Is a psk really needed in the UK?

[Minotaur]

Personally, I don't carry a specific PSK 24/7 but when I'm out and about the kit I do take fulfills that role. For me the PSK is more of a military thing where you might get caught out "on the run" with nothing else other than PSK. Of course, if you spend a lot of time in wild places you should have certain emergency items about your person, I consider that normal preparation. Any emergency items you do carry should reflect your knowledge level, where/what you are doing. I don't see anything wrong with carrying a PSK if that's how you have prepared yourself for emergencies.

I think the point of a PSK was the minimum a soldier needed to survive and the reason it was in that tin format was you could keep it in a combat trouser pocket so it gave you the option of dumping everything to make a run for it. Lofty's version I think has the same idea it just got more in it and bigger.

I guess it depends where you are and what you do.

If you work in an inner city office in London then the chances of you needing one are significantly less than someone who works the Forests in Scotland.

If owning one makes you happy then go for it. Always better to have one and not need it, than to need it and not have one.

I think this is sort of my point, a psk in London does not work however edc does. Anyone who travels on the tube without water and some back up food for example is not thinking it through.
One of the big revelations for me was carrying a little angle-headed torch. I have used it so much and I always had a torch however the angle head hooked into a pocket is such a clever idea (thanks youtuber who's name I cannot remember for the idea).
Carrying a battery bank and cable is also very useful. I think one of murphy's laws for modern life is that the more important the call, the less battery life you will have.

 

[Trojan]

Yes you do. You never know what is going to happen and I have used a few elements of mine over the years.

It is also fun building them

 

[Herman30]

One of the big revelations for me was carrying a little angle-headed torch.

Yes, for me it was the Fenix WT20R.

 

[Ozmundo]

Most of my PSK/EDC items have been used on Guinea Pigs other people....

Me "Are you sure you wouldn't want a splint on that?"

Some poor sod "But it's just a paper cut"

 

[oldtimer]

Most of my PSK/EDC items have been used on Guinea Pigs other people....

Me "Are you sure you wouldn't want a splint on that?"

Some poor sod "But it's just a paper cut"

Same here. I've lost count of the times someone has needed a safety pin, a plaster, duct tape, needle and thread etc. They always act surprised that I routinely carry such things when they have just demonstrated the wisdom of doing so. I guess some folk lack self-reliance.

 

[Minotaur]

Same here. I've lost count of the times someone has needed a safety pin, a plaster, duct tape, needle and thread etc. They always act surprised that I routinely carry such things when they have just demonstrated the wisdom of doing so. I guess some folk lack self-reliance.

Yeah I so get that. I have the item and they have the reason to carry it.

 

[Laurentius]

Same here. I've lost count of the times someone has needed a safety pin, a plaster, duct tape, needle and thread etc. They always act surprised that I routinely carry such things when they have just demonstrated the wisdom of doing so. I guess some folk lack self-reliance.

Essentially what you want is those items that your mum would have in the bottom of her handbag.

 

[Ozmundo]

So fluff covered Murray mints then?

 

[neoaliphant]

Yeah I so get that. I have the item and they have the reason to carry it.

It came back to bite me once

At work one of the girls in accounts had ripped the top buttons off her blouse
so i had my sewing kit with me in my kit to lend her...

I was not popular with the guys in the workshop that day....

 

[Wildgoose]

I thought you were going to say you offered to sew them back on “in situ”

 

[Omega]

I wonder what the Spetsnaz carried in this regard?

Spetsnaz did not carry PSKs in Afghanistan... I remember reading "Technology and Weapons" in 80s (Soviet military magazine) when I came across PSK. The content was more or less the same what "Lofty" was recommending. However, when I spoke to Afghanistan war veterans, they told me they were always overloaded and even modified their body armour to lighten it up the load
I am following the current conflict in Ukraine and both sides seem not to bother with PSKs. Similar to Afghanistan, they prefer taking more ammunition to carrying a PSK.
I saw an interview with a Ukrainian marine who spent circa 6 months in Mariupol after he escaped from Russian captivity. There were a few cases when pilots were shot down behind enemy lines and it took them a few days to get back. They all used what they could find or had with them, but had no time for fishing/trapping, making a shelter, often avoided making fire etc. However, mobile phone, personal emergency beacon, compass, cutting tools, shelter (mainly their clothing), FAK and weapons were absolutely important. They all did not bother about disinfecting water either and, especially the marine, got a lot of infections when returned
And I saw an interview of a guy who saved a woman after terrorist attack on Moscow Crocus City Hall - he was always carrying a few tourniquets used all of them to save the woman
For the UK, I would focus on Shelter, Navigation/Signalling and Medicine (Protection, Location, Navigation). Food, Fire and Water (Acquisition) are redundant. And, in fact, they are likely to be redundant even if I travel abroad as I tend to stay in urban areas or close to main roads to get back to large urban areas quickly. Still, medicine would be the most important for me (so that I do not die within minutes), then shelter (so that I do not die until help arrives) and then signalling (to call for help). I would not bother about fishing/trapping. And I have too many fire starting kits from fire drills to lighters

 

[neoaliphant]

Food, Fire and Water (Acquisition) are redundant. And, in fact, they are likely to be redundant even if I travel abroad as I tend to stay in urban areas or close to main roads to get back to large urban areas quickly.

as far as UK...with 1000 people a day dieing during the heatwaves over the last few years, water aquisition might be a bit redundant, but not carrying actual water...

 

[Minotaur]

Spetsnaz did not carry PSKs in Afghanistan...

Did they carry escape and evasion kits which are basicily the same thing?

 

[Omega]

Did they carry escape and evasion kits which are basicily the same thing?

Not the guys I spoke to - all they carried was ammunition, weapons and radio, often no body armour, sometimes even just a small flask of water

 

[Scottieoutdoors]

Kind of all comes back to the case of what are you "personally trying to survive".... If it's an enemy that are on your heels, then you need whatever can keep you alive and moving for as long as you can...
If you're out having a lovely day stroll on some hill top and the weather takes a turn for the worst and it would appear you're going to need to wait it out until the following day, then your kit will be a heck of a lot different.
The danger with topics like this, is they lead to conflated ideas on what a PSK kit is...next minute you're taking a walk on the moors with over 30kg's of kit consisting of stripped down body armour, extra ammunition, a foil blanket, a survival knife, a fishing pole, a hamper full of food, 5 days water supply, a crochet blanket your mum knitted you and a gameboy...

 

[Minotaur]

Kind of all comes back to the case of what are you "personally trying to survive"....

Yes and it what can you use to survive? I have had fishing kits in survival kits as long as I can remember and I do not fish so a bit of a waste of space. That was one of turning points for me.

The danger with topics like this, is they lead to conflated ideas on what a PSK kit is...

One of the big issues is that they are in reality escape and evasion kits.
I have sort of gone the edc and possibles bag route with a think like MacGyver attuide. It not about what you carry and more about what uses you can put what you carry to?

 

[Pattree]

^^^^^^^^^^^ This
The best PSK is knowledge, inventiveness and a brain.

 

[Herman30]

UK (and my country Finland) not being war zones the worst enemy would be weather. You do not survive long in soaking wet clothes in windy and chilly weather.
So you need raingear, something to drink, something to eat. Compass and a map.

Don´t know about UK but Finland is full of forestry roads. So in average if you can walk about 5km in a straight line you will come to a road eventually.

Forest roads | Metsähallitus

A good road network is a fundamental precondition for year-round timber deliveries and commercial forestry in general. The areas managed by Metsähallitus contain more than 38,000 kilometres of forest roads.

www.metsa.fi

 

[neoaliphant]

UK (and my country Finland) not being war zones the worst enemy would be weather. You do not survive long in soaking wet clothes in windy and chilly weather.
So you need raingear, something to drink, something to eat. Compass and a map.

Don´t know about UK but Finland is full of forestry roads. So in average if you can walk about 5km in a straight line you will come to a road eventually.

Forest roads | Metsähallitus

A good road network is a fundamental precondition for year-round timber deliveries and commercial forestry in general. The areas managed by Metsähallitus contain more than 38,000 kilometres of forest roads.

www.metsa.fi

In the UK weather is a killer, i probably posted above about cycling in the morning in shorts and snow in the afternoon, i remember at university cycling home, got caught in downpour, so wet and cold couldnt feel hands and couldnt cycle safely,
homeless people do die on teh streets with exposure, and walking to nearby city doesnt help if you are already there..
i used a mylar blanket to help an old lady that had fallen, 20 mins for ambulance, it was cold and she was in shock sitting on the cold ground...this was in a city so being able to walk out wouldnt make any difference.
i watched a video out this morning about crossloading military survival gear, mentioned tourniquets and fishing gear for carrying in pockets, can see need for escape kits and in hostile territory, but evry persons PSK would be different and for different terrain.
with UK weather getting hotter, a hat and water bottle is now more neccesary for me to carry in cities than poncho, even when im 20 mins walk from the car, ive had plenty enough dizzy spells/heat stroke to not want to take chances...so just because spetnaz didnt carry things, is not something to aspire to....but having knowledge so you are less reliant is always good....making a bow drill cant hurt...but in emergency, ie not practicing, a lighter is more usefull.....a bow drill set doenst have a place in a modern survival kit,,,,

 

[Herman30]

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