Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
The economy…what can you say? If it’s a recovery, it doesn’t look like much of one from this angle. My landlord recently laid off virtually all of her employees. I was in their shop the other day and all of the lights were off except for one in the desk area. She was playing computer games, waiting and hoping the phone would ring with some much-needed business. She says that they used to bid jobs for a couple thousand bucks over cost and never had problems. Now theyre bidding jobs at cost just to keep the lights on and are still getting underbid. Dog eat dog world out there. She was feeling horrible at having to lay off her employees, who she and her husband treat like family, but there was no money to pay them. My shop is in a block of little storefronts and commercial space..Im the second oldest business in the block, having been here for about ten years. Lately other business have come in and folded up almost as quickly. I have never seen so many ‘for rent’ and ‘for lease’ signs in my time here. I cannot fathom any course of action the .gov could take that would fix this situation and not simply punt it down the road for the next administration to handle. Well, I suppose some sort of ‘pro-business’ agenda might be worth a shot but good luck getting anything like that outta the current administration.
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I just had a chat with my UPS guy. He noticed my “Commies Arent Cool” t-shirt. He asked me if I thought Obama was a communist. I said that, strictly speaking, probably not but that he is definitely a Roosevelt “New Deal”-style liberal with some leanings that could be considered socialist. The UPS guy agreed and said Obama was just bad news all around. This is coming from a union guy, folks. But, pay him no mind because, as we are told, we only dislike Obama because we’re racists. Riiiiiight.
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When I taught hunter safety to the 12-year-olds, one of the things we were supposed to touch upon was what to do when (not if) you got lost. We gave them the usual spiel about making their own survival kits, etc, etc. Every instructor would always tell the students to pack one of those mylar space blankets..you know the ones. Theyre about the size of a pack of cigarettes and the material is thinner than a Kleenex. Funny thing is, as far as I know, only one instructor actually ever bothered to open up one of the darn things. See, in order for them to pack that sucker into as small a package as possible those gossamer-thin layers of mylar become practically impossible to pull apart. This is especially the case when your hands and fingers are cold and near frozen and shaking…the exact conditions under which you would wind up using this thing. The instructor advised that the students should unfold the space blanket at home and then re-fold it. The package wont be nearly as compact but it will be much, much easier to unfold with club-like hands when the time comes.
Since then, everything Ive read says that you should throw one of these things into your survival kits when you go into the boonies. Good advice. But are there alternatives? Didn’t used to be, really. But nowadays there are a couple alternatives. The guys at Thermos made the only alternative to the mylar space blankets for a number of years. Their product was much more heavy-duty with the consequence of trading durability and ruggedness for bulk and weight. One of the most important things about survival gear is that it has to be with you when you need it – if its too heavy or too bulky youre probably going to leave it at home. The Thermos space blanket was a good product but the tradeoff was a bit much. Its still available and if you don’t mind the weight and bulk I would take it over the mylar blanket. A military version is available from Sportsmans Guide as a ‘casualty’ or ‘evacuation blanket’. Surely there must be a middle ground between the Thermos and the space blanket, yes? The closest thing Ive found are the Heatsheets and Thermo-Lite branded blankets. I’ve carried around the Thermo-Lite bivvy during hunting season and while it isn’t as compact as the folded mylar blankets it is still very manageable at 7”x4”. The smaller version rolls up to about the size of a Coke can, which will pretty much fit into any small survival pack. Another product I’ve been made aware of is the Land/Shark bivvy sack. This thing is about twice the price of anything listed here but it appears to be an interesting product with a quality not found elsewhere – its waterproof. This means if youre stuck floating in the ocean somewhere you can wrap up in this thing and stave off hypothermia and stay afloat. Handy.
I still carry the little mylar space blankets but I carry them in addition to the Thermo-Lite. I figure that in a pinch I can use both for added insulation and protection from the elements. Since I got the Kifaru Woobie for my birthday last year that goes in my bag at times. It compresses small enough to be worth sticking in the pack but it’s still a bit large for a dedicated survival pack. However, I think used in conjunction with the bivvy sack it’ll do an excellent job of keeping things from getting terminal. (Normally, I carry a poncho and the Woobie when I go hunting. Although both are much bulkier than the emergency blankets I find it an acceptable tradeoff for the versatility they provide. The Woobie ties into the poncho to form a sleeping bag that works quite well.)
Of course the best way to avoid needing stuff like this is to not get lost or put into a situation where you need it to begin with. After that, the next best thing is to build a nice big fire, sit in front of it, and patiently await the local search and rescue guys. But sometimes things happen despite our best efforts….
