Willing to leave it all behind.

[jcullen24]

@Mazuki,
Get the job, get the money, and then start reading on survivalist topics.
Read up on foraging, what plants are native to your area?
You need money for preperation and supplies.
Start a plan, like in 5 years I want to go some where.
Take small camping trips into the wild. Like a weekend 2 day trip, then you can take a 2 vacation into a deeper wood trip.
The small trips will be the learning experience to prepare you.
Train yourself.

[karatediver]

This and the other topic where an individual wrote about wanting to withdraw from the world into the woods has me thinking.

There hasn't been a day that goes by that I haven't often thought of doing the same myself. It is so tempting to want to escape. The world is a mess and all seems without hope. But at this same time I've been reading about George Washington this week and seen the challenges that he and other faced during a critical time in U.S. history. He wanted nothing more than to retreat to his farm at Mt. Vernon and withdraw from the world. His writings are repleat with longing to do just that. But instead he stood up and did the hard stuff to try and make his nation, and in the end, the world a better place. As much as I would like to retreat into the woods I believe I must follow the example of Washington and do what I can to make the world a better place, if even that means doing it in a much smaller, less noticeable way.

That doesn't mean that I don't want to spend time in the woods, prepare for bad times ahead, or improve my skills. Those things are important also but I have a duty to try and stand up and make things better, if only in my own community. Otherwise I do not think I would be living up to the legacy left to me by Washington and generations of those who sacrificed their fortunes, their futures, and even their lives to give me so many opportunities.

My grandparents did not shrink in the face of Axis aggression. To them it must have looked like the whole world was coming apart. Yet they persevered and a brighter tomorrow did come. I cannot let them down.

[Rick]

Good post, KD. Every generation faces their challenges. Every generation believes the world is going to heck in a hand basket. Every generation wonders what happened to the kids.

[Winnie]

I have 2 words. National Service. This lad is of the age where he has to do his. He could get away to the wilderness for free AND learn Survival skills! Remember NCO had to do his then went on to college??

[karatediver]

I have 2 words. National Service. This lad is of the age where he has to do his. He could get away to the wilderness for free AND learn Survival skills! Remember NCO had to do his then went on to college??

That's probably not a bad idea. Get skills, pay, and time to figure out what you want to do in the future. More than a few young men (and women) have benefited from that path. I think Robert Hienlen was on to something with his book Starship Troopers. He makes a compelling argument in that book of the benefits of national service. For the record, the book is nothing like the movie.

[Sarge47]

That's probably not a bad idea. Get skills, pay, and time to figure out what you want to do in the future. More than a few young men (and women) have benefited from that path. I think Eric Hienlen was on to something with his book Starship Troopers. He makes a compelling argument in that book of the benefits of national service. For the record, the book is nothing like the movie.

Sorry, Kyrat, that's ROBERT A. Heinlein, and he was a naval officer, BTW. I used to follow his books faithfully waaayy back in high school.

For a great read by him on survival, read "Tunnel in the Sky!" This is from the inside front flap: "It was just a test . . .
But something had gone wrong. Terribly wrong. What was to have been a standard ten-day survival test had suddenly become an indefinite life-or-death nightmare.
Now they were stranded somewhere in the universe, beyond contact with Earth . . . at the other end of a tunnel in the sky. This small group of young men and women, divested of all civilized luxuries and laws, were being forced to forge a future of their own . . . a strange future in a strange land where sometimes not even the fittest could survive!"

Here's the book: http://www.amazon.com/Tunnel-Sky-Rob...nel+in+the+Sky

And here's more info on the Author: http://www.amazon.com/wiki/Robert_A....tt_at_bio_wiki

Enjoy.

[karatediver]

You are absolutely right and I've fixed my original post. I was typing fast and got Robert Heinlein and Eric Haney somehow messed together in my mind. Eric Haney wrote Inside Delta Force. I read both in the same month which is probably why I got them mixed in my head this morning! I also enjoyed Robert Heinlein's book Sixth Column. Sixth Column was kind of like a Sci Fi version of Red Dawn. Good stuff!

[Wildthang]

I'll put this as simply as I can, If you dont like society, just wait until the wilderness gets done with you! If you have no skills, the wilderness will devour you!

[letslearntogether47]

Just had a Van Halen flash back.

"Leave it all behind.......... So baby dry your eyes........ Save all the tears you've cried Oh, that's what dreams are made of.
'Cause we belong in a world that that must be strong Oh, that's what dreams are made of..........."

Sorry.

[Wildthang]

Just had a Van Halen flash back.

"Leave it all behind.......... So baby dry your eyes........ Save all the tears you've cried Oh, that's what dreams are made of.
'Cause we belong in a world that that must be strong Oh, that's what dreams are made of..........."

Sorry.

One of my favorite songs is Fred Bear by Nugent!

[jcullen24]

As everyone else posted, and I realized the summary of my post was, Join the Military.
You will achieve everything I was advocating earlier. The Survival Training, the money for survival gear etc.

But that's what you're running from isn't it? I just realized, you've finished school. You're about to do your mandatory military service.
Don't worry, it's not hard, I did some cross training in Germany and met some Belgian and Norwegan soldiers. They were pretty relaxed.
Basic training will be sort of tough, but remember, it's only a short time, and it's over. Instead of running from Military Service, try and get the most from it. Learn all you can about outdoor survival. Let the Military train you, and pay you for the priviledge!

[Mischief]

Willing to leave it all behind? My behind likes where it is.

[kyratshooter]

Do you really think this guy would pass the psych exam for the NS or military of any of the western nations?

They have gotten pretty picky about what they accept these days.

In the old drafted army they would have taken him in a split second and within half a day he would have loved society with all its ills and would have given anything to be back in it!

[canid]

I don't know about how picky they've gotten; at least here in the states. They don't seem to want the guys who are too transparent about, say, a persistent desire to try killing people just because they've always wondered what it would be like, but then I know a guy who enlisted while under the influence of a bottle or so of robitussin. I also have a family member who was in the Navy for a couple months before they realized she was schizophrenic.

In the spirit of fairness, my Army recruiter was very honest and upfront with me and helped me come to the conclusion that I might not be up to the challenge physically and ultimately that I should not take the risk.

[Rick]

I went to school with more than one guy that volunteered before a judge. I think all but one of them turned out to be good, productive men. That option isn't there today. It's a shame, too.

[LowKey]

But is our military here still taking kids? I know of at least one who was deferred.
Mustered up, sworn in, sold their car, quit their job, showed up for the bus and was told, "not today."

I think the trouble is there are really no more frontiers to conquer. Sure I suppose you could go to Alaska and freeze your butt off if you want true wilderness but there is no where left to go. A kid like this might have emigrated when America was young, with nothing but the clothes on his back, to either make his way or not. But even then, it was something to run to, not away from.

[BENESSE]

Do you really think this guy would pass the psych exam for the NS or military of any of the western nations?

They have gotten pretty picky about what they accept these days.

Most European countries (Western and non) have a mandatory peace-time draft. A guy would need to show a major (physical/mental) deficiency to be excused. Just being a weezle is not enough.

I happen to agree with this approach, btw.

[JPGreco]

I don't know about how picky they've gotten; at least here in the states. They don't seem to want the guys who are too transparent about, say, a persistent desire to try killing people just because they've always wondered what it would be like, but then I know a guy who enlisted while under the influence of a bottle or so of robitussin. I also have a family member who was in the Navy for a couple months before they realized she was schizophrenic.

In the spirit of fairness, my Army recruiter was very honest and upfront with me and helped me come to the conclusion that I might not be up to the challenge physically and ultimately that I should not take the risk.

My grandfather was in the Navy and couldn't swim.

[Rick]

Excuse me but I think the whole objective in the Navy is to not have to swim.

[JPGreco]

I guess it would depend on the job. I would agree that swimming against ones will is never a good thing out at sea... lol

It is true though. Two of my grandfather's friends basically dragged him across the pool. There were so many people there that nobody could tell. You passed if you made it to the other side. His ship never ended up in trouble but they did sink an enemy sub, he did send some of our enemies swimming