Hey guys & gals!

I'm baaaaack! But just for short period of time because I got a lot of projects that I'm currently working on. I was asked to do a few articles for some magazines, plus I gotta find some time to post some new survival tips & tricks on my website too. As some of you guys here keep sending me emails bugging me when am I gonna post some new tips on it.

I like logging on hanging out here on ETS, but if I stay too long I will probably violate another rule and get my butt chewed out again. Or I'll get addicted [again] to keep coming back here to see what's all going on here and I won't get done what I need to do here in Italy where I live.

Anyway, I have few car survival tips that I think you guys & gals will find unique and interesting, and I dedicate these tips to Mr. James Kim & his family. And if anyone here should someday find themselves in a similar situation, stranded in their car in a remote area. I hope these tips will help increase your chances of being rescued sooner rather than later.

I don't recall seeing these car survival tips in any survival handbook, on anyone elses survival site nor posted here on this forum. If anyone here has, please let me know where.

Should you find yourself stranded in a remote area with your vehicle and you are not sure where you are or where the nearest house or town is located. As everyone here knows [by now], it's usually best to stay with your vehicle and wait for help to come to you than to wander off looking for HELP. But after waiting 24 hours or so and no one has yet come to your rescue, then here's what you can do to increase your chances of being rescued.

(a) Just as James Kim did, start burning one rubber tire per day starting at day break so that the black smoke can be seen during daylight. Should your car tire burn out before night fall, don't burn another rubber tire until the next day. But instead build three separate wood fires as this will increase your chances of being seen from the air and means HELP is needed.

(b) Like with a whistle and gunshots, three blasts of a car horn and then a pause [between 3 x beeps] also means HELP is needed. But don't keep blasting the car horn until your battery becomes weak, just every so often, and remember to start the vehicle once in a while to keep the battery charged. That is if the vehicle's engine and electrical system is still operational.

(c) If it's a sunny day, remove either the rear view mirror or one of vehicle's side view mirrors and go to the nearest highest ground or hill. Hopefully one that allows you to see in all directions and then flash the mirror in all directions trying to get someone to notice your flashes and black tire smoke too. If there is no high ground or hill, then climb the nearest tallest tree.

Should you hear and see an aircraft flying way overhead or at a loooong distance away, still make every effort to try to signal it anyway even if you don't think they'll see your signal. Because even if it's not an aircraft out searching for you, they may have seen your mirror flashes and black smoke and thought it was nothing.

But maybe the next day or a few days later the pilot of that aircraft will be reading a newspaper, listening to the radio or see on television that the authorities are searching for a lost person in a remote area. And he will say to himself "Hmmm, I flew over/near that area the other day, I wonder if that black smoke and flashes was from that person they're searching for."

(d) Just before it gets dark, remove the car battery, one car headlight and some wires from your vehicle that doesn't have anything to do with the car's ignition system. Like some wires located in the truck section of your vehicle. Then carry these items again to the nearest highest ground or hill, build yourself a fire and then hook up the car headlight to the battery with the wires. And then start blinking the headlight in all directions in increments of three blinks and a pause which also means HELP is needed.

But don't continue to do this all night long, just for an hour or two as most people who live in remote areas are most likely to have gone to bed by 10 or 11 pm. Plus you don't want to kill the battery as you will need to use it to restart your vehicle so you can recharge the battery for another possible night(s). That is...if you still have some fuel remaining in your vehicle and the engine is still operational.

So what do you think about these car survival tips? Make sense? Good idea? Has anyone else seen these same tips somewhere else?

Thanks for your time, let me know what you think, stay tune for some more tips that will be posted soon on my website.


"Ranger Rick" F. Tscherne

US Army, Retired (1972-93)

Owner, www.therangerdigest.com & www.sositalia-usa.com

Hi ArmyRangerRick, welcome back.

Those are some excellent survival tips and a good reason to stay with the vehicle. The vehicle can generate you lots of improvised signalling and survival equipment.

I have seen these methods in Ray Mears TV series Extreme Survival in an episode where he was demostrating survival techniques whilst in Driving in the Australian outback.

In your first survival tip about having three fires, the fires should be arranged in to a triangular formation about 25-50 yards apart around the vehicle if possible.

Good you're back!

I think I saw the rearview-mirror tip on I shouldn't be alive with Les Stroud

http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/alive/alive.html

But hey, what's wrong with repeating?

Good tips!

Welcome back Army Ranger Rick!!

No, I hadn't seen these ideas before and I thank you for listing them. Once again, I am shown to have tunnel vision IRT a particular scenario that could help me out otherwise!!

Are 3 of anything universal distress signals? And Rick, ancient non issues become issues again only if you pick on them like scabs in the field and wake up with gangrene.;o)

Hey, how ya doing there "Go Navy" Chris!

Yea, here in Europe, all over Europe, like it says in all the stateside American survival books, three of anything means pretty much the same - NEED HELP.

Did Doug tell you about my other website Chris? SOS Italia-USA.Com at www.sositalia-usa.com .

Now before anyone checks out my other site and says "What the ----." I can't operate these programs here like the way I want to because of all the damn Italian restrictions, laws, regulations, etc. My hands are not double but triple tied. And if my training team and I get caught violating any of these the laws & regulations here in Italy, we'll get arrested and fined BIG TIME.

Beside that, there really ain't an abundance of wild game here in Italy that you can trap and hunt. In over 20 years that I've been living here, I've only seen a total of about 3 or 4 rabbits and squirrels but a bunch of deer, if that's what you want to call'em. Most of them are about the size of a stateside fawn.

And if you see any fish in any of the streams & creeks here...most likely you'll see signs posted all along these water ways saying "Forbidden to fish - breeding area."

Fires, open fires....unless you see a sign that says "Open fires permitted," you CAN'T build a fire. To gather wood for a fire...the tree has to be dead and laying down on the ground for you to cut it up and take it away to use/burn.

I've had a few Italian forest masters here tell my partners that if they catch us teaching any of our classes in their neck of the woods....they're gonna cuff us and make us pay a stiff fine. And so being an x-Army Ranger I can't resist challenging'em by saying "Catch me if you can, ---holes."

But that's only part of the problem here, the other part is most of the Italians who contact us for our training ain't like us American outdoorsmen. If it's raining a little bit, they don't show up. If it's a little cold, they don't show up. If it's a little windy or if the weather forecast calls for possible rain or snow, they don't show up.

As of a few weeks ago I linked up and agreed to do some joint survival training with an Italian school here called the Adventure Academy. They train the people for an Italian TV show called "Island of the Famous." It's a bit like our "Survivor" TV Show but they use VIPs, singers, movie stars, etc instead of regular people. And unlike our Survivor show, they're voted off the show by the [TV] viewers, not themselves but more like the American Idol show.

I've got five guys on my training team here, 2 x EMTs, 1 x professional Italian translator/Instructor, 1 x retired Viet Nam Navy fighter pilot vet who speaks 4 languages and then there's myself, an old Army Ranger.

Anyway, we only conduct our classes/programs when we have more than 24 x students because we learned from previous classes that only half of these Italians will actually show up for the classes.

So if you get a chance Chris, com'on by and check out my other site.

Well, gotta go, it's din-din time here in Italy, I'm going out for a pizza and bottle of wine. If anyone wants to come along, meet me downtown in Bardolino at the boat dock near the American flag at 2100 hrs (9 p.m to you civies & NGs).

See you guys & gals tomorrow, ciao for now.

Ranger Rick

Welcome back!

I am a little worried about the "...climb the nearest tallest tree..." part. Tree climbing can be fun, and can also result in a nasty fall, just adding to your problems. I have seen more than one person climb a tree, then not be able to get back down. Depends a lot on what brand of trees happen to be around too, some are easier to climb than others...

Ok, I'm back, but not for long.

In regards to this last posting (quote) "...tree climbing can be fun, and can also result in a nasty fall, just adding to your problems. I have seen more than one person climb a tree, then not be able to get back down. Depends a lot on what brand of trees happen to be around too, some are easier to climb than others...

Choosing to climb a tree in flat lands to see where the nearest house or town is, is like whether or not you want to remove the battery, a headlight and some wires from your vehicle. It's an OPTION that's available to you, not a requirement.

Climbing a tree is no more unsafe to do then having to choose between crossing a creek/river or climbing up/down a rocky mountain or cliff to find help or to get to a house or town that you can see far off.

Like Kim, you too have a choice, you can either sit in car and wait until you're found & rescued, whenever that will be. Or you can increase your chances of being found & rescued sooner by trying out some of these tips. It's up to you, only you know your own physcial limitations.

A little awhile ago I received an email from someone saying "....pulling a battery, headlight and some wires out of your vehicle is a little beyond most people, Rick. I'm afraid your car survival tip would require a level of mechanical expertise...."

It doesn't take rocket scientist to figure out how to remove the battery, headlight and some wires from a vehicle, but determination in wanting to do everything possible to increase your chances of being found sooner so you can get heck out of there and back home to mama.

These car survival tips were only mere suggestions in what else you can possible do to increase your chances of being rescued, not a requirement. You know?

Ok, I'm back, but not for long.

In regards to this last posting (quote) "...tree climbing can be fun, and can also result in a nasty fall, just adding to your problems. I have seen more than one person climb a tree, then not be able to get back down. Depends a lot on what brand of trees happen to be around too, some are easier to climb than others...

Choosing to climb a tree in flat lands to see where the nearest house or town is, is like whether or not you want to remove the battery, a headlight and some wires from your vehicle. It's an OPTION that's available to you, not a requirement.

Climbing a tree is no more unsafe to do then having to choose between crossing a creek/river or climbing up/down a rocky mountain or cliff to find help or to get to a house or town that you can see far off.

Like Kim, you too have a choice, you can either sit in your car and wait until you're found & rescued, whenever that will be. Or you can increase your chances of being found & rescued sooner by trying out some of these tips. It's up to you, only you know your own physcial limitations.

A little awhile ago I received an email from someone saying "....pulling a battery, headlight and some wires out of your vehicle is a little beyond most people, Rick. I'm afraid your car survival tip would require a level of mechanical expertise...."

It doesn't take rocket scientist to figure out how to remove the battery, headlight and some wires from a vehicle, but determination in wanting to do everything possible to increase your chances of being found sooner so you can get the heck out of there and back home to mama.

These car survival tips were only mere suggestions in what else you can possible do to increase your chances of being rescued, not a requirement. You know?

My stranded in a car survival tip:

Three little letters ... P - L - B

Seriously, the way I look at it is that even in winter my SUV provides a very good shelter ... at least good enough to keep me and my family alive until rescue crews initiated by the PLB can find and rescue us.

Still, I make sure I always bring my cell phone and its car charging cable, a mapping GPS (so I know exactly where I am), a good flashlight (Streamlight) for signaling at night, a knife (Mora) to help start a fire, firemaking tools (lighter & firestarters), and some 55 gallon orange trash bags (to make the truck MUCH more visible in daylight and act as emergency rain gear). In winter I make sure my family & I are dressed for the weather - no running out to the truck in light jackets - and I carry a few blankets.

I also plan my trip routes well in advance and let people know where we'll be going and when we'll be back (usually the person caring for our horses).

Ken