The power of play! LOL! Let's hope he used it up by using it somewhat like how you were envisioning, only without the drama of a real life emergency.
I sure hope so BPJ
There's real value, IMO, in letting them use the gear in their survival kits, or at least duplicates or similar items, in guided or freestyle survival skills practice. (Just be diligent about checking and restocking, which is easier said than done, I know.) Because they likely don't have real world survival experience, and are probably limited in their wilderness survival experience, their ability to improvise and adapt may be limited as well. Not to mention that there's a real difference between theory and reality sometimes.
Yes, that is my ultimate goal I think BPJ, I first have to sell the rest of the troop leaders that this is a very important thing for the boys, and not just another merit badge. Then I can ask for money to purchase enough items to have 1 kit for each boy to sock away for emergencies, with enough extra identical gear for them to practice with. It is also why I want to talk them into doing frequent survival camp outs, where the boys must use only their kits, or only limited gear, to make camp and address their survival priorities. Practicing in this way will help bridge the gap between the theory and reality.
Example - my son understands how to build a super shelter and he carries all the materials in his survival kit, I gave him duplicates of everything in his kit and we practiced building one a few weeks ago. He was really challenged. It took more time than he expected, wasn't as simple as it looks, the materials were sometimes fragile (think ripped plastic sheeting caused by overzealous knot tying and underzealous pole placement), his arms weren't long enough, he wasn't coordinated enough, a bitterly cold wind froze his fingers and made it hard to work, etc...
Perhaps a valuable lesson in keeping things as simple as possible? I've tried to do that with DS, that's why our medium size kit emergency shelter is a combination of an AMK emergency heatsheet bivvy and heatsheet blanket.
He got really frustrated sometimes. We were just in the backyard, and I was there to help, but it made me think about how much more difficult it would have been for him had he been on his own and in a survival situation. We've made some key adjustments to his kit as a result, BTW.
Seems like a good time for a PSA: Watching my son struggle to combine theory + his kit + a real world application reminded me that it's a good idea to take our gear out and test it, and ourselves, regularly. Trial and error has been my best teacher, but I'd rather work through some of those errors in advance of when TSHTF.
good advice indeed BPJ, glad I am in such good company here at ETS
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