Basic Survival Skills Lacking For Young Millenials

[TinMon]

Basic Survival Skills Lacking For Young Millenials

Granted, this poll was not from US but I have my suspicions the same would hold true here as well.

I guess my question to all here is this: Have you and/or are you doing anything to fight this sad finding (as unscientific as it was)?

Basic survival skills: What have you done to help ensure some of the younger generation lives should they find themselves in a life threatening situation? This could range from simply knowing how to read a map to an actual long term survival scenario.

What skills and in what capacity are you passing on information to a younger person or group of people?

Things we are passing on to a youngster include but are not limited to:
-Our love of reading. These are about half of our books. Of course there is an apocalyptic section and a survival section! This was in the moving in stage, sorry about the mess. She is above her classmates with her reading skills
-She understands the basics of making a fire, what tinder is, how to start a fire. We have a wood burning stove so she gets to practice a lot. Next year, hopefully mature enough to make some of the camping fires.
-We collect rain water in a large livestock trough. She helps us water the gardens
-She helps Mommy with canning, planting the herb garden, the strawberry patch and the veggie garden. We planted fruit trees 3 years ago. The property already has mature Mulberry trees, and a Rhubarb patch.
-She knows what the trails through the property are travelled by and currently knows what deer scat looks and feels like.
-We raise chickens and she is involved in the feeding and care
-She has had swimming lessons
-She has been taught firearm safety since she was about 4. Not "mature" enough to shoot yet but this year will probably be Bow basics
-There is so much more we will teach her as she gets older

I suspect this group (folks here on the forum) is much more involved in this type of teaching than most people in general.


"I regard giving as necessary to right the balance..." Hu Chung
 
"Please remember the 2nd Amendment each and every time you vote".....Cork
 
"If one does not understand a person, one tends to regard him as a fool".......Carl Jung  

"...it's hard to explain...you can be much more alone with other people than you are by yourself...." Lucia Muir

"While open carry makes me uncomfortable (her words, not mine) my discomfort should have no bearing on constitutionally protected rights." – Tyler Kee's wife
 

 

[susieqz]

wow! most of them had never been camping.
those poor kids.
the best times of my life were camping.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

My kids didn't know a house could be heated without a wood stove, until they joined the military. All 4 knew how to build a fire with matches by the time they were 7 years old (Our youngest could do it properly and fast by age 5!) My daughter got a summer camp job because she was the only one in the college who could build a fire!!! They know how to use chain saws and split wood with a maul too!

My kids were never certified, but could land navigate at 6th grade, that includes the use compass and topo map!

My kids could use and sharpen their own folding knife by 4th grade!
(the school allowed pocket knife carry, whereas public school didn't)

My kids could all swim by first grade. We never thought about it, but the small private school our oldest first went to insisted that kindergarteners take swimming lessons for Phys Ed, until they passed the Red Cross exam for beginners. So every Friday he had lessons during school ($1 a week was a deal! Same pool only charges $2 a week now!)

My wife trained all 4 to cook from scratch. Second grade was biscuits, by the time they were 18 they could make Lasagna including the noodles from scratch. High School Chemistry class was just like cooking, you followed the recipe and you get the proper results. (It was amazing how many teens couldn't follow a recipe at home or in class!) Side Note: 2nd son's senior year, Second period study hall, one person went down the street and bought donuts for the class. My kids didn't have cash for that! So he started the tradition of baking Cinnamon Rolls for his class.

In addition to cooking the wife taught the kids to sew enough to make button up shirts! My daughter has a small internet business making blankets in her spare time, because she learned to sew! 2nd son makes his own backpacking equipment and clothing for the outdoors. Why? Because he can!

The kids all grew up working in our gardens, they didn't like it, but they know how to garden with hand tools. All 4 raise a few plants for tomatoes ect., and the grandkids are starting to learn where food comes from too!

Ivan

 

[Wise_A]

I took a fly fishing class in college to satisfy my phys ed requirement (srsly? this is a requirement?). Half of the class was more or less basic survival skills. Hypothermia identification and treatment, extreme weather clothing, what to do if you get stranded and need shelter/water/food, etc. More or less things I was familiar with from being outdoorsy.

One of the things we blew a day on was compass-and-map navigation.

We went out on the ol' quad, with a bunch of maps and a compass. Which at the time, I thought was odd, because it was outside--I knew which way was which outside and all, and even if I didn't--hell, there was moss on trees, the sun, landmarks, everything. You didn't need the compass at all. It would have been more of a challenge in the basement.

It was late afternoon. The instructor pointed a particularly ditzy-but-hot girl facing west. He then asked her what her current direction was.

She stares intently at her compass for a good 30 seconds. She then looks up, shields her eyes against the setting sun, and triumphantly exclaims, "North!"

I wanted to laugh, but I did not make a sound. For she was wearing criminally low-cut pajama pants, and I was due east.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Those are good rural/wilderness skills for survival, but if I could teach my urban/suburban family one skill for survival, it would be situational awareness on the streets, starting with putting their cell phones away.

Seems to be a lost cause though, as even the suggestion of putting away their phones when they go out in the world, is greeted with scorn.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

My best friend was in the Ohio National Guard. In basic training the NG enlistees got a survival training day the Regular Army didn't get. Late 80's timeframe). Our state along with a few others paid to protect their investment with some practical survival skill. A few are:

1) How to break out a window to escape a burning building. Use a chair or table leg and smash the glass. Then take same leg and run it like a saw along at least the bottom edge, to remove shards of glass.

2) How to catch a chicken and clean with bare hands. He said it wasn't a lot different than on the farm except for the lack of hatchet and knife! But the city guy's had a hard time with it.

3) there was a course on fire fighting, around the home and workplace.


There were many he didn't mention, but these always stuck in my mind!

Ivan

 

[Jack Flash]

Interesting to hear about the Ohio National Guard training. That may have not been typical.

Not having a lot of camping experience is nothing new. IIRC, during the first Gulf War, Jeff Cooper wrote that for many of the soldiers it was the first time they had ever slept outside.

 

[BigBoy99]

The Millenials have a total lack of knowledge of tools. Prior to my retirement, I was mentoring a newly hired engineer. He was helping me in the final stages of fabrication of a workshop inside of a metal Conex box. I had the locations of holes marked on the wall where I wanted brackets mounted using Phillips head screws. I gave this new guy a battery powered drill, a drill bit and bit for driving Phillips head screws. I told him I'd be back in a hour. I had expected all of the brackets to be hung when I returned but nothing had been done!

He said he couldn't get the drill to make the needed holes in the wall to hang the brackets. When I looked at what he had been doing, he had the bit for driving Phillips head screws in the battery powered drill and was trying to drill the holes with it!

I asked him how things got fixed at his home. He said they just call somebody and pay them to fix what is broken.

 

[mtgianni]

I wonder how many know how to break a window per the Fenestration council safety glass. Due to structure standards many windows have a small x on the glass near a corner that is the only place it will break if hit.

 

[billwill]

They have an iPhone. What more do you need? They know how to ask Google and Siri questions and those two know it all.

 

[retiredbadge8091]

Survival isn't just about some apocalyptic event... Here in the west during the winter you wouldn't believe the number of people I see scurrying about in shorts and tee shirts with either running shoes or even flip flops.

A spin-out on a desolate stretch of road, a power outage or even an earth quake could set these fools up for death by exposure to our winter elements.

Of course there may be a silver lining. I'm now seeing young women bundled in nylon and down with Sorel boots while their boyfriends tromp through the snow in flip flops. Maybe at least the girls will survive... By sheer accident.

 

[Jack Flash]

...

A spin-out on a desolate stretch of road, a power outage or even an earth quake could set these fools up for death by exposure to our winter elements.

...

Some of you may remember a tragic incident out West some years back. (I think it was Washington state ...)

A family had driven up into the mountains and got caught in an early winter storm. The car was stuck in the deep drifts. They had little or no food or other provisions for an emergency.

There was no cell phone service way out there so dad left mom & kids to try to hike for help. Searchers later found his body, nearly naked. People often strip off their clothes in the last stages of hypothermia.

Miraculously, mom & kids were rescued.

 

[Mule Packer]

They are nothing more than products of their environment. You have to remember, the reason so many of these individuals are so ill-equipped with basic survival skills boils down to one simple fact: they believe that because they have never needed them in the past, they certainly won't need them in the future. I mean, why should they? Mom and Dad have provided for their every need. Food can be easily obtained by going to the local supermarket. If they're cold, it can be solved by simply adjusting the thermostat. Clothing and footwear are purchased on the basis of style and not practical function. Life is good. As Pumba from The Lion King so adeptly put it, "Hakuna matata!" In other words, no worries. And that, sadly, is what they actually believe.

You also have to remember that the majority of these millennials are coming from the suburbs or from major metropolitan areas. Where are they going to either learn or practice these skills? I mean, they're too darn busy going to soccer practice, Tai Chi lessons, yoga class, and patronizing the local organic guava juice bar.

My children were raised in a rural environment. They knew right from the get-go where food comes from. They grew up feeding the farm animals, tending the garden, and splitting firewood for the stove. They learned how to fish and shoot as soon as they were able to handle a fly rod or lift the little single-shot .22.

I'm glad they know these skills and are letting me help pass them along to my grandkids.

Sure, it's a shame that the rising generation doesn't know those basic, "cave man skills," but I think a lot of the blame goes to their environment and not directly to them.

I'm not sure we should be casting negative aspersions towards the millennials, though. I mean, heck...I have trouble figuring out my computer most of the time. I don't have a smart phone. I don't do Twitter or Facebook. These are skills that these young people feel very comfortable doing whereas I am completely lost.

Just my two cents worth...and probably not even worth that.

 

[turnerriver]

My 30 year old son is an Eagle Scout, his friends' designated fire builder at any place where a fire would be appreciated and he can
use a knife or operate a firearm although he rarely does. I preach situational awareness as he travels extensively and he has had some very hard knock lessons that he learned from. If the apocalypse comes the intelligent will adapt as they have before, skills are desirable but the will to live and a quick sharp mind go a long ways.
I'm very impressed with a lot of his friends- not all of them, but a lot of them.
Regards,
turnerriver

 

[dave1918a2]

I feel sorry for the millennials as most of them will never be in a tent or sleeping bag or at a shooting range. For most of them if Their I phones were shut of, McD's and 7 eleven closed, not only couldn't they function, They would also starve.

 

[Jessie]

Humans have spent their entire existence inventing things to overcome nature and create a comfortable environment.
We've spent our lives getting out of the outdoors and into a cooled/heated push button world.
There will be a price to be paid when the buttons don't work anymore and you've forgotten or never learned to do without.

 

[the ringo kid]

wow! most of them had never been camping.
those poor kids.
the best times of my life were camping.

Most of em don't have a life outside of some hand-held gadget-let alone-most can't debate anything and don't know how to question or even think.

 

[shouldazagged]

Several years ago there was a news story about a woman who died in a shopping mall when she fell on an escalator and her clothing caught in the machinery. She was dragged to the top and, as horrified onlookers watched, was fatally strangled.

If anybody had had a knife and the presence of mind to cut her free, she would have lived.

I wonder how many millennials--or their parents, for that matter--carry simple pocketknives, much less any more advanced cutting tools.

Okay, I'm showing my age. I date from the time when nearly all men and boys, and a great many women and girls, carried pocketknives. I've carried at least one knife every day for just over seventy years. We needed them then, for any number of routine chores that are done for us now (not always for the best) by the people who sell us stuff.

Nowadays I suspect that a minority of people younger than I, and a very small percentage of millennials, ever consider how a knife can be a life-saving tool without being <gasp, shudder!> a weapon.

I feel really old when I talk about this. I am really old, but this makes me feel it more.

 

[Xfuzz]

Last fall I was down at my beach cabin and decided
to do some fishing...fall flounder run.
Young 25year old or so couple were close by while
I set up.
I lit up my Coleman Lantern(fuel type)...
they were dumbfounded.

When I caught a fish you would have thought I laid a cobra
at their feet.

 

[JK-linux]

On a humorous note, we have a younger guy at work who was very proud of himself for getting "Ready" and getting a bunch of bushcraft and "survival" books. I asked him what he got and he proudly showed me... the books he downloaded to his phone. I asked what he'd do if the phone was lost in some crisis and he confidently replied... they aren't really on his phone, they are in "the cloud" and he can get to them with is tablet too. Belt and suspenders!

OK then...