Video Review : Skills of the Survivor

Today I wanted to talk about a DVD video by Peter Kummerfeldt.  I first learned of the video when I attended a University of Scouting presentation on Wilderness Survival.  As an Eagle Scout, I earned my Wilderness Survival Merit badge, but that was almost 25 years ago... so I thought the course would be a good refresher.  But I digress... I'm not blogging about the course, I want to tell you about the video.

Quite simply- I loved it and strongly endorse it.  I'll also add I'm not getting paid for my endorsement nor do I even want it- as if Peter needs *my* opinion to validate his expertise.  :-)  The thing that appealed to me so much was it was just great common sense.  Read on and i'll see if I can explain.

The video has several topics including: proper attire, preparing your survival kit, obtaining safe water, emergency shelters, signaling, and fire starting.  To talk about each section briefly in ascending order of value to me:

PROPER ATTIRE
One of his sections is clothing selection.  Admittedly important, I'm cerntain I don't dress planning to find myself in a survival situion.  Quite simply, I follow the Boy Scout motto of "Be Prepared" and dress according to the weather I expect to encounter while I'm out.  There was little content in his material that I didn't already know.  I suppose it is good material for anyone entirely new to the idea of dressing for the weather, but with almost 30 years of outdoor experience, I didn't get a lot.

SIGNALING
I won't talk long about it because there isn't much to say.  he just gives good advice about ways to signal and the benefits of each method.

PREPARING YOUR SURVIVAL KIT
He talks about the importance of preparing your survival kit in advance.  There are some places I differed from his suggestions (and I'll discuss those), much of his advice i liked and followed.  the point he made that I really liked was that a survival kit must be small enough to carry with you if you are going to use it.  A survival kit that is large (e.g. in a number 10 can) will just never be used- but I admit that we built more than one when I was a Boy Scout years ago.  Anyway- very sage advice.  As expected, he offers much of the equipment he recommends for sale on his website outdoorsafe.com.  Some of the items are difficult to find anywhere but his page, some are much more readily available.  I purchased several items from him because I wanted to support him directly (as opposed to REI or Cabels who already gets enough of my money).  :-)   The one item I didn't like was the cordura pouch.  I got it and ended up giving it to my son shortly thereafter.  I was able to buy an EMT pouch on eBay for only $3 more.  The EMT pouch had various pockets and straps and fully unzipped on 3 sides to allow easy access.  In other words, the EMT pouch gave me a much better way to keep my gear organized compared to the pouch he offered on his site.  Finally, I wish he would have talked about several items that I added to my personal kit (e.g. zip lock bags and a wire saw).  I consider these items arguably useful- but I'll talk more about that the day I blog about my own survival kit contents.

OBTAINING SAFE WATER
Again, sage advice about purification tablets.  I liked his information on the benefits of Nalgene water bottles also.  However, my Nalgene water bottle doesn't fit in my survival kit.  Ziplock bags do... so I thought that although it was good advice, I didn't see it tied closely with the whole survival theme.  While I admit the benefits of using purification pills as a backup, I have personally opted to go with the aquamira emergency filter straw.  They cost about $10.  It doesn't expire.  Water is instantly safe to drink.  The carbon filter takes out most tastes and all the nasties.  It is SUPER lightweight and small.  And it filters 20 gallons of water- which is fine for a survival situation.  I'll do a seperate blog one day talking about water filtering options, but I respectfully chose a different solution than Mr. Kummerfeldt recommended.

Not for the GREAT stuff- emergency shelters and fire starting.  The video would have been worth the cost if it had just these two sections alone. 

EMERGENCY SHELTERS
Every wilderness survival class I ever attended as a scout had us build a shelter.  But Peter makes the point quite right- that when you need shelter, you often need it quickly.  You won't have the time to find a great spot, cut the branches, cover it with boughs, etc.  You need something instant to get out of the elements.  He reviews space blankets, bivys, and yes- trash bags.  I won't steal his thunder because he makes the point much more eloquently than i might- but get the video to see his section on emergency shelters.

FIRE STARTING
I could not tell you how much time the Boy Scouts spends teaching boys about fire starting, fire safety, etc. etc.    We learned about lean-to fires, teepee fires, log cabin fires, and probably 4 other techniques I can't even recall.  We learned ways to start fires with magnifying glasses, sunlight and punk cloth; we learned how to use batteries and steel wool, we learned matches, lighters, and even the bow and stick (which I never could master).  Peter gets rid of all this complexity and shows one sure fire way to start a fire that just works.  It doesn't take 12 different ways to start a fire if you have one way that is ALMOST fool proof...

I say almost because I'm foolish enough to mess it up- which is why I practice.  As a tip, one of his recommendations is to cover cotton balls with vaseline... I'll tell you from experience, don't use too much vaseline.  I did and I couldn't get it to start right.  Two other observations on his fire starting... I'm not certain I like the idea of preparing my cotton balls in advance.  It may be because i had an embarrsing situation where I went to show the Webelos how to start a fire using a metal match with the cotton bals and couldn't do it- but again, i suspect that was because I had too much vaseline on the cotton balls.

Finally re: fire starting, he advocates the REI matches.  I went out and bought some and tried them.  I wasn't as enamoured with the matches as he was.  Yes they are waterproof and windproof, but the phospherous on the matches burns REALLY fast.  You need to make sure that whatever you are trying to light is readily igniteable.  In my practice with the matches, I found the matches burned up faster than I could ignite my tinder.

Despite the apparent shortcomings, the firestarting still had a lot of common sense/good advice that makes it worthwhile viewing.

Bottom line conclusion- I like the video and got some really good advice from it.  I used much of his advice when building my own survival kit and I am certain I will incorporate much of his instruction into teaching the Webelos/Boy Scouts wilderness survival skills. 

If you want the video yourself, check out http://www.outdoorsafe.com/ and look for the DVD video called "Skills of the Survivor".

ENJOY!

p.s. - I will also note that I had a problem with my order that I did not receive the items I thought I had ordered (mutual mistake).  They were quick to correct the problem without hassle.  This kind of customer service is rare and very appreciated.  Just another reason to order directly from his website instead of shopping around to save $2.