RAT's Start

B

Brokensj

Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Messages
113
Jeff/Mike,

I have read your info on the RAT site but was just curious about how you got your start in your adventure side of life. What were you guys doing(9 to 5 jobs) before you started, what types of courses have you done, how/why did you envolve into jungle training, instead of say..mountain or desert? At what point were you like screw this , lets do it our selfs and how did you jump into the scene.

Guess I'm asking for some more specifics on how not just RAT but you guys came to be what you are today. Really interested in how one goes from the day to day grind to travel and survival courses.

Thanks
 
Not trying to avoid the question but would rather wait until my head's in the right place to answer. Currently I am sipping vodka and sprite so before I explain how we took over that small country in South America and launched RAT, I want to be cold sober.
 
R.A.T. said:
Not trying to avoid the question but would rather wait until my head's in the right place to answer. Currently I am sipping vodka and sprite so before I explain how we took over that small country in South America and launched RAT, I want to be cold sober.
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Sounds like a plan.

It is 14 days, 19 hours, 58 minutes and 9 seconds until I'm back on American soil with a fridge of redbull and vodka at my command. So cheers to you and your drink
 
R.A.T. said:
Not trying to avoid the question but would rather wait until my head's in the right place to answer. Currently I am sipping vodka and sprite so before I explain how we took over that small country in South America and launched RAT, I want to be cold sober.
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Myself a little Gin and Tonic:D
 
I want to hear this as well. But i have to wait 307 days till i can have a drink and i am counting down
 
That's a damn good question, I've been wondering that for quite a while. I've heard bits and pieces but not the whole deal.
 
Sadly, it's not as dramatic as everyone may think. I was writing for the old American Survival Guide magazine back in the mid-90s. A fellow called me and offered to pay my way down to Peru if I would write an article on his survival trips down there. I did. Fell in love with the place and started going regularly down there and spending days and weeks in the jungle. The Peru Air Force came to us and asked us if we would start running our clients through them. We agreed.

Mike and I had known each other for a while and I invited him down. We designed a "better" knife for ESSEL and the rest is history as far as RAT Cutlery goes.

Been a "survivalist" all my life. Was raised on a farm and taught to be self-sufficient by parents/grand-parents by the time I was old enough to walk. From there, I pretty much spent my life learning skills from those who would take the time to teach. From rope rigging / high-angle to shooting to fire making, etc., I can truly say I have learned from the best. To include Daryl Patton on some of the wilderness skills, to Amazonian Indians when it comes to jungle, to James Yeager when it comes to shooting, to Robert Pelton when it comes to travel.

Also, during the mid-90s I was an international project manager for one of the world's largest telecom companies so I spent a good part of that time traveling all over the world and interacting with various cultures in remote locales.

We (Mike, myself and my girlfriend) now spend our "vacations" going to places like Colombia to blow up cocaine labs. I hate tourist traps and like to go to places no english is spoken. Love to understand things, whether I agree with them or not. Spent a lot of time running with coca smugglers, as well as the police and military trying to shut them down and the locals that support the infrastructure. Their world is fascinating so I want to know about it.

Ran into Pelton at a SOF Convention and we hit it off because we liked to do some of the same things, although his travels are far more extreme than ours.

That's the quick resume on why, what and where of RAT. Will add more as I think of it.
 
May not sound dramatic to you but it is to others....just what little you have written is fascinating to me. Sounds like if you put it all together it would be a very entertaining book as well.
 
Very cool Jeff. Sounds like RAT has traveled a ways to get where it is. Thanks for sharing, its very interesting. :thumbup:
 
It is good to hear your lifes work coming into fruition.

There are a lot of people with degrees that don't have work in their field.

You are putting ALL of your management experience, people skills, travel and life long learning to use, not only for yourself but to better others as well.

Well Done!
 
PastorMarko said:
It is good to hear your lifes work coming into fruition.

There are a lot of people with degrees that don't have work in their field.

You are putting ALL of your management experience, people skills, travel and life long learning to use, not only for yourself but to better others as well.

Well Done!
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My sentiments exactly. Sounds like a plenty interesting beginning to me! :thumbup:
 
Nice. I'm gonna try to squeeze as much life experience out of the military before I split. I wanna die knowing I sampled a bit of all life had to offer. Jeff sounds like you did plenty of memories to go around. Good stuff.

I'll be hitting RAT up for both a woodland and jungle survival class after my EAS....SAY! Anyway I can use RAT as college credits so I can make my GI bill pay for it? That would be tits
 
Jeff,
You make it sound almost everyday bland, but.... well I have traveled to every state in our country, except Alaska and Hawaii, been to Germany in the service, but the idea of just grabbing my pastport and heading to someplace like South America is something I would have never done, without a proper guide, etc.

Not exactly sure why.... just never would have occured to me to do so.
 
MrCoffee said:
the idea of just grabbing my pastport and heading to someplace like South America is something I would have never done, without a proper guide, etc.
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I'm not sure I would know how to do it any other way. Never liked "canned" trips. The whole idea of adventure travel, to me, is to have an adventure in your travels. If everything goes by a schedule, that's not much of an adventure. Having problems, getting "lost", not knowing what to expect, etc. is all part of the adventure. Some of the best times we have had in South America is when everything went wrong.
 
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