Sunday, November 7, 2021

The Top Ten Wilderness Survival Skills...Number Four©

 

 


This is the fourth in a series of eleven articles on the top ten wilderness survival skills, things you should know before you go into the wilderness.  To read the previous article go HERE – Author’s Note

 

The Number Four, Top Ten Wilderness Survival Skill: First Aid

 

The number four, top ten wilderness survival skill on my list, is first aid.  A basic understanding of first aid is something that many people who wander in the wilderness are lacking.  This, in my opinion, is because they believe that wilderness emergencies CAN’T happen to THEM!   But they CAN and they DO and knowing basic survival skills can be the difference between life and death during a wilderness emergency, and the first skill you should know is first aid.

 

The “Rule of Threes”, graphic by the Author.


You can only survive for about three minutes without air or with severe bleeding.  Because of this, the first priority on the “Rule of Threes” is first aid, because a severe injury can kill you very quickly.  In fact, even a minor wound, such as a scrape or a small cut, if left untreated and if it becomes infected, can make you sick and weak and make your continued survival much more difficult.  First aid is important because you need to know what to do if you or someone you are with is injured, and has a cut, a broken bone, a burn, a sprain, etc.  So, learn first aid! 

 

There are three things that you can do to improve your first aid skills.  First, you should take and successfully complete at least a basic first aid and CPR course.  Second, you should build and always carry a personal first aid kit, tailored to your skills and how far away from professional first responders you will be.  And third, you should learn and understand how to use every item in your first aid kit, which you will learn how to do if you take a first aid course.

 

Taking and successfully completing a basic first aid and CPR course is the least you should do, taking and successfully completing an advanced first aid and CPR course, is even better!  You should look for a Wilderness First Aid course that “teaches advanced skills to be used in emergencies when help from professional first responders may be far away”.  The American Red Cross offers a “Wilderness and Remote First Aid” course.  

 

For more information about the American Red Cross Wilderness and Remote First Aid, contact your local American Red Cross Office or go HERE.


Another great course, offered online by ECSI, is the “BSA Wilderness First Aid Navigate Course”. 

 

You can find information on the “BSA Wilderness First Aid Navigate Course, offered by ECSI, HERE, photograph by the Author.


Both courses were designed to meet the Wilderness First Aid Curriculum of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), which early on recognized the need for advanced first aid skills that could be used when help from professional first responders were not quickly available.

 

“Stop The Bleed” is another great course that can save a life, because you, or someone else, can bleed to death from a severe wound in three minutes!  Bleeding, because of a serious injury, is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths, so learn how to stop it.  This class only focuses on stopping bleeding and should be taken along with an advanced first aid course, so that you know how to care for all injuries and emergencies.  Generally, “Stop The Bleed” classes are inexpensive and sometimes even free, so if you are going to be in a wilderness area, away from professional first responders, take the course!

 

For more information on a “Stop The Bleed” course near you, go HERE.


And now, in honor of veterans and Veteran’s Day, a quick story of how knowing first aid might someday save your life. 

 

I first met Howard, “Howie”, J. Frohnapple1 on November 11, 2009.  I was the Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 48 and we had just finished taking part in a Veteran’s Day remembrance ceremony, when he stopped by to chat with us and tell us how learning first aid while in the Boy Scouts had saved his life during WWII. 

 

You see Howie, who was just 25 years old then, was the navigator of a B-24 Liberator bomber, supporting the landings on D-Day, June 6, 1944, it was his 21st combat mission.  The area on which they were to drop their bomb load was socked in with clouds, so the pilot circled, to give the bombardier more time to find the target.  Unfortunately, it also gave the German 88 mm anti-aircraft gunners the time to zero in on them with their sound ranging equipment, and open fire!  Howard, who was sitting in the nose of the plane, was hit with a piece of shrapnel, shattering his left forearm, and causing him to lose consciousness.  He was bleeding heavily, and was in danger of bleeding to death, when one of the other crewmen put a tourniquet on him.  However, in his panic and haste, he incorrectly put the tourniquet around Howie’s wrist, below the hole in his arm, before returning to his duty station to continue with the mission. 

 

Howard came to at that point, just long enough to realize that the other airman hadn’t put the tourniquet on correctly.  Remembering what he had learned as a Boy Scout, he moved the tourniquet up his arm, so that it was above the wound in his lower arm and tightened it down, before passing out, again.

 

Because he knew first aid and remembered what he had learned, he saved his own life!  And although, he was still unconscious, he was also still alive several hours later, when the plane landed in England after completing its mission.  And that is why he was still alive 65 years later and able to tell the members of Boy Scout Troop 48, about the importance of knowing first aid and how someday, the life that it saves might be your own!

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “The Top Ten Wilderness Survival Skills...Number Five©”, where we will talk about the importance of taking shelter from the wind and the wet.

 

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 Unfortunately Howard J. Frohnapple passed away on July 31, 2016, in Gainesville, Florida.   He was born on July 13, 1919, and had just reached his 97th birthday.

 

From “Howard J. Frohnapple”, Williams-Thomas Funeral Homes, https://www.williamsthomasfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Howard-Frohnapple/#!/Obituary, accessed October 27, 2021

 

Sources

 

 

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