by Jon E. Lewis
DANGEROUS WILDLIFE
Egyptian cobra
Typically about 2 metres long, the Egyptian Cobra can be black, brown or yellow. Some are light brown with darker crossbands. They like cultivated land, rocky hillsides, old ruins and even rural villages. Their venom is a very powerful neurotoxin; it attacks your nervous system, making it hard to breathe.
Sand Viper
Well camouflaged and only about 60 cms long, the sand viper is found throughout North Africa, its venom is haemotoxic; it attacks your circulatory system, causing tissue damage and internal bleeding.
Camel spider
The camel spider or “wind scorpion” as it is known to the Arabs, grows to 15–20 cms in length and has some very anti-social eating habits. When not eating its fellows, the camel spider will eat beetles, scorpions and even small lizards at great speed by injecting a venom that dissolves the internal organs of the prey and then sucking out the resulting juices.
Opinions differ on whether to “cut and suck” or not. This treatment may worsen the situation, as any wound inside the mouth will allow the venom to enter into the system.
When you’re on your own, there may be some value in cutting and bleeding as an alternative to simply sitting and hoping that the snake was not venomous. You can easily shed a pint of blood without any ill effects, and this may be all you need to do to save your life.
Simply cut yourself deep enough to bleed freely with a clean knife at both entry points. Then wash the cut in a solution of potassium permanganate. Do not urinate into the cut.
OVERHEATING AND WATER LOSS
The maximum water loss your body can tolerate is probably as high as 20 per cent. However 12 per cent is a more practical maximum. You won’t be capable of making rational decisions after losing a fifth of your body fluids.
Upset stomachs can be a major cause of dehydration. On your own in the wild, you can quickly find yourself very ill indeed. Crushed and ground charcoal, chalk or bone will provide a cure. Similarly, the tannic acid in a very strong brew of tea will help.
Two conditions can arise from overheating; heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
Heat exhaustion usually affects people performing strenuous physical exercise in hot, humid climates. It’s caused by loss of salt and water from the body. It will be aggravated by stomach upset, diarrhoea or vomiting.
Remove the casualty to a cooler environment and replace lost fluids and minerals. Seek medical aid.
Heat stroke is caused by a very high environmental temperature or a feverish illness (such as malaria) and leads to a greatly increased body temperature. It develops when the body can no longer control its temperature by sweating and can occur quite suddenly.
Reduce the casualty’s temperature as quickly as possible and get medical help.
MALARIA
This very debilitating illness is caused by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito. The insect breeds in stagnant water. Take a course of anti-malaria tablets before you enter into an area where the disease is endemic, continue the treatment throughout your stay in the country and for the medically advised period on your return.
See your doctor for advice on the type of anti-malarial treatment recommended for the area. In an emergency, quinine is an effective if unpleasant treatment.
DUST STORMS
Generally, these are either limited to a height of about 6ft or rise to hundreds of feet in the air. In either case, if visibility is restricted, seal all equipment likely to be affected and be prepared to sit it out. This is preferable to getting lost or even injured in the poor visibility.
During severe dust storms, the air temperature can soar up to 58°C (135°F), while simultaneously the moisture content will drop to only a few per cent. A long lasting dust storm can cause serious dehydration; you can lose up to a quart of moisture in sweat in one hour in these conditions.
A side-effect of a prolonged severe dust storm is the rise in atmospheric electricity due to sand friction. This can cause severe headaches and nausea but can be neutralized by “earthing” yourself to the ground.
Magnetic compasses will be affected in these conditions. The wisest course will be to stay where you are. Always carry a spare compass.
EMERGENCY SURVIVAL
When you find yourself stranded in the Sahara, you’ll have to make up your mind whether to stay where you are, or try to move on. It’s a decision governed by circumstances. If you’ve been travelling by aircraft, the pilot will have filed a flight plan. Similarly, employees of oil and water prospecting companies and similar organisations file a route plan with an estimated time of arrival. In the event of your non-arrival, a search and rescue plan will be put into action. Clearly, the best course here will be to remain with the aircraft or vehicle until help arrives.
VITAL SKILLS
To improve your chances of survival in the desert, learn and practise these basic skills before going abroad. The average soldier will be familiar with most of the following but may find one or two techniques that aren’t in the Army manual.
• Map reading
• Compasses, bearings, back bearings and variations
• Direction-finding using sun and stars
• Direction-finding using shadow stick methods
• Water location, extraction and purification
• Heat and its effects and how to avoid them
• First aid
• Signals – ground to ground and ground to air
The problems arise if you’re stranded while engaged on military activities for real or on expeditions to more remote regions, where the chances of rescue are slim at best. In one region of the Sahara, some 43 people died in a single year. These are recorded deaths; the actual figure may be higher.
In temperate or tropical zones the environment is relatively kind. The survivor is rarely far from materials water, foodstuffs and people to assist in an emergency. The desert militates against this and the decision to stay or move is much more difficult to make.
You must consider your assets, equipment, physical state, mental state, navigational skills and equipment, water, food, location and the size of your party. Then you must weigh these against the distances involved, the terrain, your chances of rescue, weather, temperatures etc.
HOW FAR CAN YOU GO?
By walking slowly and resting for 10 minutes every hour, a man in good physical condition can cover between 20 and 30 kms (12 and 18 miles) per day if he has sufficient food and water. If you plan on walking during the day, you may get 16 kms (10 miles) to one gallon of water. At night, you could possibly double that distance, since you will dehydrate less. If a lack of water is a problem then moving at night is more sensible. The disadvantages are that you may bypass water supplies and habitation.
Choose the easiest route. Go round obstacles, not over or through them. Zigzag to prevent over-exertion when climbing. Visibility for a man six feet tall is limited to between five and six miles when standing on a flat plain.
The sea shore
Your choices of direction are reduced to two since you can be certain that people will be living along the coast somewhere. You can also be sure of finding fresh water where rivers discharge into the sea. (The term “fresh” means non-salt, rather than drinkable). All water will be heavily polluted, so take all precautions to make sure the water you drink is sterile.
You can also get “fresh” water by digging several beach wells. Dig the holes a safe distance above the high-water mark, and deep enough to permit water to collect in the bottom. Skim off and use only the top layer of water – this will be less salty than the denser sea water below it.
The sea shore also has plenty of things living or growing on it that you can eat.
SIGNALS
Set signal fires in threes, arranged in a large triangle with sides approximately 20 metres long. In daylight the glare from the ground and from the air reduces the visibility of wood fires as wood in the desert is so dry that it is smokeless. Add oil, rubbery plas
tic, or green plants, if available to generate smoke. You can also use mirrors for signalling over long distances in the desert.
Set ground signals too. These last a long time and need little or no maintenance. Lay out a large SOS in stone, preferably of contrasting colour to the ground, but at least large enough to cast a well defined shadow. There is an international system of ground-to-air signals which is worth carrying in your survival kit.
SIGNALS
You should carry a copy of the Morse alphabet in your survival kit and try to memorize the May Day signal along with the newer Pan signal. This is a lower priority signal recognized by all international maritime and aircraft crews.
May Day — • — • — • •
Pan • — • • — •
Include in your kit a set of ground-to-air signals as follows
(see page 179):
Require doctor – serious injury
Need medical supplies
Unable to proceed
All is well
Do not understand
Am moving in this direction
Indicate direction to proceed
Need compass and map
No
Yes
Fluorescent signal panels are a useful addition to your kit. Learn the international distress signal, and the reply. The distress signal is six flashes of light, six blasts of a whistle or six waves of a signal flag followed by a break of one minute before repeating the sequence. The response is three long blasts, waves or flashes.
The heliograph
The Mk 3 signal mirror issued to US forces is a handy heliograph which you can hang around your neck when not in use. Make sure the reflective side is against your chest when not in use.
1 Reflect sunlight from the mirror on to a nearby surface like a rock or your hand
2 Slowly bring the mirror up to eye-level and look through the sighting hole. You will see a bright spot of light which is the aim indicator.
3 Hold the mirror near to your eye and move it so that the aim indicator is on the target.
SIGNALLING WITH AN AIR SIGNAL PANEL
Air panels are light, easy to carry and should be carried by at least two members of a patrol. The US issue VS-1 7 signalling panel is a simple plastic sheet which is violet on one side and orange on the other. Use the orange side to initially attract the pilot’s attention. Flashing the panel will make it easier to spot. You can then use the panel to pass information as shown. You can use any reasonable substitute for the panel e.g. liferaft sails, bright-coloured rain jackets etc.
CAUTION: Don’t flash the mirror rapidly. In a combat zone, a pilot might mistake the distant twinkling for ground-fire and treat you to a rocket attack! Don’t hold the light on someone’s cockpit either, or you could dazzle the pilot.
Mirror signals can be seen for many miles, even in hazy weather, so keep sweeping the horizon even if nothing is in sight. In a combat zone where you could attract the enemy attention you must obviously wait and positively identify an aircraft before signalling.
NAVIGATION
With a map and compass you should be able to establish your position. Without these, you will have to improvise.
To find north, first establish south by pointing the hour hand of your watch towards the sun. Then find the mid point between the hour hand and the 12 o’clock position. The line from the centre of your watch to here points south.
Remember that if you are in a desert in the southern hemisphere the procedure is slightly different. Point the 12 o’clock position towards the sun and bisect the angle between the 12 o’clock position and the hour hand. This points north.
A digital watch can be used for the same task, despite opinion to the contrary. Either mark with a grease pencil or imagine the conventional watch face and hands showing the time, overlaid on the digital face. Then continue as above.
Remember that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west to within a few degrees. Remember also that in the northern hemisphere the sun is to the south of us and in the southern hemisphere the sun passes to the north of us.
The east-west line
Place a one-metre stick vertically into the ground and mark the top of its shadow with a stick or stone. After 15 minutes, place another stick or stone to mark the tip of the new shadow position. Then the straight line that joins these two points indicates roughly, east, west.
The north-south line
Put a stick in the ground in the morning and mark the tip of its shadow on the ground. Using a piece of string anchored to the base stick, draw an arc. The arc must be the same length as the shadow line you’ve just drawn. In the afternoon, when the tip of the shadow touches the drawn arc once more, draw a further line from the arc to the base stick. Bisect the angle formed between the two lines and the resulting line will indicate north-south.
Night navigation
If you move at night, you will need to be able to recognize certain star constellations, that either point the way north or point to the North Star (sometimes known as the Pole Star). The constellations to learn are The Plough, Orion and Cassiopeia. They appear at different times during the night throughout the year and revolve, so they may well appear upside down when compared with conventional star charts.
You must learn your constellations before you set out on any journey that involves the risk of being stranded. And practise all your survival skills before you need to use them.
SURVIVAL TIPS
Staying where you are
Aircraft wrecks: In some desert areas there are many aircraft wrecks left over from the war. These usually have “wreck” painted across the wings. Make sure your aircraft cannot be mistaken for a wreck by having at least one signal operative at any one time. If you can, put out a large SOS in wreckage or stone on a stretch of the beach.
Aircraft kit: All commercial aircraft must carry a dinghy if they are travelling over water. In addition you will have the survival kit in the dinghy, a first aid kit and what you can salvage from the aircraft itself.
Air panel: Make sure you carry a fluorescent air panel in your survival kit. These can be used not just to draw the initial attention of a rescue aircraft but also to pass messages to the aircraft (see page 142).
Signal fires: Signal fires should be set in the shape of a triangle with the fires 20 metres apart. These are useless in the intense sunlight of the day unless you use plant material or oil to produce smoke. Smothering a fire with leaves tends to produce white smoke and oil produces black smoke. Make sure you produce a colour that contrasts with the background.
Limit movement: Any essential work should be done at night. During the day, get under cover, put something between you and the hot ground and stay there.
Stay in the shade: If you stay in the shade quietly, fully clothed, not talking, keeping your mouth closed and breathing through your nose, your water requirement will drop dramatically and consequently you will last a lot longer.
Conserving sweat: In this situation you are not going to have unlimited amounts of water, so if you cannot control the amount of water you take in you have to control the amount your body loses. This means complete body coverage. Roll your sleeves down and cover your head and neck. This will protect your body from the hot sand-laden winds and the direct rays of the sun. Your clothes will absorb your sweat and keep it against your skin so you gain the full cooling effect.
“Voluntary dehydration”: When you are thirsty you will generally drink only 65 per cent of your daily requirement. To avoid this voluntary dehydration at temperatures below 35°C/100°F drink one pint of water every hour, at temperatures above 35°C/100°F, drink two pints every hour.
Food discipline: If water is scarce, do not eat. Water is required for digestion of food and you need that water for cooling.
Health hazards: The sudden and extreme temperature shifts from day to night can cause chills, chest infections and even pneumonia.
Insects: Lice, mites, wasps and flies which are drawn to man as a source of
water and food are extremely unpleasant and may carry disease. Old buildings, ruins and caves are favourite habitats for spiders, lice, scorpions, centipedes and other wildlife that can make life unbearable. Take extra care when sheltering in these areas. Always wear gloves and do not sit down or lie down without visually inspecting the area first.
Moving out
You must prepare for every eventuality; that includes having to walk out. Do it with a 5 gallon water jerrycan mounted on an aluminium rucksack frame with shelter kit and sleeping bag fixed on top.
Estimating distance: If you do decide to send off a party to find help remember that things always seem closer than they are in the desert by a factor of three. So a rough guide is that anything that looks one mile away is in reality three miles away.
Night marching: Although you will conserve water by moving at night visibility on moonless nights is extremely poor and travelling is very hazardous. Dangers include getting lost, falling into ravines and missing water sources. Conversely, moonlit nights are usually crystal clear, with none of the problems associated with daylight moves; winds die down and haze and glare disappear, you will be able to see lights at great distance and noise will carry further.
Sandstorms: Sandstorms or sand-laden winds occur regularly in most desert areas; for example the “Siestan” or desert wind of Afghanistan and Iran can blow up constantly for up to 120 days. Wind speeds in the storm could reach 70 to 80 miles per hour by early afternoon. Major dust storms can be expected at least once a week. When confronted with this you should take cover and mark its direction of travel. These storms will effect radio transmissions.
