1 - What is survival?
An introduction to survival
What does the word survival mean to you? Struggling
across deserts or living for weeks in a small open boat at
sea? Well, that is correct, but survival can also mean
knowing how to stay alive in the British hills, which may not
seem so exotic but which is probably more important for
most of us.
So, my definition of survival is the ability to look after
yourself with a minimum of equipment in a given situation.
You should note that training for survival skills, when
used in the Troop or Unit context (as opposed to the
training which the armed forces undertake), must take into
account the law of the land. our concern for the
environment and the safety of those taking part, so some of
the skills discussed in many of the books available on the
subject must be used with care, Remember that many of
the books available are written as, or taken from, manuals
used by the military, and consequently the suggestions
which they contain are not always practical (or even, in
some cases, strictly legal).
The enemy within
The main enemy of someone aiming to survive is fear of
the unknown. This is made worse it you are injured, without
food or water, too cold or too hot, tired or on your own.
The main way of combating fear is by training, so that the
unknown becomes the known. Many of the basic skills
required for surviving are what we could call basic
Scouting skills, such as fire lighting, shelter building,
cooking-without utensils and so on. The main difference is
that it you cannot light a fire when it is raining or very wet at
camp it doesn't matter, because you can always go into
the store tent and get more matches, whereas in a survival
situation every match counts - if you have any matches at
all!
The skills required
In this series of booklets we will be looking at a number of
skills, but you really will have to practice them until they
become second nature to you, just as the professionals do,
because you may very well need them when you least
expect to.
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Now let us look at some of the important factors that will
mean the difference between staying alive or not:
- Being able to find or make shelter.
- Being able to make a fire for warmth or cooking.
- Being able to find your way to safety with or without a
map and compass.
- Being able to make sure that water is safe to drink.
- Being able to find and cook simple food on a fire,
without utensils.
- Having with you the essential items required to do all
the above.
The most important thing is to have practised doing all of
the above before you need to do them for real. A desperate
situation is not the right time to have to start practising!
Over the next few months we will be looking at all of the
above topics. Why not build a few practice sessions into
your Troop or Unit programme? That way, by the time the
last section is published, not only will you have your own
pocket survival manual but you will be pretty proficient and
may be ready to try a survival weekend in the autumn.
If you live near a large RAF base, you may find the station
survival officer a useful person to ask along to give a talk
and demonstration on the survival techniques used by the
RAF - he could even be asked to judge the best and most
effective survival kit. Maybe the prize for the winning
person or Patrol could be a visit to the survival section
the base.
At the end of each of the sections you will find some
programme ideas. The list will in no way be exhaustive, so
if you come up with your own ideas write in and let us know.
Next month we will look at fires - building them, lighting
them and cooking on them.
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2 - Finding your way
All Scouts should be able to we a map and compass, but In
a survival situation you may not have either. In these
situations. we must turn to the two things that our
ancestors used - the Sun. and the stars.
To find direction when the Sun is shining, the old rule of
thumb is that the Sun rises in the East and sets In the West,
and at midday in the Northern hemisphere will be roughly
South.
The following are ways which are fun to use and with
practice can be quite accurate.
Shadow Stick
Method (A): Find a flat piece of ground and hold a stick
one metre long upright in the centre of the ground. Mark the
tip of the shadow with a stick or stone, wait 30 minutes and
do the same again. A line drawn between the two points will
run from West to East, with the first point being West.
Method (B): This method will take you longer but will be
more accurate. Mark your first shadow tip as in (A) in the
morning. Now draw an arc at the distance from the stick to
the shadow tip, using the stick as The centre point (see
diagram) In the afternoon, mark the exact spot where the
shadow touches the arc. Now join the two points to give the
West to East line, with the morning point being West.
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Using your watch
This traditional way of telling the time can only be used if
the watch is set to G.M.T. in the United Kingdom, and to
true local time (with no local additions such as summer
time) if abroad.
In the Northern hemisphere, hold the watch flat and point
the hour hand towards the Sun, Now bisect the angle
between the hour hand and the figure 12 on your watch to
give you a North-South line.
In the Southern hemisphere, hold the watch dial and
point the figure 12 towards the sun. The line that bisects
the angle between the hour hand and the figure 12 is the
North-South line.
Note that this method will become less accurate the
nearer you are to the equator.
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Using the stars
In the Northern hemisphere, the best signpost is the
Plough - by following a line through the two outside stars
you will find the North Star (Polaris).
In the Southern hemisphere, the best signpost is The
Southern Cross (Crux). This constellation is not as easy
to use or to find as line Plough, but is four bright stars in the
shape of a cross (don't use the False Cross to its right
which has dimmer stars set further apart).
Take a line down the cross and also a line down the two
bright stars on its left - where these two lines cross is
South.
Making your own compass
You will require a darning needle and a silk scarf or a
magnet. Stroke the needle in one direction from its eye to
its point with the scarf or magnet, about 24 times. Suspend
the needle by a thread half-way along its length and the
point of the needle will point North.
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A better way is to fill a container with water and float the
needle on a piece of grass or paper.
You will find that using a magnet is more effective than
using a silk scarf.
Natural signposts
There are a number of ways In which nature can show you
the general direction. such as moss growing more
profusely on the Southern side of the tree trunks in the
Northern hemisphere and on the Northern side in the
Southern hemisphere. Take care though these methods
are not always accurate.
Programme Ideas
- Make up a star chart to show how to find North and
South.
- Discover as many natural methods of finding direction
as you can and try them out.
- Walk a simple course on a sunny day using your watch
as a compass
REMEMBER NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN
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