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Posted by calamity on January 2, 2008 at 7:51:56 pm EST
In reply to Re: What's in Your Survival Kit? posted by f_klock on January 2, 2008 at 7:02:59 pm EST

Your post seems highly informed by experience, and very refreshing. I can easily see that you derive deep satisfaction from helping people in dire need.

I really appreciate your forgiveness for human foibles, your understanding that freak accidents can happen to anybody, no matter what, and that you don't emphasize blame for the victim.

I've never participated in an SAR, though I've had two days of training years ago, and long before that, as a 12-year-old, one of our "leaders" had to be carried out with a busted ankle. (For the record, he wore sneakers.)

I don't really disagree that a survival kit is a good idea. But I have slight trouble imagining what might be truly and critically useful to include that isn't already on the ordinary packing list.

In your first example, the hiker in distress, I can imagine hypothermia. Isn't extra clothing and a sleeping bag already in the pack? Other hypothetical circumstances aren't clear to me.

The cub scout you mention is a more problematic example. I might wildly speculate that a break-down in adult responsibility in the incident may have been greater than any advantage gained by his survival training.

Guess I'm blaming the victims (adults included) which I do very much abhor. In any event, the common sense of a ten-year-old is beyond the scope of what I had in mind.

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