Learning + Tutorials

One of the most important reasons to have an Emergency Survival Kit / Bug Out Bag is to prepare for home fires. Why? Because in only a matter of minutes a small flame can turn into a raging house fire, and you and your family may only have seconds to escape.

You wouldn't have time to grab anything that wasn't already prepared near an exit.

Home fires, more than any other thing we prepare for (other than a tornado) strike the fastest and pose the most significant threat us.

If you don't always carry a compass around with you (who typically does?) then having the knowledge of how to find out your direction and where you want to go could be lifesaving.  

Editor’s note: The following excerpt was taken from FM 21-76: Survival Evasion and Escape, an Army field manual published in 1968.

Why all the fuss about water treatment outdoors? The answer is that there’s no easy way to tell whether or not that pristine-looking stream a few hundred yards away from your camp is harboring a gut-seeking microbe. If any animal, including humans, can reach an area, so can disease-causing microorganisms.