SurvivalRing

Any list you make shows your priorities, and hopefully this list will help establish some in your survival planning!

The idea behind SurvivalCommonSense.com started several years ago. As a journalist, I was often on the scene of natural disasters, catastrophes, accidents and search and rescue missions. My observations lead me to this premise: Survival is mostly psychological.

This is certainly no groundbreaking revelation on my part!

“The best survival tool is between your ears,” claims wilderness survival expert Peter Kummerfeldt. This idea is further reinforced by Cody Lundin, another wilderness and urban survival expert, who maintains that 90 percent of survival in any situation is psychological.

One goal of  SurvivalCommonSense.com is to help you develop the survival mindset that will keep you alive. So, let’s start with the baseline knowledge of what happens to people, mentally, in a survival situation. Until you know what might happen in your mind, or in the heads of the people around you, there’s no way to come up with a plan to survive.

With a survival mindset, you can survive anything. Without one, you won’t!

These five are among my favorite survival psychology books, and they deserve a place among your prepper or urban or wilderness survival tools. Here’s some good choices to get you started on creating your survival library:

Union prisoners are seen crowding near the main gate of Andersonville Civil War Prison. The prisoners had some of the psychological reactions anybody would have in an emergency!

“Survival Psychology” by John Leach

Some 20-odd years before the rash of “reality” or “survivor” shows, or anybody had ever heard of Les Stroud or Bear Grylls,  psychological studies resulted in a book which documented people’s  reactions  in emergency situations.

“Survival Psychology” by John Leach, PhD, of the University of Lancaster, England, was a groundbreaking study, that today is a reference source for many wilderness and urban survival bestsellers. If some of Leach’s writing or thoughts sound familiar, it is because you’ve read or heard them before!

Leach studied survivors’ reactions, including those of Union prisoners at the horrific Andersonville prison during the Civil War;  to shipwreck survivors; to people who made it through plane crashes and natural disasters.

Distilled down to one sentence, here’s what Leach found: Psychological responses to emergencies follow a pattern.

Survival situations bring out a variety of reactions – including some that make the situation worse. Leach’s studies show that only 10 to 15 percent of any group involved in any emergency will react appropriately. Another 10 to 15 percent will behave totally inappropriately and the remaining 70 to 80 percent will need to be told what to do. The most common reaction at the onset of an emergency is disbelief and denial.

“Survival Psychology” is out-of-print, as far as I know. But I’ve had no trouble getting a copy through the local inter-library loan program. Your library probably has a similar program, so check out Leach’s book. Survival Psychology

“I Sit and Stay: A Survival Guide for Kids (and parents, too!)” by Leah L. Waarvik Kids need to be outside. They need to be taking advantage of our great outdoors as opposed to vegetating in front of computer or TV screens. But anyone who goes into wilderness areas needs to do so safely, and  “I Sit and Stay” teaches your children what to do if they get lost.

Author Leah Waarvik is a search-and-rescue professional who works as part of a canine team to find missing people in the wilderness. She wrote “I Sit and Stay” after hearing stories of children who were lost and unprepared. The title says it all: Teach your lost children to stay in one place and await rescue.

Written in interesting, easy-to-understand terms, the lesson of staying-put is taught through the characters of Emma and Koa, two wilderness search-and-rescue dogs. The book also mentions and discusses three simple tools that every child (I say every person, regardless of age!) should be taught to use and carry on every outdoor excursion:

• Whistle: Always carry one on a string around your neck when hiking or camping. The child should be taught that if they get lost, they sit and blow. Rescue Howler Whistle by Adventure Medical Kits
• A pocket-sized mirror: Use this to signal search aircraft or other people. Ultimate Survival Technologies 2×3 StarFlash Emergency Signal Mirror
• A large garbage bag: With training this is to be used as a shelter. (My two cents worth is that the bag should be bright yellow or orange to aid in being found.)

After being taught how to use these items, the child should also be trained to carry these survival tools in their pockets or pack. Pockets are probably the best, since a child will probably lose their backpack before their pants! Survival Kit for I Sit and Stay A Survival Guide for Kids and Parents Too!

A survival mindset is a requirement to join this exclusive club!

“The Survivors Club” by Ben Sherwood

Most of us can’t take all the survival field classes and seminars we’d like to, and only a fool would create a real emergency to see how he might react!

Author Ben Sherwood interviewed people who have survived everything from the World War II Holocaust to the Twin Towers tragedy on 9/11. He was seeking a common ground, a kind of definition, about why some people survive catastrophes, disasters, and emergency situations and why others don’t.

His conclusion, after extensive research, is that the most important part of survival is in your mind. And – no surprise here – you must develop a survival mindset.

So where do you begin?

According to the U.S. military, you must first decide you will survive.  The US Army Field Survival Manual, in their official instruction for how to stay alive in hostile environments, offers this advice on the very first pages:

“Without the will to survive, your chances of surviving are greatly diminished,” the book states. US Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76 , Illustrated

The next step to surviving is to accept that whatever is happening to you is not unique. We all want to think we’re special, Sherwood, writes, but any survival situation will cause people to react in established behavior patterns. The sooner you get over being incredulous, the sooner you can start reacting in a positive way and come up with a plan.

Then, a survivor must do something. The most common reaction, regardless of the circumstances, is to do nothing, hang tight and wait for someone else to react first, or tell them what to do.

But surprisingly, there aren’t a lot of panic attacks during an emergency. Researchers examining crises as disparate as the WWII London Blitz and the attacks of Sept 11 found people rarely lose total control and run around mindlessly. Rather, most just freeze until they’re told what to do.

So we keep reading The Survivors Club, because we all want to know the secret, the one thing that can make a difference between living and dying.

What is the secret of survival? Sherwood asked Ray Smith, former Marine Drill Instructor, with 27 years on active duty in the Navy as a survival instructor. Smith is the author of  How to Survive on Land and Sea. Smith’s answer is simple.

“Faith in God,” Smith says “It’s a major factor in all survival scenarios.”

I first ran into the writings of Viktor Frankl, eminent psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, when I was in graduate school. Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning remains one of my favorite books. So it was no surprise to me that Frankl was mentioned in The Survivors Club. Frankl developed a survival mindset to get through Auschwitz.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing:” Frankl observed, “The last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Purpose gives you the why – the meaning and mission – in your life. It also gives you the power to survive.

“The Survivors Club” deserves reading and re-reading. It teaches about the most important part of any survival situation: Your reaction to what is happening to you.The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life

Deep Survival is another great choice for your wilderness or urban survival library!

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why by Lawrence Gonzales

I read “Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, And Why”  in a few marathon sessions. The fast-paced accounts of real life survival situations are mesmerizing. It’s a good survival mindset read and I couldn’t help wondering what I might do in some of the situations.

In the book, Gonzales mentions 12 points that disaster survivors seemed to have in common.  These points are definitely worth reading and thinking about, even if you don’t get anything else out of the book.

1. Perceive, believe: If there is any denial, it is counterbalanced by a solid belief in the clear evidence of their senses. In other words, survivors establish a survival mindset immediately. They see opportunity, even good, in their situation.
2. Stay calm (use humor, use fear to focus) In the initial crisis, survivors use fear, and aren’t ruled by it.
3. Think/analyze/plan: Survivors quickly organize, set up small manageable tasks. In other words, they’re using the STOP tool.
4. Take correct decisive action: Survivors were able to convert thoughts to action. They deal with what they can from moment to moment, hour to hour.
5. Celebrate successes: This is important to maintaining motivation and avoiding hopelessness.
6. Count you blessings: Be grateful you’re alive.
7. Play: Sing, play mind games, recite poetry, count things etc.
8. See the beauty: Survivors are attuned to the wonder of the world.
9. Believe you will succeed: All the above practices lead to the point where survivors become convinced they will prevail.
10. Surrender: Let go of your fear of dying. This is the type of thinking John Leach calls: “resignation without giving up. It is survival by surrender.”
11. Do whatever is necessary: Survivors know their abilities and don’t over or under estimate them. They believe anything is possible and act accordingly.
12. Never give up: There is always one more thing you can do.

“The Unthinkable” is a thought-provoking look at what happens during emergencies, before help arrives.

“The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why”  by Amanda Ripley

Amanda Ripley, an investigative journalist, writes about the human psychological reaction to disasters. Ripley covered some of the most devastating disasters of our time, and retraces how people reacted. She interviews leading brain scientists, trauma psychologists and other disaster experts. She comes up with the stunning inadequacies of many of our evolutionary responses.

Ripley’s book is not about disaster recovery: It’s about what happens in the midst  of one – before emergency personnel arrive and structure is imposed on the loss. Ripley describes a “survival arc” everyone must travel to get from danger to safety.

If you’ve ever thought about a disaster and possible reactions to it, then you’re on the right track. Ripley starts the survival arc process with the thought “I wonder what I would do if…”

Here’s the survival arc progression, according to Ripley, of a typical reaction to a disaster situation:

• Denial: This can’t be happening. This isn’t happening to me.
• Deliberation: We know something is terribly wrong, but don’t know what to do about it.
• The Decisive Moment: You’ve accepted that you are in danger, deliberated the options and now it is time to take action.

Anybody with a “Be Prepared” mentality hopefully moves quickly through the initial denial phase. We’ll also hope that you have read and studied survival techniques so you will be able to deliberate effectively and move on to the decisive moment phase.

But even if you think you’re prepared mentally for surviving a disaster,  “Unthinkable” is a book you need to read.  You must understand what goes on in your head during a disaster before you can use your tools. You’ll need information and techniques to respond correctly.

Some of that information can come from “The Unthinkable.” The book’s information is a powerful survival tool.

Recommended Reading:
Surviving a Wilderness Emergency
Build the Perfect Survival Kit

When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes
98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive

Other Survival Books

Posted on June 4th, 2010 by Leon in Recommended Readings

 

Soldiers head for Omaha Beach from the Higgins Landing Craft.

I was priviliged to interview 12 World War II veterans for a Bend, Oregon, Bulletin Special Section “Vanishing Heroes,” which was published on Veterans Day, 2007. Here is an excerpt from Private Shotwell’s story as he heads toward Omaha Beach at dawn in a Higgins landing craft.

“The noise was deafening. Big guns fired, engines on vehicles roared, men shouted and gysers of water errupted around our craft. It seemed like mass confusion.”

Still, Shotwell said he wasn’t really scared.

“I felt excited, probably because I had no combat experience at all,” he said. “Like most kids, I had this feeling of invincibility and I though nothing could happen to me.”

 

Images of Omaha Beach

That feeling “evaporated” as the boat stopped and the front ramp went down. The Germans had every inch of the beach presighted for accurate firing of mortars, machine guns, and 88mm cannons. The slaughter started before the soldiers disembarked, and the first wave was almost decimated.

“The guy in front of me had his head blown off by an 88 before we even got off the boat,” Shotwell said. “We started running for shore as soon as the gate flopped down.”

The survivors waded about 20 yards through waist-deep water, and ran and crawled about 200 yards inland and took cover behind a “shingle,” a one-to-three foot tall bank of small, rounded stones. The shingle was covered with concertina wire and offered protections from machine gun and small arms fire, but not from mortars.

“We were supposed to secure the beach and take out the mines,” Shotwell said. “But to lift your head above the shingle was almost certain death from a machine gun or sniper bullet.”

A few soldiers who tried to advance were killed immediately.

“We were desperate to move forward, because then the guns on the cliffs couldn’t be depressed enough to fire on us,” Shotwell said. “But until we got re-enforcements with bangalore torpedoes to blow the wire, all we could do was stay put.”

Shotwell’s images of that part of D Day are fuzzy.

“Bits and pieces pop into focus…a hand. An arm with no body around it. A foot. A helmet with a head still in it,” Shotwell said. “I wondered if the next shell would be mine.”

By late afternoon, enough equipment had come ashore that the engineers could start clearing the wire. In the face of heavy fire, Shotwell and other engineers blew holes in the wire and advanced to the bluffs.

They stopped at nightfall, and Shotwell, exhausted, “slept fitfully” about halway up the cliff.

By nightfall of  June 6, about 175,00 Allied military personnel were ashore in France. But the cost had been very high – some 4,900 died on the beaches and  in the battle further inland that day.

Of the 40 combat engineers who landed at Dog Red in the first wave, only four were alive at the end of the day. The next morning, Shotwell reached the top of the cliffs.

He looked out to sea, over the armada of 5,00o anchored ships, with a sense of disbelief, and surprise that he was still alive.

The day after the battle, Shotwell looked out over the Allied Armada from the cliffs over Omaha Beach. He still couldn’t grasp the enormity of what he had been part of.

“So this is France, I thought,” he said. “I had no idea of what I had just been a part of.”

Shotwell went on to fight in four major combat actions before the war was over. He was recommended for the Silver Star for his part in the crossing of the Rhine River in Germany.

Like many veterans, Shotwell rarely mentions his service, and initially, was reluctant to let me interview him for the “Vanishing Heroes” project.

His memories have “thankfully softened,” he said.

“War memories are best held in limbo,” he said. “They take on a softer glow that way. Most of my memories of World War II are of the pleasant things. I try to forget the bad things.”

But Shotwell does remember an attitude which helped him and his buddies get through the hell of Omaha Beach.

“We didn’t want to make a D Day type landing on some American beach, and we didn’t want to make a combat crossing of the Mississippi, and we didn’t want that kind of fighting going on in some small town in America,” Shotwell said. “We were thankful we could be the line of defence between our enemies and our homes.”

We can’t thank these servicemembers enough, so on this anniversary of D Day, let’s  thank ALL veterans of ALL American wars for their service to this country! God bless you!

Recommended Reading
The Longest Day: The Classic Epic of D-Day
The Greatest Generation Collection
More reading about D Day
Tom Brokaw World War Two books

The rattle of musketry came from over the hill, and in a few minutes, our pickets were driven back. The order came to form ranks, so I drained my canteen and wished for more water.

The Nalgene bottle, center, with duct tape is flanked by two soft, roll-up water containers. This system is my favorite for over-all use.

It was late in the afternoon of the Civil War re-enactment battle of Champion Hill, near Vicksburg, MS. I was an “embedded” journalist in the Confederate Army, covering the event for the Vicksburg Evening Post. All my clothing and gear was authentic, right down to the small, standard issue, flannel-covered canteen. It held less than a quart, and even though we replenished our canteens whenever possible, the hot Mississippi sun and wool uniforms sucked the moisture right out of us.

We had skirmished all afternoon, and my lips and mouth were dry from biting off the ends of the blackpowder cartridges to load my Springfield. We raised the Rebel yell and waited to fire a volley when the Yankees got closer.

Being able to carry sufficient water is a survival must. Dehydration can cause you to collapse in the heat or in the cold, and it can kill you. Every survival kit should have some way to carry and purify water.

In the early 1970s, I never filtered drinking water in the mountains. I’d carry a filled quart military canteen as insurance, but I never passed a clear-running stream without taking out my Sierra cup and sampling.

This quart military surplus canteen is cheap and rugged.

I hiked the John Muir Trail; through Yellowstone, and various other western mountain ranges without ever purifying water and I never got sick. But, I’d never do that today because of the potential for getting really sick. I always carry water on outings, and some way of purifying it.

As you put together a survival kit or update your equipment, here are some effective ways to carry water worth considering.

Collapsible water containers: I use these a lot, particularly in the quart size. On a 1977 desert backpack in Death Valley, my hiking partner John Nerness and I each carried five-gallon collapsibles inside our backpacks. Each of us carried three gallons of water in them, which  technically, would last us three days of hiking.

On most outings, I usually carry quart collapsibles in my pack, even if they aren’t filled. Platypus Sport  Bottle.  They weigh next to nothing and eliminate the need to improvise. If you have to purify water, fill one of these quart containers, add the water purification chemicals and wait for them to work. In the meantime, you can continue drinking out of another water bottle.

A quality collapsible is also fairly rugged. Survival expert Peter Kummerfeldt has a collapsible he’s been using for about 20 years. It shows some wear, but is still dependable.

Military canteens: I’ve used these since I was a kid. In the 1960s, the aluminum surplus canteens were cheap and widely available. My buddies and I would go to “Ames Surplus” an outdoors store outside Ames, Iowa and load up with all sorts of cool stuff for camping. The aluminum, and later, the plastic Vietnam-era canteens were rugged, reliable and easy to carry. This type of canteen is still cheap, and readily available.

The military two-quart, left and the Forest Service surplus canteens work well for carrying larger quanties of water.

Blanket covered canteen: I also had a blanket-covered canteen when I was a kid. My water-carrying choices depended on what game we were playing at the time. The blanket canteen that appeared in every western  was for cowboy themes and the GI canteens were for playing war.

During my Civil War re-enactor days, (When I was much older, but still playing war games!) I used a wool-covered, replica canteen. They are small, but reasonably adequate , and the water in them heats up quickly. During a battle, march or maneuver, your canteen water ends up tasting tinny and is bathwater warm.

Here in Oregon, Fire Service surplus blaze orange canteens are frequently available. I carry one in my car whenever it isn’t freezing, as a backup supply. When I hike or hunt with my Lab, Belle, I water her with the orange canteen. With a two-quart or gallon capacity, and a wide shoulder strap, these canteens are easy to grab and go.

Bladder Systems: These systems have a lot of advantages. If you’re climbing, biking or doing some activity where your hands are busy, a bladder will work well for you. They come in a variety of sizes, and are particularly good to use with youngsters. The drinking tubes from the reservoir are handy and if drinking is convenient and easy, you probably will.

If you store your bladder hydration system in a freezer you can forget about mold!

But the bladder systems require regular cleaning, particularly in hot, humid environments. Other wise, some sort of mold may develop, and water may end up tasting musty. But there is a way to eliminate this problem.

I got this idea from a fellow shopper at REI. I was looking at the complex assortment of brushes and tools for cleaning bladder hydration systems, and complaining about how hard it was to keep my kids’ hydration systems fresh. CamelBak Skeeter Kid’s Hydration Pack
The shopper claimed to have used the same bladder hydration system for 10 years, and said because it is always stored in the freezer, he doesn’t need to clean anything.

I’ve been storing my Camelback  CamelBak M.U.L.E. 100-Ounce Hydration Pack and other types of hydration systems  in my freezer for the past two years, and this tip works!

Nalgene Water Bottles: My current water carrying bottle is a wide-mouth quart Nalgene. Stealing an idea from survival instructor Cody Lundin, 98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive, I wrap duct tape around my Nalgene, and have a loop of parachute cord attached on the side. I can clip the cord onto my belt clip.

This setup is rugged and easy to fill and drink out of. I replenish the Nalgene out of the  filled collapsibles in my pack as needed.

Quart Gatorade Bottles:  These are included because they are essentially free and reasonably durable. You can find

It took some duct tape and parachute cord to make these quart Gatorade containers in serviceable canteens.

other plastic sport drink bottles and adapt them too. The idea is to have a lot of water in any survival kit or bug-out bag, and these work well.

They should be used only as backup supplies, but their availability and price allows you to have many.

Quart or Gallon Ziploc Bags: As an emergency backup container, these will work. Carry the filled bags in a bandana, and they will be less likely to burst. But if you anticipate needing additional water containers, take something more durable!

Another good hydration tip is to carry a V-8 vegetable or fruit juice in a can. Drink it at lunch. DON’T take soda, because most are diuretic, and may hasten dehydration.

Another necessity for staying hydrated is a Sierra cup or metal cup or pot to boil water. You may find a spring, or crack in a rock with water, and you’ll have to dip it out. Try that with your bladder system!

For more related SurvivalCommonSense.com tips and stories, click on the highlighted words:

• STOP: Use this exercise to reduce stress and focus your thoughts.
• Write a note to let people know where you went, before you left.
• Take your Ten Essentials on every outing.
• Dress with the right fabrics.
• Have a plan to make a tarp shelter.
• Carry lightweight, compact firestarter.
• Find the most effective fire ignition system.
• How to make charcloth, a material that can catch a spark from any source.
• Use charcloth as an effective method of catching a spark to make a fire.
• It can kill you: Hypothermia
• Hardtack: A great emergency food
• About Leon Pantenburg

Adequate water is crucial in any environment, but particularly in the desert. The Nalgene bottle in the center is what I drink out of, and the collapsible Platypus soft bottles are carried filled in my pack

Leon, and his hiking partner John Nerness, were miles away from water in this Death Valley “forest” campsite. The hike occurred during Christmas of 1977.