[mrostov]

actually a 'survivalist' if they do nothing but dwell on guns, have NO kit packed, have NO decent field knife, advocates backpacking as the first option but has NO backpacking experience, advocates having NO sleeping bag, and plans on simply being a gear and food vampire/parasite/cannibal off of the rest of the population?

 

[RIKA]

In my opinion they are a person with a very juvenile fantasy who is playing a game. Survival encompasses not only kit and knowledge but actual on-hand practice of those skills learned. Anyone who thinks otherwise is simply fooling him/her self and will last less than a week.

Fortunately there is only one person I know of who has such fantasys.

RIKA

 

[Magnum88C]

In short, no.

There's probably a dozen things you NEED to survive (and the skill to use them) before you'll need a gun. Surviving is a LOT of hard work, and not much Rambo.

Hell, with the hurricanes over the summer and no power, a lot of people were suprised at how much work just day to day living is, when you have to hand wash your clothes, start a grill or fire to cook (any idea how many people howled when they were told to boild their water before consuming -- because they didn't know they could boil water on their GRILL?). Sure Mr Nomad is going to run around with no personal hygeine, and be infested with parasites, have his clothes rotting off of him, be completely demoralized, have little to no hope of people helping him because he'd be such a health risk just to have around.

That is, if the cold doesn't kill him first.

 

[Garand]

I love a steak BBQ'd over a wood fire and I use every opportunity to head down to one of the parks in town with firepits and grills during the summer with my daughters, their b/f's and my grandaughter. Early this summer I got down late and asked the guys to start the fire, after 20 minutes they were still pissing around. I said I'd do it and had a roaring blaze in less than 5 minutes. Both my daughters were amazed! I asked them why, because the kids had gone camping the weekend before? It appears during the camping trip it took the guys 2 1/2 hours to start a fire. When I tried to offer some suggestions, they couldn't care less, after all the fire was going. Before you learn, you have to have the desire to learn first!

 

[andy]

what makes you "think" that all the above is true? Actually NONE of it is. Just because you are fool doesn't mean everyone is. For instance, the SOG utility blade is perfectly adequate, and so is the Skatchet. I have a North Face bag in the van, I just know better than to "think" it's worth a hoot in combat conditions. You've never bothered to make a Mylar and Velcro bag, so you don't know jack squat about it. You just run your MOUTH.

 

[andy]

I leave the kid stuff to bozos like you. The garden seeds, etc, don't mean crap until you get thru the short term combative stuff, and they are also not at risk of being outlawed, and lack of speed-skill with them makes no difference. Nor will they save you in a "normal times" attack. Just because YOU haven't thought much about anything doesn't mean that better men haven't done so, It just means that you are ignorant, that's all.

 

[Aslan]

I didn't realize that seeds would be outlawed. Nor did I realize that it was necessary to build skill and speed with them.

I really hadn't considered that seeds could or could not save me during a normal times attack.

I guess I really am ignorant about seeds....

:devil:

 

[John in AR]

...during the camping trip it took the guys 2 1/2 hours to start a fire. When I tried to offer some suggestions, they couldn't care less, after all the fire was going. Before you learn, you have to have the desire to learn first!

Fritos, and even normal potato chips are very good expedient tinder if you're on a campout. They're basically just grease-coated organic matter; so they burn well. The frito's are especially good, they light easier than a trioxane or esbit tablet.

Just learned this a year or two ago, myself. One of those "always willing to learn" things.

 

[mrostov]

what makes you "think" that all the above is true? Actually NONE of it is. Just because you are fool doesn't mean everyone is. For instance, the SOG utility blade is perfectly adequate, and so is the Skatchet. I have a North Face bag in the van, I just know better than to "think" it's worth a hoot in combat conditions. You've never bothered to make a Mylar and Velcro bag, so you don't know jack squat about it. You just run your MOUTH.

Unlike you, I have actually used mylar under real world conditions in windy, cold weather and you're high on crack as to how effective it is.

You also seem to think that your sleeping bag WILL get soaked. That is ridiculous unless one is a complete klutz. Plan on scuba diving with your sleeping bag?

 

[gripper]

MMMMMM! fire grilled steak........man ,you folks are making me resent my PB&J for supper here at work.Good tip on the fritos&chips;i knew they burned good(on't ask!),but ,starting a COOKING fire;thats a lot more constructive than my past endeavor

 

[Magnum88C]

See, now that's something new to me, I never tried lighting snack food on fire before.

 

[John in AR]

See, now that's something new to me, I never tried lighting snack food on fire before.

I've gotta confess that I learned it from an extremely nerdy guy on a church/teenager campout; probably never would have thought of it myself.

Reminds me of an old quote I heard somewhere a long time ago:

"Every man is my better, in that I may learn from him."

If I hadn't been willing to learn a piece of "fieldcraft" from a nerd, I'd have short-changed myself.

 

[andy]

Many people "know" many things, but a great majority of it has little or no practical application. For instance, I would never bother to carry something as wasteful of space as Fritos. So what the hell do I care that they can be lit? I also never go anyplace without proper fire starting materials, and the sort of food I'd carry requires no cooking. Once it's necessary to forage, about the only thing that makes any sense is boiling stuff, and that means that you're WAY ahead to be carrying a titanium cookpot. So why settle for half assed gear and "tricks"?

 

[gripper]

Its not "settling",its simply filing some potentially useful information in the event the situation warrants its implementaion.Titanium cookware?Great,useful piece of kit.Knowing how to use alternate meterial as tinder/accelerant does not make your BOB any heavier.

 

[Terry G]

Many people "know" many things, but a great majority of it has little or no practical application. For instance, I would never bother to carry something as wasteful of space as Fritos. So what the hell do I care that they can be lit? I also never go anyplace without proper fire starting materials, and the sort of food I'd carry requires no cooking. Once it's necessary to forage, about the only thing that makes any sense is boiling stuff, and that means that you're WAY ahead to be carrying a titanium cookpot. So why settle for half assed gear and "tricks"?

What if your short on water? A titanium cook pot? Might not be a bad idea in the right climate. As far as the Bowie knife thing, it's very handy for a lot of tasks as long as you also carry a good pocket knife or belt folder besides. I can't imagine sleeping out in even a temeperate climate without a good sleeping bag. The most modern ones don't weigh more than a couple of pounds and are good to 20 degrees. My son showed me an Israeli pilots sleeping bag that he bought surplus, though brand new, for $35.00, delivered. Camoflaged, good to 32 degrees, or 20 with a poncho liner. The whole rig with the poncho liner weighed a little under four lbs. Not much weight for a lot of comfort. Those "space blankets" and Mylar are a one way ticket to hypothermia.

 

[Terry G]

I've gotta confess that I learned it from an extremely nerdy guy on a church/teenager campout; probably never would have thought of it myself.

Reminds me of an old quote I heard somewhere a long time ago:

"Every man is my better, in that I may learn from him."

If I hadn't been willing to learn a piece of "fieldcraft" from a nerd, I'd have short-changed myself.

What the HELL are talking about? Burn up perfectly good Fritos? Next you'll be suggesting I set fire to my Hot Barbecue Bacon Rinds. Have you no respect?

 

[Garand]

So give us a detailed kit list of what you have packed and ready to go AT THIS MOMENT, and we will discuss the merits of it! Very simple, prove that you just not a WANNABE that has no possible chance if the balloon ever goes up.

 

[John in AR]

Many people "know" many things, but a great majority of it has little or no practical application. For instance, I would never bother to carry something as wasteful of space as Fritos. So what the hell do I care that they can be lit?...

If you don't care, more power to you. As far as "little or no practical application", it was certainly very practical when getting the fire started at the campsite, since there were fritos & chips everywhere (including on the ground) with that crowd. It was a camping trip, as I said; I wasn't recommending stockpiling fritos for post-shtf fire-starters, was I? God, man, lighten up.

In our lifetimes, where we live, we have never experienced full-on shtf; we've all (hopefully) experienced campouts, so this kind of knowledge applies more often than not.

I don't carry fritos in my BOB/GHB; I have much better firestarters in there. But even if you never apply a particular bit of trivia or knowledge, it doesn't cost a thing to just KNOW something today that you didn't yesterday, does it?

There's only one thing worse than a mind so "open" that everything just falls in and is accepted without validation; and that's a mind so "closed" that nothing new can get in at all.

 

[John in AR]

What the HELL are talking about? Burn up perfectly good Fritos? Next you'll be suggesting I set fire to my Hot Barbecue Bacon Rinds. Have you no respect?

Mmmmm.... Animal fat, deep-fried in animal fat. Now that's nutrition. :dgrin:

 

[andy]

Hell, the Nazis at Treblinka proved that the half rotten body of a young, fat, pregnant woman burned the best of all bodies that they dug up and disposed of. That's likely to be REALLY useful info if shtf. Such bodies are "tinder" to get the other bodies burning well-enough. You don't know what "heavy" IS, my man.