Survival UK Forums

Here is a run down of some of the skills that would be useful in an emergency situation. These are just off the top of my head so feel free to add more and explain why they'd be useful.

Learning and mastering skills is one of the most valuable things you can do towards positive prepping. let's not forget that on the survival pyramid the second most important factor in staying alive is skills & knowledge. http://www.truewayssurvival.com/school/s...ramid1.jpg

I've divided them up into skill classes. This is for ease of reading and I know it looks like something from 'Fallout' but that is not my intention!!!

Okay first of we have...

Woodsman- Woodland fieldcraft, bushcraft, knowledge of plants & animals. How to use an axe and knife. How best to utilise areas of woodand fields to provide you witht the essentials for survival.

Scout- Urban and rural. How to navigate through your environment. How to locate & record locations which may be of use to you in the future. How best to travel using the shortest & safest routes. How to read a map & how to make your own maps. Use of radios, use of spray 'tags', flares/fireworks to mark a location/position and arrange rendezvous.

Survivor- Emergency medical skills and knowledge. Ability to protect yourself from the direct effects of the situation (ie: flash flood). Ability to conceal your position so that you remain unmolested for the duration of a serious situation.

Hunter- Hunting, trapping & utilising weapons, animals and plants to obtain wild meat for the table. Knowledge of preperation, cooking, notifiable diseases in animals & their effect on humans (such as myxamatosis in rabbits), where to look for certain species and where to hunt/trap them, how to sustain a healthy population, weapon maintainence, marksmanship, archery...etc

Nomad- Primitive skills and crafts. Knowledge of primitive bow & arrow making, building and working with primitive tools, ancient camp craft, leather working and so on.

Combative- Military drills/tactics/weapons, self defence (krav maga), martial arts (kick boxing), weapons/armour, military vehicles, disguising yourself as military (to keep civvies away)...

Scavenger- How to move around an environment undetected, how to pick locks, break open doors, open containers, hot-wire cars, siphon fuel, where to look, how to find key resources using ingenuity and cunning.

Merchantile- Bartering/trading resources, skills and knowledge for food, water, meds and equipment.

There you have it. Will your skills pay the bills?

I reckon bushcraft / wilderness survival skills will make up maybe 10% of the neccessary skills needed for a community or group to survive, the bulk will be made of of agricultural and craft skills . Smithing in its various forms IRON, TIN, COPPER< BRASS< LEATHER, IRON etc, weaving, knitting, sewing, net making, carpentry, joinery, roofing, plumbing, oil making, coal mining, charcoal making, boat building, wheel rights, rope making, welding, tool making, cobbling, etc Alchemy will be popular everything from homeopathic remedies to black powder.

I see a steady moving together or cooperation between the prepper community, bushcraft community, transition town community, eco living and off grid community etc as years go by.

Totally agree NR. You only need to look back in history to find a successful group had a butcher, baker, blacksmith, chemist(for want of a better word), midwife, healer, farmers, those competant in food preservation I could go on. I think they were called villages

Thanks for the post Walker. In fairness, it does look like it's been lifted from Fallout 3 haha.

For directly after the collapse/metior/SHTF event, I tend to agree. However, once everything has settled down, agriculture will be important for a societal rebuilding, as would architecture/building skills.

A mechanic or engineer would be a welcome site too.

But directly after TSHTF I would agree with Walker spot on.

not sure if something like this would be useful for long term post SHTF:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-Metal...412&sr=1-1