10 Items to Survive

I was reading an article Survival Gear: 10 Items To Survive. The difference in the responses between the experts was very telling of their training. Notice the Outdoor Life guy first names a GPS/Cell phone while the Air Force Trained guy first says a knife. The other two experts never mention a knife or weapon of sorts.


Recommended Survival Kits — Top 10 Essentials
To trim a survival kit down to its top 10 essentials is to reveal the utmost necessary items for ad hoc shelter, warmth, communication, navigation, and sustenance in the deep backwoods. Here, then, are three survivalists’ lean lists of gear you should not be without in any wilderness situation.

Todd Smith, Outdoor Life Magazine

• Personal locator beacon (PLB) or cell phone
• Map of area
• Compass
• Small first-aid kit
• Water bottle
• Flashlight/headlamp
• Lighter and fire starters
• Space blanket/bivy sack
• Whistle
• Signal mirror

Doug Ritter, Equipped To Survive

• HeatSheets brand space blanket
• Gloves
• Chlorine dioxide water-purification tablets
• Nylon braided line
• Whistle
• Lighter
• Waterproof matches
• Tinder (for fire starting)
• Signal mirror
• Personal locator beacon (PLB)

Mike Forti, United States Air Force Survival School

• Large knife (machete or hatchet)
• Cell phone
• Bic Lighter
• 9 x 12 foot plastic painter’s tarp (0.35 mm thickness)
• Mylar survival blanket
• Mini LED flashlight
• Water purification tablets
• Water Container of some sort
• Small roll of fishing line or dental floss
• Fifty dollar bill (“After a few days lost in the woods eating bugs, it would be a real shame to emerge next to a 7-11, and have no money for food,” Forti said.)

Survival Gear: 10 Items To Survive

 

Kick the phone off the list if you are going to count on a phone it won't last long if your 20+0miles out in the ocean it won't work mine only worked on the sunny side of the mountain and not all the time I am all for the knife.

 

No particular order

1: knife that fits your hand function for butchering small game. Depending on you and the game that could be anywhere from a 3-12 inch blade

2: Toothbrush. You can't eat without teeth in the wild, pretty much

3: dental floss. It's a cheap compact strong fishing line or can be used for snares, sutures etc. Use the toothbrush for teeth

4: Light and fire source: could be a lighter plus a flashlight, candles, flint and steel whatever your skills require and your pockets can hold

5: Warmth, aside from fire. Wool is good even if wet unless really cold but then you're hosed anyway. Cold AND wet kills

6: signalling device: mirror, polished lighter, polished blade, flavor of choice

7: water container, whatever you grabbed on the way out, plastic bottle (can also be used as a fishing jug/bob)

8: multi tool of some sort or even just a bandage scissors

9: sewing kit, especially upholstery needles, when heated and having a pliers or multi tool can be bent into suturing needles and fishhooks

10: Your choice depending on local hazards

 

A good knife of 12+ inch nature and a small knife in the 4-5 inch range. Anything beyond that is just gravy on the biscuit.

 

That's 30 items

 

It always pays to remember your expert's background....
What works for one person and where they are at , going to or from...may not work for someone else....
Many of the items on my list "followed me home" from my Army days...or have been "field tested" during the same.

My top ten in no particular order:
1. Sleep system : Army GoreTex "Bivy Bag" , 2 poncho liners , GI Issue foam sleeping pad
2. Knife of some kind...I like my Blackjack model #5 or my smaller "Green River" "Butcher" pattern knife...maybe my Buck 112 "Ranger"....
3. 550 cord
4. First Aid kit
5. Flint & Steel w / tinder in my tinder box
6. Pilot's survival strobe marker ( Also GI issue )
7.Canteen w/ water
8.GI issue poncho
9.Some sort of easy to fix chow...Sausage and cheese...maybe a MRE etc...
10. The Book "Robinson Crusoe"...'cause I'm weird like that....
Andy

 

Item 1... Chuck Norris

 

Assuming I'm dressed for the weather....

A knife, one that I can open one handed.

A water container made of metal -- preferably with a metal cup under. (Klean Kanteen + GSI cup)

A 'rescue tarp' (mylar (shiny) on one side, reflective orange on the other - with grommets. Two would be better.

Some way to start a fire, again, one handed.

550 cord, 4 x 10 feet minimum

Small FAK with some OTC NSAIDs

Food. (lifeboat rations )

A bag of some kind to carry all of this.

 

Ok seriously how long and where
A lot depends on where you will try to survive... not parka and thermals in the Artic during winter will kill you but no parka in Hawaii is no biggie ... BTW if you need to survive in Hawaii take @Hanzo at least you will know all the good places to eat and have a built in chef besides... Louisiana get @Gator 45/70 before long you will have a crawdad boil and all of the folks will come thinking it's a Boucherie and bring some gumbo, red beans with rice and fried cat fish...


1. Camel back with inline water filter (sustenance)
2.10x12 survival trp... green /reflective silver (shelter/warmth)
3.lighter (warmth/light/morale)
4.canoe style axe (Shelter/ sustenance/warmth)
5. deck of survival cards(Morale/knowledge)
6. spool of waxed thread (Shelter/sustenance First aid)
7. Compass and map book
8.Sat-phone
9. first aide kit
10. Tobasco sauce

 

@sec_monkey If it was a virtual survival scenario I would have mentioned you....

 

Chuck is an actor, me I'm going with Kim Basinger.
That would serve you with several survival items:
1. Keep me warm at night.
2. Make me forget that I'm probably going to die.
3. I hope she can cook rabbit stew.
4. Barter item...

Rancher

 

I would still bring one though.

 

I like gravy!

 

Curious as to why not same caliber for both handguns...

 

One thing has been left out,the will to live is the most important.