Individual Aid and Survival Kit, Circa 1963, Part Two ©

 

An excerpt from the Youngstown Vindicator, March 28, 1964, Saturday, “Yanks in Viet Nam Get New Survival Kit”, page 17.

Fred S. Hoffman, in his article “Yanks in Viet Nam Get New Survival Kit”, published in the March 28^th, 1964, edition of the Youngstown Vindicator (found HERE), described how the “special forces troopers bound for South Viet Nam are being given new one-pound survival kit”, which, apparently, is the “Individual Aid and Survival Kit”, that the United States Army developed for the Special Forces, starting in 1963.¹  For more information the “Individual Aid and Survival Kit”, read “Individual Aid and Survival Kit, Circa 1963, Part One ©”, HERE. 

 

An excerpt from “Yanks in Viet Nam Get New Survival Kit” in the Youngstown Vindicator, March 28, 1964, Saturday, page 17.

What was interesting about his article was his emphasis on the importance of the survival kit containing a “do it yourself” pamphlet, which he described as an “...important part of the kit”. 

For the same reason that it is important to have an easy to follow, basic first-aid manual, or instruction booklet, in your first-aid kit², the United States Army felt that “a durable survival pamphlet must be included in the”³ in “Individual Aid and Survival Kit”, because during an emergency, you never know what you will recall and what will go “out the window”, so to speak, and disappear from your memory.

“So, what survival instructions were in this durable survival pamphlet that was included in the “Individual Aid and Survival Kit”, that the 5^th Special Forces Group evaluated”, you ask?

 

An excerpt from page 9, of the sample survival pamphlet, from “AD 401819, Department of Army Approved Small Development Requirement for Individual Aid and Survival Kit for Special Warfare”.

That is a good question, and I am glad that you asked it, because when I originally did the research for “Individual Aid and Survival Kit, Circa 1963, Part One ©”, I found an example survival pamphlet that the developers had included with their requirements for the “Individual Aid and Survival Kit”.  The full pamphlet can be found HERE, starting on page 18.  But, since I thought you might like a little something to whet your appetite, I have included a couple of pages, below.

Excerpts from the sample survival pamphlet, from “AD 401819, Department of Army Approved Small Development Requirement for Individual Aid and Survival Kit for Special Warfare”.

So, because you never know what you will remember in an emergency and what you won’t, just like with the “Individual Aid and Survival Kit”, find a small survival pamphlet or book and include it in your survival kit. 

 

A picture of the survival booklet, "You Alone In the Maine Woods", published by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Information & Education, photograph by the author.

  

A good survival manual that you could include in your survival kit is the, "You Alone In the Maine Woods" pamphlet, published by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Information & Education.  I wrote a review of the "You Alone In the Maine Woods" survival booklet, which is a survival pamphlet that I recommended highly, and the review can be found HERE. 

You could either print a copy of the PDF, found HERE, or request your own copy from Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Information & Education, by emailing them at their “Contact Us” page, HERE, and put it in a plastic bag, or you could print only selected portions of the PDF and laminate them as survival cards before putting them into in your survival kit.

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 Interestingly, the date of Mr. Hoffman’s article lies between the date when the “Individual Aid and Survival Kit” was developed by the United States Army in April 17, 1963 and when the 5^th Special Forces Group prepared it’s evaluation of kit, on April 20, 1966.

² Incidentally, I keep A Comprehensive Guide To Wilderness & Travel Medicine, 3^rd Edition, by Eric A Weiss, MD, in my personal first aid kit.

³ “AD 401819, Department of Army Approved Small Development Requirement for Individual Aid and Survival Kit for Special Warfare”, page 8

⁴ Ibid., page 18

Sources

“AD 401819, Department of Army Approved Small Development Requirement for Individual Aid and Survival Kit for Special Warfare”, [Reproduced by Defense Documentation Center for Scientific and Technical Information, Cameron Station, Alexandria, Virginia, Originally by the Headquarters United States Army Combat Developments Command, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, April 17, 1963], https://ia902804.us.archive.org/19/items/DTIC_AD0401819/DTIC_AD0401819.pdf, accessed September 14, 2018

Hoffman, Fred S.; “Yanks in Viet Nam Get New Survival Kit”, Youngstown Vindicator, March 28, 1964, page 17, https://books.google.com/books?id=ii1AAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA12&dq=survival+kit&article_id=609,3475678&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjDxcfa7urpAhXNVs0KHZ7sDNs4oAEQ6AEwBnoECAMQAg#v=onepage&q=survival%20kit&f=false, Accessed June 5, 2020