Survival and preparedness training

[edward_4576]

Locally a group had a seminar on preparedness. I checked on it and it was a 3 hour course on packing a BOB. Has anyone attened a decent class? I know that survival training in the military is more comprehensive as far as raw survival training goes, but I'm wondering about civilian training.

Now most folks here don't hesitate when someone mentions a BOB or terms like MRE. But there are sheeple that would give you the deer in head lights look if you said stuff like that to them.

Wanting to be able to recommend a course to some friends and relatives what would a good course contain? With me if I'm not learning how to build a solar powered whatever with squirrel sinews, vines and a few handy herbs ;) then I'm bored. What should a well rounded course teach, any thoughts?

[Mac_Muz]

What is better depends on where you are and what you think you need.

To me less is better, less weight, less to go wrong.

If I were to teach a course it would start with naked people with nothing and work up from there.. That ain't gonna happen..

[lostinthewoods]

That is a very interesting thought. I've never really thought about taking a class (or teaching a class for that matter) about survival. HUMMMM?


lost

[Bwana]

Well, if you want to learn some hardcore "with nothing but a knife" type of survival stuff, you can always go see Tom Brown;

http://www.trackerschool.com/

He'll hook ya up! ;D

[lostinthewoods]

Bwana,

That site looks like he offers a lot of good stuff. Kinda pricey though. Did you look a the King of the Mountain website? They get $500+ for a hooded sweat shirt. Ouch


lost

[TheUnboundOne]

Dear Edward4576,

Howdy, Edward!

You wrote:


Locally a group had a seminar on preparedness. I checked on it and it was a 3 hour course on packing a BOB. Has anyone attened a decent class? I know that survival training in the military is more comprehensive as far as raw survival training goes, but I'm wondering about civilian training.

Now most folks here don't hesitate when someone mentions a BOB or terms like MRE. But there are sheeple that would give you the deer in head lights look if you said stuff like that to them.

Wanting to be able to recommend a course to some friends and relatives what would a good course contain? With me if I'm not learning how to build a solar powered whatever with squirrel sinews, vines and a few handy herbs then I'm bored. What should a well rounded course teach, any thoughts?


From what I've seen of offerings in my locality, you could learn quite a few survivalist/preparedness skills like homesteading and food preservation from your local Extension Service, First Aid from your local Red Cross. Or you could learn from people who advertise outdoor and hunting adventure tours at camping, Army-Navy, and outfitter stores. I hope that addresses your main concern.

As for MREs, I don't blame anyone for being turned off by them.

I think that MREs are the worst choice for survival rations, they give Survivalism a bad name, and are a disgraceful insult to our men and women in uniform.

I tried an MRE with beef stew as the main entree and greasy cheese for crackers and I got what may be euphemistically described as "North-of-the-border Montezuma's Revenge."

:o

It can't possibly be good for you in a survival situation to be squeezing out all of your body's nutrients.

It would be much better to home-grow, home-forage, and home-preserve your own survival rations, or at very least use store-bought canned, vacuum-sealed or freeze-dried foods.

Most canned items have a shelf life of anywhere from 1 to 4 years and there are now even tuna and salmon steaks that are fully-cooked and vacuum-sealed that can last for around a year. Even if they don't have the supposed 10 year shelf life of MREs, they are better for you and you can offset the shorter shelf life by using, rotating, and replacing your stockpile. (Survival food should be something nutritious that you like to eat anyway, so why not rotate?)

[vargthewanderer]

Wow, we've always had the opposite reaction to eating those. We were in the field training in S. Korea last year and my poor buddy didn't use the bathroom for a week.

I'll agree that home grown is better though. The meat-loaf or beefsteak looks like canned dog food, smells like canned dog food, tastes like canned dog food, and probably is canned dog food. :P

Why not set up some preparedness training yourself? Ask a few people to do classes on different things like food preservation, BOB building, survival shelters (you might even be able to get the local boy scouts to teach this one), off grid living, and homesteading. If you look to a number of people to teach what they're good at you'll probably find you have a large collection of knowledge that can be shared in a weekend. Heck, you might even have some luck borrowing the local church's basement, as long as the training isn't being given for money and people aren't teaching about how to disable the drawbridge and the like.

[Southern_Gent]

I think learning about wild edible plants would also be a good skill to have. Granted you don't want to have to survive long term on foraging, but it could come in useful in emergency situations.

[Archangel]

FEMA will send you books and training materials to conduct a class. I tried to put together a couple but it failed. Cost nothing to check it out.
Michael

[lostinthewoods]

WOW, training materials from FEMA? Sorry but I think I'll pass, after the speed and efficiency after Katerina I'll take my chances with the materials in my library.
;)
lost

[Florida_boy]

Try www.survival.com that would be the site for Dr. Ron Hood. He puts out some of the best and most affordable programs I've seen. I have all his stuff except the most recent which I've not had time to get as of yet. Every one of his DVDs would be cheap at twice the price given the information they contain.

[WRTN]

Tons of information on this subject here:

WWW.survivalblog.com

[edward_4576]

I looked at several of the sites that have been refered to me, I want to thank everyone for their input. The idea of setting up a course and teaching it is rather provocative. In many ways I'm more of an expert then many just because I've had some great discussions here at BWH.

I think that a course geared to Urban or City dwellers would be the audience that I would cater too. More chance of actually helping someone.

I figure basic preparedness with some resources handed out to assist newcomers in figuring out what preps they wanted.

How many hours do you think would be good and would you split it up so you would have say two four hour classes on the week end or perhaps four two hour classes during the week days?

[idris]

Here is some good ones:
http://www.natureskills.com
http://www.prairiewolf.org
I think that am getting to be neolithic by preference. I find that I have water, game, shelter, fibre, fuel, and tools for the making, all up in the ranges at the back of where I live. That qualifies as palaeolithic: add pottery, knitting, and a little agriculture [fruit, nuts, grains] and that is Neolithic, which is surviving in comfort.

[theresehirko]

We learned and prepared by testing out at home first. We turned off the main circuit breaker and "pretended" that a TSHTF scenario was happening. Not too bad in the in the winter in Mississippi, but in the summer it got up to 125 degrees in the house. After I got over the fear of lighting my gas stove with a match, it was no problem. We kept a huge stock pot of water on the stove on low and used that for bathing, washing, etc. We survived quite well. But we don't depend on the tv for entertainment. Our boys loved it because they didn't have to take a bath for a week!

[Drawbar]

We learned and prepared by testing out at home first. We turned off the main circuit breaker and "pretended" that a TSHTF scenario was happening. Not too bad in the in the winter in Mississippi, but in the summer it got up to 125 degrees in the house. After I got over the fear of lighting my gas stove with a match, it was no problem. We kept a huge stock pot of water on the stove on low and used that for bathing, washing, etc. We survived quite well. But we don't depend on the tv for entertainment. Our boys loved it because they didn't have to take a bath for a week!

Sounds like what we did in the winter of 1998. It was called the Ice Strom of 1998 and we were without power for 14 days. For four days in a row I had to use a chainsaw to cut my way out to the main road. It was not fun. :(

[edward_4576]

I've noticed that Fema and several other sources are changing what their recomendations are. *I went to the LDS website and they have adopted different stratagies as well. *

Whe I looked around I saw quite a few courses that would have you come out to the woods and spend a week learning how to eat grubs type training, the others seemed to be courses in packing BOB's.

I've been looking for something that addressed Urban survival because a lot of my family live in or near larger cities and no one seems to have anything to address that situation.

[theresehirko]

Dear Drawbar:

Chainsaws were great after Katrina until the gasoline ran out and we had no gasoline for two weeks around here. We could not get out of our driveway because an eight foot diameter live oak was uprooted. Thank goodness for a gas stove!

[otobesane1]

Being here in the middle of nowhere in SD, we keep gasoline handy because we can't just run to a gas station down the street. We don't have a choice in keeping supplies around.

TK

[idris]

found another one!

http://www.primitive.org

Stock up, know where the local goodies are, and practice till you like doing it. Don't forget a stash place and a vege patch, and know who your friends are.

[bltjr1951]

Ask a few people to do classes on different things like food preservation, BOB building, survival shelters (you might even be able to get the local boy scouts to teach this one), off grid living, and homesteading.

On another site, there was an eagle scout trying to tell people to add two teaspoons of bleach to a gallon of water to purify it. It only takes 2 - 8 DROPS of bleach to a gallon of water to purify it. Any teaspoons or tablespoons of bleach to a gallon is to be used as cleaning fluid for spills or dishes.

[EarthMother]

some body please tell me what BOB stands for. I know MRE and some others but not BOB.Thank you in advance.

[Fred_47460]

BOB= Bug Out Bag

Generally considered to be a backpack pre-packed and available in your car....or whatever. The idea being that when the SHTF ("Stuff" Hits The Fan) you have a backpack pre-packed to Bug Out....get to a place of (relative) security. At one time I had such a pack in the trunk of my car.....but this was before the "BOB" idea came along.....I called it my "Get Home" bag. 8)

Fred

[bltjr1951]

http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/yabb/forum.pl?board=sel-primitive-skills;action=display;num=1199748284

http://www.survivalblog.com/glossary.html

I was "lost" on a Disney World site, all the "words" didn't make sense to me.

FEMA tells you what you "should" need:

http://www.fema.gov/plan/prepare/supplykit.shtm

GHB is sometimes different from BOB.

BTW, if you want to know some acronyms on Disney World sites:

http://allears.net/tp/abrev.htm

[Cuffo]

I'm kinda new to all this and would love learn hands on basic skill and don't know where to look. I'm talking about things like how to build a fire, how to sharpen a knife/axe/shovel. I know I can look that info up in books and the like but nothing beats hands on learning. I don't think I'm alone in this, but so many people take this type of thing for granted.

[bltjr1951]

Go outside in the backyard and play. That's the only way to learn. Don't go out camping and expect to master everything at once. I loaned my daughter one of my tents for her and SIL to camp in. They couldn't figure out how to pitch it, had to drive to next town and bought a little dome tent to use.

[rockymtngirl]

I'm kinda new to all this and would love learn hands on basic skill and don't know where to look. I'm talking about things like how to build a fire, how to sharpen a knife/axe/shovel. I know I can look that info up in books and the like but nothing beats hands on learning. I don't think I'm alone in this, but so many people take this type of thing for granted.

HI Cuffo - I too did not have any of the skills you mention. When I started dating my BF we started camping - he was happy to teach me basic skills you mention. If you can get together with a friend, family member or perhaps even a group camping event, I would highly recommend. YOu are right - hands on is different than reading.
I even got to the point where I went camping by myself, which was a huge step for me. So don't be intimidated - go for it!