Training for the Future

If you've been a prepper for any length of time, you'll have at least thought about getting training in one field or the other. Basic first aid, field-craft, marksmanship, and food storage are all valuable skills that we commonly seek training in.

The question for today is “What are you doing to train other people?” We all have skills of various kinds and at various levels, so there is always room to teach as well as learn. This was brought to mind recently at work when my boss fell down some stairs and broke his ankle. Not a major crisis, but since he and I are the only ones who know how to do most of the less-mundane tasks around here, guess who got saddled with doing all of them? I have a couple of co-workers, but they are new and haven't seen some of the problems that I have. They're younger than my son, so I have a lot more experience troubleshooting and fixing problems as they arise, and they're learning things at a decent rate. They also have young families that take up a lot more time than my empty nest, so they're not available to work the hours that I am. The next few months are going to be interesting.

Training others is essential for a few reasons.

Incapacitation

Like my boss, sometimes people get injured. What are you going to do if your cook/mechanic/guard/gardener gets injured or sick? If they haven't passed on some of their skills, life will be a lot more difficult.

Future Generations

I have grandkids that I want to see grow up and become useful, happy people. Teaching children that they can do things and change things is a great way to prevent the victim mentality that has infected so many of our youth. If you've been reading our blog for a while, you'll know that I tend to take a long-term approach to prepping. I want to see my family get through bad times as best they can, and that means prepping them as much as prepping for them.

This is also the only way to prevent the loss of knowledge if things go Dark Ages-style wrong.

Distance

Sometimes our tribes get scattered. People move around and may not be close enough to take advantage of the skills and tools you've accumulated; teaching them how to be more self-sufficient will make their lives easier and may provide you a resource to call upon if you're traveling or caught in a disaster away from your normal area.

Efficiency

Having two or more people trained to do a task usually means that the job can get done faster. Use your specialists for the tough jobs, and have them train people to be able to take care of the lesser jobs. Having run into college graduates who can't identify a Phillips-head screwdriver, this is a no-brainer for me; having a knowledgeable “gopher” handy will save a lot of trips to the tool box and thus a lot of time.

Goodwill

Think back to when you were in school: did you have good teachers who went out of their way to teach you something? If you did, you will remember them for the rest of your life. Teaching and training people is an excellent way to generate goodwill among groups, and can open doors to opportunities that you may not have seen before. Mutual aid in time of crisis is based on goodwill and common skills, so you can increase your options by spreading the wealth of knowledge that you hold.

Before you start thinking that you're lacking any useful skills, please go read one of my earliest posts. No one who isn't evil is worthless. You have skills, but you might have to stretch your imagination a bit to figure out how they can be used in a crisis. You can also get training in other skills, which you can bring back to your tribe and pass on to others.