March 28, 2020

The Army Survival Book

By Joseph Parish

Are you in the process of seeking a good means of obtaining a basic understanding of survival principles and practices? If so, perhaps I can lead you into the right direction. Two initial things we must first concern ourselves with here are first finding a good book relating to survival and secondly discovering a means of practicing these various scenarios.

There are a vast number of excellent books on the topic of survival ranging from Stroud's "Survive!" to Wiseman's "SAS Survival Handbook" however in the interest of cost reduction you might wish to consider the Army Survival Manual. This book is readily available in digital format and can be downloaded onto your computer.

Army FM 21-76 was created by the US Army to train the soldiers in being able to survive under adverse conditions. Although being a dated book the information contained in the 1992 version is just as useable today as it was back in the year it was created. If you are lucky you can find the newer 1999 version however little changes have actually taken place between the two manuals. In some cases, you might perhaps chance upon the FM 3-05.70 version. If you do see that version you would be wise to grab it quickly as that is the most updated manual yet. It features the militaries new numbering system as well.

In FM 21-76 you will encounter several major topics of interest. The manual starts out with some survival psychology and quickly leads into the planning and creation of various types of survival kits. Additional chapters include survival medicine, shelter basics, how to find water, starting fires and food procurement. Several chapters explain plants as used in your survival environment along with those plants and animals which are hazardous to human life.

Quick and immediate weapon construction can be found in later chapters while there are individual sections dedicated to survival under extreme conditions such as desert conditions, tropical climates, cold weather or surviving at sea. The book ends with information relating to direction finding and signaling techniques.

As you can see it supplies the new comer with a complete course in survival. No assumptions are taken that you already know something of the fundaments and all aspects are clearly explained. This is a perfect reference book to keep in your bug out kit or in the glove box of your bug out vehicle.

On the other requirement listed above, there simply is no quick and dirty way to learn the information other than to get out with the books above and try what it teaches you. It may possibly be easier to learn by being taught the information but it certain is not by any means impossible to learn it by yourself. I find the information is better embedded into my mind if I have to work it without the benefit of an instructor. Good luck. Download the Army FM 21-76 here