Scott Smith is a retired U.S. Air Force professional with over 20 years’ operational military experience and a proven track record in the areas of training and personnel development, Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) instruction, worldwide Combat, Search and Rescue (CSAR) operations and personnel recovery.
As Mountain Shepherd prepares to open a West Coast location in the rugged and scenic Tillamook State Forest in Oregon, just 45 minutes west of Portland, Scott took some time to answer a few questions.
Where were you born and where did you grow up?
I was born in New York and moved to Virginia when I was an infant. Raised in good ol’ Danville, Virginia (my mother is still there, my brother is in Northern Va.).
Were you outdoorsy as a kid?
Spent the majority of my time running around farms and woods of Pittsylvania County. Grew up pulling tobacco.
What made you want to join the Air Force?
I joined the Air Force with my best friend and wanted to explore what the world had to offer.
Why did you become a survival instructor?
I became I survival instructor to challenge myself and because I like people and talking.
It’s my forte (I do a lot of it) and because I truly believed it could save a life.
I spent the remainder of my career flying in Combat Search and Rescue which dovetailed nicely with SERE as they are both considered part of the Guardian Angel Package.
Why do you want to lead the Mountain Shepherd West Coast project?
I’ve spent 23 years dedicated to serving my country and ensuring that people were prepared to survive. I believe in the survival motto of “return with honor” as well as the rescue motto of “that others may live.”
Almost weekly I read a story or watch a news program that talks about someone being lost or stranded. Some return, some don’t.
By offering a real survival course, teaching real skills, I can continue to practice those same survival and rescue beliefs.
The collaboration with Mountain Shepherd was the most logical, since its name and reputation are unparalleled.
I merely hope to help show what real reparedness is and believe in this ever-changing world we live in that it’s imperative to give people what they truly need. That is what Mountain Shepherd is all about.
Natalie Faunce and Mike Wilson with “Daytime Blue Ridge” recently got a taste of the outdoor life with Reggie Bennett of Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School.
In a segment aired on Roanoke, Va. NBC affiliate WSLS, “Natalie and Mike Survive the Wild,” the pair learned two of the seven priorities of survival — shelter craft and fire craft.
Reggie also helped dispel Natalie’s and Mike’s fears and taught them that a positive mental attitude is the most important tool in anyone’s survival toolkit.
“If all it takes is optimism, I’m in great shape,” Mike said.
“That’s all you need. A great will to survive,” Reggie replied.
Stephanie Klein-Davis at The Roanoke Times spent some time with Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School and instructor Reggie Bennett for an excellent feature story and video.
Here’s an excerpt:
Combining his love for teaching and the outdoors, Bennett said the Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School provided him the ideal career path following his Air Force experience. Students include Department of Defense workers, boy scouts, lawyers, doctors, and construction workers. … Bennett’s style is interactive. He combined his expertise with real-life scenarios and asked questions of the group so they could engage in conversation about survival.
You can find the story and video here. Check them out and share with your friends!
We at Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School are very excited to announce the debut of a Yahoo! News Weekend Edition segment featuring instructor Reggie Bennett teaching Weekend Edition host Jim Brasher the ins and outs of wilderness survival.
Jim joined us Oct. 28 – 31 for Hidden Pursuit, our three-night course that teaches evasion, shelter-building, firecraft and other key survival skills. For that chilly weekend, Jim and his crew of three filmed Reggie teaching the students how to build different kinds of shelters, how to camoflauge themselves and more.
Our goal was to put Jim, who’s an avid outdoorsman anyway, through the course with as little disruption to the other students as possible. We contacted all of the students beforehand to make sure they were OK with a camera crew being there. Not only were they OK with it, some were even interviewed for the segment!
This wasn’t the first time Mountain Shepherd’s been filmed, but the Yahoo! crew was really great to work with. Jim was really into the course and learning evasion techniques and was even “captured,” just for fun.
The Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming is huge. It’s bigger than 400,000 acres, full of trees, mountains and bears.
Hikers and campers come there every year — but it doesn’t allow vehicles, roads or any buildings.
With that in mind, here are a handful of actual comments that U.S. Forest Service officials have received from Bridger-Teton’s visitors:
“Trail needs to be reconstructed. Please avoid building trails that go uphill.”
“A small deer came into my camp and stole my jar of pickles. Is there a way I can get reimbursed?”
“The places where trails do not exist are not well marked.”
And, finally…
“Too many rocks in the mountains.”
What do all these comments have in common? Somebody was not prepared.
Preparation is essential, not just in the wilderness but in the world of business.
At first glance, these two worlds might not seem alike.
But they are, and so are the ways people approach them. We see it all the time.
What happens when you aren’t prepared in the wilderness? Well, usually one of two things.
Either you completely freeze – we call this “give-up-itis” – or you do the exact opposite, you scream and run around panicking.
Neither of these, obviously, are ideal.
So why do people react this way? It’s pretty simple, actually.
They don’t have the proper positive mental attitude. They don’t have confidence.
To be frank, they’re worried they’ll screw up.
This is true out in the wilderness and it’s true in business, although hopefully with less screaming.
Everyone knows someone who has this lack of confidence. Someone who freezes when they need to make a decision, or runs around sweating bullets.
So how do you fix this? How do you teach people to live outside their comfort zone, to look past the low-hanging fruit?
First, teach them how to survive in the wild.
At the same time, you’ll teach them how to survive in business.
If you can build a fire, if you can build a shelter, if you can administer first aid when there’s no professional help for miles around — there’s not much you can’t do after that.
And that’s where Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School comes in.
We can teach your employees these things. Along the way we’ll teach them how to overcome their self-limiting beliefs and how to be better leaders.
Personal development, managing large challenges, overcoming what holds you back, keeping business going in a challenging economy — all of these skills have direct parallels to wilderness survival skills.
At Mountain Shepherd, we’ll teach your staff to get rid of give-up-itis.
This kind of training is more important today than ever, by the way.
Who knows what the economy will do in the next few months or few years?
You need to have people working beside you who can thrive under pressure and uncertainty.
They have to love the challenge and they have to have confidence.
We can help them get there, prepared for anything the wilderness of the business world will throw their way.
Earlier this month, a hiker in Utah suffered a head wound while climbing a canyon wall.
Another suffered multiple injuries after falling down a mountain in Oklahoma.
The threat of getting hurt should not scare you away from enjoying the outdoors and all the wonderful experiences the wilderness has to offer — protect yourself now with the knowledge and confidence to handle any situation that might arise.
Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School’s Wilderness First Aid 101 course will teach you the necessary skills to treat a variety of common injuries and ailments, including:
• cuts;
• sprained, fractured and broken bones;
• insect bites and bee stings resulting in anaphylaxis shock;
• snake bites;
• hypothermia;
• heat exhaustion, heat stroke and dehydration.
If you are going to hike, camp, fish or enjoy any wilderness activity, it is absolutely essential that you know first aid. For outdoor enthusiasts, it is not a matter of “if” such a need will arise but “when.”
Knowing how to treat you, your family and your friends when you are miles from help could mean the difference between life and death.
You don’t need prior medical training to take Mountain Shepherd’s two-day, one-night course. Howver, for certified National Registry Paramedics/EMTs and Commonwealth of Virginia Certified Paramedics/EMTs, Mountain Shepherd’s course offers 16 hours of CAT II continuing education.
Travel writer Sandi Bird has been learning the skills necessary to survive in the wilderness at Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School.
Her four-part series chronicles her adventures.
“If you are entering the wilderness on a ‘Go Lite’ philosophy, you’re being selfish.” The instructor’s statement took me off guard. But his next statement hit too close to home with me. “What if you run into someone hurt, lost, or something?”
Sandi Bird, the Roanoke Adventure Travel Examiner, is kicking off off a four-part series about Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School.
“You never know when YOU might be a victim of a situation that requires you to have the level-headedness and skills to survive until help can get to you,” Bird writes.
Imagine: You are lost in the woods. You are alone. You have no food, no water and no shelter.
What is the most important tool you can possess at this moment?
Is it a knife? A pack of matches? A tent?
No.
The most important tools you can have in any survival situation are the preparation and knowledge necessary to know how to help yourself and help those with you.
At Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School, you’ll learn what to do when a sudden occurrence — a wrong turn off the hiking path, for example, or a nasty change of the weather — turns an ordinary day into a life-threatening situation.
Along the way, you’ll build confidence in your own abilities, knowing you’ve got the training and skills to take care of yourself and others in the wilderness.
On our 100-acre private wilderness reserve in beautiful Catawba, Virginia, you’ll learn Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School’s seven priorities of survival. Practicing these will ensure your survival training becomes second nature.
You’ll learn important practical skills like building fires, putting up shelters and giving first aid to the injured. You’ll also learn skills that apply to all areas of life, like overcoming anxieties and leading teams.
You don’t need any wilderness survival experience to start your education. Many of our students have none. Our survival instructors personalize their skills instruction to fit what you need to learn.
Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School courses are perfect for:
* individuals,
* families,
* groups of friends,
* corporate retreats, and
* anyone who wants to learn survival skills from top-quality instructors in a safe yet authentic environment.
In our Survival 101 course, you’ll learn the basic camping skills needed to thrive outdoors.
In our Wild Comforts course, your family will learn camping with confidence.
Those seeking more of a challenge can sign up for our Humble Thunder and Hidden Pursuit courses. They’re perfect those who want to learn about camping without tents and evading capture.
Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School instructors are the real deal. They’re graduates of the U.S. Air Force Survival Instructor School. You’ll learn from the experts in global survival, primitive skills and much more.
Our instructors are tough, but don’t be intimidated — they’re also kind, humble and, most importantly, truly dedicated to providing you the best survival education available.
Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School has trained everyone from Boy Scouts to Navy SEALs. We cater to a variety of clients, including:
* backpackers and camping enthusiasts;
* FBI, CIA and military personnel;
* doctors, nurses and EMTs;
* biologists, geologists and engineers;
* and many, many more.
After all, survival training skills aren’t just for the military. Maybe you’ll never find yourself in a situation that requires such skills, but can you afford to take that chance?
Suppose you and your family are camping. Your daughter falls and breaks her leg. You are miles from help and night is falling. Could you administer first aid and build a shelter to keep your family safe until morning?
Or picture yourself as a passenger on a small airplane, and the plane crashes in the wilderness. Your group survives, but some people are injured. Would you know how to help?
You no longer need to wonder whether you have the ability to handle such situations.
After studying at Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School, you’ll know for sure.
![[Scott Smith]](http://www.mountainshepherd.com/images/pic_smith.jpg)
Scott Smith is a retired U.S. Air Force professional with over 20 years’ operational military experience and a proven track record in the areas of training and personnel development, Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) instruction, worldwide Combat, Search and Rescue (CSAR) operations and personnel recovery.
