|
-Reader Submitted Article
Survival Clothing
Dressing properly: I see two distinct premises for an article
regarding clothing: First is to encourage proper dress when going
into a potential survival situation; and secondly is to have suitable
clothing incorporated into your bug-out bag or car survival kit
if you are forced to flee at a moments notice. If you are suddenly
caught in a earthquake and flew out the house dressed in your pajamas
and only have that bug-out bag in hand, what is the weather like
outside? Is it warm sunny summer day? Or is it in the cold rain
or dead of winter in a blizzard? Do you relish the thought of hiking
through the boonies in you pajamas and no shoes? Don't forget it
is your kit and you can change its contents as you think best to
accommodate the seasons.
Regardless of the need for your survival clothing there are a few
things to consider.
- Your local or planned environment.
- Time of year regarding climate.
- Space and weight limitations.
- Cost.
One of the current philosophies regarding outdoor clothing is the
layering concept; wherein a variety of lighter weight materials
are used to layer your body. These allow for a range of temperature
and body moisture changes and are pretty lightweight overall. With
the advent of modern materials this seems to be an ideal solution
for inclusion in any bug-out bag; however, the cost of some of the
new materials is rather high.
Materials: If cost is a factor or you decide to use your
"surplus normal clothing", consider the materials of your
clothing. "Cotton kills" is a common saying among outdoors
and survival books and rightfully so. In most temperate climates
I suggest a light weight wool pants and shirt. They are warmer in
the winter than jeans and even the people who live in the Sahara
Desert in the above 100 degree weather prefer wool. The scales on
the outside of wool fibers break up surface tension, and resist
wetting. The lanolin (oil) on wool also helps resist water, and
in olden days, oiled wool sweaters (with extra lanolin added back
after the material was made) were the standard for cold, wet conditions.
Clothing fit: Tight clothing in any situation restrict your
movements, is very uncomfortable after wearing for awhile (i.e.
emergency shelter) and can cause pressure sores and even boils in
extended wear. I also suggest forgoing baggy clothing that seems
to catch or get caught on every bush, stick or damaged building
materials. I suggest forgetting the cargo pants, over-sized shirts
and the billowing skirts.
What to Wear: The basic clothing to include in your kit
is a long sleeve shirt and extra pants and with a change of underwear
and socks. I also suggest a down vest (very warm, rather cheap,
and compresses into a very small package) &/or a wool sweater.
Deserts and even jungle mountains get cold at night. Hypothermia
is a constant danger anytime the temperature gets as low as 50 degrees
Fahrenheit. Toss in rain and perhaps inability to have a fire that
first night out. (Remember you are planning on surviving under extreme
circumstances).
Gloves: Sturdy work gloves are recommended as it would be
good to have a pair around for doing chores such as moving that
debris out of the way, woodcraft in the unforgiving wilderness,
and warmth.
Boots: Toss in a pair of boots that you've broken in and
are completely comfortable in wearing because the blisters that
you will form from trying to break in the boots in a survival scenario
will present a danger. Military combat boots are probably going
to be a good bet as well. They'll hold up in combat and they're
extremely comfortable.
A belt: Again, simple, but overlooked. In addition to their
original intent, which is still quite important (holding up your
pants), the belt can give you a place to hang holsters, survival
packs, and in worst case scenarios can be used as a very effective
tourniquet or rigging.
A hat: Preferably a floppy hiking style hat. Assuming that
your survival is spent out of doors a simple hat will work wonders
to help prevent sunburn because a nasty sunburn on the back of ones
neck can limit the range of motion to the head and cause a distracting
bit of easily avoided discomfort. Consider a Gore-Tex hat if cost
is not an issue fornot only will it keeps you dry, but you can also
carry water in it.
A bandanna: This is one "survival tool" I suggest
putting into any survival kit. Even if not worn, a bandanna can
make for an excellent second hat, neck protection, worn as a dust
mask, signaling tool, bandage, tourniquet or a number of other uses
that may present themselves.
Basic principles of cold weather survival: It is more difficult
for you to satisfy your basic water, food and shelter needs in a
cold environment than in a warm environment. Even if you have the
basic requirements, you must also have adequate protective clothing
to survive.
You must not only have enough clothing to protect you from the
cold, you must also know how to maximize the warmth you get from
it. For example, always keep your head covered. You can lose 40
percent to 45 percent of body heat from an unprotected head and
even more from the unprotected neck, wrists and ankles. These areas
of the body are good radiators of heat and have very little insulating
fat. "If your feet are cold, put a hat on" is a very old
and true statement. The body will rob peripheral blood supply to
keep the brain at a constant temperature thereby allowing the hands
and feet to go cold (or even freeze) and then the extremities.
There are four basic principles to follow to keep warm. An easy
way to remember these basic principles is to use the word "COLD"
-
C - Keep clothing clean.
O - Avoid overheating.
L - Wear clothes loose and in layers.
D - Keep clothing dry.
C - Keep clothing clean. This principle is always important for
sanitation and comfort. In winter, it is also important from the
standpoint of warmth. Clothes matted with dirt and grease lose much
of their insulation value. Heat can escape more easily from the
body through the clothing's crushed or filled up air pockets.
O - Avoid overheating. When you get too hot, you sweat and your
clothing absorbs the moisture. This affects your warmth in two ways:
dampness decreases the insulation quality of clothing and as sweat
evaporates, your body cools. Adjust your clothing so that you do
not sweat. Do this by partially opening your parka or jacket, by
removing an inner layer of clothing, by removing heavy outer mittens
or by throwing back your parka hood or changing to lighter headgear.
The head and hands act as efficient heat dissipaters when overheated.
L - Wear your clothing loose and in layers. Wearing tight clothing
and footgear restricts blood circulation and invites cold injury.
It also decreases the volume of air trapped between the layers,
reducing its insulating value. Several layers of lightweight clothing
are better than one equally thick layer of clothing, because the
layers have dead-air space between them. The dead-air space provides
extra insulation. Also, layers of clothing allow you to take off
or add clothing layers to prevent excessive sweating or to increase
warmth.
D - Keep clothing dry. In cold temperatures, your inner layers
of clothing can become wet from sweat and your outer layer, if not
water repellent, can become wet from snow and frost melted by body
heat. Wear water-repellent outer clothing, if available. It will
shed most of the water collected from melting snow and frost. Before
entering a heated shelter, brush off the snow and frost. Despite
the precautions you take, there will be times when you cannot keep
from getting wet. At such times, drying your clothing may become
a major problem. You can place damp socks or mittens, unfolded,
near your body so that your body heat can dry them. In a campsite,
hang damp clothing inside the shelter near the top, using drying
lines or improvised racks. You may even be able to dry each item
by holding it before an open fire. Dry leather items slowly. If
no other means are available for drying your boots, put them between
your sleeping bag shell and liner. Your body heat will help to dry
the leather.
Survival Clothing: You'll probably never have to use animal
skins for survival clothing. You might never lose your shoes and
need to glue tree bark to your feet with pine sap for hiking. Still,
knowing how to improvise a few basic pieces of survival clothing
can make you more comfortable, and possibly save your life.
Usually, you'll do better to look first at what you have, before
looking to kill animals for their skins, or weaving grass skirts.
If you have a sleeping bag, it can double as a coat - just wrap
it around you. Socks can be mittens, and garbage bags can be made
into snow pants.
A garbage bag can also be a raincoat. Otherwise, ties bundles of
grass tightly together along a string or strips of cloth, and then
wrap it around your shoulders. This will repel a light rain. You
can fashion a rain hood of birch bark as well.
In the desert you can make a sun-hat of large leaves, like those
from a fan palm. String some together to wrap around your shoulders
to prevent sunburn.
In the cold, insulation is the important principle here. You can
stuff a jacket, shirt, sweater or pants with dry leaves, milkweed
down, bracken ferns or almost anything that creates a lot of "dead
air space." It's better if you have two layers to sandwich
it between, but being itchy is better than being frozen in any case.
In a jam, you can also use the flat leaves of cattail plants to
weave a vest that will block the wind and some rain. Two bread bags
full of milkweed down or other silky plant fibers make warm mittens
(tie them at the wrists). A plastic bag full of the same could be
tied onto your head as a hat.
When trekking off into a wilderness area or preparing your bug-out
or car kit, ensure your plans incorporate proper survival clothing.
Getting caught with your pants down in a social gathering may be
embarrassing, but getting caught with your pants down in a survival
situation may cost you your life.
-Jerry B Blaine
|
Customer
Service - All orders are shipped within 2-3 business days. Your
UPS tracking number will be emailed to you once your order ships so
you can track your order on its way to you. Shipping is calculated
based on shipping location and weight. Please provide a physical address
and not a PO Box since UPS can not deliver to a PO Box.