So who here wishes they could be thrust into a real survival situation?

Yes, I would right now.

Only conditions, it would have to be for all of next week and I get to take a survival kit and approperate clothing. I dont want the 15min of fame I just want to miss my final examinations (college student).

But realistically all the practice we do is to keep us out of a survival situation. I would be fun to spend a week or two doing a "survival" trip, but to actually be fighting for your life, Ill pass.
 
I have some relatives serving in Baghdad and Fallujah. They volunteered to be placed in a "real survival situation".
 
i don't necassarily want to be thrusted into a survival stuation, but i know if the situation did ever happen i trust my skills enough and would also be prepared....:o more so than most folks... with the exception of all you guys...:D

i used to volunteer for a semi-local SAR team and we did some really cool survival situation exercises..... i think i was one of the only folks that was actually enjoying myself....

mike
 
Good answers one and all. We prepare not because we long for a survival situation, but so as to be prepared just in case. In my case, so that my daughters and wife will have a calm headed leader rather than a desperate paniked liability for their father. Look at the guy they just found. His unpreparedness caused his paniking and walking out into the snow wearing tennis shoes after only 9 days. What among us would have done such? None. We'd have had blankets, and coats, and an edged tool (possibly a firearm). We'd have known to melt the snow for water, and that it would take weeks for us to die from starvation. We'd have set it out. I would have.
 
aproy1101 said:
Good answers one and all. We prepare not because we long for a survival situation, but so as to be prepared just in case. In my case, so that my daughters and wife will have a calm headed leader rather than a desperate paniked liability for their father. Look at the guy they just found. His unpreparedness caused his paniking and walking out into the snow wearing tennis shoes after only 9 days. What among us would have done such? None. We'd have had blankets, and coats, and an edged tool (possibly a firearm). We'd have known to melt the snow for water, and that it would take weeks for us to die from starvation. We'd have set it out. I would have.
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very well said andy...:thumbup: :thumbup:

how sad the death of mr. kim was...:( maybe more people will take it into consideration and be a little more prepared....
 
mtnfolk mike said:
how sad the death of mr. kim was...:( maybe more people will take it into consideration and be a little more prepared....
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Oh, I don't know.

Down here in sunny california, there's a kind of "it can't happen to me mentality." I have a friend who flies small aircraft for a hobby. I've been constantly bugging her to put together some survival gear for her flight bag, including some kind of a fixed blade knife.

So we started talking about the James Kim story on a private mailing list that I run, and I asked her if she was ready to get a fixed blade for her flight bag. She told me she has a leatherman (which surprised me -- it's a marked improvement over the keychain SAK that she used to have). I told her she needs a fixed blade, and I pointed her at Becker Neckers and/or Moras as inexpensive options. And she STILL won't have anything to do with it.

Her rationale? When she flies she's always in contact with air traffic control and she's on radar and planes have emergency locator beacons and so if she crashes they'll almost certainly get to her within hours.

Hmmm.....

That's putting a lot of faith into a system at the mercy of government cutbacks and bureaucratic blunders, don't you think? Not to mention a plane down in the Sierra with a storm front moving in ....

I hate to even ask her what she has for firemaking tools, shelter building tools, etc.

Meanwhile, the topic came up as to what people living in snow country keep in their cars for emergency gear. I'm originally from the midwest so I have many friends on the list who live in snowy climates. Of course, to a man they all talked about coffee can emergency kits and all the stuff they pack in them, none of which would surprise anyone on this message board. You see, they LIVE where things get nasty on a routine basis and so they KNOW how bad things can go in a hurry.

But not the sheeple living in sunny California.

Can you tell how much I really LOVE living here? grumble

Sorry for venting....
 
bulgron said:
Down here in sunny california, there's a kind of "it can't happen to me mentality."
...
That's putting a lot of faith into a system at the mercy of government
...
But not the sheeple living in sunny California.

Can you tell how much I really LOVE living here? grumble

Sorry for venting....
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You've pretty much summed up my opinion of California in these few lines bro. :D

Another reason we're all here, in addition preparedness, I mean, is because we believe in self reliance. Good post! Be self reliant. If something were to happen get the hell out of CA.
 
Well, everybody else has already put it better than I can, but in short, of course not. As several posters have said, a survival situation would mean I was careless. Otherwise, assuming the weather was normal, and I was merely stranded or the like, I would have the necessary equipment on me to make it much less of a survival situation and more of an unplanned minimalist camping trip. The quote by Colonel Blatchford Snell that RokJok posted sums it up perfectly. Obviously, there is no way I would want to be in the middle of a hurricane or snowstorm or the like, with any amount of equipment. And as for the 15 minutes of fame, that is just another deterrent to me. I'm quite comfy sitting here in my warm home for the moment, thanks. :D

Josh
 
I have better than average fire extinguishers, have been to USN firefighter school and at least three refreshers, and have fought real, though ultimately minor, Alpha and Charlie class fires at sea with no other fire departments to call on in the event of failure.

Do I want to fight another fire? Not if I have the choice not to.:D

Likewise, I practice outdoor survival skills, mainly in the winter during camping trips just because that is when it is hardest to motivate myself to do some practice and to achieve some results, with rain being the usual downer. I do this because I like to go snowshoeing, and during that pursuit, all kinds of things can go wrong, and because sometimes, I am all of the wilderness experience a group has at its disposal, (which gives me pause actually since I can care for myself but group dynamics in a crisis is hard to visualize, let alone prepare for.)

I still fervently desire everything I do in the woods to go off without a hitch. The problem with a "true" survival situation is that no plan survives contact with reality. There are too many variables to control in such a situation, so I'd never desire it.
 
We are all in survival situations everyday.

If you forget to buy groceries you may go hungry.
If you forget to pay or can't afford the heating bill, you may freeze.
If you don't look out for other drivers or pay attention to the road yourself, you may crash.
If you upset the wrong person, you may get beat up or worse.
If you forget your wife's birthday or your anniversary...you may be better off doing all of the above.

What separates these everday things from what we think of as survival is we generally know what to expect and are usually prepared for everday life.
Survival is just a combination of mindset and preparedness.

Can we always be prepared for everthing? NO!
Can we control everthing in our lives? NO!
The best we can do is be as prepared physically and mentally as we can be.
Survival is a learning process.

I am no survival expert, but I intend to be a survivor!:D

Survival (life) is like a box of chocolates you were smart enough to bring into the woods before you got lost and hungry;)
 
I read a book this past year (The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin) about the January blizzard of 1888 in the midwest (Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas). Sodbusters woke up one morning after a deep freeze in January and found the temperatures to be around 60. Farmers went into the fields to gather corn and hay and children went to school in their shirtsleeves. Within a few hours, a blizzard rolled in like a locomotive and temperatures dropped about 80 degrees. Farmers and many children froze to death on their way home, some within a few yards of their houses. Cows froze standing up, anchored in place by the frozen snot coming out of their nozes. Weather forecasting back then was done by the Army Signal Corps (if you think today's FEMA is bad) It is a terribly riveting story of how quickly nature can kill us.
 
As many people that have been saying "No way, Jose. You'd have to be an idiot to want to be in a survival situation." I guarantee you there are people reading this that wish they could.

I think they're just scared to post.
 
Uhmmm...nah....nuh uh.....no freaking way....

Like many here I've BEEN in a few tight scrapes, don't care to relive the experiences. Didn't make me a better person, didn't improve my confidence, didn't make me popular when the local paper mentioned it. It's just a crappy situation that you get through and learn from.

I work where the windchill has been known to hit 120 below zero. I'm only a few minutes from a "real survival situation" at any point in time. Infact, my camp had a fatality during my last hitch. it all makes me a pretty cautious fella.


I can understand a bit of curiousity from a person, and wouldn't begrudge them for that, but when the rubber hits the road....I know better.
 
Coldwood said:
I read a book this past year (The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin) about the January blizzard of 1888 in the midwest (Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas). Sodbusters woke up one morning after a deep freeze in January and found the temperatures to be around 60. Farmers went into the fields to gather corn and hay and children went to school in their shirtsleeves. Within a few hours, a blizzard rolled in like a locomotive and temperatures dropped about 80 degrees. Farmers and many children froze to death on their way home, some within a few yards of their houses. Cows froze standing up, anchored in place by the frozen snot coming out of their nozes. Weather forecasting back then was done by the Army Signal Corps (if you think today's FEMA is bad) It is a terribly riveting story of how quickly nature can kill us.
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Coldwood, my father-in-law grew up in Neb. during the depression.

They tied a rope from their front door out to the barn, so during the winter, in white-out conditions they could get back n forth to take care of the livestock and such. After a large snow, their only way to get around was with their larger draught horses , (the ones they use to plow fields with) who they would have walk in front of them to clear away the difts and create a beaten path.
My step-uncle grew up in Minnesota. He said that all the moisture from the breath , from bathing and from doing dishes would condense on their interior walls and freeze. They could sometimes have 1/2" of "frost" on the interior of their house.

Then, of course, no freezing cold forum post would be complete with the famous one.....

It was so cold this morning, I saw a dog frozen to a fire hydrant. :D

Anyone secretly wanting to be in a life and death survival situation needs some help.
 
In the back of my mind I always wanted the world to go mad max, call me crazy but I think as a species we have grown much too, shall we say, cowlike? Grazing and commuting, racing with rats, I'd rather be a tiger in the jungle any day.
Don't get me wrong, I in no way wish harm on anyone, and if I had a family I would think otherwise, no doubt.
As for a smaller scale situation, it would depend on the situation. stranded on an island, you bet! Lost at sea, not in a million years.
 
well...this is a little complicated. i have often flipped through the channels and landed on "survivor", and i watch them struggle for a few minute preparing improperly constructed and sized shelters, and in general trying to stay un-miserable.

i usually end up laughing at them, and wishing i could be in that situation. that would be fun for me. some one giving me a machete and a crate of rice for running an obstacle course, and telling me to go enjoy myself on an empty island for a few weeks...sounds like my dream vacation.

but in a real honest to goodness survival situation, where there is real danger, where i am injured etc? not so much my dream vacation. i have often wondered about getting "lost" on purpose while hiking to see if i have what it takes in a real situation.

i don't know...it really depends on the situation. i suppose i wouldn't mind it in the summer when i have my gear with me, but in the winter or the colder months, inadequetly prepared (funny i know) i would have no fun.
 
I wouldnt wish for it, but i hope if it ever happens after all the reading, researching, preperation, and practical application put into practice, I damn sure better survive or I wasted a hell of a lot of time.
 
I wouldnt wish for it, but i hope if it ever happens after all the reading, researching, preperation, and practical application put into practice, I damn sure better survive or I wasted a hell of a lot of time.
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Best laugh I have had all week. Thanks.

I can just imagine it:

darkestthicket's wife: "Dumbass, you've stranded the Saab in the middle of nowhere and now no one knows where we are either."

darkestthicket: "Calm down please, I've spent a significant fraction of my life reading, researching, preparing, and applying all manner of bush skills."

dw: "You mean we're gonna be alright?"

d: "We'd better be--or it is going to get pretty damn embarrassing for me back at bladeforums when the fellas put two and two together and figure out that I'm the one everyone's looking for. Maybe I should just wander off right now the way they rip and second guess everyone and everything in the boonies.:D
 
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