Survival UK Forums

Wow, I must have been eating some weird protein today!!! Having plenty of deep(ish) philosophical thoughts on prepping today.

This is a real curious one.

There are clearly a lot of military people on this forum. That's cool as there's a lot of information from the military.

While watching Naked and Afraid, it seemed the military guys would flake out pretty quickly, when compared to the more hippie style survival 'expert'. This got me thinking a lot about forums, survival, gear, and the alike.

We've all seen Duel Survival, where Cody (hippie minimalist survivalist style) goes up with Dave (Falsified all his credentials, but still managed to survive, and fool a nation or 2 in the process, military survivalist style). Both seem to have pros and cons.

This forum has mentioned meditation to keep the mind busy, while also speaking about everyone wearing boots (usually military spec).

Well, here is the fun bit. As far as I can tell, neither has the real advantage over the other, but both have specific advantages over the other.

As I looked in to this more, and thought about my own preferences for certain situations, as well as my knowledge that I've picked up over the years, I've started to think about things in a different way.

As an example, and please don't focus on this example! The example is just that, it's a bit of evidence of my thought process. The overall principles flow into every scenario, technique, and the alike, from fire starting, to lock picking, to shelter building, water purifying, fighting, and all the rest! So look at the holistic prepping process, not the specific of running, okay back to the example....for running, I prefer to run in my Vibrams. They provide the protection from the floor, while also imitating bare foot running, which is proven to be the healthiest for your body, lowest impact on your joints, and overall the best way to run long distance (it's also the most natural way to run and the way the human body was designed to do so). So, I don't like to run in boots. I greatly prefer to go 'hippie' style in regard to my footwear. I'm not a massive boot fan, but that's not the subject in question (leave if for another thread if you want to speak boots vs other footwear).

So, with this in mind, what style of prepper do you feel you lean more towards?

Im more of a Homesteader.
Yes i have shiny sharp bits and pieces.
but thats all part of the homesteading.
I hunt and trap,
I store food for hard times,
I do prepare for things like a pandemic, civil unrest and an economic collapse.
So i protect my family from intruders with dogs and high fences and alarm systems of different types.

But in preparing for these things in this way i also prepare and im aware of other issues.

(31 August 2013, 13:06)Scythe13 Wrote: [ -> ]While watching Naked and Afraid, it seemed the military guys would flake out pretty quickly, when compared to the more hippie style survival 'expert'.

I see where you are coming from.

You average grunt has been trained not to think for himself.

He is subject to a harsh training regime that is designed to condition him NOT to think, just obey !

The military mindset can be a disadvantage to a situation that requires alternative thinking.

I personally think adaptability is essential. Not being set in your ways.

Waylander

You folks are making your assumptions based on movies and TV.

Did no one ever tell you that it is not real?

Boot camp, in the U.S., does shape a soldier into an order following entity. That is because most of their raw material has been mouthing off every time they were told to do something since birth!

After that initial basic training, all other training is dominated by the thinking process.

They even have classes on when NOT to follow orders!

And officers have classes on when NOT to give orders!

Adapt, Improvise, Overcome is the dominant theme in this day and age.

1. Some of the variations I see on TV are due to the mission oriented philosophy of military work. One survives so they can complete the mission. Risk, injury and hardship is weighed based on time and completion factors with accomplishing the mission the final test of success.

This also makes good TV, builds to a conclusion, adds excitement and provides a clear winner and loser that can be either rewarded or punished. It requires constant movement, no time for rest or efficient food gathering and only minimal shelter building. All activities expend calories and the reward is never enough calories to replace those expended and only the winners get that.

Put athletic people with a high metabolism rate in that situation and they will always fade faster than the others. We had the same problem inside the military, believe it or not!

2. In wilderness/disaster survival staying alive and unharmed and achieving rescue is the goal.

3. TEOTWAWKI will require both systems to be blended into a whole. One will need a long term plan and will have long term goals that MUST be accomplished with as little risk and harm as possible to the persons engaged in the activity. And there will be no rescue.

People that do not learn to do that will starve on one side of the equation and on the other side will die for lack of tactical knowledge.

(31 August 2013, 15:04)Waylander Wrote: [ -> ]

(31 August 2013, 13:06)Scythe13 Wrote: [ -> ]While watching Naked and Afraid, it seemed the military guys would flake out pretty quickly, when compared to the more hippie style survival 'expert'.

I see where you are coming from.

You average grunt has been trained not to think for himself.

He is subject to a harsh training regime that is designed to condition him NOT to think, just obey !

The military mindset can be a disadvantage to a situation that requires alternative thinking.

I personally think adaptability is essential. Not being set in your ways.

Waylander

I've no idea where you get that idea from, private soldiers are taught to obey orders without question during the six weeks initial training, but after that even a British army infantry private will be taught fieldcraft, survival techniques, first aid, map and compass work, radio operation, light engineering and obstical crossing skills. As soon they they want to progress up the rank structure they have to attend leadership courses which encourage independant thought, planning and operations, they are encouraged to be able to function 100% if they lose contact with the rest of their regiments, they are taught to plan, assess, recce and lead operations independantly. They practice SERE which requires much independant skills and knowledge. If they wish to become specialists like in the special forces they have to be able to pass multiple assessments of independant survival and operation.
Even boy soldiers have to attend leadership school and survival school the better ones being selected to become junior leaders and junior apprentices. Soldiers are taught to achieve the objective by whatever means neccessary.

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Well Said Montblanc, to much movie watching methinks.

can we keep to the subject please, as in what is your prepping/survival style, not whether your an ex squaddie or not, believe it or not there are some of us on this site who are not.

If they are so adaptable and superhuman, please explain why such a high proportion are homeless/drunks/druggies after they leave the service ?

Plus you guys ar making the assumptions, you're assuming, I've never been in uniform

Waylander

Most folks I know including myself dont follow a style per se, more adopting the best bits we learned on our journey through life, my own is a mixuture of Duke of Edinburgh instructor training, bit of scouting, bit of Sail Training asociation, bit of army, bit of Cleveland County Council outward bound centre in Whitby, Bit of Durham County Council outward bound centre in Weardale, Bit of ACF, Bit of Red Cross, hell even bits I learn in the Camping and Caravan club, Overland expedition club, bit of wild camping, plenty from doing bike rallies in the winter, lots of study and to many years trying, sometimes failing, learning and trying again. I dont think one style works indeed even the original SAS training was based on lessons learned from Archaeologists in 1930 North africa, lessons from turn of the century explorers, previous failed expeditions, skills learn from the local Tuaregs and other nomadic types.

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I also like BFG Centrals approach, good common sense.

I don't like being "button holed"-never did "tick the box" if you know what I mean, I suppose i'm an alternative/biker/hippy/loner/Mad Max/survivalist-prepper!!

Two things that the military teaches (and demands) of it's members are self-discipline (do the stuff you don't want to do because it has to be done, not because someone's looking over your shoulder), and organization (prior planning prevents p*ss-poor performance). While it is certainly possible to have those traits and yet never serve in the military, I know that those are two things that I definitely gained from my time in the service.