Trying to carry somebody out in a sleeping bag, may be difficult. I favor multi use items to carry around with me, something that can be rolled to about the size of a shaving kit. Sleeping bags take up a lot of room.
Act hard core? I've probably spent more time living in the elements than you have on the planet. More time in the chow line than you have in the military. I was born before television and was old when Windows was new. lol
Noticed 5-90 mention signal panels, my survival blanket is day glow orange on one side, my pocket flare pen starts a fire right quick. Treating for shock (keeping someone warm) and setting up an LZ are all part of the process.
Gawd, you sound like me (I've not been around as long, but my experience has been greatly compressed.)
Although, according to my kid sister, I've been around since the Earth cooled and the dinosaurs called it quits. Feels like it sometimes (OK -
most of the damned time!) as well.
I didn't get a reversible "signal" blanket, and the VS-17s can be staked out and used to leave various meanings of signal anyhow ("I am heading in this direction." "Medical help required." "Land here - LZ set." &c.) That's why I favour them instead of using a blanket. That, and it frees up the blanket for the more prosaic use of keeping warm at night (or keeping shock vics warm, which can be more useful. Keep warm, elevate feet, monitor colour. Easy for a shock vic to go hypoxic, then anoxic, then cyanotic - if they make it to anoxic, you've probably already lost them.)
Considering I've also got to take care of an emphysemic, my "in-town" emergency kit also includes an "E" size bottle of O2, a regulator, and a nasal cannula. I usually have a pulse oximeter in my pocket, and a stethoscope (a
good one, not a five-dollar drugstore one...) and some other specialised goodies as well. And training from the pulmonologist and cardiologist in what to look out for and listen for (which built on old SCUBA/PADI and high-altitude skydiving/flight training anyhow.)
Which goes to show that you
must tailor your kit according to anticipated needs. Gotta deal with allergies? Get a scrip for epipens, and keep a few handy (rotate stock.) Known to dehydrate? Disinfect some containers and water, and keep plenty handy. (I have two 10-litre jugs that are always full, and get changed semiannually.)
A gallon or two of fuel won't go amiss - rotate quarterly (it can get you back to civilisation, or help you get a good fire going.)
Peroxide won't go bad, can be used to disinfect wounds, and makes an effective mouth rinse when mixed 1:1 with water. If you can't brush your teeth, this is the next best thing (which is why I have no dental work, even with everything I've put my teeth through. Milk-Bones aren't a bad idea to keep around either - they clean your teeth well, and one or two can stave off hunger pangs for a couple of hours or so.)
A small bottle of chlorine bleach - amber or opaque bottle, keep it as cool and shaded as possible - can be used to disinfect water. Five drops to the gallon, shake well, and let sit for one hour (covered) and one more hour (open.) Or, get iodine tabs at the Army/Navy store (they keep better anyhow.)
If you can't get "lifeboat" matches locally, get "Blue Tip" (strike anywhere) matches and dip 2/3-way in paraffin, starting with the head.
Gently scrape the paraffin off with a fingernail before striking. The paraffin waterproofs the head, and will help the match stay burning so you can light your fire.
Whatever you pay for a
Boy Scout Handbook isn't enough. If you weren't in Scouts, this will still give you just about all of the essential survival information you could ever need, as well as plenty of First Aid. Firebuilding, knots & cordage, and the like are also covered (you don't need to know every knot in the BSH, but you should know at least a few - square, overhand, figure-eight, clove hitch, bowline, sheet bend are what I'd consider a minimum. Practise until you can tie them hanging upside down, behind your back, in the dark, under water. Correctly. Overhand and figure-eight can be modified to produce a slipknot; the bowline can be used to make a loop that
won't slip, the sheet bend can be used to join ropes, and the clove hitch is the most basic "standing hitch" used to secure a rope to a post, tree, or whatever.)
Training: First Aid/CPR is a
bare minimum. I've trained up to First Responder and BLS as part of jobs I've had, so I'm a bit farther ahead than most (I can do triage, in a pinch. And limited surgical operations - like a tracheostomy. My sutures aren't pretty, but they'll stop you from bleeding.) Orienteering is necessary to survival (have a good map and a compass, and
know how to use them. GPS batteries go flat, maps and compasses don't use batteries. Suggest also a pace counter, and know how many paces of yours go into 100 metres. For me, it's 67.
(This allows me to figure my location on a map with a CEP of about 1/2-metre. Most GPS units do CEP of 5 metres
at best. I can use a GPS, I just prefer not to.)
And know how to read
any map - they're really not all that difficult. You can have trail maps and road maps, but I will suggest a survey quad for wherever you go - it will give you more useful information than anything else out there. They're available for the entire United States from the United States Geological Survey, and you probably have a branch local to you (mine's about thirty miles away in Menlo Park, but they cover CA/WA/OR/NV/AZ/AK/HI in stock, and can order anything else to ship to my house.)
Where did I learn survival? I've got one uncle that did two tours in the Big Asian Vacation with the Marines (working forward,) and another that did three tours with USMC LRRP. I learned hunting, survival, and the beginnings of self defence from them (the latter I supplemented with training in Judo, Aikido, and Dragon style Wing Chun...) and never forgot the lessons. The more I'd go camping with them, the less gear I took (the rule was "If you want it,
you carry it. If it's too heavy, you don't want it badly enough.")
I'm sure I'm not as
o-l-d:gag: as 8mud, but I'm probably close in experience by dint of starting earlier. Unless there's something he's not telling us...:cheers:
