Ayres - Essential survival gear : a pros guide to your most practical and portable survival kit

James Morgan Ayres has served with the 82nd Airborne Division and the 7th Special Forces Group, worked as a consultant for US government agencies and private corporations, founded four companies, and lived and worked in over forty countries, often in what many consider survival conditions. Hes written eleven books and has been a student and teacher of survival, Asian thought, martial arts, healing, and meditation for more than forty years. Before hopping a freight train at fifteen out of a Midwestern state, he was employed as a news-boy, strawberry picker, and crow hunter. He currently lives in Southern California. Visit his website at www.jamesmorganayres.com.

Essential Survival Gear is the essential book to help you get past disaster. Pray you never need it. Pray you have it if you do. This is a case of answering your own prayers. God wont give you this book. Its like the joke about the guy who prayed to win the lottery. God said, First, buy a ticket.

Jim Morris, award-winning author of War Story,
Major Special Forces (Green Beret) (Ret.)

This book is ideal for world explorers, travelers, Peace Corps volunteers, the CIA, and general survivalists. It is also an enjoyable read for anyone, because its about a person experienced with survival in many countries. Survival during travel abroad can be different from your more familiar wilderness, which many folks (to include backwoodsmen) may not appreciate. This book has good history and excellent coverage of various survival equipment and creative uses of common items, which can help a person stay alive.

Don Sakal, MMSc, PA-C, veteran Special Forces (Green Beret) medic

A super read for anyone and everyone into survival, readiness, prepping, and, yes, even the dreaded Zombie Apocalypse. Its easy to read, filled with great info and tips, and useful for all kinds of people from the beginner to the professional, mainly because it sticks to core principles that are universal.

Mykel Hawke, author and star of the Travel Channels Lost Survivors,
US Army Special Forces (Ret.)

This is an extremely practical and well thought out guide to survival in situations as simple as being stranded on the road to being trapped in a collapsed building or caught in a riot. It provides in-depth guidelines for an integrated system of layering clothes, equipment, and other necessities tailored to your environment. It also focuses on how to make do with what you have, everyday things in your car or briefcase, or what you can find locally. This is not just another survive-inthe-woods-alone book. Its a logical guide for anyone and everyone that could save their lives.

Gordon L. Rottman, military history writer and survival instructor

ALSO BY JAMES MORGAN AYRES

The Tao of Survival

The Complete Gun Owner

An Introduction to Firearms

The Tactical Knife, 1st and 2nd editions

The Jaguars Heart

Just Passing Through

Survival Knives, Selection and Use

An imprint of Rowman & Littlefield

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Copyright 2016 James Morgan Ayres

Photos MLAyres 2016 except where otherwise credited

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file

ISBN 978-1-4930-1527-6 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-4930-1528-3 (e-book)

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

The author and Rowman & Littlefield assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

To my family, the whole rambunctious crowd

Survival gear is not camouflage clothing and automatic weapons, unless youre a soldier in a combat zone. Survival gear is not a giant backpack stuffed with camping gear and food, unless youre on an expedition into deep wilderness. Survival gear is not a Hummer stuffed full of emergency items, unless youre on a rescue team heading into a disaster area. Survival gear is what you have with you when an emergency occurs, wherever you are, whoever you are. Minimal, simple, situationally appropriate gear that you have at hand when an emergency occurs is more valuable than a mountain of specialized equipment that you dont have with you, and those few things might keep you alive.

• Youre on your way back to the office with a bagel and a cup of coffee in a brown paper bag when an earthquake collapses the buildings around you, leaving you unharmed but trapped. Youll have to get by with that bagel and whatever is in your pockets until someone digs you out, and youre wishing you hadnt left your cell phone on your desk.

• Snowboarding off-piste and flying down the side of the mountain alone was exciting. But now youre sitting in a snowdrift, its getting dark, and you cant remember the way back to the lodge. That half-eaten candy bar in the pocket of your wet jeans will have to do for dinner, and youre wishing you had worn that down jacket and that you had some matches or a lighter because youre shivering, its getting really cold, and youre trying to remember what the ski patrol guy said about hypothermia.

• You were looking forward to steaming the clams you foraged from the beach when the fog came down, thick and heavy. You cant hear the waves behind you, or see the dirt road where you left your car or more than a few feet in any direction. But you know that the sea is east of the road, so... oops. You left your compass in the car. Well, youll find your way backsooner or later. Right? Now, where was that cliff?

• Youre out for a short walk in the hills when you see a large black bear, and he sees you. Mr. Bear starts coming toward you, and you do what the ranger said and throw down your pack for Mr. Bear while backing away from him. Your foot slips and you fall backward down a steep slope. The last you see of your pack is Mr. Bear ripping it open. You skid to a halt at the bottom of a ravine. Your ankle is swelling and you cant stand on it. Night is falling. Youre in pain, getting cold and hungry, and wishing you hadnt put all of your gear in one bag.

• Youre tired after a long day at work and not paying much attention to your surroundings. While parking your car, you are startled to see a zombie charging you from the shadows. You quickly reach for your sword but

Each day, somewhere in the world, people die from events such as these. Well, maybe not so much from zombies. But from the other events, yes, they do. Many who are interested in survival imagine, and prepare for, various catastrophic disasters while not being ready to deal with more common mishaps that could kill them as quickly and easily as stepping off a cliff in the fog. In each of the above incidents, a few simple items and some basic knowledge could make the difference between living and dying.

In addition to the kinds of events described above, you could be traveling in another country and get caught up in a war zone and have to get to safety under your own power. You could find yourself in a massive disaster here in the United States and need to ensure your own survival. Remember Hurricane Katrina and how the emergency services failed? The same basic gear that could help you survive an everyday challenge can also be of critical importance in the event of a major disaster.