Name Your Specialty

What do you do, or have done for a living? What is your skill set? How do the skills you've picked up through your life relate to survivability?

 

Gas, small engine and diesel technician. Hydraulic and pneumatic technician. Electronics diagnostics and repair to board level. Electrician. HVAC technician. Basic plumbing, carpentry, locksmithing and tool repair. Certified RV technician. ASE certified is Automobiles and Heavy Duty. EPA certified to handle all refrigerants. I once listed all of my certifications. It was a long post. My son said it best when he was little. "My dad is a fixer, he can fix anything". For the most part, that is true. I am more of a repair technician than a builder.
I also have a very green thumb and enjoy gardening. I cook from scratch when I can but hate doing dishes lol. I can build a fire in adverse conditions using a variety of techniques. I can build a sturdy shelter from natural materials and I can do it alone if I must. I hunt trap and fish.

 

Professionally, I spent the first half of my career in Materials Management, and the second half in Sales. Virtually all of that time was spent in a Manufacturing environment. A short time was in Distribution. As a sideline, labor of love, I have been a coach, referee, umpire, Sports Director, and owner of many Youth and Adult Sports ventures.

What have I learned that relates to survivability? To keep an open mind. To be flexible, and adaptable. To learn everything you can everyday. I have had the opportunity to work in several industries. No matter how much I thought I knew when I walked in the door, it didn't take me five minutes to realize how little I knew, and how much I had to learn.

Two things that I would preach to every millennial snowflake out there: First: The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. I have seen that attributed to Vince Lombardi, but I don't know for sure. I sure sounds like something he would say. Second: I know what I know, and I know what I don't know. What scares me is what I don't know I don't know. That was attributed to Donald Rumsfeld I believe.

My own personal mantra: Work hard. Play harder, and never intentionally hurt anyone.

 

I am also a heavy equipment & diesel tech. I was a Bradley Systems Maintainer in the Army. And when you are a mechanic in the Army, the rest of everyone else looks at you as the general fixer guy. I worked on generators, Humvees, tanks, Bradleys, and numerous other vehicles that would take too long to explain what their purpose was outside of "our" name for it. I also had the need at times to fabricate parts and tools from a basic welding shop. The skill I developed was being able to look at something mechanical I have never touched before, find what's wrong with it, and fix it. And in some cases improve how it worked in the first place. I got out and decided I wanted to work on commercial jets. So I went to college for avionics. That got me an Associates in advanced electronics, but I couldn't find any jobs with it, that paid as well as was promised. So I stuck to wrenching. Before the Army, I was a line cook for several restaurants, and a caterer at another. Don't know if that makes me super useful in a shtf situation; cause' anyone can burn yard bird over a trash fire, right? Now, I work on concrete mixer trucks. So I get to keep sharp my skills of mechanics, fabrication, electrical wiring and believe it or not, my typing proficiency.

 

I'm a jack of all trades. I have worked professionally as a Roofer, a framing carpenter poured and repaired slabs, machinist, gunsmith, construction and repair electrician, diesel mechanic, licensed HVAC Tech, plumber, appliance repairman, gardener, landscaper, draftsman, painter, bouncer, and security work...

I worked for many years as a subcontractor to a company called All Maintenance and Construction. We really did do it all. The guy that owned it had a license in just about every trade, Master Plumber, Electrician, HVAC, you name it he was licensed to do it. I learned so much from him. I am an info junkie and once he realized this he encouraged me to soak up as much as I could. I had already done that in a shipyard as an inside machinist. There I learned metallurgy, blacksmithing, and fabrication along with doing my regular machinist work. Eventually, I started my own independent company doing HVAC Refrigeration and repair on residential and commercial appliances.

What I have not done for a living I probably have done as a hobby. Leatherwork, Indian beading, fly trying, wood carving, knife making, fishing, hunting, reloading...

I like doing things with my hands. I've done other things but I'm just not a white collar sort of person.

 

Jack of all trades and
Electrician
Builder
Security
Pro hunter
Trouble shooter
Problem solver

 

I've been in plumbing, hvac, sheetmetal and boiler work for the last 35 years

 

Boiler work. Now THAT is a dying art.

 

I hate sheet metal work. I have done it, mainly stainless steel making security booths and the like. I was originally hired to repair and maintain the machines. Once I got everything running smoothly, they kept my hours up by putting me to work in the shop. That was my first job after the navy. I loved repairing the machines, hated cutting and deburring metal sheets; but I really hated bending the sheets to the required angles. I guess it is easier now that they have CNC benders, but back then even CNC mill machines were new and no fun to program. Like I said, I prefer to fix broken things over building new stuff. I can do it, but I don't love it the way I love solving diagnostic puzzles.

 

Boilers aren't that bad. It is just the basic steam cycle and some plumbing.

 

I've been trying to figure out what I am for decades now.

 

I forgot to mention 17 years as a Bartender. Now that might serve me well if SHTF if I had anything to serve.

 

Hey now, I have started a stockpile of liquor as well. It's all cheap stuff, but I don't think that will matter one bit. For me, any skill that is better to be taught hands-on rather than a book is one worthy of knowing post shtf.

 

We stockpile liquor as well. It will keep forever. Everything I have read says it is a good barter item. It can be used for medicinal purposes if need be, as a tincture or topical antiseptic.

When I see something on sale I will usually buy a bottle or two.

 

I do wonder though. Some of the bottles of the REALLY cheap stuff is in plastic. Am I correct in thinking that as long as I store em in cool, dry, dark conditions, it will keep just as long as glass? Or almost as long?

 

I would think they would be perfectly safe. To the best of my knowledge once alcohol is distilled and bottled it will not change. Wines and beers can go bad. Wine will turn into vinegar, and beer will sour. The only long term affects I have ever heard of for alcohol in plastic would be something from the plastic leaching into the liquid. IMHO the jury is very much still out on what leaches out, how much leaches out, and how much of what leaches out is dangerous. Doomsdayers will say there are carcinogens in the plastic. Really? What carcinogens are they? How much would you have to ingest for them to be harmful? How much could I expect there to be in my bottle of vodka? If we got that far into TEOTWAWKI carcinogens in my vodka would be the last of my worries.

Country Guy is our resident expert on plastics. I have a good knowledge, but he is better. Maybe he can weigh in.

 

I worked in aerospace/defense most of my life: tech writer, engineering analyst, international proposal manager, aerospace bureaucrat: not much there of use when and if the excrement strikes the air handler.

5th grade teacher, music teacher, itinerant bluegrass picker, male model/adult film actor*, amateur geologist, goat-farmer, chicken-raiser.

Not much applicable to being a survivalist type, I'm afraid.


*I lied about the male model/adult film actor.

 

I've done a lot, I grew up around trucks, heavy equipment, farming, residential construction, auto body and just growing up as a country kid and earned my Eagle Scout. Navy was all about construction from old school drafting and design on a drawing board, surveying and doing materials testing (soils and concrete) and then whatever other job they needed a hand with. I can weld (not great but can put stuff together), do lots of general design and build of mechanical "things", can do some basic machining with something like a bridgeport or grinder, into woodworking, framing(stick and post & beam), roofing, finish carpentry, little rough/ general plumbing, a little electrical but I prefer not to beyond running wires in new construction or replacing a switch or light fixture. I can tinker with cars(older ones), motorcycles, and some basic things on heavy trucks and equipment.

Professionally now I'm an engineer(plastics) focused in the plastics industry so I deal with a lot high precision designs and machining, 3D CAD design and other specialty things inside injection molding along with manufacturing ranging from cell phones, to lawn and garden equipment to automotive and medical devices. Sprinkled in there I've also done sales, program management and plant manaement.

Outdoors wise probably like most here camping, hunting, fishing, shooting, bushcraft and riding motorcyles. Trying to get more skilled with my gardening and being self sufficient along with learning about herbs and edibles, canning, etc

 

Thanks Morg. And your right, likely the actual alcohol in the bottle is worse for you and doing more damage than anything that could leach from the resin. Half these "tests" where they espouse the horrors of plastic are so flawed and don't follow the scientific method. If they are being honest with you the rats and things they test on are fed quantities that would be equivalent to you drinking gallons of the chemical or hundreds of pounds of something.

On the stability of the plastic you are correct, the more you keep it out of the light (UV is very destructive to polymers), at a reasonable temp and humidity it will likely be there when your great, great grandkids are old enough to drink. The majority of the liquor bottles are molded out of PET, basically same plastic in your water or pop bottle (soda for you non-PA types).

I'll say this, don't believe all the enviro-ninnies screaming that plastic is the end of the world. Little tidbit, in cities that have banned disposable grocery bags, incidents of salmonella and other food born illnesses have increased. Why? Well it seems that Mary Treehuger Homemaker doesn't bother to wash her reusable cloth shopping bags. So when they get contaminated when some blood/ or other "meat juice" leaks in it, a few weeks later after it's been stewing in there and a nice cesspool has grown she tosses her fruit, veg or whatever in takes it home pulls it out and eats out right or only half way washes it and winner winner chicken dinner.

Oh and knowing how well things are in our medical system with cross contamination and non-sterile conditions would you prefer to have a new, out of the packet, disposable plastic syringe or an old glass one that has had who knows what in it, has been stuck into Lord knows who and has supposedly been properly cleaned and sterilized...

Feel free to ask any questions on plastic, if it don't know the answer I'll try to dig it up for you.

 

This also points to the learning how to ferment alcohol and then how to distill it, be it by a still or freeze distillation.

 

Sounds like you were an EA. I have a friend who was a CE. I sometimes wish I had also gone into the SeaBees. I think I would liked it better than the fleet.

 

Dawn and I do most of our projects together. Our next three "specialties" once we catch up with the fix-ups on our "new"
old house will be cheese- and soap-making from the goats, building and maintaining an apiary, and learning how to dehydrate fruits and (maybe) meat. Those are prepping skills I've always wanted to learn!

 

I'm multi skilled but I guess at heart I'm into growing things and keeping my animals.

 

Duncan: Don't sell yourself short. With all of your Engineering skills I would bet you have a very strong knowledge of how things work. If we were all off the grid, and trying to figure out how to get back on it, your skills would be in high demand. Also, if you have a teaching background, you could start a school or tutor kids when they weren't doing chores.

My wife was a teacher for 40 + years. This is a mixed blessing and curse. She is a hoarder, and I don't think she ever threw away a piece of paper in those 40+ years. Curse: we have a basement that looks like a goat's stomach. Jimmy Hoffa could be buried down there, and we would never know. Blessing: we could start a school in a heartbeat if SHTF, and everybody was off grid wondering what to do. While I have never been in a classroom, I have a significant amount of experience coaching, working with kids, and running youth programs. I think we would fare pretty well starting a school.

We also have to think outside the box. Look around. We are smart, and we can learn. Look at all the stupid people who are doing it. If they can do it we can do it.

 

Indeed I was an EA. Loved it though at times was a bit jealous of the BU's and dare I even say EO's but I had a lot of the same equipment license they had too. Yeah I don't think I could of done the fleet, thankfully I failed my color vision test otherwise I was headed to be a nuke and looking at the money, planned to be a bubblehead.

 

When I was younger, I used to be a dancer on Bourbon Street in New Orleans (formerly the 809 Club) and also worked the light show for Chris Owens at the same place. Interesting times living in the French Quarter, too. Also bartended for a while there.

Now I am an ordained minister. (I’m living proof that God does not call the qualified, but qualifies the called, lol.)

I work as a graphic designer and a syndicated newspaper columnist. Also authored magazine articles and more. (To maintain OPSEC and the privacy of my personal identity, I won’t reveal details of where I work, etc.)

For over 20 years I was a trader and dancer in Native American Powwows. At one time I think I may have been one of the oldest Fancy Shawl dancers in a five-state Powwow circuit, lol. I am retired from that kind of fancy footwork now!


North American wildlife artist (paint on natural “canvas” such as feathers, bison jawbones, large sycamore leaves and more). Sold most of my work at Native American Powwows.

Misc employment includes various positions in the medical field including Respiratory Technician (both ER and floor), bookkeeping, executive secretary, and magazine publisher.

Some college (Pre-med, dropped out for ethical reasons)




Some of my hobbies and skills that could come in handy in the coming Hard Times:


Herbalist / forager for wild edibles for over 30 years

Flintknapping

Make and use atlatls

Bowhunting (both instinctive and compound bow) deer and turkey

Bowfishing (and other kinds of fishing, of course)

Muzzleloader hunting

Rifle/shotgun hunting

Rifle tournaments (first and second place trophies)

3-D bow tournaments (first and second place trophies)

Hawk and knife throwing

Slingshot enthusiast

Old Native American-style hide tanning (brain-tanning)

Cordage and rope making (using plant fibers)

Pottery making using only materials found in nature

Tracking

Blowgun making (using materials found in nature)/shooting

Winemaking

Professional cook in New Orleans

Also ran a Cajun/Creole food truck business

Organic gardening (without the use of commercial amendments or power tools...the way I garden, I never needed ‘em)

Permaculture gardening

Dutch oven and campfire cooking enthusiast

A wide variety of survival and primitive living skills

Rough-camped for 3 years on my BOL (described in my intro)

A well-rounded variety of homesteading skills such as cheesemaking, soapmaking, canning, fermentation (sauerkraut, other veggies), sourdough (and regular) breadmaking, butchering, water dowsing, etc.

Handsewing and fancy needlework (tatting)

Raised rabbits, chickens, turkeys, geese, goats, Catahoula Leopard dogs (hog hunting), wolves, wolfdogs, frogs, plus a variety of insects for frog food such as mealworms, crickets, etc. (could come in handy as “microlivestock” in severe SHTF, if cooked, dried and powdered before adding to broths, soups, and stews)

Survived 19 hurricanes plus countless tropical storms in deepest, darkest Louisiana; Hurricane Katrina... a whole ‘nother category all by herself, lol; a tornado plus numerous ice storms on my BOL.

...aaand I am just plain wired wrong. I will kill, skin and eat a rattlesnake (gumbo is good), but I go all to pieces trying to put an earthworm on a fishing hook. As in ick-ick-ick! I ain't touching dat worm, no! Once, my brother threatened to throw me out of the pirogue and leave me in the swamp if I asked him to bait my hook ONE more time...



There’s more, and I may edit this list later, lol. (I’d like to also mention that I don’t have a TV because I am having too much fun doing stuff like this...and have never been bored a day in my life, lol.)


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even though I have been in plumbing and HVAC most of my life there are other trades I'm pretty good at. For instance, welding, blacksmithing, cabin building, wood working, carving, gun building, wildcrafting, trapping, tanning hides, building things from cast off junk. I'm not the best but no slouch either.

 

The movie Run Silent, Run Deep came out when I was 13 or 14 and was one of my favorites. I went into the reserves while still in high school and after graduating went to the 10-week course at New London. My first boat was a Tench-Class (diesel-electric) built in 1944. I didn't realize how noisy and stinky they were, and how much it hurt my ears whenever I would go from compartment to another -- what with the changes in air pressure. I was an IC/3 and after the mandatory two years active, I went back into the reserves and started going to college. Being in the Navy was something I wouldn't have missed for anything, but I was definitely not career material. If I'd been on a nuke it might've been different....

 

Peace Corps volunteer for 2 years and that was a great learning experience on foraging, cooking and eating whatever was available.

30 years working in Natural Resources Conservation Service (Soil Conservation Service for old dogs that remember). Working with farmers, animal operations, truck cropping, and each day it teaches me just how much I don't know yet. But the information and experiences I've picked up have been tremendous. My boss is a farrier and though he's mostly retired, he loves talking about it and firing up the forge whenever he can. A tremendously useful knowledge and I'm trying to learn as much as I can.