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| A reproduction of “Man Stays Calm, Knows How To Find Food And Water, Can Survive In Wilderness”, Lewiston (Ida.) Morning Tribune, November 6, 1968, page 7. The original article can be found HERE. |
The
other day I was trolling through Google, searching the keywords “survival” and
“wilderness”, when I stumbled upon the article above, which was about a talk
that Dr. George A. Thompson1, gave to the Rotarians of Clarkston and
Lewiston, Idaho on November 5, 1968.
While reading his advice to the Rotarians, it struck me that survival
principals are timeless. Sure, gadgets
and technological gizmos change, but even after 51 years, 6 months and 6 days,
survival principals do not!
Dr.
Thompson taught two survival principals, three survival priorities and four
survival tips. Now, I agree with his
survival principals and his survival tips, which are timeless, and for the most
part I agree with his survival priorities, and I will explain where I disagree
and why when we get there. So, as my
youngest son always says, since there is a lot to unpack here, let’s get
started.
 |
| Excerpts from the Lewiston (Ida.) Morning Tribune, November 6, 1968, page 7 |
Dr.
Thompson spoke about two survival principals, the first was “remaining calm”
and the second was “being prepared”.
 |
| An excerpt from the Lewiston (Ida.) Morning Tribune, November 6, 1968, page 7 |
First
off, let’s face the facts, people react very differently during stressful, emergency
situations. I have always taught the “1/3,
1/3, 1/3 Rule” which is that,
during an emergency, one-third of people will remain calm and make rational
decisions, one-third of people will become hysterical and panic, they might
even run away, and one-third of people, will freeze, although they might regain
the ability to function if they are given a task or directions. This is your body’s natural response to
danger, and it is called the fight-flight-freeze response. Dr. Thompson’s percentages are different that
mine, but that doesn’t matter, the concept is the same.
It
is critical, in any emergency, to remain calm.
Panicking only makes things worse and freezing isn’t much better than
panicking, when life or death decisions and actions have to be taken,
immediately!
Being
prepared has two parts, taking the time before an emergency to learn how to
take care of yourself in a survival situation and having basic survival tools,
such as a first-aid kit, a knife and the means to start a fire, with you whenever
you go out into the wilderness. Being
prepared by learning and practicing survival and first-aid skills will help you
to remain calm during emergency. People
who don’t know what to do often freeze and do nothing or, worse they
panic.
 |
| Carry a knife and the means to start a fire, with you whenever you go out into the wilderness, photograph by the author. |
In
just the same way, carrying a survival kit and a first-aid kit, with you can
reduce the stress of a wilderness emergency.
Oh,
when it comes to learning something new, simply reading a book once isn’t
learning a new skill, it just makes you an armchair adventurer. You must read, study, learn from a qualified
teacher and then practice, practice, practice, to learn a new skill2.
 |
| An excerpt from the Lewiston (Ida.) Morning Tribune, November 6, 1968, page 7 |
 |
| The Rule of Threes, graphic created by the author. |
Wind,
wet and cold, and sometimes the Sun, are your greatest survival threats and if
you don’t find shelter from the elements quickly, often you won’t have to worry
about finding water and then food, because you will be dead! Dr. Thompson is spot on when he says that
your number one survival priority is to seek shelter and prevent the loss of
precious body heat, and here his survival priorities mirror the Rule of
Threes.
During
the winter Dr. Thompson recommends, in the case of a plane crash, that you
remain at the crash site, since if the wreck is intact it is a pre-made shelter
and because it easier to see a crashed plane, than a lost person from the
air. If you are going to shelter in a
wrecked plane or you are sheltering on the ground in a shelter you made, always
have insulation between you and the ground or the inside of the plane, as you
can lose heat by conduction to both of these things.
For
information on how to build a bough bed read “Making an Emergency Bough Bed ©”,
HERE,
or view the video HERE. And, personally I never go into the
wilderness without carrying along two large, heavy-duty contractor grade trash
bags with which to make an instant shelter from wind and weather, for more on
how to make an trash-bag shelter, read “Using your poncho or a trash bag as an
Emergency Shelter ©”, HERE
or view the video HERE.
Speaking
of survival priorities, and here is an area where I disagree with Dr. Thompson,
I believe that he has his second and third priorities switched: it should be
water second and food last. During his
lecture in 1968, Dr. Thompson taught that your second priority should be food,
as you need food energy to maintain your heat output and that is true, however
if you are not hydrated your body is unable to regulate its core temperature
and move the heat to where it is needed most.
In any case you will die from dehydration long before you starve to
death, and so water needs to be your second priority.
 |
| An excerpt from “Survival In The Open”, by John T. Flynn, M.D., page 62 |
Oh,
and while we are talking about safeguarding precious body heat during survival
emergencies, I disagree with Dr. Thompson’s statement that “...a man can die
of exposure in his sleep.” I have
slept outside, without a shelter, a number of times and I have been pretty
cold, and sometimes I had a fire and sometimes I didn’t. What I have noticed is, that whenever the
fire burned down or I was too cold to sleep, I shivered myself awake3. I can say that so far, whether I was sleeping
outdoors within or without a shelter or with or without a fire, I haven’t died
in my sleep yet!
Dr.
Thompson taught that food and water are everywhere in the wilderness if you
know where to look for it and what to do with it, when you find it, and this is
absolutely true. But the devil is in the
details and you have to learn what is and isn’t safe to eat and how to purify
your drinking water.
According
to Eric G. Anderson, M.D., who wrote Plane Safety And
Survival, there are “300,000 known species of plants, of which 120,000
are edible and only a few poisonous.” Now, if you are interested in learning about
wilderness edibles, there are plenty of books which talk about what plants you
can and cannot eat, however the best way to learn this skill is to find a
qualified teacher and learn from them.
Oh, and never eat mushrooms, the risk of misidentification is to great
and there isn’t enough food value to make the risk worthwhile. And as far as animal food goes, the author of
Plane Safety And Survival, wrote that “Lower forms of life are easier
to catch than higher, and if it moves you can eat it.” – his list of edible
things includes ants, grasshoppers, lizards, snakes, and other creepy crawlies4.
 |
| Excerpts from Plane Safety And Survival, by Eric G. Anderson, M.D., page 41-43 |
The
best way to purify water is by boiling it, in fact if you make a soup or stew
of the plant and animal food that you find, you can kill any possible pathogens
in your food and your water, conserves nutrients and fuel and basically have
your cake and eat it too. Boiling is the
best way to purify your drinking water, because it doesn’t require scarce or
sometime unavailable chemicals or gadgets, for more information on purifying
your drinking water by boiling see “Water Disinfection: When is boiled, boiled
enough…? ©”, HERE.
 |
| An excerpt from the Lewiston (Ida.) Morning Tribune, November 6, 1968, page 7 |
I
absolutely agree with Dr. Thompson on this, never, ever, ever travel alone
through the wilderness, unless you have no other choice. If you are alone and have an emergency in the
wilderness, you could be flat out of luck.
You should always venture in the wild parts of the world with a buddy or
two, for more information on the buddy system read “The Buddy System ©”, HERE.
 |
| Newspapers, picture by the author. |
 |
| An excerpt from the Lewiston (Ida.) Morning Tribune, November 6, 1968, page 7 |
Newspaper
is a great survival tool, if you have it,it is so much more than a firestarter,
it is a fantastic insulator. Newspaper,
or even dried grass, moss, or the stuffing from car and airplane seats, can be
stuffed inside your clothes to help you insulate you from the cold.
 |
| An excerpt from the Lewiston (Ida.) Morning Tribune, November 6, 1968, page 7 |
Unless
the need is great, you should not try to walk out, generally you will just
become more lost and in any case it makes it much harder for searchers to find
you. However, if you have to find your
own way out of the wilderness, the ridge tops are usually easier to walk along,
as there will be less underbrush than in the valley bottoms. And as far as camping at night goes, I would
disagree with Dr. Thompson slightly, don’t camp in the valley bottoms, camp
halfway or so, down the valley slopes, that is where it will be the warmest.
 |
| Thermal belt, illustration by the author. |
The
reason for this is that as the Sun goes down and the air on the hill tops
cools, it flows downhill, this is called “katabatic drainage”, before it pools
into a cold layer in the valley bottom.
Just on top of this pool of cold air is an inversion layer and a belt of
warmer air, this belt of warm air is called a “thermal belt”. Above the thermal belt the temperature again
decreases with the increase in elevation, and an increase in heat loss due to
reduced air density and lower moisture content.
So, remember, next time you decide to wander the wilderness, remain calm, be
prepared, remember the Rule of Threes and don’t camp in valley bottoms, and
most importantly have fun!
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.
Don’t forget to follow me on both The
Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE,
and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free
to leave a comment on either site. I
announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at
bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.
That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Notes
1
Dr. George A. Thompson was born on October 24, 1914 in Buckley, Washington and
he died in 1997 at the age of 82. In the
early 1940s he went to Medellin, Columbia, as a missionary and teacher,
returning to California in 1947. He
moved to Clarkston, Idaho in 1953. His
obituary can be found HERE.
2 However,
before you decide to practice any new survival skills outdoors, let’s first talk
about safety. The first time that you
practice a new skill, you should do it in a controlled setting, like in your
back yard or just off the trailhead within 100 yards (about 90 meters) or so of
your car. In addition, whenever you go
into the wilderness you should always take a buddy with you. This way if an accident happens, you have
someone to help you and you can quickly get to help.
3
Sometimes if your fire burns low, you will have do more than just throw wood on
it, you might have to blow it back to life from the hot embers! This is why you should always keep plenty of
tinder on hand. If you are sleeping
without a fire and you wake up because you are cold, it is time to do some
exercises; jumping jacks, deep knee bends, walking around and around a large
tree trunk, whatever it takes to warm you up and get the blood flowing
again.
4
Excerpts from pages 41 to 42, Plane Safety And Survival, by Eric G.
Anderson, M.D.
Sources
“Man
Stays Calm, Knows How To Find Food And Water, Can Survive In Wilderness”,
Lewiston (Ida.) Morning Tribune, November 6, 1968, page 7, https://books.google.com/books?id=775eAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA7&dq=%22Dr.+George+A+Thompson%22&article_id=4963,1016245&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjuv-nLxKLpAhUKVs0KHaMmAAcQ6AEwAHoECAQQAg#v=onepage&q=%22Dr.%20George%20A%20Thompson%22&f=false,
accessed May 8, 2020
Anderson,
Eric G., M.D.; Plane Safety And Survival, [Aero Publishers, Inc.,
Fallbrook, CA, 1978], pages 41-42
Flynn, John T., M.D., “Survival In The Open”, Flying,
January 1961, Volume 68, Number 1, [Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, New York,
NY], p. 62, 80-82, https://books.google.com/books?id=1ZUDOCzJUrcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Flying+Magazine+Jan+1961&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiu0OuB3eznAhWIlHIEHcs4D8AQ6AEwB3oECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=Flying%20Magazine%20Jan%201961&f=false, accessed 2/25/20
Meteorology Glossary,
American Meteorological Society “Thermal Belt”, [American Meteorological
Society, © 2020 ] http://glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/Thermal_belt
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