9.30pm tonight, ABC - Army Survival program

[Simmo67 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Simmo67]

I realise this is not Prado related and will be pulled at some time....

but if anybody is bored, on the ABC tonight at 9.30pm there's a program about the Australian Army learning Survival Skills in the Northern Territory.

Thought it might come in handy for the upcoming Pradopoint Meetup in the Red Centre :P :P

[Yota Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Yota]

I saw that in the book last night and almost forgot about it,
Thanks Simmo

[Simmo67 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Simmo67]

What did ya reckon Yota?

I reckon another few days and Private Bentley would have replaced the pigshead on the spit :lol: :lol:

[Strahan Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Strahan]

Bentley would be gonza! :twisted:

Did not portray our elite fighting men in a very good light. :?

[Simmo67 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Simmo67]

Did not portray our elite fighting men in a very good light. :?

I enjoyed it Strahan. We have to remember that those blokes were at it for 9 days and nights, real time, and the media condense it down to 60 minutes, and only show the juicy for controversial bits.

Also i have just read that most of the blokes in that course were reservists or surveilance and not "front line". It's a bit like a plummer trying to be an electrician for a week. We all react differently under different pressures and just having a camera crew on you 24 hours a day is a pressure in itself. I've been in a para-military job for 21 years and know what its like to lose the plot a bit sometimes :roll:

As a side issue, I reckon Private Bentley was that actor in SeaChange :P

[MattWhite Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MattWhite]

Yeah I thought that exactly. The red headed bloke in seachange. Alright bloke, just used big words to sound smart or something. I felt sorry for Jamie who left about 22 hours from the end. Spew! :roll:

[Simmo67 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Simmo67]

Im taking my boys camping/canoeing next week for a few days. I'm going to show them:

1) How to find South using the Southern Cross and the path of the sun
2) How to collect water from transpiration from leaves
3) Collect dew in the mornings using tarpaulins
4) May even try to build a water still

I'll let you know how it goes :P

[StormyKnight Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close StormyKnight]

Here is an interesting document produced by the West Australian police in regards to survival in the out back.

@ 160 pages its quite comprehensive...

http://www.police.wa.gov.au/YOURSAFE...7/Default.aspx

Covers...
Safe Outback Travel
Outback Survival including finding water, purifying water, building shelter, fire lighting without matches, food from the land
Direction Finding
Emergency Procedures
Radio Communications
Creek & River Crossings (by foot)
Bush First Aid covering bites & stings, fractures, shock,hypothermia etc
Land Navigation reading maps
Expedition Skills & Campcraft

Well worth the download & read...even if you never intend to venture into the outback, it could be just as useful in the Vic high country or NSW snowys.

Cheers

[Strahan Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Strahan]

no worries simmo.
I was unaware that they were not front line troops. Still none of them looked particulary fit.

He was definatley diver dan!!

[Yota Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Yota]

What did ya reckon Yota?

I reckon another few days and Private Bentley would have replaced the pigshead on the spit :lol: :lol:

To be honest, I fell asleep half way throught it.
But ill have to remember the "walaby tail tendans can be used as string" trick

[Strahan Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Strahan]

As another thought, Bentley did not seem the type to be a regular soldier, so if they were reserves it would make more sense.

[Simmo67 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Simmo67]

Survival Update

Well, as promised, I took my boys and dogs camping on the weekend with the intention of teaching them some survival techniques.

I DID show them how to find South using the Southern Cross, and then, wait for it.....we baked a bloody cake ops: Don't know if that would count as a survival technique but it was a bit of fun for the kids. Here's some pics.....

My sons and 2 dogs paddled 24km along the Macquarie River, from Wellington to Ponto Falls, taking 5.5 hours....



Step 1 to bake a $3.00 cake. Obtain about $100 worth of firewood...



Step 2: Combine the ingredients and mix well without eating it. Place into a cake tin and then put in camp oven for 40 minutes...



Step 3: Remove from camp oven carefully...



Step 4: Allow to cool before icing. Now this is Outback Survival 8)

[Simmo67 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Simmo67]

Hey Stormy Knight, thanks again for that W.A Police site. It's in my Favourites folder now....

I'll print it out one day when I'm feeling rich (or at work!)

I'm getting quite a collection now of Survival Books etc. Actually I've been watching a good series on "Lifestyle" channel by a bloke called Ray Mears. He's a British naturalist/survivalist - bit like a pommie Les Hiddens.
He's got a great website www.raymears.com if anybody is interested.

[samo Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close samo]

looks like a good weekend simmo, gee you do it tough when ya go campin for the weekend :lol:

[Simmo67 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Simmo67]

Hi Samo.

Just packing the Prado again today. Nathan turned 13 today and got a new mountain bike (21 gears!), so I'm loading the prado with me, the missus the two kids and their mountain bikes, and even two grandparents for an afternoon jaunt out at Ophir.

Good day to get the Prado dirty again.