Required Skills

[Not_Yet_Prepped]

I have decided that no one person can learn everything that a family would need know for long term STHF. Nor can you buy enough stuff for an extended loss of outside support. So instead you need a support network of people with skills and equipment.

Skills vs Stuff debate… I think you need both but to me Skills in Long Term is more important than stuff. You will eventually use up/break/loss stuff but if you have skills and use them then you are only increasing your abilities.

So if you had a large extended family or very close group, what skills/knowledge would you put on the must learn list. Like a delegation of tasks... (I am very lucky to have 2 brothers and 7 very close cousins whom I consider bothers/sisters and would trust my life to)… So between the 10 of us and our families we have small community (about 30 or so) that creates many hands to accomplish a lot of work… But it also creates a lot of mouths to feed. So it would be nice if we could take each job/task and assign it to someone in the group to learn/master so that we can create a small capable “village” in a SHTF event.

But what jobs do you need to fill for a small community to thrive:


This list is EDITED to stay up to date with the suggestions:

Carpenter ("Old School")
Doctor (Herbal Medicine due to lack of Modern Drugs)
Nurse
Hunter/Trapper (Acquire and Process Game/Meat)
Gardner
Gather (Edible Plants and Herbal Medicine)
Mechanic (Hand Water Pumps, Bicycle repair, etc)
Radio Operator (Communications Use/Repair)
"Ranch Hand" (Train/Maintain/Breed Farm Animals)
Tinker-er (Not sure if you can learn this or is it just in ones nature)
Soap Maker (For Trade and personal hygiene)
Metal Worker (Welder/Ferrier)
Tradesman (Something for barter for things you want/need)
Seamstress
Cheese Maker
Canner (Can and Dehydrate food)
Cobbler (Shoe Repair and General Leather Work)

What type of Skills for trade would you suggest?
What other skills would you suggest?

Thanks for your time:

[Hawk_308]

Im all but 2 of those skills listed all to varying degrees . I think an old school carpenter would come in handy and a tinkerer (inventor) also would be a nice assets . The mechanic , carpenter and tinkerer working together could go a long ways in making things easier . Then it wouldn't be a bad to have someone around with some combat experience particularly on small scale combat and defense .Also Labor , it sounds bad but you need people who know how to work , simple as it sounds it isnt .

[Jeep]

2 nurses to support the doctor, other skills include armorer for weapons repair and reloading, fisherman for those along large rivers or coast, electronics for Ham radio and shortwave radio listening, someone who adapt at teaching kids where they are a teacher or not. Kids will still need education. Animal husbandry to take care of farm animals for food and plowing the fields.

[Not_Yet_Prepped]

Hawk, Thanks for the suggestions... Most of my Family has worked in the "Trades" (Framing to Roofing to Cabinets to Stone Tops) so I did not list a Carpenter... But it defiantly needed and also may need a more Advanced Training because access to Modern nails, screws, glue and equipment will be limited at best... Very good. And Labor, I just hope people relearn to work hard quickly.

Jeep,
Nurses... I had not thought about that, and communications I had not put that on my list but it should be there and the Animal husbandry had not thought about that before but needed as well.

Carpenter ("Old School")
Doctor (Herbal Medicine due to lack of Modern Drugs)
Nurse
Hunter/Trapper
Gardner
Gather (Edible Plants and Herbal Medicine)
Mechanic (Hand Water Pumps, Bicycle repair, etc)
Radio Operator (Communications Use/Repair)
"Ranch Hand" (Train/Maintain/Breed Farm Animals)
Tinker-er (Not sure if you can learn this or is it just in ones nature)
Soap Maker (For Trade and personal hygiene)
Tradesman (Something for barter for things you want/need)

[barfife]

Add a welder or farrier, someone to work in metal, metal fabrication metal repairs. Also someone with a knowledge of canning and or dehydrating for food storage.

[MustangGal]

Cheese making
Butchering
Sewing

[Not_Yet_Prepped]

Barfife,

Thanks great ideas, both are added

MustangGal,
Great suggests too and added them

[MustangGal]

Maybe someone skilled in leather work, from tanning to fabrication. Shoes, or the lack of, may be a serious issue.

[1Admin]

Maybe someone skilled in leather work, from tanning to fabrication. Shoes, or the lack of, may be a serious issue.

You ain't kidding! We make it a habit to not throw out virtually any pair of old shoes or boots unless they are greatly compromised in integrity. I watch ebay, surplus stores, etc. for cheap boots also.

[Not_Yet_Prepped]

Shoes if worn everyday for hard walking dont last long at all...
I would think Shoes in Long Term SHTF would be great tradable items.

[P2L]

Paramedic should be added, most nurses and doctors are not used to dealing with emergency situations, nor have much experience outside of a doctors office or hospital, where as a paramedic does this everyday in all sorts of places and under all sorts of conditions.

[Hawk_308]

Paramedic should be added, most nurses and doctors are not used to dealing with emergency situations, nor have much experience outside of a doctors office or hospital, where as a paramedic does this everyday in all sorts of places and under all sorts of conditions.

Very true , I rather have 2 EMTs over 2 nurses if I already had a doctor , or one of each. My best frien and his wife are both EMTs and firefighters

[thedreamers]

Not to be funny. What about a brew master? They can make spirits and wines and brews that are tradeable and some if distiled right can be used as a fuel or weapon. All would be helpful.

[WiseOwl]

What about a common sense thinker? Someone that not only can analyze and come up with rational decisions, but can make decisions under pressure. Someone to be the branch to other groups and someone to basically be the "general manager", not the leader of the outfit but the leader of the decisions committee?


Also, maybe a teacher to teach the children so they dont grow up dummies!

[Blowmax10]

Not to be funny. What about a brew master? They can make spirits and wines and brews that are tradeable and some if distiled right can be used as a fuel or weapon. All would be helpful.

Brewmaster??

That would be me