Can You Survive?

I am going camping.  I am excited about this outing because i have not been camping since i was very young.  I will be honest, my camping experience is pretty much limited to sleeping on a beach or truck because i was too drunk to drive home from a party.
  With that said, for what ever reason i felt the need to get out of town for a night, we all get that now and then.  I realized i had all the proper camping gear.  Over the years my brother and i have won camping gear at game dinners, NWTF dinners, TU dinners, and NRA fundraisers.  We have even been handed down some stuff.

    With Stiff east winds keeping me off the water today again i went over to my mom's house and decided to get ready for the one night camping trip.  While i was getting my gear organized i found a small survival kit form Eddie Bower.  The kit looked old and i wondered if it was any good so i popped it open.  It had a lot of little things in it to help you through a night or two in a tight spot.  The contents included, but not limited to: aluminum pot, top, wire saw, fuel bars, stove, bug netting, poncho, fishing hooks, matches and fire starter.  Food wise the kit included broth of chicken and beef, iodine tablets and a plastic bag for water.  At one point the kit was exposed to water and the broth, fire starter, iodine pill leaked and were damaged, however, the kit was still functional.

    I decided to do a test.  Could i get a fire going in a damp windy environment?  Seemed like a good day to try it out.   In the tradition of the survival shows on the Discovery station, i went out in the back yard and went to work.  I chose a clear area for the test site and set the stove up.    It was a little tough at first, the corrosion on the fire starter made the magnesium weak and it did not shave off well.  So i did not get a good bed on top of the fuel bar.  Cody from the dual survival show would have smacked me and Mike Hawke's wife would have laughed.  I do believe if i put more prep work into it with good tinder i could have fired it up.  I went to the matches and got the fuel bar going.  The matches were not  great but  worked and the fuel bar went up.  Next test?  Can i boil water in the aluminum pot and how long will it take?  Yes you can and in 7 minutes!

   There is no question  you will be able to get by on this kit.  My opinion, however, is to go out and make your own kit.  Buy the items that were made for the job.  Like the fire starter, a lot of the contents of the kit were small and cheap, so spend some loot and build your own.  Don't forget to add any medications you need to it.  The kit that i opened today would allow you to make it.  I think a good blanket and a trusty M-1911 would be great additions.