Heh...
Quote:
As the "P" stands for personal...
Ah! Thanks, M a x. That's why I've been so confused by this thread! I've always assumed that the P stood for Pocket! I've always assumed that if it's not a pocket survival kit, then it was just an "SK", not a "PSK". <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

So, I'm reading this thread and thinking of other threads where someone writes something similar to, "I like to carry a bigger PSK as a fanny pack..", and I've thought to myself, "Well, then, that wouldn't be a PSK,... it would be an FPSK. Or they write something akin to, "I prefer to make my backpack into my PSK", and I've thought to myself, "But that would make it a BPSK then. That's totally different...". <img src="images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I feel better now. I get it now. I'll specify which kind of Personal Survival Kit I'm writing about when I use the acronym from now on.

FWIW, I can see carrying the extras and niceties in larger containers. That's what they're for, and that's what I do with them. But, for an actual pocket survival tin or kit, I have to agree with Presumed Lost ... it's just too small for anything but true basics.

My Altoids tin-style Pocket Survival Kit is no place for placebos, luxeries or "feel-good" morale-boosting tricks. It's got a very little bit of room for a few essential tools for a practical realist, and nothing more. And a small Pocket Kit is not the place for food of any sort, in my personal opinion. Food just takes up too much space!

My Fanny Pack usually carrys a water bottle & FAK, as well as extra items too large for my pocket kit. It's still not camping gear ... it's still just a minimal Survival Kit, but there's a lot more room for stuff in a fanny pack than a pocket tin. But I still don't pack any food in it. I've fasted for ten days before, so I guess I have different priorities.

Right now, though, I'm wondering if indeed it might not be reasonable to keep some small emotional support materials in there. I have not room for even a packet of salt in my pocket kit, but a fanny pack kit could carry a bullion cube & a tea bag with a packet of salt & another of sugar, easily enough. If nothing else, it might help me calm down whoever I might be with. To someone who has never gone a day without a meal before, a tin of hot salty broth & another of hot sugary tea may be just the thing to get them stable enough to deal with better. Hmm, yeah I like that...

My Backpack has the food, the utensils, the luxuries, the extras, the stuff to make my going fun and happy. That's where I keep my Camping & Hiking gear, including a larger FAK. And that's where I keep my food. For emergencies, I keep a nice flat Altoids' "Big Tin" in the very bottom with "Survival Gear" in it, stack the FAK on top of that and then stuff the "Camping/Hiking" style (fun & luxury) gear on top of those two items. The big tin can carry more than my pocket tin, the larger FAK can carry more than the one in my fanny pack, and this gear I'm saving for emergencies thereby stays completely sealed away and separate from the hiking, camping, sleeping & cooking stuff I'm constantly getting into while I'm out and about.

I have now even gone so far with this idea as to create a slightly larger PSK out of a Windmill Lighter tin for my jacket, coat or windbreaker pocket, to supplement the normal slightly smaller Altoids PSK in my trouser or pants pocket. (Can you tell by now how much I like, really really like, redundancy? <img src="images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />)

So, I'm a big believer in multiple "kits", each of a size determined by carry method, and each with contents determined by size. When I'm talking about other kits, I like niceties and extras, but when in the past I have talked or written of my PSK, I've automatically been thinking of my pocket kit - the smallest, most intensely selective subset of gear that I might be able to get my hands on in a crisis!

If I can't get to any of the stuff I carry in my car, I at least have my backpack. If I am away from my backpack, I at least still have my fanny pack. If I somehow lose my fanny pack, well heck, at least I still have this ultra-minimalist set of utterly basic tools and raw materials in my pocket to use for cobbling together some way to hang on for a little while... Eash level, by its nature, has less room and less tolerance for "morale" built into it, and that just seems obviously right and necessary to me.