Survive!

[The Reaper]

How not to do it.

Good concept, poor execution and supervision.

$3,150 to run people through the desert till they die?

TR

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269688,00.html

Records: New Jersey Man May Have Needlessly Died of Thirst on Wilderness Survival Trip
Wednesday, May 02, 2007

BOULDER, Utah —

A man died of thirst during a wilderness-survival exercise designed to test his physical and mental toughness, even though guides had water. They didn't offer him any because they did not want to spoil the character-building experience.

By Day 2 in the blazing Utah desert, Dave Buschow was in bad shape. Pale, wracked by cramps, his speech slurred, the 29-year-old New Jersey man was desperate for water and hallucinating so badly he mistook a tree for a person.

After going roughly 10 hours without a drink in the 100-degree heat, he finally dropped dead of thirst, face down in the dirt, less than 100 yards from the goal: a cave with a pool of water.

But Buschow was no solitary soul, lost and alone in the desert. He and 11 other hikers from various walks of life were being led by expert guides on a wilderness-survival adventure designed to test their physical and mental toughness.

And the guides, it turned out, were carrying emergency water on that torrid summer day.

Buschow wasn't told that, and he wasn't offered any. The guides did not want him to fail the $3,175 course. They wanted him to dig deep, push himself beyond his known limits, and make it to the cave on his own.

Nearly a year later, documents obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act reveal those and other previously undisclosed details of what turned out to be a death march for Buschow. They also raise questions about the judgments and priorities of the guides at the Boulder Outdoor Survival School. What matters more: the customer's welfare or his quest?

"It was so needless. What a shame. It didn't have to happen," said Ray Gardner, the Garfield County sheriff's deputy who hiked six miles to recover Buschow's body. "They had emergency water right there. I would have given him a drink."

Family members are angry.

"Down in those canyons it's like a furnace," said Rob Buschow of Glen Spey, N.Y. "I don't have my brother anymore because no one would give him water."

While regretting the tragedy, the school, known as BOSS, has denied any negligence and instead blamed Buschow, saying the security officer and former Air Force airman did not read course materials, may have withheld health information and may have eaten too heavily before leaving River Vale, N.J., for the grueling course.

Noting Buschow signed liability waivers, the school said: "Mr. Buschow expressly assumed the risk of serious injury or death prior to participating."

Garfield County authorities declined to file charges, saying there was insufficient evidence the school acted with criminal negligence. The prosecutor said participants knew they were taking a risk.

The U.S. Forest Service, however, has stopped BOSS from using Dixie National Forest for a portion of the 28-day course this summer until it gets outside advice on providing food and water. The agency said it was the first death of a participant in a BOSS survival exercise.

The Colorado-based school dates to the late 1960s. In 1994, BOSS alumnus Josh Bernstein, a New Yorker with an Ivy League education, took over marketing and administration and later became owner. He also is host of the History Channel's "Digging for the Truth," a show that takes viewers on archaeological adventures around the world.

BOSS emphasizes personal growth through adversity, and using your wits to survive. The mantra: "Know more, carry less."

BOSS has wilderness courses lasting just a few days to a month. During the 28-day survival course, held 250 miles from Salt Lake City, campers are required to hike for miles and drink what they can find from natural sources.

Tent, matches, compass, sleeping bag, portable stove, watch — all have no role. Campers are equipped with a knife, water cup, blanket and poncho and are told they could lose 20 pounds or more. Among the things they learn is how to catch fish with their hands and how to kill a sheep with a knife.

The course is intended to push people "past those false limits your mind has set for your body."

"Somewhere along the many miles of sagebrush flats, red rock canyons, and mesa tops of Southern Utah — somewhere between the thirst, the hunger and the sweat — you'll discover the real destination: yourself," BOSS says on its Web site.

Buschow had marched the arctic tundra in Greenland. And after leaving the Air Force, he worked security at U.S. bases outside the country. He recalled his days as a Boy Scout in his May 2006 application to BOSS.

"Although in the yrs since, I have continued to appreciate Mother Nature," he wrote by hand, "I still haven't ever truly immersed myself in her embrace. I fear that I'm becoming a 'comfort camper,' having never come close to looking her in the eyes."

Buschow described himself as 5-foot-7 and about 180 pounds, with a resting pulse of 66. A New York doctor checked a box declaring him fit for a survival program. Buschow signed the application, acknowledging that BOSS was not offering a "risk-free wilderness experience."

The documents obtained by the AP disclose the brief but bitter wilderness adventure of Buschow:

On July 16, he gathered here with the 11 others, including some from England and a college student who had bicycled from Maine. Most were in their 20s and 30s. They ran 1 1/2 miles so the staff could assess their conditioning.

Buschow "was not the most in-shape but not the most out of shape," recalled camper Charlie DeTar, 25, the cross-country bicyclist.

On the second day, after a cool night, the group set out around sunrise and stopped about 8:30 a.m. to dip their cups into Deer Creek in what turned out to be the only water until evening. Buschow pulled a bottle from his pack — but was warned by the staff not to fill it.

During the early phase of the expedition, participants can drink water at the source only and cannot carry it with them.

The group, led by three guides, formed a loose chain, with stronger hikers ahead of people struggling at the 6,000-foot elevation, or more than a mile above sea level.

"We didn't cover all that much distance, maybe five to six miles. We were moving slowly, a lot of up and down," DeTar said in an interview from Vermont. "You don't have food, you don't have water, so you have to move at the slowest pace of the group."

They rested periodically under pinons and junipers, all the while looking for signs of water, such as green vegetation in canyon bottoms. At least two attempts to dig for water failed.

Not everyone had close contact with Buschow, but a consensus emerges from the campers' written accounts obtained by the AP: While cheerful, encouraging and coherent at times, he was a man in deep trouble hours before he collapsed.

"We were all desperate for water," a camper wrote. "Every time (Buschow) would fall or lie down, it took a huge amount of effort to pick him back up. His speech was thick and his mouth swollen."

"Every time he continued, he'd rush ahead, often in the wrong direction and so exhausting himself even more," the camper wrote.

The sun was described as blazing, inescapable. "There were no clouds," a camper wrote.

Some people vomited that day, including a man who got sick three times — a typical misery on the rigorous course, according to BOSS. Buschow was suffering from leg cramps about 2:30 p.m. and said he was feeling "bad."

During a break, he mistook a tree for a person and said, "There she is."

"This was the first point at which I became concerned knowing that delirium happens when dehydration becomes severe," a camper wrote. Buschow "also asked if there was much air traffic that went through here, and asked if anyone had a signal mirror."

(The Forest Service, citing privacy concerns, deleted certain names from documents.)

By 7 p.m., as the sun descended and temperatures cooled a bit, the group approached a cave in Cottonwood Canyon, known to BOSS guides as a reliable source of water.

Buschow's companions were carrying his possessions for him. Within earshot of people exhilarated about the pool of water, he collapsed for the last time.

"He said he could not go on," staff member Shawn O'Neal wrote two days later in a statement ordered by the Garfield County Sheriff's Office. "I felt that he could make it this short distance and told him he could do it as I have seen many students sore, dehydrated and saying 'can't' do something only to find that they have strength beyond their conceived limits."

O'Neal didn't inform Buschow about his emergency water.

"I wanted him to accomplish getting to the water and the cave for rest," he wrote. "He asked me to go get the water for him. I said I was not going to leave him. ... Shortly thereafter I had a bad feeling and turned to Dave and found no sign of breathing."

A staff apprentice climbed to the top of a dead juniper to get reception for a cellular call to the Boulder office.

Five people took turns trying to revive Buschow while red biting ants crawled over his face. A rescue helicopter from Page, Ariz., arrived about 90 minutes after he passed out, but a defibrillator failed to jump-start his heart. Campers gathered in a circle for the news: "Dave is dead."

[The Reaper]

They had a moment of silence and ate almonds, sesame sticks and energy bars distributed by staff, the first food since sandwiches more than 24 hours earlier.

Buschow's death was caused by dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, according to Dr. Edward Leis, Utah's deputy chief medical examiner, who found no evidence of drugs or other factors.

DeTar, a camper who performed CPR, said no one was told that BOSS guides carried emergency water, but "I heard it slosh" in a pack.

Should it have been offered to Buschow? And if it's for an emergency, what triggers it?

"Hard to say," said DeTar, who has a master's degree from Dartmouth College and is trained in wilderness first aid. "One thing that BOSS offers you is an opportunity to push yourself physically into the red zone. ... He was 200 feet from the water. Is that the point where you give it to him? Or 500 feet?"

Bernstein, the school's owner, agreed to answer questions only by e-mail. He said BOSS instructors can give water based on their assessment of a camper's needs.

"The group appeared to be within the normal parameters we've seen on the trail over the years," Bernstein said. "Many were, understandably, tired, but morale was high and the participants were determined to continue. ... He seemed capable of completing the hike to camp that evening."

In a Feb. 27 letter to the Forest Service, Bernstein said Buschow may not have trained properly, pointing to comments he made to another camper about drinking a gallon of water a day and eating cheesesteaks to bulk up before the expedition.

His brother, Rob Buschow, said: "It's sickening when they blame the victim."

After Buschow's death, five people left the course. The six campers who completed the exercise returned to the site to leave a bouquet of foliage and a marker of stones.

"I didn't want to have the fear of the desert instilled in me because of this incident," DeTar said.

[jatx]

I hope that everyone involved is left destitute after the family's inevitable civil suit. What a waste of a life.

[kgoerz]

Some really good info on this thread. A lot better then most survival sights I read. This June will be the first time I will be home in warm weather in three years. Me and my kid will resume our Poncho Hooch treks into Uwharrie. I sent him a Survival book from Amazon yesterday and several post from this thread to keep him busy. First time camping he was a little concerned we didn't have a tent. Doesn't want anything to do with them since sleeping in a Lean Shelter or Poncho Hooch.
Might have to venture into Pisgah if we get brave enough. Started out around Bragg, then moved on to Uwharrie. He is ten now so he can hump his ruck a little better. Are packs are only about 20 to 25 pounds for three days. Trick is to find an area with available water. Water is heavy.
Uwharrie is great because it is so under used. You can camp where ever you want to. I think certain parts of Pisgah don't allow dogs and free range camping. Nothing turns me off more then rules and regulations. I would never hike thru these areas unarmed no matter what. But Uwharrie seems to have a don't ask we don't want to know policy. At least that was my impression when the Ranger winked at me after asking their carry policy

[Fiercely Loyal]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Now what about you non-SF guys I see lurking in here. Have you ever been out camping for a few days? Got anything to add or ask?

Sir, A quality fixed blade knife is the only thing I believe I'd need.

Although most times I will carry a poncho, 100+ feet of 550 cord, mirror, compass, canteen cup, magnesium fire starter, field dressing, local map, vs-17 panel portion, GPS with spare batteries, and a Ruger Mark II pistol in holster with 100 rds and spare mag. All of this was in a small day bag.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Fiercely Loyal

Sir, A quality fixed blade knife is the only thing I believe I'd need.

Congratulations.

Very few people can start a fire, trap and cook game, make cordage, collect, purify, and carry water, repair clothing and shelter, treat injuries and illnesses, signal, navigate, etc. with just a blade.

TR

[82ndtrooper]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Congratulations.

Very few people can start a fire, trap and cook game, make cordage, collect, purify, and carry water, repair clothing and shelter, treat injuries and illnesses, signal, navigate, etc. with just a blade.

TR

I watch Bear Grylls. "Man vs Wild"

If there's one thing I've learned from this thread, it is to never stop thinking, to decide and to act on that decision. Most everything you will need can be found in the wild. What ever your needs, nutrition, hydration, shelter, and fire can be made with ingenuity, and a desire to survive.

Patience is almost alway's a virture. I've learned a lot from this thread.

[Fiercely Loyal]

Originally Posted by 82ndtrooper

and a desire to survive.

mindset. Thanks 82nd.

[Onuma]

Knife and cord seem to be the single most important tools you can have. You can, essentially, make or scavenge everything else you need through the use of these items - of course with the proper knowhow and execution.

While it is not in the minimalist realm of survival, a great item to have (as mentioned previously) is a radio:

For a very simple, yet effective bugout radio, Kaito's KA series (I own a KA007) is able to receive AM, FM, Weather band, TV, Short Wave, and Air signals. It is powered via batteries (3x AA), A/C adapter, solar panel on the rear, or a hand dynamo which lasts a significant amount of time with very little effort. It also contains a small LED to act as a makeshift flashlight, and has a standard headphone jack so you can listen with a pair of earbuds (included) to reduce necessary volume - thereby reducing the power consumption. This jack also doubles as an antenna for Short Wave band signals using the included wire-antenna.

~$30 for a great bugout/survival/GOOD radio is definitely worth it, I think.

Kaito KA009 @ Weems Creek Solutions

Gentlemen, thank you for a great thread. I've learned more in these pages than all of my Army training of the last several years (sadly).

[edit]

Upon further thought, you could use the components in this radio (such as the solar cell and dynamo) for many other things. Charging batteries for your flashlight, for example, would be an excellent use to apply to the solar cell.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by 82ndtrooper

I watch Bear Grylls. "Man vs Wild"

If there's one thing I've learned from this thread, it is to never stop thinking, to decide and to act on that decision. Most everything you will need can be found in the wild. What ever your needs, nutrition, hydration, shelter, and fire can be made with ingenuity, and a desire to survive.

Patience is almost alway's a virture. I've learned a lot from this thread.

I disagree with this.

Man vs. Wild is three to five days, and he is usually on the move to habitation.

It would be very difficult to live that way for two months. Try preparing food at your house from scratch for a week with no salt at all. Then consider how it would be after eight weeks. At the same time, laagering up at a single site means time to construct a decent shelter, gather materials, set and service a trap line, etc.

IMHO, in a survival situation, acting without thorough consideration on a non-emergency problem is a recipe for making a bad decision much worse. Look before you leap.

TR

[Spartan74]

http://entertainment.timesonline.co....cle2116195.ece
TV 'survival king' stayed in hotels

TO LIVE up to his public image of a rugged, ex-SAS adventurer, it must have seemed essential for Bear Grylls to appear at ease sleeping rough and catching his own food in his television survival series.

But it has emerged that Grylls, 33, was enjoying a far more conventional form of comfort, retreating some nights from filming in mountains and on desert islands to nearby lodges and hotels.

Now Channel 4 has launched an investigation into whether Grylls, who has conquered Everest and the Arctic, deceived the public in his series Born Survivor.

The series, screened in March and April and watched by 1.4m viewers, built up Grylls's credentials as a tough outdoorsman. In a question and answer session on Channel 4's website, he recalls how station bosses pitched the venture to him stating: "We just drop you into a lot of different hellholes equipped with nothing, and you do what you have to do to survive."

But an adviser to Born Survivor has disclosed that at one location where the adventurer claimed to be a "real life Robin-son Crusoe" trapped on "a desert island", he was actually on an outlying part of the Hawaiian archipelago and spent nights at a motel.

On another occasion in California's Sierra Nevada mountains where he was filmed biting off the head of a snake for breakfast and struggling for survival "with just a water bottle, a cup and a flint for making fire", he actually slept some nights with the crew in a lodge fitted with television and internet access. The Pines Resort at Bass Lake is advertised as "a cosy getaway for families" with blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

In one episode Grylls, son of the late Tory MP Sir Michael Grylls, was shown apparently building a Polynesian-style raft using only materials around him, including bamboo, hibiscus twine and palm leaves for a sail.

But according to Mark Weinert, an Oregon-based survival consultant brought in for the job, it was he who led the team that built the raft. It was then dismantled so that Grylls could be shown building it on camera.

In another episode viewers watched as Grylls tried to coax an apparently wild mustang into a lasso in the Sierra Nevada. "I'm in luck," he told viewers, apparently coming across four wild horses grazing in a meadow. "A chance to use an old native American mode of transport comes my way. This is one of the few places in the whole of the US where horses still roam wild."

In fact, Weinert said, the horses were not wild but were brought in by trailer from a nearby trekking station for the "choreographed" feature.

"If you really believe everything happens the way it is shown on TV, you are being a little bit naive," he said.

Channel 4 confirmed that Grylls had used hotels during expeditions and has now asked Diverse, the Bristol-based production company that made the programme, to look into the other claims.

"We take any allegations of misleading our audiences seriously," said a spokeswoman for the channel.

The latest suggestion that Channel 4 may have breached viewer trust comes as the broad-caster's supervisory board prepares to issue new editorial guidelines to suppliers in order to stamp out alleged sharp practices that mislead viewers.

"Born Survivor is not an observational documentary series but a 'how to' guide to basic survival techniques in extreme environments," the spokeswoman said.

"The programme explicitly does not claim that presenter Bear Grylls's experience is one of unaided solo survival."

Nevertheless, the disclosure is likely to disappoint fans of the Eton-educated adventurer, who at the age of 23 became the youngest Briton to scale Everest. Just two years before that he had broken his back in three places after his parachute ripped during a military exercise.

On screen he has emerged as a natural performer, with stunts such as squeezing water from animal dung and sucking the fluid from fish eyeballs.

Grylls could not be contacted for comment this weekend as he was trekking in the Brecon Beacons with his four-year-old son.

[AF IDMT]

I always thought the term "reality television" was an oxymoron.

[Razor]

The series "Survivorman" was, IMO, a far better survival primer than "Man vs. Wild". Its wasn't as exciting, and the host didn't do crazy, attention-grabbing things like Grylls, but it was more realistic. Many of the techniques Grylls shows look cool, but involve far too much risk than one should take in a survival situation (unless that is the only option). Climbing a rope hand-over-hand 100ft up a ravine, eating raw zebra meat, and sneaking up to African predators to get a look at them just doesn't make sense when faced with other, safer choices.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Razor

The series "Survivorman" was, IMO, a far better survival primer than "Man vs. Wild". Its wasn't as exciting, and the host didn't do crazy, attention-grabbing things like Grylls, but it was more realistic. Many of the techniques Grylls shows look cool, but involve far too much risk than one should take in a survival situation (unless that is the only option). Climbing a rope hand-over-hand 100ft up a ravine, eating raw zebra meat, and sneaking up to African predators to get a look at them just doesn't make sense when faced with other, safer choices.

Agree completely.

I told my kids that after watching him do stupid stuff like eating a scorpion, jumping off big rocks (or directly down steep faces), climbing up rock chimneys and faces, moving during the day in 120 degree heat, handling a poisonous snake, chowing down on a spider, and drinking his own urine, that these are not things that we do until we are very near the end and are desperate. You break an ankle, get poisoned, start throwing up and running with diarrhea, get bitten, have a heat stroke, or any one of a lot of bad things that can happen with an excessive risk in a survival situation, and you have just made a bad situation much worse.

If it were me, I would pass on most of the insects (and all of the poisonous ones), move carefully, and on fairly level terrain when possible, lay up during the hottest part of the day, stay near potable water sources, etc., and I would probably make it through the same areas he does, but it would probably be slower and a lot less dramatic.

You also have to realize that the camera crew are there and they are not unprepared, having water, food, first aid, tents, commo, trans, etc.

For a short move (or layup) of that duration, you could do it with what he carries (normally a water bottle, which looks like it has a braided 550 cord strap, a folding knife, and a firestarter). You could probably do it with just a knife as well, but it would suck even more.

It would add significantly to his odds and comfort, without adding a lot of gear, to include a few more items.

Leatherman Multi-tool (in lieu of his folder)
Canteen cup
Water Purification Tabs or better yet, MSR MIOX
550 cord
Button Compass
Photon Micro-Lite
Butane lighter
Alcohol prep pads (Wound cleaning and fire starting)
Scalpel Blade (Med needs, small cutting chores, fine, sharp knife work)
Suture with needle (Closing wounds, repairing clothing and gear)
Small fishing and wire snare kit (Gathering food and lashings)
Plastic garbage bag (waterproofing and improvised rain gear or sleeping bag)
1 gallon Ziploc bag (waterproofing, food or water transport)
Small sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil (cooking, boiling water, signalling)
Signal mirror*
Whistle*

* To assist with being found. If you do not want to be found, they are not necessary.

This gear would easily fit in his pockets or around his water bottle to the point that unless you searched him, you would not know that he was carrying it.

Note that in area with more traffic, a lot of this can be scavenged, like water bottles, trash bags, Ziplocs, foil, lighters (even one out of fuel will normally produce a usable spark), cordage, a container or surface to cook in/on, tinder, etc.

When I was out in a remote part of Uwharrie National Forest on survival during the SFQC, one of the first things I did after orienting myself was to look for potable water and to cruise for resources. I quickly found a 2 liter soda bottle, some plastic grocery bags, a trash bag, some ZipLoc bags, a wad of aluminum foil, some old electric fence wire, paper bags and newspapers (for tinder), and an old hubcap that I could put over the fire to cook in.

There was a culvert just up the hill from my survival area with fairly clear flowing water. I strained it through my T-shirt and used water purification tablets, and never had any problems with it.

The points here are that it is stupid to take unnecessary risks in a real survival situation (unless you have your camera crew handy with an INMARSAT or Iridium), that staying in one place is easier than moving, that a few small items can make your life much more confortable, IF you have them with you when you need them, items with multiple uses are preferred over single use items, and that many items can be found even in remote areas that will assist you when in survival mode.

HTH.

TR

[AF IDMT]

Originally Posted by Jack Moroney

For those not used to living in the woods there are other problems which may or may not be overcome depending on the person. These are basically dealing with fear, anxiety, pain, injury, illness, effects of cold and heat extremes, thrist, hunger, fatique, sleep deprivation, loneliness and isolation. Most of this can be handled by good training ahead of time.

QP's, what training would you suggest for someone who does not have access to military SERE training to cultivate the ability to deal with these issues. FM 21-76 states the two gravest general dangers are the desire for comfort (or to NOT be in pain, lonley, sick, hurt, etc) and a passive outlook. How does one train themselves to overcome these issues? On a side note, because of this thread my wife and I are going camping this weekend. She's going for the peace and quiet. I'm going to practice some skills. Can't wait.