Written By Peter G. Drake
Illustrated by Rich
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In this, the final section of the Survival booklet pull-out
series, we take a look at survival kits and give a list of some
other books which you might find useful.
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Survival kits
If a survival kit is going to be useful, it must be small enough to
be carried with the rest of your kit or even on your person.
With this in mind, the contents must be pruned down to an
absolute minimum, without detracting from the usefulness of
the kit.
We will consider the contents of the kit in the order which
we looked at items in the booklets.
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Location
Since you should already carry a compass in your main kit,
the one in your survival kit will only be used as an emergency
reserve, so a button-type will do.
Warmth
Waterproof matches - make them yourself or buy 'lifeboat
matches'. If you are making your own, be sure to use non-
safety matches.
Flint and steel - once again you can buy a kit or make your
own by buying some flints and superglueing them, two or
three across and six down, on a piece of wood. Add to this a
piece of hacksaw blade and you have your kit.
Candle - the small cake type candles are small and
lightweight but do not last very long. The night light-type is
better as it has a much longer life.
Magnifying lens - a small lens can be used to light a fire if
the Sun. is shining.
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Shelter
A space blanket or a large plastic bag. The space blanket
can be used as a blanket or as an A-shaped shelter. The
plastic bags that dry-cleaners use are very thin but will give
you protection for a night. However, make sure that you keep
your head outside the bag!
Length of cord - thin lightweight nylon cord.
Water and food
Water purifying tablets - these can be obtained from most
major chemists.
Single-sided razor blade - for cutting up food or skinning
animals.
Fish hooks and line - small hooks are better than big ones.
Water carrier - you will need something to carry your water
in; A heavy gauge plastic bag will do the job.
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Miscellaneous
To the above you can add anything you may think would be
useful, such as a wire saw, needle and cotton, plasters and
food items such as stock cubes, salt and so on. However,
remember that size and weight are important.
Once you have put your kit together you will need to find a
container to put it in. A small screw-top tobacco tin is a good
size and will protect your kit from dust and water. People have
made extremely useful kits that will fit into a matchbox!
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References
This list is by no means definitive, but 1 have found all the
companies and books on the following list to be useful.
Companies
B.C.B. International Limited. Unit 2, Rhymney River Bridge
Road, CARDIFF, South Glamorgan CF3 7AF.
Survival Aids Limited, MOORLAND, Cumbria CA1 0 3AZ.
Both of these companies have very good catalogues and
sell most of the items we have talked about in this series.
Their equipment is also sold through a number of outdoor
shops such as Scout Shops Limited.
Books
- The S.A.S. Survival Handbook by John Wiseman.
- Survival Is a Dying Art by Barry Davies.
- Nature Is Your Guide by Harold Gatty.
- No Need to Die by Eddie McGee.
- Ministry of Defence Arctic Survival.
- Ministry of Defence Jungle Survival.
- Ministry of Defence Desert Survival.
- Ministry of Defence Sea Survival.
- There have been many books and articles written on cooking
and finding food from the wilds, some in SCOUTING Magazine.
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Programme ideas
- See who can produce the smallest survival kit and use it for
an overnight stay.
- Produce a training chart showing all the items you would
include in your kit and why.
- Invite the Survival Officer from the local RAF station along
to a Meeting to give you a talk and possibly show some
films on how the professionals do it.
- Have a Troop or Unit survival cooking competition for the
best and most original meal cooked without utensils.
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