are many groups who are using the wilderness experience for ministry don't incorporate survival training but rather rely on the wilderness experience of extended backpacking trips or canoe trips to work in the dynamics that get people thinking about their lives. Hard work, stress, finding your limits, teamwork, helping out other members of the group, overcoming shared obstacles, etc.

I would highly recommend Pilgrimage, they run a course for youth leaders in which they guide you through a tough canoe trip in Algonquin Park Ontario and teach how the dynamics of a wilderness trip play out. Then they offer a discount for any leader who wants to bring their youth group back for a trip later in the summer. They have been at this for a long time and have the legals all worked out. When you run a trip with your own youth group any spiritual content is up to you.

I have found that if I keep my group size small and do some teaching with them before hand that things go alot smoother once we get in the field. I've found this especially true with compass navigation. I have each team over to the house for a full afternoon of compass orientaton before we get to the bush.

Dealing with the legalities here in Brazil is far simpler than what you face in the US. Believe it or not there are places in the world where if you step in a hole everyone still thinks its your fault. Mac
 
i am not so sure you need to torture people to get the most out of wilderness survival training, i think that basic skills like shelter building, fire starting, navigation can be done with less risk, and you dont have to go 100 miles into the wilderness to do it. there are a lot of places where you can be in the woods but still in cell phone range as a safety issue. granted that adult supervision and some good instructors are needed, there are lots of places that you can be 15 min from a hospital and still be in the woods.

and good luck to you and your program.

alex
 
Trent Rock said:
LOL
I think it is a SPOOF church/web page
I have to admit
They had me fooled
I thought it was a real church for about 3 minutes :eek:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landover_Baptist_Church

I'm sure the kids at your camp will appreciate the outdoor element
Make sure you post some pics for us when U get it up and running

Are you gonna do any knife related stuff?
Maybe sharpening skills?
Or throwing contest?
Whittling?
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Yea...I didn't read much of it, I just reacted...damn you, internet!! :foot:

Pics will be abundant, both here and on my fledgling blog, which is simply an accumulation of these resources I am receiving and "progress reports"

As far as knife skills, I can sharpen and that's about it, I would certainly have to bring in a expert to teach anymore than that. I guess whittling wouldn't be too hard for a former Scout.
 
alco141 said:
i am not so sure you need to torture people to get the most out of wilderness survival training, i think that basic skills like shelter building, fire starting, navigation can be done with less risk, and you dont have to go 100 miles into the wilderness to do it. there are a lot of places where you can be in the woods but still in cell phone range as a safety issue. granted that adult supervision and some good instructors are needed, there are lots of places that you can be 15 min from a hospital and still be in the woods.

and good luck to you and your program.

alex
Click to expand...

Thanks...I am not sure I came off quite right. I am not meaning to torture the participants, but I feel my staff should be 'run through the wringer' so that they are more able to deal with potential mistakes.
 
Codger_64 said:
I applaud you for you goals and enthusiasm. From your explanations, it sounds to me like your feet are on the ground, not walking on clouds. Good!

I am a know-nothing on the subject of organized professional survival camps/schools. I've never been to BOSS or even any of the better (IMHO) programs like Marty & Kevin's.

But... (and away we go! :D) MY OPINION is that the safest, surest way to launch the program you have in mind is to do it through an established program with an excellent track record, such as the aforementioned.

It would give you experience in administering such a program, limit early liabilities, remove the need to vet instructors yourself, set up facilities and curriculum and logistics.

Then, your first students get a quality experience, you get hands on training and one-on-one instruction from some of the best established people out there with real "dirt time" doing what you hope to do.

I have no doubt that most of them would be very willing to allow you to modify their base program, "planned for every Joe", to include the religious component that makes your intended program different. You might be surprised (maybe not) how well your idea is received and integrated into an existing program and instructors for a customized session.

Codger - forever the optimist - :)
Click to expand...

Codger, I couldn't agree more, that is why I posted here. I am looking for advice and acknowledge my own impulsive nature. I really appreciate all the added ideas.
 
pict said:
I've done some research into this genre of wilderness activity for my own course. I found that there are many groups who are using the wilderness experience for ministry don't incorporate survival training but rather rely on the wilderness experience of extended backpacking trips or canoe trips to work in the dynamics that get people thinking about their lives. Hard work, stress, finding your limits, teamwork, helping out other members of the group, overcoming shared obstacles, etc.

I would highly recommend Pilgrimage, they run a course for youth leaders in which they guide you through a tough canoe trip in Algonquin Park Ontario and teach how the dynamics of a wilderness trip play out. Then they offer a discount for any leader who wants to bring their youth group back for a trip later in the summer. They have been at this for a long time and have the legals all worked out. When you run a trip with your own youth group any spiritual content is up to you.

I have found that if I keep my group size small and do some teaching with them before hand that things go alot smoother once we get in the field. I've found this especially true with compass navigation. I have each team over to the house for a full afternoon of compass orientaton before we get to the bush.

Dealing with the legalities here in Brazil is far simpler than what you face in the US. Believe it or not there are places in the world where if you step in a hole everyone still thinks its your fault. Mac
Click to expand...

I am moving to Brazil. I would love to work in an environment where you are responsible for yourself. Thanks for the tips again. Pilgrimage looks like the place to go once I finally decide to save the money...and get a passport...
 
I am moving this all over to my fledgling blog and copy a whole lot of information to my computer. Anyone who wishes to chime in, and I hope there are more out there, are welcome to do so. Just do it here.

http://clearblogs.com/dougo83/

Thanks to all

PeACE
Doug
 
tonym said:
I am going to Marty Simons place this summer. As anyone who ever met Marty or his head instructor Kevin Estela (they post alot of helpful info on this forum)knows it will be hard to find a better place to learn wilderness skills than theirs. Check out his website. http://www.weteachu.com/
Join me there, I don't think you will regret it.
Click to expand...

Tony,
When are you going? I am all for trying it out, but I have to find the $800+ travel from TX. Give me a heads-up.

Doug
 
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