What's your valuable survival skill?

[jgradyc]

I just finished reading One Second After, a very sobering book. It got me to thinking, what survival skill do I have that's important enough to be accepted into a community. I have guns and ammo, but those are tools, not skills. I'm not a hunter, but frankly, hunting isn't rare in Tennessee, so a community might already have enough hunters. 

 

I think my skill would be the ability to fix almost any bicycle. It's not a common skill and bicycles could be valuable once gasoline is no longer available.

 

[Raoul]

The art of deception by making people feel comfortable?

[Moped]

I eat a lot!

[dawgdoc]

I'm pretty sure my veterinarian skills will translate into fixing people, at a level somewhere between first aid and advanced medicine.  For example, I believe I could easily fix trauma such as lacerations or minimally-displaced fractures, and I might muddle through dealing with internal trauma without the benefit of advanced diagnostics and available treatment.  In the latter case, I don't have the experience to know or recognize all the ways that a human presents, but on the other hand, I have had to deal with major trauma without the benefit of advanced diagnostics such as an MRI, or even less advanced things such as an ultrasound.

 

In the scenes where they would interview the refugees before letting them stay in town, this is exactly what I was thinking.  My wife used to be a CNA, so it would be a package deal.

 

My advice in a One Second After situation:  try not to get hurt and hope you don't have a chronic disease that depends on modern medicine to treat.

 

On an related note, I thought it would have been cool for the people to use go-carts to get around.  I assume most of those would still work after an EMP, and many people can repair and maintain small engines.

 

Edit:  I can also now add reloading as a helpful skill.

Edited May 1, 2016 by dawgdoc

[Possumslayer]

I can run fast.....

[Sidecarist]

Metal working and mechanical skills. Basic blacksmithing, welding, machinist, distillation of grain to alcohol for "fuel" also some basic farming skills, milling grain etc.

I think that these skills would be useful for barter. I also know I have limited medical skills. It's just as important to know your limitations as the skills you have.

Knowing what you need to trade for and what you have to trade with is the key.

[Spots]

Being a well rounded individual is gonna be important. I'm a blacksmith, wood worker, logger, ASE mechanic, helicopter mechanic and motorcycle mechanic, and a martial artist. I'm also a draft horse farmer, shooter and I can butcher most game and livestock. The more basic homestead skills you have the better

Sent from behind the anvil

[enfield]

I know stuff.

[Erik88]

I'm doomed..

[Pete123]

Well, I guess I'm stuck with dashing good looks and Einsteinian intelligence.

[I am Groot!]

I can pat my head and rub my belly at the same time.

[Raoul]

I can pat my head and rub my belly at the same time.

I'll convince them to gather around and watch you. Now all we need is a pickpocket.

[Omega]

Fairly rounded here, like the old saying: knowledge is power.  I'm fairly sure I can fit in just about anywhere and be an asset.  But I may try and make a go at being out on my own for awhile, I find that for some reason stupid people survive.

[Sidecarist]

I'll convince them to gather around and watch you. Now all we need is a pickpocket.

Creative solution !

[1fast4by]

Automotive technician, Diesel tech, small engine repair. I'm pretty good at math...
I can make beer..that's an important one

[Moped]

I'm doomed..

You and me both, brother! :D

[10-Ring]

I have enough skills to find a place in such a society. OSA drove home the importance of having the skills and ability to preserve meat, which I know how to do. Besides that I can do a little bit of about anything. I can garden, I can hunt. I have mechanical abilities, I can build stuff. I have an ability to make due with what I have and I'm pretty well prepared for most anything that I have to deal with. I'm also very sneaky when need be. In short I have the ability to put food on the table, fix stuff, and provide security.

[Moped]

Seriously, I could bring some basic engineering skills to the table, as a surveyor and civil and an electrical designer. Also been a soldier and marksmanship trainer in the USAR.

[Wingshooter]

I can supervise :cool:

[felinesNfreedom]

Fishing, hunting and gardening are the simple ones. I know plumbing along with some electrical and I am also well equipped in smartassadry.

[Hershmeister]

I have guns and ammo.

Plus - is sarcasm a skill?

[Sidecarist]

So as a group we can grew food and grain, hunt & fish, preserve these food stuffs, fix most things likely to still be running in a SHTF situation. Run a distillery and brewery, have some entertainment from Groot, sounds like a party and I'll bet that we'll be glad that there is basic medical care in the morning...

Sarcasm aside. We all have skills some we don't even recognize as valuable. Maybe the biggest skill is the ability to see what needs to be done and either do it or find someone who can. Organization and team building (leadership) might just be the most important of all. Many of our retired military gave those skills and they would be invaluable in a crisis.

[Jamie Jackson]

My primary background is medical...RN for a 34 yrs, former Corpsman for 9 years before that...I'm an old fart and can't run & gun like I used to be able to do. :mad:  But if you're ill or injured I can be of benefit...I promise...

 

like many here I shoot, handload, can cast, and do basic forearms maintenance,

But I've learned to garden, water bath and pressure can, dehydrate and preserve foods. I was raised in working in my father's meat market and have the tools and knowledge to process meats.

I continue to learn and develop knowledge and skills and pray that process never ends.

Most important though is that I've learned to develop "community" with like minded individuals with a broad range of skills, knowledge, and capabilities that I know and can trust.

 

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. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert A. Heinlein

 

[ReeferMac]

I'm a pretty big motherfucker and have a gun!

I'm pretty sure the rest will take care of itself! :D

 

(j/k)

 

LOL! Like many, I consider myself fairly well rounded in many aspects, but am always learning. One skill I've developed that has served me well, and I'm certain will continue to (whatever may come) is tenacity!

 

- K
 

[Sidecarist]

You're not THAT big...