If I read your post correctly Jeff, you were suggesting that the appearance on Television is a suggestion of inadequate skills.
To be honest I think that is a poor test. Most of the folks that I have seen on TV have been there because they earned the coverage. That through thousands of hours of hard work and brain pounding dirt time.
I've been on the Dinah Shore, Johnny Carson, Good Morning America and over 100 other TV and documentary programs. By your theory that makes me an insecure chest thumper. Naw... Greg has been on dozens of TV programs as well. Christopher Nyerges practically has his own show in the LA area. We all earned it by working hard.
There is more to it as well. I don't like to starve. Survival training is a tough business physically and mentally. You yourself said in this forum that you are thankful that your wife works as a nurse so you can play. Survival training is not the vocation that pays your bills.
For Greg and I and many others this is our life, lifestyle and how we pay our bills. We have to let folks know we are there if we are to get students. That doesn't make us bad. It makes us good. Good enough that the 6,000 or 7,000 folks I've taken on extended trips still consider me a friend and in many cases, a person who changed their life. The 10,000 plus folks who buy our videos think we have a good product and buy more of it to prove their loyalty.
I think a better test is watching the information an instructor gives out. Is there depth to it? Does it show that the instructor has integrated other knowledges into the chain of teaching. Does the instructor have repeat customer/students? What is the instructors reputation? Then there is one of the fun though not perfect test... The gatekeepers.
Gatekeepers are folks who are put into positions of authority and who allow folks with credentials to pass through. They include the press, public officials, local organizations and the like. Just writing for the press is not like passing the gatekeper test. You must be accepted. Examples of folks in our profession who have done this include Greg, Tom Elpel, Andre Borbeau, Tom Brown, Larry Dean Olsen, Mtn Mel Dweese, Christopher Nygeres and many others.
You are correct when you say that the most knowledgable are those who live in the environment they teach in ('Scuse the paraphrase). Karen and I live in a Log Home in the Rockies. We have power, when it wants to work, our water comes from a spring, into a tank and then down to our home. We have solar and gas power backups as well as microwave comms to the outside world. Our gasoline is stored in above ground tanks. As I type this it is 14f outside and the snow is hard and beautiful.
Greg lives in the woods. He already explained his setup. His water is from a well if I remember correctly.
Just as an aside. Earlier this week a fellow flew into Boise from London for the BBC to interview us for a program they are doing there. He had to drive the 60 miles up here. He'd never driven in snow before. After we filmed and BS'd for awhile we went over to the little town (2 saloons and a general store) and ate at the Longhorn Saloon. He'd never been in a bar where most of the folks were wearing guns... He almost fainted
He thought we'd have a gunfight and looked all over for bullet holes in the walls. One of my friends told him that we patch them right after we wipe up the blood!
Survival is HARD WORK.
BTW You are smart to hire guides.
Whew!
Ron
------------------
Learn Life Extension at:
http://www.survival.com ]
To be honest I think that is a poor test. Most of the folks that I have seen on TV have been there because they earned the coverage. That through thousands of hours of hard work and brain pounding dirt time.
I've been on the Dinah Shore, Johnny Carson, Good Morning America and over 100 other TV and documentary programs. By your theory that makes me an insecure chest thumper. Naw... Greg has been on dozens of TV programs as well. Christopher Nyerges practically has his own show in the LA area. We all earned it by working hard.
There is more to it as well. I don't like to starve. Survival training is a tough business physically and mentally. You yourself said in this forum that you are thankful that your wife works as a nurse so you can play. Survival training is not the vocation that pays your bills.
For Greg and I and many others this is our life, lifestyle and how we pay our bills. We have to let folks know we are there if we are to get students. That doesn't make us bad. It makes us good. Good enough that the 6,000 or 7,000 folks I've taken on extended trips still consider me a friend and in many cases, a person who changed their life. The 10,000 plus folks who buy our videos think we have a good product and buy more of it to prove their loyalty.
I think a better test is watching the information an instructor gives out. Is there depth to it? Does it show that the instructor has integrated other knowledges into the chain of teaching. Does the instructor have repeat customer/students? What is the instructors reputation? Then there is one of the fun though not perfect test... The gatekeepers.
Gatekeepers are folks who are put into positions of authority and who allow folks with credentials to pass through. They include the press, public officials, local organizations and the like. Just writing for the press is not like passing the gatekeper test. You must be accepted. Examples of folks in our profession who have done this include Greg, Tom Elpel, Andre Borbeau, Tom Brown, Larry Dean Olsen, Mtn Mel Dweese, Christopher Nygeres and many others.
You are correct when you say that the most knowledgable are those who live in the environment they teach in ('Scuse the paraphrase). Karen and I live in a Log Home in the Rockies. We have power, when it wants to work, our water comes from a spring, into a tank and then down to our home. We have solar and gas power backups as well as microwave comms to the outside world. Our gasoline is stored in above ground tanks. As I type this it is 14f outside and the snow is hard and beautiful.
Greg lives in the woods. He already explained his setup. His water is from a well if I remember correctly.
Just as an aside. Earlier this week a fellow flew into Boise from London for the BBC to interview us for a program they are doing there. He had to drive the 60 miles up here. He'd never driven in snow before. After we filmed and BS'd for awhile we went over to the little town (2 saloons and a general store) and ate at the Longhorn Saloon. He'd never been in a bar where most of the folks were wearing guns... He almost fainted
Survival is HARD WORK.
BTW You are smart to hire guides.
Whew!
Ron
------------------
Learn Life Extension at:
http://www.survival.com ]
