Having taught survival skills for several years, discovered that four elements must be in place for a survival situation to have the chance of a favourable result: knowledge, skill, the will to endure, and fortune. While understanding and skill can be learned, the will to survive is hardwired to our survival mechanism and we might not understand we possess it until we are put to the test.
By way of instance, those who had been fully trained and well equipped have given up hope in survivable states, while some, who had been well-prepared and ill equipped, have survived against all odds because they refused to give up.
Consistently apply the principle of the smallest amount of energy expended for the most amount of gain.
Anyone venturing into the wilderness-whether for an overnight camping trip or a protracted expedition should know the fundamental principles of survival. Understanding how to live in a specific situation will let you execute the correct beforehand prep, pick the best gear and learn how to use it, and practice the essential skills.
While you might have the ability to start a fire with a milder, by way of instance, equally, everyone can spend a comfortable night within a one man bevy shelter. The knowledge gained through studying the skills of survival will let you evaluate your situation, prioritize your wants, and improvise any items of equipment that you do not have with you.
Treat the wilderness with Respect: take in only what you can execute; leave only footprints, take only pictures.
Survival knowledge and skills must be learned and practiced under realistic problems. Starting a fire with dry materials on a bright day by way of instance, will teach you very little. The actual survival skill is in knowing why a fire will not start and working out a solution. The more you practice, the more you understand yet to teach a course where did not learn something new from one of my students.
There are differences between teaching survival classes to civilians and instructing them to army personnel. Civilians have registered on and paid for a path to increase their knowledge and abilities, not because their life may depend on it though, should they find themselves in a life threatening situation, it may well do, but because they are interested in survival techniques in their own right.
In contrast, the vast majority of military personnel who experience survival training might just need to put it into practice, but they always finish the training simply because they have to do so. While nobody in the military forces would underestimate the significance of survival training, it is true that, if you want to fly a Harrier, survival training is just one of the numerous courses you must tackle.