amen, ben!

again, if you are willing to pay a tow truck to extract your vehicle because you are unable to extract it yourself, what's wrong with paying someone to extract you if you are unable to extract yourself and at the same time you are putting other's lives and resources in jeopardy negligently?

may be oversimplifying, but i think the analogy fits.

no one seems to complain about ambulance fees when one is injured, and yet it is so much cheaper to sign the ambulance's "against medical advice" paper and take a taxi to the e.r. - under the right circumstances, of course.

and as for education - i just did a quick visit to several camping / hiking / outdoors vendors - and they each had links to 'ten essentials' or other sites that would aid the beginner. the education is there. you only have to take advantage of it.

negligently.

depends on what the meaning of the word "is", is.