When you hear the words “survival training”, what comes to mind? Depending on your background, personal experience, and imagination your answer might be vastly different from mine. Some of us imagine a regional disaster – such as a flood, hurricane, or governmental collapse – that cuts us off from civilization as we know it. Others think of getting turned around in the thick bushes and trees of the wild, lost in a vast and intimidating wilderness. Still others think about the type of training accompanying various types of military service and unless they plan to join do not give it much more thought.

The good news is that no matter what your survival skill level current is, you can find many local and national classes that can bolster you with training. No one school program will provide you with every skill you need to learn. Instead, taking a variety of classes from different schools can teach you how to survive in different environments.

For example, survival training is offered by the Wilderness Survival Institute in Colorado. This course focuses on safety survival education. The idea of the courses offered at the Wilderness Survival Institute is to teach individuals how to survive in various environments. Colorado has harsh winters, making it an ideal location to teach winter survival skills and strategies. They educate students about practical skills, but also focus on proper psychological strategies.

The Ancient Pathways Outdoor Survival School in Arizona has been delivering primitive survival skill and wilderness skill training since 1989. Not only do they offer superior survival training, but they also offer both short courses and detailed courses. They can teach you how to survive with a knife, how to handle freezing temperatures, and what to do in the blistering heat of direct sun for hours at a time. Programs last about three to four days and can be customized to incorporate the skills you want to learn.

The Boulder Outdoor Survival School in Utah offers field sources throughout remote mountainous locations. They pride themselves in teaching both hiking and rock climbing skills, friction fire lighting, supply gathering in the wilderness, and meal preparations using primitive sources. They have been teaching outdoor lovers practical and detailed survival skills since 1968.

Choosing proper survival training involves understanding what you need to know. Safety techniques, wilderness survival training, primitive living skills, and medical training are all vital courses to look into completing. These skills will benefit you in a variety of sudden survival situations. Most courses last for a period three days to approximately one month, and some include real tests of the abilities you learn. Most schools are in remote locations throughout the United States and teach with a hands-on approach using realistic environmental settings.

Common sense will only carry you so far in a life and death situation. Honed and perfected skills are needed for prolonged and efficient survival. It may seem like an odd type of training to invest in, but survival training can mean the difference between living and dying.