Today, after uploading videos to You Tube, I thought I would begin a small write up on the final section of my entire redundancy kit. The part that could be described as a survival kit / Last Ditch Kit.
PART 1 - VIDEO
PART 2 - VIDEO
For reason(s) unknown, though I have my theories, survival kits appear to generate all manner of disputes within the outdoors fraternity. I am greatly of the opinion that this is primarily due to the fact that peoples perceptions of what 'will' constitute a `survival` situation, varies wildly. Therefore, in accordance with their expectations, so does the contents and size of their kit.
In essence, a survival kit needs only to provide for the four human necessities, namely: Shelter, Fire, Water and Food. Everything else after that should be considered a bonus and nothing more.
If we accept that postulate, then there are now three ways to proceed:
Option 1) Create a Survival Kit which contains all four.
Option 2) Create a Survival Kit which provides the means to procure shelter, fire, water and food.
Option 3) Create a Survival Kit which provides 'some' of the four necesities and means to address the others.
OPTION 1
Adopting option one is impractical and, in all honesty, impossible! You cannot possibly determine how long you will remain within a survival situation, hence, you cannot possibly determine the quantity of food or water your kit will require (let alone your physical ability to carry said items). So option 1 is all but redundant.
OPTION 2
Option two is far more realistic and managable. However, the precurement of a shelter may not be that easy depending upon your locale at the time. Creating a natural shelter expends a huge ammount of energy and has one major drawback......you can't take it with you. Essentially, you've submitted to the notion that you will not move until discovered, and in my humble opinion, this could hold fatal consequence.
Just to digress here slightly, everytime i think of or have conversations about survival, my mindset is "always" within the frame of the worst possible weather conditions i can imagine. This is usually the time I was once out on the Pennine Mountain tops in England. Its vast open space with little place to shelter except down the lee side of an exposed hill. All I had on were jeans, a T-shirt and jumper, I had no kit on me whatsoever when the sky decided to turn black then absolutely throw it down. The temperature plummeted way low and the wind picked up dramatically. Within a matter of seconds i was soaked to the skin and found myself in a gale force wind on an exposed mountaintop (yip!, stupidity I agree, however I was very young and nieve at the time). The vehicle was five miles away by now and heading back toward it with head down battling to walk through the wind and shivering uncontrollably, it began bouncing hailstones off my head. The only way i can think of to convey the conditions I was in, would be to tell you wait until about mid December, and then go jump in the ocean wearing the clothing i had on, then walk five miles in similar weather conditions.
There was simply nowhere to get out of the weather. It was the wind that was the killer....it was simply horrendous. Being freezing cold in itself, isnt too bad, and once your hands and feet are numb the pain seems to stop. But add the wind and ohhh god, your in a completely different ballpark altogether.
I rapidly learnt that the absolute number one priority of 'any' human being is shelter!!
It cannot and should not, be underestimated under ANY circumstance.
So, getting back to option two, I know by bitter experience, that having the 'means to' procure a shelter IS NOT the same as 'having' a shelter. I want a shelter with me permamantly. Therefore option two, at least for me, is not even an option. This leaves option three.
OPTION 3
Option three is the one I choose to adopt, obviously by a logical process of elimination of one and two.
Option three provides a survival kit / last ditch kit, with: a) A shelter b) Means to precure the other three necessities as well as shelter.
My problem with my last ditch kit has always been that I was never ever content with that damn foil blanket to provide me with shelter from the elements. The are perfectly useless items in foul wind and weather.
My original last ditch kit was as pictured below
Fig:1
I created this initial kit (Fig:1) on the premise that it contains Shelter and Fire along with the means to make water safe to drink and acquire food. The limitation was that it had to be part of my equipment that fitted into a cargo or jacket pocket, so when outdoors, if i needed to make redundant all my equipment for whatever reason, then i would always have this in my leg. However, the foil blanket haunted me ever since i put it there. I used to ponder on how to get a tarp in that pocket instead or an Adventure Medical Heatsheets bivvy bag, but both were deemed impractical.
My new Survival Kit / Bottom Line Redundancy, came about after I purchased a French Army MRE Stove kit (see Fig: 3), for no other reason than that it was one only pound on Ebay, and then found that it fit perfectly inside the BCB mini mess tin. I then could see clearly that i could actually incorporate the stove 'inside' my survival tin and get fuel in there too. Now i only needed a decent shelter that i could wrap around the tin and i had the whole lot on one neat package (see Fig: 2).
My new Survival Kit / Bottom Line Redundancy, came about after I purchased a French Army MRE Stove kit (see Fig: 3), for no other reason than that it was one only pound on Ebay, and then found that it fit perfectly inside the BCB mini mess tin. I then could see clearly that i could actually incorporate the stove 'inside' my survival tin and get fuel in there too. Now i only needed a decent shelter that i could wrap around the tin and i had the whole lot on one neat package (see Fig: 2).
Fig: 1
On the benchtop in Fig: 1 are items i removed instantly from the BCB Military Survival Tin because they are impractical and/or inadequate. These were: candle; wire saw rings; sewing kit; waterproof matches and the firesteel.
Fig:2
Above (Fig: 2) shows the dimensions and weight of my new neat all in one redundancy kit.
Fig: 3
Fig: 3a
Fig: 3a is a photo of the French MRE Ration Pack Stove Kit that was broken down and incorporated into my kit. This is just a dream stove for a survival kit. At about 2mm thick it just doesn't get any better than this really.
Fig: 4
Above (Fig: 4) is a stillshot of my bottom line redundancy kit. I believe I will be hard pushed to change this, nevertheless, this is the first install of it. I will be looking to get possibly a few matches in there, a piece of wet & dry sandpaper and some antibiotics, but apart from that, i think this is nigh on complete.
I'm exceptionally happy with the outcome of this and it fits in a leg pocket just so sweetly.
Thanks for taking the time out of your day to come visit the Kittchen Sink, it is greatly appreciated.
Enjoy Your Wilderness
Kind Regards ian :)
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