Survival skills
 

I was fascinated by the "100 skills" thread. The author of the original list, credited to Popular Mechanics, had some sort of scenario in mind when he made the list. Many of the people that responded to the list have their own ideas on what the list must have been about, and made a distinction between city dwellers and others, for example.

I'd be interested in others' thoughts on basic survival skills, not for everyday life but in the event of an apocalyptic event. What would you say are the 10 top skills you specifically would want in order to survive an end-of-civilization-as-we-know-it event.

On a related note, what do you see as the most likely end scenario? Rapture? Nucular war (LOL)? Total economic collapse?

I'll post my thoughts on likely events and my ideas on skills in a following post.

1. Farming - have to eat somehow!
2. First Aid - obvious
3. Learn Spanish
4. house building - also obvious
5. Psychology
6. firearm skills (proper usage)
7. Sentual Massage
8. Fishing/hunting
9. Morse Code
10. Canning - Keep food longer

1) grow food
2) make fire
3) build shelters
4) hunting skills (bow, gun, rod, and snare)
5) salting and tanning game
6) purifying water
7) tool making/repair
8) plant lore
9) animal behavior patterns
10) weather forecasting

I read this book:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...TL._SS500_.jpg

It was very informative. I plan on reading it again soon to further commit the information to memory. I spent a great deal of this last summer working on my native plant identification skills.

I also live with three Eagle scouts. Two of them are extensively trained in backcountry survival. What's interesting is I'm the one of the four of us more prepared for disaster. I have a supply of food stored, water stored, a first aid kit, and other emergency supplies all ready. I also make sure before winter that I have a windstorm preparedness kit ready (flashlights, battery-powered radio, bottle of wine). I have my first aid and CPR certifications up-to-date. We had a bad windstorm a couple years ago and I was the only person in the house ready with a flashlight. One of the foremost skills needed in greeting disaster is a level head and general preparedness.

Nuclear war could lead to a total economic collapse, depending on where the bomb(s) dropped. It could also lead to a collapse of government.

I am generally preoccupied with the thought of the Apocalypse. It might strike some people as odd, but I believe I've shared this fascination with the board before. Given that, and where I live, I believe that the impact of a nuclear attack on the United States on my particular area would be interesting. It's unlikely that anyone would outright drop the bomb on the Willamette Valley; there's nothing worth bombing here. But we are a rich agricultural area, with a temperate climate, and therefore we are attractive to outsiders. If large numbers of people had to be resettled elsewhere in the United States, I imagine they would think of the Willamette Valley as a prime area for such a resettlement--Oregon Trail Redux, I suppose. For my end of things, I have to be prepared that any infrastructure within my community will be overwhelmed by the needs of the many and be prepared to provide for myself and my own for some time independently, without access to services. To this end, we are planning a garden for planting next spring. We learned to can this fall. I suspect next fall we'll be able to put up even more food than we did this fall. However, this sort of independence doesn't come at the cost of the community; rather, it strengthens our community ties--another thing key to survival--as we generally share the fruit of our labor with our friends and neighbors.

Fucking...




Gotta repopulate the planet somehow...

As an Eagle Scout, I approve this list, with the substitutions of First Aid instead of weather forecasting, and the alteration from Build Shelters to Knotcraft, which includes lashing, which can be used to build shelters.

Well if the end of the world is like hollywood makes it out to be we would need to put "Manipulation of others" onto that list as their would be lots of factions and you would want to make sure you were able to manipulate people into following your faction.

can't believe i completely forgot about first aid. :eek:

Plant lore has been mentioned, but this should be expanded to include foraging. Plants are good for both food and medicine. Hunting isn't always successful, and farming is labour intenstive and also isn't always successful. Without foraging, you're screwed.

So, experience playing Vampire Mafia then? :thumbsup: I kid I kid.


Seriously though, everyone remotely interested in this should grab the Wilderness Survival merit badge book, and probably the First Aid one, too, and keep them in their TEOTWAWKI/BOB/WTSHTF kits. They're less than $10.

#1: Ability to spot the most capable person in a crowd and stick with him/her.


I can agree with a lot on that list but I think you guys are going too far back to basics. If there is an apocalypse there is going to be a lot of infrastructure left behind. You are going to want to know how to make it work and either repair it or adapt it (think of the Mad Max trilogy).

1. Medicine/First Aid
2. Hunting, Fishing and Trapping
3. Foraging/Plant lore
4. Preserving food
5. Basic construction and engineering skills (including rope work, framing, etc.)
6. Mechanical skill (repairing engines and machines)
7. Power generation (any form from fossil fuels to wind and water).
8. Weapons and tactics.

Two best points on here:

...

Knotcraft can't be stressed enough. It does everything. 550 cord is a tool from the gods.

First aid knowledge is extremely important for a situation where you must "heal thyself."

...

Hah! I knew you were a scout, too.

I agree, I don't go anywhere without a few 100 yards of paracord and my trauma bag.

I'd add to that list waste management. If you find something to eat... the shit gotta go somewhere. Sanitation is an issue many people don't consider until, well until they have to.
-----Added 6/10/2008 at 10 : 18 : 56-----
I think you might be too trusting of the North Koreans missile guidance systems:eek:

But yeah, if I were going to be dropped some where a'la survivorman the Willamette Valley would be high on my want list.

I'd want to know how to sleep through whatever. Uncomfortable beds of rocks or debris, crazy noises, anything that might distract me in a normal situation. I would want to know how to sleep without putting myself at risk for attack.

I would like to be physically agile - able to outrun and outjump anything that might threaten.

A stash of seeds and a shovel are a must. As well as ample water. I already know all of the edible plants in my biome, and have a couple of reference books on local ethnobotany, but in this area there isn't much edible during the dry months. It would mean considerably less effort on my part to have a water collection system and a healthy bit of soil.

On that note, I'd also want a large length of black hose and a black water basin to act as a basic solar water heater. I hate daily cold showers.

It depends on what the scenario is.

Did a country set off a nuclear weapon high in our atmosphere? That is what I worry about. It wouldn't kill people instantly, but every electronic device (that isn't EMP harded) would be destroyed. I've seen how crazy people get waiting in line for gas in this country, imagine a line of thousands waiting for food (and they're all hungry). It would take years to rebuild the power grid and manufacture all new parts. Along with the break-down of society, it wouldn't be pretty.

In this case, the military would take over and it would probably turn into a police state. If you could escape into the woods and have a hidden shelter, it would be the best option.

Did a virus wipe out 99% of the population? Did civil war break out? Nuclear war?

1. Security/weapons
2. Food gathering
3. Water
4. Shelter building

In a nuclear or biological attack, you should seal up your home as best as you can before the fallout arrives. But also collect as much canned food and water in a bathtub/sink that you can. Wait it out for at least 2 days, preferably 7-14.

1. Food
2. Water
3. Shelter
4. Security

Brewing beer from the first list is something that needs to be kept for the second list.

You'd need to have someone that could fix or make tools.
It'd be better if you had hand-cranked radios/flashlights, than battery-powered ones.
You'd need to be prepared to actually survive, mentally.
A roll of plastic would be a handy thing to have. Helps with shelter and water collection.
A good-sized dog would be handy for protection, hunting, and what have you.
Horses for traveling.

With the follow-up of "I can't believe I forgot first aid," this is pretty much what I had. In a real apocalyptic scenario with loss of infrastructure and services, I would want to know how to treat serious injuries requiring extensive stitching or setting bones, and I would also want to be able to deliver babies.
This and US military field manuals

This is good, and the Boy Scout Manual in general has loads of helpful stuff.

Call me a geek (geek!), but being a boy scout taught me several helpful skills.

Rope, a pocket knife and a towel will get you through most anything, as long as there's potable water.

For nuclear disaster; http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...281stEd%29.jpg

It's a bit simplistic about the realities of nuclear war, but hey, it was written in 1959. It delves into how different people survive differently.

I don't think all-out nuclear war is likely. Besides us, only Russia and China have enough weapons to do apocalyptic damage to the United States. And since our economies are so interlinked, it would be economic suicide to do so. Smaller nuclear powers could do huge damage to us, of course, but not apocalyptic (depends on how you define it, I guess). Destroying New York, for example, would be a huge hit, but not one big enough to end the existence of the country, in my opinion. I would fear a nuke on New York City, since I'm in the refugee path, but I feel that there would be an ultimate recovery, and the military would still exist.

An EMP weapon or two could be a major blow, possibly life-threatening to the country. But again, there aren't that many powers with the tech to do it and the independence from us to survive it.

I personally think a pandemic or a global economic collapse is a more likely scenario. In either case, the basic effect on the population would be, at first, loss of utilities, lack of food shipments, loss of communications and limits on travel (no gas or public transportation). I imagine myself, in my little Upstate community, with no water, electricity, gas/oil for heat, or phone/internet. I see all three gas stations closed, and both grocery stores empty. In a few days, I picture several million of my closest friends from New York City headed my way, once they clean out their stores, etc.

So, here are a couple things that I've studied a little bit about:

1. How do you organize a small community and defend it against refugees?
2. How do you make a steam engine or convert a gas engine to steam? How do you make a boiler?
3. How do you purify stream/well/lake water? How do you dig a well?
4. How do you butcher an animal efficiently?
5. How do you grow high-food-value crops like corn and wheat? And hay?
6. How do you make gunpowder, reload cartridges with it, and scavenge lead?

In other words, how do you learn to be a farmer/rancher as might be found on the American frontier in the 1800's?

That's a great book, Popinjay. Also, The Stand and Lucifer's Hammer.

The list of skills named so far is good. I just have to add making a fire without matches or a lighter.

I learned how when I went to survival camp, as well as other useful skills for an event such as this.

As far as what brings us to this point. I would have to agree Nuclear war s unlikely. As far as a man made threat, a biological disease, like the super flu like in the book The Stand, is more likely.

Otherwise I think we are way over due for a natural disaster that is on the scale of a global catastrophe. Things like super volcano eruptions, asteroid impact, or magnetic pole reversal.