A Bear in the Woods' Blog

Well, here's my two cents...

This blog is a transfer of my Yahoo 360 blog which is shutting down in July of 2009 (Yahoo 360 is shutting down, that is). So I had been looking for a new home with similar convenient blogging features. Unlike my other more general topic blogs, this blog will focus on the topic of emergency preparedness, wilderness survival and practical outdoor equipment and survival gear.

I have been posting product reviews for many years at some of my favourite shopping websites, under the same name "A Bear in the Woods". I have only been reviewing products that I have personal knowledge of or expertise in. From all accounts, I appear to be a popular reviewer (in that readers have found that what I contribute was "helpful") and I've even received some "fan mail"... LOL. Also, under a different alias, I had been occasionally contributing to certain "survival" and "gear" oriented online forums, and again, people seemed to have responded positively to my product reviews or how-to articles. So encouraged by this, I just decided to start writing my own blog on these topics to see where it may go. And that's why I'm here. Rather than write on other people's forums, product pages, and journals, I intend to write my own blog here.

From an early age, I seem to have spent most of my life "preparing", for what, I don't know. But I think the idea got into my head somehow around age 7 that I must prepare myself for whatever happens (get ready to strike out on my own). I was a Boy Scout where I initially learned many practical skills. I've had a keen interest in wilderness survival, emergency medicine, applied science and civil engineering for most of my academic life. I served honourably as an MP in the U.S. Army, traveled to many "interesting" places, and gained two certs from survival schools (jungle and northern warfare). Afterwards, I became an EMT around this time and as I transitioned into an Emergency Response Team member for a private company, I accumulated many diverse, interesting and useful licenses and certifications (i.e. heavy urban search and rescue, fire fighting, haz mat technician, etc.) which made me a handy fellow to have around in an emergency.

I'm kind of a jack-of-all-trades. I don't claim to be an expert. I'm just a regular dude whose life experiences led me to accumulate some practical knowledge and develop personal opinions about what tends to work and what doesn't. I'm the type of person who appreciates the lessons learned from mistakes. Also, I'll say up front, my methods may not be for you. All people have a different drive to survive, threshhold for pain, and willingness to be proactive. Perhaps you live where there is realistically not much of a threat, or have more resources near you, or keeping things lightweight, compact and mobile are not an issue for you. I tend to think in terms of myself (alone), and I have developed my plan around myself and perhaps 2 other people. You may have a larger family, or may plan to depend on the government or community to provide, or perhaps your thing is to just trust in your God. I say with all sincerity, more power to you, and good luck.

I dislike the title "survivalist" because it now implies a certain paranoid political leaning which I have no affiliation with or even think of much (except as future "competitors"). I am only a survivalist to the extent that I plan to be one of the people who survive. (period) Whether it's a natural disaster, civil unrest, nuclear war or post-whatever war, or perhaps the breakdown in society as climates change and resources become more scarce.

My unofficial motto, derived from the Army Quartermaster Corps is "I got mine". That is not to say that I will not extend a hand to help someone else. On the contrary, I believe that in general, humans are social animals and survival is enhanced by banding together in small like-minded groups for mutual defense, care when injured, and division of labour. I learned firsthand that 3 to 7, motivated, well-trained people can accomplish incredible things together.

In future posts, I plan to mention the basics (of preparedness), supplies, how to store them, how/when to use them, personal gear, and lots of field-tested techniques for doing stuff, like lighting a fire to finding, foraging, building a shelter, land navigation, perhaps later even passive defensive techniques and self-defense (though I don't intend this to be that kind of blog).