Survival
Excerpted From Short Term Survival Guide
By Kenneth D. Nunn © 2012
Many people do not recognize or understand the distinction between short- term survival and long- term survival. As you will see the difference are very distinct.
First let's look at the dictionary definition of survival:
Survival: 1. To remain alive or in existence. 2. To carry on despite hardships or trauma; persevere. 3. remain functional or usable.
From The Free Dictionary
My definition:
Survival: A situation where you are forced to survive without outside help or conveniences such as public water, electricity, food, medical, or police. This could be at your home, or in a remote location.
Now let's look at the difference between short term survival and long-term survival. These are my definitions:
Short-Term Survival: A situation where you must survive for a short period of time (1 day to 2 weeks).
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There are two types of short-term survival-
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Events you have no control over:
• A situation resulting from a natural disaster or Terrorist attack.
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Events you control:
• Your work takes you to remote locations. For whatever reason, you find yourself stranded or lost.
• You find yourself lost while hiking, hunting, or fishing.
• Your vehicle breaks down in a remote location, be it car, bike, snowmobile, or any ATV.
• An airplane you are in is forced down, for whatever reason.
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It may surprise you to see there are only a few situations that could put you in a short-term survival situation. You may think of something else but not many situations you find yourself in today could lead you to a short-term survival situation. What I am trying to get across is, the chances of you finding yourself in a short-term survival situation are very slim. Think about it have you ever been in a true survival situation? Do you know anyone who has been in a survival situation? Chances are the answer to both questions are no. I have talked to any number of people in my lifetime, all over the country, hunters, fishermen, trappers, and hikers, I have never meet anyone that has been in a true survival situation. Sure I have been lost before and I have talked with people who have been lost. These were not true survival situations, lasting only a few hours. My point being, there is very little chance of you finding yourself in a survival situation.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not trying to diminish the dangers of short-term survival situations. However, the danger comes when you are injured or in a harsh environment such as a desert, very cold area or severe weather. In either case, you should be prepared and have adequate equipment with you. Being prepared in these situations will greatly reduce the danger, especially for someone not familiar with the out of doors.
My point is, that most of the survival books and websites want you to believe the chances of finding yourself in a short-term survival situation are high and the dangers are extreme. This simply is not true. The chances of you finding yourself in an extreme survival situation such as the young man on a hike in Utah, who had to amputate part of his arm after getting it caught in rocks is slim to none. The chances of you getting hit by a plane is probably as high or higher than you finding yourself in a position such as this.
On the other hand, it may surprise you to see there are a number of events that would require you to survive long-term.
Long-Term Survival: A situation where you must survive long-term could be for months, years or forever:
• Power Grid failure due to a natural disaster, Terrorist attack, or War.
• National infrastructure failure due to natural disaster or Terrorist, or War.
• Pandemic.
• Economic Collapse.
• Political and/or Civil unrest.
• Anarchy.
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As you can see, long-term survival and short-term survival are two completely different things. Not understanding the difference can be life threatening. With a short-term survival situation you will be looking for help in three or four days, whereas in a long-term survival situation no help will be coming...you are on your own for an indefinite length of time.
It seems a lot of folks think if they are prepared for short-term survival then you are also prepared for a long-term survival situation. This is due in part to misinformation put out by most of the survival websites and survival books. However, the biggest reason for this misconception is due to the misinformation put out by the Government through FEMA and Homeland Security. In case of a natural disaster or man-made disaster the Government and most of the survival websites, recommends that you should have supplies enough to last three days in place at which time Government help will arrive. This, as we know from recent events, is a complete falsehood. A lot of websites out there are pushing the idea that if you have food and water stored in your basement and have assault rifle with a thousand rounds of ammunition then you can survive long-term or forever in your home. This is a potentially deadly mistake. There are any number of reasons this concept will not work.
What you see on most survival websites are simply misleading. Most of the information is simply to sell you some product.
However, this book is about short-term survival, for more information on long-term survival I would ask you to please read The Fallacy Of Home Storage on our website.
Thing you won't find in this Guide:
• How to make a fire by rubbing two sticks together.
• Which wild plants are edible and which are poison?
• What plants can be used as natural medicine?
• How to make a solar still or water generator.
No, these things are not to be found in this book simply because if you are prepared you won't need any of these.
Let's look at short-term survival when you are away from home for whatever reason and find yourself in a survival situation.
First of all let's look at a few facts:
• People have survived eight to ten days without water. Of course, this will depend on the person's physical condition, location, and activity. It is safe to say a person in reasonable physical condition can survive three to four days without water if you are not in extreme heat and conserve energy.
• People have survived well over eight weeks without food. As with water this will depend on the person's physical condition, location and activity. It is safe to say a person in reasonably good physical condition can survive for at least a week without food, if you conserve your energy.
• I would say that the number one cause of death in a survival situation is not water or food but exposure. In order to survive you must maintain a normal body temperature. (98°F. to 100°F.) hypothermia or hyperthermia (heat stroke) will kill you long before the lack of water or food.
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Hypothermia & Hyperthermia
Hypothermia: a condition in which core temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions which is defined as 35.0° C (95.0 F). Body temperature is usually maintained near a constant level of 36.5° - 37.5° C (98° - 100° F)
Hyperthermia: is defined as a temperature greater than 37.5° - 38.3° C (100° - 101°F) From Wikipedia
One of the biggest misconceptions about short-term survival is that you're most pressing concern should be water and then food. As you just read, this is false; your main concern should be shelter. If you do not have shelter, hypothermia or hyperthermia could kill you long before thirst or hungry. How long this would take of course depends on your physical condition, location, temperature and activity. In almost any location and in almost any season in the U.S., when you are out in the open, you will have to contend with it being either too hot or too cold. In most locations, except maybe in the South during summer, it gets cold at night. You will find this true even in desert or arid country. If you happen to be in alpine country then it can get extremely cold even during the summer months. If it is not cold temperatures you have to contend with then it will be heat. Almost any location during Summer can and does pose an extreme heat problem, especially when you are in the open. For the first couple days thirst and hunger will simply be uncomfortable, while temperature can be an immediate danger.
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Specific Short-Term Survival
My point with this book is, that it is actually very simple to prepare for a short-term survival situation. You certainly don't need days or weeks of training. Sure if you were traveling to remote areas of a foreign country, then you may want some specialized training. Otherwise all you need are a few basic supplies and a little knowledge. Remember now, we are talking about a week or less, and according to the so called experts three days is what you should prepare for, so a week is allowing a four day margin of safety.
The information contained in this book mostly relates to a situation where you are in a remote location. If you are required to survive short-term in your home then most of us have adequate supplies to last a week. If you have a few gallons of water stored, then you should have no problem surviving in place short-term. The problem is surviving long-term in place. For more information on this I ask you to please read The Fallacy Of Home Storage here .
Just think for a moment, what survival supplies you can have in a simple fanny pack. Why would you have to rub sticks together in order to build a fire if you had a couple Bic lighters and a couple pieces of fire starter in your fanny pack? Why would you have to eat bugs if you had a few energy bars in your fanny pack? Why on earth would you have to risk getting sick from drinking contaminated water if you had water purification tablets in your fanny pack? For that matter why would you need to purify water if you had a canteen of water or a couple packs of packaged water?
Doesn't it stand to reason if you have the forethought, and money to attend a survival school or camp, then you should have the forethought and money to prepare a small pack for short-term survival? Again, look at the list of situations that could lead to a short-term survival situation. All of these situations are situations that you would know are coming up, so, there is no reason you cannot prepare for a survival situation. Any time you are going to be involved in any of these activities a small survival kit should be part of the preparations.