OB Approved Two is One, One is None Rule

[DzrtShamrock]

For that, I've found it really helpful to "knoll" my kit out. Something like this. A few times a year, I'll Take all my stuff out, spread it out on a tarp or something, and go through each and every thing and ask myself if I still need it, or if that space could be better used for something else. Things naturally get misplaced or lost, and this also helps you identify when that happens too.

That's a great idea. Not only does that give you the opportunity to evaluate, I would imagine that it also be a good opportunity to evaluate the condition of the gear for either repairs or replacement. I have a load plan in the back of my vehicle showing where everything is. I would imagine that doing a layout occasionally would be a good way to make sure it all goes back where it's supposed to be. I don't know about the rest of you guys but my stuff seems to migrate sometimes.

 

[64Trvlr]

Having had a lengthy career in law enforcement and spent many years exploring, backpacking and vehicle dependent travel, I have found the the two is one, one is none rule to apply more often than not.

If you were never in the military or first responder you may not have heard this saying before.

What does Two is one, one is none mean?
Basically you have more than one way to accomplish a task.

The reality is one option may fail or may be ineffective for the task at hand.

Having been in the military, Feds, Search & Rescue, teaching survival and orienteering and just knocking around for a half a century I agree with the saying "two is one and one is none" completely.

I noticed some in this thread have thought it to death or made something out of nothing totally missing the point you tried to make.

I have redundant ways to do things that I feel are important to my safety, survival or comfort.

I have at least 5 ways to start a fire, 5 ways to put one out, many ways to communicate a cell phone (mostly useless off road where I live), CB, GMRS/FRS and Ham, a hatchet and axe along with 3-4 sharp knives, a shovel, 2 jacks, food for me and Sam, 4-5 working flashlights AND spare batteries, a winch and stuff it needs to go with it, ways to stay warm, ways to stay dry, ways to protect myself and those with me AND lots of water. If I break down, get stuck or hurt I can go for quite a while with little to no food but depending on the time of the year only a day to maybe 3 with no water.

But most importantly I have the knowledge that I can take care of myself and get out of things happening to me. That knowledge came from my experience or inexperience depending on how you see it, from those who knew teaching or showing me how to do it, reading about it then practicing it on a nice, warm, sunny day where I had a lot of time to practice.

I see people talking about all the stuff they have but not a word about figuring out how to use it when needed or how to set something up. The time to learn and practice is on a nice day with NO stress or need to get going where you can practice staying calm, looking at the problem and thinking out a way to help yourself. It's NOT when you're lost in the middle of the night stuck in hub deep mud in the rain on the side of a hill with a panicky partner screaming in the background.

Unless end of life is imminent or loss of your vehicle is certain, stop and take a minute or two to look and think.

Take a few deep breaths and look around at what happened and where you are, then consider what you have with you that will help get you stop things from getting worse and get you on your way. Then think over how best to take care of the problem and slowly start working towards getting things under control so you can get on your way.

 

[DzrtShamrock]

Having been in the military, Feds, Search & Rescue, teaching survival and orienteering and just knocking around for a half a century I agree with the saying "two is one and one is none" completely.

I noticed some in this thread have thought it to death or made something out of nothing totally missing the point you tried to make.

I have redundant ways to do things that I feel are important to my safety, survival or comfort.

I have at least 5 ways to start a fire, 5 ways to put one out, many ways to communicate a cell phone (mostly useless off road where I live), CB, GMRS/FRS and Ham, a hatchet and axe along with 3-4 sharp knives, a shovel, 2 jacks, food for me and Sam, 4-5 working flashlights AND spare batteries, a winch and stuff it needs to go with it, ways to stay warm, ways to stay dry, ways to protect myself and those with me AND lots of water. If I break down, get stuck or hurt I can go for quite a while with little to no food but depending on the time of the year only a day to maybe 3 with no water.

But most importantly I have the knowledge that I can take care of myself and get out of things happening to me. That knowledge came from my experience or inexperience depending on how you see it, from those who knew teaching or showing me how to do it, reading about it then practicing it on a nice, warm, sunny day where I had a lot of time to practice.

I see people talking about all the stuff they have but not a word about figuring out how to use it when needed or how to set something up. The time to learn and practice is on a nice day with NO stress or need to get going where you can practice staying calm, looking at the problem and thinking out a way to help yourself. It's NOT when you're lost in the middle of the night stuck in hub deep mud in the rain on the side of a hill with a panicky partner screaming in the background.

Unless end of life is imminent or loss of your vehicle is certain, stop and take a minute or two to look and think.

Take a few deep breaths and look around at what happened and where you are, then consider what you have with you that will help get you stop things from getting worse and get you on your way. Then think over how best to take care of the problem and slowly start working towards getting things under control so you can get on your way.

That's a great point as well. It's easy to accumulate gear. But if we don't know how to use it then it's not much use to us and might even result in harm. Along with that I think is that keeping up with perishable skills. Just because we took a class once, or got really good at it a while back doesn't mean we don't need practice. And if it has been a while, maybe we need to think about a dry run or two before going out.

 

[Relic6.3]

It was a pleasure sitting in on your classes at MOORE this past weekend. I took plenty of notes and will be working them into my kits in the coming days. This article is just another bit of information to make our overlanding experience that much better.

 

[Paris0514]

It was a pleasure sitting in on your classes at MOORE this past weekend. I took plenty of notes and will be working them into my kits in the coming days. This article is just another bit of information to make our overlanding experience that much better.

So glad you were able to attend. If you should need anything feel free to reach out.

 

[Billiebob]

I follow the conversation and concept but am saddened by where it leads. i go the exact opposite way. i have booster cables, not a booster pak. I have a winch, I have never "needed" it. Rather than a cell phone, I let a few people know my route and call in when possible. Redundancy I hate. I travel light, the same way I ran cross country and climbed mountains. I have a 12V cooler, Not a 12V cooler plus an ice box. I have a flaslight and a headlight, not 2 of each. I carry plenty of water for a few days but if shit happens that could last weeks.

Communications? Daily checking in with freinds tracking my progress. Maps, they are printed on paper and never fail. Even when the truck burns, if the map is in the trailer it works as I hike out.

So sad, the way we think redundancy or technology will save us....... altho yes it might.... I prefer to rely on my own resources. And being smart enough to survive with 100 year old technology.

remember this photo....

 

[RustyFJ80]

As soon as I saw the thread title I figured it was a LEO. They preached that in the academy. I too find that rule applies to many aspects, especially anything dealing with outdoors.

 

[Billiebob]

I went to seminar on Avalanche Safety 35 years ago run by the guy who invented Heliskiing. Everyone, 1000 of us expected wisdom. Hans opened his presentaion with "If it is snowing, look for level ground. An avalanche WILL happen. Then he went into all the "technogy" to save us. Like backpacks with airbags to explode on sound of the crack of an avalanche..... and suddenly people are pushed out of the gondola...... His talk in 1985 focused me on what counts, just the basics, technology will kill you. Hans Moser, Canadian Mountain Holidays, the father of Heliskiing.

Here is a great book about a man who lead an incredible, adventurous life with no vision of grandeur. An incredible inspiration.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

As soon as I saw the thread title I figured it was a LEO. They preached that in the academy. I too find that rule applies to many aspects, especially anything dealing with outdoors.

What is LEO (Last Environmental Opportunity) duuuuuuua, too many abbreviations in forum I don't know ! I'm an old fart and not very worldly. My circle of friends speak english not abbreviations. The ham guys post gibberish to me and I learn nothing from their conversations. To all who read this, Please help by spelling things out :-)

 

[drrobinson]

What is LEO (Last Environmental Opportunity) duuuuuuua, too many abbreviations in forum I don't know ! I'm an old fart and not very worldly. My circle of friends speak english not abbreviations. The ham guys post gibberish to me and I learn nothing from their conversations. To all who read this, Please help by spelling things out :-)

Excellent point, we all assume to much some times.

For what it’s worth, LEO is Law Enforcement Officer [emoji57]

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Excellent point, we all assume to much some times.

For what it’s worth, LEO is Law Enforcement Officer [emoji57]

Thank you, my guess wasn't even close. :-)

 

[The other Sean]

But most importantly I have the knowledge that I can take care of myself and get out of things happening to me. That knowledge came from my experience or inexperience depending on how you see it, from those who knew teaching or showing me how to do it, reading about it then practicing it on a nice, warm, sunny day where I had a lot of time to practice.

I see people talking about all the stuff they have but not a word about figuring out how to use it when needed or how to set something up. The time to learn and practice is on a nice day with NO stress or need to get going where you can practice staying calm, looking at the problem and thinking out a way to help yourself. It's NOT when you're lost in the middle of the night stuck in hub deep mud in the rain on the side of a hill with a panicky partner screaming in the background.

One thing almost never mentioned is making sure everyone in your party knows how everything operates. This also plays in to the one is none thing. if only you know how to operate thing.... My wife hates it, but I have shown her things over and over so she knows in the event I'm Incapacitated for some reason. I've explained to her how you don't always have cell service, I'll leave my 2 meter radio set to the nearest repeater and have shown her the basic operation so she is able to attempt to call out. I have shown her how the mapping on the tablet works so she can get a GPS coordinate and I always show her where we are on a paper map. My Son is only 1.5 years old, but as he gets older, I'm going to teach him all these things.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

One thing almost never mentioned is making sure everyone in your party knows how everything operates. This also plays in to the one is none thing. if only you know how to operate thing.... My wife hates it, but I have shown her things over and over so she knows in the event I'm Incapacitated for some reason. I've explained to her how you don't always have cell service, I'll leave my 2 meter radio set to the nearest repeater and have shown her the basic operation so she is able to attempt to call out. I have shown her how the mapping on the tablet works so she can get a GPS coordinate and I always show her where we are on a paper map. My Son is only 1.5 years old, but as he gets older, I'm going to teach him all these things.

I really hate to say this but I hardly learned anything from my father. He was a good man but didn't have much time for his family. The weird thing is that it was a great lady and mother of my best friend who started me on my path to knowledge. She was my cub scout den mother. She knew how to do almost everything and loved teaching her boys (12 of us) everything in the boy scout manuals and then some. She taught me Morse code when I was nine years old among other things like being patriotic, honest, loyal, of good behavior, manners, proper speech so I didn't sound like a hick as she put it, and many ways of being manly in my ways. She instilled curiosity and desire to learn everything I could in order to be a well rounded human being. I loved that woman as much as my own mother and envied my best friend for having a mother like her.

 

[DzrtShamrock]

One thing almost never mentioned is making sure everyone in your party knows how everything operates. This also plays in to the one is none thing. if only you know how to operate thing.... My wife hates it, but I have shown her things over and over so she knows in the event I'm Incapacitated for some reason. I've explained to her how you don't always have cell service, I'll leave my 2 meter radio set to the nearest repeater and have shown her the basic operation so she is able to attempt to call out. I have shown her how the mapping on the tablet works so she can get a GPS coordinate and I always show her where we are on a paper map. My Son is only 1.5 years old, but as he gets older, I'm going to teach him all these things.

I think it goes beyond even the idea of being incapacitated. What if you're just away? Or you're so occupied with something that you CAN'T get over to do it yourself? For example, several people laughed at me because I put a load plan reference in the back of my vehicle with a list of all the recovery kit I have stored back there and a diagram of where it's at. In the event someone not familiar with the rig needs something back there, they know where to look.
There are a number of approaches I've seen for cross-loading capability (which could be skillset/knowledge or equipment). One is that everyone has a form of it, two is to divide up the total capabilities required among the group, and a third is a hybrid where everyone has certain fundamental capabilities but then each person/rig has additional skills/equipment for the use of the group.
One challenge I've found is that unless we have the motivation to learn something, it's going to be a slow and difficult process - and may never happen.

 

[GreyMudder]

I am a great fan of planning and being prepared. But I also understand the likelihood of requirement based on knowledge of the quality of your rig, gear and most of all your sense of risk. I never wheel alone and gear my rig for our personal safety first . While I cannot plan for every contingency, I can certainly be prepared to handle the most likely scenarios. When wheeling I will winch when the trail is beyond my or the rigs capabilities, as we say in the Canadian army, "Use your fucking brains, Son"

Good topic..