All our Survival Courses follow a tried and tested Military Survival Training syllabus

Survival Course Content - Overview

1. Course aims and objectives
2. Introduction to a survival scenario for exercise.
3. Principle survival needs and tasks (shelter, fire, water, food, signalling, medical).
4. Organisation of survival principles using acronym PLAN-M
5. Expansion and practise in detail of each element of PLAN-M
6. Overall survival concept (the survival pyramid) and case studies
7. Importance of planning and preparation
8. Course debrief/wash-up and feedback session


Course Aims and Objectives

The aim of the course is to equip attendees with the basic knowledge and skills to allow them to survive being cut off from support units, civilisation or modern resources in any environment, whether tactical or non-tactical, using only the natural resources available to hand.

This will be achieved through the following objectives:

- understanding human survival needs and how to satisfy them in a wide range of environments
- organising and prioritising survival needs in practise
- physically developing and practising the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to survive
- developing survival planning and preparation strategies and resources


The Survival Exercise Scenario

Survival courses will be based on one of a variety of exercise scenarios, each realistic, each requiring its own particular set of knowledge and skills.

1. Expedition disaster – total or near total loss of gear in a remote area
2. Vehicle breakdown/aircraft crash in remote area (non-tactical)
3. Seashore/coastal survival (e.g. shipwreck and landfall)
4. Tactical survival (post contact escape and evasion and with no comms or SAR possible, so extended stay and living off the land)

Each scenario requires the same basic principles to be applied, but different skills and knowledge in detail (because of different resources available, tactical considerations, etc).

Principle Survival Needs

Survival means continuing to live followed by rescue or self-rescue. At its most basic, survival means satisfying the human body’s requirements for life. We are essentially organic machines that operate within certain temperatures and need fuel. So surviving will mean taking action to maintain body temperature within quite a narrow band, and taking in water and food (for fuelling and completing energy requirements, metabolic processes and waste disposal). We can satisfy these basic needs with shelter, fire, water and food. If we can provide these, then we can live on site indefinitely. Once these are satisfied, or if they cannot be on site, then we can consider rescue or self-rescue (return to civilisation, friendly territory, etc). An additional consideration is some basic medical and first aid knowledge (simply because we must be able to deal with any injuries which occur during the event causing us to be in a survival situation, or anything which might arise as time goes on).

Organising our Survival Needs – PLAN-M

To prioritise and organise our principle survival needs we use the acronym PLAN-M (Protection, Location, Acquisition, Navigation, Medical).

Protection – from further danger, from the elements (heat, cold, weather), from threats (natural, tactical)
Location – being located (signalling, enabling rescue) and NOT being located (tactical)
Acquisition – of water, food, tools, weapons, medicines, any other resources needed and available
Navigation – determining time and direction using a variety of natural methods, basic map-making skills and movement through unknown terrain
Medical – basic first aid (ABC’s, fractures, environmental injury [heat/cold], malnutrition. Plus natural medicines and dealing with waterborne and food toxins and poisons.

PLAN-M in Practise

The elements of PLAN-M should be put into practise in order (i.e. protection first, enable location next, acquire water, food etc next, navigation only if rescue extremely unlikely). Medical is separate because it is there throughout rather than a step in the process.

Protection

Remove yourself from further danger as necessary (get out of the river, away from a crashed vehicle, away from burning wreckage, break contact with the enemy, etc) and to safe ground.

Protection from the elements – shelter and fire. Course attendees will learn about a range of natural and possible man-made survival shelters using the natural resources available in different environments. They will build and sleep in one type (the lean-to) since this works in all but the most extreme environments. The construction will use no man made materials at all (including cordage) unless the exercise scenario allows. They will learn about sheltering from both heat and cold, wind and wet and the effects each can have.

Coupled with shelter is fire. Fire is your friend! It dries your clothes, boosts moral, cooks your food, purifies your water, allows you to make tools, provides food preservation methods (smoking, drying), maintains your body temperature, replaces calories for which you would otherwise need additional food, provides an anti-toxin should you suffer food poisoning from wild foods, can produce potable and pure water from otherwise impossible to purify sources (by distillation). The list goes on. Course attendees will be introduced to the obvious and not-so-obvious uses of fire.

A variety of fire-lighting methods and types of fire will be covered and practised to suit the exercise scenario – fire by friction methods, flint and steel, chemical, electrical, ammunition, etc. Different natural fuels will be covered (available tinder, hard woods, soft woods, uses for green woods, resinous and non-resinous woods, animal fats, dung, etc) and the uses and advantages/disadvantages of each for different purposes. Man made fuels (where available to the exercise scenario) will also be covered (such as oil and water mixtures, petrol and sand mixtures, hydraulic fluids, uses for anti-freeze in fires, rubber, plastics, etc).

Course attendees will learn about making different types of fires for different uses. How to prepare fires in different environments, where to locate the fire, the use of heat reflectors next to shelters, etc.

Location

To enable location and rescue or exfil, different signalling methods will be covered on the course to signal location to search and rescue efforts (whether on the ground or in the air). Course attendees will prepare at least one signalling method (a triangle of tripod signal fires). Other elements will include ground panels and international ground-air signals, fire and smoke (by day and night), sound and other visual signals and codes. Standard practise signals for use whilst on the move will also be covered.

Acquisition

After shelter and fire needs have been satisfied, the acquisition of water and food resources will make up the bulk of the course. These are big subjects and only a basic introduction is possible on a short course.

Water

Attendees will gain a knowledge the requirement for water and human metabolic and waste disposal functions. Also of the dangers of wild water (chemical, bacteriological, viral, micro-organic) and various purification methods which might be available to them.

Water collection and sourcing methods will be covered and practised involving a wide range of possible survival environments and climates.

Food

Survival food sources are covered using the four f’s (flora, fauna, fungi and effing bugs!)

- Flora

The use of plants for food and medicine will be covered during the course. Edible, inedible and poisonous plants everywhere in the world will be considered, along with their food values. Course attendees will harvest and live on wild flora during the course. A “Plant Walk” will be conducted, identifying and gathering local flora for preparation and eating.

- Fauna

Collection methods for fish, fowl and game (hunting, fishing and trapping) methods will be introduced and practised. Course attendees will build traps and snares and prepare both fish and game for eating.

- Fungi

During the “plant walk” fungi will also be harvested if available. The pros and cons of fungi as food will be covered in depth

- Effing Bugs

A readily available food source even when other resources are limited, the use of insects for food will be covered and practised during the course.

Other Survival Resources which can be acquired, such as tools, weapons etc will also be introduced and practised on the course (whether stone, metal, wooden, etc).

Navigation

The course attendees will acquire knowledge of and practise various natural navigation skills. Telling time and finding direction through use of the sun, moon and stars will be covered, along with different natural features which can assist in direction finding. Basic map making skills will be practised, and the attendees will produce maps and accurate compasses using the resources they find around them.

Medical

Basic medical knowledge, understanding and practise will be covered during the course. This will include consideration of current first aid practise, but will concentrate on an understanding of environmental issues and injuries which might arise in a survival situation and how to deal with or avoid them, and also using natural medicinal properties of flora to assist in dealing with any medical problems which might arise.

Survival Overview

Having been introduced to and put into practise various survival techniques, course attendees will be better armed to take part in “around the campfire” discussions and learning about survival principles overall and case studies exemplifying these. The survival pyramid concept will be introduced and case studies reviewed to show how this works in practise and to introduce the mental element in survival. Awareness of the importance of mental attitudes will be built.

Planning and Preparation

The importance of considering survival situation possibilities from the outset will be covered. Planning and preparing for those possibilities will be discussed, and the importance of including that consideration factored into any mission planning or expedition planning. The contents of survival kits (tins, pouches, vehicle kits) will be discussed and attendees encouraged to use their new-found knowledge and skills to put together their own survival kits (personal, unit, vehicle, expedition kits).

Course De-brief and Feedback

Each course will end with a debrief to summarise everything covered during the course and to highlight those things it was not possible to cover due to time constraints. The availability of longer courses and other scenarios/environments of value will be covered.

The course training objectives will be revisited and each attendee should have gained knowledge, skills and confidence to deal with survival situations.

Course attendees will be given the opportunity to provide criticism and feedback on the course.