SERE = Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape

Epirb, satphones costs plenty and can and do fail. I only used them when work was paying the bills.

I agree that big knives achieve very little. But fire is a massive plus and the gear to make it is very small and light.

Places I went either had very salty or zero environmental water. Collecting condensate from plants or salt water were only options for extra drinking water.

Other thing I used to carry in car was big stilsons to enable access to water in stock water pipes or capped artesian bores. Didn’t lug them in a pack when hiking though.

If he only takes the mini sawyer and not a bottle then he has to stay close to the water source, which limits his movement options.

While he makes a very good point about the risk of using fire … his choice of bic lighter over ferro and Vaseline cotton wool is odd. Lighters fail often. I’d consider having a very simple butane can burner to cook food. Like the one in link below
outdoorelement.com/products/ultralight-mini-camp-stove

I have a small, aluminum folding stove that includes a small cup that sits on top of it and folds up inside. Its powered by solid fuel tablets, but when I was hiking I used twigs and small sticks instead. Very effective, and great for heating up coffee, meals etc. Almost undetectable.

I also carried a few chlorine tablets, which can 'clean' water easily and if the resulting water is tipped from cup to cup, can dissipate so the water doesn't smell/taste of a council swimming pool !

I have a small rectangular block of magnesium with a ferrite flint embedded in one side. Just scrape off a small pile of the magnesium with your knife, and set it alight with a spark from the flint. It will start a fire almost underwater, and certainly with wet materials as it burns at over 3,100 degrees c.








"Do not fear the collapse, for it is necessary to dismantle the evil cabal"

Potentially it will for sure but the stupidity of these head light manufacturers across the board is amazing in that their light modes mostly go white light full, then white light step down then to red / blue which by this time your night vision is screwed!  I have two Petzl Military issue Head Lights that because of their manual red filters can only go night vision first!  Permanently deactivating or masking white light in head torches with tape or black pen for the purposes of night navigation / map reading / illumination at your feet is actually a common practice!  Again the main message I wanted to help carry here  was to get rid of excess gear for the sake of simplicity / efficiency / weight saving!  

I did a favour for a loadie attached to 2Co many years ago, and in return he gave me the light he used during his multiple tours of Afghan. The head swivels so you can select different types of light before you turn it on. It’s hand held, but you can always pretend it’s a big Cuban cigar if you need both hands free.