You and I need to have a serious talk. Go GIANTS, beat the CHEATERiots!


My Friend Blast,
Are you OK? I haven't seen any posts of you blowing something up, hurting yourself or getting your tail whipped by a 5 pound kitten so far in 2008! You aren't ill are you?

AMEN!!!!!

Thanks for the post, Blast. It's a good reminder to make sure you've got all the bases covered adequately first, then we can satisfy our particular whims or hobbies about getting more gear or reading up on the latest book on edible plants, etc.

Thanks for contributing your rationale distillation of points. It is a good model that embraces the classic references and many of the recent posts. Good work!

Best post I've seen in a long time. I try to read up on the books and get some of the obvious gear (firestarter, tarp, etc,), but my planning and practice needs to be done. Thank goodness that teachers get summer off - lot's of practice.

I think that some part of the triangle should include family practice. My wife is just starting out with ETS and she hasn't realized that she has too train as well. If I get knocked out and a fire needs to be started, then I'm not certain she could pull it off.

Thanks for the thoughtful post. However, I wanted to point out that there were no beautiful 23 year-old coeds on any aircraft that I flew on until AFTER I was married Besides, anyone one who considers the situation wants the survival to take place on a very warm tropical islands, not on a snow-covered moutain.

Blast - great post.
just one question. If you fall into the the triangle, do you just disappear forever like in Bermuda, or do you reappear here in the forum?

Blast, excellent discussion. Your comments may have a generational nuance. Being an older guy I grew up in an analog world and information was a lot harder to find. You actually had to read books or learn from older people. You turned that information into knowledge thru experimentation and hands on learning. I learned how to start a fire in my dad's brush pile at the age of 9. Also learned at school the next day it was fire prevention week, from the fire chief who had put out the fire (Blast, you would have been proud, flames shooting 30-40 feet in the air!)

As a kid I also had lots of time to think about the 'what if's' in life, called day dreaming, right? (you get a lot time to ponder life cutting 5 acres of grass with 30" walk behind mower). I still do that almost every day (commuting has replaced grass cutting). So I pretty much know what I would do if that plane load of coeds taxied to a stop in front of my beach hideout...But do kids these days have the time to think and play and learn from doing?

The digital generation has a lot easier access to information, tons of stuff. That's great, I use it everyday. But without the experimentation, hands-on practice, self-inflicted learning wounds, it's just information. What we all should have is knowledge.

I believe that knowledge breeds resourcefulness. With knowledge, based on experience, you leverage the gear you have and make it become useful to a particular end. I didn't always have the tools and resources I'm lucky enough to have now. So I made do with what was at hand and used tools to do things for which they weren't originally intended. So I can look at a pile of junk and find something to fix a problem, at least until I can to hardware store and buy the proper tool for the job (oooh shiny things...).

Your triangle is a darned valuable way of looking at the preparedness/survival concept. I think how each of us sees it will vary based on our experiences in life and to some degree our ages.

Thanks,

Andy

Yes, that is a major key! Knowledge without experience often just leads to overconfidence. Hell, I wish I COULD learn stuff from a book. That'd be a lot quicker than having to try everything out. I think a lot of the information someone gathers through eyes/ears only is just a foundation for the true knowledge based on doing. It's a wonderful start, but just a start.

The glut of information available to people these days is overwhelming and it leads to many armchair experts but few that are truely skilled. I'm thankful that there are so many people on this board who do have real-world experience. They inspire me.

30-40 foot tall flames? Excellent!! Did your dad teach you the Zulu hide tanning technique after the fire was put out?

-Blast

Pete, I feel "situation" is not under a person's control. My triangle is designed to clarify what a person can do to be prepared.

While formalizing the my thoughts on this I was up to a five-pointed spinning pinwheel. That seemed a bit out there so I decided to focus on the aspects a person has control over. Basically, what's in your pockets, what's in your head, and why the stuff is there to begin with.

-Blast

So... if I cut back on my planning and preparation, does that mean I can buy more gear?