I’m going to borrow this from David Canterbury (of Self-reliance Outfitters and the Pathfinder School, retired Army Sniper, former co-star of Dual Survival, wilderness self-reliance expert and instructor) who devised the 10 C’s of survivability (8) Evolution of the 10 C's Part 1 - YouTube. You need to watch all 3 or 4 parts of the series! These items are collected in a lightweight kit and are taken everywhere every time you leave civilization. These are items that are the most necessary and hardest to produce or reproduce in the field. Also keep in mind, it’s not about the brand of equipment as much it’s about the functionality and multifunctionality of your kit components. Seriously, I’ve found good survival gear at the dollar store. Everything should have multiple uses. The 10 C’s aren’t simply 10 items but more like 10 categories. Remember the adage “Two is one and one is none” meaning we need to have a backup to everything and a backup to our backups wherever possible.
The 10 C’s:
- Cutting tool: (4”-6” blade, high carbon steel, full tang, fixed blade knife with a 90-degree spine, (NOTE: Stainless Steel blades will work fine for striking sparks from a ferro rod but not for flint & steel in fire making). MY PERSONAL INPUT: I’d suggest adding a folding and/or buck saw. They’re very light and small. You can process wood faster and easier with a saw than you can with a hatchet or ax, a saw weighs a lot less than an ax, and it’s safer than an ax.
- Cordage: a 100’ roll of 550 paracord, plus a roll of #36 tarred bank line, (even 3/8” 100% cotton clothesline rope will do in a pinch). These weigh very little and have hundreds of uses. You can make “rope” out of grass, but it won’t be very strong, and it won’t last long either. Plus, it’s time consuming and requires some skill and practice to be proficient. Making your own cordage in the field is a last-ditch kind of thing.
- Combustion: Your fire kit should contain: Magnifying glass, frazil lens, ferrocerium rod & striker, charred material, ‘Bic’ lighter, fat wood, halazone tabs of Quick Fire, or some type of accelerant-based fire starter. You can do the bow drill fire but if you don’t practice it on a very regular basis, and you don’t recognize and act on the finer nuances to collecting the smoldering coal and placing it in your “birds nest” or “tinder bundle” to carefully blow it unto a fire. You’ll just ruin your cordage and get very, very frustrated, and ultimately end up sweaty, cold, and tired, in the dark.
- Container: Stainless steel or aluminum container with a positive seal lid or cap, with a nesting cup or separate metal container so you can boil in one and store in the other. Note: Don’t collect dirty water in the same container you’re going to drink from unless it’s in the container you’re going to boil it in. If you’re using separate containers to collect dirty water and one to drink out of, never get the two confused.
- Cover: Anything used to cover and/or insulate your body, including your clothes, in the interest of maintaining a healthy core body temperature is cover. Get a 3 mil or thicker 55-gallon drum liner. You can use it for ground cover, a rain poncho, sleeping bag, tent, filled with leaves it becomes a mattress insulating you from the ground. They only weigh a few grams in your kit and have literally hundreds of uses. You lose body heat in 3 ways. Through convection, put your wet hand in front of the fan, that cooling you feel as the water evaporates is convection. Conduction, laying on a cold surface pulls body heat away from you, and radiation, heat simply dissipating into the air. Cover is what you use to combat loss of precious body heat.
- Cotton material: (bandana, t-shirt, cloths line rope, t-shirt material, net vail. as long as it’s 100% cotton) to be used to make charred material, bandage, water collection, as a water pre-filter, the net vail can double as fishing net or camouflage for hunting.
- Cargo or duct tape: (Gorilla tape is the toughest and has the best adhesive that I’ve found.) To repair a hole in your bag, tarp, or cloths, to use as a quick bandage, make butterfly stitches, or as tinder to start a fire. Pull the treads apart and roll in a loose ball it can be used as a fire starter. You don’t need an entire roll, but a few yards wrapped round a lighter and a few more wrapped around the handle end of your ferro rod should do nicely.
- Compass: (a good lensatic compass with a movable bezel ring, mirror, magnifying glass) It’s not just a navigation device. It’s also a signaling, first aid, fire starting, and a vision assistant, device. If your compass doesn’t have a mirror, make sure to pack a signal mirror.
- Candling device: e.g., a reliable light source. A good headlamp is a must. It should have a strobe function and red or green light to help preserve your night eyes. You need both hands free to work on things or find your way in the dark and use your hands to move brush out of your way and catch yourself if you trip and fall. This is one of those items that needs to be as high quality as you can afford.
