"Who was the survival instructor?"

I don't remember, read the book. I might even be remembering it wrong too- I know there was one story about an armed services survival instructor who went on a rafting trip, fell out, and waved off the help of the guides because he "knew how to survive", and then got sucked into a rotor and drowned. But I seem to remember another story in there about someone else who was properly prepared, and didn't survive. Oh- I remember, it was in one of Doug's survival stories on this site. He was a survival instructor for the Civil Air Patrol.

But my point remains, that the only way to know for sure if you can survive a real situation is to actually put yourself in real danger- but that's even more stupid than not being prepared. But being prepared with both gear and knowledge will give you more confidence, and thus you'll be more likely to have the right attitude. And my other point is that attitude is the most important factor.

Of course, I'm still quite new at this kind of thinking, I'm only repeating back what I've been reading here and in books. It helps my learning process to put out a distillation of what I've learned, and if you tell me I'm full of crap, well, I've learned something.