[notakio]

One aspect that the article does not cover enough is the importance of training. Whether that's medical training, self-defense training, survival training or general preparedness training, training is what makes gear/supplies useful. Far too many people will purchase x, y, and z in order to be "prepared", but if you can't properly apply that tourniquet you bought a dozen of, then it is useless, and so are you in the event of an emergency.

Circa 2006 or so, I decided to start spending my free/vacation time on training across a wide spectrum of skills. My motto: "Always become more deadly, or harder to kill." I've learned how to do a lot of things that I will very likely never have to do, but if I do, I hope that I am more prepared than I would be without the training. As with any training, the skills are generally perishable, so you have to work to maintain competency, but, personally, I'd rather spend my time learning important things than wasting it on the bread and circuses provided as "mass entertainment".

[hef19898]

Why not training in stuff like gardening (the food stuff variety), repair, house building, emergency medical care? Even in pre-feudal societies there was only so much need for "warriors".

[buginabag]

> Even in pre-feudal societies there was only so much need for "warriors".

No the user you've replied to, but it's not "either or" that you (might) imply. I would also like to emphasize, pre-Feudal society was as it was due to pre-Fedual technology. The AR-15 and Glock 19 aren't going to disappear with the COVID-23 epidemic or the nuclear flash.

One can learn basic marksmanship fairly well at a local shooting range, but something like Close-Quarters Battle or other necessary-but-uncommon (to civilians) training will require some amount of professional training. How effectively can you clear a room with a pistol or rifle (solo, partnered)? Are you aware of the effects of glass (home, auto) on a round?

Best not to learn these things the hard way.

Let us not forgot, in the original iteration of the American Republic, we (able-bodied men, at least) were all the militia. Even in this ideal "community sticks together" outcome in a SHTF world, you need to have some competencies in shooting.

To contrast, one can more casually learn primitive cooking or home gardening... at home. I, personally, practice martial arts... that's the gist of my daily fitness training.

Though I very much agree, the medical training is one you're going to want to go to a professional for and should not be forgotten amongst the High-Speed Low-Drag oper9r culture that co-travels in survivalist circles.

[hef19898]

This focus on combat for survival thing is so American. In Civil War combatants are quickly trained by warlords, and quite expendable. No amout of training will allow a single person to survive alone. In case of warfare, there are armies.

For all other circumstances, combat skills are negligable. Repair, food "gathering" and medical skills are so much more important. Followed by organising people and stuff.

[notakio]

"Combat skills" include medical skills, communications skills, planning, coordination, and effective teamwork skills. None of the training I've ever been involved with has been focused on turning a single person into Rambo, but more along the lines of turning 4 or 12 people into an effective team, able to accomplish specific tasks under decent amounts of stress.

[strken]

These are also the skills you'd learn in e.g. a volunteer firefighting brigade or search and rescue team, you'd just be applying them to the task of putting out fires and finding lost tourists rather than killing a building full of people.

[hef19898]

Honest question, did you receive this training in a military or disaster relieve organisation? If so, good!

You forgot one, very relevant, support skill (since we include a lot of enabling skills now it seems): logistics.

[notakio]

Yes, to both; the latter as the result of my experience with the former. But I would say that the vast majority of the training that I have received the most use out of was obtained outside of either, though often from trainers who are generally focused on servicing both of those fields, generally.

And yes, logistics skills are very important. I would say that most of my logistics knowledge comes from vocational exposure, and though I've looked for civilian logistics-type training (I'm old, I have a toddler, and I'm not going back into service at this point), I have not found much available. That may be a failure on my searching skills, though.

I have found a number of valuable references, written, over time, but that's not the same thing as experiential training, at least from the perspective of how I best consume information with an expectation to retain it.

[stinkytaco]

I linked the Sarajevo Survival Guide in another thread (about refugees) today, but it's again relevant. One of the things it points out is that a "disaster" isn't always an all or nothing deal. In many likely scenarios (including the siege of Sarajevo), skills like carpentry, mechanics and ham radio operators were in high demand.

[notakio]

Training is training, and it's all beneficial. And a good portion of my training has been in trauma care, medical response, and techniques. It resulted in my getting my EMT license, though I never used it. It all falls under "harder to kill".

[hef19898]

So you have some basic medical yraining, but no experience. Skills deteriorate when not used in real life.

[notakio]

I train periodically for a small subset of medical response skills, but I'm not dedicating the kind of time to it that would be required to keep the license up to date.

And I would hardly assume "no experience"; though I've not done paid paramedic duties, I have been the first person or persons on the scene of multiple vehicular accidents and other trauma events, and able to positively contribute to keeping people alive and stable until FD or medics arrive. If I see something bad happen, I stop to help, because that was what I was trained to do, and because it is the right thing to do.