Custom Search
|
|
  |
|
|
TROPIC SURVIVAL When used with reference to survival, the term tropics refers primarily to jungles, for those are the parts of the tropics that present survival problems distinctly different from those in other parts of the world. Hazards Most stories about the animals, snakes, spiders, and nameless terrors of the jungle are pure bunk. You are probably safer from sudden death in the jungle than in most big cities. You will probably never see a poisonous snake or a large animal. What may scare you most are the howls, screams, and crashing sounds made by noisy monkeys, birds, and insects. The real dangers of the tropics are the insects, many of which pass on diseases. Probably the worst disease is malaria, which is transmitted by the mosquito. That is why the survival kit provides a mosquito headnet. Wear this net regularly, especially at dawn and dusk when mosquitoes are the thickest; use insect repellent, wear gloves, and take Atabrine pills too. A smudge fire also helps keep mosquitoes away, especially at dawn and dusk. There are many other insects and pests in the jungle\ticks, leeches, scorpions, centipedes, and spiders, to name just a few. Stings or bites from these insects can create infection and cause illness. Frequently check your body and your clothing for insects and get rid of them. Beware of scratches also. In the jungle even the slightest scratch can cause serious infection within hours. Clothing As with the Arctic and the desert, clothing in the tropics serves as a protection against exposure, insects, and plant life. You should keep your sleeves rolled down and buttoned. Tuck the legs of your pants into your socks and keep your shoes on. This may help keep out unwanted insects such as ticks, leeches, and ants. Always wear full clothing in the tropics. By wearing your clothing loosely, your body will be cooler. Change your clothing as often as it is practical. Remember dirty clothes may lead to a skin infection; therefore, they should be washed daily, especially your socks. Food and Water Food and water are plentiful in the jungle. It is a proven fact that a person can survive in the jungle and actually like it, if provided with a basic knowledge of how to use the animals and other food found in the jungle. When you are selecting food in the jungle, watch the monkeys. Almost everything a monkey eats is eatable by humans. There are fish in all jungle streams. Eat only fish that have scales and look typically like a fish. Fish that have slimy skin and unusually shaped bodies are to be avoided. Shelter Night in the jungle comes very fast. So prepare for bed early. In the jungle you need more sleep than usual to keep up your energy and strength and to maintain resistance against disease. Try to pick a campsite on a knoll or high spot in an open place well away from swamps. You will be bothered less by mosquitoes, the ground will be dryer, and there will be more chances of a breeze. Don't build a shelter under large trees or trees with dead limbs. They may fall and wreck your camp or cause injury. Don't sleep or build a shelter under coconut trees. In the wet jungle forest, you will need shelter from the dampness. If you stay with the plane, use it for shelter. Try to make it mosquitoproof by covering the openings with netting or parachute cloth. In mountainous jungle, the nights are cold. Get out of the wind. Make a fire a few feet from a cliff or against a log or rock pile, and build your shelter so that you get reflected heat. Arrange the reflector so that the fire doesn't blow toward you. FIRE MAKING You may need fire for warmth, for keeping dry, for signaling, for cooking, and for purifying water. Do not build a big fire. Small fires require less fuel, are easier to control, and their heat can be concentrated. In cold weather small fires arranged in a circle are much more effective than one large fire. Prepare the location of the fire carefully. Clear away leaves, twigs, moss, and dry grass so that you do not start a grass or forest fire. If the surrounding vegetation is dry, scrape the fire location down to the bare dirt. If the fire must be built on wet ground, build a platform of logs or flat stones. To get the most warmth and to protect the fire from wind, build it against a rock or wall of logs that will serve as a reflector to direct the heat into your shelter. Cooking fires should be walled in by logs or stones, not only to concentrate the heat but also to provide a platform for the cooking pot. Kindling and Fuel Some fuels cannot be ignited directly from a match. You will need some easily flammable kindling to start a fire. Good natural kindling materials are thin sticks of dry wood; dry bark; wood shavings; palm leaves; twigs; loose, groundlying lichens; dead, upright grass straw; or ferns. If sticks are used for kindling, split them and cut long thin shavings, leaving the shavings attached (shave stick). Store kindling in a shelter to keep it dry. A little JP-5 poured on the fuel before it is ignited will help it start burning. Do not pour petroleum fuel on a fire already started even if it is only smoldering. For fuel, use dry, standing, dead wood and dry, dead branches. Dead wood is easy to split and break-pound it on a rock. The inside of fallen tree trunks and large branches may be dry even if the outside is wet; use the heart of the wood. Green wood that will burn, especially if freely split, can be found almost everywhere. In treeless areas, you will look for other natural fuels, such as dry grass that can be twisted into bunches, dried animal dung, and animal fats; sometimes you can even find coal, oil shale, or oily sand lying on the surface. If no natural fuels are available and you are with the aircraft, burn aircraft fuel and lubricating oil or a mixture of each. Hydraulic fluid is specifically designed and manufactured not to burn; therefore, it should not be used. Fire Making With Matches and Lighter Prepare a fireplace. Get all materials together before trying to start the fire. Make sure that matches, kindling, and fuel are dry. Have enough fuel on hand to keep the fire burning. Arrange a small amount of kindling in a low pyramid. Arrange the kindling close enough together to permit flames to lick from one piece to another. Leave a small opening for lighting. Save matches by using a candle (if available) to light the fire. If you have no candle, use a shave stick or make a faggot of thin, dry twigs, tied loosely. Shield the match from the wind as you light the candle or faggot. Apply the lighted candle or faggot to the lower windward side of the kindling, shielding it from the wind. Small pieces of wood or other fuel can be placed gently on the kindling before lighting or can be added after the kindling begins to burn. Lay on smaller pieces first, adding larger pieces of fuel as the fire catches. Do not smother the fire by crushing the kindling with heavy wood. Do not make the fire too big. Do not waste fuel. Fire Making With Special Equipment A flare can be used to start a fire; however, it should be used only as a last resort. Some emergency kits contain small fire starters, windproof matches, and other aids. Fire Making Without Matches First, find or prepare one of the following kinds of tinder: very dry, powdered wood; finely shredded, dry bark; the shredded pith of a dead palm frond; lint from unraveled cloth, cotton, twine, or rope; first-aid gauze bandage; fuzzy or woolly material scraped from plants; fine bird feathers or birds' nests; field-mouse nests; or fine wood dust produced by insects, often found under bark of dead trees. Tinder must be bone dry. Tinder will burn more easily if you add a few drops of aircraft fuel or mix it with powder taken from a cartridge. Once tinder is prepared, put some in a waterproof container for future use. Once you have the tinder, light it in a place sheltered from the wind. Several additional methods of starting a fire are described in the following paragraphs. Flint and Steel Striking sparks with flint and steel is the easiest and most reliable way of starting a fire without matches. Use the flint fastened to the bottom of the waterproof match case. If you have no flint, look for apiece of hard rock from which you can strike sparks. If it breaks or scars when struck with steel, throw it away and find another. Hold your hands close over the dry tinder; strike the flint with a knife blade or other small piece of steel with a sharp, scraping, downward motion so that the sparks fall in the center of the tinder. Adding a few drops of JP-5 to the tinder before you strike the flint will make the tinder flame up-for safety, keep your head to one side. When the tinder begins to smolder, fan it gently into a flame. Then transfer the blazing tinder to the kindling pile or add kindling gradually to the tinder. The wrist compass furnished in the individual survival kit (SRU-31/P) can be used to locate/identify iron-base lodestone. Burning Glass Any convex lens can be used in bright sunlight to concentrate the sun's rays on the tinder and start it burning. There are many methods of making fire by friction (bow and drill, fire plough, fire thong, etc.), but all require practice. If you are proficient in one of these methods, use it; but remember that flint and steel will give the same results with less work. Electric Spark If you are with the aircraft and have a live storage battery, direct a spark onto the tinder by scratching the ends of wires together to produce an arc. |
 
|
|
|
