Maybe you had a good :rofl: reading that, as I'm sure getting plenty of guff from family and friends... (its ok, sometimes I have to laugh at myself too) I can understand the teasing about the "bugout bag" and the recent collecting of Edible/Medicinal plant books. They may never come in handy and I hope thats the case, but in this instance its not only useful if SHTF. As a child I grew up on the corner of a lightless intersection where a country backroad crossed a downhill stretch of RT-1 where cars would often reach 60 mph. In 10 years I witnessed a handful of bad accidents where I believe lives were saved due to the fact that my neighbors included a married pair of EMT's, a nurse, and even a police dispatcher! Being that it was a small town and medical response was a bit slower then you would find elsewhere, I'm sure they attributed to keeping the victims alive until responders arrived.
There's a good chance of other instances in life where I may witness an accident whether it be job related, car crash, or other. If I could help save a life, the course would have more then payed for itself in my book! Maybe a little write up about it in the local paper, something I could shove in my fiancee's face while I shout "Waste of money!?! Obsessive paranoid behavior?!? HA!" Not necessary, but would be a nice bonus along with some possible get into heaven points... I'm not crazy, I swear! :wacko:
In my exceptionally humble opinion it's never a bad idea to have some lifesaving training.
Knowing Basic Life Saving skills is just a good idea, whether the doo doo is going to hit the fan or not.
That being said, the reason I went to my EMT class is because I'm a firearms instructor and my insurance premiums go down a little if there is a trained EMT on site for every class.
That being said, the amount of information I got on treating GSW vs everything else was about a ratio of 3:691. But now that I'm 3/4 through my class and into my ride time I'm really enjoying EMS much more than I thought I would. My plan was not to make it a career but now I'm definitely thinking I will stick in it for a little while longer. A lot of things have just clicked for me. I'm enjoying what I'm doing and I'm doing it well (so far).
But I do agree that if you are looking for just survival information an EMT class is really not what you're looking for. As stated, it is all geared toward keeping someone alive or stable long enough to get them to someone who knows more than you and has more options than you. If you are in a societal collapse kind of a situation you would be doing things a lot differently.
There are some great books out there on treatment and "being your own doctor." There's a whole series of books called, "Where there is no doctor" and I've read the "Where there is no Dentist" and "Where Women Have No Doctor." Very good books considering the issues both scenarios present.
When it comes to post-societal medicine it's not the trauma and the gunshot wounds that are going to kill people on a mass scale (though it will help, certainly), it's the tooth infections because no one knows how to keep their mouths healthy when the toothpaste runs out, contaminated food due to lack of refrigeration, staff infections from poorly cleaned cuts on people who've never had to do hard labor before. Disease from people who defecate or dump their waste too closely to their food/water supplies or don't know how to clean themselves when the hand sanitizer and soap run out. Or disease from eating meat or products of animals who are infected because there is no vet and you can't tell your goat or cow you get your milk from is sick. People with asthma and heart disease who can't get their meds. Women who are pregnant (or get pregnant) and no one knows how deliver a breech baby or twins without a scalpel and an epidural. Newborn babies when women can't figure out what to do when they have breastfeeding issues and there is no baby formula. Common infections when there are no more antibiotics. A return of diseases previously eradicated by vaccines once those vaccines run out. Lack of food and water in winter months. Heat and dehydration in summer months. Lack of certain nutrients from a diet that consists of only what is available... they don't teach you ANY of that stuff in an EMT class or even in med school and if that's what you're looking for you'd best start researching each of those topics individually.
Where/how do you dig an outhouse? How do you store/preserve food where there is no electricity? How to harvest and store ice for an entire summer. Canning/preserving.. building a wood burning oven.. making bread from scratch.. milking a cow (or goat).. raising chicks, pigs, cows... slaughtering chickens, swine, cattle... preserving milk in things cream, butter and cheese (and believe me, making cheese is no picnic but it's one of the best ways to preserve milk for at least a little longer because fresh-from-the-cow milk with no refrigeration goes bad pretty quickly).. planting a garden.. preserving seeds from a harvest for planting the next season... protecting young plants from frost... collecting and storing water for both drinking and bathing.. making soap... natural antibiotics, antifungals, etc. wound CLEANING!! and bandaging where no alcohol and peroxide are available. And so much more.
In a true end of society situation your store bought bug out bags are only going to last you so long. If you don't have the skills and knowledge addressed above you'll likely only live as long as your supply provides.
I don't think you can really go wrong with EMT training but from the sounds of it it's not really what you are looking for.
You really want some real-world experience.. go volunteer at your local (or not so local) living history farms where they teach a good deal of the skills I mentioned above.
good luck.
