What would you do if you got really pushed to your limits???

a reply to: bigpatato

First and foremost, a man's got to know his limitations.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

so you're good and ready to cut poor old mans dink off in case you're in the mood for a hotdog right.

originally posted by: BASSPLYR
a reply to: Bedlam

Id prefer a smaller gaurd like on the venerable applegate-fairbairn.

(big grin) Your guess is golden.

Hey what are your thoughts on strait or serrated.

Getting the gobbets out of the serrations was a problem. If you look at mine, there's little bits of stain left in there.

a reply to: bigpatato

Its ok i know somebody who can rejuvinate his hotdog

a reply to: Bedlam

Thats ok somebody gave me a still stained knife he once "scrabled eggs" with. I use it to push coals around my bbq. And to dig gingerly around pvc irrigation pipes when i need to excavate around them.

a reply to: bigpatato

Yes, it was (at the time), torture. We were in very harsh conditions in the middle of nowhere and running would have been a bad idea- in fact, there were deaths of some participants who decided to escape. I hated my parents for many years, but when my mom developed Multiple Sclerosis and began to deteriorate, I began to forgive (her). It wasn't until she passed away in 2001 that I began (attempting) to forgive my dad, and only in the past several years have we had any sort of OK relationship.

The skills I learned are only useful in VERY rare circumstances, like being marooned on a desert island or a SHTF scenario. But the mental toughness gained has helped me get through many circumstances that I probably would have given up on if I had not previously been prepared for dealing with seemingly hopeless situations.

At the time, 2 weeks in the desert cost my parents more than $3000- and I remember discussing with the other kids how good we would have been if our parents had just given us the cash. But now that I am much older (more than 30 years have passed), I realize that I would have blown the money in a very short time- in fact, it probably would have been lost, stolen, or spent on partying.

It was, at the time, a wretched experience. Like many things, I did not recognize ANY benefits until many years had passed. It is a shame that when we are young we often don't understand that our parents are trying their hardest (hopefully) to help us. I still have conflicting feelings about how I was raised, but there is a lot more to this story than I have revealed here. I feel fortunate that I had TWO parents that didn't just give up on me... My life wasn't (and never will be) easy or perfect, but it could have been MUCH MUCH worse.

Someday, I would like to re-visit Escalante Canyon, UTAH under different circumstances, perhaps with a backpack full of food/water and a beautiful woman leading the way.

I would think about this guy, and keep trying:
en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: seattlerat

I would had had my parents arrested for abuse and false imprisonment. then would had said thanks you. you truly showed me how much you think of me and i shoudnt feel guilty for getting my revenge.

a reply to: seattlerat

you were there for 2 whole weeks? and that was traumatic. You're joking right. Get real. I'm sorry but that's laughable. Trust me, you didn't experience anything if it was only for 2 weeks. But each to their own. Maybe someone's two weeks is someone else's 20 years. Like nelson mandela spent like 27 yrs in jail for no good reason. That's a feat.

originally posted by: ObjectZero
Survive and smile.

I like that...or try to find ways to keep smiling.

a reply to: bigpatato

I don't recall saying that it was traumatic, but I suppose it was in some ways- especially after learning that this wasn't a camp at all- a more accurate description would be that it was extremely difficult. People don't realize how much they take some things for granted until it is gone. Remember, this was a program to help troubled youth- I can't imagine someone creating a similar program that lasted years & years.

Utah has some very unforgiving landscape and there are hazards like flash floods that can easily kill a person without warning. I was there in February, and you might think.. oh, you were in the desert so it must have been nice and warm... WRONG- we had to dig graves for ourselves every night, line them with flat rocks, build a fire on top of the rocks, let the fire die down to coals, cover the coals with soil, and then sleep on this "coal-bed". The first few nights I either burned myself or froze to death, because this is something that takes practice to learn how to get it just right.

We had to learn how to make fire using a flint/rock/tinder bundle. Try doing this with frozen fingers and gale force winds when you are inexperienced. We made bows/arrows using sage-brush and branches- try shooting a rabbit (if you can get close enough) using a clumsy homemade weapon without any previous experience. We had a blanket and pocket knife, that's it- everything else we had to make ourselves or use tools available like rocks/sticks/hands. It was a very good lesson in problem solving and making do with what you have.

Also, there was no running water to be found for most of the journey and we did not bring any with us. We had to melt snow and only did this at the end of the day using the fires for our beds to accomplish this. We had no food, only ate what we were able to catch. We marched sometimes 10-12 miles a day even though we were blistered and exhausted as well as dehydrated and with empty bellies, and one time when we were just about to stop for the day we were forced to turn around and march back the way we had come because the narrow "slot-canyon" we had been using was blocked and there was no other option but to reverse direction.

Sure, this was not the same as crash landing on a deserted island somewhere, but it was a pretty good simulation of one. We did have two "guides" to monitor us, but for the first several days they did not even speak to us except when absolutely necessary- we were pretty much on our own to figure out how to survive.

I don't know how old you are or what you have gone through in your life, you mention having a similar experience- I'd like to hear it if you are willing to share. I believe that I may have handled my experience better than the other youth that shared it with me, but I don't claim to have been anything other than a confused, angry, stubborn idiot with very little life experience and an inability to respect others. This program helped me grow up, maybe just a little bit.

originally posted by: bigpatato

1) Many people end up with excruciating fatal deceases. They will eventually die from but they end up having to endure for years. Eventually sometimes seeking out the help of someone or some other country in which they can be euthanized

We all have a fatal disease; it's called living. No one gets out of here alive. I guess if you get to the point where the pain is so bad that it isn't worth playing the game anymore, then go ahead and hit the off-switch. But you have to be pretty damn confident that you know the future without error.

Basically, you come from a long line of survivors. Your genetic ancestors survived the Typhus epidemics of the 19th century. They survived the fall of Rome, the fall of the Aztec; the Tartars, the Ottomans, the Mongols, the Goths. Your ancestors survived measles, small pox, and the black death. If you have A or B blood-type, it's because they also survived malaria for 20 or 30 generations.

So the human body is designed to keep on going. Doesn't matter if our village is surrounded. Doesn't matter if you've been raped or enslaved or enserfed; You're body will keep on chugging. Even after the search for your plane is called off. Even after the food runs out. Even after they've left you with a blanket, and the tribe has moved on without you.

The real Hugh Glass.

Some people give up and wait for the cancer to run it's course. But their bodies never do. The body never gives up. It will digest your skeleton, your muscles, whatever it takes. Because the drought may end tomorrow. Our enemies may lift the siege once they become sick with the same fever you now suffer. We may sight land on the horizon tomorrow. The enemy may surrender. The wolves might not pick up our scent on this side of the river. The sheriff might not find our trail, this side of El Paso. The Comanche may not send another raiding party until after the buffalo head north again...

Where there is life, there is hope. Even when there is no hope.

Fletcher Christian and the mutineers thought they were killing Captain Bligh and the officers of Bounty by setting them adrift in the South Pacific with a few days provisions. But Bligh performed one of he great survival epics, and got his boat full of officers all the way to australia with only 1 death.

The odds may be against you. But there is practically no form of cancer that someone has not survived. Maybe it'll be you.

Search chopper Reid on YouTube,he has an impersonater that has a bid with an appropriate answer to all your questions. Ive Been to jail,no big deal,had cancer, gave it the bird for now. I'd answer all them with "harden the # up son"

a reply to: Bedlam

I like the Gerber Mark II.
We Cav types are obsessively quiet so it paid to read where one can stick them...the ARMY didn't teach us hand to hand ,back then
It always seemed to come back to the First Special Service force training as far as what I know about knives...Colorado Springs LACKS such instruction.
I won't trigger violently without an attack. I THEN Counter attack by whatever my DIABOLICAL mind devises.

originally posted by: bigpatato

2) Someone say for example getting a life sentence for some crime they didn't commit.

I have a problem with that one. I absolutely will not "plead guilty" if I am innocent, for the sake of a reduced sentence. I am an Old-School reader of the 10 commandments; and "not bear false witness" includes not pleading guilty (assuming you are not), regardless of what the DA threatens.

I have too much self-respect to perjure myself. I don't do Big Wrong Things. I live a life where I've got no reason to lie. I have been around lawyers enough to know that all their promises are a pile of big hot steaming horse apples. Most of the time, they don't even have the power to actually grant the promises they wave in front of you. "If you cooperate...." That's a bunch of bullsnap right there. The sentence you get will reflect the political realities of the judge's chambers, and nothing else. IF you do in fact cooperate, the cops may neglect to even mention it to the prosecutor. And the prosecutor may neglect to tell the judge. And the judge may disregard your cooperation because he doesn't like your haircut.

These are dark times. Hollow men make a travesty of the legal process, and then call it justice. The only rule is that whoever has the gold makes the rules. But a man has got to have a code. You have to choose your own code. Society won't reward you for living by a code. They won't even punish you particularly for choosing a credo that is out of style. So pick your morals, choose your code. And stand for it. That's what makes a man. The rest of it is just a bunch of posturing.

You may wind up in hell; the one they call the penal system. It isn't fair. Life isn't fair. It will be, one day; when the king returns to claim his throne, and sit in judgment of the nations. In the meantime, I have no judge here. I don't even judge myself. But that is the real measure of a man: how he faces adversity. You are definitely going to die. There's no question about it. The only real question is how you are going to live.

There are worse things than death. And death will come in its own time anyway. So, what could be worse than death? Well, not being true to yourself, for starters. Life is short. The question is whether you will use this short life to stand for the truth. That's what makes a good man.

originally posted by: bigpatato
I was thinking about how in life there's always the chance that something could happen your way and that you'd get pushed to your absolute limits of human endurance.

Like here's a few scenarios:

1) Many people end up with excruciating fatal deceases. They will eventually die from but they end up having to endure for years. Eventually sometimes seeking out the help of someone or some other country in which they can be euthanized

2) Someone say for example getting a life sentence for some crime they didn't commit.

...

'Trust' is the acceptance that something will happen... as you desire.
'Faith' knows that although we sometimes get our 'desires', we ALWAYS get exactly as we need, at the exact right moment!
If there is Faith, we don't judge, we are simply Grateful.
We can draw 'benefit' from all passing phenomena/situations.

a reply to: bigpatato

Honestly, my first thought would be suicide but I'm not really big on the whole suicide thing. Once the initial shock of the situation wears off and fear of dying falls into its place I'd then focus on trying to stay alive.

Although I do not technically FEAR death itself, I have mixed emotions on what might be next after this life, if there is anything at all.