Like most on this thread I have a mixture of BSA/Military/LEO. As a suburban child I started my training in the Boy Scouts, eventually attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. Then came college, with the costs of tuition. As a result I enlisted in the Army National Guard which paid for college. I was automatically promoted to a higher rank for being an Eagle Scout. I could go on and talk about the great training I received through my six years in the military as well as civilian law enforcement training. But, after working with professionals who have been through SERE, Ranger, SF and SWAT training , the one thing everyone says is that the best training they received was when they were kids in the BSA. This is not to say Boy Scout training is anywhere near the level of real hands on, real world experience, but the best thing for any child is to gain experience, team building, leadership, and self esteem. These are the same things the military spends so much time trying to teach. I would recommend that anyone with children start teaching them these skills early in life, because they will never regret having these skills no matter what path they choose.

Well, I'd like to say that my dad being in the military had something to do with it, but he was a chief yeoman on nuclear submarines. Pretty danged specialized set of survival skills there, but he could blow and go from 100 feet and type well over 100 wpm on an IBM Selectric. So, I too can swim well and type fast.

Seriously, I've always been into camping, hiking, fishing, etc. I took the Sierra Club Basic Mountaineering Course, which is hard on about map and compass navigation, rock climbing, high altitude winter climbing, and how to avoid getting into a survival situation. That was one of the mottos, "If you're in a survival situation, you've already made a serious mistake."

Well, then living in SoCal for 20-some years you get bugged a lot about earthquake preparedness, especially when the whole house is shaking at 2am and all the car alarms are going off at the same time. Then there's fire season at the ranch in the high desert. You learn that the fire department is not going to come out and save you and your horses, so you'd better learn how to do it yourself.

Kevin B.

My father taught me the basics of hunting and fishing when I was a kid. I still enjoy doing that stuff today on a regular basis. I have been interested in wilderness survival for quite some time, so I'm constantly reading survival books and lurking around this forum. I try to practice newly learned skills whenever I'm out in the woods. I have also learned other skills such as basic first aid and CPR while being in the Air Force.

My family is from eastern Kentucky, which is to say they were subsistence farmers and hunters and gatherers whenever the mines were shut down, which was often. My earliest memories include going hunting and fishing with my father, grandfather and uncles. Somewhere along the line I learned to make a fire, build a shelter, catch and clean fish, shoot and skin rabbits and squirrels, avoid poisonous plants and critters, find my way there and back, and generally live off the land. Later on I was in Boy Scouts, took First Aid courses, and read everything that came to hand about survival equipment, techniques, etc. I still enjoy camping and fishing, but pretty much hunt only clay pigeons these days.

BSA..50's--the easy stuff..
US Army 60's--the hard stuff..
Wilderness Canoeing..70--80--90-00's..everything else..