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Flexibility and resilience.

Learn to grow food and hunt. First aid skills are important, but so is learning to take your time, and work/move deliberately. Don't waste movements, and don't waste time. Most accidents are avoidable if your situational awareness is honed. Advance planning is an often overlooked skill. Plan on not knowing what to do at some point. Most have the idea that they can do everything alone in a post shtf situation, and are often wrong.
 
Have a plan, Then put that plan into play and practice it.. Learn from it what works and what doesn't. A good place to start is can you provide food, shelter, fire for yourself.. I am by no means an expert but lighting a fire without matches is an example I will use. When I first went about it the bow drill was going to be my goto fire making. Well its allot harder than it looks. After many attempts I now use Flint and steel. It works great. I also love an air piston. Books are great for ideas and how to bus 95% useless if not tried and practiced.
 
Pick a day off from work and go to your electrical panel. Throw circuit breaker to OFF except the fridge circuit (for obvious reason).. Leave it there all day and night. Can you get through the entire day/night easily or not? The next day after you throw all the circuits back on, start making notes about things that you found significant, things you noticed that were different, etc. How did you cook your meals? (Remember, fridge is technically off limits). Did you have hot water? Did you need hot water? What did you struggle with? How did the family cope? This is where you get your initial perspective and begin to cultivate your mindset. Oh yeah, if you want to go commado, throw your cell phones in the fridge for the entire time.

I've been considering doing that. It should be quite an eye-opener.

We have a hand pump on our well, so we'd still have water to cook with, and flush the toilet. Not sure if I have any fuel for the kerosene lanterns...

Like most of you, I've been thinking about this stuff for awhile. I probably got serious about it after reading Forstchen's "One Second After".

I'm still not really "ready". But I've made a good start. Funny, how Life gets in the way of our plans.

Regarding well(s): Have your well set up so that if you are without electricity, you can still get water by using a hand pump. Get two or three extra hand pumps, so when one breaks you have a replacement - plus spare parts. Water is life.

Regarding defense of hearth, home, and supplies: Fighting might become necessary, so do make plans - and become proficient with your weapons. But a lot of the conversations I come across (regarding a potential breakdown of society) are only focused on killing thieves & raiders. Depending on where you live, that might become a huge problem - but I think it's much more likely (where I live) that we will all become much more dependent upon each other. Not only for defense, but for all the things we take for granted now.

Medical and dental skills, farming and carpentry, cooking, soap-making, animal husbandry... the list is as long as human history. We need each other, and if a collapse does come, we will need to identify and work with people who have important skill sets.

Of all the preps we could be doing, identifying skillsets and organizing with neighbors is pretty close to the top of the list.

To my Christian brothers and sisters: I believe we are nearing the return of the Lord. Our very first priority is to be ready to meet him.

Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

I really appreciate and enjoy you all here on NWFA.
 
Here is something to try, go camping and see what you forgot (ie what you need from others) and what you brought too much of or didn't need(ie trade goods). Do this a bunch in different weathers and do your best to stay warm, dry, fed and alive.
 
Well let's see..., what do you do every day? Eat, sleep, take a dump. So I would guess being able to plant/grow your own food, kill and butcher your own food and having tools you know how to use to do that might be high on the list. What is edible in your area? Dandelions were canned for sale not that long ago and are an excellent spring tonic. Maybe plant some fruit trees too.

Sleep means shelter, so knowing how to build a lean to, on up to a log cabin or other shelter might be worth knowing. I would include building a fire (Harbor Freight magnesium and striker for a start, road flares work wonderfully as well) right up there too. No matter what, a fire usually makes you feel better. Unless you are on fire of course, in that case fire makes things worse.

Unless you are traveling and just going in the woods and walking away, sanitation might be worth learning. You know, like not dumping in your drinking water, how to get potable water, staying clean, making soap.

I would add being able to defend yourself would rank high on the list unless you expect your overlords and slave masters to protect you. That means being aware of what is going on, being armed and WILLING to defend yourself. If someone else's life is more important to you than your own, DO NOT have a gun! That just arms the criminal who will take it away from you. Maybe take some self defense classes, kick, scream, punch, etc.

What to do if someone gets hurt or sick ranks right up there too. In the good old days (neither old nor good) there was a saying, "the poor had two doctors, doctor right leg and doctor left leg". Meaning if you couldn't walk away from it it was likely to kill you. So yeah, a first aid class and a WELL equipped doctor's bag, and the knowledge to use it, will be very, very important! Heck, it is now!

How to make cloth, sew (yes, Dan'l Boone, Davy Crocket, etc. had a sewing kit with them at all times!), make shoes (what, you were going to go to the burned out husk of a Wallie and get new ones?! See: LA riots), even hat making is a skill! Tan and sew leather and fur is an art, no better time to learn than now.
 
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Medical skills without everyday technology. Thirty five years ago I became an RN. Registered nurse. The license served me very well. Job mobility. No riches but great satisfaction. From that primitive medicine learning know-how geared towards emergency interventions.

That being said the most important thing is to be able to continue your skills. Time and tide take their toll. One forgets or becomes stale unless refresher classes are conducted. Much like handgun training in that regard. You must practice your skills, be what they may be.

Older coots like me may surprise themselves with the lifetime learned numerous job skills. There are many things we can do better than a very young adult just starting out in life. The skills list can be quite extensive, it is just that we old ones have forgotten we know it.
 
Great replies!

Everything seems to be covered so far.

One other thing, keep a TUB full of dryer lint. The best fire starter out there, without having to spend extra money.

I keep plenty of it and use it when camping with my boys.

The MOST important, aside from everything else mentioned in the thread, is keeping in decent or good physical health.

I have talked to so many who say they are prepared, but are extremely over weight.

I am 5'10" and weigh 245lbs. I am considered over weight. I would be in optimal physical shape if I only weighed 210lbs. But......... I can still run a mile in the high 6 minutes. Just keep in shape the best you can while reading all the earlier produce survival books you can, and practicing what you can.
 
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Being handy.

Knowing tons about just about everything but perhaps never mastering anything.

Learn as much as you can about anything.

Try.

Anything I've never done and get the opportunity to do, I'll try to do it, usually I get good results.
 
Being able to fix just about anything is a great skill.. Out of necessity growing up we fixed it if it broke. There was no just toss it in the trash or call someone to fix it. We would take it apart and figure it out most of the time. Tinkering on broken stuff is kinda fun. lots of times it's something pretty easy. Framed houses right out of school so that skill comes it very handy.
 
Great replies!

Everything seems to be covered so far.

One other thing, keep a TUB full of dryer lint. The best fire starter out there, without having to spend extra money.

I keep plenty of it and use it when camping with my boys.

The MOST important, aside from everything else mentioned in the thread, is keeping in decent or good physical health.

I have talked to so many who say they are prepared, but are extremely over weight.

I am 5'10" and weigh 245lbs. I am considered over weight. I would be in optimal physical shape if I only weighed 210lbs. But......... I can still run a mile in the high 6 minutes. Just keep in shape the best you can while reading all the earlier produce survival books you can, and practicing what you can.

- Preston

You are in better shape than me. I'm doing a couple of miles in 24 and change. I never got below 7 min miles in the Corps. Keep that going as long as you can.
 
Perhaps lacking specific advice, but I do like this quote;

"...A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, con 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 Heinlein, Time Enough for Love
 
Regarding medical training I'd look for a Wilderness First Responder / First Aid course. If you get EMT qualified then I'd go with a Wilderness EMT course.

Paramedic training won't be the best bang for the buck in an unsupported situation. Paramedics rely upon the EMTs and Trauma Docs. They are a level in a pyramid and their training is designed to work within those guidelines. They have drugs, supplies, and tools you probably won't have access to so it's irrelevant to your needs.

Wilderness training is predicated on you being unsupported and under supplied. More improvisation and how to deal with the situation unsupported by normal medical staff in an EMS setting.

After mastering those primary skills consider an "advanced" course with someone like The Patriot Nurse. Her courses are broader than trauma and are designed for SHTF unsupported situations. Medical Preparedness Education
 
Know how to improvise, know how to remain collected and composed under pressure, be flexible and have good people and negotiating skills.

Aside from nuts and bots hard skills like building, and first aid. Know your psychology and what you do best, and understand what you do not do well. Then remember these things.
 

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