Survival Tips and Quips

3/23/2010

Welcome to the first installment of The Survival Zone Tips and Quips. Where to begin? The subjects of survival and preparedness are vast. There are also lots of sites online discussing these topics, so why read this? Well, you're here now, so why not? OBTW, who am I , anyway? I'm just a guy who keeps his ear close to the ground and so has a pretty good idea of what's coming. Survival and preparednes have become an integral part of my life. I picked up some info. as an Army officer in the Cavalry and Infantry. Am I a survival expert? No. I consider myself a student of survival. By way of example, I have a 5th Degree Black Belt in Okinawan Karate, but I don't consider myself an expert (because I'm not), but rather, a student of Karate. The learning process in both disciplines is ongoing and endless.

If you have any comments or questions or whatever you can email them to: comments@thesurvivalzone.com . I'd be happy to hear from you.

What"s the difference between preparedness and survival? According to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, preparedness is: the quality or state of being prepared; especially a state of adequate preparation in case of war. Preparation is defined as: the action or process of making something ready for use or service or of getting ready for some occasion, test, or duty - Readiness.

Survival is defined as: the act or fact of living or continuing longer than another person or thing.

Survivalist: a person who advocates or practices survivalism; especially one who has prepared to survive in the anarchy of an anticipated breakdown of society.

OK, so preparedness is doing those things of a logistical nature that will help you to survive when the need arises. Survival is utilizing your preparations to stay alive. They are two sides of the same coin. A very large part of your preparation should be study. Stuff, alone, won't keep you alive for long. Study and practice as many survival skills as you can. You can't do everything at once; just take it one step at a time. Learn something and practice on an ongoing basis and eventually you will be able to survive most anything. That's why, in a good, traditional Dojo, no one makes fun of the white belt. Everybody there, no matter how high a rank , first walked through the door as a white belt. They know and understand that it really is a journey of a thousand miles.

Next time, I'll talk about Survival Essentials, what are their priorities, and what ought a survival kit consist of.

3/30/2010

We've designed our Wilderness Survival Backpack (WSB) to include the essential items necessary to survive in the backcountry. It's not all inclusive; you need to add personal items and supplement it in accordance with the climate and/or season. The categories of gear included are: Fire, Shelter, Water, Food, First Aid, Light, Signal, Navigation, Tools, Information, and Hygiene. You can click on that item to see what's included in each category. When designing the kit, redundancy was one of the guiding principles. For example, waterproof matches, butane lighter, magnesium fire starter and tinder cubes for the fire category. "Two is one, one is none". Three is even better. Oh, and weapons. Those you'll have to add on your own, except the knife included in the WSB. You could kill a bear with that (let me know how that goes).

When designing your kit, try to include gear that will cover those categories plus personal items like socks, underwear, a change of clothes if you have room; sunglasses to help prevent snow blindness; prescription and/or reading glasses; prescription medications: if you need them to stay alive, pack as much as you can; if they are of the type that you can live without, but cannot stop suddenly due to risk of adverse reaction, bring enough to allow you to slowly reduce the dosage down to zero; vitamins: your survival diet may not be supplying you with ample nutrients, leaving you susceptible to illness and infection; antihistamines for allergic reactions; anti-fungal cream, especially in wet areas; road flares: great for signaling; cash/ credit cards, silver coins; local or regional maps; aluminum foil: signaling, frying pan, fishing lure; paper and pencil; good, broken-in boots or walking shoes; Tabasco sauce: makes anything palatable; sleeping bag: our kit comes with a "space blanket" and a mylar sleeping bag which are intended to help keep you alive, but it would be a good idea to supplement them with a cold weather bag. In the spring, summer and fall I carry a poncho, poncho liner and casualty blanket (green on one side and silver on the other..a heavy weight space blanket) rolled together. Takes up less room than most sleeping bags; firearms and ammo: depending on the scenario, they might make all the difference; camoflouge face paint:, again depends on the scenario; extra food: if you need to move fast and only take brief stops with no fire, then carry MREs--no preparation, just open and eat. If you have a long way to go on foot and need to carry a weeks worth of food bring pouches of freeze dried food. They're light weight, so you can carry a lot. They do require water, so have the means to add purified water to the pouches. (more on that later). Think of things you'll need to survive, but remember weight, ease of use and multi-purposing when deciding what to carry. Next time--priorities. Live free.