What skill sets do you have for your group?

reply to post by ZeroReady


I am not expecting him or her to, but that doesn't mean I have to!!!
BTW...Your not the only one to play in the sand...my first time was at 18, that was a lifetime ago...been traveling the globe about 20 years now, yet I still have my moral values...I am not a office clerk, motor T, or supply guy...so reach down and grab your boot straps.

I'm the guy that walks up to an unknown berry bush and eats it to find out if it is posiouness or not.

I guess calling someone and idiot for saying they wanna eat people in a SHTF...is a no no here...I wish they would keep dumb replies from being posted by stupid people.
I bet this gets taken away too...I am only giving what I get from repies on a tread...if you expect people to post things that are half way intelligent, you might wanna stop the idiots from being able to post...I would eat people, then you silence people that call them an idiot...or is it wrong to voice my opinion, they posted there's.

reply to post by Doublemint
on tomb stone "here lies the one that eat from a bush , know what you eat before hand", what a bird or deer can eat does not mean you can. plants and berries can kill with just a taste of it, bugs do not not, so can wild game if you do not how clean them right or if they have some bug bio hazard, here is link to help you out, a must read for plant berry mushroom eating in the wild theforagerpress.com... a good idea is take a walk in the high county with this, look at what birds and deer eat, then snip the plant look at the guide place it in the book for "home study" it could save your life.

reply to post by saltdog
the most extreme of survival is the story of the Donner party, the question is how far would one go to survive? eating shoes boots , not for there are now man made uppers , your pets, dog /cat? Twigs, or as the story says,...well you know, I my self no way no how!!!!
There are always things to eat, just got to know where and what. was lack of preparation or just not knowing what to do that had them in their rut? i would say both. there should have been roots they could have ate, even in winter! Bugs like grubs or worms even in the deep snow they souled have been able to this. my biggest question where was the wild game?

reply to post by bekod


if you have time to refrence then I wouldn't call it surviving. any ways there will be others things that will be need to be done that no one else will want to go and those things fit in with the description I gave in my previous post.

to the op question ,all kinds fist aid, hunting trapping cooking, mechanical repair home building you can have all the skills in the would but with out the tools what good are you, one needs a mill to make the lumber or a ax to cut down the trees to make a cabin, a saw is better but then when was the last time you had seen a two man saw? Know a black smith have him make one, lost skills that need to be reborn. Not many black smiths will make 2 man saws or know how too. Chain saw you might say, where to get gas, when the is non?? Make your own, fine but then do you know how to make a still ?Here is video link that shows you just this www.youtube.com...

You shouldn't plan on having a group. Plan on being alone, and then when the sh!t does hit the fan, if you find yourself in a group, you have options.

Personally, there aren't very many people I like or get along with. When people are put in life or death situations, they tend to all want to do different things, and disagree on just about everything. I don't exactly know from experience, but it seems pretty obvious that things of that nature are bound to happen. Frankly, I could go without all the drama and just go it alone. That way all the decisions you make are yours.

You just have to make sure you know what you're doing, and prepare in advance.

reply to post by bekod


I agree. Survival basics comes down to knowing how to recognize food and shelter, as well as knowing how to properly ration, not only food, but supplies. Keeping fire-making tools dry is a must, and also don't use up your matches or lighters before you decide to start making fire via stick rubbing. Save the quick start stuff for emergencies, and if one can keep the fire going, that's one less task that person will have to waste calories on later. Food is the same way. Don't eat up all your saved food before going out to hunt, gather, and scavenge. When people get hungry, they get desperate, when people get desperate, they get aggressive and/or worse, stupid. When people get stupid, they get dead.
On the flip side of that coin; you don't want to save your food so long that it goes bad, but you do want to push that limit as far as you can while you have that luxury. There's seasonal preparation as well. You don't wait till Fall to start stocking firewood for the Winter. That's something that should be ongoing the whole year long so that your supply will last should a blizzard or rainy season come in where outdoor moving is limited, or just plain miserable. Building a small pond for storing live fish is also a good idea. This keeps waste down, and again, makes things less miserable should bad weather move in.
Human ingenuity is what makes us awesome as a species. If the right people are placed together, or even if a single person can retain his composure, there's no reason why people couldn't survive most SHTF scenarios.

reply to post by Doublemint
oh for give me, but a real die hard!!! I like you style, why bother knowing what to eat when you can take your risk and roll the dice when the time comes, if you live you live, if you die you die, not me I like knowing now what to eat where to go and what to do , not having being caught with pants down is half the game won.Am I "pro" no not at all could I show you what to eat no but I could show what not to eat, so knowing not what to means the others are or should be safe to eat might not taste good but will not kill you could make you sick yes , and then could do no harm.

Originally posted by bekod
to the op question ,all kinds fist aid, hunting trapping cooking, mechanical repair home building you can have all the skills in the would but with out the tools what good are you, one needs a mill to make the lumber or a ax to cut down the trees to make a cabin, a saw is better but then when was the last time you had seen a two man saw? Know a black smith have him make one, lost skills that need to be reborn. Not many black smiths will make 2 man saws or know how too. Chain saw you might say, where to get gas, when the is non?? Make your own, fine but then do you know how to make a still ?Here is video link that shows you just this www.youtube.com...

edit on 31-1-2012 by bekod because: editting

Luckily, at least in the beginning, a lot of what is needed will be readily available, if one knows where to look. Wood, glass, metal, all can be recycled from existing structures and repurposed for whatever one might need them for (minding a few cuts here and there, which could be handled with a regular handsaw.

reply to post by saltdog


sounds like the group on the TV show 'Friends'


i have already been in this type scenario...back in the hippie & commune living days... we all brought certain skills that each individual was adept at, some skill sets overlapped which was also 'good'

back then i was not the 'financial planner type' i have become over the years
but i did at that time provide the 2nd sight and the ability to give guidance &/or alerts as to what to do with certain outsiders or our groups direction (i was old at 20-21 yo at the time)
my knowledge & experience, including being a Veteran and in Army Intelligence gave me added insights & what group directions to stay away from or at least modify.

most all the needs to start a unimproved farmland or east-coast mountain situated living commune i had a working knowledge of back in those hippie days...without having Technical Manuals or encyclopedias at hand.


now-a-days it is different..
at least until after the internet/ wireless devices become useless... then 1st hand experience will again rise like cream to the top.


i still am a work-a-holic, civil engineer, brought up on a dairy farm (60 cows), 2 green thumbs,
but as far as i feel...way too old to try to keep up with the youth .in all areas


so----- i cannot really define what would be valuable attributes to bring to the group you are with
but a person that knows plants, mushrooms & has a knowledge of pharmaceuticals

(a shelf life of almost two years will make contemporary medicines valuable for awhile even after the, much needed, collapse)


keep trucking

reply to post by FugitiveSoul
the pound idea is ok but then how many would think of it as a swimming pool or a wash tub for clothes, then there is the bio hazard mico bugs that can kill and make you sick thanks to fluoridation we can no longer drink untreated water, go to Mex and drink the water down there see how fast you get sick! It is not the water it is from the lack of chem that kill the natural bugs micro bugs that make you sick, a mountain stream water if not use to it can make you sick as well, to many have become "concreted" use to city life, know what a tick looks like what to do for it wasting disease,or whirling disease in trout red tide along the coast line. yep it is going to be roll the dice, when SHTF

First of Al I must say that I am a huge Zombie movie buff, and in watching a number of these films over the years. I wondered, what would happen as society breaks down and collapses? Would I survive? What ever causes society to break down, from zombies to natural disasters. I may not be 100% prepared. But I am equipped to survive. I am not a nomadic, colloidal silver water drinking, hill-billy. I am a tattoo artist. I have been raised in a rural community all my life.In addition to my eagle scouting years, I am a carpenter,welder,mechanic,munitions maker,machinist,farmer,CDL driver/mechanic,hunter,fisher,dring/smoking/preserving,sewing. These are basic skills Ive used all my life. Back in High school, we didnt have cell phones. To the people lost without them...sucks to be you.
I have numerous skills, but I am not heartless. I am willing to share. But when faced with the fact that its either me or you? Sorry, bro your gonna starve. I will not hesitate to eat another human being. I believe that the morality of the above comments should not come into play at all. Meat is meat. I will feel bad at first, but a full belly on a cold night will keep you warmer than an intact sense or morality. I will not de-evolve into a predator/cannibal. But I believe that a few moral will happily be thrown out the window in the face of a survival situation.
Here is just one site to begin wading thru for basic survival skills. There is a lot of info here, and for the conspiracy buffs, there is plenty of reading material here too.

www.thezombieclub.org...
www.ar15.com...
scouting.org/filestore/pdf/12thEditionHandbookFlyer.pdf

These links are not all inclusive, there is alot more information out there.
Happy Reading

No Hope =No Fear, For what is given can be taken away! Peter Steele

Effective COMSEC not to express current capabilities on an open forum.I'll find my kind when the shooting STARTS not until.It ain't time yet.

reply to post by St Udio




I am not an old hippie, but I do like how some of them, have a great demand for there skills...in a SHTF.
The whole peace, love, recycle...is a little much for me. It is good to remember that there have been people that have been there and done that...to get by.
I hope we never get pushed into a SHTF, but you prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

reply to post by cavtrooper7


I agree with OPSEC, so that is one reason that I keep things very plain and don't give out to much, but if the powers to be wanna really check you out...your screwed anyway...so, some info is good to ask about, but who has what skill? where do said people live? what supplies do any of us have? I had a bad boating accident and lost everything moving it to an Island...so I have nothing to see here...

reply to post by bekod


It'll absolutely suck, I'm not gonna lie, but going down without a fight isn't exactly in my repertoire of disaster responses. There are ways to filter water (even an entire pond's worth) and creeate an eco balance that could both help in the prevention of disease, as well as the prevention of insects. The pond would have to be secured, making it inaccessible to outsiders and animals, but still accessible to sun, shade, and birds (which are great at natural pest control). The pond should be connected to a moving water system as well, this will help in the filtration that should be placed up stream from your pond.
Also, trimming the feathers of geese will keep them grounded, making them perfect for keeping the tic population in check. Ducks are good for balancing a pond's eco system. Dogs can be trained as both alarm systems, as well as security for the animals and people of a survival community.
As I said, it can be done. It would be hell compared to the lives we lead now (comfort-wise), but it's manageable.

I'm good at video games, eating cheeseburgers, and smoking cigs.

Hopefully that will be enough to get me through the apocalypse.

reply to post by FugitiveSoul


It's cool, God gave you us we like to Fight for all of us, it makes me all tingly inside.Just get us food and rounds and we'll take care of the rest.