I personally do expect a great deal from one of those in quality, not so much as in quantity, as is often the case opposed to quality. Most of those that I have been able to have a brief look at, however, do not meet my criteria at all.
How often do you see the supposedly professional survival tins with the silly wire saw and the single-edged razor blade for a knife? Far too many times, I am sure. I cringe every time that I see them and try hard not to laugh. If I would be caught out – though hopefully not caught – in enemy territory or just simple lost in the woods or on the moors I would like to have some more substantial items and number one on my list is a decent pocketknife.
Every time that a pocketknife is included in such a kit – and I have seen one or two of such kits – then, invariably, it is a Pakistani-made lock back folder of dubious quality and here especially to the strength of the lock and such like. I have yet to be trusted by the manufacturers of survival kits, including BCB International, with a sample of their products in order to be able to test the quality of the items that are included in the kits.
As far as I am concerned there is only one small folding knife that small enough to fit into most pocket kits that would cut it here – pardon the pun – and that is the Opinel No.6 made by La Coutellerie Opinel in the Savoy region of France, and they are indeed still made in France and not somewhere in China. There simply is not another one equally well suited and especially not as regards to price and weight. I must say that the Opinel #6 would be the only small pocketknife that I would want to trust in an emergency. I know the lock will withstand most abuse, because of its simplicity, and the handle is beech wood that will be kind enough to my hand even with prolonged use.
I certainly would want to have nothing to do with that silly wire saw either. What precisely for? Firstly, do I really want to waste my energy n sawing through logs or even small trees in and emergency situation such as one where I would be needing a pocket survival kit? I do not think so!
I once had someone say to me as regards to the silly wire saw, “but, oh, you can use it as a garrotte!” One can? If I am in enemy territory and am trying to survive and the enemy hopefully does not know that I am there the very last thing I would want to do it to draw attention to my presence by one of theirs going missing or being found strangled. Not a good idea. No, Sir!
I could go on and on and on about the useless things in such kits and I am always amazed that, apparently, the military procurement people actually buy such kits off manufacturers.
A condom as a carrier for drinking water in lieu of a bottle? Methinks not. Yuck! Condoms have various chemicals and such applied to them, such as, for instance, a spermicide. If need be then rather use a balloon.
Way too many kits of this sort seem to try to give the fighting man or -woman or hiker, mountaineer, backpacker, and so on, something of a miniaturized version, it would seem, of what they would generally carry, including some shelter of sorts often, all the while nearly trying to stuff it into an Altoids tin. Let's face it, this is getting silly.
The proper basic survival kit for the warrior (and others) needs but a few items; not a logistics company in miniature.
Here are some suggestions for what, in my opinion and experience, should make us a proper basic kit:
A reliable folder, ideally single blade with a comfortable handle and safe lock. There is, in my opinion, and no, I do not work for them, only one that fits that category and that is the previously mentioned Opinel #6.
A P-38 (as it was once known) folding-bit can opener; the old NATO issue kind and ideally of the very same quality. The military one can be bought and has a NATO issue number on it.
For the next item, the compass, a small button compass may suffice but the better bet is the small Silva base plate one, e.g. the Carabiner 28, as this also has a hole for a lanyard and therefore can be worn around the neck when in the survival situation in the backwoods, for instance, or better still, if you can
accommodate it, the Ranger 27 from Silva, which is a miniature sighting compass.For fire starting gear the answer would be either matches (waterproof) and a strike or – probably better still – a BIC disposable lighter or one of the refillable Clipper variety. In the latter case a spare flint might also useful.
A small light source is handy to have and here either a small LED light of the Photon kind – costing little. Alternatively, if there is the space and the budget for it, then a LED Lenser (Photon pump) V8 Turbo light. For what they can do they are not expensive.
A means of signalling for help (this is more the case for the hiker and walker, forester, and such like) an emergency whistle would be required and here this can either be a plastic one as used on life jackets or a thunderer one, like used by sports referees. In addition to that maybe, if if can be had, a small signal mirror.
...and finally maybe something like ten safety pins of different sizes and even some cordage, some finger plasters and such and – voila – there is your basic kit.
It fits into a very small space though it probably needs a bigger tin than an Altoids one.
In fact I do not recommend the use of a tin at all. Either use a plastic container, such as, for instance, those as used for the L2A2 cleaning kit of the British Army (that rifle is now no longer in use), or, alternatively, put the contents into one – or separate – Zip lock bag(s) – and stuff into a small belt pouch, like those that are used for personal first aid kits for forestry workers, or such.
Advantages are, one, you can wear the kit on a belt and it will look like a cell phone or PDA pouch but you can also put it into your pocket – in the pouch – and carry it without much discomfort, if any discomfort at all, and secondly, it will not rattle or make any other kind noise that might give you away in exactly the wrong moment.
This is the kind of kit that I used to assemble in fact for personnel doing a variety of jobs and it does not come cheap. On the other hand, however, it is much more reliable than all those other things that are touted as “survival kits”, and some even endorsed with “SAS Survival Tin”, as designed by “Lofty” Wiseman, or such.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008
