a newfound quote i like

Blatantly lifted from Ann T. Hathaway’s blog:

Theognis of Megara (6th Century B.C.)
lines 869-872

May wide and towering heaven collapse upon me in all its bronze and terror,
catastrophe to the peoples of earth,
on that day when I no longer stand by my companions,
on that day when I cease to harry my enemies.

Amen.

 

survival preschool: 98.6

Cover via Amazon

An absolutely fundamental and immediate survival concern (once you have survived the immediate safety crisis that is) , believe it or not, is maintaining your body temperature. Hypothermia or hyperthermia, otherwise known by their more common name…exposure; are the leading causes of death in the bulk of survival situations.

So on this topic I am in total agreement with survival expert Cody Lundin. He believes that this issue is so vital that he named his book, 98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive.

Since this is “preschool”, I am not going to bore you with all the descriptions, symptoms and treatments for exposure. Check out the wikipedia links above for that. Suffice it to say that everything from clothing to shelter has to do with keeping your body’s core temperature at 98.6 degrees.

Image via Wikipedia

On the issue of clothes. Clothes are at the top of the list in our survival concerns. Our clothes are necessary for protecting us from the elements and maintaining our body temperature. You should ALWAYS be prepared for the environment you go out in by either wearing or packing the proper clothing.

Clothing systems for both hot and cold environments can be broken down into three components.

• Base Layer: These are the clothing items that go against the skin. They trap air close to the body and should be made of materials that wick moisture away from the body.
• Insulation layer: Added or subtracted as the outside conditions change, insulation layers go between your base layer and your outer garments.
• Environmental Layer: This is your outside shell. The environmental layer protects you from the elements; wind, rain, snow, sun, brush etc. Ideally, your outer garment should be lightweight, loose fitting, wind and water resistant/proof and have the ability to be vented if you begin to sweat too much underneath.

In cold weather you need to try and trap your body heat close to your core by using insulating layers of clothes or air space. This is done by adding or subtracting insulation layers as the temperature dictates. Exercise and food intake will also effect your body temperature .

An acronym to remember for cold weather clothes is COLD.

• C= keep yourself and your clothes CLEAN
• O= avoid OVERHEATING
• L=wear LOOSE clothing in LAYERS
• D=keep DRY

And remember to wear a hat. Your head looses a large percentage of your bodies radiant heat. You will notice an immediate warming when you cover your head in a cold weather environment.

Image via Wikipedia

In hot weather your primary concern, clothing wise, is protecting yourself from the sun. Sunburn effects your bodies ability to cool itself. In hot weather your skin is your survival tool because your body depends on sweating to regulate body temperature.

Your clothing goals here are to wear loose layers of clothes that  will protect you from solar radiation while providing airflow that will slow the evaporation of sweat for efficient cooling. If your sweat evaporates too quickly you will rapidly dehydrate.

So…while not as exciting as learning how to build a Rube Goldberg style dead-fall trap to hunt wild game..you now at least have a good idea of what it takes to survive in the most common survival crisis situation. Exposure.

 

tactical preschool 40

More on opening doors.

In some situations, mostly when a room is too small for two people to clear (bathrooms, walk in closets, etc.) and the door opens outwards; it’s easier for one person to position themselves on the door while the partner opens it.

 

tactical preschool 39

Todays lesson requires that you remember what you were taught back in lesson 12 regarding doors.

As you recall. If you see hinges the door is a “pull door” and will open out. If you are approaching a “pull door” you need to be positioned on the doorknob side so that the door will not be opening in your face, becoming an obstacle to your entry. Which is “Bad JuJu”.

The one thing you don’t want in these situations is “Bad JuJu”.

Conversely, if you do not see the hinges, it is a “push door”. On these you want to position yourself on the opposite side of the knob.

This allows the point man to have an immediate and obscured path of entry and observation.

 

survival preschool: no man is an island

Image via Wikipedia

One of the major “disconnects” I see amongst the “preparedness types” is the belief that survival means stocking up on weapons and ammo and defending what is YOURS. While that may in fact be a concern depending on your location and situation, the reality is that true “survival” through major incidents really depends on the help of other people…and you helping them.

Our American pioneer ancestors knew that they had to be “self-reliant” to survive out on the frontier where help was not guaranteed or readily available, but they also knew that “living” for the long term required the help of others. Those “others” may have simply been numerous family members who were required to divide the labor (and hence LARGE family’s) to neighbors who lived a few miles away that you could trade goods with (lessening both your work loads) and get help from in times of need. “Self-Sufficiency” means not being a burden on others and being able to live for a period on your own, it doesn’t mean preparing to be the “last man on earth”.

The fact of the matter is that “lone wolf” survival…while possible for the short term…is a losing proposition for the long term. The “mountain man” of frontier myth had a dirty little secret, they were not known to have had long lifespans. The successful ones only “lived off of the land” long enough to make their fortunes in trapping and business exploration before returning to society. Besides the known difficulties of weather, scarcity of food and medical care, the fact of the matter is that the workload of having to “live off of the land” is staggering.

From the family, to the tribe, to the village, to State…Country, the ultimate purpose of them all is economy of effort. We have farmers to supply food so others of us can provide medical care. We have construction workers build our homes so that others of us can make clothing. In an emergency, while you better be able to provide for yourself for a significant period of time; if things look like they may go on for a long time, you will need to help others and you will need their help as well. Like it or not, any life worth living will depend on the good will of others.

 

duty…honor…country

An excerpt from Gen. MacArthur’s Thayer Award Acceptance Address at West Point. The entire speech can be heard here.

 

survival preschool: lets be realistic

Image via Wikipedia

The first part of being prepared is figuring out what it is you need to be prepared for.

For some people, disaster preparedness is more an issue of addressing their fears than it is about preparing for a threat that they may actually face. People are afraid of various things; an asteroid striking the Earth, “Mad Max” type societal breakdowns and Y2K style disasters are amongst some of the more cinematic “zombie apocalypse” fears that people worry about. In the meantime it seems that a large number of these people don’t think twice about the all too real times that their power went out for a number of days in a bad snow storm, the tornado that destroyed the development across town last year or the time their car broke down on an isolated road in freezing temperatures.

Image via Wikipedia

While being prepared for major disasters is good advice, I think that it’s equally important to be prepared for the threats that your locale and lifestyle bring with them. If you live in New Orleans, a City on the coast below sea level, then you should be thinking about what you will do during a flood. If ice storms are known to knock out power in your area on occasion, your preparation is going to be different than someone from the “Big Easy”.

Your hobbies also come with a cost. If you are a camper/hiker/climber who frequently packs into a wilderness area far from civilization, your risks are different from someone who does not and requires different preparation, gear and skills.

Preparedness comes with a price tag. Supplies and equipment come at a cost. Before you invest any time or money take serious stock of what risks you face, what you already have, what you need, and your willingness/ability to live with the decisions you make.

 

my first recollection is that of a bugle call

Image by Beverly & Pack via Flickr

There is something about an Army bugle call that stirs up memories. The Army has a website featuring all the bugle calls in daily sequence here. The site also explains the uses for each as well as the sheet music for them.

 

now you sons of @#$^%#! know how i feel

 

tactical preschool: movie day

I doubt that they do it anymore, but when I was a kid in school, the teacher would sometimes roll in the movie projector with a couple of actual “films” that supplemented what we were being taught in class. I suppose that VCR’s and DVD players have supplanted the projector, but in the same spirit:

I just came across this video:

And I thought that it was an excellent supplement to “tactical preschool 11“.

One thing I would like to say, and I’m sure that some of the “been there, done that, got the t-shirt” readers out there will agree. While some people think that this stuff is “the shit”, and that it would be the height of “coolness” to kick a door, the fact of the matter is that room entry is the tactic of last resort, or the tactic of “only option”. There is nothing more likely to get you killed than making entry into a small room with an armed person in it. If there is another option I highly suggest you take it. These tactics provide the operator with the best chance of success…not invincibility.