I would really like your opinions on this.
What do you think are the most important skills to develop?
If you were going to try teaching survival skills to a community group with a range of ages, what things would you want them to know about, and why?

(by the way, 5 was just a number out of the air, give as many as you want to)

It would come down to priorities, which would be, in no particular order; fire, shelter, water. Food would rarely play into it, unless you are REALLY stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Honestly, trapping and hunting with primitive weapons is largely a waste of time. Particularly if you have never hunted before. My focus, if training someone, would be:

Shelter construction (nothing fancy; a debris shelter, using natural shelters such as uprooted trees, and, something area specific ie; a snow shelter of some sort. use the KISS principle!

Fire building concentrate on HOW fire works; the pyramid (fuel, air, heat), and how to create that. Go from easy (with a match or lighter), progressing to either a fire drill or bow drill. Mind you, these can take hours to produce a fire, and can be hard on the hands & shoulders. But, if you get it going ONCE, you can at least have the confidence that you've done it.

Water procurement and purification-pretty self explanatory.

I would likely also go over useful items to have on you, in your car, and in a pack.

Lastly, getting found. Becuase,ultimately, thats what you want.

S.T.O.P.
Basic first aid, especially the ABC mantra.
Shelter construction.

After that I don't know. Fire is important, but in some situations it's impractical and a waste of energy to try.

Depends on the enviroment and what skills they have to begin with. Especially if some of the invididuals are older or already have some experience (hunting, fishing, boy scouts, whatever) you would do well to use what they know already as a foundation for more "advanced" skills.

If by survival you mean mostly staying safe and sound outdoors in a temperate woodland or similar climate I'd start with a brief discussion on the basic survival equipment (knife, PSK etc.). Show the correct way of using a knife and axe. Most people have little skill in that department but it's crucial to starting a fire or building a shelter. While you're at it, demonstrate a quick way of setting up a lean-to with a poncho or tarp. Show the best way to store and organize stuff in a backpack. Discuss the clothing and footwear most appropriate for the environment. Explain the basic navigation with map, compass, sun & moon. Where to look for water, maybe some outdoor cooking. Make it fun, it's a great way for motivating people to actually get any good at it and avoid the Rambo approach.

Only then would I go into the "hardcore" emergency survival. Eg. how to survive an outdoor emergency with only the most basic gear, light a fire in rainy weather, build a snow hole or entirely improvised shelter. IMHO the basic outdoor trekking skills should always come first and the emergency techniques should follow, not the other way around.

Also emphasize the need for getting and staying fit (you won't enjoy the outdoors nor survive an emergency if you're totally out of shape), respecting nature, observing the wildlife, learning to adapt to the natural enviroment instead of sticking out like a sore thumb. Consider organizing some extra activities such as primitive archery or tracking later on. While not directly applicable to survival in most cases they may stimulate the students to become more familiar with the outdoors and do more research on their own.

Honestly, one thing to stay away from, other than mentioning it, is first aid. If you arent qualified to teach it, dont. Tell them to get first responder qualified, or whatever, but, do NOT teach it to them. In our sue-happy society, you can find yourself in hot water.

IMHO, I'd start with building a shelter. If you're going to spend some unexpected time outside, you'll need shelter from the elements, be it cold, heat, rain, etc.
Second, I'd go for firestarting, something that isn't as easy as some think it is. If it's cold, you'll need the heat and peace of mind a fire can give. Just do it safely, we don't need to start a forest fire to keep warm.
Third - probably communication. Good communication, be it a cell phone, a personal radio or even a PLB may turn a cold night and long walk into a minor inconvenience.
Fourth - probably signaling or making yourself visible.
Fifth - can you teach common sense? Using your head and not getting into trouble in the first place.

Nicely put sir.

I think it becomes to easy to forget the things that really make life difficult to live when one becomes focused on the theoretical.

I'd say that the most important skill is prevention.

By that I mean that you need to plan ahead, let people know where you're going, when you'll be back, and what to do if you don't "check in". Dress to survive - not just arrive (borrowed from http://www.outdoorsafe.com ). Make sure you have the gear and knowledge to keep you out of a survival situation. Make safe decisions while out and about - don't take risks.

Finally, if something unexpected does happen, make sure you have brought along gear, skills, and the knowledge to get you through a few unexpected days & nights on your own (also the mantra at http://www.outdoorsafe.com ). That's the whole point of carrying a very small and portable personal survival kit - so it has the highest chance of actually being with you when that bad stuff happens - and not back at home, or at camp, or in your car.

If you can't tell, I kind of like the approach on http://www.outdoorsafe.com . To get a better feel for their approach, read their newsletter archive. There's a lot of good stuff hidden in those newsletters.

Fire water and shelter come immediately to mind.

Are you talking survival in the boonies, or in a town/community/city that has fallen to the ground for whatever reason? Long term, or short???

I was thinking emergency more than primitive living.
I was thinking more about what would you teach somebody so they would still be alive after any type of emergency when you finally got to them.

KenK "I'd say that the most important skill is prevention."


Good point, nice link, I added it to my favourites list to read later. thanks

Then I would say
S.T.O.P.
S.U.R.V.I.V.E. (see the survival FM from the army)
The "3's"

And then move on from there

Yes.

Do you think if these had a short introduction to household, electrical and fire hazards it would make a good teachable one day course?

I liked the prevention idea a lot too.
I might be able to fit something (not much) from our workplace hazard assessment system and something about how a chain a of small events add up to a big event too.

I think Basic First Aid will be given as a separate unit to be taught by St John's Ambulance as a weekend course.

I liked Brangdon and JCWohlschlag's comments too.

For a community group you might focus on two or three things - one for the adults and one for the, well, parents and kids:

1a. Discuss veeeerrrryyyy basic outdoor survival kits - I'm talking about the outdoorsafe.com kind of kit. Emphasize that it needs to be on their person - not at home or in the car. Tell them that an easy way to make a high quality kit is to start with a Doug Ritter Personal Survival Pak and then add the extra recommended bits (knife, flashlight, water, ...). Make sure you can tell them where they can buy one in your area.

If you have time, also emphasizing the importance prevention (trip plan, right gear, avoiding risks, using a map/compass/GPS), , health (temperature regulation, hydration, first aid), personal protection (shelter, insects, sun, warmth), signaling (whistle, lights, fire, cell phones, PLB), sustenance (water, basic food), and maybe navigation - though do emphasize the S.T.O.P. idea mentioned earlier (map, compass, GPS).

In a presentation on Doug Ritter's blog he listed his "top 10" survival items as: 1) a mapping GPS w/ knowledge to use it, 2) one-hand openin knife, 3) fire-starter w/ tinder, 4) water & water purification, 5) whistle, 6) signal mirror, 7) duct tape, 8) shelter, 9) flashlight or headlamp w/ constant on switch, 10)sunscreen & insect repellant, and 11) personal locator beacon (PLB). I like his list feeling that a mapping GPS falls in the prevention camp - preventing folks from getting lost in the first place.

1b. You could also discuss urban preparation. Having key paperwork (including insurance info) in one place. Creating a kit with safe water, garbage bags for shelter, a tarp, first aid kit, a multtool, hammer, prybar, flashlights, radio, cell phones ...

2. Review Doug's primer on survival for kids. Go over this for the parents there. Encourage them to have their children carry the basic kid's items: ID tag, loud plastic whistle, garbage bags (see if you can get your local road/highway dept to donate some orange ones they use for roadside collection), water (though I would seperate this from the rest of the kit - due to weight), tiny flashlight, bright bandanna.

This is actually how I got interested in preparedness and survival. My family was at the local county fair, and we came upon a search and rescue crew booth. I talked with them quite a while. Their focus at the time was mostly on trying to get kids to carry a garbage bag and a whistle. They said that just that could save a lot of lives. I was a Cub Scout leader at he time and wanted to echo that message to the boys in my son's den. In preparing for that I came upon the "Hug a Tree" program on-line, and then finally found equipped.org. Life hasn't been quite the same since them ... in a good way.

Ken K.

As a bit of a side comment, I used to teach a safety course. I would ask how many usually lock their doors whenever they leave home. Most hands went up. I would then ask how many would usually lock their doors whenever they or their family where inside their home. Far fewer hands went up. I would then suggest that, if you could only manage one or the other, try locking them when your family is there. You could see many faces brighten with a new insight as to what their door locks are best used for. They just hadn't thought of it that way before.

Safety is often about common sense and a little forethought. You can't really teach that, but you can do a little consciousness-raising about it, and maybe get some to start thinking ahead a little.

While you will be focusing more on certain things, this means you can cover a lot of basic topics of a general safety nature in a fairly short amount of extra time, because you don't need to teach the nuts and bolts, just stimulate awareness. The students can do the rest.

Got a pool, and kids, and DON'T know CPR? Really?

Does your newly licensed-to-drive teenage daughter know how to fix a flat tire?

Did you know that deadbolts and fire extinguishers earn you a discount on most6 homeowners' insurance?

Anyone here can quickly generate their own list of ideas to mention.

Jeff

(1) common sense (2)common sense (3) common sense (4)common sense (5)common sense...very uncommon in some folks...learn the survival prioritys for your area that you live..vince g. 11b inf...

I guess my top 5 would be in order:

Shelter
Fire
Water
Navigation
Emotional Control

The first 3 are pretty much self explanitory, build a basic shelter, lean to or pitch a tarp or debris hut. The 2nd, building a fire helps both physically and mentally in a wilderness situation. Water can be important if lost more than a day or so, finding it and purifying it come to mind.

The one that I haven't seen so far that can keep you out of a lot of trouble is different types of navigation, or as I call it, staying found. Compass and map, natural navigation and dead reckoning are becoming lost arts.

The last one, emotional control, I believe CAN be taught to some extent. It is the ability to keep from panicking in a bad situation. So many people make their situation worse by making bad decisions because their emotions. This is one that I am constantly preaching to my son and working on myself.

I'd move navigation to the top of the list as staying found is a preventative skill. Often times not getting lost means the other skills aren't needed. Crisis management is a great survival skill.

Stress management

COMMON sense isn't really very common

You have to look at your settings and where you are going to be most of the time, this is going to help you put these items in order, for example I live in an area that gets extreme winter weather conditions. We find temps below zero, so in my area the top 2 conditions are shelter and fire, depending on how much time I have (daylight) fire may take the priority over the shelter. In your area water may be more important that fire or shelter, in mine when I'm knee deep in snow for almost 6 months a year it is not.

I would say once you have your list pick one topic and learn as much as you can about it, practice it until you feel you have mastered it to the level you want and move on to the next item.