Resilience - Individual Skills

[Fang_Farrier]

Last week I was waiting by the fish and chip van and noticed all the satellite dishes. They point roughly South East in the UK - assuming they are Sky and looking at the Astra(?) satellites. From that you should be able to determine an approximate North.

Perhaps not very useful in built up areas, but even isolated houses and farms often have them.

We have wireless internet with the dish facing NW towards the mast.

Good luck with your navigation

 

[Yokel]

We have wireless internet with the dish facing NW towards the mast.

Good luck with your navigation

I hope I would be able to tell the the difference between different types of antenna. This is related to my Electronics/Communications background. If all all else 'XYZ Internet' might be a bit of a clue.

Good point though - attention to detail. Other people might get directional cues from moss growing on trees, frost patterns, etc.

 

[PhotEx]

I hope I would be able to tell the the difference between different types of antenna. This is related to my Electronics/Communications background. If all all else 'XYZ Internet' might be a bit of a clue.

Good point though - attention to detail. Other people might get directional cues from moss growing on trees, frost patterns, etc.

And Birds flying south, don’t forget the birds, but only in autumn.

 

[Fang_Farrier]

I hope I would be able to tell the the difference between different types of antenna. This is related to my Electronics/Communications background. If all all else 'XYZ Internet' might be a bit of a clue.

Good point though - attention to detail. Other people might get directional cues from moss growing on trees, frost patterns, etc.

The moss on trees can also be misleading. Can be affected by prevailing winds.

And some ancient forests, where every side is covered!

 

[Yokel]

The moss on trees can also be misleading. Can be affected by prevailing winds.

And some ancient forests, where every side is covered!

My late Uncle once told me about the evasion and survival training he received as RAF aircrew during the Second World War. He told me that he was team up with another guy who new about the moss.

The sun/stick/shadow show on this film needs practice:

 

[Yokel]

On YouTube I found an old family safety video made by the BBC 999 team in conjunction with various other bodies and organisations.










1. SAFETY AT HOME
2. FIRST AID AT HOME
3. BLEEDING
4. FOOD SAFETY
5. HOW TO CHOOSE A BABY SITTER
6. PLAYING SAFE
7. PROTECTIVE CLOTHING
8. FIREWORK SAFETY
9. BURNS AND SCALDS
10. HOTEL FIRE ESCAPE PLAN
11. SAFETY OUTDOORS
12. FIRST AID OUTDOORS
13. RIVER AND CANAL SAFETY
14. FALLING OVERBOARD
15. BEACH SAFETY
16. DEALING WITH STINGS
17. CALLING 999
18. DIALLING 999 ON A MOBILE PHONE
19. HIDDEN MEDICAL CONDITIONS
20. CHOKING
21. HEART ATTACK
22. STROKE
23. RECOVERY POSITION
24. MENINGITIS
25. HOW TO BECOME A DONER
26. KILL YOUR SPEED
27. MOTORWAY SAFETY
28. CAR CHILD SEATS
29. HORSE SAFETY ON THE ROAD
30. ESCAPE FROM A SINKING CAR
31. SURVIVAL IN SNOW

 

[Ravers]

On YouTube I found an old family safety video made by the BBC 999 team in conjunction with various other bodies and organisations.










1. SAFETY AT HOME
2. FIRST AID AT HOME
3. BLEEDING
4. FOOD SAFETY
5. HOW TO CHOOSE A BABY SITTER
6. PLAYING SAFE
7. PROTECTIVE CLOTHING
8. FIREWORK SAFETY
9. BURNS AND SCALDS
10. HOTEL FIRE ESCAPE PLAN
11. SAFETY OUTDOORS
12. FIRST AID OUTDOORS
13. RIVER AND CANAL SAFETY
14. FALLING OVERBOARD
15. BEACH SAFETY
16. DEALING WITH STINGS
17. CALLING 999
18. DIALLING 999 ON A MOBILE PHONE
19. HIDDEN MEDICAL CONDITIONS
20. CHOKING
21. HEART ATTACK
22. STROKE
23. RECOVERY POSITION
24. MENINGITIS
25. HOW TO BECOME A DONER
26. KILL YOUR SPEED
27. MOTORWAY SAFETY
28. CAR CHILD SEATS
29. HORSE SAFETY ON THE ROAD
30. ESCAPE FROM A SINKING CAR
31. SURVIVAL IN SNOW

I can’t remember if it’s been mentioned but there used to be a place near Milton Keynes called Hazard Ally.

Pretty cool place where they used to take school children and scare them into not playing on railways, motorways and houses with dodgy wiring.

It was actually quite good and covered a lot of the points in your post. It was a big warehouse containing a mock up of a railway tunnel, some roads and a house.

I seem to recall having to go into the house and identify hazards which included broken glass, dodgy steps and sparking wires hanging out of plug sockets.

The main thing that sticks out was the railway. They chucked a football onto the tracks in front of a tunnel entrance and dared us to go and get it. Me and another kid volunteered, our reckoning being that if you couldn’t see or hear a train then you’d be ok.

As soon as we stepped onto the tracks a train was lit up inside the tunnel and we got blasted with the horn at full volume. Obviously it wasn’t real but it still shit us all up good and proper.

 

[CivvyPete]

I can’t remember if it’s been mentioned but there used to be a place near Milton Keynes called Hazard Ally.

Pretty cool place where they used to take school children and scare them into not playing on railways, motorways and houses with dodgy wiring.

It was actually quite good and covered a lot of the points in your post. It was a big warehouse containing a mock up of a railway tunnel, some roads and a house.

I seem to recall having to go into the house and identify hazards which included broken glass, dodgy steps and sparking wires hanging out of plug sockets.

The main thing that sticks out was the railway. They chucked a football onto the tracks in front of a tunnel entrance and dared us to go and get it. Me and another kid volunteered, our reckoning being that if you couldn’t see or hear a train then you’d be ok.

As soon as we stepped onto the tracks a train was lit up inside the tunnel and we got blasted with the horn at full volume. Obviously it wasn’t real but it still shit us all up good and proper.

We need more of those places. Complete with mocked up scenes of RTA's between motor cars and mopeds/cycles showing crushed skulls for helmetless cyclists, unrestrained motorists smashing through windscreens, and some sound effects of the impact.
We live in a relatively safe place, where most children are insulated from most of the nasties life can throw up (which is good) - but they need reminding of what can go wrong.
Oh, and throw in some before-and-after pictures of class A drug users too.

 

[Yokel]

The main thing that sticks out was the railway. They chucked a football onto the tracks in front of a tunnel entrance and dared us to go and get it. Me and another kid volunteered, our reckoning being that if you couldn’t see or hear a train then you’d be ok.

As soon as we stepped onto the tracks a train was lit up inside the tunnel and we got blasted with the horn at full volume. Obviously it wasn’t real but it still shit us all up good and proper.

What life lessons did you learn? Never go onto a railway line unless authorised, and never wear light coloured trousers?

I am sure it was you that mentioned that a lot of health and safety could be taught in schools. I seem to remember PSHE lessons and most of it fits in with that. I remember the Police giving talks on things like personal safety, road safety, and first aid - do they still do that? I remember a train driver giving us a talk on not playing chicken with trains, and someone from the electricity board gave a talk on the dangers of overhead lines and sub stations.

999 would probably been preceded by trigger warnings now.

 

[CivvyPete]

What life lessons did you learn? Never go onto a railway line unless authorised, and never wear light coloured trousers?

I am sure it was you that mentioned that a lot of health and safety could be taught in schools. I seem to remember PSHE lessons and most of it fits in with that. I remember the Police giving talks on things like personal safety, road safety, and first aid - do they still do that? I remember a train driver giving us a talk on not playing chicken with trains, and someone from the electricity board gave a talk on the dangers of overhead lines and sub stations.

999 would probably been preceded by trigger warnings now.

Sounds like you had a good education. From what I hear, PSHE, or PHSE (it seems to keep changing) has such an enormous range of compulsory content, so doing anything well tends to be replaced by box ticking.

 

[solomon88]

......I remember a train driver giving us a talk on not playing chicken with trains, and someone from the electricity board gave a talk on the dangers of overhead lines and sub stations.

999 would probably been preceded by trigger warnings now.

Some railway safety films for school kids were mentioned on Arrse not too long ago, horrendous stuff. As you suggest, I don't think they'd acceptable today.

 

[Ravers]

Some railway safety films for school kids were mentioned on Arrse not too long ago, horrendous stuff. As you suggest, I don't think they'd acceptable today.

Slightly off thread but I never needed any reminders of the dangers of playing near railway lines.

We used to live on a pretty shitty council estate near Kentish Town that had the main line to Euston going through it.

A kid who lived 3 or 4 doors down from me was severely brain damaged and in an electric wheelchair.

He’d been ******* around with a roll of tape out of a video cassette and chucked it out of a tree and onto the overhead power lines. The tape is magnetic and obviously conducts electricity rather well.

He was blown out of the tree and his brain turned to jelly.

We never went near those train tracks.

 

[Yokel]

Slightly off thread but I never needed any reminders of the dangers of playing near railway lines.

We used to live on a pretty shitty council estate near Kentish Town that had the main line to Euston going through it.

A kid who lived 3 or 4 doors down from me was severely brain damaged and in an electric wheelchair.

He’d been ******* around with a roll of tape out of a video cassette and chucked it out of a tree and onto the overhead power lines. The tape is magnetic and obviously conducts electricity rather well.

He was blown out of the tree and his brain turned to jelly.

We never went near those train tracks.

What were you like an understanding other risks? In the (not that long ago) old days growing up involved things like falling off things and getting cuts and scrapes, school friends getting broken bones and so on, and you would hear the grisly stories. You got the message that actions have consequences. Do kids still learn about cause and (negative) effect?

When he was a maintenance electrician, my father would despair at people who put their hands inside live three phase equipment to try to fix it, and got shocked.

 

[Ravers]

What were you like an understanding other risks? In the (not that long ago) old days growing up involved things like falling off things and getting cuts and scrapes, school friends getting broken bones and so on, and you would hear the grisly stories. You got the message that actions have consequences. Do kids still learn about cause and (negative) effect?

When he was a maintenance electrician, my father would despair at people who put their hands inside live three phase equipment to try to fix it, and got shocked.

Until I joined the RN and received formal training I didn’t have a clue. I was invincible.

When I was 10 we moved to Tring in Hertfordshire and I spent the years until I was 16 playing on the abandoned Castle Cement works at Pitstone. Imagine the most inhospitable and dangerous place for a bunch of children to play (a large industrial building site), then throw in some chemically polluted quarries that we swam in, underwater machinery to get caught on, stolen motorbikes to lose limbs on, a range of weaponry including air rifles and IEDs and condemned buildings to run around in with smashed glass and dead pigeons everywhere.

Literally the only thing that could’ve made that place more dangerous was if they’d chucked some nuclear waste into the mix.

I’m amazed any of my mates reached adulthood.

 

[Ryder02]

Last week I was waiting by the fish and chip van and noticed all the satellite dishes. They point roughly South East in the UK - assuming they are Sky and looking at the Astra(?) satellites. From that you should be able to determine an approximate North.

Perhaps not very useful in built up areas, but even isolated houses and farms often have them.

After we did Toubkal our group had the day in Marrakech - after a bit of geographical embarrassment finding our way around and reading the poor quality tourist map I pointed this out. The look of stunned amazement on the others faces was like I had just invented fire.

 

[Yokel]

Until I joined the RN and received formal training I didn’t have a clue. I was invincible.

When I was 10 we moved to Tring in Hertfordshire and I spent the years until I was 16 playing on the abandoned Castle Cement works at Pitstone. Imagine the most inhospitable and dangerous place for a bunch of children to play (a large industrial building site), then throw in some chemically polluted quarries that we swam in, underwater machinery to get caught on, stolen motorbikes to lose limbs on, a range of weaponry including air rifles and IEDs and condemned buildings to run around in with smashed glass and dead pigeons everywhere.

Literally the only thing that could’ve made that place more dangerous was if they’d chucked some nuclear waste into the mix.

I’m amazed any of my mates reached adulthood.

Did being in the cadets help with understanding dangers?

I remember being a school, long before things like PAT testing, and being told off for refusing to use something (cannot remember what) that needed plugging into the mains electricity, but had loose cables and exposed copper just outside the plug. Mind you, the school was also surprised when kids fell into a hole that suddenly appeared in a path without being fenced off.

 

[Yokel]

US Naval Institute Blog: A Navy Auxiliary for Navy Veterans

We are Navy veterans, a force of several million MacGyvers.

“Forehandedness.”

We love “gear.”

And we know how to organize work.

Withering critics of bad management, foolishness, and pretension.

And we are sitting around enjoying our civilian lives with no way to connect with that mystic brotherhood of veteran shipmates and sailors on active duty. Everyone has an alumni association—except us. We are too hard-wired for purposeful activity to endure social events with veterans of all the armed forces. Nor are all of us interested in “projecting sea power,” and other such lobbying efforts. There does exist a magnificent alternative, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, to which I belong. Fine. But I want to work with other Navy veterans for the common purpose of serving the Navy. Yes, it is possible to serve two masters.

What I have in mind is Navy veterans whose primary mission is helping the Navy recruit—telling the Navy story to young people. A secondary mission would be to extend a helping hand to active-duty members who have concerns and needs beyond their immediate family—the enlisted sailor worried that her grandmother will have heating bills paid this winter or asking someone to look in on her. We also could extend our hand to Navy veterans experiencing difficulties, emotional and otherwise. A third mission would be to be ready to assist local first responders‚ training in ICS (Incident Command System), or, in some cases, having unique gear to provide (think of the Cajun Navy, as an example).