I cant remember when it started. At a very young age for sure. Maybe around 7 years old. I grew up spending all my free time in the woods with no parental supervision. I have always been far more interested in skills than gear and have always only carried the most basic gear, at least until a little over a year ago. I still maintain a very significant interest in studying and practicing "primitive" skills first and foremost, though I rarely discuss it here since it is off topic for most threads.

Anyway, a little over a year ago I decided that I needed to increase the amount of gear I carry on my "primtive" hiking and camping trips and starting researching pocket-sized kits. This is how I found ETS. I've studied every thread and every word of every article Doug has written and placed on the website. I have read every book that Doug has recommended in the past year and I have asked lots of questions in the forum in that time as well.

In addition to gaining much more information than I orginally needed (or thought I needed at that time) on pocket kits for wilderness use, I have also learned much about being prepared for natural or man-made disasters that may effect myself and my family at home. Sure, it's nice to know that federal, state and local governments and many non-profit orgs like ARC do a lot to try to help the masses in disaster situations but I would never bet my life or well being or that of my family on expecting them to be there for me in a time of need. At least not now that I have gained at least some of the knowledge needed to take responsibility to my own survival and that of my family as well. Don't get me wrong... I'm no isolationist. I would not turn down outside aid by any means but I don't want to be forced to rely on it either. The information I have aquired here has helped me to significantly increase my ability to take an active role in my family's survival in the event that we should ever encounter one of those situations. Sure, this is not what I was looking for when I first found ETS as a mature, responsible venue for aquiring information about wilderness PSKs but it's a heck of a great added bonus IMHO.

Guess for me, my upbringing predestined me to end up here. Was fascinated at a young age by the occasional stories my dad told of his experiences as a B-26 pilot in WWII. My interest really piqued, though, in the mid-50s when, as a SAC pilot (under the venerable Curtis E. Lemay), he went through the AF Survival School at Stead AFB, Nevada. As an eleven-year-old, I thought that was as cool as it gets, and I pumped him for the smallest of details (They really have schools to teach you that stuff? Huh, dad?).

About that same time, I first read Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island. A great tale of long-term survival on an island off the Atlantic coast during the Civil War. Awesome book. I was hooked. Involvement in the Boy Scouts came next.

After concluding my own “good times” in the military, I rekindled an interest in hiking and backpacking. My early “survival kits” 30 years ago were – to me anyway – a logical part of those outdoor activities. Eventually, I realized that preparedness had broader applications, in everyday life, not just my treks to the hills. Probably more so today than ever.

At some point in my ‘net surfing, stumbled across ETS site; lurked for a long time, enjoyed the forum, the folks, and benefited from the info, so decided to make it official. Besides, what a convenient rationalization for the acquisition of new “stuff.”

Dan

And if I may briefly drift off-topic: my greatest preparedness coup has to be finally getting my wife to carry a Photon and small SAK on her keychain. She whose concept of a PSK was a broken-nail repair kit.

Why am I here? I think I stumbled across this site. I'll admit that I am a "survivalist", but I'm also a good boy scout. I try and be prepared for any situation. Yes, I prepare if I happen to get lost, but I also prepare should TEOTWAWKI happen. I look for good information wherever I can find it. People here have good ideas and I learn from them. I also try and share what I have learned. That's why I'm here.

Charles

Since I can remember I wore a vest and fanny pack. I packed what ever cool stuff in my fanny pack mostly to entertain myself on car rides. One summer my family camped for almost a whole summer. Naturally over that summer a pocket knife snuck its way into my EDC fanny pack. When school started the knife was left at home but I kept my fanny pack hat and vest.
Some were between 2nd and 4th grades I started leavening the fanny pack and vest at home. In Junior High (7th grade) I had a strong feeling to be older and carry and folding knife. It took off from there; by high school I had a full blown man-purse.
I found ETS about 8 months ago and helped me give some of my items names like PSK, EDC, BOB, etc...

IIRC I was looking for road flares, to add to a car kit. I could not (and still have not ..) found any in France, so I broadened the Google search with words like rescue, survival,etc.. And i came upon ETS.
I have learned much more than I initially was looking for....
Thanks to you all...

I like to find out about new ideas and products and see how they perform. Many here have had great ideas and links to help me spend money on more stuff! Thanks all! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The reason I'm here has to do with knowledge. When I was 12 yrs. old I spent my first night out in the woods with nothing on me. No food, water, shelter, or protection. When I was 14 I hiked 26 miles to a beaver pond in the middle of nowhere and spent 7 days living off the land. I hunted with a .22 rifle, Ate fish from the beaver pond each morning. And had a ball doing it. The only problem was that my Kelty external frame pack weighed more than 70 pounds. So in 2 years I went from nothing to 70 pounds of chit in a sack so I could live in the outdoors. Since then I've been able to wittle that down to a little over 10 pounds plus my .17 HMR. That's for a week in the woods. No food or water. I can get it down to less but I like to be comfortable. However, you girls and boys are feeding me more info about traveling light and I think, that with your help, I will be able to live in light comfort. As far as a true survival situation goes I haven't really given it much thought. I'm not in a high risk area. But things that I've read are still in the back of my mind. I'm very impressed with the amount of info on this site. Doug does good work.

I forget exactly how I stumbled onto ETS...I believe it was after talking with a friend about possibly going to one of the survival schools - I think he was talking about BOSS...I THINK it was in about 2000, but I can't be sure (we never did go to BOSS).

Well, I was doing some surfing for similar sites...and found ETS. I got hooked pretty quickly (and from here, found links to ledmuseum and then candlepowerforums - so all my favorite stuff on the Web is really inextricably linked for me).

I was a contented lurker for a long time...after 9/11, I began to find a great road map on how to tackle things, one step at a time, from the folks here at ETS. I think the first thing I did was make a "fire grab bag" - and while my wife thought it was funny, it made me feel good. And so has each step I've taken since.

I remained a lurker until the blackout of '03, mainly because I didn't feel I had anything to offer/add to what was being discussed - but then I wrote in to talk about the part of the blackout that I saw, and what things I'd learned from ETS that served me well, and what I needed to improve.

I've always been a combination of gadget oriented and outdoors oriented. I grew up in a semi-rural area and our summers were always spent car camping and canoeing, so in the back of my mind I'm convinced I'm quite an outdoorsman, although my daily reality puts that more in line with Rainman's assessment of his driving skills ("I'm an excellent driver. Excellent.")

So, ETS for me is a great place to see other peoples' kits, get fantastic advice on how to prepare for the various potential problems, and see how a group of smart, mature-acting (well, mostly) folks tackle what we see as common problems. It also give my deskbound Walter Mitty side an outlet.

So thanks to all the great folks here at ETS, and especially Doug and Chris.

Dave

I'm here because so far it isn't illegal to be.