Table Of Content

FTX - Fieldcraft - Outdoors Survival Anyone in the outdoors may be forced to endure an extended stay in the wilderness due to being lost, caught in bad weather or injured. In military situations this includes having to live in the field without a tent or sleeping bag, and possibly having to hide from enemy forces to avoid capture. The leading cause of death in the wilderness is from exposure - being outside without being able to retain enough body heat to survive - resulting in death from hypothermia. It has been said that the difference between being a survivor or becoming a victim lies in being able to anticipate and plan for unforeseen circumstances. To this end, I think it is important that all militia members have the ability to start a fire (with matches / lighter / etc.) and to construct a debris shelter. If it is possible to build a fire under the circumstances, and this can be done in a short period of time, this should be the first thing you do once you realize you will be spending the night outdoors. Then work immediately on constructing your survival shelter. Finding or constructing a survival shelter should begin as soon as you realize that you are going to need one. Do not delay - the sooner you start constructing the shelter, the sooner you will have it completed. Your efficiency and ability to do work will drop off rapidly as it gets colder and darker. Making a Debris Shelter: It is called a "Debris Shelter" because you will use whatever materials you can find to build it. It must be sited in as windless an area as possible, to negate the effects of wind chill. The entrance should face away from the wind (to face away from the direction of the prevailing winds in Michigan, the entrance should face SouthEast). MichiganMilitia.com Practical & Tactical Practical and Tactical information for the field. By Walt Stringer Find or fashion a ten-foot long pole that is at least four inches in diameter at one end. The thicker end goes into the crook of a tree about four feet off the ground, and the thinner end rests on the ground. This main support pole will will form the peak of the shelter's roof. You must make a sleeping platform so that your body does not contact the ground, which will draw your body heat away from you faster than you can generate it (resulting in hypothermia). To make a sleeping platform, first lay down rows of dead sticks that are two to four inches in diameter on the shelter floor to create an uncompressible layer of wood insulation above the cold ground. Then, on top of this add a layer of smaller sticks and twigs, and on top of this add a layer of dead dry leaves, ferns or pine needles. You now have the insulated bed you will be sleeping on. You now need to form the roof of the shelter by leaning branches and sticks from the main support pole to the ground at an angle on either side, making a triangular cave area underneath the main support pole large enough for you to sleep in. The picture below shows the Debris Shelter at this stage of construction, to give you and idea of the shape of it. Seal the roof of the shelter by heaping dead leaves or mud on the branches and sticks of the roof of the shelter. The front open end of the shelter is enclosed the same way, except for leaving a small triangle shaped entrance for you to crawl into. The completed shelter should resemble a tapered cocoon. It won't be the most comfortable night's sleep you've ever had, but at least you will wake up alive the next morning to bitch about it. Improvised Stoves: For information on how to build a cheap improvised stove, click on the above stove to go to the following link: Wings -The Home Made Stove Archives. This page was last updated 1 January 2002 The URL for this page is: http://www.MichiganMilitia.com/practical/practical.htm