point of a survival kit?

[Minotaur]

I think a survival tin is a very military way of looking at things. Us civies tend to think in EDC, what you need on you everyday.

From a Bushcrafters point of view, we tend to carry survival tin items for use daily use.

 

[leon-1]

I think a survival tin is a very military way of looking at things. Us civies tend to think in EDC, what you need on you everyday.

From a Bushcrafters point of view, we tend to carry survival tin items for use daily use.

Survival Tins in this day and age are very much a military idea, but possibles pouches / bags were very much the mountain man survival kit as they carried very much the same things as you would carry in a survival kit anyway.

The way I looked at things in the military was that the survival kit was a modular piece of kit that started with the vehicle, then the bergan, then your webbing and last but not least a survival tin.

Your knowledge and the way you used the items carried in the containers (vehicle, bergan, webbing and tin) dictated how effectively you could survive. This also means that the kit is very much tailored to the environment in which you were travelling.

Possibles pouches and survival tins both carry things which could be classed as essentials and are worn or carried about the body. They also do not neccesarily need to be tailored for a specific environment as they hold items that you would need or could be of use in any environment.

We all carry a certain amount of survival kit on an everyday basis, but the knowledge of how to use it and what we can make use of within an environment is realy the thing that helps us to survive.

 

[BlueTrain]

After thinking about this question overnight, it occured to me that my wife's first cousin, who is a "foreign correspondent," frequently travels around the world's trouble spots, including a trip to Borneo, believe it or not. Currently I have no idea where he is at the moment. He has been to Iraq, and was there in the invasion, Afganistan, several times, Yugoslavia (he got married to a Serb), and other, quieter places. We frequently see him when he's in town, yet never think to ask anything about the details of his travels along the lines of what he carries with him. My son did once ask if he went armed (he doesn't). But he usually travels when in Afganistan or Iraq with a guide but even that hasn't kept him out of trouble.

He generally does not travel to isolated places in the deep woods or the empty desert, those places not being newsworthy enough, I imagine. However, the next time I see him, I'll be sure to make inquires.

His home town is Alexandria, Virginia, while his wife's home town is Belgrade. They met in Pristina, Kosovo.

 

[Walks with dogs]

I'm just going to expand a bit on my earlier post.

I couldn't agree more that the kit you take with you should depend to an extent on the environment you are going into.

As a bare minimum , the items on my key ring are with me whenever I'm not in the house. If I am walking in the hills, I have more on me, enough to stay out for a night if need be, maybe not comfortably , but in one piece. If I am walking in the states or somewhere in the third world , I will have way way more on me.

Somewhere where you are within a few hours walk of a road a PSK probably isn't really a PSK, more a "handy stuff I like to carry kit".

Somewhere such as the states or Oz a PSK really could be a "PSK".

Even then, the point of the kit should be to keep you alive long enough for you to play an active part in your own rescue , and that should include drawing attention to yourself.

 

[apj1974]

I carry a tobacco tin, it usually contains tobacco, a lighter and my pipe knife. Quite a good survival kit if you ask me!

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

As others have said basically it is on your person all the time so if you do have a problem with the other kit the PSK is at hand.

When I urban and alpine travel, a wee bumbag with phone, money, passport, imodium, hand gel, plasters and mini maglite is what/all I need.

I was out MTBing today and we all had water and a some kit. We passed a guy 3 miles from the carpark -shivering and lonely- he had a puncture and no extra clothing so was frozen ! I relcutantly gave him a spare tube. I was tempted to tell him to carry kit next time.

Nick

 

[Laurentius]

Well being as you can't go that far off the beaten track in the UK, the snare and fishhooks seem superflous to any real need, and I could cynically say that a zippo lighter with spare canister, SAK and a few balls of cotton wool are sufficient to meet any fire lighting emergency.

It does get you thinking though because bad luck is bad luck and if you are immobile survival is going to depend on someone finding you.

It occured to me this summer, having fallen into a bog in Wales and got me leg stuck. "What if I cannot pull it out?" I knew where I was, (even if the path I was supposed to be on was invisible) and I wasn't that far from a main road, which I could see above me. However since I was essentially dressed in the same colour as the landscape, could anyone have seen me? and if they could would they even think I was in any kind of trouble. Cell phone wasn't working and I guess the only thing I could have used to signal my distress would have been a whistle, mirror would not have been much use, no sun, of if I was benighted (God forbid) an led flashlight.

If you do fall an injure yourself even a little way out your only hope is that someone stumbles across you before you die from exposure, you don't even have to be any where remote to die from the weather, you can even be in your car in a layby.

That being said in reality the greatest hazard I probably ever face is driving out to the 'wild' country

Well my real lesson was that fancy goretex boots are a waste of money, once you get them wet on the inside they will never dry out, carrying a spare pair of sandals in my rucksack was probably the most sensible thing I had on me, kept my feet from an unpleasant fate anyway.

Another lesson I learnt elsewhere is that those silly little plasters you get in FAK's are next to useless. I have since taken to carrying a roll of sports tape to keep anything in place along with those non absorbent dressings you can cut to size.

 

[andythecelt]

I used to love my baccy tin filled with bits and bobs when I was a nipper! Felt just like Rambo! These days I just carry enough kit to keep myself intact if I fell and couldn't get up again (I had a bit of a scare once when I fell heavily out in the woods. I was 20 yards from the main trail but if my leg had been twisted any worse I'd have been stuck there overnight). Just a whistle, pain killers, matches and tinder.

 

[Le Loup]

I think that for the normal hike/camp in the UK, providing you remember the number one rule; tell several people where you are going and when you expect to return, you should be okay with your normal trekking supplies so long as you have plenty of water.
However, that is if it is a short term survival scenario. If it were a long term survival situation, e.g. Government collapse, invasion by enemy etc, then you would need the snare wire and fish hooks etc and more. Unless they have cut all the forests down in the UK since I left 40 odd years ago, there should be somewhere you can hide out and survive, even if you have to keep on the move.
Regards, Le Loup.
http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com

 

[Minotaur]

Another lesson I learnt elsewhere is that those silly little plasters you get in FAK's are next to useless. I have since taken to carrying a roll of sports tape to keep anything in place along with those non absorbent dressings you can cut to size.

Ok, come on, own up. How many people on reading this thought, why did you not use your duck tape?

I was out MTBing today and we all had water and a some kit. We passed a guy 3 miles from the carpark -shivering and lonely- he had a puncture and no extra clothing so was frozen ! I relcutantly gave him a spare tube. I was tempted to tell him to carry kit next time.

I have slime tubes, and I still carry a repair kit inc a spare tube. That is about town as well.

One recommendation was that you should always have a psk containing at absolute minimum of a torch, whistle on your key ring, tough cut scissors so you can cut anything inc seatbelts / make bandages, and a litre of water. they reckoned if it hit the fan then 1litre would last a week if you were static. metal cased biro was handy at times as well.

I have started packing the scissors normally, because they are more PC looking than a knife these days. I do also carry a very small SAK style knife, but it has a habit of getting left behind these days.

if you had space for more then a more detailed first aid kit (superglue, immodium, paracetamol, ibruoprofen, plasters, some puri tabs). little food / snickers etc.

I think this is sort of the point of this. Build a kit around what has happened, and what might. You do not have to expect the big terrorist thing, getting stuck in an airport with a headache. Getting stuck without water anywhere, I always do because I drink water, I went off fizzy stuff, and sometimes getting a flat drink was a nightmare. It is also green to carry a bottle, a lot of women especially are starting to carry a bottle of water for this reason.

This is very bushcrafty, in the past people were prepared for their lives, and now it seems we count on things being there. We expect the 24 hour shopping etc.

I stopped using the SAS style tin because I found it never got used. I do like the tins though. They make for useful containers for things, like a small first aid kit.

 

[BOD]

button compass so you can get your bearings in a shopping mall

 

[Noddy]

...............

 

[dwardo]

button compass so you can get your bearings in a shopping mall

If i didnt have a compas on my watch i would still be in the trafford center now! Now that was a scary experience never to be repeated.

 

[Walks with dogs]

As a navigational aide inside shopping centres, wait to the end of the day at which point the united fans start to head south. Voila!!!

 

[apj1974]

Of course if you use a tobacco tin for what it is intended for, then you will have a basic survival kit with you most of the time and one that you wont look an idiot carrying. Discuss ...

 

[launditch1]

Ive never thought of tobacco to be good survival aid?

 

[apj1974]

Ive never thought of tobacco to be good survival aid?

I was trying to be a bit controversial!

But seriously, for those who smoke, it is something that will make them sit down and stop. It does relax people and is a mild pain killer.

I'm guessing here but if you could boil up some tobacco then you have an antiseptic and anti fungal wound wash, soak a cloth in it you've got a dressing.

Also you would be carrying a lighter or matches (and smokers are more experienced at using them in wind than non-smokers.

If you smoke cigarettes or roll ups you will have some paper for tinder.

If you smoke a pipe, you will have a pipe tool which may even be a small pen knife.

So not a bad start.

 

[rik_uk3]

Ive never thought of tobacco to be good survival aid?

A smoke can calm you down, the depth of calm depends on what you add to the baccy

Don't know if they still make them, but when I was just a lad you could buy little SKs in a baccy shaped tin which was sealed, you needed a can opener to get at the contents. All well and good you may say but give something like that to the average 14 year old and the first thing they NEED to do is open it I think mine lasted about two days before I gave in to temptation.

 

[Man of Tanith]

with a pipe you also get a ball of burning tobacco that you can use in the same way as an ember from friction fire lighting. so you could use that to light fire.
i know most smokers (myself included) have several lighters about their persons at all time(i can count three on me as i sit here typing) so the need to use the bowls worth of ember is unlikely but if i was in need i would light me pipe have a smoke and then use it to light a fire maybe conserving the lighter for when i was really in the brown and smelly.
Sam

 

[launditch1]

Good points...but tobacco is no good for long term survival is it.