GEAR VS. KNOWLEDGE
A reader of survival themed blogs would quickly notice gear is a hot topic for content. And with good reason, it is a huge industry. (One example…Official US Gov market size and value) Authors and content creators that focus on gear drive direct sales, referrals and subsequently income. As a result, survival blogs all the way to outdoor enthusiasts and everyone in between talks up the tech, the gadget, the tool.
Please know this, tool and gear, and tech are definitely important components to individual and group survival. A knowledge of how to use the tools, or lack there of, will be the determinate when the time comes. Remember:
NO ONE CAN TAKE KNOWLEDGE AWAY FROM YOU AND YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE IT BEHIND
Let us imagine that the world experiences a nuclear event. Depending on your proximity to the centre of the explosion, you could be facing a shelter in place until radiation levels reach a point where you can move. You can have a great bomb shelter, food and water for months, gas masks and filters, rubber boots and gloves, bunny suits (military grade hazmat suits), Potassium Iodide(K) Geiger counters, security, medical, and so on. If you have no idea of how and when to use these things, the things don’t matter.
Medical is a classic for me. You can give someone all the medical tools they need to save a life, but if that person has no training with those tools, it is unlike they will succeed. Medical kits are full of things most people have no ideal how to use, or use to their potential. Without proper medical training the things are useless. Get trained. Learn CPR. Take a wilderness medic course. Volunteer as a first aider at events though St.John’s Ambulance or the Red Cross. This should be taught in schools and thus onward in life be perceived as civic duty. Can you imagine a society where 95% of the population has basic life saving medical skills, first aid, CPR? Like a new type of literacy rate. Yeah, right, snap snap, back to reality. Seek out training and experience now.
We can go on…A rifle, plenty of ammunition. Some event has driven you into the remote location you and the family prepared, your refuge. Hunting is looking like a good option for keeping food on the table. Maybe that rifle is what makes you feel safe, safe from the true SHTF. The one of a world full of hungry people looking for resources to keep them and their families alive. If you have no knowledge of how to skillfully employ the rifle and ammunition than what is the point? People can hear a gunshot for miles, and it is distinctive and indicative. You had better know where you are, who is around, and what you are shooting at, and be quick about it. Without proper training and practice that rifle again becomes a thing, perhaps a liability. Someone stronger, more skillful could be drawn to your repeatedly missed rifle shots and come looking for your gear, your things.
You get the point. As a reader this far into these words we preach to you: self-reliance, self-sufficiency, and self-preservation. Knowledge always trumps gear alone. But gear in the hands of a knowledgable operator can quickly become a force multiplier. Learn the skills, practice them, never stop.
Northern Survivalist
Cover Photo: Dominik Sostmann @doso7