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semperfortis
Survival and Military Experience
I’ve been thinking lately about what “really” got me interested in the subject of survival. I know that back in the 80’s I was concerned, as was most of the thinking world, about nuclear proliferation and the “Big Red Scare”. For me it was more than that; it was something I did that propelled me into a world of survival skills I would never turn from, not even up to today.
I joined the United States Marine Corps
I was 20 years old when I joined, a little older than most and that as much as anything helped me. I loved boot camp; the regimen and discipline just seemed like the right way to live. We got some rudimentary survival skills in “Boot” but more than that, we received a great gift.
The gift of self-reliance and self-discipline.
Priceless.
Having grown up on the farm in West Virginia and hunted since I was 8 years old, I was a good shot. I qualified perfect on the range and was asked to join a “STA PLT” after Boot. Being in that unit meant a lot of schools; many of those schools either focused on survival or were at least, survival related. The rest is as they say, history; I was caught in the spell of survival.
I tell you that in order to tell you this; that military training can be and often is, a great base for the survival skills we talk about here.
I still retain the knowledge, skills and idea that I can take a knife, and only a knife, into the woods, forest or jungle and survive for an extended period of time. Now whether I can for long or not at my age is something of a contention, but I am sure I can.
Why?
Because I have done it.
My point here is you can watch YouTube videos all day, read every survival manual in the world and unless you get off your duff and go outside and “do it” you quite simply CAN NOT…
Cases in point
1. Watch YouTube and they will tell you that “you cannot strike a Ferro Rod with stainless steel”.
a. Yes you can.. They have obviously never gone out and tried it.
2. They will tell you that “Tin Foil makes a good substance to boil water”.
a. NO it does not. It will burn through and leak into your fire.
3. They will tell you that a “small knife is the only knife you need in the woods”.
a. They are wrong as a small knife will not process firewood for your fire effectively.
All of these things and more are just further examples of why YOU need to get up, get dressed and get outside and practice survival techniques. If you have never done it, YOU cannot do it; that should be your mantra.
Plus it’s fun.
Check out some of our videos and then go do them!!!!!
Semperfortis
Semper
edit on 2/3/2014 by semperfortis because: (no reason given)
projectvxn
Someone who is NOT physically fit would find it impossible and would not be able to endure it at all.
semperfortis
Survival and Military Experience
I’ve been thinking...
Semperfortis