From cayoung01@earthlink.net Sun Aug 05 05:03:08 2001 To: <misc_survivalism_moderated@yahoogroups.

com> Subject: [misc_survivalism_moderated] Fw: how NOT to bug out From: "Chris Young" <cayoung01@earthlink.net> Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2001 07:03:08 -0400 Cc: <PracticalSurvival@yahoogroups.com> -------Yikk, this sounds like a miserable weekend. Christopher A. Young P.O. Box 442 Macedon, NY 14502 ----- Original Message ----From: Bob G Newsgroups: misc.survivalism Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2000 12:55 PM Subject: Re: [survivor] questions (SEALS, rats, rays, etc.) On Wed, 21 Jun 2000 10:32:51 +1000, larryn@ozemail.com.au wrote: >>One can feel like one would give anything just to be dry again. Not >>to mention the problems with funguses, creeping crude, etc. >> >2==> Can tell that you have been in the tropics, Bob! :-) > > >>And one can FEEL cold, even in such enviornment. certain times of the >>year. Even if it's, say in the 70's, if you're wet to the bone, wind >>blowing, etc one can have trouble feeling comfortable, feel chilled, >>etc. A dry place to sleep, at least, can become important to getting >>good rest and maintaining alertness and vigor. > > >3==> And let us not forget the psychological value of a fire, even a >small one. > >Have you not ever been in a siatuation where you were able to derive >considerable comfort from even a small and totally inadaquate fire? > >...Bet you have, and bet that if I push you enough you will even >remember it. :-) ROFLMAO <Flop ... Flop ... Flop> Yes. More than once. The one I'll relate isn't even, really, some great survival story. I really wasn't at any time in any great danger, I don't think. (I qualify statement as one never knows) Had opportunity to take a hiking/camping trip in a northwestern (U.S.) forested mountain area. I'd only just reported in to my new unit (I was active military), got thru the check-in procedure. Was assigned a bed and a locker. Then was told I'd lucked out. Whole unit had been given 4 days off. 'Go find something to do with yourself.'

Flying into the area I'd seen all those mountains and forests. What to do? What to do? A couple friendly guys pointed out there were several bars just outside the base which were frequented by some very friendly local ladies who really liked a guy in uniform. My mind flip flops. Go see if I can get lucky? Or .... I was staring at those forests and mountains. Chuckle, figured the ladies could wait. Went over to special services which had all the pamphlets on local hiking and camping possibilities. Snatched up several pamphlets tried to rent gear. Unfortunately, all the others on that base had known about the time off for some time and had already rented most of the stuff. Guy managed to dig out some left over odds and ends. Not a good outfit; pack, sleeping bag that'd seen better days, a rain poncho, canteen and an old mess kit. All he had. I was by then all hepped up and anxious, figured heck with it, that was enough. Grabbed it, took off, stopped by a little store and bought some basic food, had no idea where exactly I was gonna go til I got to this bus station. Looking at pamphlets and a map, saw this large preserve shown where one could hike and camp. Pointed at it, told ticket guy I needed a ticket on a bus that'd get me there. And I was off. Sortta lacks of planning and preparation, doesn't it? :-) Heck, didn't even know what the local weather was normally like. Nor did I know the predictions for the next few days. Chuckle. I found out. Got to the preserve and instead of following some marked trails, I just eyeballed spot I could see in the distance on a mountain and decided 'There', that was where I was going. And set out. Ignoring suggested and established trails, camping spots, etc. Setting out cross country. Really didn't care to go where everyone else went, didn't care if I even saw anybody on this trip. You know, I found out it rains a lot around there. When it's not raining, it's drizzling. Also turns out if I'd bothered to do a weather check, the forecast would have likely been that the weather was taking a turn for the worse. Because it did. Cloudy when I started, but otherwise not bad. Zippy Bob took off and Zippy Bob could cover a lot of ground fast. Always loved to WALK ... strong and fast. I could set a heck of a pace and maintain it even going up, and over rough terrain, all day long. I've never been a fast runner, but had never met anyone who could walk as fast ... as long ... as I could without a break. Taking such walks, to me, felt good, very good. 20 miles? Heck I was just warming up at 20 miles. Anyway, started in morning, by afternoon the weather turning for the worse. By evening .... sucked. Blowing rain, thunder and lightening, temperature dropping. Did I ever mention I'm a stubborn soul? Kept going, when really I should have stopped and rigged some sort of shelter. When I finally did stop, it was dark and with the storm I couldn't see squat. Scurried around trying to find dry stuff for a fire. Maybe a shelter. Couldn't see feet much less anything else. Gave up, tried to huddle with as much of me under poncho (a short one) as possible.

Miserable night, little sleep. Wet and shivering. Kept waking, would get up stomp around to get body warm. Then try to sleep some more. Ate cold, canned beans for my meal. When the sun came up, hard rain had ceased but it was both overcast, drizzling slightly and I was wrapped in thick fog. Whole world was dripping wet. Stubborn Bob pressed on. Whether just a change to the weather or because I was getting higher in elevation, or both, the temp kept getting steadily colder. Couple times in the day, the dam burst in the sky, and it poured ferociously. Add the fact I stumbled an tripped a number of times scraping this and that flesh off. And once fell down a sharp slope, 100 ft or better before I got stopped. Banged up ribs, conked head good and twisted ankle. Oh, hurt like devil, but no serious damage. Nothing broken. Just real aggravating, yah know? Let's just say that by late in the day, Bob's mood was on the foul and disgusted side. And the falls, dealing with twisted ankle, assorted dings and such ... along with difficulty of the terrain had taken the zip out of me. The cold probably a factor, also. One burns energy much faster when cold. Let's just say my mood was flipping back and forth between an urge to cry, dig a hole and crawl in ... and an urge to find a grizzly and kick his ass. Temp had slipped to the point where I have no idea of what it actually was, but it felt on the verge of changing from a steady rain into ice. Did I mention I'm stubborn? :-) Part of my mood was I just didn't want to give up. This was MY time. For all of it, the difficulties, I'd enjoyed the sights, being outdoors, etc. But was feeling pressed to give it up, huddle in misery. Severe 'Poor me' syndrome. Did get smarter tho. Stopped with light still available. Collected stuff and put together a little shelter, sliced poncho and drapped over to at least stop water from dripping on me. Tiny shelter. Hunted around for fuel dry enough to use. Found only a little. Seemed like every durn thing, including myself was water logged. Took several efforts and patience to get a fire going. Just a little one. Dark by then. Heck, that small fire started making whole world a little cheerier. Not much for warmth. Still steadily raining. It had to be small enough to fit under edge of shelter. Plus I'd found little dry stuff. Was nudging some small wet stuff close to fire to dry it enough to hopefully use it for more fuel. But had light. Could hold hands close to feel warmth. Didn't do much of anything for the rest of me but to have warm hands made me feel much better. It was something. Opened beans. beans, And it and do coffee can of beans. Had some jerky I shaved up a little and added to Had bought bottle of Tabasco and liberally doused up the let it perk, flavors blend and get reasonably hot. And ate. was SOOooo good. So good I had to open another can of beans it over again. Had some instant coffee, made self a cup of near strong enough to float a spoon and sipped.

Chuckle, and felt like all was right in the world. Felt outright chipper actually. Oh, I was still cold, clothes still wet, whole

world around me dark and drenched and unfriendly. But in that little shelter, tiny little spot ... I was feeling kinda cozy. Cold but mind shifting gears from previous mood to "Awww, this ain't nothing. Piece of cake.' Body stopped shivering. Fire wasn't doing it. A combo of at least water wasn't pouring over me, tho I was still wet and ... I believe my much better mood. I've read that in studies of survival incidents, that researchers concluded that mental attitude can has drastic effect upon the body's ability to cope with adversity. Oh, mind can't overcome everything, of course. But studies indicated that positive attitude can make as much as a 50% difference in a person's ability to cope with disease, cold, injury, etc. I have for some time, since a youth practiced, oh ... I don't know what you'd want to call it. Concentration? Meditation? Mind over body? Whatever. I think of it as self control. Purposely practiced. My father had learned judo/jujitsu when he was in the army. Some of the hand to hand taught used judo techniques. He'd gotten interested. Signed up for formal classes on his off time. Really got into it. He'd started teaching me when I was young. I was also full of stories of old warriors and braves who distained discomfort, cold, tiredness, etc. Ignored pain and injury. Dismissed such, overcame and pressed on. So used to do things like overstress self to point of failing muscles, force self to continue past point where I felt I must give up. Would be in woods, see animal and FREEZE. Hold whatever position despite discomfort, cramps, etc for a long time. Sometime went somewhere in woods and sat ... tried to see how long I could remain totally unmoving. Mind turned inwards. Aches would come, or an itch, or whatever and I'd will them away. Take sensation, but it purposely in back of mind, kind of lock it away there. After a time I'd forget all about it. Knew it was there, but only casually aware of it. Got to where I could sleep sitting like that, wake in same position. Same with cold. Would turn mind inward, tell self 'I'm not cold, I'm not cold ... this is nothing ... ignore it.' And so forth. Anyway, earlier I'd been willing self to ignore cold. Worked to some extent. But with mood, the way day and previous night had gone, etc mind on verge of 'I give up', it hadn't been working well. Now, watching the little fire, mood much better, probably the warm food helped, a shiver went thru me, I turned mind inward and shiver stopped and I grew warm. Or felt that way. Not warm, warm. Cool but 'This ain't nothing, hah ! I can take worse.' Dozed into dream state, sorta comfy as I sat. Not deep sleep, but restful. Came to awareness from time to time, stuck another stick or so in fire, willed relaxtion and peace and drifted to dreams again. Spent night like that. Never really deeply asleep. Somewhat aware of things around me. Something big moved out where I could not see, eyes popped open instantly. I listening. Whatever it was moved away and almost as fast as I'd opened eyes I'd drift off again. Come sunrise, I felt rested, chipper, in downright good mood. Despite assorted aches and pains. Finished my outing. Weather didn't much improve, but I kept my little shelter, spent day exploring around. Enjoying scenery, etc. Spent another night and then walked back out of the reserve. Well, limped. Ankle wasn't that bad, swollen, hurt like devil. But not so damaged that I had to do much except slow pace a bit, be careful how I stepped on it.

All and all, really enjoyed the outting, well, after I got the little fire going. Went back several times on other occassions. Chuckle, but made sure I had at least a tarp to make self a dry spot if needed. My body is pretty tolerant of cold and wet. Even now at 53 people often stare as I am out in nothing but jeans and flannel shirt in conditions that have them shivering tushes off and I only feel slightly cool. But cold and wet gets old after, say, a whole day, at least for a night's rest, I wanted to not be rained on. >>Shelter can be important, even on a tropical island. >> >>Now, it does not need to be much of a shelter. Been in places that as >>long as one had a good roof. Either wide enough to keep slanting rain >>out from central area, or with simple woven walls to give you >>protection from blowing rain, that was adequate. In may areas, good >>it it has a raised platform to get you off the ground. I've been in >>laces where if a monsoon rain hit it can dump amazing amounts of water >>in a short time. Faster than it can run off. Was in one country and >>a monsoon hit. Some partners and I sloshing thru collected water >>halfway to knees, just from the current rainfall. > >> >>If you haven't seen a monsoon, likely you have no idea what it can be >>like. Can come down so fast one has a hard time simply breathing. > >4==> Easy to see that you have been in tropical rainfalls! ....And >what would be even more amazing to most people is how sharp the >boundaries are. If at the edge, you could be soaked at one side and >dry on the other. Yep, been in tropical rainfalls, more than a few times. >6==> So far, haven't managed to catch you in any errors. > On the other hand, have seen lots of posts on lots of groups which >contained a lot of crap. Are you sure that you aren't a bit more >qualified than you indicate? > Me? Just an old sailor. Was a Brown Water sailor (river rat), later an open ocean sailor on large ships. Can't claim any special qualifications. Probably been more places, done more varied things than most. But in this newsgroup are folk who at least sometimes post. Who individually, in specific areas, know a great deal more than I. I can claim a superior knowledge of little. Know a little about a lot of things. The older I get and the more I learn, the more I'm aware of how much I don't know. Bob I love my country ! It's the politicians I don't like or trust. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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