Skills -- The Ultimate In Portability

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ArfinGreebly

ArfinGreebly

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Toys are fun. I'm a big fan of toys. I have lots of them.

Knowing how to use the toys makes having them even more fun.

It's also fun to try to find and acquire the "best" toys for the job at hand.

We see threads with titles like "what's the best [toy] for [job]?" all the time.

Maybe it's not dignified to call them toys, maybe "tools" is a better term but, in the end, it's *things* we're talking about.

A survey of Strategies & Tactics turns up many repetitions and variations of the phrase "mindset, skillset, toolset -- in that order." But skills and knowledge, in and of themselves, are neither a "strategy" nor a "tactic," and -- if you consider skills a weapon or tool -- they're certainly not a firearm. Which, in my belief, makes the NFW forum the most appropriate domain for this.

We all accept that your "tools" won't do you much good if either you haven't the will to use them or you haven't the skill or knowledge to use them.

I don't think I've seen a thread dedicated solely to skills. This is a firearms board, and you may "take it as read" that skill-at-arms is discussed. Shooting skills, hunting skills, and so on. We even discuss certain fabrication skills -- knife making, bow making, and so on.

So, I was wondering what a comprehensive skillset would be. If your survival becomes a matter of what you have and what you know and what you can actually do, a well-developed skillset will serve you well, even when you don't have all your tools.

As a case in point, I know how to cook. I can cook under pretty primitive conditions. I can cook without actual pans if I have to. It's a matter of knowing what can stand in for a pan or how to cook without any kind of pan at all. I have a relatively well developed cooking skillset, compared to your average Joe.

This means that I'm not particularly worried about "having the perfect pan" as part of my strategies.

I've derived a kind of rule: "The more you know, and the more things you can do, the less stuff you need to have."

Now I don't propose eliminating all tools; that would be silly. Humans rule because they can make and use tools.

Heinlein, through the character of Lazarus Long, is famous for this quote:
"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."
Click to expand...

It's a fun quote, but it doesn't begin to list the skills that will keep you alive and make life more comfortable.

Skills don't weigh anything, they can't be banned for import, sale, or manufacture. Skills can turn everyday objects into tools, weapons, and shelter.

So, I was thinking, how about a list of essential skills?

I figured I'd begin with a few skills off the top of my head, some of the more obvious ones, and ones that I can imagine without a lot of skull sweat.

So, in no particular order, here we go . . . anyone seeking to survive in the absence of civilized amenities should know how to. . .

tie a wide variety of knots
start a fire without matches or lighters
read a map
use a compass
navigate by the stars
row a boat
paddle a canoe
make a boat or canoe
dig and use a fire pit
rig a shelter in a forest
rig a shelter in the snow
recognize edible plants
make and set a snare
catch fish in rivers
catch fish in lakes
dress and butcher large game
dress and butcher small game
sharpen a knife or axe
. . .

Feel free to be as specific as you want. I know some of my items are too general (like, really, how many ways are there to make a fire?) and need to be refined.

 
I have the skill to beat everyone into submission once The Great Disaster befalls us, and the people skills to convince those I can't beat. Then I can use their skills to thrive.

But seriously, good topic. I think maybe- considering the vast array of useful skills out there- it might be helpful for folks to list the skills they consider generally most important.

Personally, I think the most important skill, at least once the immediate shooting has stopped, is the ability to get water. Knowing collection and filtration methods has GOT to be one of the most vital skills anyone can have.

John
 
Well, that's a really good list, but I think warmth and fire can be collapsed into one heading.
 
Eliminating Weight

Here's another one:

Whenever we go on trips away from home, we take a can opener. Something like a Swing-A-Way, making it easy to open cans.

Now, at all times when traveling, I have at least two knives with can openers.

Thing is, my wife has never mastered using a knife-tool can opener, so we continue to carry a clamp-on, turn-handle can opener when we travel.

So, a valuable skill that reduces weight: knowing how to use a primitive knife-tool (or p-38 style) can opener.

 
The most important thing is the ability to recognize that you don't know everything, and the willingness to learn. Everything else is dependent on that.
 
I would say basic hygiene/food saftey is an important skill.
Knowing how to purify food, sterilize/preserve food. understanding how common viruses/bacteria work. For example how many know that an animal that dies from rabies is safe to eat (after 24hrs)
 
Camp sanitation, how to dig a camp toilet and keep it free of flies and other disease-carrying creatures; how to improvise tools: mallet, shovel, hoe. Basics of flintknapping. Basics of small animal hunting with snares/deadfalls. Fishing with woven fish baskets and with bare hands (grabbling). Basically, all the stuff that is addressed in the old books such as Horace Kephart's Camping and Woodcraft or Nessmuk's Woodcraft. The early Boy Scout manuals also have good information along this line.
 
Tough question, but it got me thinking.

The thing I kept coming back to was what kind of event, and what kind of timeline. If your lost in the woods in summer while hiking, that's pretty different from surviving an atmospheric EMP blast (with a nod to One Second After). For a week, you can live without food, provided you can get water and warmth. For a year, that's really not an option. For a lifetime, survival food needs to be seriously rethought.

So, I guess I'd suggest perhaps a further skills taxonomy of time frame. At what point does building a shelter out of branches and leaves become a building a log cabin with a stone fireplace?

I'll throw on the skill list a good working knowledge of first aid comes in handy in almost all conditions, summer or winter, indoor or outdoor, alone or in a group, short term or long term.

Also, a good working knowledge of the plant life in your region is hugely helpful (and yes, I still have to ask my wife which exactly is the poison oak.:eek:). I can only imagine knowing which plant is edible (shoots to roots) and which are medicinal would be vital for the long term.

Fun question!
 
Michaela and I discuss the "Rule of 3s", how long can you go without what before you can't recover from it.

3 minutes w/o O2. Gonna suffocate, drown, etc. in 3 minutes and not be able to recover

3 hours w/o protection from the elements. Freeze to death, die of heat stress and not be able to self-rescue.

3 days w/o water

3 weeks w/o food

3 months w/o "infrastructure"

Using that formula we concentrate on those things that are most likely to keep us from self-rescue under the circumstances.

Make sure the next breath will be available. If you're around water don't be stupid and say "I'm a great swimmer! I don't need a PFD/Rope/Swim Buddy!" It only takes 3 minutes for you to drown. Going into a sizable building? Make sure you know how to get to fresh air in the event of a fire. More people are overcome by smoke than burn to death in fires.

Middle of winter makes it easy for us to think we're thinking about staying warm, but do we really make sure that if we're dumped in the worst conditions we might encounter that we won't end up too hypothermic to save ourselves if the car breaks down and we can't get out? Did you dress for the weather or just for going from the house to the car and from the car into the office? Have any blankets in the car? Food bars for energy? How about the ability to build a fire if it came down to it? Know how to rig a shelter? What about a long trip in the heat of summer? Got water and space blanket/tarp in the vehicle? Have the good sense to stay put under the space blanket and drink the water while you wait for someone to drive by or do you intend to wander up the road in the heat waves searching for a cell signal?

Got water at home? In the car? Know how to store it or collect it and sterilize it? Know that water in your belly is better than water in the bottle? Know that once it goes in your belly that you can "collect" it in that empty bottle and use it one more time (yech) if you have to?

And on.
 
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Steve, would it make sense to write that as Water, Fire, Shelter, Food.?
Click to expand...

Affirmative!

I realized I messed up not typing shelter, then it was too late to edit due to scheduled maintenance Derek needed to do.

I actually was doing something with someone in private, via PMs, and discussing hypothermia, and had "warmth" on my brain.

Hypothermia can set in at 40* F.



hso,

Excellent post.
 
Wonderful stuff here. In the end, water, shelter, fire and food are key.

Many of us learned basic survival skills when we were kids. Scouts, campin' with family and friends. Lots of us have moved around since. How familiar are you with what's actually available where you are right now? Skillsets need constant maintenance, upgrades and repairs.

It's been said that a man can survive anywhere with a blade and the means to make fire. Always seemed redundant to me. With a blade, I can make fire. With a fire, I can make a blade.... Actually, can make a blade with couple rocks...

Full of pride and bravado, I've no idea how I'd actually manage. I really should head to the hills some weekend with nothin' but what I always carry (couple blades, lighter, flint'n'steel and not a lot more...), and see how it feels a few days later...

J
 
Awesome thread.

Most of the specifc points I would have listed have been covered.

Then I got to thinking about me. I have a lot of skills, knowledge, and good fieldcraft. ( good in the woods as we used to say in another place a long time ago) I can think, inovate, adapt, and overcome, But I am limited in doing certain things.

Some of these skills I can not do any more. So I would add to list by asking the question.

How well can you/did you, teach those around you that will be with you?

Have you passed on what you know? If not why not?

Can you instruct and direct someone to comlete a task quickly and efficiently?

See where I am going? Big difference if it just Cyndi and me. She is interested and commited. Maybe I am lucky and my son is in town. My 12 y/o nephew is great, as is my BIL.
I still think they would need my leadership and direction.

For me, The 2 and 3 y/o grandkids need to be potected first. This presents a whole nother bunch of challanges.

And I hope and pray worthless butthead stepdaughter aint around.

Anyway, add, passing foward beforehand, and the ability to lead and insrtuct, after the fact, to the list.
 
For some of us, it would be a stash of meds.
Click to expand...


Monster good point!!
How many of us live dependent on medicine?

Diabetics, heart problem, hypetension, epileptics, whatever, these people are usually older and have a lot to contribute, if we can keep them alive!
 
My wife's insulin dependant. She'd be the first down in a survival situation. Try as I might, she will not maintain even a month's supply on hand. Drives me mad.

It's the ONE thing I can't provide in a real emergency. She'd be useless in a couple days after running out, and probably dead in under a month. My daughter and I would miss her immensely.

J
 
In the "Rule of 3s" listed above, the most important one was missing:

"In a survival situation a healthy person may survive three seconds without thinking."

When you read those tragic accounts of almost-survival, it's usually some tiny point or logical flaw that kills. Wet feet. Idling the engine so the kids stay comfortable all night. One extra spin of the wheels. Closing a last vent. You get the idea.

On the original post: Does anyone else have a sort of "bucket list" of skills that they're working through? I just keep adding to mine.
 
Don't really have to wait 24 hours. Can kill an animal with rabies (rabbit, dog, etc etc) and eat it right then BUT you must cook it thoroughly. The fire will kill the rabies. No, I'vd never tried it but I was Force Recon in the Marines for many a year and I still remember that's what they taught us...Oh, and when cleaning the animal and getting it set up for cooking be very careful not to let any blood or whatever get into a cut or open sore on your person..
 
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Medical Conditions

Knowledge is power.

Medical knowledge has the power to save your life.

If you have diabetes, do you know how to regulate your diet so as to best mitigate the condition? It may be that no mitigation will suffice, and that enough time without meds will prove terminal.

However, I know a dentist in Boulder City who had been on both diabetes and high cholesterol meds for years. He changed the way he ate -- radically changed it -- and within six months was off both diabetes and cholesterol regulating meds. Lost weight in the process, though that wasn't the object. He found a way to free himself from the "medical infrastructure."

If you have a medical condition, and the medical community (in the person of your doctor) assumes the infrastructure will always be there, they (he) won't have any motivation to find an alternative way to alleviate the condition.

At that point, it either becomes your job to acquire the knowledge of alternatives, or your job to find someone else who is more willing to explore those alternatives.

Doctors are smart people with lots of information. Unhappily, the institutions that educate them are biased in favor of conventional medicine, and this tends to limit the scope of their knowledge.

If you have a specific condition that currently "compels" you to be dependent on man-made medications, you might want to seek other knowledge that is surely out there to be had.

Skills and knowledge weigh a lot less "inside your head" than in a library of thick books or on a web server somewhere.

Get the knowledge before your life depends on it.

Practice the skills before the flood/fire/storm/crash/whatever.

 
Unfortunately, no diet in the world will help my wife's diabetes. She's been insulin dependant since she was a teenager, basically has no working pancreas. Until I learn to turn Hare pancreas into useable meds, the girl's screwed....

Best get out me chemistry set, eh? :)

J
 
Gentleman of charcoal, I know you don't have to wait. However, as you pointed out the carcass can still be infective(esp the salivary secretions) I wrote 24hrs bc regardless of enviorment the body should be safe to handle by then.
 
This is good stuff.

I'd deinitely add people skills; how to read them, how to motivate them, how to make other folks like and need you, how to make other folks trust and follow you.

In short, how to create workable primative infrastructure and society.

Not fun to think about, but a mass exodus from a couple of major cities would put a damper in all of our abilities to head to the hills in isolation and practice our tom brown stuff (IMHO). There might well be a lot of people right there with us.

Great idea for a thread!
 
Handle Wrapping

When making improvised tools, handles can be enhanced or created by wrapping the handle area with cord.

I've never done this.

Anyone have a description or link to how this is done?

Specifically, wrapping a hiking staff handle for better grip and wrapping a bare metal knife handle.

I presume there are different wrapping patterns that accomplish different ends.

It's definitely an addition to my "big list o' skillz" but, unlike common knots, I have no experience here.

 
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