I’ve always had a general interest in survival and outdoor living. So after a couple of survival courses and doing some instructing on the Danish CSAR course, I’ve decided to make this manual.

I started initially by making a SERE manual, but the scope of describing the whole SERE concept, would be too time consuming. So therefore I’m only concentrating on the survival aspect, as this is the area where my main knowledge lies. This manual is not meant as the manual regarding survival, but as a basic workbook and a reference guide for anyone interested.

As I’ve seen during my years in the military and civilian life, a lot of the things being taught are taken directly from various books and might not even have been tried out by the instructor.

For an example; “Drinking urine, in a survival situation”. This has been taught to me, as a way of “last chance” survival, when you are totally dehydrated and without water.

Well, just think about it… Drinking urine at a time when you already are on the way down the chute? Your body is already fighting 100% to keep its precious fluids inside, and your kidneys are working overtime just to keep you alive and to dispose of the excess salt and body waste through your urine. Then drink your urine, which your already dehydrated body has decided to dispose of. How do you think your kidneys will react, when you give them the salt and body waste you already excreted, to work with again?

Do you really think you will be able to drink it, without vomiting, and at that time loose even more precious water?

When a theoretical minded instructor tells you these things, it sounds acceptable, and (of course) correct. But the practical minded instructor will probably have another view on this. It might work in the beginning of a survival situation, or if you do it a few hours before being rescued and hereby be able to get medical treatment.

During a desert survival course in Arizona, the instructor opened my eyes for these things, and it has given me a natural skepticism for some of the things being taught. Some of them, even seen on television, are based on myths or guesswork and not facts.

I will try to test the techniques described in the manual, and note my own experiences so you can have an idea if it’s useful or not. (Well maybe not the urine thing J). My own experiences, comments and examples are in the yellow fact-boxes along with other real-life histories.

Proofreading.
To make sure I have the essential and correct information, I have used Danish, Irish and American friends & colleagues for proofreading this manual, and this is the main reason for this manual being written in English.

If you have any comments or suggestions for changing, including or omitting any information, please feel free to contact me.

In the coming period I’ll do a lot of updating, so don’t forget to return to my blog.