september 2009.
to whom it may concern,
teaching survival skills has been my passion and my profession for a very long time. I take this lifestyle choice seriously and strive to give the very best training to my students both in and out of the field. I live my profession, and continuously refine my self-reliant homestead to embody the most effective combination of ancient and modern technologies designed to do more with less. I am acutely aware that my training may some day help decide a student’s fate during a real survival scenario. Unfortunately, even many so-called survival instructors are not burdened by this all important responsibility, (let alone television producers) and over the years, i’ve witnessed hundreds of examples of crappy or flat out dangerous instruction.
please know that i have little if any control over how dual survivor is ultimately concepted, produced, and edited. While all production work involves the efforts of many talented individuals, very few if any of the players involved with this show have any experience in outdoor survival skills. So what happens when “city slickers” design an outdoor survival show? Only time will tell.
i have and will try my best to make the show as authentic and professional as possible – while still being fun to watch! I have and will continue to push this agenda personally and professionally, using the talent and clout of an entertainment attorney as well to further these wishes. Regardless of my efforts – as my grandmother used to say – “whatever will be will be.”
it’s in the spirit of educated hope, faith, and trust that i enter this project; knowing full well that compromises will have to be made. To my students, and somewhat to the readers of my books, you know my training far more intimately than any tv show could portray. It’s to my students that i give undying gratitude. These hearty souls have bothered to get off of their butts and follow me into the mountains and deserts over the years, come what may; desiring to know the truth about survival skills. Decades of students have helped me to achieve a level of competency, “dirt time”, and stark honesty that can never be bought or faked. Thank you!
in short, watch the show, laugh, and learn a survival trick or two. But…never, ever base your emergency preparedness plan on a television show.
sincerely,
cody