what people think? (knowing survivalskills)

Yep, it's simply about Being Prepared (Skills, knowledge and also gear) and it's simply about Being Self-Reliant.

Self Reliance is becoming a lost art in the modern world.
Example: I taught my son how change his motor oil and do a simple brake job on his car (disc pad repalcement). Do you know how many people do their own Oil changes compared to when I was growing up? Back in the 60's and 70's, on the weekend, the dads in the neighborhood would be changing their oil, doing tune ups, brake jobs, whatever it took to keep their cars in good repair. They were Self Reliant!

Most of us have discussed what we would do if we were lost, or stuck in an emergency situation. Our answer doesn't typically include:
-Wait for the government/others to come help me.
More likely it involves us being in the drivers seat, taking charge of our own destiny. I am uneasy trusting others with my day-to-day life.

So, if in a discussion with someone, replace "Survival" with Self Reliance and simply Being Prepared.

"I like to be prepared" , there is no comeback, no argument, no reasonable alternative when you give them that statement.

In the USA, post- 911 era, I don't cut people any slack.
Before 9-11, they could claim ignorance. Now? No way.
If they didn't learn the lesson then they have the dreaded "not gonna happen to me syndrome". Ignorance is bliss.
 
I just tell them the truth. I love the wilderness but I got tired of suffering out there. I don't think there is a single thing I carry now that I haven't learned about by feeling the lack of it at some point. Of course this place is great in that I can learn what has worked forothers without all the trial and error, and expense associated with it.

I haven't had too many people question my NEED to know wilderness skills. I have had quite a few question my decision to be armed at times. The modern world works on the assumtion that..

#1. Things are not supposed to go wrong.

And

#2. When things do go wrong we pay tax money to have professionals on tap to deal with it.

I prefer to use my own testosteone rather than subcontract it out. Mac
 
I call it being prepared , the term survival ,everybody thinks your a crazed nut waiting on the world to end. I love the outdoors and living in a smal town outside of a large metroplex, just being prepared seems to go over easier with people , they ask for example , power outage or natural disasters , I just love the idea of being able to help my family with my knowledge and gear instead of waiting on help to arrive and being at the mercy of the local goverment .:D
 
I also consider it being prepared. Once it gets to the actual survival stage, I screwed up or Murphy went hiking with me. Murphy comes in many forms. Being prepared to deal with Murphy is what I'm about.
 
I explain that I would prefer not to be filmed by a news chopper, standing on the roof with a crudely lettered sign that says, "Where's FEMA?" but that they may feel free, when the shtf, to crawl to me, on the bleeding stumps of what used to be their arms and legs, and beg me for a few rounds of ammo and a can of beans. I like to get loud when I say it. I don't care what these people think of me and it's fun to watch them cringe.
 
see because we live in different part of the US scattered all over town to town & state to state, we are just a few outdoormen/women that could be seen as extreme by the unprepared but if we lived all close by we'd be a threat to the local goverment. Dang , I better stop while I am ahead LOL !:D
 
ras said:
I also consider it being prepared. Once it gets to the actual survival stage, I screwed up or Murphy went hiking with me. Murphy comes in many forms. Being prepared to deal with Murphy is what I'm about.
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Murphy LIVES at my house.
 
RAS and TaskForceK, I used to live (literally) just off Murphy Road in Nashville. One afternoon, two--TWO--tornadoes came through. Dropped trees all over the city--all over the power lines, roads, railroad tracks, houses. We were without power for days. I made it to the stores, only to find all the batteries and candles gone. Made me start taking my old Boy Scout wilderness survival training seriously. Then, after 9/11, and then a couple of times when my big city's main gasoline pipe was shut down and people were waiting in lines for any auto fuel at all, and another time when my city's water supply got bacterially contaminated for a day and we were told not to drink it, I realized that one really has to count on the fact that disasters, large and small, WILL HAPPEN.

Four times or so I've been the only guy with a flashlight who could help lead people out of my urban office building when the power went down. And now I've got four kids, and there's nothing they like better than learning that kind of self-sufficiency themselves, with Daddy: making lean-tos, building fires, cooking outdoors, etc. My wife used to think I was a little nuts, until a mutual friend went into premature labor when she was stranded by a roadside in the desert when her car stopped working, and the friend had no water with her, and got dehydrated. It was at that point that my wife said she was, on reflection, really grateful that I've kept all our cars stocked with water, food, and various survival gear.

That's what I tell people. It gets a pretty-receptive hearing--and gets people thinking.
 
noone really asks about any of my preparedness stuff, except sometimes people ask me why i have to carry my bag around everywhere with me (a nylon messenger type of shoulder bag, bright red so i don't look like a mall ninja etc)

noone minds though when someone gets a cut and i am there with the bandaids, or this past weekend when i was out on a river with a good sized group, and a canoe tried to get through the rapids. i went through fine because i was in a kayak. the canoe ripped a good sized flap up off the floor. noone minded when i pulled out the duct tape and superglue and patched the canoe for the last two miles of the journey.

noone seems to mind my always having a knife when they can't get those blister packs open.

i don't make a big deal about it, or tell alot of people about my "survival thing", but i just quietly do my thing. if anyone ever wonders why, i can cite the examples above and some others.

about getting lost etc, if a person thinks you are into survival, they tend to seem to get an idea that you never get lost because you have rambo's sense of direction.

i don't need to worry too much about getting lost while exploring the woods because i am set. if i get lost i know that there are people that know my destination and approx arrival time. i have enough food and water to last the night, and normally a shelter or plenty of knowledge to build a shelter. survival is about being prepared, so that if you do get lost, or hurt, you will be okay.
 
Aquacopter said:
The most common thing that occurs when someone finds out that I am into survival skills is the rolling of the eyes. The instantly assume you have a rambo complex or something of that sort.
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You should reply: I have you know, like nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills. (Napoleon Dynamite)

Seriously, if you say you like to hike and camp, they'll think you are a rugged outdoorsy-type and you may get lucky with the hippy chic set. If you say "survivalist" or "survival skills" thye tend to think of sitting in a bunker sharpening your Rambo knives and cleaning your M60s in hopes that Armaggeddon will soon arrive.
 
i always figure it doesnt hurt to have survival knowledge greater men then myself have used thousands of years ago
 
RSO66 said:
i was wonder what some of say when they know you are in survivalskills.some people ask me if i am afraid of getting lost and why i know some of this stuff. and i was wondering what you people tell them thanks.
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I say "you betcha I am afraid of getting lost. That's why I learned this stuff, so I can get found if I do."
 
This is yet another case of misused (by the media) terminology attaching a stigma to otherwise normal behavior. Wilderness living skills, mountaineering skills, tracking skills, hunting skills, or a dozen others are not viewed with sideways glances. Mention survival skills or, especially, survivalist and the image has become to so many a nut in BDU's with weapons and a grudge. Maybe the popularity of related cable TV shows will help reverse that, but it's probably too late. I get torqued each time a bunch of rioters near a university are automatically called "students". Maybe I'm just too easily torqued that way. Are bombers who murder their own really "insurgents"? ss.
 
I don't call it being a "survivalist", I want to be comfortable. I say I like to be prepared.

A few years ago we had a storm that took a lot of trees down and knocked out power for about a week.

I made a path out of my drive way (saw, ax) so I could drive my truck across the neighbors lawn to get to the street. On the way to work I drove past the block long lines of cars waiting at the gas station to buy their morning coffee and donut. I had fresh coffee from our French press, fried eggs, toast, and sausage (had to use up what was in the fridge, used the camp stove and grill to cook). I had fresh cold water with me at work because we always have stored water and we keep jugs in the deep freeze for ice. I was the only person in my building who was not a correctional officer that had a flashlight that worked (I worked in a prison). I actually had 2 flashlights. I was also the only person with fresh, hot coffee, cold water, and a freshly grilled steak sandwich for lunch:D

For days we either grilled our food or used the camp stove, we had plenty of candles and lanterns for light, I gave away chemical lights for those without light. We heated water on the gas stove or the grill when we needed it. We used our rolls of plastic sheeting to help our neighbors weatherproof their shatter windows and walls and donated plywood for the really big holes in walls.

No one thought we were weird and we lived pretty comfortably.
 
yup, its about being able to have some sort of comfort and stability without modern tools

reason there is so much negativity is because those in the business of selling dont want people to realise they dont need anything nature cant provide them
 
RSO66 said:
i was wonder what some of say when they know you are in survivalskills. some people ask me if i am afraid of getting lost and why i know some of this stuff and i was wondering what you people tell them thanks.
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In my usual state of mind I probably would not dignify questions from such fools with an answer.
 
Yep, survivalism got a bad rap in the 80's when "survivalists" were preparing for end of world, collapse of civilization type scenarios brought on by nuclear war and such, rather than on far more likely events like hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, blackouts, getting lost outside, etc. They were building fallout shelters and burying 55 gallon drums filled with food, water, and weapons in anticipation of doomsday instead of being prepared for realistic events.
 
I don't think I understand this question.

I am into wilderness survival. I like the outdoors, and I like to go camping with stuff in my pockets, and in a little bag. No luxeries, some say you're roughing it, I say just trying to live off the land. Using the available resources that the land gives. Nothing rambo about that. It is simply understanding your surroundings, and making the best of it. It is not some macho guy conquering the wilderness, rather, living in unity with it.

I have had some friends call me rambo some times. Last time, we were playing capture the flag in the woods at night. I simply laid down, and crawled toward the flag. I did this so I would have a lower profile. It wasn't glorious, awesome, or or sweet. They could not find me, one friend was 1 YARD away from me, and could not find me. I was just laying down. Nothing special. They taunted me saying, "Quit acting like rambo and come out'. I think the term rambo is used easily.

Heres why I don't understand the question. I don't think I am a "survivalist". I have some guns, I use them for hunting. I don't have all the ammo that "survivalists" have. I have enough for hunting and shooting at the range. Nothing great. I don't have years supply of food. I don't have a nuclear bunker, I don't have chemical suits, and gas masks. So I am not a "survivalist". I am an avid outdoorsman.

So, if someone asks me why I carry a pocket knife, bic lighter, 6 feet of paracord, and a micro led light, I would say because they are handy little things to have around.

If someone asks me why I know things about the woods, I would say because I am interested in the outdoors and like to spend time out there. I know what I know because it comes in handy when I am out in the woods.

If you're going camping with people who are not use to big knives, leave them in the pack. Go with a pocketknife. Some people find a bigger knife hanging from your waist scary.

Take care everybody,
Scottman
 
TIme for a scroller

I deal with kids who have issues , some violent , all with abuse issues andhang over problems from that ...

When I took this on , I was lead to believe that I was going to be dealing with fairly "normal" kids no issues , but it didnt work out that way , I got the violent ones , the ones that had plain run out of places to be put cos no-one would have em .

After seeing what they did to my home , I got smart and took them camping instead , let em wreck the bush if they can :) there is no lasting damage they can realy do there

this made a change in the kids so dramatic it is hard to believe , and in short order it evolved into standard practice , give the kid a kit apropriate to their age , responsibility for them to wash their own eating gear , set up n pack up their tent / tarp shelter and bedding . and take them into the bush by long windy track that had them as lost as lost can be .

we fish , build shelters , catch yabbies barehands , track critters and stalk them hunting is for the kids I know can handle it tho , we pan for gold as well ... the kids have a go , and usualy do dam well , they all go home with at least a well used bedroll , tent and eating gear , and a heap of stories .

Some of these guys have been coming back for years , others come once or twice , some are in my home full time , so far we had no complaints

no-one talks about survival skills tho , its either bush stuff or home stuff , and doing bush stuff at home when the power goes out ... or having been busted by the park ranger for spearing fish in the pond and cooking them on the free BBQ ( true story , kid ran away from home for a while but she got busted and returned , hey , she coulda been whoring for food instead .. )

what to me is the biggest skills the kids learn that have a definite bearing on their long term survival as people is that they are worth something , they can do things and achieve things , regardless of who their parents are or what they arent ... they dont need to follow the flock but can do their own thing .

OK , maybe they will never again set foot in the bush for the rest of their lives , but the changes them kids make any are dramatic , I can tell story after story of kids who decided being a tough guy and bully wasnt fun anymore , girls who decided that they were worth more than the putdowns their "friends" were giving them and changed their whole social set

we do nothing strange , just lead by example .

We copped a LOAD of flack over this when we had a new youth worker come on staff and decide that what we were doing as carers was far from apropriate , kids needed to know social skills and patriotic values not what she termed "survival skills" that would turn them into savages and ferals ...

after a lot of flack , I am so soured on the term "survival" that it is not funny to me it was camping , putting the kids in a environment where hey had to drop their normal barriers and contribute ...

so when folk ask me why I do survival stuff , I give em a short and curt "Its traditional business" and leave it at that now , it usualy puts most folk off asking further ...

OTOH , if they seem seriously interested , not a stuffed shirt from a govt dept poking their nose where its not wanted , I got time to share and exlain and show .

TO me its about being adaptable , cooking is cooking , the heat source differs , that is all , sleeping is sleeping , I can do it anywhere , pretty much , shelter is shelter , the draft gets bad some places more than others ... but survival is about being flexable and adaptable , way more than having a huge skill set , IMHO anyway
 
I just tell people that I like hiking, camping, and outdoors stuff and that related skills and knowledge are just a part of that. All camping and backpacking is "outdoor survival" under ideal circumstances.
 
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