So, the History Channel has this show on called "Apocalypse Man". It's a former Marine giving survival tips for us puny humans if/when the apocalypse hits. I found it to be somewhat cheesy but interesting. I learned a few things that I did know or hadn't thought of before.
But, it got me to thinking. If a ever find myself in some post-apocalyptic scenario, I am certain that I will be able to hold my own, because of one chapter in my life: Boy Scouts. Don't laugh. I was in scouts for about eight years. At that time, I didn't know or didn't give a fuck about gay scoutmasters or gay scouts. All I know is I had some cool-as-shit adults that supervised us and cool-as-shit friends that were scouts with me. I learned three things in scouts that may be the three most important things to survive in a post-apocalyptic environment: 1) First Aid, 2) Knot Tying and 3) How to live off the land.
Now that I think about it, our scout leaders may have been one of these survivalist types, but I don't remember any batshit preaching or the like. All I know is that we went out in the woods, deep in the woods, rain or shine, summer or winter, one weekend a month like clockwork. If it was during school, we'd go Friday afternoon to Sunday night. If we weren't in school, sometimes we went for a week. The adults that went with us were unbelievably patient with us teenagers. They spent hours teaching us, showing us these skills, some of which aren't real easy to learn or remember. We learned how to build a shelter, and actually built them, no matter where we were (OK, we didn't build snow shelters, being in Louisiana, but we sure learned how to build them). We learned how to start and build a fire, using several non-match methods. We learned how to build animal snares and traps and, more importantly how to build human snares and traps. We used ropes and learned how to tie knots, used the aforementioned ropes and knots to climb trees and cross rivers. We learned how to navigate with and without a compass, how to find water and make sure that the water we drink won't make us sick. We learned what to do if we were injured, or snakebit, encountered a bear or other large predator, or got too cold or too hot.
What amazes me most of all is I retained almost all of this knowledge. Maybe it is something hardwired into the survival gene of humans, I don't know, but for whatever reason, I am grateful. The likelihood that I'll ever have to use all of these skills to survive in a "Red Dawn" type of scenario before I shuffle off this mortal coil? Real slim. But, it's nice to know it's there in my head.
