Survival strategies -- long term

[pax]

Guys, I've been thinking about this for awhile, watching the whole mess in Louisiana. And I'm starting to think that the contents of your bug-out bag don't matter nearly as much as the contents of your brain -- especially for long term survival after a major event. After all, the contents of your back pack will eventually be depleted. Only what you've got in your head is going to be with you forever.

A friend of mine is a skilled carpenter. That's not what he does for a living any more, but if he needed to, he could pick up a hammer and saw and make a living wage. He could do that no matter where he lived. If this town were wiped out tomorrow, and he survived, he'd be equipped to provide for himself and his loved ones because he's got a skill that would be in demand no matter how bad times get. He told me that if he'd bugged out of NO, he'd have headed north until he was out of money, then gotten a job wherever he ended up. And he'd have been able to do it, too.

My dad could tell you anything you'd ever want to know about roofing or waterproofing. It's not quite as direct as skill with a hammer & saw, but no matter what the economy does, people still need roofs over their heads and would pay him for the contents of his brain.

My husband's family are all doctors, nurses, EMTs. You know they'd be okay no matter what. Someone would feed them and the community would take care of them especially if times were really bad.

Me? I don't have anything. I'm good with words, decent with firearms, I'm a good mom and a passable cook. I'm not afraid of hard work, I know the rudiments of carpentry & home construction, and I know how to run power tools, but the same could be said of a bajillion able-bodied people who are also younger and stronger than I am.

What about you? What's in your "survival skills" brain pack? Do you have a job or an avocation that is both portable and would last through tough times?

pax

If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability. -- Henry Ford

 

[JamisJockey]

I'm pretty well hosed. My job is specialized, and its all I've done.
I could probably get into Law Enforcement, given my military experience, but I'd have to pass the physical requirements. That would likely take some work.

 

[dasmi]

I'm good with computers and electronics. But if there's no power after the SHTF...

 

[hso]

Pax,

Prospering in the long term when infrastructure collapses is a good idea to address and I agree with you on that, but you've gotta make it through the first 72 hours and then the next 3 weeks to get to that point. That takes preparation and skills and physical capabilities. If you can't make it that far you'll never be able to use thr skills like your buddy the carpenter to build a life after "the flash".

 

[pax]

hso ~

Agreed. It shouldn't be an either/or thing.

But think about it: some of the folks who make it through the first wave of a disaster, do so by sheer luck rather than excellent preparation. The tsunami hit while they were out fishing, so to speak. They bought a house on high ground not because they were afraid of floods, but because they liked the view. Whatever. There they are. They've survived, and good preparation had nothing to do with it.

Even well-prepared folks can survive the immediate crisis, but lose everything except the shirt on their backs. They only had time to dive for cover as the earthquake shook their home into rubble -- and they can't go back, for anything, because the house is going to come down the second someone jostles the porch. They're left with what they have in their pockets, and maybe in their car if the car didn't get swallowed by a sinkhole. That's not going to last very long.

Either which way, after the immediate crisis, you're going to need a way to feed your family. That is a constant which won't change whether you've got a well-stocked BOB or not.

pax

 

[Norton]

I hear ya' Pax.

If the TSHTF, I''ll be deep kimchi unless my locale is in need of a post-apocalyptic symphony orchestra with me as its Mad Max-like conductor (hmmm.....imagine conducting Stravinsky with my STG58 slung across my back)

I'm working towards having some more "practical" skills by taking some classes through the local community college. This semester is residential wiring, parts 1 and 2. I'd like to get a welding class or two under my belt as well.

 

[Mongo the Mutterer]

Yep thought alot about this one...

Bean counter... not much of a skill ...

Working everyday to go from practical to tactical. Maybe someone will hire me to protect them?

 

[Preacherman]

Easy - I'd be your chaplain, and take up regular collections for my support.

 

[Justin]

You know, I've given this some thought, and quite frankly, the implications are, well, not so good.

Pretty much all of my job skills require the infrastructure of a first-world nation. I figure that in the event of total societal collapse, there won't be much call for digital graphic designers or 3d animators. That leaves me with my understanding and ability with regard to video production and news, but again, that's a primarily first/second world undertaking.

I've got some knowledge and experience in welding and molding, but that's really just from a one semester course I took in college.

Ultimately, I suppose I'd have to rely on my work ethic and willingness to give anything a try. But those are hardly concrete skills.

 

[White Horseradish]

Pax, you raise an excellent point. Having useful skills has literally saved my grandfather's life. (Fixing a lieutenant's car kept him out of the daily lottery where the winners got shot at a POW camp)

Computers aren't the only things I can fix. I can do pretty much anything mechanical. Useful skill, that. However, if you have a skill, are your tools of the trade part of your BOB? Hard to work on cars without wrenches...

 

[ACP230]

Pretty much all I do is write. Maybe I could make a living telling stories.
I'm convinced that some of my Norse ancestors were berserkers and some sat around telling tales (making moose hunts out of mice catching.)
I think I got most of my genetics from the latter group.

I can fish and hunt, but that might not mean much if everyone is doing the same things.

I reload, so maybe I could get some traction out of that.

 

[CAnnoneer]

Pax,

An excellent question.

As a professional scientist I am not worried about survival/relevance after EOTWAWKI. I can double up as an engineer, mechanic, electrician, miner, blacksmith, prospector, soap maker, tanner, teacher, shaman, gunsmith, and many others.

That being said, I would point out that a person of any profession can relatively easily pick up a core of basic knowledge that would drastically increase their survival/relevance after EOTWAWKI.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

I have been practicing general/vascular/trauma surgery for about 10 yrs...

As long as people bleed, I get to eat.

 

[Moondoggie]

I'm an independent trucker (refrigerated) with a steady income from my military retirement. I only make 1 round trip per week, Mon-Wed, from Topeka to Chicago & back. Semi-retired, pun intended!

As long as people have to eat, I've got a job!

The truck is an excellent bug-out vehicle. We could leave home and "Keep on truckin'" as long as need be with no concerns about living arrangements. Having the 4 cats and a small dog along would be a major PITA, but doable if necessary. The critters depend on us and we wouldn't fail in that obligation. Under normal circumstances the cats stay home & MIL next door looks after them when we used to do the real OTR thing.

We are established with several freight brokers, so as long as there's phones we're in biz. In a widespread SHTF situation, fr8 will still have to move to sustain life & whatever economy remains.

 

[hso]

Should we intentionally be developing skills that work in a preindustrial society?

One way to do so would be to join the Habitat For Humanity folks. Even if you don't know how to swing a hammer without endangering your own thumb you can learn enough simple trade construction skills to be truely useful while the tech editors, system engineers, and priests are hoping someone will feed them.

The Rule of 3's is always in play. Air, Water, Food are essentials. Not much anyone can do about Air, but the other 2 are within anyone's reach with a little effort. I know how to treat almost any water supply to make it potable. I can do this from 5 gallons to 5,000 gallons if I can get my hands on the right simple materials. Everybody's gotta eat. Covering the food area is done by growing up on small working farm like a buddy of mine did. Short of that you can keep a large garden going that follows the "Trinity" of corn/beans/squash like some of my ancestors did.

I happen to have taken a forging class (not documents ) and have a small forge and a few forging tools at home. I've got a good eye for heat color and a good understanding of differential tempering and heat treat. I have produced a handful of forged knives and if I spend enough time at it I should be able to produce truely useful things like NAILS .

My wife doesn't need to learn anything new since she's a medical professional so I'm the only one in the family that has to make themselves useful.

 

[ojibweindian]

I've learned medical skills while as a Corpsman and aqcuired carpentry skills from my ex father in law.

 

[Sawdust]

I can build a house - including the concrete, electrical, plumbing, finish carpentry and cabinetry.

I can build the furniture for it, also.

I can do metalwork and machining (including programming 3D toolpath).

I can do design using computer solid modeling programs.

I've been designing and managing medical device product development for 20 years, so there's those related skills, too.

Sawdust

 

[Dave R]

Bean counter... not much of a skill ...

You need to read "Lucifer's Hammer" by Niven and Pournelle. A "bean counter" at a plumbing shop becomes a major character because the need for organization is acute when resources are limited and needs are great. So I wouldn't count that out.

Me? Closest I come is that I play upright bass. As long as someone wants music, and is willing to pay for it, it'll be either me or that tuba player.

I'm a sales/marketing professional. That'll only come in handy once groups of people begin to trade again. Maybe.

 

[72Rover]

Post SHTF skills

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher an animal, 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 Heinlin

Let's not overlook zymurgy. That's a skill that post-SHTF survivors will pay for!

 

[Norton]

Me? Closest I come is that I play upright bass. As long as someone wants music, and is willing to pay for it, it'll be either me or that tuba player.

Hey now...don't discount us tuba players as survivalists. I have a Hirschbrunner and I'm not afraid to use it

 

[Working Man]

I'll follow you Lone_Gunman , I'm Biotech, MLT, and Phlebotomy.

I also took 4 years of wood shop and shop R&D, I worked at Ye Old Master Wood Craft for a while. I'm an alright mechanic too. I use to sell computer parts for years but that won't help much after the down hill rumble. Hell,
it doesn't help much now. :banghead:

I can lay bricks (I know this is setting my self up), sweat pipes, and have
poured a few foundations as well as built a deck.

Maybe goods retrieval or property protection as well.

 

[Art Eatman]

I got chewed out by a boss, one time, "Art, the trouble with you is that you're interested in too many things." Trouble was, I didn't know how to not be interested. Still don't.

I grew up around farming and ranching and gardening. I even plowed behind a horse, back around age seven or so. At age eleven, I discovered that tractors are better.

I got the car racing bug, so that got me into automechanics. I've done full overhauls on over a hundred engines. Still bending wrenches. After I moved back to the old family ranch, I added welding, along with rough carpentry, roofing, plumbing and electric wiring.

I moved to Terlingua and to fix up my place and make a few bucks I got a backhoe and dumptruck. I've done almost all the maintenance on them.

Professionally I was a civil engineer. I sorta accidentally fell into that, after starting out as a mechanical engineer at Chevrolet Test Lab in Detroit. I got into environmental stuff because the guy who hired me lived behind my ranch and his daughter boarded her horse in my pasture.

So a lot of stuff I've learned just sorta happened. I didn't plan on it.

So: Nobody was born an expert anything. Anybody with enough sense to pound sand can learn. There's nothing wrong with getting your hands dirty; there's no law that sez they gotta stay that way; God invented Go-Jo for a reason.

I got into a lot of do-it-yourself because I'm a cheapskate. Why should I pay somebody to do something for me that I can do, and after the first time, do it better?

The world is full of how-to books. Go to a used-book store. Be a cheapskate. You use books to get a college degree or learn computer stuff, right? Automechanics or carpentry is easier.

Turn off the TV and go offline and you'd be amazed at how much time you have to learn how to do for yourself.

And, like handloading, it keeps you out of the beerjoints at night.

, Art

 

[Mongo the Mutterer]

God invented Go-Jo for a reason

+1 from a beancounter who has spun a wrench a few times. Miss it.

 

[Len]

Good topic, Pax...

For having had such a hard time paying for college [11 year plan, stopping to work and save for another year at a time], I guess I could consider myself lucky.

Trained to be an English teacher, while the jobs I held in college taught me how to: swing a hammer in the building trades, drive any type of heavy equipment, lay brick, put concrete down, lumberjack, bodyguard, lifeguard...among some other stuff. [Is tending bar a survival skill?]

Then I wound up as a systems administrator, a paramedic instructor/coordinator, and then my latest morph, a marketing rep.

All that...and the Rangers taught me how to chew a full grown oak tree down with my teeth!

I think that a lot of what you're thinking about should include hobbies. Anyone who's done a lot of camping has a major advantage. I can think of a few other avocations that might not be "paying jobs," but would be invaluable interests and skills to aid in a long term survival situation.

 

[charby]

hmm

I can do just about anything I set my mind with in reason. I have enough practical skills to efficently build shelter, grow food and reasonably defend myself if needed to. I'll probably be in a jam if I have a nasty bone fracture or a serious wound, but other than I think I'd be okay in anything short of a biological or nuclear attack, well that is if I survived through the intial whatever caused the SHTF.

I'm not much of a loner, but in a SHTF experience i think I'd be better off alone because when I set my mind to something, come hell or high water it is going to be done and I don't need any other chiefs around contradicting my orders.

Charby