The March, 2006 issue of Boy's Life (a magazine for youth in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts) has a nice article on survival. The author is Peter Kummerfeldt, a survival instructor at the Air Force Acadamy. Keeping in mind that the target audience is 6-18 year old boys, here are the highlights of the article:


#1 Tell someone where you're going.
#2 Build a survival kit:
•1 heavy-duty 4mm orange plastic bag, approx. 38"x65" (2?)
•1 metal match with scraper
•cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly
•1 plastic whistle
•1 glass signal mirror

#3 Stop moving around.
#4 Think about what needs to be done.
#5 Observe your surroundings.
#6 Plan a course of action and implement it.
#7 Stay warm.
#8 Hydrate or die.
#9 Start a fire. He mentions he'll get some heat for this due to concerns of fires getting out of control, but adds to be careful!
#10 Make yourself BIG.

Last weekend I went on a winter cabin outting with my son's new Boy Scout Troop, and though I'm sure they had all of their Outdoor Essentials packed inside their daypacks, while those boys were hiking through the woods, those daypacks were neatly stowed underneath their bunks. Being a new assistant Scoutmaster I kept my mouth shut, at least for the first outing, but I also understand that the boys don't want to haul all that gear with them while running around.

At our next troop committee meeting I'll be recommending that boys put together and carry a minimual survival kit that stays with them at all times - maybe in a small fanny pack or in their pockets. The contents of the article's kit pretty much sums up what I'd put in the kit, though I'd probably include a disposable butane lighter and either a second large plastic bag or a mylar survival blanket (one over you & one under you) as well. The boys each carry a pocketknife too.

Your thoughts?

|Ken,

Congrats on "your" bridging over. My advice is twofold: 1) Walk the talk, all the time - always always always have your pack with you; and 2) Be relentless with reminding the scouts to have their "Be Prepared" or "Ready" packs with them, as our scouts refer to them. Every meeting, every outing. Reward them with encouragement and perhaps an inexpensive bit of gear they crave or want. Sharpen knives at meetings (and show them how), using items from your pack. Help out the boys with clueless (or resourcele$$) parents. Encourage regular use of contents at regular meetings and on outings. Take hikes on campouts - they can be little more than out of sight of camp - and indulge your (and their) imagination - put them in scenarios that cause them to rely on what they have with them. Make it all fun.

I'm sure you'll do great - just become a zealot with it and the scouts will catch on.

HTH,

Tom

So do you have your boys ALWAYS carry their outdoor essentials with them?

Ken

Almost. The motto, you know... There are a few occasions where it is not possible.

Remember, these guys can't EDC things most of us adults take for granted - like pocket knives. The whole thing is fun if you put your imagination to work. And walking the talk is really important.

Get real!

Some Boy Scouts show up for winter camping, in the snow, in shorts and t-shirts. This is after they have been warned to dress warmly and not wear cotton pants or shirts. <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

I got the March 2006 issue of Boy’s Life yesterday. I have been looking at it. The expert is Peter Kummerfeldt. He is described as the director of survival training for the U.S. Air Force Academy (12 years) and as a top instructor at the U.S. Air Force Basic Survival School. Let me say that anyone that will donate time to the Boy Scouts is a hero in my book.

The title and focus of the article is: “10 Survival Tips …that can save your life!” The photos are of a boy under an inverted “V” tarp shelter with a headlamp, some scouts watching Mr. Kummerfeldt building a fire lay that looks like the one in the Ritter PSP instructions, PJ cotton balls being made, a signal mirror being used, and a few other less interesting pictures of PSK items. He has a video listed on ETS “Preparing To Survive with Peter Kummerfeldt” (www.outdoorsafe.com) Doug gave it 3 stars. His choices seem to be a combination of Cody Lundin (98.6) (www.alssadventures.com) and Gene Ward (www.survivalandoutdoorsafety.com).

The article is missing a reference to the rule of 3s. There is a misprint describing the orange plastic bag as 4mm. It should say 4mil. All of the PSK items listed in the article are for sale on his web site. I like that he specifically lists a glass signal mirror. On his web site he does say that a quality plastic mirror is also good. I would say that does not include the Star Flash! He suggests that everyone have some prepared PJ cotton balls and a ferro rod, etc.

Most people here do not get “Boy’s Life”. It might be at your library. Just go to his web site if you want to know what was in the article. He has the same information there.

Ken,

Time to start a BSA-PSK movement! A PSK for every scout! Maybe we should write BSA National HQ and have them push it. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Craig-

From your comment, I'm guessing there's not an "official BSA PSK" like so many other bits of "official" gear (if not, I"m sure surprised). Maybe you could propose that they create and market one, perhaps something similar to the Ritter Pocket Survival Pak (suppose a scapel blade could be a little touchy).

Dan

Dan,

The closest BSA comes to a PSK is the "You Can Survive"



They sell them out of the catalog and at the Boy Scout Store at Thomas and Hwy 51. They cost about $12.00. The best, affordable, PSK is the Ritter PSP.

The Boy Scouts have a Wilderness Survival merit badge. I have the book and my son earned the merit badge. There is a PSK item list.

It seems that if Scouts were required to have a PSK when they go camping that it might help some survive. I know there have been lost Scouts in the news over the last few years.

<img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

The official list of gear that the boys are to carry is the "Outdoor Essentials":

-Pocketknife
-First aid kit
-Extra clothing
-Rain gear
-Water bottle
-Flashlight
-Trail food
-Matches and fire starters
-Sun protection (sunscreen, brimmed hat, lip balm, sunglasses)
-Map and compass

Many troops also include:
-Whistle on a lanyard
-Mylar space blanket

The problem I have is that I'm seeing the boys take this gear with them, stow it away, and they don't actually carry the gear with them during activities. At least one adult leader has said that the gear isn't that important while camping in the midwest since there really isn't much that can happen to them.

Does anyone know if search and rescue statistics are available out there somewhere? Maybe 11+ year old boys really don't get into survival situations in the midwest.

That article was actually pretty good, in light of some of the superficial things that come out of Boys Life. Both my boys read it and it opened up some good conversation.
Thanks to reading on this board, and help of so many posters, I made PSK’s as one of our Webelos den projects. These were complete with true parachord, rite-in-the-rain paper, pealess whistles, space blankets, micro lights, and other items. I’m proud to say that 5 of the 6 boys still had theirs 8mos later when we had a winter “Klondike” event. One of the boys pulled theirs out of the underseat drawer of their parents mini-van. Both of my sons have one in their school backpack (obviously doesn’t include a knife).
On a road trip, I found some fishing bait zip lock bags at Bass Pro Shop in Nashville. These are pretty sturdy, clear, about the right size.
Thanks again to all those who provide valuable help.
Travis

Its cool enough to have a dramatic affect on your son's life, but being a Cub Scout Den Leader you get to increase that by six or more times ... at least for a little while.

Those were six lucky boys.

"At least one adult leader has said that the gear isn't that important while camping in the midwest since there really isn't much that can happen to them."

Most Scouts probably point to UT as being the most dangerous place for a Scout.... <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

But you can die anywhere, even in the Midwest.

Sue

What do you suggest the Boy/Cub Scouts carry their small kits in? Pockets, fanny packs, small back packs?? It seems the challenge is to get them to carry it All the time so they are truly prepared at any given point in time.


ONE DAY CLOSER

Er, um - I'm not a PSK-in-a-tin fanatic. More of an EDC + augmented Outdoor Essentials fanatic...

A typical scout past the joining requirements will have on their person a pocket knife, a Photon II type light, a BIC or matches, a BSA Hot Spark, and possibly a small mint tin with PJ cotton balls (and some fatwood). That's "EDC" kind of stuff... all the rest - and some of these items, depending on the circumstances, are in a small pack (book bag sized, although many of them have aquired hydration packs). The topic of separation from pack is one that I bring up regularly in appropriate thought-provoking environments, and that's part of why most of them have items stowed in various pockets.

These fellows are not perfect, but they're pretty darned good at it. It has almost gotten to the self-sustaining point with the boys. I keep it fun - serious, but fun. YMMV.

Tom

Tom,

Got some more lost Scouts here in Arizona. The weather report was rain Saturday and Sunday and high in the low 40s. Too much gung-ho and too little discretion. The TV said some had frostbite and at least one was in shorts. Our troop was planning to go to Seven Springs last weekend but decided it was a bad idea. It was pouring rain when they met Saturday morning. It snowed where our boys (my son) planned to camp.


Lost Boy Scouts in the news.

Any thoughts on how a PSK would have helped these boys and what items would have helped with what?

Thanks!

As you pointed out, what they needed most was to stay home. Sounds like they really could have used a topo map and compass as well. Once lost and hunkered down, they needed fire (PSK) for staying warm, drying out clothes, being more visible to rescuers. Using some aluminum foil (PSK) to melt snow over the fire, they would have abundant water, a luxury in the desert. A whistle (PSK) might have made the searcher's job easier.

How could a PSK have helped the Scouts from Mesa?

They were backpacking. A backpack full of equipment is better than any PSK. Their main problem was that they were wet and had no dry clothes left. They also indicated they were low on supplies. They planned to hike in Friday, spend the night, and hike back out Saturday. They got snowed in and stayed put. There is no water and little vegetation in the Superstition Mountains. We have just had our longest period of no rain in Arizona history. Any wood was now wet. They were huddled in three tents and had sleeping bags.

Fire:
PJ Cotton balls and fatwood sticks could help start wet wood into a fire. The “leave no trace” rules would have made them very reluctant to burn any plants.


Water:
If they had dark trash bags they could have put some snow in a bag and the sun might melt some into water.

Navigation:
None. Stay put. A GPS, map and compass would be good.

Shelter:
They had tents.

Signaling:
Not a lot of sun for a signal mirror. (plastic mirrors has a very weak reflection) Whistles might help. There are almost always hikers in the Superstitions. 2-way radios and cell phones?

First-Aid:
They had to treat for hypothermia. Water bottles with hot water might help. They were out of dry clothes.

I think the main focus of the adult leaders should have been to keep the boys in the tents so they would stay dry. The adults should have known the weather report. By Sunday afternoon the sky would be clear. All they had to do was wait out the Saturday rain.

No knock, but I suspect it was an LDS Troop. They have to be back home by Saturday night. They are not allowed to camp on Sunday. I’m sure they were anxious to get back home by Saturday night.

Craig,

Thanks for the story link - we'll talk about this tomorrow night at closing; there are several lessons. We'll see how our scouts do as arm chair QBs on this one. What became of the other adult?

PSK? Since they had packs, tents, and sleeping gear, (and presumably the rest of the essentials) the PSK itself is not all that helpful. No speculation from me on that - as I wrote earlier, I'm not a PSK-in-a-tin zealot. I wasn't there and not enough detail in the story to be sure, but it sounds like they had bad weather by Saturday morning and tried to hike out. That seems to have been a mistake. Staying put at the designated campsite probably would have been better - my guess is they got soaked and tired trying to hike out. That's OK if you make it safely back to your vehicle... and BTW, I would not take a single vehicle on a Scout outing like that.

Once you're wet and your (wet) tent is pinned in by deep wet snow, you really need to know a lot more than BSA 1st class scout skills to properly take care of business. BTDT; no big deal for folks like us, but for the average scout leader... most are there for many good reasons, but usually not because he/she is a skilled and experienced outdoors person.

Regards,

Tom

Here, Here, "Loud applause"

You are so right. Those kids didn't belong out in the superstions with the weather forcast we had. Also what about a gear shake down. There were kids there without jackets or changes of clothes.

Yep.

I was looking on the Survival and Outdoor Safety site and noticed THIS. I had never thought about making a handle for a Metal Match out of fatwood(or pitchwood, as he calls it)!!!
Nice Idea!!
Does anyone know if there is any difference between fatwood and pitchwood???

>>Being a new assistant Scoutmaster I kept my mouth shut, at least for the first outing, <<

I know the cross over can be harder on the new volunteer parent than it is on the boys. AFter all, their role in the new troop is spelled out and they get lots of guidence on what they should be doing. Not so for most troops when it comes to the parents. They are often left on the fringe to figure it out themselves.

I would encourage you to step up and let the scoutmaster know you have some particular skill, such as survival, and that you'd like to integrate that knowledge and skill into the program. Most Scoutmasters would welcome such offers with open arms. (or at least they should.)

I would encourage you to step up and let the scoutmaster know you have some particular skill, such as survival, and that you'd like to integrate that knowledge and skill into the program. Most Scoutmasters would welcome such offers with open arms. (or at least they should.)

One thing we do when we have new adults "cross over" with their boys is we have them do a skills inventory kind of questionaire. It's a way to see if parents have any particular skills/interests that might help add depth to the troop. There might be merit badge counselor opportunities, future scoutmasters out there, who knows. The parents are usually happy that we even ask, and many of them do want to help, they just don't know how. We encourage them to get as much BSA training as they can handle, our council is now running all training for free, to encourage it.

Sounds like the adults on the Scout trip that needed rescue, that was mentioned in an earlier post, might have benefitted from some of the readily available BSA courses like Outdoor Leadership Skills and Trek Safely, to mention a couple.

Being a former scout and scout leader myself I can say that most younger/new scouts would run into the woods naked if they could. It's hard to get them to even carry water, never mind anything else. Most of them are used to handing something off to their parents to carry and going off to have fun. It's tough to get them to remember to take their supplies with them. We started by giving them a whistle and a little knock-off photon light on a chain and we would do random checks to make sure they have it at meetings and on trips. In the first meetings we would go over what to do if lost in the woods and the proper way to use the whistle. Later on you can move to things like water bottles, small first aid/survival kits, ect. Each meeting you cover something new, like going over why proper hydration is important and work on first aid skills for dehydration. After that all the kids need to have their whistle/photon and water bottle on trips. Eventually they get it down, but you need to keep at it with them. Lots of practice.

Now, when I started teaching my younger brother how to do wilderness survival I bought him one of those small hydration back packs, the ones made for bicycling. I made up a small survival/first aid kit in a ziplock bag and stuck that in there. I would then take him out on a short hike in the woods by our house with a stop to work on skills. Worked great since it was light enough for him to carry easily, kept at least the bare minimum of gear within reach, and since his water was connected to his pack he would never forget his kit if he remembered to take his water (which I would remind him about, and I we got into the habit of both filling our camelbaks at the same time before we left)