What's your survival skill? Thought so. Sorry.

What's your survival skill? Guns?

Hmm. Dang. You're just dead weight to us.

Before it's too late, I want to implore you to learn a useful survival skill. So many of the uber-prepared think that their prowess with firearms instantly qualifies them for a top-seed position in a survival commune.

I hate to break it to you but your gun skills are a dime-a-dozen, and without some supplemental skills, you are not hirable.

In reality, the basic survival skills that revolve around the gun, hunting, and general protection are a quick fix. Way too many folks are already walking around with plenty of firearm skills that are plenty good for most survival situations. Even surgeons, mechanics, engineers, and intellectuals of all stripes. In fact, some of my hunting buddies are both medical doctors (most with valuable specialities including cardiac surgery, podiatry and internal medicine) and extremely experienced hunters with worldly experience including their stints and training in military.

So if you think you can walk in to a World 2.0 with nothing more than your menial skills, having listened to a bunch of podcasts, and some serious range time, you can forget entry into any survival compound worth joining. Sorry, but you will just be more dead weight that needs care and feeding.

So, in the interest of reaching to the future, I suggest any of the following skills to add to your quiver of usefulness. Here's 10 for the road....

1. Medical experience, whether advanced first aid, EMT, nursing, midwifery or M.D.

2. Engineering. Or carpenter skills at the minimum. Mechanical engineering would be a nice asset as well.

3. Hydrology. Water management, filtering, and general water chemistry.

4. Farming, gardening, and food storage.

5. Plumbing and sewage management.

6. Energy production, transfer and storage.

7. Community leadership, public relations, and progressive political thought.

8. Constitutional law, legal logic, and practical current events knowledge.

9. Teaching, writing, and child care.

10. Finally, each successful survival group will have a spiritual leader. Whether conventional religion, or new 21st interpretations of what is good and right, everyone will need public guidance in the spiritual realm. Not the hate-filled stuff of today, but a positive message that will make the world a better place in the future.

So with little more to say, I hope you noticed that firearm expertise did not make the list if essential skills. In order to have value in the future, you must diversify your skillset. Guns alone will not make the cut. Guns are fun, yes, but true survival involves more than guns. And without more lines of skill on your resume than just guns, forget entry into future communities.

Why? Well, as noted before, gun knowledge is a dime-a-dozen. So move on down the road if that's all you've got to offer the community.


Carrry on.
-PP®

BYOML: Bring Your Own Martial Law!

Pew. Pew. Pew. The Buck Stops Here.

An odd thing about many prepared folk is that they are confident that their homeland defenses will push any problems down the street. Sounds all fine and dandy, and receives loads of accolades from the doomsday prepper glitterati, but personally, I have a big problem with it. If someone is so prepared that their preemptive measures will ensure that the bad guys will seek a softer target, than they themselves are part of the problem.

You see, the value of prepping is being prepared. And being prepared is not just stockpiles of stuff and a brain full of survival wisdom, but also planning for the future. And planning also means acting upon those plans.

So now imagine that the SHTF has predictably turned to WROL. You activate your plan-A protection and the bad guys come out with the dark. At midnight your fortifications are tested by a trio of non-locals trying to make a quick score while the public defenses are down. Your search lights come on, you yell your warnings, and pump your 12 gauge with practiced authority. The criminals pause and assess the situation. After a moment they move back into the darkness.

But while you're gloating and patting yourself on the back, you neighbor is being robbed, raped and murdered by the same filth you let walk away. You get an A+ for saving your own butt, and an F for failing to address the real problem. Well Mr. Prepared, soon you will be the only one on your block still alive.

So when it truly is an SHTF, be a man and take out the trash. I don't care how you do it, but if you have a threat and you have a chance, then don't push problems downstream where they will only gain power and resources. The bad guys might have shown up on your doorstep weakly armed, but after knocking down a few more front doors, they are now fed, well armed, drunk on power, and back for you. What would have been an easy problem to solve yesterday is now a formidable challenge today.

So much for gloating.

I didn't say the decision would be easy, just that it would be obvious. Mobile threats must encounter immovable resistance. Unless you know with certainty that the threat is minor and will stay that way, I can guarantee that it will amplify to the point of war.

So if you really are prepared, 

then your first response 

should be their last. 

BYOML

Bring your own Martial Law!

Carrry on.
-PP®