Talk:Survival skills

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] Category

Someone needs to categorize this!

Can't agree more with what Dave B had to say. I did a three day course with these folk and certainly learn't all about what it takes to get back in one piece. Remember, survival is all about getting back not subsisting off the land. I for one don't like the idea of staying out there any longer than I have to. I also realised that my equipment wasn't up to speed. I had purchased a survival kit from the States and quickly realised how useless it was. Psychology is the key to survival. Regardless of training and equipment if you haven't got it up top than you ain't going to make it. Technology will let you down everytime, so be aware. I thoroughly recommend their training to anyone in Australia or for those wishing to visit the last great frontier. Stay Safe.

Peter Felton QLD Australia


This article is quite obviously in need of some serious work. I personally feel that most of the initial work should be focused on the "Basic Necessities" section, as this is the most important. Photos would also be valuable, especially for things like water gathering devices, traps, shelters, and improvised weapons which are hard to describe otherwise.

203.10.231.229 02:01, 21 September 2005 (UTC) Survival is more than just finding a shelter, water and food. It's all in the mind.

Why do the most experienced people find themselves in trouble when others with little or no training or experience live to tell their tale or even write a book.

Alive and Kick'n, Australia's most comprehensive guide to surviving in remote areas gives you all the answers. Written by two chaps who have not on been there but have also done it , and who run their own business provides you with a step by step of what to do from preparation to rescue.

Dave B203.10.231.229 02:01, 21 September 2005 (UTC)


[edit] point of view

I believe the introduction is a bit agressive when it describes our society. Slave labor?

I belive that they are refering to wage slavery.--Knife Knut 02:11, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

I removed most of that section as it was not relevant to the article. Well actually yes... --Pappa 10:04, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

>>>>>I'm sorry, but is "outer space" really necessary in the list of survival environments encountered??? >>>>>And why is Outer space capitalized??

Outer space is just another area where people want to survive. Its not a common one, like the bottom of the ocean but they both do deserve a mention

Wanting to survive and the ability to survive are two very real and separate issues. Including oxygen for high mountain and subterranean environments is far fetched. The ability to survive means being able to get by with no outside assistance, whatsoever. Just wanting doesn't cut it and the need for specialized equipment to facilitate survival takes it beyond the ability for improvisation.208.254.130.235 (talk) 15:40, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Water

I have to dissagree with one of the articles. The atmoshereic water gathring thing, now first if you are stuck int the wild where would you get this stuff and second if you are going into the wild for a sabbatical or something, why would you carry it.

Chuchu Anayo68.39.162.176 (talk) 23:55, 15 February 2008 (UTC) NJ, USA


I've started a new category, Category:Appropriate technology and some of the articles in it may be relevant to Survival skills. I believe that some techniques described in that category, such as the Cloth filter and Sodis or Solar disinfection, would be useful survival skills. --Singkong2005 06:18, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

"Urine on the other hand contains salt, which makes it unsuitable to drink." This one-sided view conflicts with the information at Drinking Urine: Survival, which presents a more balanced view: Yes, urine contains salts and other chemicals, and may even speed dehydration, but it may extend your life if no other water is available. Article could also use a link to Drinking Urine.Jedwards05

Urine contains more than just salts, there is also uric acid and other wastes. By drinking it, you will only concentrate the wastes in your body, shut down your kidneys, become lethargic, go to sleep and die. A better use for urine would be to soak your clothing and allow the moisture to evaporate and cool your body, thus conserving moisture in the form of sweat or use it inside a solar still and collect the purified water afterwards.208.242.58.126 (talk) 13:59, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] What about survival at sea?

I haven't been able to find any article about the survival of people adrift at sea, yet I can recall hearing about many different people who survived for long periods adrift.

I was trying to find out more about C.O. Jennings who wrote the book An Ocean Without Shores. During WWII he survived 127 days at sea, drinking rainwater and eating raw seagulls. When he eventually got taken prisoner by the Japanese, it seemed to be like a holiday camp to him in comparison. Its an exciting book which I thoroughly recommend. There is nothing on the web about him, which is a shame. I wish I knew more about him.

I think there should be an article about survival at sea, and other types of human endurance.

[edit] Social survival skills?

I have heard very many people refer to internalization of certain skills that assist in ones ability not to be pushed around, et al, in your society given your race, social class, etc. related factors, as "survival skills." Should a subsection like that be included in this article, or is there already another article that addresses this which this article can link to?

I don't know whether or not there is another article on social skills, but that material definitely doesn't belong here. --Smack (talk) 17:43, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rule of Fours

I had an "outdoor education" teacher years ago tell me this, and recently heard it repeated on "Survivorman". It's called "The Rule of Fours". It's not strictly correct, more of a mnemonic for remembering your priorities.

  • Four minutes to get air
  • Four hours to get shelter
  • Four days to get water
  • Four weeks to get food

I was also told another non-obvious (to me) rule: if you have access to food but not water, don't eat the food. You won't starve, and digesting the food will use water your body cannot afford to waste. Fracture98 04:22, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

I think that this "rule" is more misleading than useful.
  1. "Four minutes to get air" just baffles me. If you're under water (no air at all), you'll drown in four minutes, unless you're a highly conditioned diver. If you're at high elevation (thin air), your need for air depends on just how high you are.
  2. The time you can spend getting shelter depends on conditions. In clear weather at noon, you can probably afford six hours or so. If cumulus clouds are gathering and it's already two hours before sundown, you can barely afford two, if that.
  3. You'll die of dehydration in four days, maybe unless you can soak in rainwater or a lake.
  4. You'll die of hunger in four weeks. Moreover, for the last three weeks or so, you'll probably be weak, stupid and miserable.
You do have a point about eating when you have no water. However, in order to write about this in the article, we need to analyze it some more. For instance, I doubt it applies equally to moist foods (berries) and dry foods (trail mix). Furthermore, it's not immediately clear whether food takes up water temporarily (until your intestines reclaim it) or permanently. --Smack (talk) 18:49, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, I guess I should have said something like "It's not strictly correct, more of a mnemonic for remembering your priorities.". Oh, wait. I did. Fracture98 01:58, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
As a mnemonic, it doesn't need to include specific details – especially when they're wrong. --Smack (talk) 15:32, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
While this is an older comment I'm making others above. Even though I didn't see the rule of 4's in the article (must reread,) Air isn't so baffling. If you're buried alive by snow or earth, you also have four minutes or so to get out. LaughingVulcan 07:00, 30 June 2007 (UTC)
IT is supposed to be the rule of 3s.

I used to teach survival for the US Navy's SERE school. Based upon the study of numerous survival situations that ended in a successful recovery, we teach five elements for successful survival, they can easily be remembered as, "Few Survivors Find Fast Solutions."

  • 1- First Aid, "are you physically capable of survival?"
  • 2- Signal "what are you doing to draw aid to you?"
  • 3- Fire "The very basic survival need"
  • 4- Food and Water "is there enough or do you need to find a better location?"
  • 5- Shelter, may come before or along with #3 dependent upon the climate, weather, and location; but may follow once the first four are met.208.242.58.126 (talk) 13:47, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] External Links

I added a link to survivalistboards.com - its a survival website and discussion board. The link has been removed, it was citied as a "commercial site" or was it because the site belongs to me, I dont know the exact reason. In the external links section, 4 of the 6 links are commercial. Please allow me to re-add my site, or please remove the 4 commercial links from the external links section. There is nothing for sale on my sites, just a couple of google banners. As survivalistboards.com deals with survival skils, it is related to this topic. - --21kev 17:00, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Changes

I removed "cutting tool" after knife and replaced it with "multitool" - a knife is a cutting tool, so the statement "knife and cutting tool" was repetitive. Also added the physical and mental sections under training. --21kev 18:52, 30 August 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Similar Page

I found this page similiarly worded:

http://www.answers.com/topic/survival-skills


--a 9-1-06

Note that it clearly cites Wikipedia. --Smack (talk) 03:40, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Edits

IMVHO this article still needs much work. Aside from a near total lack of sources (except for a how-to which does not belong in a Wikipedia article,) there are inaccuracies as well. I changed "Finding or making shelter is the most important survival priority because it allows a person to stay protected from the elements, and thus, hopefully warm and dry." to "Finding or making [shelter] is important because it allows a person to stay protected from the elements." As FM 21-76 suggests, priorities can and do change based on many factors. Shelter is far less important than water in desert survival, and the last thing you want in the desert is to be warm during summer days, and if you're dry, you've may have a serious lack of water. ;) LaughingVulcan 07:00, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] This article contradicts itself

In "Survival priorities" section it says a human can survive for 10 days without water but in the "Water" section it says three days, could someone fix this to the correct amount--217.69.179.16 22:09, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

10 days? No way. Three days is pushing it, if one just sat still and did nothing, the weather was mild and he/she didn't eat. Just for your own experience, try going one and a half days from 6:00 am until 6:00 pm the next day without drinking. I'm willing to bet that you will be totally focused on water by 6:00 pm the first night and if you manage to sleep, you will have fitful dreams of thirst. By 6:00 am you will be parched and feeling weak. By noon the second day, people who know you will positively state that you have gone insane. If you do make it until 6:00 pm without drinking anything, you'd better start out slow, less you drown yourself. Guaranteed, you will not want to repeat the experience and the thought of one and a half more days would seem like an eternity. By the end of day three, you will be either asleep with kidney failure or so weak that you wouldn't be able to save yourself if a glass of water placed there for you. Just reading this probably made you thirsty. Water has that much pull.208.254.130.235 (talk) 02:05, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Bigger then an article

I think it is unfair and Impractical to try and list all survival information possible in a single article. I think this page should simply list the basics of what survival IS. All information for specifics should get directed to a more specialized source such as another wiki.

shameless Plug, I have one of that kind, SurvivalWiki.org. Please feel free to come there and help out ;). But again I don't think an encyclopedia entry is really the greatest place to try and cram all survival information into.

[edit] Humans cannot survive more than three weeks without food??

This needs to be reworded. Hunger strikers normally go to a month without any problem. 50 to 70 days that most normally last. Given that a survival situation is much more stressful it may well be that those limits aren't applicable. Nonetheless the claim as written is simply false.Dejvid (talk) 18:53, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Actually, you must understand that hunger strikers use very little energy, those on a hunger strike are not building shelters, maintaining fire, trying to navigate etc etc. all of which take energy, lots of it! that is why the three week mark is used. this is a wilderness emergency situation, not some activists on a collage campus in a heated/air conditioned room with all the comforts. The Rule of Threes is an instruction tool intended to illistrate the priorities in a survival situation and while somewhat generalized, it pretty much hold to what experienced search and rescue people have observed in the survivors or victims of a survival situation. Survival instructors use this information to ensure that those who they are teaching are well aware of what comes first. That being shelter by the way. .User:Theridgerunner (talk) 03:34, 15 December 2007 (EST)

[edit] Antivenin

These were recently added to the "See also" section, but I'm not sure how close they are to the topic. Both are normally used only in clinical settings under the supervision of professionals, not in the field. They aren't "first aid]]". From the experts I've spoken to the most important "survival skill" regarding poisonous bites is knowing wh where the best supply of antidote can be found locally. If bitten, one should call ahead to make sure in the intended clinic even has a supply, and allow them to start getting it ready. Administering antivenin is not a survival skill in the ordinary sense of the word. It's a medical procedure, just like setting a bone or removing an appendix. I think that having these entries on the list is misleading and we should leave them off. (A related item that would me more relevant is the "EpiPen" used for anaphylactic shock.) ·:· Will Beback ·:· 09:43, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Merged Debris shelter into this article

As per Not a Guide, I merged the description of a debris shelter into the appropriate section in Survival skills and redirected from here to there. The details of construction are not relevant to its encyclopedic mention. It still needs a verifiable source, and possibly an image to enhance the description. -- mordel (talk) 13:27, 14 March 2008 (UTC)