MORAL COMPASS
In a world where a compulsion for media appearances, showboating, and followers on social media has become a metric of credibility, people often mistake pretentiousness or marketability for truth. Cody Lundin doesn’t have millions of followers on social media. He doesn’t pawn his students off on questionably experienced underlings. He detests the word “survivalist” as well as the question, “What’s your favorite survival tool?” For Cody, the best survival tool is something you can’t buy at a big-box store — your brain.
But even after some 30 years as a survival instructor, Cody still manages to remain humble. There’s no mistaking the tone in his voice for anything other than what it is — a passion for teaching people skills that will keep them alive.
“People are quick to want a black-and-white answer to a profession that has millions of variables,” he says. “Whenever you put human nature into Mother Nature, in other words, scared people into wilderness, all hell can break loose and it can break loose quick. The coolest thing about my job is what I hate about my job — variables. You never know. You’re never really sure. You never have it locked in. There is no expert. You’re always on your toes. The most stressful thing about my job isn’t physical; it’s psychological. It’s dealing with the stress of wanting my students to be OK, but not having all the answers. The more I think I know, the more I realize that I don’t really know sh*t.”
There was once a time when methods now known as “survival” were simply just known as “life.” People had no fancy gear to rely on. It was a common sense existence free from the modern conveniences society has become dependent on — and many wouldn’t know how to get by without. Many of these practices have been lost to time, but more have been lost to human complacency. Cody is one of the few people left who safeguard these traditions.
RECOIL OFFGRID: Where did you grow up?
Cody Lundin: My dad was military, so it’s like, where didn’t I grow up. I grew up all over the place, including Europe.
What early experiences made you understand the importance of learning and practicing survival techniques?
Being an only kid in a military family that moved a lot, one of the main things that I could have as a constant in my life growing up was the outdoors. I spent a lot of time outdoors and got well-acquainted with wherever we went. Later on, my folks were pretty aggressive about going outside,
