Are Your "Skill Sets" Worthy?
 

Suppose a major SHTF situation is about to occur that most people will not survive. The government picks out folks that they feel have the necessary skills to make the new world livable and provide them with a secure location where they should survive. Do you have any skill sets to put you in this select group?

I think DH would get picked long before I would. I have the usual "skills" - cooking, canning, gardening, sewing, organization, home repair. DH has a degree in electrical engineering and has worked in power generation and power generation manufacturing. He has done high voltage testing and is a certified welding inspector.

So, are your "skill sets" worthy?

I'd have to bow out. If I were in that situation, it would be like prison to me.

I'd rather go with a group and a place I picked out than trust anything the government told me. How much time will you waste trying to get a group of strangers to work together? If, like you say, the most highly trained are picked, who becomes the worker? Is the person with the PHD going to want to slaughter chickens, clean the toilet?

I would rather choose my community than have it chosen for me.

With what the government would probably be looking for most likely I would not qualify.

Hehe, how long before the governments hand picked group of survivors comes to one of OUR communities asking for help?

I'm reminded of a story I read a long time ago. The Navjo's (I think) were growing corn in the desert. No one could figure out how it was getting done, millions were spent to try and figure it out. Finally someone did the sensible thing and ASKED THEM.
Turns out they'd pick cat tales along the river, fill em with river mud, stick a seed inside and plant the whole thing.

Yep, those fellas would be coming down and asking us how Redneck engineering works.

I am not "noteable" in any way..I'd never be on that "list"--nor would I want to be. It would mean leaving all my family and friends as well as all the work I have put in for their futures. Plus I am well past bearing age--as I look at it a very large negative for post TEOTWAWKI.

This reminds me of the bunker in that Astroid film, and then the boats in 2012.
I think I'm going to stay with my S&EP group. Or my next door neighbor or two or three.

Like others, I wouldn't trust the government. I do think that between what DH knows and what I know that we would be able to help our neighbors though, if they are willing to learn and work. I've already been talking to some of the neighbors and some are already pitching in to help enlarge our garden spot. Another neighbor has been asking me questions about goats and chickens. He wants to get some and wanted to know if we could help him learn how to take care of them.

I'm an RN and DH is a firearms instructor, but we're over 50 - no one is likely to want us :awh:

feel a bit like M Twain
why would i join a club that would have me as a member

My feeling is that the government would squander the resources and people they decided were crucial. In the end we would be far better off grouping ourselves with people whose skills, supplies, and equipment complimented ours than handing over anything to the government that in all likelihood led us into the collapse we are attempting to recover from.

I wouldn't go.

LOL- I was starting to feel bad reading the first post that I wouldn't get pick- Now I am thinking I am better off if I weren't to get picked!

Jokarva, you are not too far from me..come on up!!! I've been feeling left out-- right, left and sideways, as our most notable "experts for teams"(at least those who post) are all very distant from me. So there, "someone" does want you.

Wish you were closer, I'd take you. LOL Got an extra room with another room ensuite and private bathroom if you ever want to move. :)

As a GOAT [Generalist Of All Trades] with no degree, just experience right now no one wants to hire me though I aint reached the "OLD" goat stage of life just yet, so i doubt that any government group would want me either.

My skills are many, some with above average aptitude, others with barely managle skills but i can get the job accomplished [i cant do brain surgery, but i can preform certain first aide and more if i needed to in a remote location] given the proper tools amd that includes books or diagrams i could probably "rewire" a power plant and get it up and running, but i would not necessarily want to.

My hope would be to get passed by from any government group on the first go round and actually be NEEDED on the second pass through and then i could "negotiate" a better deal...... I do have some skills at writing contracts in my favor.

William
Idaho

The government has ALREADY chosen me as one they don't care to survive. I don't have any high hopes that they're going to change their minds. :)

Okay - change the scenario. SHTF has taken place and your homestead has been destroyed. You find a like minded (non-government) group to live near or with but you have to have "worth". What can you contribute?

OP-
In a word 'no'. I have no special skills that any government would want.

Cindy in NY-
Probably no skills that would make me an automatic member of any group........but I'm not 100% sure I'd want to join up with anyone other than my own family. I know there's safety in numbers and all that but I also think there's way too much drama in a group like that (plus I'd have a hard time taking orders from someone who thinks they're my 'leader' :grump:)

this scares me the most--I have several licenses and leo traing that make me very valuable in a situation, I don't want any part of a government camp. the fact that I can be arrested for not reporting for duty has me looking for other work so I can get as far away from the government as possable.

I would never want to be in a government chosen group in a new world survival set up. Count me out on all levels.

As for the second scenario, unless my neighbors land was also destroyed, it would be the same as the first. I would band together with those I have already come to know and have already been teaching. If my entire neighborhood was destroyed, I'd probably still band together with the neighbors to find another place to start over. The skills DH and I have to offer are sort of jack of all trades, master of none. Between the two of us, I think we'd be able to survive most contingencies, but I would not want to be totally isolated, which is one reason I've been reaching out to neighbors who have shown an interest. Bottom line for my family though is, God is our way. In other words, if God allows us to survive, then He'll show us the direction we're suppose to take.

"I'm not sure I want to be part of any club that would have me"..Groucho Marx

I'm inclined to beleive any such group has already been chosen.

I get Premonitions, does that help? Actually I have alot of regular skills that my neighbors that are Farmers don't have. It probably depends on where we all live ,different regions and city vs. rural would be different skill sets.

LOL - thank you, it's good to be wanted!

Since I know a lot about septics and soils, I suppose the gov't would want me for latrine duty or digging graves.

I can also interpret "Texan" pretty well.

That is one of the main reasons I gave up my professional licenses. Of course it means I can't use them to make a living anymore, but I didn't really want to anyway. And I still have all the skills that go along with those licenses. So, no the government won't want me and I'm happy about that. But I still have very useful skills most people would need.

I'm a translator by trade but frankly although I think it's a skill the government might like, it's the one I value the least in a survival situation. I have great people skills and I am a very good shot. I have all the basic gardening, cooking, baking, canning, sewing, woodworking, first aid etc skills.

My husband is a computer engineer/math geek/statistics nerd. He has no people skills. I keep telling him he'd be the first one to get voted off the island.

Looks to me like the government would be hard pressed to find anyone from S&EP to recruit.

I guess the second skill is very handy if the first skill doesn't pan out? :fussin::duel:

You could change the word "and" with "because" and still have a very good skill set.

Chances are they'd find the "rugged individualist" mindset typical of the folks in here to be undesirable anyway.

The question reminds me of one of my favorite movie scenes. In The Postman, Kevin Costner sees an old geezer hanging around with all the young postal carriers and asks the guy if he can ride and the old guy tells him, "No, can't walk too good either."
Then Costner asks him, "So why are you here?"
The old guy answers, "I know stuff."
Good answer. :goodjob:
Knowing stuff can come in handy sometimes. ;)

Ummmm I think I'll form my own tribe, anyone have tanning skills, sewing skills, cooking over an open fire skills, have gun will hunt..I'm just sayin...these are the people I would want.

I don't like the government scenario either...basically work for the government or die?....sounds like slavery.

IDK about a group. I am a healthy man in my working prime, I can shoot, hunt and grow stuff...other than that I'm just an extra pair of hands I guess.

The gov't only wants people with sweet skills, you know like nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills.....

I'm not going on that evacuation space ship to Mars.

Around here, I've got just about every homesteading skill, make soap, candles, moccasins, sew, make paper, weave cloth, you name it. I've got wilderness skills, hunt, track, etc. I can grow just about any kind of food, cook it, preserve it.

I'm an expert shot, can teach anyone to be an expert shot. I can train dogs, obedience, herding, gundog, SAR, tracking; train horses to ride, pack, drive. Do a lot of minor vet care.

So I guess it depends upon how much civilization is destroyed, whether I am a valuable asset or not. I'm not much good with engines past change the oil and file the spark plugs.

I'll bet they would take me if I showed up with a tanker truck full of gasoline. Might be possible if it all goes down really fast.

It'd take a lot to pry me off of my place. It would have to be really bad.

I'd be more interested in using my limited skills for the help of a little group of neighbors, the ones left behind. Somebody has to be able to offer help to those who are savable but just need a little bump in the right direction.

Every central planning idea from the government so far hasn't worked out so well...

LOL @ the boats in 2012....that pretty much sums up goobermint work and life!


No thanks...I am riding the storm out myself and with the help of others......no goobermint survival camp for me.

Im no good to the gooberment BUT!!!!! Im good for my neighbrs and family. I have held my family together in a few shtf situations. Tornados, money loss, job loss, sickness, and we all made it out just fine.

I think that those "basic" homesteading skills would make most of us here pretty valuable. Those skills aren't so common anymore. The ability to identify wild edibles, canning, metalworking, working with textiles, gardening, raising animals, hunting, fishing, etc...

Let's face it...most folks would be up the proverbial creek because they don't have our skills.