Basic skills and confidence

For all of nature's wonder and beauty, it is also hostile and unpredictable.

- Liam Neeson -

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Over the years, I've spent a lot of time in hostile environments and places where comfort and easy living doesn't come easy at all.

What makes a hostile environment?

A warzone certainly, the wilderness where the elements are harsh or extreme, survival situations, areas where deadly animals exist, places where civil unrest occurs and general society can be also: Shootings, muggings and assaults, carjackings, home-invasions and other such things can make what should be a safe environment feel unsafe and hostile.

Not too long ago I was in a hostile environment...not a warzone, but somewhere in which living didn't come easily and one had to work at it, take a more active role in providing even the most basic survival needs such as shelter, warmth, water and food. I loved it!

I love challenges like that and situations in which I need to draw on my bushcraft skills and I always feel more confident as a human and a man through being responsible for nothing but my own life, that of those around me, and the mission, reason or purpose I'm there for in the first place; it's a cool feeling to use skills I've worked hard to gain. On this particular occasion we had basic supplies, we took them as part of our loadout, but we had to carry everything we needed in a single vehicle and then hike it up to the location we called home for several days; that meant the need for careful packing and keeping things light...and that many creature comforts were left behind.

I've always left out things that I really wanted in preference to things I might need, survival takes priority over comfort.

General equipment, and that needed for the task, plus spares, (one is none, two is one), first aid/medical supplies, communications, navigation and maps, batteries and water and food always take priority over comfort items. This means that food is always basic and that each thing we take has a purpose, a dual/multiple-purpose if possible. No luxuries...mostly.

The trip I went on wasn't the most extreme I've done but we had to prioritise heavy rifle-systems and ammunition over things like Twinkies, gourmet foods and soft bedding.

Trust me, there's nothing quite like the taste of a Twinkie or other such snack when one is roughing it in the dirt. So rewarding.

We took what we needed and whilst we had our basic needs covered there was nothing of a luxurious nature. Basic food, dehydrated hiking foods and MRE's, fresh water, a little powdered coffee and some dark chocolate was about it. We slept on thin hiking bedrolls under a makeshift shelter and had to be content with that basic existence. We were...content.

I don't mind existing, subsisting, in that way, I mean basically, because I know at some point in the future I'll be back to civilisation and drinking better coffee, eating better food and living far more easily. Having the chance to live simply, to work for life a little harder, meaning actively applying my mind and physical being towards sustaining my life be it making fire, collecting water, creating shelter and other requirements, helps me respect and value how easy life can be when in civilisation...but also makes me feel concern for those who have lost, or never had, the skills to be self reliant.

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Confidence should never be confused with arrogance, and confidence should never spill over to over-confidence, because down that path lays disaster.

So many people simply have no skills beyond that which our easy-living society gives them. Turning on taps, lights and air conditioner switches aren't skills though and I think a person should work on building a little more self reliance even if that is as simple as learning some basic first aid skills, disaster management, planning for when things go wrong, and other such monumentally easy things to learn. Being a little more confident in the things that provide basic human needs and generally more self reliance can go a long way towards making a person's life safer and more enjoyable. One never knows when such skills may be needed.