21st Century Man.

[Eamonn]

Thinking about the posts that deal with Killing for Food.

Back in the day we did the, what might be called "Survival Cooking" Scuff. Dressing and cooking different birds, skinning rabbits and all that good stuff.

I don't see any harm in it, as long as the Scouts don't get carried away and the local birds and neighborhood cats remain safe.

All of this got me thinking about how much things have changed and what "Skills" a Lad might need in the 21st Century.

I might add that I was raised in a home where my Mother was a stay at home Mum. She did "Womans work" and ran the home while my Dad was the bread winner.

 

Here is my list for starters.

Please feel free to add to it.

Laundry Without everything coming out that nice shade of pink!

Being able to cook a complete holiday meal from scratch, using only real, fresh ingredients.

Being able to feed and change a baby.

Fix ordinary everyday appliances. Like the vacuum cleaner when it gets stuffed up with dog hair! Or the furnace when it runs out of heating oil and needs to be re-lit.

Able to sew a button on a shirt.

Keep track of money and an understanding of how money and banks work. (I was going to say balance a check book, but with so much banking now being done on line, that might seem out of date?)

Why paying what you owe on time is important, along with how to live within a budget.

How things work in the area where you live.

Such things as who to call when the State plows the roads and your unable to get out of your driveway! Who to call to find out if your allowed to water your lawn or burn yard waste.

Clean the house.

I could go on.

But this is a start.

Ea.

[Stosh]

While we no longer live in a subsistence society, there are plenty of skills that are necessary for self-sufficiency. A decade ago when Y2K was a big thing, everyone ran around like chickens with their heads cut off thinking the world was coming to an end. When they asked me what I was going to do, I simply said I was going to drag out my dutch oven, make a fire and eat supper just like I always did. I figured my house wouldn't disappear overnight, and living next to a woods, I figured I could handle camp cooking for a while. I figured the plumbing still worked until it might have frozen up, but then a dug latrine would work too.

 

My mother taught me all the woman's work skills of cooking, cleaning, etc. and so I can "survive" in a hostile environment quite nicely.

 

In today's world, there are kids that wouldn't last a day with the skills they have. If electricity alone went out could they feed themselves? Without an electric stove or microwave, I'm thinking probably not.

 

In the interest of protecting our children, we have in fact made them defenseless. They couldn't hunt and kill food, they wouldn't know what to do with it if they caught it and it all makes for a pretty dire outlook for the next generations. Heck, without electricity they couldn't even look it up on their blackberries what to do.

 

While interdependency is a great team building goal, if everyone in the group doesn't know a thing about survival, the group becomes nothing more than a group destined to a long slow decline in existence.

 

Even the tried and true vegans out there don't know what plants can be eaten and which ones might be poisonous. Of course, withstanding any mushroom identification process, there might be a few out there that develop the mindset of they don't really care.

 

Stosh

[Nike]

Given divorce statistics: Wash, blow dry, and style 6 year old daughter's hair.

[Eamonn]

Stosh,

While I don't disagree with most of what you posted.

I was thinking along the lines of skills that are needed for the young fellow who in a few years will be married and who will share in the running of a home.

 

About a year or so back, I went for some training, learning what our department would do in the case of a pandemic.

Some of what was said was really scary!

Many of the things we take for granted might just not be available.

It took a 60% absentee number.

This meant that many of the stores would be shut and the goods to the stores wouldn't be delivered.

Gas stations wouldn't be open, banks might not be able to keep up with what they do and so on.

The thing I found really scary was what we might have to do with all the dead bodies, if there was no one to take care of them!

We seem to have been very lucky that the flu we just had wasn't really that bad, but from talking with people who are supposed to know about this stuff?? It seems no longer a "If" this is going to happen but a "When".

 

I was living in the UK when the coal miners went on strike. We had power cuts and went to a 3 day work week for a while. While everyone seemed to manage it was a real pain.

I was in Holland when the oil shortage was going on and they banned driving on a Sunday. It was strange walking down the main highways with no cars or trucks.

Even here in the USA after 9/11 when all the planes were grounded the sky seemed empty without the planes and there was an eerie silence.

What happens after "The Big One?" Seems to have become a common work in science fiction works.

The recent big snows in the area where I live left some of my co-workers without power for as long as five days. Everyone seemed to do OK, in part because it didn't effect a very large area and people could go elsewhere to do what was needed, either staying with friends or using friends to get things.

I like to think that I'd be in good shape if there was a crisis.

But the truth is I have become very dependent on all the stuff we have today.

My emergency generator works great, but what happens when the gas pumps are unable to pump the gas needed to run it?

Sure I have a stock pile of water, but it wouldn't last forever.

Eamonn.

 

[Spiney Norman]

I was going to add, jump start and be able to do a basic diagnosis of an automobile, but with the advent of hybrids and and other alternatice propulsion systems in vehicles this may not be so usefull. I can still set a choke and field set distributor points with a matchbook and nail file though.

 

So to be a 21st century handyman you should definitely be able to diagnose and reset your home computer network. That's what I'm usually asking my children to help me with.

 

[Engineer61]

An interesting post...quite hijack-able by the Survivalist Contingent (SC's).

 

IMO practical knowledge to function in a normal environment is a very good goal.

 

I would even add a few like...

 

Know what natural gas leaks smell like, and what to do.

Know which side of the road to walk on vs. bike on and why. That includes sidewalks.

Know what to do when people around are you are doing something unsafe.

 

As for the 2012 crowd, well, when the Big One comes and we no longer have energy, water and food; those that are left should know how to dig a lot of graves. Without the technological advances of the past 300 years, there is not enough food production capability on the planet to sustain more that a fraction of the world's population. With a couple of billion dead bodies around, it won't take long for the Typhoid, Diphtheria and other classical diseases to contaminate the planet and get the rest of the population. I'm not certain which side of that line I want my family to be on.

 

The Jeremiah Johnson types will live a bit longer. But no amount of the "Three B's" will really make a difference.

 

(This message has been edited by Engineer61)

[Stosh]

I guess I just took it to "too basic" of a level.

 

Cars w/out gas, heck, I can walk or use my bike. But it depends on where I want to go. Grocery store that's closed? Not much truck in that process.

 

If I needed water, do I know where to go and what to do to treat it? If I needed food, do I know where besides the closest closed grocery store to find it? If I find a can of food, can I get it open and process it if I need to?

 

It just depends on the situation and how far back to basics one needs to go to survive whatever calamity may befall.

 

Do I know how to deal with the dead if the situation arises and can I avoid the diseases prevalent following such natural or man made problems? Do I even know what to do if a calamity hits? There's gotta be some form of survival one needs to do besides hiding under the bed.

 

Even if I go to the basement and hunker down in the southwest corner for a tornado do I have the tools, water, first aid supplies and food to get myself out from under a collapsed house?

 

Now these things might be happening someday in the future, but are we preparing our boys to be able to "Be Prepared" for such contingencies? Anything less that a total disaster should be a piece of cake if they are prepared for the worst.

 

Even if they are given personal survival skills, what about spouse and family? Do the boys have the organizational skills to reform community in the collapse of society around them?

 

All of these things are interesting and to a certain extent be prepared for should the occasion arise.

 

Stosh

 

 

[JoeBob]

I'll add to the survivalist Contingent:

 

How to rig a water-powered car generator for DC current.

How to treat drinking water.

How to hide in an urban area until after the looting passes.

How to navigate without a GPS!

How to maneuver out of an urban area and avoid snipers.

Trapping.

How to cure meat.

Edible plants.

Survivalist camping:

Site concealment

Sentries

Alarms

Booby-traps

 

A good bit of that is prety scary. But there are other areas that I think boys would find to be quite entertaining.

[resqman]

There are number of survivalist websites, forums and vendors who offer a variety of low tech and old tech to revert to the pre 1900's way of living.

 

One of my jobs was as a Disaster Recovery Planner for major corporations during Y2K. The goal was to provide enough planning and infrastructure so the business could continue until services and manpower were available to return to pre-disaster status. Sometimes this means relocating outside the effected area on the presumtion that disasters are localized.

 

Emergency Prep merit badge introduces the concepts of planning as well as requiring the creation of a family 72 hour kit. Other merit badges provide the fundamentals for Scouts to develop skills to guide their familes through short term disasters. Wilderness Survival, Cooking, First Aid, Personal Management, etc.

 

Boy Scouts is not a wilderness or survivalist training school. The outdoors is a means to get lads out of their normal routine and force them to deal with small challenges to develop independence and leadership. Along the way a broad spectrum of skills are taught. The scout who stays in the program does not emerge an expert survivalist, he emerges an indepent leader with a set of skills and experiences he can draw upon to face new challenges with confidence.

 

Before the 1980's when Survivialist became a negavtive term applied to gun toting extremists, putting a few extra cans of food away in the basement or pantry was known as self sufficency, pragmatic, sensible, and common place. Survivalists have taken the Be Prepared motto as far as they can.

 

Today's scouts are surrounded by technology driven by electricity. Constant and immediate communication with anyone, anywhere, anytime has overshadowed the fact that behind it all is electricity. Loss of electricity stops the modern world. Gas pumps don't work so trucks can't deliver food and goods. Cash registers seldom take cash anymore and stores won't allow you to buy items because their computer based inventory system will be out of sync if they lose electricity.

 

A favorite quote of many survivalists is:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.

Robert Heinlein quotes (American science-fiction writer,1907-1988)

 

5 Acres and Independence; A Handbook for Small Farm Management is a book written in the early 1900's on how to set up a self-sufficent farm on 5 acres. Orchards, crops, livestock, timber for lumber, heating, & climate control, barns, tools, skills, and all kinds of other matters. Book is still available for less than $10.

 

Whew! That is a lot of words with no focus. I would answer any skill that does not require electricity is something a Scout needs.

 

[Engineer61]

What is the difference between Preparedness and Survivalist?

 

Degree?

[JoeBob]

Resqman: Gawd I loved Heilein! "Glory Road" was a favorite escape.

[gsdad]

I think there are certain skills every human being should learn, not just men/boys. So I have/will teach my girls what I think they will need to get though any situation. I don't limit them to survival situations only, but everyday "what-ifs" that may occur. My 11yo already knows how to take game, as she took her first deer last November.

 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/how_to/4281414.html

[resqman]

What is the difference between Preparedness and Survivalist? Degree?

 

I think it has to do with prejudice and ignorance of the media. It is hard to be "too prepared". The media has to label everything and everyone so it can be served up in sound bites. If there is no conflict, there is no news. By labeling every activity and assigning it a value judgement of normal or extreme, it provides a platform to debate and condon.

 

To some, buying food in bulk at Sams or Costco is extreme hoarding of food. To others it is sensible economics of buying at a lower price now instead of a higher price later. Having food in the pantry instead of traveling to the grocery everyday saves money and reduces your carbon footprint. Hoarding can be explained as a Green Activity.

[Engineer61]

So, it sounds like the difference is a matter of degree.

 

Buying a dozen cases of bottled water at Costco because it came on sale might be called Thrifty or Preparedness.

 

Buying a pallet of cases of bottled water at Costco because you just finished your bunker in your backyard is Survivalist.

 

Ok...my examples might be a bit overstated. But I think that's the general idea.

 

Just IMHO, the key to dealing with unknown situations cannot be taught. It more a matter of common sense and improvisation which are not even skills, they are mindsets.

 

But hey what do I know?

 

 

[Engineer61]

I can think of one 21st Century skill for certain...

 

Having the ability to safely shut down a runaway Toyota!

 

{snicker}