Have you ever wondered what exactly you would do if you were stranded in a wilderness setting? There are many wonderful resources out there (and some not so wonderful) to teach you about the basics of wilderness survival. However, most go into levels of detail about arcane situations that most people would never find themselves in. My intent here is to provide a basic overview of survival based on the “Rules of 3.”

All you have to do is commit to memory these Survival Rules of 3, and if the situation ever arises, you will know what you have to deal with first. In a nutshell, the Rules of 3 are:

3 Minutes without Air

3 Hours without Shelter

3 Days without Water

3 Weeks without Food

For all intents and purposes, unless you have found yourself (or more likely, someone else has found you) in a medical situation, you do not have to worry about the first rule. Common sense, and physical urges, would tell us if we were under water, we have less than 3 minutes to get to air.

So, in a wilderness survival setting, our first priority is shelter. In extreme conditions, the average person needs to find shelter from the elements within 3 hours. Obviously, cold conditions are the main target of this rule. Keep in mind that being wet or hot would also apply here. When you find yourself in a survival situation, the first thing you must do is find shelter from the elements. If you have a tent, put it up. If not, you can construct a lean to from the natural resources you find in the area. If you need shelter immediately, you can find a natural rock overhang or something similar to get out of the snow, rain, and/or wind. Remember, you have to protect yourself from hypothermia. After you have built a shelter, make a fire. A fire will keep you warm and also lift your spirits.

Once you have secured a good shelter and fire, your next thoughts should turn to water. Human beings can not live beyond 3 days without water. Unless you are on a backpacking trip, you probably do not have iodine tablets or some other method of clearing water of bacteria. You should look for immediate water sources. If you find them, you can boil the water for safety. Otherwise, you may to use other resources, such as making a solar still or using the evaporation method. More on these methods can be found elsewhere.

The final Rule of 3 is 3 weeks without food. Many survival shows on TV or survival websites trump up methods of find food or the priority of finding food. The truth is most people who are lost are found within 3 days. Food should be your last priority. And also remember, you don’t want to spend more energy finding good than you will get from the food. You want to conserve energy, you want to stay in one spot, and you want to stay safe. However, let’s say you are in a survival situation long enough to need food. Your thoughts can then turn to finding something to eat. Unless you are an expert on local plants, do not eat berries, leaves, or mushrooms that you think might be edible. You could easily die. You also do not want to spend time and energy hunting animals far off from your campsite. Considering that you want to conserve energy, the ideal method is to create snares to catch small animals such as squirrels or rabbits. While the chances of catching one is slim, remember that you will not expend much energy using this method, and you don’t need much food to stay alive.

One final note about wilderness survival: always tell someone where you are going and when you expect to return. This is the best guarantee that you will survive if you found yourself in a survival situation. If no one knows that you are missing, then no one will be looking for you.

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_C_Haynes

Why are so many people attracted to ninja training and the ancient Japanese martial art of ninjutsu? Could it be because of the “completeness” of the training?

One important aspect of ninja training is that of wilderness survival training. Ninjutsu is not merely another martial art among other conventional “styles.” And that’s because ninja training is not just about self-defense and fighting…

It’s about the entire realm of self protection.

And, as with all aspects of the art, ninjutsu does not limit skill development to just one realm. What I mean by this is that, there are different reasons that you might use each and every skill that you learn. So, you must learn your skills based on scenarios, not just based on a need to know “something,” or because “that’s the way it’s always been done!”

Here’s an example.

If I am stranded on a desert island after a shipwreck or plane crash, I would need skills like fire building, shelter building, and the like for one reason. But, if I were in a para-military or escape and evasion scenario, I would need to apply those same skills very differently.

There are generally three aspects to learning each and every wilderness survival skill. These aspects include:

1) Emergency Survival. This is the application of my skills to maintain life while waiting for rescue or while getting through an emergency situation.

2) Para-military Operation. This aspect is not really about using my skills for survival, but rather being able to maintain comfort and basic needs while avoiding detection by others.

3) Training. Here, it doesn’t really matter how we do each skill as long as we get what we need. We can practice our skills in relative safety because there is no threat – natural or man-made – that we need to be concerned with.

Do you get it?

As a specific example, let’s use our skill of fire building.

In an emergency situation, in addition to warmth and cooking, we want to be able to create as much light by night and as much smoke by day as possible so as to be found by those looking for us. We might also be in an area with sparse supplies of wood or one that has received a lot of rainfall recently – making any wood wet and difficult to burn. Without a knowledge of more than one type of fire structure, I might not be able to create any fire at all – leaving me exposed to the elements and the risk of illness or death.

While, in a para-military operation, we want just the opposite. We want as little light by night and as little smoke by day, so as to avoid detection. Again, the ability to create a small fire, as well as the ability to construct things like a Yukon Stove or other structure to conceal the light, allows me to go undetected by anyone who might be looking for me.

And, in a training seminar or on a camping trip, we can pretty much do as we please. Fire is fire. And any fire that provides the light and heat that we need is sufficient. In this scenario, we are also free to try different structures, lighting methods, and ways to control the fire we create, without fear of the consequences should we fail.

However, in the first two situations, the wrong kind of fire can bring disastrous results!

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeffrey_Miller