What TYPE of survivalist are you?

P

Plainsman

Joined
Apr 5, 1999
Messages
1,168
We've talked about this a little bit before, but I saw a post from a newer poster who didn't understand a person's BOB preps. So I thought I'd start another thread to let people know why we are here.
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I started thinking "survival" for a couple of reasons at one time. Each had circumstances which accelerated my preps.

First, I love to HUNT! I love being outdoors! Hence, I started thinking, "What would I do if I got hurt while hunting, etc.?" THis led to pocket survival kits and LEARNING.

Then I saw the MOVIE "Red Dawn"!! This caused me to start thinking about possibilities of WWIII and other catastrophes. Therefore, I started to prepare a BOB.

All this occurred before I turned 15!! So I've been at this for a while.

So I look at survival from several angles at one time. Wilderness survival and world/political/military survival. I mainly am worried about the first, but I want to be READY for any of the second as well! Better to be prepared and NEVER need it, than need it ONCE and not have it!
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How about you?



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Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
I am interested in survival because I enjoy playing in the outdoors, and I like the comfort of knowing I can take care of myself out there.

I have little fear of the US being over-run by some other country, and have no doubt that if for some reason it was, I'd already be deployed. I do fear random terrorist NBC attacks, but don't think a proper response to that would be to head out into the boonies.


Stryver
 
I'm primarily into wilderness survival. But I'm also studying aspects of political/military/catastrophic survival. Just in case!

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Big-Target>>>>>>SI VIS PACEM PARA BELLUM
 
I also like to spend time in the wilderness, and I've been in a pinch before when things didn't go as planned.

The more skills I aquire, the more choices I have dealing with Mr. Murphy when he comes to poop on me and my friends.

On the homefront, I've been good about storing water and canned food in case my region is the next to be hit by the next violent act of nature, but I've been slacking in my bug-out kit department. I guess since I live in a small town (in a desert at that), there would be very few reasons to leave my home if some unforseen event took place. I don't see running to the mountains as being a viable solution.

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-Gregory Zolas
tinsta@hotmail.com
 
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -- Robert A. Heinlein

I cannot say it any better.

Though I may paraphrase by saying...

It is my evolutionary responsibility.

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Thank you,
Marion David Poff aka Eye, Cd'A ID, USA mdpoff@hotmail.com

Talonite Information and Resource Page, including other cobalt materials.

"We will either find a way, or make one." Hannibal, 210 B.C.
 
My interest in outdoors and living in Nature combined with its challenges brought me here. I would also like to learn and experience a bit of Native living. It is a sparetime activity to me, and serious preparations (if possible at all) for any political or global turmoil would lower the 'fun factor'.
Best,

HM
 
I am focused on teaching and learning all aspects of Global survival. Any environment.

At home... however, I am prepared for a natural disaster of any type. For example: mud slides, power outages, civil unrest, etc. I am not fearful of WW 3 and do not consider myself a survivalist...

I consider myself an expert in the art of global wilderness survival techniques.

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Greg Davenport
http://www.ssurvival.com
Are You Ready For The Challenge?
Are You Ready To Learn The Art Of Wilderness Survival?

 
I sort'a explained my reasons in the other thread..., but for me, it's almost a hobby.

I'd borrow military survival manuals, and training films, from my father's naval base.. watch them at home, take notes...

Sure, I hunted, and worried about the "lost/injured in the woods" scenario.., but as I got older.., well, here in the SouthEast, I figure I could walk out of just about anywhere in a week, and I feel pretty comfortable with my overall survival skills.. so I'm really not all that worried about "lost in the woods", anymore.

But I grew up during the height of the cold war, so it probably had an effect on me.., plus, I've seen such *huge* changes in our own government, in my lifetime. I think I worry more about our own gov't, these days, than any foreign gov't.

Regardless, as I said.. this is more a hobby than a chore. I have all my copies of "Shooter's Guide/American Survival Guide". Copies of "Gung Ho", and "Guns and Ammo", "SOF", etc., with articles by Mel Tappan and Bruce Clayton and others. A full set of "Survive" magazine.., plus "Wilderness Way", and "Backwoods Home". Lots of books (Primitive Survival Skills, Survival Guns, Bushcraft, SAS Survival Book, Bradford Angier's books, and lots of others)

I wouldn't do all this if I didn't like it!
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I simply believe in being prepared, whether I need to sew a button back on my shirt, help someone choking in a restaurant, sleeping in my yard after an earthquake knocked down my house or finding something to eat when I'm lost in the woods. I think that survival skills and most importantly the survivors mind set helps one better deal with all of life's little emergencies.
 
I'm attracted to the utility and simplicity.

I'm not concerned about surviving nuclear holocaust or the collapse of civilization. I can appreciate the seriousness of this but I don't fear it and I don't plan for it. I guess I tend to think that problems like this are overcome by banding together, not hiking off into the wilderness to live alone.

And I'm not saying that bugging out doesn't appeal to me because I've spent weeks on wilderness trips alone and loved every minute of it and always regret returning to civilization. I have enough loner and misanthrope in me that turning my back on the civilized world and living alone in wilderness would not be difficult and even desirable. I doubt that most people are psychologically prepared for that, though. Anyway, I don't see that kind of existence as a solution to the collapse of society.

But I admire the "old ways." I grew up on a farm and am one generation removed from when farming was all done by horses. This is how my dad farmed when he was a kid. But even though we were a "modern" farm (but ancient by today's standards), we butchered our own meat, cut our own wood, milked cows, gathered wild edibles, and canned, smoked and dried our own food. I started learning to hunt, fish, and trap before first grade and it has been a life-long passion.

But more importantly, we learned to be self-sufficient on a farm. Do more with less. I spent most of my youth tinkering around. Guess that's one reason why my first career was as a mechanic. I liked to tinker. One thing I learned from being a mechanic is practical, no nonsense problem solving. In my current job as an academic, I often see intelligent people who lack practical problem solving skills and simple hand-eye coordination. Tool-use is foreign to them. Opening and closing a pocket knife is a strange, almost dangerous adventure for some.

And survival thinking is much the same. Making do with what you have. Solving problems simply but often elegantly. In college I took a lot of anthro courses and learned about ancient and modern primitive societies and how they survived. Imagine not only surviving in the arctic with only the elements at hand but also flourishing. Nothing impresses me like the Inuit (Eskimo). What I learned from studying the Inuit is that to survive in the harshest of environments with only the most minimal of resources is not survival but living and living well.


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Hoodoo

No, I do not weep at the world--I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.
Zora Neale Hurston

Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt.
Lao Tsu
 
Plainsman,

I've been attracted to survival topics since I was a kid. I suspect it is the result for reading tremendous amounts of fiction (science fiction, fantasy, prehistory fiction, etc.) This kind of reading opened my mind and writers like Heinlein filled it with thoughts of self sufficiency. Boy Scouts hammered home the "BE PREPARED" motto. I too play in the woods and my favorite backpacking season is winter in the Adirondacks. I have a personal BOB in my car, but it is geared toward general survival not foreign take over or such. I have a family 72 hour kit at home that is just barely man portable. It was a very different kit for me to make as it is totally geared for family short term survival. Ice storms, hazmat accidents, hurricanes, and other disasters constantly catch people unprepared. I also feel that society is never more than 3 meals from localized breakdown (look at road rage on the highway going home, let alone several days without food). I do think that the country pulls together well in crisis and thus am not ready to "head to the hills". None the less, a car breakdown on a wilderness highway, camping trip gone bad, emergency home evac for disaster reasons are all very possible, as are rabid animals, preditory attack by humans and animals, breaking a leg on an icy sidewalk, choking in a restaurant, etc.

I feel that the majority of the country's population (urban) is grossly unprepared for natural disaster or even accident and I don't want me or mine included in that group!

John
 
I like to make weapons and traps. I like improvised weaponry. Since I'm pretty happy with our society I guess guerilla warfare is out.
 
Have any of you guys read Tom Brown's books? Great stuff! "Northern Bushcraft" by Mors Kochanski is excellent too.Outdoor survival is kind if an obsession with me, I'm always playing out little scenarios in my mind, and thinking how I could improvise, modify and utilize the things I see around and I always keep an eye out for possible shelters. Considering a guy froze to death in the woods twelve miles from my house a couple of weeks ago, maybe if he'd thought my way he'd still be alive. Anyway, I guess it beats thinking about what's on TV.
 
As I keep reading the answers, a question comes up in my mind:
Is it truly the fear (and agony) of .......... (put your favourite into the blank) that brings us back again-and-again to this forum or rather the excuse to discuss something common that we like in the challenge and in the outdoors? Based on some arguments and the frequent visits of the members, I suspect that we should be either masochists or live in constant paranoia to show that much enthusiasm to discuss our worst nightmares here.
Am I right or just unreasonably optimistic?

Best to all,

HM
 
As usual a good question to make me think, Plainsman.

I really don't fear major disaster stuff. We'd finally got emergency generators in the schools just before Jan. 1st. If something had occurred then I'd have been busy looking after everyone else. Those sorts of events take cooperative action.
I just never think of a "Red Dawn" situation, except in historical terms. It is fascinating to look at the measures taken to prepare to defend this area in WW2. I guess I've seen enough real violence not to want to think about participating in it in my old age.

Having to survive for a few days is a realistic part of life up here. Naturally I drove to Prince Rupert with a friend yesterday, and took his car instead of my truck... We get people trapped between avalanches for a while - every few years on that road. We had lots of stuff - but not all my usual comforts. Have to get that vehicle into shape with a kit. Why just survive when you can be having a great time?

All in all I find the topics here interesting and worthwhile study. So on the trip I was looking for various trees and fungi as well as appreciating the incredible scenery. That sure improved the trip! On arriving in PR I checked out the sporting goods store. Lots of expensive high tech stuff for getting you into tough areas, but little to help you survive a mishap. Fascinating (I guess I'm seeing just why people go missing around here)!

So - I study it because I enjoy the stuff. Like I tell kids, learning is fun.

Jimbo
 
As you know from our conversations Plainsman, I am not what some would call a survivalist. I am more in "survival" in the sense of being prepared for daily life actvivites that may go badly. Also I have made myself/family prepared for the possibilty of natural type disasters mostly as a mattr of course from what I learned from my paretns who always had a well stocked cellar. I do not have a well stocked armed bunker where I think that I will need to fend off hordes of scavangers and government troops. I think my trouble is mor likely to come from me being curious as to what lies over the next ridge while driving my 4X4.

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Lee

LIfe is too important to be taken seriously. Oscar Wilde
 
I agree with some of the above posters. I am not a "survivalist", I think that term brings a negative image to peoples minds of a guy walking around in BDU's, smuggleing AK-47's. I really enjoy being in the outdoors, and then started reading books on wilderness survival by Tom Brown. Now it's become a hobby, which also teaches me alot and makes me feel confident in the woods.
 
I'm with you tknife. I've got no beef with those who want to run around in the boonies playing Rambo, it's just not my thing. I live in the country and go into the woods for the peace and quiet. I just am not into a lot of commotion around me. Survival, tracking, and stalking skills enhance the enjoyment of the wild, enabling you to relax, blend into, and be part of your surroundings, not an alien in a hostile environment. If these skills make a person a better warrior when the need arises, that's just icing on the cake.
 
Hi,

i personally am interested in survival simply for fun. A few of the skills I have to use when on a reserve exercise with the German army, especially land navigation, field craft, camouflage.
Besides, I think that the MINDSET you get when you start thinking "survival" or "improvising" helps you in everyday life as well...
Robert
 
I have been convinced for years, that this country is way overdue for a revolution. I have no idea what will set it off, but chances are I will be in the wrong place when it happens. There fore I need to prepare for that instance. I have family that depend on me. and I must have a plan for survival, weather it be bugging out, or stying put and defending the homestead, it's up to me, and God!
 
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