FE Society Member Skills

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Kyle Wright

Active member
Percy Fawcett, of Lost City of Z fame, was admitted to the Royal Geographical Society in 1901 after completing a year long training program. In that training program, he became proficient in the disciplines of cartography(with a mastery of surveying), botany, geology, meteorology, anthropology, and basic first aid.

Thinking about his training prompted a question:

What skills should a Field Ethos Society member possess?
 
FBI Homicide Training
Drive Fast training
CIA INFORMAL lock picking
CSAT long range rifle training
Hostage negotiator training
Hightemp alloy and corrosion training
Six Sigma
Retired
 
?? How about a sense of adventure? An appetite for good food, good bourbon, great times shared with good friends? A "will do" attitude and an appreciation for the finest things in life, and the ability to appreciate and enjoy the simplest things?
Someone who can enjoy the journey as much as the destination? Someone with the wisdom to keep their mouth shut and their ears open when they have an opportunity to learn something new and recognize that if you look, you can learn something new from most anyone.
 
100 level course in etiquette with an emphasis on rogue tendencies

200 level course in geography with an emphasis on getting there and getting the fuck back again

300 level course in fun & adventure operations with an emphasis on creating outsized fun like an umbrellas over your companions

400 level course in risk & reward analysis with an emphasis on screw it LFG

Masters Thesis in fuckery with an accompanying summer internship at Fuckery, Incorporated
 
100 level course in etiquette with an emphasis on rogue tendencies

200 level course in geography with an emphasis on getting there and getting the fuck back again

300 level course in fun & adventure operations with an emphasis on creating outsized fun like an umbrellas over your companions

400 level course in risk & reward analysis with an emphasis on screw it LFG

Masters Thesis in fuckery with an accompanying summer internship at Fuckery, Incorporated
Where do I go to sign up for such an internship?
 
?? How about a sense of adventure? An appetite for good food, good bourbon, great times shared with good friends? A "will do" attitude and an appreciation for the finest things in life, and the ability to appreciate and enjoy the simplest things?
Someone who can enjoy the journey as much as the destination? Someone with the wisdom to keep their mouth shut and their ears open when they have an opportunity to learn something new and recognize that if you look, you can learn something new from most anyone.
Read between the lines. None of that came without true human contacts. Left out psychology and sociology degrees. Ten years as a Scout Master in high adventure troop. Ability to counsel confused fellow Christians. World travel developing successful world class HSE organization. Appreciating art and the occasional drink. Reading 100 plus books a year. I have had a full life so far. Oh yah, guiding youth hunts in Tx as well as Heart Hunter hunts. I love my journey.
 
?? How about a sense of adventure? An appetite for good food, good bourbon, great times shared with good friends? A "will do" attitude and an appreciation for the finest things in life, and the ability to appreciate and enjoy the simplest things?
Someone who can enjoy the journey as much as the destination? Someone with the wisdom to keep their mouth shut and their ears open when they have an opportunity to learn something new and recognize that if you look, you can learn something new from most anyone.
Well said!
 
Love it, and the passion!

Read between the lines. None of that came without true human contacts. Left out psychology and sociology degrees. Ten years as a Scout Master in high adventure troop. Ability to counsel confused fellow Christians. World travel developing successful world class HSE organization. Appreciating art and the occasional drink. Reading 100 plus books a year. I have had a full life so far. Oh yah, guiding youth hunts in Tx as well as Heart Hunter hunts. I love my journey.
 
I wouldn't say its specifically about skills. Skills can be learned.

At a deeper level... A strong sense of adventure - the drive that pushes you forward. A promise to yourself to always live life to the maximum level you can. Knowing how to learn and develop - learning is, itself, a skill. A development of courage.

Those internal mechanisms/attitudes are the things that really matter.

The rest comes from there.
 
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100 level course in etiquette with an emphasis on rogue tendencies

200 level course in geography with an emphasis on getting there and getting the fuck back again

300 level course in fun & adventure operations with an emphasis on creating outsized fun like an umbrellas over your companions

400 level course in risk & reward analysis with an emphasis on screw it LFG

Masters Thesis in fuckery with an accompanying summer internship at Fuckery, Incorporated
LoL 😂 when I think about the "Master's Thesis in Fuckery with a summer internship at Fuckery Inc." I can't help but think of the Executive Protection Training Program I attended at the then Blackwater Training facility in Moyock, NC... (Think of a Special Operations base on steroids).. the place had the best of everything!

At any rate we were training with a bunch of Secret Service types who, of all things, were receiving additional training to protect our then President and other politicians. (This was back when the secret service was actually competent enough to protect a president and during an incident could draw and holster their weapons competently and without looking.. not like we all watched when the attempt was made on President Trump's life by some two bit punk!) But I digress.... Back to the Exec Protection training...
A group of us SWAT guys were invited to attend the training from the PNW and as it is a close knit community a couple very close friends and respected fellow TLs from neighboring teams were also attending... My brother from another mother, we'll call him JD (because that's actually his initials and his nickname) was also attending.. JD was a Ranger in a prior life and is as solid a teammate as anyone could ask for..

We arrived in NC, and as it was part of the requirements JD and I and another TL who's name was forgotten because he never accomplished anything memorable, rented some blacked out Suburbans to use during the training..
The first afternoon (Sunday) we arrived, got showm to our barracks, settled in and that evening we wanted to go out for drinks... Being a Sunday evening in that neck of the woods the streets were basically rolled up and everything was closed.. so we drove the Suburbans into town and hit the Piggly Wiggly looking for beer.. I ended up purchasing a couple mini kegs of Heineken just for the sheer volume.. as we returned to the parking lot, there was JD, and a couple others standing on the roof of my suburban pissing down the windshield, door windows, all over the door handles, etc laughing and giggling, before jumping into their ride and squealing away... and so the fuckery began..

The next night after a long day of training, JD called me up and said that he and a group of guys from training were having pizza and beers in the barracks and would I like to join them.. I knocked on his room and everyone was sitting around enjoying pizza and drinking beers. JD had the pizza box on his lap and told me to help myself, I lifted the lid and the fucker actually had his cock in the box! All the pizza was gone... Everyone got a good laugh, but that was two...
The shenanigans continued all through the training but come the end of training we were given a scenario and being required to conduct a scout of a venue, create an operational plan, give a full brief with a dossier, etc prior to graduating. We were broken out into teams and being type A personalities the competitive nature was running high between the teams.. JD and I were on the same team and had alternated as TLs throughout the training.. JD, being the lazy fuck that he is wanted to hang out at a cozy restaurant, drinking beers and "working on the draft for the briefing/presentation" and would be our TL and giving the presentation the next morning... Everyone else wanted to ham it up the last night and drink beers too so I volunteered to go out and scout the venues and take photos for the brief, etc.

No one suspected the evil that lurked in my heart, lol 😂.

I did go out and conduct the scout and I did get excellent photos and even went above and beyond to lie to the people at the venue and got them to give me a special tour so that I got great pics inside (gold stars plural for me!)
all through the night JD was hounding me for the pics so he could add them to the brief.

That night I returned and took a hot shower to wash away the day. In the shower I worked up a chubby, a big old drumstick 🍗 and took some complimentary photos of it.. being it was my own work I took the time to make them as flattering as possible.
The next day I purposely avoided JD and the team while I downloaded the pics to a thumb drive. They all went out to breakfast and they hurried off to class, JD frantically texting and calling me wanting the scout pics.

I waited outside the building and when JD was getting called up to the podium to give his presentation to the group of about 50 special operatives I raced in acting all apologetic and gave JD the thumb drive which I had previously actually borrowed from him. I addressed the class and apologized to them all and said that I was "just putting the final touches on our scout photos on JDs personal thumb drive"..
JD inserted the thumb drive and began his presentation.
To JDs credit he looks great in a suit and gives a terrific brief, he pulled up the photos after the brief (all of which were previously renamed by me) and started going through the approach, the main entry, etc. he was really eating up the fact that we had behind the scenes photos from within the venue when all of the sudden outrageous dick picks started popping up.. he visibly became embarrassed and flustered and the whole thing went to shit.. everyone was laughing.
That night, everyone was tired after a week of drunken debauchery and Special High Intensity Training so we ordered pizza and drank copious quantities of cheap beer and packed because we all had to fly out early in the AM and we still had to turn in rental cars etc.
As usual we were drinking beers in JDs room in the barracks and when he went to the pisser I discreetly dumped several empty cartridge casings in JDs carry-on along with some live ammo. This was post 9-11 and I knew that TSA would get a bigger hard-on than I could ever muster in the shower if they caught a "Mexican" looking dude with ammo in his carry-on.
That night, when nature called, I went to my room with an empty pizza box and shit in it.. then I carried it out to JDs suburban and emptied the contents all over his windshield with a big splat. A particularly big loaf that I was proud of at the time got positioned with a stick just so and I dropped the wiper blade on it length wise, knowing that if I was JD and someone had done the same thing to me I would just turn on the wipers. If he did that in this case it was just going to smush things around real good.
The next morning, as is typical with that group everyone was running late. The guys riding with me got let in on the secret at the last minute and we were all loaded up, engine running watching..
JD and crew trotted out to their ride and instantly could smell something was off. The look of horror on his face when he realized what had happened was priceless and still brings a tear of joy to my eyes today 😂.
Of course he tried the wipers and to his dismay it made things worse!
We raced to the rental place and returned our suburban then hustled through security to our flights.
Back then I always flew armed and was certified as a Fed Air Marshal and I just couldn't sleep or drink during the flights, so I didn't have to go through the normal security routine and was allowed to board first. JD and company preferred to drink and snooze so they had to go through security like everyone else.

The rental car place wouldn't accept the vehicle with shit all over the windshield so JD had to go use their pressure washer set-up to clean it off before they would take it.

By the time he got done and ran to security he was already way late.
Security found the ammo in his carry-on and as I suspected he was detained and questioned and ultimately missed his flight.

Proving once again that he who fucks first, doesn't necessarily get the last fuck in!

Attached photo is of me (far left back) and JD to my left also back, and the rest of the sunshine band at the "Blackwater Inn" which was our barracks..
 

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These are just the skills I have used professionally, the ones I specialize in during my spare time are none of your goddamned business

(In no particular order)

  • Traditional 2D Animator (degree included)
  • Sculptor
  • Muppet Builder (professional, not just some freak on the weekends)
  • Special effects designer (traditional not CGI)
  • Camel Breaking & Training
  • Gun dog trainer
  • Sporting clays and shotgun shooting instructor
  • Horse training (young stock / show jumpers)
  • Turkey, Goose and Duck calling
  • Wild Game Chef
  • Veterinary technician
  • Licensed commercial insurance agent
  • Old School Graffiti Artist
  • Plus Sized Model
 
Do street smarts count? I have been known to talk my way out of some sketchy situations.

I can drive/pilot pretty much anything with an engine. In some cases with little to no formal training.

Chief instigator. You can say no, but you really mean yes. It’s the distance between those two points that I flourish in.

Competent shooter of all things short to long range. More of a jack of all trades, master of none.

Trip planner. Mastery of logistics and variables.

Stellar camp cook and bartender. We’re here for a good time not a long time after all.
 
@battlerattle24

Best post of 2026, period.

You gave the master class, period.

#bravo

I thought I was good at this and now am humbled and sophomoric in comparison.

Talk of you at the FE HQ water cooler was somewhat reminiscent of this very average scene from a less than average movie, albeit entertaining:



LoL 😂 when I think about the "Master's Thesis in Fuckery with a summer internship at Fuckery Inc." I can't help but think of the Executive Protection Training Program I attended at the then Blackwater Training facility in Moyock, NC... (Think of a Special Operations base on steroids).. the place had the best of everything!

At any rate we were training with a bunch of Secret Service types who, of all things, were receiving additional training to protect our then President and other politicians. (This was back when the secret service was actually competent enough to protect a president and during an incident could draw and holster their weapons competently and without looking.. not like we all watched when the attempt was made on President Trump's life by some two bit punk!) But I digress.... Back to the Exec Protection training...
A group of us SWAT guys were invited to attend the training from the PNW and as it is a close knit community a couple very close friends and respected fellow TLs from neighboring teams were also attending... My brother from another mother, we'll call him JD (because that's actually his initials and his nickname) was also attending.. JD was a Ranger in a prior life and is as solid a teammate as anyone could ask for..

We arrived in NC, and as it was part of the requirements JD and I and another TL who's name was forgotten because he never accomplished anything memorable, rented some blacked out Suburbans to use during the training..
The first afternoon (Sunday) we arrived, got showm to our barracks, settled in and that evening we wanted to go out for drinks... Being a Sunday evening in that neck of the woods the streets were basically rolled up and everything was closed.. so we drove the Suburbans into town and hit the Piggly Wiggly looking for beer.. I ended up purchasing a couple mini kegs of Heineken just for the sheer volume.. as we returned to the parking lot, there was JD, and a couple others standing on the roof of my suburban pissing down the windshield, door windows, all over the door handles, etc laughing and giggling, before jumping into their ride and squealing away... and so the fuckery began..

The next night after a long day of training, JD called me up and said that he and a group of guys from training were having pizza and beers in the barracks and would I like to join them.. I knocked on his room and everyone was sitting around enjoying pizza and drinking beers. JD had the pizza box on his lap and told me to help myself, I lifted the lid and the fucker actually had his cock in the box! All the pizza was gone... Everyone got a good laugh, but that was two...
The shenanigans continued all through the training but come the end of training we were given a scenario and being required to conduct a scout of a venue, create an operational plan, give a full brief with a dossier, etc prior to graduating. We were broken out into teams and being type A personalities the competitive nature was running high between the teams.. JD and I were on the same team and had alternated as TLs throughout the training.. JD, being the lazy fuck that he is wanted to hang out at a cozy restaurant, drinking beers and "working on the draft for the briefing/presentation" and would be our TL and giving the presentation the next morning... Everyone else wanted to ham it up the last night and drink beers too so I volunteered to go out and scout the venues and take photos for the brief, etc.

No one suspected the evil that lurked in my heart, lol 😂.

I did go out and conduct the scout and I did get excellent photos and even went above and beyond to lie to the people at the venue and got them to give me a special tour so that I got great pics inside (gold stars plural for me!)
all through the night JD was hounding me for the pics so he could add them to the brief.

That night I returned and took a hot shower to wash away the day. In the shower I worked up a chubby, a big old drumstick 🍗 and took some complimentary photos of it.. being it was my own work I took the time to make them as flattering as possible.
The next day I purposely avoided JD and the team while I downloaded the pics to a thumb drive. They all went out to breakfast and they hurried off to class, JD frantically texting and calling me wanting the scout pics.

I waited outside the building and when JD was getting called up to the podium to give his presentation to the group of about 50 special operatives I raced in acting all apologetic and gave JD the thumb drive which I had previously actually borrowed from him. I addressed the class and apologized to them all and said that I was "just putting the final touches on our scout photos on JDs personal thumb drive"..
JD inserted the thumb drive and began his presentation.
To JDs credit he looks great in a suit and gives a terrific brief, he pulled up the photos after the brief (all of which were previously renamed by me) and started going through the approach, the main entry, etc. he was really eating up the fact that we had behind the scenes photos from within the venue when all of the sudden outrageous dick picks started popping up.. he visibly became embarrassed and flustered and the whole thing went to shit.. everyone was laughing.
That night, everyone was tired after a week of drunken debauchery and Special High Intensity Training so we ordered pizza and drank copious quantities of cheap beer and packed because we all had to fly out early in the AM and we still had to turn in rental cars etc.
As usual we were drinking beers in JDs room in the barracks and when he went to the pisser I discreetly dumped several empty cartridge casings in JDs carry-on along with some live ammo. This was post 9-11 and I knew that TSA would get a bigger hard-on than I could ever muster in the shower if they caught a "Mexican" looking dude with ammo in his carry-on.
That night, when nature called, I went to my room with an empty pizza box and shit in it.. then I carried it out to JDs suburban and emptied the contents all over his windshield with a big splat. A particularly big loaf that I was proud of at the time got positioned with a stick just so and I dropped the wiper blade on it length wise, knowing that if I was JD and someone had done the same thing to me I would just turn on the wipers. If he did that in this case it was just going to smush things around real good.
The next morning, as is typical with that group everyone was running late. The guys riding with me got let in on the secret at the last minute and we were all loaded up, engine running watching..
JD and crew trotted out to their ride and instantly could smell something was off. The look of horror on his face when he realized what had happened was priceless and still brings a tear of joy to my eyes today 😂.
Of course he tried the wipers and to his dismay it made things worse!
We raced to the rental place and returned our suburban then hustled through security to our flights.
Back then I always flew armed and was certified as a Fed Air Marshal and I just couldn't sleep or drink during the flights, so I didn't have to go through the normal security routine and was allowed to board first. JD and company preferred to drink and snooze so they had to go through security like everyone else.

The rental car place wouldn't accept the vehicle with shit all over the windshield so JD had to go use their pressure washer set-up to clean it off before they would take it.

By the time he got done and ran to security he was already way late.
Security found the ammo in his carry-on and as I suspected he was detained and questioned and ultimately missed his flight.

Proving once again that he who fucks first, doesn't necessarily get the last fuck in!

Attached photo is of me (far left back) and JD to my left also back, and the rest of the sunshine band at the "Blackwater Inn" which was our barracks..
 
@battlerattle24

Best post of 2026, period.

You gave the master class, period.

#bravo

I thought I was good at this and now am humbled and sophomoric in comparison.

Talk of you at the FE HQ water cooler was somewhat reminiscent of this very average scene from a less than average movie, albeit entertaining:


LMAO 🤣 "put people over here and over here.. do not let that SOB in here!" I'm not sure that bodes well for me getting an invite to an Outrider event 😂
 
I just got the email with the "Celebs On FE" magazine covers, that there is some serious FE Society member skills on display
 

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Follow up question after reading some of these comments: What would an induction ceremony into the FE Society look like? Not the after party(I'm pretty sure we all know what would be involved there.), but the ceremony itself.
 
Follow up question after reading some of these comments: What would an induction ceremony into the FE Society look like? Not the after party(I'm pretty sure we all know what would be involved there.), but the ceremony itself.
A week long adventure Camel Trophy style. Lots of off pavement driving. Completing a local charitable project. Some shooting, freediving, fishing, hunting, boating, etc.
 
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