BOSS is primarily a primitive type school so their training does not involve a lot of gear. Students are expected to make and find what they need. Maybe they should have offered this as an advanced course with a prerequisit of taking more basic courses.
I have just been on the the BOSS website. BOSS philosophy
At BOSS, we understand that technology has an important position in our world, but you do have other options. There are places where you can put aside the gadgets, silence the phones, disconnect the faxes, and get back to the basics. Take the opportunity to appreciate the natural world on its own terms. At BOSS, we not only survive without technology -- we thrive. And we want to share this with you.
We’re often asked, "What do you mean 'traditional technologies?' Don't you use modern camping gear?" Actually, we usually don't. People sometimes forget that all the modern 'necessities' of backpacking are very recent inventions. And while it's nice to go camping with fancy sleeping bags, tents, lightweight stoves, GPS units, headlamps, etc. it's not really necessary. In fact, there are some good reasons to learn how to enjoy wilderness travel without all that gear.
The problem is that this Survival Course in which the student died was 28 days in duration passing through very difficult and inhospitable terrain - the Utah desert. Desert regions are some of the most difficult and dangerous terrain on the planet probably just after the arctic and antarctic regions. Who in there right mind would head of into the desert without any form of navigation be it instructor or student. What kind of crap does it mean when they say that backpacks are a recent invention and that to get 'back to nature' you won't need one on the course. Even the 3500 year old ice-man found in the Alps would have been better equipped than these people. To pretend that you are leaving the modern world to become one with nature by leaving your watch, your compass and your backpack behind is absolute B***s**t. The problem with this Primitive Survival School is that it seems they do not realize just how sophisticated the primitive people and the kit they carried, actually was. Primitive people have always used any advancement in survival technology. If they didn't there would have been no stone age, no bronze age, no iron age.
Maybe some of the instructors would do well to read;
The Art of Travel or Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries (1872)
available at
http://snowy.arsc.alaska.edu/gutenberg/1/4/6/8/14681/14681-h/14681-h.htmfor some sensible advice on how to survive in difficult terrain without all the so called modern day backpacking contrivances or is 130 years old advice and technology still just a bit too modern.
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