Ep. 70: Survival 101

Survival specialist David “Hutch” Hutchinson is a retired British RAF officer and combat survival instructor who has a passion for sharing what he has learned with others.

If you would like to learn more about survival from Hutch, let us know in the comments and make sure to subscribe to the Silvercore newsletter at https://silvercore.ca

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it am joined by a retired RAF officer
who among other things conducted

combat survival and rescue training.

After 23 years with the RAF, he retired
and spent 10 years in Western Canada

as a project manager, supporting
NATO Canadian and Australian defense

operations in Afghanistan, where he
held CSUs top secret security clearance.

I'd like to welcome to the
Silvercore Podcast, David

Hutchinson, or as I know him, Hutch.

Hi

Travis.

I am excited to be
speaking with you today.

This all happened from a, I guess,
a meeting that a past silver Corp

outreach coordinator, Nicholas Wong,
who hasn't worked at silver court

for some time, but it's still always
thinking about myself in the company.

And he says, Travis,
you got to talk to huts.

He's got binders of information
that he's been collecting and

co-leading, and putting together on
his thoughts and ideas on tactics

and survival and preparedness that.

Would likely be of interest to
the silver Corp club members.

So figured we'd sit, spend some time
today talking a little bit about that.

And, um, if the podcast listeners in
the club members say, yeah, that's

something I want to hear about then,
uh, we can explore going further

and looking at what you have.

Cause you've, you've put everything
together in a way that a British officer

would in a very well meticulously,
organized and put together fashion, which

would make an interesting training program
essentially for, for somebody interested

in, in preparedness and, and survive.

Right.

So before we get into that, I
kind of want to know a little bit

about you and your background.

So you grew up in the UK and
you always said, Hey, I want

to, I want to join the RAF.

Or how did that work?

No,

I actually grew up on
a, on a market guard.

My father was a, um, ran his own
horticultural business and I seen,

it seemed the obvious choice that I
would as the youngest child, the only

son would take the business on, but
my father realized my heart wasn't

in working the land in that way.

Uh, and he never pushed me
and, uh, I wanted to travel.

I wanted to see the world.

So once I'd finished my education, I
decided I was going to join the air force.

Okay.

So how old were you when
he joined the air force?

19.

So he just jumped right into it.

Yeah.

And what.

You, you did flying with the air force.

Actually, I

joined as a technician and realized
that wasn't for me, it was a,

it was not the way I was wired.

I was in the, I was a
square peg in a round hole.

Yeah.

But I wanted to, uh, I
knew I liked the air force.

I was enjoying the lifestyle and I, uh,
cross trained to become an aircraft.

I became an air load master
on heavy lift aircraft.

So initially on the sea, one 30, the
Herc Herc, then Nikki bird, fat Albert.

I did that for, for a number of years.

And then I went into and flew other,
other heavy lift aircraft as well, all

10, 11 try styles and things like that.

And so you were also, I think
you were saying you did some

flying in Canada as well.

A

lot.

So I, I was fortunate.

One of the big advantages of being
on long range transport aircraft is

that you get to travel the world.

The queen pays for you to travel around
the world and see different places.

And some places I thought I liked
this place and other places I thought

I never want to come here again,
but they all added to my experience.

And my knowledge in Canada was somewhere.

I came to reasonably regularly,
both from east coast, right

across to the west coast.

And I first visited.

Here in BC in 1990 and said,
I'm going to live here one day.

I knew it was going to happen
off your very first visit.

The

first visit was, it was
a combination of things.

There's actually a guy I'd been
through flying training with, and

we were sat at Granville island.

For those of you as people, you know,
it sat there having a beer and he said,

you're deep in thought, what's going on?

And I said, I'm going
to live here one day.

And he said, what are you talking about?

These is, this was just
another night stop.

Or we were here for a few days.

I said, this has got the right
combination of what I want in life.

It's got an outdoor lifestyle.

We'd been deceived David Bowie
concert the night before we'd

been out with some great meals.

We'd been around Stanley park.

We'd been up grass mountain.

I said, this has got a good combination.

This is a suitable place for me
to come with my, with my family.

So at that point you just looked at it
and said, Hey, this is what I want to do.

And you just started what?

Putting.

Putting things in motion from there,
it just kind of sat in the back of your

head is saying, well, it started as
a, as it's just an idea, but that

was 12 years before I actually came.

And I really ramped the F the
efforts up back in sort of 98, 99.

Yeah.

That's when I really started attending
fairs and doing lots of research.

And where was I going to be?

What was I going to be doing?

What w what were my transferable skills?

Right.

Okay.

So you, I mean, like you, you could
have stayed longer than the 23 years.

Yeah.

Um, I, I, my, my, uh, my bosses,
and even like colleagues as to like,

you're crazy, why are you leaving
you in a very good well-paid job?

And you you've got regression.

You can, can keep going
up through the ranks.

And, uh, but I, now, I, I decided
I wanted to live in Canada.

You got

to follow your heart.

Absolutely.

I mean, you've got one life to live.

And when you look back, I don't think
you want to look back and say, man, I

should've, or I could've, or if only.

You really got to just jump on those
opportunities when you see them.

Yeah.

So I, and I was fortunate that I
had a very supportive wife, I should

say my late wife, she passed away
back in 2009 from cancer, but she

and my two daughters were, yeah.

Okay.

Let's go and do it.

They came and visited on
a couple of vacations and

thought, wow, this'll be fun.

And, uh, yeah.

Um,

w what a world of a difference it
makes when you've got a support

network around you that can help
you see those goals forward.

It was, it was also, it was also
challenging because in many ways I

was leaving my support network that
existed in the UK, but my direct

support network, my family unit, we
were all in support of what we did.

Right.

So did you have many acquaintances or
friends or family or anyone in Canada

or was this just jump in and go?

I

had on second cousin in, over
on the island, but I, I went

to Alberto initially six years.

I knew other people in Ontario, I had
knew a few people and acquaintances and

some ex-military guys as well that I knew.

So I had a couple, but nothing
that was near to where I was

going to be, where I ended up, but

I came.

So when, when you take a look at
the, uh, the survival training within

the, um, uh, ref there, what, what
sort of scope do that look like?

What did, what did you do with that?

Well, it's a prerequisite.

I was, I held a position as a train, the
trainer, the training officer Cranwell for

air crew training, M and air crew training
for a number of years at the Royal

air force college, that RAF Cranwell.

And in that job, We, uh, we're required.

We train all the air crew in survival.

They have certain check boxes.

They have to do the military.

You're continually chasing,
keeping qualified and doing things.

That's the way it works, whatever
your skill sets are, you need

to do, but they have basic
training, basic survival training.

And then there's further advanced
courses that you can do, whether

it goes into desert survival or
winter survival or jungle survival.

And I did the combat survival
rescue officers course, some of

your listeners will be aware of.

So what, what would that entail?

Uh, was a couple of weeks that, uh, when I
was at, I did it, it's the latter, when I

did the combat survival course was in, uh,
it was done at RFC Morgan, which is where

the school of combat survival is now.

Um, it had moved there relatively recently
and I'd done previous training down on.

Down on the south coast of
other parts of the south coast.

Um, and we did, uh, we did
quite a bit of classroom stuff.

And then you do practical stuff, which
you actually taken out to dark mourn.

What you're, what you're standing
up in is what you've got.

And maybe a little, like a little tobacco
tin that was your, your carry pack.

That's what you got.

And then you did that for a
number of days of survival.

And then it inevitably ended, uh, towards
the middle half of the second week, you

ended up with, uh, a period of resistance
to, uh, RQI resistance to interrogation

training, uh, which is obviously not
something that we, that was discussed.

Why the end of something I wouldn't
want to talk about, but I understand

to understand what if you were at risk
of capture, what, what could you expect

and how could you best prepare yourself?

That's a huge psychological
aspect of that as well.

I think that, uh, having the, the mental
fortitude to withstand that, as well as

the, uh, the Headspace, just to be in a
survival mindset, I think is probably,

would I shouldn't presuppose, would
that, would that be the biggest outcome

that you're trying to instill in people,
aside from just physical skills, but

building them that mindset of survival?

Yeah.

The mindset, it comes from deep within
a person, and it's very difficult to

quantify, but there are, they, they
come up with all these statistics of who

survives in a situation and who doesn't.

And there are people that have exceeded
expectations incredibly, and it's just

through the strength of their, their
will and their mind to overcome it,

that they will come out of this for
whatever is, it could be faith based.

It could be a family based, it could be.

Based on so many different things,
but it's something and it's

something that I explained to people.

It overrides everything.

You can learn all these skills.

You can have lots of equipment, you
can prepare lots of different things,

but you have to think about the mental
resilience to be able to cope with what

life throws at you and in a survival
situation, you are dumped into it.

No kidding.

Yeah.

That's I think we were talking before
about a, and I'm not, I don't recall if

this was a study, I read it as a child
and I used to read a lot of popular

mechanics and a lot of the magazines,
everything I had seemed to be from the

forties, fifties, sixties, I didn't
really have too much current literature,

but, um, one of them was talking about
the survival rate of, uh, soldiers.

And I think the situation was that
they were lost at sea and they found

that they had some young soldiers of
young bucks out there that were healthy

and fit and well fed and strong.

And they had some older
soldiers out there as well.

And they figured, well, you know,
the young ones are going to do well.

The old ones will probably die off,
but they found the inverse to be true.

And they found that the younger
ones were dying at a higher rate.

And I think they just use the example
of this one loss at sea thing.

Uh, And the older ones were
persevering because these are people

who've been through world war one.

And this was a world war II
study that they're doing.

These are people who've been there
and done that and have an idea of

what hardship looks like and realize I
can overcome this in essence, I think

it was their mental mindset that was
allowing them to persevere where, um,

those who didn't have that background.

We're flailing.

So like I said, I'm just going back on,
on memory and recollecting that one.

I don't know if it was a story or
as an observation hypothesis or an

actual study, but I remember reading
it as if it was more of a study.

Um, ha is that something that you have
seen or found within the survival training

and there's lots of records
of people who have survived

and they seem to be anomalies.

How did this individual or these two
people, how did they survive when they.

They had the same circumstances put
in front of them as others who died.

And, uh, uh, not that there's a
come to there to the conditions or

to the weather or whatever else.

Right.

And it's, it's such a tough thing to do.

And really, you don't know
that you can do it until you've

been put in that situation.

And I mean, for real, I've
never had to survive for real.

I've had to do it as
close as I want the come.

And, uh, that's part of the thing that
they stress when you go through the

training is that you'll, you'll probably
come closer than you've ever been to

dying in over this period of time, but
you're working in pairs at that time.

And, and to keep an eye on each other
to, to, you know, if things get really

bad at this is a training exercise,
but, um, interestingly, ideally.

I did a winter survival course in
Bavaria and it was minus 20 and that

was out there for a couple of weeks.

And then just a couple of months later,
I was doing my full combat survival

course and it was on dark morning.

It was only minus two.

And I was overconfident because it
wasn't as cold as it had been in Bavaria.

But dark mode is a
challenging environment.

It is wet and I went hypothermic there.

And, uh, yeah, that was, that was tough.

The brain starts shutting down.

You can't think clearly, but the
colleague I was with, um, it was a fast

jet pilot and he, he recognizes me.

I think I said something
to him and realized I was

deteriorating and he's ends.

We need to do something.

So we did.

And, uh, fortunately it was all okay.

Yeah, I've, I've never, you know, I've,
I've been in situations where I've had

to push myself and in situations where
if I didn't push myself through it, then

death would have been the logical outcome.

Uh, but I, I can't say I've ever been in
like a truly sort of survival situation.

Like I can recall.

I think it was 16 years old and
at my wood panel station wagon.

And I mean, that thing was what was it?

A 1978 Pontiac, like
wood panel station wagon.

And I used to pull it out onto a
number 10 highway, which is people

familiar with the lower mainland
would know what I'm talking about.

And if I didn't let the thing warm up
for, let's say 10 minutes as I pulled

out, the thing would just stall and
I'd have to coast and try and get

the thing going and hope the cars go
around me and, you know, Typically

did, but it was not a reliable vehicle.

And somehow I was able to convince a
couple of friends of mine at the time to

go up, uh, past Kamloops, to an area where
my family had a, uh, a cabin up there.

And, uh, I, in my heart of hearts
didn't think that I figured the

vehicle would probably make it up
there, but I didn't think it would

start up again and come back down.

Right.

And this is in the middle of winter is
just after Christmas and, and, uh, never

used snow shoes before at that time.

But the guy at the local, I think
they call it mountain magic.

You guys stayed up late on Christmas
Eve to, uh, so I could get off working,

borrow some snowshoes anyways, totally
under-prepared and get up there.

And this wood panel, station wagon, uh,
leave sleeping bag and everything else

inside the vehicle, just in case, you
know, we needed it to be back there.

We had.

In hindsight, it would have done
us more good if I had that with me,

because, and then we had to go, I
think it was just about 21 K hiking.

Most of it on a old logging
road that wasn't plowed.

And, um, and then some bushwhacking.

And at that time, a, uh, a friend
had provided, uh, satellite

photos and this was like,
state-of-the-art satellite photos.

I was like, ah, this'll be great.

Cause he, he got it
from a logging company.

I had no idea how to
look at these sat photos.

I'd used a map and compass of
the past, but I've tried to just

dead racking off the things.

Anyways, what I, what I didn't realize
was as we walk in on this old logging,

Which wasn't plowed the main road.

It looks just like all the other
side roads when it's snowed on.

Cause they're just as wide and he can't
see which one look, the long story short,

we ended up getting lost and we spent a
long time out there in the, in the cold.

And, uh, I remember, uh, at one point
we've got all of our heavy equipment.

I got my knives and the course,
he got to have some alcohol in the

back and all the necessities when
you're 16 years old going out.

Right.

And, um, the sun was out and it was
minus, I think it was minus five or

so, but when you're, you're going hard
and the sun's out, I mean, I just had

a t-shirt on for, uh, for a lot of it.

And then I remember at one point when,
uh, I figured I'll take a shortcut.

I think I know where this area is.

And it's, it's typically a, a
fly-in or hiking cabin, any.

And I started walking down this steep
embankment and this whole bunch of

deadfall and kept falling in it.

And it was a cold, of
course I'm covered in snow.

When I remember when I came back
up, uh, the sun was going down, but

for me it was getting really dark.

For some reason.

I was like, it feels like it's
getting darker than it should.

And I didn't realize that I'd
stopped shivering a long time ago.

And my body was basically
shutting down and, and, uh,

felt like it was gonna pass out.

And I, uh, told the two
people who I was with.

I said, look it, if I.

Pass out and I'm going to come back up.

The keys are in the top of my pack.

I'm pretty sure.

And I point over, if we just go
that way down this and bank bang

and go through, you're going to
hit a lake and then you can find

the cabin and we'll get over there.

Well, I started, of course I bundled
up and wrapped up and got a few

layers on me, uh, and just kept
myself moving a little bit, extra

warmth, totally changes the mindset.

Um, muscles are all very
fatigued at that point.

Everything's seizing up
in the, uh, hip flexors.

I got to a point where
I felt okay, I'm good.

I'm not going to pass.

So my two friends, I'm like,
okay, scale of one to 10.

How do you feel.

And, uh, I said 10 top of the world
and one year on the brink of death.

Right.

I said right now, I think
I'm a six I've I've.

I've got my energy.

I think I'm good.

I got some fluids and food into me.

I'm starting to warm up a bit.

One friend says, oh four, the
other one says one, like all great.

Anyways, we ended up getting
in, took us about half an hour

to walk this one distance.

When we finally found the
lake, what should've taken us?

Oh, no, it actually took us 45 minutes.

It took us 45 minutes of walk this
distance, which should have taken us.

I don't know, 10 max.

And, uh, I remember my hands
weren't working and I'm trying

to get the, uh, uh, the door open
and the keys weren't working.

Like everything was just like ice Fe.

You got this idea.

You get in the cabin.

Everything's going to be okay.

But it's the same
temperature as it is outside.

We're able to get a fire going
thankfully, and in no time at all,

you know, warming up and the world
is good, but it went from a situation

which could have been pretty bad.

All of our survival gear really to
keep us warm was left in the vehicle.

And it was a good life experience,
but it also, it tends to build

a, um, I guess, a mental mindset
of what you actually can Inder.

And, um, uh, one friend got, uh,
we we're all somewhat hypothermic

and one friend got frostbite.

And, um, but it, it also gives
you some checks and balances from

that ego that says, I'll be fine.

I got this black and white photocopy of
a satellite photo and it's only 21 K.

Um, and that's something that I keep
in the back of my head when I, when I

plan different, uh, Outings or when I
think about, uh, different situations

is, is the whole, what F what do I have
with me that I could use, but as well,

uh, the thought process in planning
anything now, whether it's just going

out on an expedition or just going
out in the wild, or even just going to

the store, I will tend to go through
a mental process of, um, of planning.

Is that something that you find
you do or that you find, uh,

That you would train others to

do.

I think it's something I do.

I think, I think it's something that's
drilled into you, particularly in

the military, you know, um, prepare
for the worst, but over the best.

Um, but it's always, if this
occurs or actions on, if this

occurs, what am I going to do?

So if you've thought about it beforehand,
you can have the right equipment with you.

You've already thought through
what your options would be.

If I'm at this stage of, uh, talking about
a Trek or something, or a hike across

over a considerable distance, if this
happens, where's my, where's my getter.

How am I going to get out?

Where's the best place for me to be many.

It always happens at the worst place.

Where's the worst place on this
journey where it could happen.

Our man, them mid midway
between two points.

That way I've got to go through
a river and this way I'm going

back up up a huge mountain.

And it's one of my options is going
to be and who have I got with us?

And you've always then got to
reassess what equipment you've

got and what resources you've
got as far as people with you.

You shouldn't be on your own, but.

Team some might be more always
somebody is going to be more

capable than others, right.

So it's obviously, it's always trying to
prepare for the worst and just, if you

don't use it, it's not, it's not an issue.

Um,

you know, one thing that I see, so
Ian Jones, he's with the Canadian

prepper podcast, he's been on a silver
Corp podcast in the past, and he

had a whole bunch of great thoughts
and ideas, and he shared a lot of,

a lot of really good information.

So if the listeners are interested
in listening to that episode,

they can go back and check it out.

I don't off the top of my head,
recall the episode number, but,

you know, silver for podcast in
Jones, Canadian prepper podcast.

And in some of the things
that we spoke about was like

different types of kit in gear.

And I think most people when they
first get into, um, and we also

talked about mindset, but most
people, when they first get into the

idea of being prepared or survival.

I think they're looking for shortcuts
or the something that they can

purchase that will give them comfort.

Well, now I've got my Gerber.

Multiplayers I'm prepared
for anything, right.

Or, or whatever it might be.

But I, I find that a lot in, in people
that I speak with, they said, well,

I've got my emergency blanket or I've
got ABCD and I've been guilty of that

in the past to thinking, okay, I need
all these different things only to find

that the amount of kit that you end up
taking with you starts slowing you down

to a point where you're now in a survival
situation, based on the fact that you

couldn't go fast and go light and go hard.

Um, I don't know.

Do you have thoughts on

that?

Yeah.

I think an analogy I would use it's a
bit like it's like cooking, you know,

there's lots of people can cook, but
there's only a few people that are

good enough to be Michelin chefs.

You know, they can produce the
most excellent meals to incredibly

high standards consistently.

And I think somebody who's
never cooked before says, well,

that's what I would like to do.

Well, I can give you the best kitchen with
the best knives and all the best equipment

and all the best fruits and vegetables.

And now I'll put you
against a Michelin chef.

I'll give you some crappy
old equipment raid.

Who's going to turn the best meal out.

Oh, absolutely.

So there's not a shortcut to it, but
there's lots of things you can do it.

It doesn't hurt to have good equipment.

Don't get me wrong.

And you'll find that I think everybody
who's ever been in survival situations and

training and particularly military people,
they know that it's good to have a quick.

You can rely on and they've invariably own
their own equipment issue stuff, but you

choose not to wear the boots you issue,
or you choose not to carry that knife.

You choose not to use that compass.

You use something that you really
have got a, um, an affinity with.

It does what you need it to do rave.

So it's not just equipment.

It's a combination of things.

That's what I like to focus on and
giving people the confidence to

know that you can learn things you
can learn and you can experience

things and improve your chances.

Yeah.

I'm always surprised.

I'm always surprised that people who, I
know people who are afraid to go into the.

Just so here in the lower mainland,
because of what may look below, right.

Sharks or, uh, CNN enemies
or, or whatever, right.

And there's this, uh, fear of the
unknown, or they're afraid to go to

the Bush because the, in their head
there's bears everywhere in America.

But the, the knowledge, I guess, of
actually starting to push yourself

out into these different situations
will cause you to learn and cause

you to realize what the real threats
are and what they aren't like.

You're the threat of you
slipping and falling on.

Let's say the gross grind is far greater
than ever encountering a bearer Cougar.

Right?

Um, um, the threat of getting
lost in perhaps he needed to

spend a night over someplace.

And knowing how to keep
yourself warm through the night.

And, uh, having that level of
knowledge, I think breeds a, a,

a lot of comfort and security and

conflict.

Uh, confidence is the word
I was going to use it.

You give somebody the confidence, you push
them to what they think are their limits.

And that's the way very much of the
training that that's done by the military.

They push you then beyond your
limits, you get to a point where

you think I can't do any more.

I can't go any further.

I've been, you know, I'm, I'm at the
end of my rope, but the reality is

we've all got extra stuff in there,
but then they push you beyond that

so that you find you're doing more.

And then when you reflect on it
afterwards, you have huge confidence.

You change personalities change
within, through food, through training,

significantly pepper families.

Don't recognize their own,
their own family member.

At the end of 2, 3, 4, 6 months,
they say, well, how did you do this?

They completely changed.

Right?

So if somebody's.

Yeah, I guess let's say, just start
out a urban city dweller and they

want to be a little bit more prepared.

And I, I think there's a, a folly that a
lot of people will fall into when they're

looking at being prepared, they want to
be prepared for everything and they want

to, what if there's the earthquake or
the tsunami or, or a big power outage

or in the end, they make this huge, all
encompassing, um, preparedness plan.

And then they get this idea.

I know I'm going to have a whole bunch
of food and, uh, started stockpiling it.

So I'm good.

And I'm, I'm going to have all
these different tools and equipment.

And, um, I, one of the ones that was, uh,
was interesting that, uh, that you had

brought up in our past conversation was,
oh, I'm gonna use some bleach to sanitize

water because I might not have heavy.

I sanitary supply.

And what I didn't realize was it,
you said bleach has a shelf life.

Yeah.

Six

months.

Six to 12 months.

Yeah.

It effect the efficacy of it drops
significantly after a year, but, uh, yeah.

So you need to have a long-term supply
of bleach, not think, oh, I've got

20 bottles of it stored away in the
garage or somewhere that's going to be

that's me good for the next 10 years.

Right.

There's a

work like that.

Great.

Well, where, where would you
start have if you were looking

to be a bit more prepared?

Okay.

So I think what I was going to say, gee,
we, you don't know what's coming, but

I think we, I think we could all agree.

We're living in a pretty
weird world at the moment.

If you told everybody two years
ago, we'd be going through

what we're going through now.

You would've said no, that won't happen.

There are things going on now.

I never thought I'd see in my lifetime.

I know you

told me one thing that was
read before we went on air.

That kind of surprised me.

But,

um, but I think if you have concerns
about things like natural disasters

or, uh, the instant, the stability or
instability, potentially of society,

where things that people have been
divided, uh, we've got financial issues.

People got jobs, security
issues, inflation, supply issues.

All of these things are potentially.

Problems for the future.

So what I said, I think I mentioned
to you before, if you've got no

concerns about any of this and
you think, oh, everything's the

sun's going to go up tomorrow and
everything's going to be good.

Then this is probably
not a podcast for you.

Right.

But if you're the person who's got
band-aids at home or some sort of

headache medication, or whether it's an
Advil or something like that, Tylenol,

if you've got that wide, you got it.

You've got it.

Because you're thinking ahead,
you're thinking, what if this

occurs, take me to the bandaid.

You know, nobody prepares to cut
themselves, but if you do you

know that you need something.

So I think it's, um, the whole scenario
of people talk, call it different

things, call it what you want to call it.

Where are you going to call it?

Preparing or prepping or being
off-grid or homesteading, whatever it

is, give it your own title, but just
know that's what you're looking at.

And then give yourself as much.

As much chances you can give you
some cover as many bases as you can.

This is a huge subject.

And there were some great experts
out there, uh, in particularly

particular areas that are so, so good
at this and lean on those people.

I mean, people are used
to using the internet.

Now.

There is some bad advice out
there as well, but you just go

over the ones that you trust.

Um, but I think just to have an overview,
what are the big hitting things?

What, what do you need
to think about that?

That's what I would focus on.

I would always say the best time to
start is right now, wherever you are

on this start now just start thinking
about it and give a little bit of

mental energy towards what could happen.

But what do I need to do to prepare
myself and to give myself the best chance

of survival, everyone, but everyone
has got a different starting point.

And I'm sure that the people will
be aware that this is, this varies

according to number of things.

And I'll just give you just some of them.

First one, your age, how old
are you a lot, Jen, to be a lot

more capable physically at 25
to 35 than you are 65 to 75.

You're just not as good and fit.

Everybody has different experiences
in life and hobbies and knowledge

that things that they've acquired
over the years, um, Also the number

of people you've got to think about.

Are you just thinking about yourself
or are you thinking about that?

You've got a partner, you've got
children and you've got a sick, a

senior citizen or two or neighbors,
or who are you going to try?

And are you just going to ignore them and
say, no, I'm just, this is all about me.

I don't think that's the best thing.

There are also, people have medical,
medical limitations, medical

limitations is a significant one.

Uh, some people have some
things where they need.

Maintain medications in, in a
core course situation, but then

frigerator and things like that.

Um, there's a big difference
between your, your, your physical

location are you there's benefits,
but there's also limitations.

Do you live in a, a desert or
semi-arid or tropical location,

or are you located in the world?

So be aware of your surroundings and
what are the strengths of being there,

but also what are the challenges?

Are there are strengths and
challenges in both, right?

So I think once you look at all of those,
I then say to people make us start create

your own personal review of what, you
know, you obviously don't know what

you don't know, but if there's areas
you think if we mentioned something,

you think, oh, I should look at that.

This is something I should look at, but
then try and keep some sort of priority.

In a combat survival situation,
they teach protection, location,

water, and food in that order.

And those are big encompassing things.

The location is I was arguing less of an
issue that's location, where you're trying

to be rescued when you want somebody to
find you, but certainly the protection,

water and food in that order is important.

So I would ask people to think about
those, your protection covers 1,001

things I could just give you some,
but just give you some right now, your

shelter, where are you actually going to
be protected from the elements, right?

And that varies according to where
you are in the world, the clothing you

have dressing appropriately and being
able to dress up and dress down and

understand the importance of layers and
how, when you're exercising, you're,

you're sweating more on, um, whether you
need to keep a say, keep yourself warm.

Cause you're in a more challenge.

Uh, environment, as far as the cold
weather and the winter months are

concerned, or also calling if you're in
a place like a desert where you're, uh,

we're at six sectional heat, you've got
to get out of the sun, join the mid day.

You do not want to be in the sun.

Uh, things like this is also still
under the protection umbrella.

First aid first day is really important
because you can't just pick up the

phone and dial nine one one, depending
where you are, you know, there's some

you in the back country, you've got
to do stuff to get somebody to aid.

Hopefully you're not, you know, it's
not, you're not devoid of all support,

but you can't guarantee the cavalry
coming over the hill to help you.

So that's important.

I would also argue, um, and this is
a particularly good for silver called

armament and protection protecting you
from what, if you're in an environment

where you've got animals that are trying
to get in and see what food you've got.

You're going to have to protect
yourself on what you've got.

Right?

Um, Finances, um, in the situation people
think, well, if this, if there's a big

collapse of things and there's no power
and there's no fuel or anything, well,

I just go down to the bank and draw some
money out and go to the supermarket.

Yeah.

That's, that's, that's a nice idea,
but that's not the reality of it.

Think about how you protect
yourself with finances.

Do you have some cash on hand, as long
as cash is still useful, but are you then

handing somebody a, you know, a $20 bill?

And he says, that's useless to
me because I can't spend it.

Do you have another option?

Do you have something?

One of the things, people focus on
things like precious metals, um, uh,

and then it comes down to understanding
which are the better ones to have and

how you store it, where you keep it.

But is that something you could use in
the future to, to purchase or to barter?

And there's lots of bartering will
go on in the survival situations.

If it hits more of a so that, um,
people can swap skills and equipment

and things between them and say,
well, I'll let you have this.

If you can let me have that.

And I can see that we'll become a,
we become a big, big, big thing.

Well, four

for that one, I go, I've always
been a firm believer, gotta

have some cash on hand, right?

Some casts somewhere.

But we're becoming more and more
of a cashless society and the value

of having cash on hand, like you're
saying just, just might not be there.

And I've got a friend recently.

He says, Travis, can you come downtown?

I want someone with me to,
uh, uh, to help me out.

I've got a, should I say, I'm not saying
who the friend is $2 in gold making up.

And I'd like, cause he's, he's concerned
about his, um, I perhaps what's

happening with cash and what's happening
with the, uh, uh, the banking system.

And he says, they're just going
to give him to me in golden.

I got then transported to a
place, a location where it's

going to be safely kept.

Um, but again, I have to wonder
if that concept of having, uh,

precious metals will hold much value
to an individual in a, uh, He in a

society that is moving ever, ever
more, I guess, cashless and sort of

decentralizing the, uh, uh, the banking.

I don't know.

Do you have thoughts on

that?

Yeah, I think you have to look at
history, try and learn from history

and history is somewhat flawed.

It's just the recollection or the
narrative of the winners in a scenario.

That's what they, that's
what they let us know.

Um, but I think, um, I have a good
friend whose family escaped from,

uh, Eastern Europe, between the
wars that they're following the,

the October revolution in Russia.

And they basically had all
their lands confiscated, but

they managed to get to Canada.

They have family managed to get
there when they got to, and they were

trying to get out of Europe, but they.

Pay for their passage across the Atlantic.

And the biggest single thing that got them
out was actually the children had had gold

coins sewn into the lapels of their coats.

They didn't check with children because
they didn't think they would have them.

They, that the parents were strip search.

They checked, everything, went through
all their paperwork, documentation,

all their luggage, but they didn't
check the children, but these children

had little gold coins sewed all
the way down through the lapels.

And when they got to Canada,
they said it, could we get there?

So what have you got?

We've got gold.

Oh, wow.

That'll do nicely.

You know, they, they got
farmland straight away.

They got equipment.

Um, one thing I would say.

Talking about your friend with the,
uh, you know, a big single, maybe not a

single Bob's a gold ingot that's worth,
you know, a few hundred thousand, $80,000

or whatever it's worth is less tradable.

So having some big stuff is useful,
but having something that's actually

usable smaller quantities that will
be swappable because people, uh, and

have paperwork printed off to show what
it was worth before stuff occurred.

You know, that's a good point
just to say, this is what it was.

This is what I purchased it for.

And, uh, one of the things that's
good here in Canada, they do these,

um, on one gram coins in a pack.

Right?

And you can, if you just want
one, you can break one off.

If you want to give him
any of your trading for the

whole thing, you can do that.

Um, and it's all, it's all relative.

I mean, you're obviously paying a
lot more for that goal, but it's

very tradable, very, very swappable
and barterable with other people.

And there's a good point.

So give me yourself as many,
many options as possible.

This is all comes under
this protection umbrella.

So you're thinking about what do I do?

What's going to happen in six
months, 12 months, and who knows

what the time scale will be, but
how do I do something about this,

right?

Yeah.

And then of course, if you're known,
I should suppose as the person

who's prepared and who can take
care of themselves and who has some

stockpiles, you'll likely become
a target at that point too, by

anybody who happens to know this.

So yeah, it would be something that
I think would be wise for people just

to, to not advertise and maybe not
get on all the different forums and,

and tell everybody what they know and
what they have because, uh, you know,

time and time again, we hear, um, I
hear people saying, oh, Travis, if

something goes wrong and you come to
your house, No, you're not, it doesn't

work that way.

Right.

You get a lot of friends very
quickly, but you can't help everybody.

You can't support the whole of the
Western world, the whole of the

world around at Travis's house.

That's right.

And then I hear the other side.

What do I need to prep for?

I know where the preppers are.

I'm just going to go to their
house and take it from them.

Yeah.

Well, you mentioned Nick before Nick
says, and he says, you know, if you,

if, if you're storing and you don't
have any way to protect that, you're

just doing it for other people.

That's right.

Yeah.

Good way.

Good.

All Mick,

and this is not about setting up.

You're not trying to set up a, uh,
an armory or something, but it's just

being able to know that you've got stuff
located that you know, where it is and

other people wouldn't know where it is
and the hair, how are you prepared stuff?

So it's just being smart in my opinion.

I agree.

Um, So that's what I call the protection.

There's, there's other things that you
and I and other people can think of

that would pull under that protection.

But I think that that protects you,
that gives you the best chance shelter

and accommodation is very important
because unless you're literally going

to just be sleeping outdoors, which you
might get away with in some parts of the

world at some dark parts of the year,
but you're not going to be doing that.

Long-term so you need to have
a place think about whether

you are urban or rural.

Rural tends to be better for
survival longer term because

there's less people or less there.

I see if there is a societal break and
there's less roaming gangs going around,

so probably stand a better chance and
you want to be as low key as possible.

Another thing that falls under
protection is things like, can you

provide enough power for your 17 to you?

You thought you want to have
generators or inverters or some

other means of generating power.

That's all comes under the protection
under the protection umbrella.

Yeah, having a, um, a multi fuel
generator, probably a pretty good idea.

Having a way to, uh, I guess just collect
power from, let's say solar energy or wind

energy, again, not a bad idea, but you'd
have to store that in, uh, in battery

banks or maybe, maybe some large capacitor
bank that can have a slow discharge.

I'm not sure.

I'm just kind of thinking of.

Um, I know this is a, this is a
scenario I've been through is what, w

w what do I need powerful, you know,
do I need to be on the internet and

checking my emails and, and doing
social media and no, what do I need?

I'd like the fridges and
freezers to still be working.

I'd like a furnace to be working.

So you can tailor what your
power requirements are.

Do I need to be doing, um, you
know, running the dishwasher or the

clothes washer, you know, twice a
day, no, you got enough clothes.

You could probably last a few months with
the clothes that you've got right there.

Not doing a lot of washing at the
end of it, but don't get me wrong.

But using other methods of doing things
like cleaning, and this is, these are the

more of the niceties, the long-term, this
is not a short term things, but can, do

you have the ability to wash things or the
ability to do our grandparents or dare I

say a great guy in pounds would have just
thought this was quite normal because

they had all the automation of stuff.

Great stuff there to said, well,
that's the way we used to do it.

Well, we might end up, you could see it.

We ended up back doing it
the way they used to do.

Yeah.

I

don't know if I'm targeted or what if
this, uh, if the algorithm has taken a

look at my interests, I don't generally
seek out survival and prep type stuff.

Uh, but I keep seeing ads
scrolling through on Tik.

Talk about, try to sell some book
about how things were done back in

the day, how to make your own lard.

How do you make your own soap and
all of these basic things that

were pretty basic back in the day?

I think it was called
forgotten skills here.

An advertising for self that I
find see on, on a tick talk, but I

see that there is a desire in the
general public, at least as much to,

uh, Necessitated facilitate these,
these advertisements or the sale of

these different books or platforms.

So people can learn about these
quote unquote forgotten skills.

I see that coming back in a big way, and
I think COVID has really kind of woken

everybody up in a couple of senses,
both in the sense that something could

happen, whether COVID is just a big,
cold or not, or whatever people want

to look at, but the idea that something
could possibly happen and society might

not be as stable as people think that
they might, there might be some, uh,

instabilities that will require people
to be a little bit more prepared.

So I think the general populace is
really been turning its head towards.

How can I garden and create my own food?

How can I, how can I make sure that
I, you know, if the power does go

out, that will be warm long enough
and a bunch of these little things.

I think it's created some instability.

There's always been instability, but it's
brought it to the forefront in people's

minds.

I think people are starting to look at it.

The smart people have definitely been
looking at for a longer time, but,

uh, other people are just saying.

As I said to you before we, two
years ago, we didn't predict

we would be where we are now.

Right?

You would have said, no,
that'll never happen.

Well, things do happen.

We've got some unprecedented,
uh, stuff just happened in the

last 24 hours here in Canada.

You know, we're going into the
emergencies act, which is a

fairly serious, it's substantial.

It is substantial.

And people don't under stand
just how substantial it is.

And I think can dismiss it and say,
oh, well, that's what we're doing.

This is there's a significant impact.

And, uh, it will have impact on
many people and it can, that will

have an impact down the road.

This is the butterfly effect.

It's going to impact lots of
other, lots of other things.

Those things I mentioned before, as
far as inflation and supply issues

and rate, it's not just a matter of
going to the store and picking it up.

That's the fact we can still do
it at the moment is nice, but

don't expect it necessarily.

I don't want to be a prophet of
doom, but don't expect it to always

be exact like that it's happened.

It's happened in a longer
history, but it's also happened

in recent history in Europe.

And we've got people even here
in Canada, who've escaped from

regimes where they've said they
didn't expect this to be happening.

It has

happened,

you know, I've, I've had that
same conversation with a lot of

different people who have, like
you say, escape, different regimes.

Um, and there's, they'll
just call a spade a spade.

And they'll say, look, I've seen
this happen before I've lived

through this before what's happening.

Isn't right.

And those who haven't been through
it and don't have that experience.

They, they just aren't as, uh, open
to considering the possibility of the

fact that things are going sideways or
they could be really bad or there could

be negative intention behind it or.

There could be good intentions
behind it, but we all know what

the road to hell is paved with.

Right.

Um, I don't necessarily think
that everybody is out there.

Um, I don't think there's some
diabolical, Macklin, alien, uh,

plot here that's been driving.

What's been happening
in our social events.

I do think absolutely that there
are some who will take full

advantage of what's going on.

Uh, and I think that the, um, let's
say otherwise good intentions of many.

I have some friends who work
in government and they are

salt of the earth type people.

Their hearts is in the right place.

And, and from my perspective,
uh, some of them anyways are

very blind to what's going on.

Even if they have background and a
background in history or philosophy or,

or what have you, and they should, and
they should have an understanding of.

The fact that history repeats
itself and the best predictor of

future performance is past before.

So human human

behavior is, is, is fascinating.

And it is very predictive.

We're a lot more predictable as a
species than we sometimes like to think.

We think, oh, we're a lot
smarter than we used to be.

We'll make the right decisions.

The reality is people are
going to do what they gotta do.

And if people get scared,
that's a big driver.

Fear is the massive driver of
the population and has been

used forever to manage people.

And that you can get people
moving in a certain direction.

You put a certain chain of events
in place and it's then becomes

a lot easier for the next thing.

The next thing in that chain to happen.

Yes.

Yeah.

I looked at like Noam Chomsky's book
on manufacturing consent, right?

Yeah.

And using the, the media there.

I, when you say people are predictable,
that for me, Has been the most interesting

aspect of what we've been going through
is watching the human response, watching

how people respond to the external events
that are happening in a very group think

type of way, because inherently, I think
people are so afraid of being outcast or

not fitting in with the rest of the group
that otherwise intelligent people who

can formulate their own opinions on their
own and come to logical conclusions will

just go in line with whatever the popular
consensus is currently going out of fear.

I mean, it wasn't too long ago when
everyone was talking about COVID and

hush breaths, if at all, for fear
of being called a conspiracy Ferris.

Right?

Yeah.

And when you, when you look at, as
a hunter, you look at game trails.

So you know that there's probably
going to be a game that goes down

this trail because these animals will
take the path of least resistance.

Some might bound over in
areas that are off the path.

But for the most part, a
good indicator is this path.

And people are just like that.

People take the path of least resistance.

They want other people to make decisions
for them to protect them, to, uh, to

blindly assume that everything is going
to be just fine because the consequence

of thinking otherwise would be that you
have to prepare and you have to, um, work

can take responsibility for your actions.

I think just as you were
talking, I was just reminded me.

I'm sure some of you, some of
the listeners will know the

experiments they've done, where the
people getting into an elevator.

And as you get into the elevator,
everybody's facing the back of the

elevator, not facing the door and they
walk in and they feel uncomfortable.

Let's see.

It's hilarious to watch
them talk to them after.

Why did you turn around and
face the ways everybody else?

I don't know.

I just, just wanted to fit in.

I just thought it was the

right way.

Did you see the beep one
that in the doctor's office.

The electric shock?

No,

this was, um, I thought, so it is a
variation on the elevator one where

they get everyone to turn around,
but they took it one step further.

So they have a room full of
actors in a doctor's office.

And a patient comes on in and a beep goes
off and everybody in the room stands up.

When the beep goes in, they hear another
beep and they all sit down in this.

Patient's like looking around like
what the heck's going on here.

Right?

And then another beep goes,
everyone stands up and they

sit down, they keep doing this.

All of a sudden, the chief standing
up and sitting down and little by

little, a new patients come in.

These are people that are not the actors
and they're not a part of the program.

And they keep doing this until they
reach a point where there are no more

actors and it's just new people in there.

And the beeps going and they're
standing up and sitting down on the

beach just because that's how it's.

Scare.

It's a scary thought.

Isn't it all very, it reminds
me, I was listening to a thing

recently, you know, um, Dr.

Julie, Panesar the, uh, the, uh,
professor, uh, from Ontario and

she was talking about one of them.

She does teaches ethics and she said
she has the picture from 1930s, Germany.

We've got that to famous
black and white picture.

The whole crowd is doing the Nazi salute,
but there's one guy who isn't raised.

She used to ask her students and
say, would you be one of the crowd?

Or would you be him?

And everybody likes to think they would
be the him, but the reality is people

go to the line of least resistance.

Well, that's what we do.

We fit in.

Right.

You know what you're talking about.

People being in it for
themselves earlier, right?

When you were like, are you going
to just be in that for yourself

or going to look out after others?

I had a friend, a couple of
friends over, um, a few weeks ago

and, uh, I mentioned that to her.

And I said, look it inherently, everybody,
everybody is in it for themselves.

I says, she says, I don't believe that.

I said, okay, let's say there's
a fire in here right now.

And I didn't even have
to finish the sentence.

He says, I'm grabbing the
Adelaide, her daughter.

Right, right.

At some point, everybody
is in it for themselves.

Where is that line though?

Some people that aligns pretty
far down, some people, their

day-to-day life, they operate right
on that, on that line between, you

know, there's something going on.

It could be, you could be me,
I'll tell you what I'm screaming.

It's me.

Right.

Um, but I, I firmly believe that,
uh, everybody is in it for themselves

just based on the human condition,
based on the fact that we are

creatures and we want to survive.

Um, Some people get a little
greedy, a little, a little power

hungry or whatever it might be.

And you'll find, uh, you'll
find that line pretty close.

But I guess, um, before I degress
too far here, uh, your next category

that you're talking about was

water or, um, it's for people to
think just how important water

is a lot of people, particularly
when they start off in preparing

for whatever's going to happen.

They think that just means I just got to
fill the pantry full of food and that's

not, that's not the way, way ahead.

Food falls further down the, uh,
further down the priority list.

Um, know how much.

Water you need, and you've
got to research this.

I wouldn't go into numbers now
because it's a separate thing.

But talking that, you know, the,
the volume of it that you will

need per person, there's ways you
can reduce the volume that using.

I mean, if you have sort of persons having
four showers a day that's or four Barts a

day, that's probably not going to be good.

Uh, it's not going to be happening, but
you need the volume that you need and

the cleanliness and safety of it, because
you've got to drink water, you have

to have fluids and you have to do it.

And you can't sub sorry to tell
some people you can't survive

exclusively on alcohol or
Coca-Cola, that's not going to work.

I know

some people,

some people give it a go.

I know I'm not saying alcohol
and they don't have a role to

play because they are useful to
have a very, very tradable items.

Interestingly, for, for tree, how coal
is excellent for trading because you

offer somebody hasn't seen any alcohol.

A couple of months and he'd
say, I would really like to

get some fuel for my generator.

What have you got?

Oh, I got this little bottle of vodka.

No problem suddenly happened.

So it can be very useful, but it's
understanding how, how do you know what

options have you got again, it goes
back to where do you live in the world?

Do you have a lab?

Ideally, I guess you'd be
living on a, uh, off grid.

You'd have your own well, or you'd
have your own river and you've

got your own cleansing system.

And you're used to doing this.

You've been doing this for years.

That's, that's, that's the, the,
the sort of the gold standard.

But again, you're not just nipping
up to the suit, the store and

buying a case of water, right.

That's not happening or potentially
not just turning the tap on and getting

good, clean, drinkable, water out.

If that's not happening,
what are you doing?

So you need a way to have a certain
amount of water stored, and then to

be able to cleanse that, to make it
drinkable, it doesn't have to all be

cleansed to the same standard as drinking.

Cause you could wash in it.

You could be washing clothes, right.

But the stuff that you're going to be.

You want to keep yourself hydrated, you
know, from it back country, dehydration

is one of the biggest killers.

Oh

yeah.

It gets you a big time and it
affects your physical performance,

your mental performance, your yeah,
no, you, you need to see hydrated

and people think, then
haven't really looked at this.

They think, oh, well, if it's
hot day, I'll be sweating.

I'll lose it.

But it's a cold day.

So I won't, well, you're then
called a you're wrapped up.

You're sweating inside.

You're still losing, even in winter
survival, you lose you're sweating.

And the whole,

and I got to wonder, so if, if you
look at a hydrometer and, uh, inside,

uh, a house during the summertime,
it's going to be much more humid.

And in the winter time, of course,
it's going to be much more arid.

Um, I've always kind of wondered about
how much, uh, How much the body kind

of absorbs for moisture in the more
humid environments that will, uh,

make the need for perhaps water less.

And how much in colder environments, just
the act of breathing out is expelling

possibly more in such a dry environment.

Expelling more water.

Yeah,

I think to two totally
different climatic situations.

See.

Uh, w one of the big killers, there
is dehydration people that well I'm

floating around in the ocean now.

Surely I'm not going to be dehydrated,
but you're not drinking a salt water.

I'm sorry, but that's the way it is.

But also jungle survival.

You're in the tropics and it's crazy wet.

It's raining all the time and sweating,
but people come to you hydrated there

as well, because the stuff that's
falling is maybe it's not drinkable,

or it's going to give you very sick,
give you dysentery, which is not good.

So you've got an, either a
means to cleanse that water,

right?

Yeah.

With a Homer Simpson, sea
water, water everywhere.

So let's all have a drink

and he wasn't, he wasn't far wrong.

Um, so I move on to my next point.

Let's okay.

The next one, going back down
that hierarchy and protection

water, the next one is food.

So think about.

Um, I would say to people
make a start on this.

So having a store of food, start off
general rule of thumb and there's

people who know way more about this
than I do, but I would say a three

supply, can you survive with three
days without going out to the store?

Most people say, oh yeah, I could.

But at the end of three days,
if you're starving and not

functioning properly, it's not good.

But some people just have
just what they want on it.

They rely totally on bringing food in
takeouts all the time, which is not good.

So do a three-day then maybe a
three week, then a three month

and then maybe up to a year.

So if you can provide, you've got enough
stored away to survive for a year.

That's useful.

That's a huge buffer for you to
see what happens with society.

And you're going to end up
and you're going to end up

with a lot of friends as well.

If you've got food and you've got
people leave don't, but you've got to be

cautious of that as well, but you want
to have stuff that's going to be tasty.

It's got to be nutritious.

You want some variety in there, but also.

Some fresh stuff.

What can you go?

Even in the winter, in, you
know, in the Northern hemisphere.

So in Canada, you can still grow
things that, uh, with sprouting seeds

and things like that can provide
you a huge amounts of vitamin C and

nutrients, which can, which can be done.

It's not that you don't have to wait
until April may before the crop.

So in the, in the fields, just to
learn how you can extend the growing

season, and I'm going to come onto
my next thing, which is talking about

skills, but that's, that's one of
those areas that skills are very import

well with the food one, you know, even
just spending a week out in the back

country, on boil in the bag type food,
it's amazing how, uh, unpalatable

the same flavor list type of food,
or even if it was a good food, but

you're eating the same thing over
and over again, despite being hungry,

he kind of have to choke it down.

Cause you know, you need to replenish
the calories that you're expanding.

Um, so when you say it's gotta
be tasty having that variation,

and it's also amazing how.

You crave fresh food or something.

That's some, some roughage,
some vegetables and, you know,

food is one of those things.

I think a lot of people look
at it and they say, oh yeah,

I got to have lots of food.

It's amazing how long you can
actually live and still somewhat

comfortably without food.

I can't say the same without water.

I can say, uh, the first day without
food is very, um, it's not fun.

Mind you, you go to sleep and you wake
up and for whatever reason, I'm not

hungry the next day and your body, I
guess, shifts into a different mode.

And then maybe I'll get a little
bit hungry, but I find I really

don't need a hell of a lot of
food three days without food.

And I'm actually feeling okay.

I've been in situations where
unfortunately I've had to

go a few days without food.

Um, And I, I think food is obviously
important, but when you're talking

about water, I think all of my
attention would be on protection

and water with food as being okay.

I got an idea where I can possibly get

something and there's a whole
lot to learn about what stores

well and what doesn't store.

Well, how are you going to do it?

I mean, you're not just
going to have a freezer.

That's, you're just going to pack this
stuff and that's going to be good.

The power's out.

If you've got no alternative power,
you're going to lose the whole lot.

That's not good, but there's good.

It's understanding the different
types of, and they'll come into that

and the skill section, the different
types of how to, you know, food

preservation and things like that.

But having stuff that can be in
tins, it can be dry products.

All you've got to then do is rehydrate it.

You've already addressed
the water situation.

You've now got the water to rehydrate it.

And some of these things.

Long time, I'm talking decades,
if you have stored correctly.

And, uh, once you start to learn about
that, you can say, Hey, well, I can

put this away and I know it will be
good for, it will be good in two years,

if I need to eat it into two to three
years and he could have some rotation,

but I always view it that the worst it
can come with all of this is you end

up with a store of food that you're
going to use over a period of time.

And if you can cook it nutritiously,
you've, might've spend a bit of

money to do it, but it's a huge, it's
a huge investment in your future.

If things don't go well, absolutely.

You can't just nip out and purchase it.

I have some way to cover your backside.

Totally.

So then

you've got skills.

Okay.

Skills.

Yeah.

So skills.

This is something that needs
to be a continual improvement.

You and I discussed this.

So I'm just going to give a number of
headings for three people to think about.

Can you do this or can't you do it?

Um, I'll start with an
easy one navigation.

Um, it was all goes well.

I'll just use my phone as great.

As long as the phone's working,
GPS is working everything else.

But if you have to go from point
a to point B and maybe more,

do you know how to navigate?

Do you know how to read a map?

Do you understand what the contour
lines are doing and the terrain

and choosing different routes,
which is the best way to go?

So that's one, another one.

I would say fire lighting.

That's something I love.

I have a order of a fire at home
so I can have a log fire every

night if I want to, but how to
light a fire if it's wet and rainy.

The equipment that you've got to do it.

How do you, how do you create spark
and how do you build that fire?

How do you get ready to
get kindling and Tinder?

And that build a fire?

There's a famous thing that used to
teach us combat survival is the, I'd

say the, uh, the first native keeps
happy sitting by the small fire keeps

himself warm sitting by the small fire.

Whereas the non first nations person keeps
himself warm, running around, collecting

wood to keep this huge fire going.

Yeah.

Sweating like crazy.

Whereas you don't need a huge
fire, but, but w we talked before

you mentioned before having a.

It can be the difference
between life and death.

It's down under the skills.

It's not under the top
three, but it's important.

It gives you warmth.

It gives you comfort.

It's it's really, really grounding
effect of it's sitting around a fire

anybody's ever done it with, with, uh,
you know, with, uh, smalls or something.

They know how good it makes
you feel sitting by a fire.

It's just

some primal instinctual thing.

But even if you don't need it
for warmth, all of a sudden

everything just isn't as bad.

When you get a fire going, all
of a sudden those noises that you

hear in the dark, they're a little

further away.

Yeah.

It keeps things away.

It keeps nasty fires.

It keeps it away.

You could also use it for
drawing things as well.

If you've got clothing, you need to dry.

It's a psychological thing too.

I know.

Growing up, I.

Lake a lot of people love making fires.

I love being around fires.

Right.

And, um, talk to any firefighter.

There's gotta be somebody
who likes taking fires.

Uh, but I would challenge myself.

I can, I make a fire out of and
just, you know, so it makes dry

lumber really dry, so, okay.

I can, can I do it with, um,
uh, this wetter wit okay.

I can't, can I do it with a lighter,
can I do it with just one match?

Can I do it without matches?

Can I, and I'd, I'd play these games.

Can I do it with a chemical ignition?

Can I do with an electrical ignition?

Can I, and just try all these different
ways of just trying to make a fire,

whether it's a friction drill or
a plow, or what have you love it?

And I think fire making as a skill,
I, I think that's not only just from

cooking your food or from boiling your
water or from, uh, distilling or, um,

drawing things out, keeping you with.

But I think that psychological effect
of having a task at hand, that you're

working on and then the reward of
sitting around that flickering light

of the fire and the warmth is massive.

I think it's actually a very
useful thing for someone who's.

If they end up at a survivor situation
and someone says, I don't know how

to do this, I don't know how to do.

I don't know how to do anything.

What can I do?

Go around, walk around the, you know,
within a couple of hundred meters where

we go and find some wood that we can
burn, that the strike that they've got

a job at, they go away, they come back,
they feel engaged and we can now get

warm and maybe cook something as well.

Good point.

That's a fight fire.

That's one of those skills that's worth
looking at the next two, which you love

hunting and fishing and Kim fishing.

It's so useful.

I mean, there are useful skills at
any time, but they're very useful.

A lot of the equipment that you get
with both hunting and fishing have a

lot of other purposes that they can be
used for whether it's growing plants and

things or using twines or using ties.

There's a lot of things, but if
you don't know how to hunt and you

don't know how to fish, maybe think
about, maybe think about that.

Maybe this is the, this is the summer,
maybe 20, 20 twos of the year where you

register for a course, do some reading,
watch some videos and go and do a course

with someone who knows what they're doing.

Right.

Really, really useful.

And that's something you'll store away.

And it's then a skill that you've
acquired was it's going to be too late.

Right.

Try and

learn it when you need
to, how do I do this?

How do I, oh yeah, you
haven't got time for that.

Um, first aid, first aids
are really important.

One, if somebody's with you fours, if
they've twisted their ankle or you're

worried, or, you know, they've got a bad
cut or something, do you know what to do?

Have you got the equipment
that comes in later with.

Do you know what to do to help that
person, or maybe help yourself, do you

know how to put a tourniquet on, do
you know what you need to think about?

I mean, obviously in that situation,
if it's a severe injury, you'd love to

then take them to the hospital, which
is what I hope you're gonna be able to

do, but this might be a longer term.

There are also some excellent,
some really good experts, online

doctors, online and nurses that
are, that are, do survival books.

That's something I mentioned, part the
equipment is books and videos and knowing

what to look at, how do you do this thing?

And there's a lot of natural plants and
things you can use out there as well.

Again, a whole area of skillsets.

People are good with plants that can be
used for a whole number of conditions.

It's what a great
grandparents used to use.

What they have.

Yeah,

I'm just starting to learn about, I mean,
my wife's a red seal chef and she's loves

gardening and foraging and all the rest.

And I always looked at foraging.

Who'd want to do that.

Right.

And then I went out with, uh, with
Hank Shaw in the Sierra Nevada mountain

range, doing some foraging with him.

I'm like, this is actually pretty cool.

I don't, I'm actually not,
I'm pretty good at it.

Once people point me in the right
direction and tell me what sweat, but

everywhere you look, when you're with
somebody like Hank, this is edible.

Here's a muster.

This'll, here's the type of garlic.

Here's a wild onion and, uh,
here's mushrooms that you can

eat and you're going to be fine.

Uh, it made me realize that there's stuff
growing out of the cracks of our sidewalks

that is edible and that we could, that
other people would just look at as weeds.

Yeah.

They

don't even see it.

It's, it's huge.

And, uh, you know, you've probably
done more of that than I did.

I did stuff.

I tried to educate myself about
fund guide, but it's a huge subject.

But if you particularly
with first nations, they've

got such experience of it.

Wherever you live in the world, look at
the fun guy that you have growing aware.

Does it grow?

It grows this part of the
forest, particularly prolific

at this time of year, it grows
off the rotting part of this.

And it's look above head height.

Oh, it's there it isn't and it looks
like this, but don't have that one.

And once you learn it, you see
someone who's good at foraging.

They go out with a knapsack and
they come back with a load of food.

It's like, they've been
to the supermarket.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, it's definitely cool.

And with the fun guy, what
was an interesting one?

There are some that will kill you.

Most won't as a bunch of
their little making sick.

Yeah.

But you're still up here.

Okay.

You're going to live through it and
there's some out there that will be.

And

apparently allegedly there's
some that you could smoke for

recreational purposes as well as

apparently I've

heard that.

So anyway, so that's a talk about
first aid, growing vegetables, if

you've ever had a great, if you can't
grow in a thing, learn how to do it.

Even if you're in an apartment, you
know, learn what you can grow and what

you can, the things out there that,
that work and learn what tools you need.

Again, that's a whole subject about
what you need to do as far as gardening

and make this make let's make 20, 22
of the year where you actually do grow

some of your own lettuce or tomatoes
or zucchini, what grows fast and which

parts of the yard or your garden or your
house, I've got the best places, give

you the best chance to grow these things.

Yeah, that's a good point.

So there's a good, um, Food
preparation and preserving some

people don't know how to boil an egg.

They do need to know how to do some food
preparation and, and, uh, it's, you can't

just pick the phone up and order in it
doesn't work like that and preserving

food, whether it's pickled or whether
it's dry, he dehumidified and dried.

And there's a whole range
of ways of doing it.

Some great websites on how to do it, what
you've got lots of and, and how to do it.

And

there's some, and I'm surprised how
many people don't know how to can food.

And I've looked at, I've seen some
YouTube videos and some really suspected

type, uh, uh, tutorials on how to, how
to can your own food, which is only

going to lead to bacteria growth in
some very unhealthy, unhappy people.

But the process of it is
actually really, really simple.

If you, if you just follow the
step-by-step through the numbers and.

Um, and dehydrating and,
uh, like you say, preserving

through salting or pickling that

came ceilings and other great ones,
a great way to remove the oxygen.

Now that's one of the th the light,
the light and the oxygen, how to

store products would store things.

Whether it's something like lentils or
things that are rice and things like that,

store them in a plastic tote where the
heirs there's not getting in there, but

then the light's not getting in there.

It's in a food grade tub, you know,
there's this whole load of things you

can do to give yourself lots of options.

Um, but also I've got water purification.

I mentioned briefly before it's a skill
set to learn what you need to do, how

you can, how you can purify water.

So you've got 10 gallons of water that
you think is drinkable because you

got it off the roof of the house, or,
um, but how are you going to clean it?

How are you going to actually
make it so you can drink it and

not make yourself really sick?

Um, and then knife and tool
sharpening, things like that.

If you've got a knife or you've
got garbing implements or loppers

or sores or whatever, once it's
blunt, what are you doing with it?

And have you any idea how to do that?

So these are all skillsets you can learn
and now's the time to be doing that.

It doesn't have to be, it doesn't
have to be number one on your priority

list, but these are all little
skillsets that you can pick up.

I love it.

Well, I'm looking at the time
right now and I'm conscious of the

literacy time and of your time.

Of course.

And I'll put the question out there.

If the listeners are interested in
learning more and having Hutch delve

into in a deeper way, what he's covered
here today, because he's got one of his

binders in front of him right now is
a wealth of information inside here.

If their listeners are interested, let us
know in the comments, give an email over.

And perhaps we can look at putting
some sort of a series together

for silver Corp club members
where we, we really get into this.

That sounds

wonderful.

Can I just do a wrap up and things go up?

So my final thoughts, I would say,
think about getting your affairs

in order weathering from, uh, um,
finances to acquiring skills that

we talked about, create your own
emergency documents, binder that

you can have, things like that.

And then longer terms talk about tools.

Equipment with an equipment section
would be a separate one, but

above all, keep a sense of humor.

Don't allow this to dominate your life.

It can become a big part of it.

As you get set up, keep learning
and help others, because it's very

important that you're not too hard
on yourself, but help other people.

It could be that the person who lived next
door to, you know, the old saying that it

takes a village to raise a child right.

In the future, we are social animal.

And it's going to be the guy next door,
who you don't know particularly well,

but he might have a really useful skill.

He mean, might be the guy who does
the, your tool sharpening for you.

He might be cleaning his water for
him or showing him how to do it.

So be willing to work with people.

And, uh, then I think
people can get through this.

What is massive

Hutch?

Thank you very much for coming
on this silver Corp podcast.

I really enjoy

this.

It's my pleasure.

It's been great talking to you, Travis.