Shards of Survival

Shards of Survival, the site for everyone who gets off the beaten path. Shards of Survival contains information on survival techniques, trail work, scouting and hiking, orienting and camping. You'll also find information on "primitive" techniques and sustainable alternatives to modern technologies. Survival for everyone starts here!

Sunday, November 20, 2005

And more preparation

Be physically and mentally fit before you take that long awaited trip. Unexpected situations (like the hotel being 5 miles away from the beach instead of the advertised 50 meters) and problems (like your hotel room being over-booked) are easier to bear when you're fit. Walk or cycle to work or school, eat healthier and more balanced food and lower (or abstain from) alcohol and tobacco. Make sure you've had a medical check-up and have been to the dentist. Inocculations and vaccinations are vital for many regions, even mandatory in some cases. Allow for plenty of time. Many vaccinations need generous time to become fully effective: an effective anti-typhoid treatment means 3 injections over a period of 6 months!

Think of Murphy: "what can go wrong, will go wrong". So, make alternative plans beforehand. Having at hand the addresses of your embassy and consulates, the phone numbers of your insurance company and airline company, extra cash money, being able to at least speak a smattering of the local language, etc. can stifle many incipient problems or can help solve occuring problems quicker. It once took me 3 hours just to find the phone number (on the airport!) of my airline company. It was not good fun.

Prepare as well for other circumstances. Terrain can be harder than expected, you can loose your supplies, the group gets separated unexpectedly, the weather can turn bad or transportation fails at a critical moment. It's still very well possible to end up with no petrol in the tank in many places on this globe. At one time I ended up nearly stranded in Gobi desert simply because none of the villages we had past in the previous two days had any petrol left for sale. We managed only just by pooling the petrol of all vans into one van, which then went to the nearest village where (after some calling around) we knew petrol to be available. At 35 degrees in the shade (with no shade for miles) things could have turned ugly.

Illness and physical injury as well as trouble with local militia or the police can seriously ruin your day. Prepare for them in advance. You'll feel more comfortable handling all these setbacks and be on your way again sooner.


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Preparation

The old scouting slogan "Be prepared" still holds for everyone who ventures out of his or her familiar surroundings. For many people that would be when going on holiday. It's a mark of sound judgement to acquaint yourself as much as possible with your destination before you leave home. Where is it exactly? How is the climate? What types of landscape will I encounter? Who are the people? All very important questions. A beach holiday in sunny Florida demands different choices and a different approach than a winter ski holiday in Aspen or an adventure trek in tropical Kalimantan.

Equipment and gear are also essential parts of the preparation. Nothing is more annoying than having to drag around luggage. If you then also find out that much of your gear is useless but that you left important items at home... you can imagine the frustration. Try to bring as little as possible, weighted against how much you can carry and the level of comfort you prefer. If you really have to make choices than first cut on comfort. Comfort can be created on site, physical strength and fitness not. Consider some of the following: is your gear in tip-top shape? Are your shoes properly broken in? Are your clothes fitting properly and don't chafe? Are tents and backpacks complete and intact? Is your first aid kit complete? Did you chance the batteries and light bulbs of your flash light? Did you pack your personal medication? Survival is in the details.


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Prevention is better than cure

It's hard to believe but human beings have visited, worked on and lived in nearly every nook and cranny of the globe. Even the most inhospitable areas there are people able to subsist, though perhaps only temporarily in the harshest of environments. In nearly every environment there are resources with which human beings can survive, though there are differences in the amount of resources.

In our own familiar surroundings, we know exactly how to survive, what we can and cannot do. We don't necessarily appreciate that as survival but it is. Not too long ago, many villagers didn't feel much at ease when they happened to be in a larger town, and city dwellers drew much attention in villages simply by their differing manners. And even nowadays, it's often not too difficult to distinguish between villagers in a town and city dwellers in a village. So, lLearning to survive in an unfamiliar environment is nothing more than learning how to live like the locals. When, however, our environment changes radically because of a natural disaster or war, we might have to learn how to live as our ancestors did 50, 100 or more years ago: less technically advanced and less hurried. Then survival becomes a matter of living consciously.


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High risk people

While providing necessary skills, certain professions can also cause an increase in risk. Military, police and other government personel can mean a dramatic increase in risk for the group. In hostage situations, these people are on the top of the list to be used as negotiation material or a means of coercion (threatening with executions, for instance). If the hostage takers know or believe this kind of people are present in the hostage group, they'll go through great lengths to find and seperate them from the rest.

Airplane crashes or strandings can plunge the group in an area of civil war or rebellion. Certain nationalities are simply not much liked in many parts of the world. Consider the hatred local people often harbour against Americans (nowadays especially in the Islamic world, Iraq and Afghanistan) and Isreali people (in the Middle East). Military personel, security forces and politicians, in particular, are at risk. Even just being near these people or if the hostage takers consider you associated with these people, could mean an increased risk of "punishment". Your, and the group's, chaqnces of survival chances could become zero.

Keep in mind that one's religion can be a source of hatred and aggression, too. Well-known examples are the relationships between Jews and Palestines, fundamentalist Muslims and Christians, and the East-Timorese and the Indonesian government. The conflicts are at heart not religion-based but religion is being used to defend the atrocities committed, of which also outsiders regularly become victims.

Women are, because of their gender, at risk; assault and rape being among those risks. If a man (husband, male friend, son, brother) protests the crime, it often results in a beating or worse. Still, never let that be a reason not to protest! The more noise is made and by as many people as possible, the bigger the chance the perpetrator will abandon his attempts. Especially in a hostage where people are held for political reasons, a leader could find it worthwhile to call his underling to order.

Never give up on anyone without putting up resistance just because punishment, pain or harm could come to you. A group that shows itself weak or cowardly will never gain the respect of their hostage takers. Such a group has lost any human aspect in the eyes of the hostage takers, making it easy for them to let loose their violence through arbitrariness, rape, torture and other crimes against humanity. Keep talking and protesting when that is appropriate. It'll keep you and the group seem human and worthy of life. That way, at least you'll have a chance of survival.


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Know the others

An important factor in the survival of a group can be the individual professions of the people in the group. A profession means knowledge, though often only in a niche. Especially knowledge of crafts and "hand" professions are very useful in setting up camp, preparation of food and other practical affairs. Artists, through music or singing or other artistic expressions, provide much-needed entertainment and diversion. Anyone with a medical background offers tremendously important skills that can dramatically improve the group's survival rate. Military personel are commonly used to act on order and stop only when a job is done. Police personel are trained in conflict management and often have a "natural" authority.


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Be yourself

Age can play a roll. Young children (at least til about 12 years old) usually still have great faith in adults and can easily be pulled out of a negative mental spiral by a father or mother figure. Teenagers are often more difficult to motivate and need a leader who understands them, motivates them and gives them responsibilities. Once a teenager is won over he or she will often want to go on longer and further than anyone else. Older adults (from about 50 years old) often have the disadvantage that they are no longer physically as able as they used to be. Their advantage lies (hopefully) in having more life experience, better judgement of character and being more patient. They also can act as substitute parents or take up the roll of caring grandparent.

Differences in gender also have different effects. Women are generally known to be mentally stronger than men but tend to suffer from depressions more often. Keep their spirits high and they'll pull everyone through. Men are generally physically stronger and thus able to accomplish certain tasks faster or better but that doesn't mean that women couldn't do the same task! Women often also have an eye for the other people in a group and often sense earlier that something is at hand. We can dismiss the stereotypical view of the screaming, panicking woman. Women might show their fear earlier and might be more willing to give in to it than men but they also learn faster how to live with that fear, even to the point of overcoming it. Many (if not most) men have great difficulty admitting they are afraid. Those who can and do admit it are often looked down upon by the other men. Men also have a tendency to join the action when pushed a little by the other men; peer pressure can be an ugly thing. When whipped up into action, men tend to heed danger very poorly, have virtually no ear for better ideas or judgements and can easily fall victim to a dangerous situation.

Women who step up as a leader often find resistance from men, while hardly from other women. It thus often happens that the group is lead by a man but that a woman speaks up for the women and children and the less "powerful" men in the group. If a group is to survive the situation, the leading man better be sensible and balanced and not afraid to listen to critique and suggestions coming from the group and particularly from women.


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