Wilderness Survival list

[lrsap]

I fall in line mostly with drmbear. If this is a WS outing or activity, then it should be planned as what scenario would YOU be in when you needed these skills. Are you a troop heavily into canoeing? What do you take away from base camp when you hit the river? That's what you've got. Are you lost on a patrol hike? What you would normally take from camp is what you've got. To me that is how you make the most of the WS skill development.

 

This does not mean the plane crash or big list of WS supplies can't be a great event with lots of teaching opportunity. It just seems to me to be a role playing type game instead of a WS exercise.

 

I do find it interesting that some Scouters that allow cell phones would take them away as they went on the outing. I would treat them as any other item in the backpack. If it's normally there, it goes. If not, it stays. This is because it would be interesting to see their reaction when the battery dies.

[TAHAWK]

Please comment.

 

Wilderness Survival, I think, should teach that the response to an emergency is to admit there is a problem (famously, "Houston, we have a problem."); thoughtfully adapt your behavior to deal with the problem; improvise with what you have to work your planned adaptation; and be determined to overcome the problem. It seems to me that "Admit; Adapt; Improvise; and Overcome" presents a more useful mantra than the current "STOP," which is merely a tool to address the need to think straight.

 

Under the view I propose, the gear made available in a wilderness survival exercise, a form of role-playing that appeals to kids, will present them with greater or lesser challenges in adaptation and and improvisation. So a Hot Spark presents one level of challenge and material to make a bow-and-drill set a much greater challenge. Thus also with a pot to boil water vs. an empty two-litre plastic beverage container.

 

So we have a range of choices.

[Eagle92]

I'm all for the "adapt, improvise, and overcome" approach. There are more than one way to skin a cat, and if you think about it, you will get results.

[eisely]

I am curious about the dog mentioned in one of the scenarios in an earlier post. Is the dog part of the crew or emergency rations on the hoof?

[TAHAWK]

0___0

[sailingpj]

Two minutes is a hella long time to grab 4 things off a table. Next time they should only get one minute.