Survival Principals Are Timeless ©

 

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