The other day, Tucker Carlson asked us to envision an America full of men like Braxton McCoy. Know, I know Braxton personally. We spent a weekend together camping (yes, along with Sibley) in Viriginia. After that weekend, he asked me to run a Bible study for the men in his Bunkhouse group. We’ve communicated ever since.
What’s interesting is that the old Bunkhouse group was exactly, an attempt to bring men back to the traits of rugged individualism that led to American Greatness. I decided that we need to cover the Price of Admission to return to individualism.
The key is self-sufficiency. If you rely on anyone or anything else to provide for you and your family in any area (food, water, security), you can be forced to bend the knee. Step one is learning to be self-sufficient. Self-Sufficiency means that I don’t blame the government for failing to warn me of a flash flood risk – I do my area study and pay attention to the weather, ON MY OWN. I don’t rely on the government for security, me and my neighbors defend this neighborhood.
Medical: The price of admission in the medical area is getting certified in at least Wilderness First Aid as well as CPR/AED. Why Wilderness First Aid? Because it deals with care in an austere environment with little to no support, just like we envision a Without Rule of Law situation. Even in a short term emergency, you will be on your for for hours and possibly days. Having the basic skills would help. Consider becoming an EMT, EMT Advanced, or Paramedic to enhance your medical skills. I take every medical class that comes up. In fact, Project 223 Preparedness & I will be teaching one next week (July 25th).
Firearms: On the American frontier, every man carried a rifle, pistol, axe, and knife. That seems like a pretty good baseline. The rifle and pistol not only meant security from bandits or hostile forces, but it also meant food self-sufficiency. The knife and axe weren’t only weapons, they were tools for building shelter and starting fires. Every adult needs basic skill in these areas.
Water: You need to develop the skill not only to find water, but how to purify it.
Gardening/Food Preservation: In the classic text Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond posited that the one factor that led to societies rising was the ability to produce and then store food. Not only do you need to be able to grow food, you need to know how to store and preserve it. Learn about growing food, canning food, and dehydrating food.
Swimming: Yes, you know I was going to go here. I know it’s way more fun to go the range and run all kinds of drills, but the odds of you falling into or having to cross water are way higher. As we saw very recently, floods can happen rapidly. The ability to swim can be the difference between life and death.
Fieldcraft: The ability to move quietly and navigate in the wild is a vital skill to develop. It takes practice, but you can indeed learn. I offer this class not just here, but I also teach wilderness navigation at one of the largest guide schools in the west.
Hunting/Fishing: As recently as the 50s, nearly every American man knew how to fish and hunt. Fishing and hunting are what allowed society to be built. We subsisted on it for thousands of years. Knowing the habits and habitats of the various types of game and fish in your area is absolutely required for long term survival. Remember that hunting began with spears and bows so don’t feel tied to spending precious ammunition. Also, understanding trapping is a good idea. The ability to process game on your own is vital as well. I’m always surprised at the number of hunters who can’t process their own game.
Self-Defense: You need to develop at least basic skill in unarmed self-defense, ground fighting, and using knives & sticks to defend yourself. You can learn all this in my Combatives Weekend Course.
These few skills are the price of admission. Once you’ve developed these to a intermediate understanding, then you can begin to work on other, more advanced skills. Right now, I’m working on learning how to use a sawmill and build things. The very nice new stage at Camp Ponderosa was built by Yogi and I.
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As a lifelong hunter I too am astounded by the amount of people that cannot process their own harvest. Same with fishing. Yes it’s more work and time but its a vital skill. There’s a quote that I can’t remember exactly but it goes something to the effect of “Processing all mammals is very similar, if you can clean a squirrel you can clean a deer, if you can clean a deer you can clean an elephant.”
Hunting is also an amazing opportunity to train a ton of skills outside of the square range. You should think of a hunting trip as a FTX. Hunting can tie some many things together: Maps and land nav to get where you’re going, light and noise discipline, ranging targets, non-verbal comms, radios, use of camo and concealment, the list goes on and on for skills you can be practicing during hunting season! I’ve been pondering writing this into something more like an article. So many people want to learn stuff like this and hunting is a perfect way to get real world experience, plus you get astounding food from it!
“Not all hunters make the grade, the woods are fill of ditherers in red jackets. But the really expert hunter/rifleman is a very good man to have on your side” – Jeff Cooper
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Ironically, I was going to write about hunting, even without ammunition, as a training tool.
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