Evaluating My Post SHTF Skills

[Drone 7 of lots more]

So what would be your optimum post-SHTF situation, and how come you're not living there now?

[Termite]

What can I do to earn my keep?

I can be your medical go-to guy. That's right, a SHTF Medic.

Medical skills will be a valuable commodity if the S ever does HTF. Accidents and trauma emergencies will be much more common. That's something that does fall within my area of interest/ability.

I started by taking a Nurse's Aid course, went from there to EMT-Basic, which gave me the skills to save your life using primitive tools, and am now working toward full Paramedic credentials. I don't plan on working in this field, beyond what is required to keep current licensure, but I DO want the skills, should the unthinkable ever happen.

Excellent start. Doctors/PAs/NPs, medics, RNs, dentists are all good.

If we're talking really serious SHTF, maybe even a mild case of TEOTWAWKI, something a lot of people don't think about are the traditional highly skilled trades. Machinists, masons, carpenters(think journeyman/master level here, ie Norm Abram, NOT Pedro the wetback), diesel and gasoline engine mechanics, electricians, etc.

[Combat Controller]

So what would be your optimum post-SHTF situation, and how come you're not living there now?

Who me? I don't live with my parents....

[postmanone]

If we're talking really serious SHTF, maybe even a mild case of TEOTWAWKI, something a lot of people don't think about are the traditional highly skilled trades. Machinists, masons, carpenters(think journeyman/master level here, ie Norm Abram, NOT Pedro the wetback), diesel and gasoline engine mechanics, electricians, etc.---Termite

I agree 100%. The labor value will be turned upside down. How many Wall Street brokers know how to do any of the above, some might but a very low %. In fact that is my plan when I retire from my present job in December of this year. Go back to school to get some practical education in engine machanics and I want to get certified in solar tech work too. It is odd but this Depression could be a good thing in the long run. People are saving more, buying value not just bling, families are coming together. And in getting other work skills will go a long way no matter what the hell happens.

[Les Nessman]

It is odd but this Depression could be a good thing in the long run.

I know what you mean, and agree to some extent, but...
This is exactly what our current 'leaders' want you to think.
Now, curtailing the ongoing bling race is good, IMO, but we have to be careful. People sometimes get caught up in a romantic mindset of idyllic Days of Yore. They forget that when we are too busy just struggling to survive that a lot of beneficial new ideas, inventions and innovation are slowed down or killed.
We are in the process of being told that we must have a lower standard of living, and that this is a Good Thing. It is not. Somehow, somewhere the rest of the world will move on and leave us in the dust.
I agree that honing our SHTF skills is prudent, but it is just as important to fight to stop the SHTF before it happens. Especially the man-made, gov't endorsed SHTF that is on the horizon.

[blackeagle603]

This year's tomatoes and canning of sauce are a qualified success.

Pumpkin and pickling cukes are looking good so far. We'll see how they pan out.

Carboys are here now for to make first rudimentary effort with home wine/cider making.

[Cybrludite]

Then there's this classic bit of wisdom on post-crash skills... (Warning: Racy language in the punchline)

[Drone 7 of lots more]

So what would be your optimum post-SHTF situation, and how come you're not living there now?

Who me? I don't live with my parents....

Methinks Mel Tappan made a good deal of sense. To be part of an existing community as a valued member before SHTF/TEOTWAWKI makes more sense than to load up and move out afterwards, looking for love in all the wrong places. The sort of places that would be attractive are likely to take a pretty dim view of well-armed lone wolf types cruising over the horizon.

For all the romance invested in the life and times of Jim Bridger and his ilk, they did tend to die off young and for the most part anonymously.

[blackeagle603]

re: family relationships and community

Yes, to borrow from Ol' Sol, "...a cord of three strands is not easily broken" and "better a friend who is near in time of trouble than a brother far away."