This is a fairly simplistic and superficial article. There are numerous instances where the will to survived overcame the odds; An Arizona sheriff once commented to me that egotistical people seemed to survive at a better than average rate. This came home to me with a vengeance when, on a survival situation of my own, I was determined that when the search party reached me, I would be able to offer them a cup of warm coffee and show them that I was OK. As it turned out, there was no search party, but I was still OK enough to drag my sorry butt back to the car.

There are many instances of statistical outliers to the "Rule of Three" - Here is a quote from a 1959 publication:

"A prospector in the deserts of northwestern Arizona traveled 150 miles in eight days without water in temperatures sometimes over 120F. He lost 25 per cent of his weight - nearly twice the dehydration normally considered fatal at that temperature. He lived by the grace of God and his will to survive(emphasis added). I believe this event occurred sometime in the late nineteenth century.

The Rule of Three is reasonably valid, especially for planning purposes. Certainly, as its length is exceeded, the odds of survival become dimmer -this is definitely true in my experience. I don't know of any situation where someone halts a search simply because the person has been missing for the allotted seventy-two hours. Usually the operation continues because they just might be alive and,even if not, you want to find the body and bring closure; typically searches continue for weeks after the event.