The SAS Survival Handbook
How to Survive in Deserts, Forests and Polar Regions
Be prepared. Remembering the Boy Scout motto can help you survive in hostile environments.
Anyone can find themselves in a survival situation. A life-or-death struggle can occur whether travelling by car, plane, ship or even on foot. Adequate preparation, quick thinking and discipline are the key ingredients to ensure that you and your companions stay safe. In this book written by former SAS member John 'Lofty' Wiseman, he outlines important life saving information that includes everything from finding food and drinkable water to signalling for rescue.
Familiarity with the landscape can help you find the most important resources, food and water. There are few locations where you would be far from edible roots and plants. When testing an unfamiliar plant follow these steps:
- Look at the plant closely. If it's old then there will be little nutritional value, and it might be toxic.
- Crush a small piece between your fingers. If there's a bitter almond or peach aroma then discard it immediately, because this indicates that there is hydrocyanic acid (prussic acid) in the plant. It's highly toxic.
- If you get a burning sensation or a sudden rash after rubbing the plant on your skin, reject it.
- Apply a small portion on your lips, the tip of your tongue, and under your tongue. If there is no unpleasant sensation then chew a small amount.
- After swallowing wait for five hours. During this time eat and drink nothing else.
- If there is no adverse reaction, like stomach cramps, then it is safe to eat.
Other sources of food
In the Arctic, the varieties of wildlife can be a good source of food and fuel. The blubber from adult seals can be used to make a fire, but when consuming their flesh do not eat the liver. It contains toxic levels of vitamin A. The same rule applies to polar bears. Insects, especially grasshoppers, crickets and honeybees also provide excellent nourishment and can be eaten raw, but are more easily digestible when boiled.
Finding your way
To make a compass stroke a sewing needle against some silk in one direction only, and it will become magnetized. Suspend the needle with some thread or place it on some flat paper on the surface of water. In the Northern hemisphere moss will tend to grow on the southern side of a tree trunk, the opposite will occur in the Southern hemisphere.
Signalling for rescue
The most widely recognized code for distress is SOS, and can be communicated in a number of ways, by smoke signals, morse code, or in written form. If you're communicating from the ground to the air the following letters will send a specific message:
I - seriously hurt, must be evacuated
II - medicine is required
LL - everything is O.K.
X - can't go any further
F - food is needed, and water
When signalling with your body, raise both your arms vertically to say "pick me up." Stretch both arms out horizontally to say "mechanical assistance required." Remember if you raise only one arm in a vertical position, you will be telling a pilot you are well and don't need help.
The book also contains several colour illustrations of dangerous snakes and marine life. In the chapter about edible plants, there are extended explanations and pictures of fungi which are safe to eat and ones that will kill if consumed.
