Someone in comments mentioned that perhaps if I was set in terms of gear, perhaps I could opine on necessary skillsets.
Well, this is very abstract, but there is but one skill, in my opinion, that the serious student of survivalism (or even just plain ‘ol Life) should try to develop. Develop this one skill and all the other skills flow from it and are magnified by it.
Learn to think ‘outisde the box’. What does that mean? It means always be open to the previously unthought of, to new ways of thinking, to expanding your outlook past it’s present limits. Lemme put it another way….theres the old joke about what book would you want if you were stuck with only one book to read. The smartass answer is ‘a dictionary’ because it contains ALL books.
Learn to think for yourself, think critically, be able to see from other viewpoints, and whatever skill you try to learn next will be easier and more thorough. Don’t let yourself be limited by religious, political, social, or classist dogma. Keep an open mind so you can see things from every angle and point of view. You don’t have to agree, support, or believe in other viewpoints and perspectives in order to see things from those angles…you just need to be willing to try it so you can explore a topic as thoroughly as possible.
A zillion years ago, armies used to line up facing each other and start shooting until one side had enough and quit. That was how wars were fought. Everybody knew that, right? Hiding behind rocks? Shooting and running? Taking out the officers first? Why, thats the tactic of the heathen savages! And, because of racial, political, and cultural dogma, a lot of European wars were fought the same way for a hundred or so years. And then finally someone thought outside the box, decided to ‘stoop’ to the level of the savages, and discovered that..hey…they were on to something with that whole ‘shoot from cover’ thing.
Being willing to explore previously ignored, undeveloped, or undiscovered ideas is like suddenly discovering the switch for the high beams as you’re driving down a pitch-dark road at night. Not allowing yourself to be constrained into a narrow or rigid way of thinking makes it easier to recognize new ideas, opportunities, and alternatives.
Ayn Rand said that man’s mind is his primary tool of survival. You don’t have to agree with Rand on everything but I think we can all pretty much agree on that one statement. The ability to think….think clearly..think for yourself…develop your own ideas and outlooks….is the starting point for learning everything else worth knowing. Sure, you can grab Ham radio For Dummies and pass the exam.. or you can think about how radio works, find some topics on the subject, perhaps some history, that interest you and lead you to learn more, build a few primitive made-from-parts-around-the-house radio receivers because you have a burning need to know how things work…that sort of thing. Develop a curious mind and learning things will never seem like learning.
Everything I’ve ever wanted to know…I mean really wanted to know about…I taught myself. Of course, back then it was more difficult since your only recourses were library cards and first-hand experience. Nowadays genuine world-class experts can show you how to do anything for free on YouTube. How incredible is that? If there’s a skillset for anything that isn’t taught somewhere on the internet…I can’t think of it.
So, yeah….for me…the most useful skillset is being able to think for myself, draw my own conclusions, be willing to explore opinions or ideas that are foreign, uncomfortable, or even opposite of what I believe, and to be open to new ideas.
It’s really a hard task to try and put it all into words, but there you have it. I probably didn’t explain it as well as I could have but maybe some of it resonated. Once you have that mindset, you won’t need anyone to tell you what skillsets you should bone up on….you’ll already know because you know whats best for you and your situation.
Sound wisdom as always.
I am currently learning a skillset that I do not believe is available, truck crash rebuilding-currently reassembling a truck that jack-knifed and crushed the rear corner. Parts were unavailable(8week+ back order),so I removed the interior,roof and helped cut the damaged parts(saving as much as possible) then taking a parts truck and cutting the parts out of it and fitting it all back together,welding,grinding and next week prep and paint for final reassembly. The person I am learning from is only 30 but a “natural” with over 20yrs experience(Grandfather/Father had him in shop as long as he remembers). I could make more money as a driver but this kind of skillset may be incredibly valuable in a future with a lack of skilled mechanics and disrupted supply chains. The other mental skills are learning and applying the rules of logic and correct reasoning and spotting a logical fallacy based on false reasoning-deadly to liars/grifters/politicans. Have you tried the “Great Courses” audio/videos? The one with logic and reasoning is “Argumentation” and helps mental organization.
Have you gotten grades back and will you be matriculating?
Commander how about the ability to get folks to work together? I the military I had the UCMJ but far more often just kept my gaggle of Medical sorts working together by seeking out their own self interest and self worth. We were in the Sandbox and I was proud that none of my ladies used pregnancy to escape AND ALL my People came out of a year+ deployment with out serious injuries.
In Business it’s the pay check or fear of unemployment but then I used their own self interest and self worth to keep my civilian medical cats rolling in the same direction. They could always walk away into a new job so I was pretty proud of my ability to keep staff over the years.
Knowing your neighbors, knowing your self and your family. Look clearly at the strengths and weaknesses there. In times of plenty nobody needs suffer lack but those times are nearly gone. Thus stressors and troubles.
Do you have the skills to assess yourself and friends as so they will willingly dig that outhouse pit so the group as a whole doesn’t suffer from bad sanitation? To assess who will actually stay alert during night guard shift as so your group doesn’t suffer as the drunken Hessians did when Washington did that sneak attack on Christmas?
Sun Tzu has much to say about this.
You mentioned Ham radio. It never ceases to amaze me that survivalist/gov hating Hams try to intimidate others into “getting their Ham lisc” to be ‘allowed’ onto the airwaves. They have been so brainwashed by…. something… that they have a hard time dealing with someone who says “F the gov and your stupid rules, i’ll talk on those bands when i feel like it.” Besides, Hamming now without a lisc (and flaunting it) is good practice for when the freq hunting gets serious.
My thought on the next Troubles is that it will be a war of assassinations, the only way a vastly outnumbered/out-teched populace can compete. I expect drones to play a significant part as well.
Having just got my General licence I have a few thoughts on this. I can certainly appreciate not wanting to deal with licencing or the Feds in general. However, at least in my case, I’ve been able to get a decent amount of help via the local club, help I would have been unable to get ifni decided to go all pirate radio. I also don’t know what your plan or experience is personally, but I’ve run into a number of people who think that when the shit hits the fan they will just turn on their Baofeng and be good to go. Unfortunately for them like any technical device a radio requires practice and experience to use. It would be like buying a gun, tossing it into a drawer and expecting to be able to use it well when you need to. As far as being fox hunted my understanding is that unless you are super blatant about it and/or transmitting on emergency bands the FCC does not have the resources to do anything about it. How much that kind of thing will happen if they things go south is very much an open question, and will depend on a variety of factors.
“Everything I’ve ever wanted to know……I taught myself.”
Apparently I only learn new skills by breaking things. Ask my wife.
The thing I have pounded into my guys over the years is that when the normal way doesn’t work, there is ALWAYS another way. The way to find it is talk thru the problem (thing you can’t do) to help identify what the REAL problem is. Often, several different people will think the problem is something different than each other, and as you eliminate those issues, a way forward becomes clear.
“We can’t finish by Tuesday.” Why? “We don’t have a part we need, and besides, we don’t have the people.” OK, we’ll bring in the guy, or add overtime. “But we still don’t have the part.” Why not? Can we get a substitute? Why can’t we get the part? “It’s in Canada, and they’re just finishing it today.” OK, have someone get on a plane with it and FLY it here… “But that costs thousands of dollars! ” Yes but not finishing on time will cost a whole lot more in money and reputation… “Oh, I’ll call the guy and book a flight.”
In this case the real problem was the guy running the job didn’t see the bigger cost, only that he’d been told to keep travel spend down, stick to the budget for labor, and quit bugging the guys in Canada, they were doing the best they could. Or it could have been three different department heads, each with one of those “can’ts” firmly locked in his head.
There is ALWAYS another way, and the more you prep, the more you put resources into position, the more choices you have when it comes to finding that other way.
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