05 aug 2001--how not to bug out

7/29/2019 05 Aug 2001--How NOT to Bug Out

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From [email protected] Sun Aug 05 05:03:08 2001To: Subject: [misc_survivalism_moderated] Fw: how NOT to bug outFrom: "Chris Young" Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2001 07:03:08 -0400Cc: --------Yikk, this sounds like a miserable weekend.Christopher A. YoungP.O. Box 442Macedon, NY 14502

----- Original Message -----From: Bob GNewsgroups: misc.survivalismSent: Wednesday, June 21, 2000 12:55 PMSubject: Re: [survivor] questions (SEALS, rats, rays, etc.)

On Wed, 21 Jun 2000 10:32:51 +1000, [email protected] wrote:

>>One can feel like one would give anything just to be dry again. Not>>to mention the problems with funguses, creeping crude, etc.

>>>2==> Can tell that you have been in the tropics, Bob! :-)>>>>And one can FEEL cold, even in such enviornment. certain times of the>>year. Even if it's, say in the 70's, if you're wet to the bone, wind>>blowing, etc one can have trouble feeling comfortable, feel chilled,>>etc. A dry place to sleep, at least, can become important to getting>>good rest and maintaining alertness and vigor.>>>3==> And let us not forget the psychological value of a fire, even a>small one.

>>Have you not ever been in a siatuation where you were able to derive>considerable comfort from even a small and totally inadaquate fire?>>...Bet you have, and bet that if I push you enough you will even>remember it. :-)

ROFLMAO

Yes. More than once.

The one I'll relate isn't even, really, some great survival story. Ireally wasn't at any time in any great danger, I don't think. (I

qualify statement as one never knows)

Had opportunity to take a hiking/camping trip in a northwestern (U.S.)forested mountain area.

I'd only just reported in to my new unit (I was active military), gotthru the check-in procedure. Was assigned a bed and a locker. Thenwas told I'd lucked out. Whole unit had been given 4 days off. 'Gofind something to do with yourself.'


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Flying into the area I'd seen all those mountains and forests. Whatto do? What to do? A couple friendly guys pointed out there wereseveral bars just outside the base which were frequented by some veryfriendly local ladies who really liked a guy in uniform.

My mind flip flops. Go see if I can get lucky? Or .... I was staringat those forests and mountains. Chuckle, figured the ladies couldwait.

Went over to special services which had all the pamphlets on localhiking and camping possibilities. Snatched up several pamphlets triedto rent gear. Unfortunately, all the others on that base had knownabout the time off for some time and had already rented most of thestuff. Guy managed to dig out some left over odds and ends. Not agood outfit; pack, sleeping bag that'd seen better days, a rainponcho, canteen and an old mess kit. All he had.

I was by then all hepped up and anxious, figured heck with it, thatwas enough. Grabbed it, took off, stopped by a little store andbought some basic food, had no idea where exactly I was gonna go til Igot to this bus station. Looking at pamphlets and a map, saw thislarge preserve shown where one could hike and camp. Pointed at it,told ticket guy I needed a ticket on a bus that'd get me there. And Iwas off.

Sortta lacks of planning and preparation, doesn't it? :-)

Heck, didn't even know what the local weather was normally like. Nordid I know the predictions for the next few days.

Chuckle. I found out. Got to the preserve and instead of followingsome marked trails, I just eyeballed spot I could see in the distanceon a mountain and decided 'There', that was where I was going. Andset out. Ignoring suggested and established trails, camping spots,etc. Setting out cross country. Really didn't care to go whereeveryone else went, didn't care if I even saw anybody on this trip.

You know, I found out it rains a lot around there. When it's notraining, it's drizzling. Also turns out if I'd bothered to do aweather check, the forecast would have likely been that the weatherwas taking a turn for the worse. Because it did. Cloudy when Istarted, but otherwise not bad. Zippy Bob took off and Zippy Bobcould cover a lot of ground fast. Always loved to WALK ... strong andfast. I could set a heck of a pace and maintain it even going up, andover rough terrain, all day long. I've never been a fast runner, buthad never met anyone who could walk as fast ... as long ... as I couldwithout a break. Taking such walks, to me, felt good, very good. 20miles? Heck I was just warming up at 20 miles.

Anyway, started in morning, by afternoon the weather turning for the

worse. By evening .... sucked. Blowing rain, thunder and lightening,temperature dropping.

Did I ever mention I'm a stubborn soul? Kept going, when really Ishould have stopped and rigged some sort of shelter. When I finallydid stop, it was dark and with the storm I couldn't see squat.Scurried around trying to find dry stuff for a fire. Maybe a shelter.Couldn't see feet much less anything else. Gave up, tried to huddlewith as much of me under poncho (a short one) as possible.


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Miserable night, little sleep. Wet and shivering. Kept waking, wouldget up stomp around to get body warm. Then try to sleep some more.Ate cold, canned beans for my meal.

When the sun came up, hard rain had ceased but it was both overcast,drizzling slightly and I was wrapped in thick fog. Whole world wasdripping wet. Stubborn Bob pressed on. Whether just a change to theweather or because I was getting higher in elevation, or both, thetemp kept getting steadily colder. Couple times in the day, the damburst in the sky, and it poured ferociously. Add the fact I stumbledan tripped a number of times scraping this and that flesh off. Andonce fell down a sharp slope, 100 ft or better before I got stopped.Banged up ribs, conked head good and twisted ankle.

Oh, hurt like devil, but no serious damage. Nothing broken. Justreal aggravating, yah know? Let's just say that by late in the day,Bob's mood was on the foul and disgusted side. And the falls, dealingwith twisted ankle, assorted dings and such ... along with difficultyof the terrain had taken the zip out of me. The cold probably afactor, also. One burns energy much faster when cold.

Let's just say my mood was flipping back and forth between an urge tocry, dig a hole and crawl in ... and an urge to find a grizzly andkick his ass.

Temp had slipped to the point where I have no idea of what it actuallywas, but it felt on the verge of changing from a steady rain into ice.

Did I mention I'm stubborn? :-)

Part of my mood was I just didn't want to give up. This was MY time.For all of it, the difficulties, I'd enjoyed the sights, beingoutdoors, etc. But was feeling pressed to give it up, huddle inmisery. Severe 'Poor me' syndrome.

Did get smarter tho. Stopped with light still available. Collectedstuff and put together a little shelter, sliced poncho and drapped

over to at least stop water from dripping on me. Tiny shelter.Hunted around for fuel dry enough to use. Found only a little.Seemed like every durn thing, including myself was water logged. Tookseveral efforts and patience to get a fire going. Just a little one.Dark by then.

Heck, that small fire started making whole world a little cheerier.Not much for warmth. Still steadily raining. It had to be smallenough to fit under edge of shelter. Plus I'd found little dry stuff.Was nudging some small wet stuff close to fire to dry it enough tohopefully use it for more fuel. But had light. Could hold handsclose to feel warmth. Didn't do much of anything for the rest of mebut to have warm hands made me feel much better. It was something.

Opened can of beans. Had some jerky I shaved up a little and added tobeans. Had bought bottle of Tabasco and liberally doused up thebeans, let it perk, flavors blend and get reasonably hot. And ate.And it was SOOooo good. So good I had to open another can of beansand do it over again. Had some instant coffee, made self a cup ofcoffee near strong enough to float a spoon and sipped.

Chuckle, and felt like all was right in the world. Felt outrightchipper actually. Oh, I was still cold, clothes still wet, whole


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world around me dark and drenched and unfriendly. But in that littleshelter, tiny little spot ... I was feeling kinda cozy. Cold but mindshifting gears from previous mood to "Awww, this ain't nothing. Pieceof cake.' Body stopped shivering. Fire wasn't doing it. A combo ofat least water wasn't pouring over me, tho I was still wet and ... Ibelieve my much better mood.

I've read that in studies of survival incidents, that researchersconcluded that mental attitude can has drastic effect upon the body'sability to cope with adversity. Oh, mind can't overcome everything,of course. But studies indicated that positive attitude can make asmuch as a 50% difference in a person's ability to cope with disease,cold, injury, etc.

I have for some time, since a youth practiced, oh ... I don't knowwhat you'd want to call it. Concentration? Meditation? Mind overbody? Whatever. I think of it as self control. Purposely practiced.My father had learned judo/jujitsu when he was in the army. Some ofthe hand to hand taught used judo techniques. He'd gotten interested.Signed up for formal classes on his off time. Really got into it.He'd started teaching me when I was young. I was also full of storiesof old warriors and braves who distained discomfort, cold, tiredness,etc. Ignored pain and injury. Dismissed such, overcame and pressedon. So used to do things like overstress self to point of failing

muscles, force self to continue past point where I felt I must giveup. Would be in woods, see animal and FREEZE. Hold whatever positiondespite discomfort, cramps, etc for a long time. Sometime wentsomewhere in woods and sat ... tried to see how long I could remaintotally unmoving. Mind turned inwards. Aches would come, or an itch,or whatever and I'd will them away. Take sensation, but it purposelyin back of mind, kind of lock it away there. After a time I'd forgetall about it. Knew it was there, but only casually aware of it. Gotto where I could sleep sitting like that, wake in same position. Samewith cold. Would turn mind inward, tell self 'I'm not cold, I'm notcold ... this is nothing ... ignore it.' And so forth.

Anyway, earlier I'd been willing self to ignore cold. Worked to some

extent. But with mood, the way day and previous night had gone, etcmind on verge of 'I give up', it hadn't been working well.

Now, watching the little fire, mood much better, probably the warmfood helped, a shiver went thru me, I turned mind inward and shiverstopped and I grew warm. Or felt that way. Not warm, warm. Cool but'This ain't nothing, hah ! I can take worse.' Dozed into dream state,sorta comfy as I sat. Not deep sleep, but restful. Came to awarenessfrom time to time, stuck another stick or so in fire, willed relaxtionand peace and drifted to dreams again. Spent night like that. Neverreally deeply asleep. Somewhat aware of things around me. Somethingbig moved out where I could not see, eyes popped open instantly. Ilistening. Whatever it was moved away and almost as fast as I'd

opened eyes I'd drift off again. Come sunrise, I felt rested,chipper, in downright good mood. Despite assorted aches and pains.

Finished my outing. Weather didn't much improve, but I kept my littleshelter, spent day exploring around. Enjoying scenery, etc. Spentanother night and then walked back out of the reserve. Well, limped.Ankle wasn't that bad, swollen, hurt like devil. But not so damagedthat I had to do much except slow pace a bit, be careful how I steppedon it.


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All and all, really enjoyed the outting, well, after I got the littlefire going. Went back several times on other occassions. Chuckle,but made sure I had at least a tarp to make self a dry spot if needed.My body is pretty tolerant of cold and wet. Even now at 53 peopleoften stare as I am out in nothing but jeans and flannel shirt inconditions that have them shivering tushes off and I only feelslightly cool. But cold and wet gets old after, say, a whole day, atleast for a night's rest, I wanted to not be rained on.

>>Shelter can be important, even on a tropical island.>>>>Now, it does not need to be much of a shelter. Been in places that as>>long as one had a good roof. Either wide enough to keep slanting rain>>out from central area, or with simple woven walls to give you>>protection from blowing rain, that was adequate. In may areas, good>>it it has a raised platform to get you off the ground. I've been in>>laces where if a monsoon rain hit it can dump amazing amounts of water>>in a short time. Faster than it can run off. Was in one country and>>a monsoon hit. Some partners and I sloshing thru collected water>>halfway to knees, just from the current rainfall.>>>>>If you haven't seen a monsoon, likely you have no idea what it can be>>like. Can come down so fast one has a hard time simply breathing.

>>4==> Easy to see that you have been in tropical rainfalls! ....And>what would be even more amazing to most people is how sharp the>boundaries are. If at the edge, you could be soaked at one side and>dry on the other.

Yep, been in tropical rainfalls, more than a few times.

>6==> So far, haven't managed to catch you in any errors.> On the other hand, have seen lots of posts on lots of groups which>contained a lot of crap. Are you sure that you aren't a bit more>qualified than you indicate?>

Me? Just an old sailor. Was a Brown Water sailor (river rat), lateran open ocean sailor on large ships.

Can't claim any special qualifications.

Probably been more places, done more varied things than most. But inthis newsgroup are folk who at least sometimes post. Whoindividually, in specific areas, know a great deal more than I. I canclaim a superior knowledge of little. Know a little about a lot ofthings.

The older I get and the more I learn, the more I'm aware of how much I

don't know.

Bob

I love my country ! It's the politicians I don'tlike or trust.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


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05 aug 2001--how not to bug out

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