Mind-Set of Survival.

I have said before that what we are really doing is Wild Camping and not what most people would call 'survivalism'. I have taken 'survival courses' which teach in the main how to survive in a dangerous situation in which you are hoping to be rescued as soon as possible. This means making yourself as conspicuous as possible, so that you can be easily seen and rescued. But there is also the other scenario, where you may well not wish to be seen at all, and in such a situation the practice of Wild Camping would thus be useful in what would be a survival situation. The term 'survive' means merely 'to live beyond' or just 'to live', and thus this can be used for any dangerous situation that the individual is faced with. 

I think the main point, often missed, is that what is necessary in any survival situation is one's mental attitude. Where one person will survive a situation through pure will-power and inner strength another will die in the same situation. This has been recorded so many times but is not something that is always mentioned in regard to survivalism. Unfortunately we can see the problem arising around us today, where the survival of our people is threatened, and where the vast majority of these people are either totally oblivious of what is happening, are too scared to do anything about it, do not care at all (or more likely are too scared to face such a situation and thus block off altogether) or in some cases (unfortunately) are aiding and abetting the forces of destruction. There is a good section of the people who are self-destructive and who are trying to bring down everyone around them. This we have to now look to in regard not to the whole but to each individual, and thus learn something about the mind-set needed for survival. We may not actually be in an individual survival situation but we are most certainly in a group survival situation. 

Whether we call this wild camping, bushcraft, wilderness craft, or survival really does not matter since the core principles are used in whatever we do in regard to any of these -

• To be able to build a shelter from natural materials around us at the time.
• To be able to light a fire to keep warm and to cook on.
• To be able to find water for drinking and for washing. 
• To be able to find food from the wild.

Given that these four things are the most important we would be able to live for a short time, and thus give time to -

• Build a larger and better shelter and to create some form of bedding that will give a comfortable night's sleep. 
• Find suitable utensils for cooking and boiling water.
• Find suitable containers to store water and to boil water for drinking. 
• Stock up a store of food for a period of time. 

Now comes into play what I was saying in the last post, and that is that having an already-packed rucksack would be the best way to prepare since -

• It would negate the need to build a simple temporary shelter since a tarp/poncho/basha would serve as a simple shelter, and this can be built upon to make a larger and better shelter. 
• A fire-starting kit would ensure that this part is made much easier than having to make up a bow-drill and find the dry wood for a 'tinder-bundle'. This would be carried with you to make the first few fires, thus using the time to prepare for future fire-lighting needs. 
• Having a little water with you would be most useful in that this leaves out the part of finding water, straining and boiling which would need to be done straight away. 
• Carrying a little food would give some sustenance straight away, without the need to forage for wild food.

I believe that this is an important point since in a situation where the individual is forced to move out of the 'comfort-zone' then making a smooth transition from one situation to another would be a far better way to go about it. This, of course, is not always possible, in which case the first set of 'core principles' would apply, and thus the need to be able to do these things is vitally important. 

Last year I did some wild camping alone in a woodland in Sussex, staying over for a full week of fairly good weather. This was in the spring so not too cold, but at night the temperature drops somewhat. At the end of it I was not really ready to get back home again, since it was an enjoyable experience and I learned quite a few things from it. But the one thing that stuck in my mind throughout the time spent outdoors (and which I often think about) is what would I have done had the weather been like our very wet autumns when a week spent in the pouring rain would certainly have not been so pleasant. We have had times when it has rained for weeks on end with only a few breaks in between the wet weather, and here we are rather worse off than areas of heavy snow which is not quite so bad as endless rain. This is compounded by high winds and the wind-chill factor that sends temperatures down. 

Thinking on this one the necessity to be able to have some form of more permanent shelter is rather obvious, since one of the factors that would decide on our mental attitude would be how we cope with this type of situation. None of us wakes up to a sunny morning (even with a cold frost) without feeling that life is good; this does not apply to a cold, wet, gloomy day, especially if this is day after day for a while. Thus, one of the most important things to consider here is the need to have a kind of set plan to work with, and when the situation arises ensure that every moment is spent doing something positive and useful to the situation we find ourselves in. When the body and mind is not busy it gives time to think, and in such a situation where things have gone 'tits-up' this is not something we would need. 

Last Midwinter we held a meet-up and I slept rough in the area the night before, to save the journey the next day. Going over in the morning it rained almost all day and all night without a break, so it meant being inside the shelter for most of the time with a fire lit outside the shelter for warmth. This was quite uncomfortable, so project this to a week, a fortnight, a month....and this would be perhaps the scenario we have to prepare for. In regard to this I would thus suggest some extra stuff that would be handy to keep ready for an emergency -

• I use a small poncho or tarp for training purposes, but have a basha that is of better quality and which would make a better shelter. But if the chance arose I would take with me a 3m x 3m (10' x 10' approx) DD Tarp or one of such quality, or if this is not possible a cheaper tarp of the same size or larger. This larger tarp would cover a wider area to sit under, to store wood under, to cook under (being very careful to ensure the tarp is high and the fire small), and to do some crafting where necessary.
• When going for a few days I take with me a 25ltr water-container, or two if going longer. In the situation where this would be long-term you have a couple of ready containers that you can fill with rainwater (which is where the rain does come in handy). 
• Have some tinder, kindling and small logs ready to go in your car/truck, and thus save time when your destination is reached.

It seems obvious but there is the necessity to use what dry weather there is to collect tinder, kindling and cut up logs. For longer term purposes a bow-saw can be carried, and if space is the problem (which it should not be) then just the blade can be packed, making a 'bow' on site. Here an axe is also needed, the minimum being a 'Forest Axe', and maybe a couple of wedges to break larger wood (or these can be made up on site). When you buy wood it is chopped from large pieces, and not left round; this burns better than round wood because it has edges that catch fire much quicker. This is why wood left round does not always burn right through. Smaller pieces burn faster, so keep this in mind because chopping into small pieces is necessary, especially in wet weather, to keep the fire going at the start. This is why I suggest taking some tinder, kindling and a few cut-logs with you in a vehicle; makes easier starting in cold wet weather. 

Whether you have the knowledge of bushcraft, survivalism, wilderness crafts, or wild camping you are training yourself in becoming self-reliant and self-sufficient, and thus breaking free of the shackles of modern society where the mass of people rely wholly upon the State (and we could say the 'corporations', but need not do so since they now seem to have taken control of the state). Many of those who are doing this are the last vestiges of the creative individuals whose work opposes the mass-production of the produce-and-consume society. In their own way they are becoming craftsmen and women in the field that they do. This in itself means having an entirely different mind-set than the masses whose lives today revolve around rampant technology and the latest 'techno-gadgets'. Here we need to ensure that we do not fall into this trap and feel the need to buy every new 'gadget' or 'survival tool' that comes onto the market.