I found his critique amusing, for reasons that will soon be evident! I agree with your initial two goals. Read and enjoy!








Imagine that it’s very early Saturday morning, and the entire class is huddled together, sipping coffee at Detroit Metro Airport. You and the entire class are about to depart on a 7 AM flight to Northern Canada. My private jet is taking you on an overnight field trip to my wilderness hunting lodge. You are scheduled to meet me for a late lunch at the lodge close to the small town of Schefferville which is in Subarctic Canada, near the border of Quebec and Newfoundland.


The purpose of the trip is to have some fun, and to get in touch with the passion that feeds us. Therefore, the atmosphere will be entirely casual and full of good times. Since it’s just an overnight trip, only one small bag is allowed on the plane. You have been told that the weather is going to be very cold at night, and overcast most of Saturday and Sunday. This is normal weather for this time of year.


You have come prepared for the climate by having insulated underwear, socks, heavy wool shirt, pants, knit gloves, a sheepskin jacket, wool cap, and hiking boots. Since I am already at the lodge, the only people on the plane will be the pilot and your classmates. The appropriate flight plans have been filed with the FAA and the tiny Shefferville airport. Supposedly, the weather conditions are good for flying.


The small executive jet took off as scheduled and is flying at an altitude of 20,000 feet. You are all having the time of you life telling stories, cracking jokes, and looking forward to lunch around the fireplace at the lodge. Your pilot tells everybody that they will be landing pretty soon and to check that your seat belts are fastened. As soon as you fasten your seatbelt, the plane’s engine fails, and the plane goes into an uncontrollable spin. Unfortunately, the pilot was unable to contact anyone since he was doing everything he could to regain control of the aircraft. In a matter of moments, the plane crash-landed into a swampy lake. The pilot was killed upon impact. However, you and the rest of your classmates survive. Before leaving the plane, it appears that the most severe injury is a sprained ankle. You lead everyone to safety by pulling yourself through a window, and you walk knee deep in icy cold water to shore.


After walking about 50 yards to shore, everyone is exhausted and cold. You regroup at the shore- line, and after some discussion, your group calculates that the crash is about 30 miles south of the intended flight pattern and about 25 air miles east of Schefferville. Schefferville is the only town in the area and has a population of 5,000. It’s an iron ore mining community about 800 miles south of the Arctic Circle and 300 miles west of the Atlantic Ocean. It is reachable only by air or rail, and any roads in Schefferville end within 5 miles of the town square. The immediate area around the crash site is covered with small evergreen trees (1.5 to 4 inches in diameter). Scattered throughout the area are a number of hills with rocky, barren tops. The swampy lake, where the plane sits, has ice floating on it. About 25% of the region is covered by long, narrow lakes which run northwest to southeast. Countless streams and rivers flow into and connect with the lakes.


As you are standing on shore, you decide to take inventory of what possessions each of you has. Your group discovers it has the following resources: $353 Canadien, US coins ( 2 half dollars, 4 quarters, 2 dimes, 1 nickel, and 3 pennies), 1 pocket knife containing two blades and an awl which resembles an ice pick, one stubby pencil, and an air map which is soaked and barely legible. You have volunteered to go back to the plane and see if there are any salvageable resources on board.


After floating through the aircraft and exploring the underside of the plane, you return soaking wet and shivering. You explain that only 8 things could possibly be taken off the aircraft, and that any salvage attempt must be done quickly. None of the luggage can be retrieved since the baggage compartment door is jammed against a huge bolder which can’t be moved. It’s about 2:30 PM, and the group has decided to salvage just one item for every member of the group. Before making any decisions, one of your group members says that weather should be taken into consideration while making any decisions. The classmate reaches into a shirt pocket and pulls out a computer printout of an extended weather forecast for Schefferville which came from the Weather Channel. The weather doesn’t look encouraging. Nightime temperatures for the next three days are in the mid-30's. The daytime forecast predicts heavy clouds, with a 40% chance of precipitation throughout the weekend.


Taking all things into consideration, which of the following 8 items would your personally choose to take from the crash site? Hopefully, whatever you choose would assist you and your classmates with survival until you are rescued. Good Luck!



magnetic compass
gallon can of maple syrup
hand ax
wind-up alarm clock
3 pairs of snowshoes
fifth of Bacardi rum, 150 proof
1 aircraft inner tube for a 14" tire which is punctured
safety razor shaving kit with a mirror
1 operating flashlight with 4 batteries
13 wood matches in a metal waterproof container
a small bottle of water purification tablets
a duffel bag full of down filled sleeping bags for each person, but the bag is soaking wet
20" by 20" piece of heavy duty canvas
250 feet of 1/4" braided nylon rope, 50 pound test
a book entitled Northern Star Navigation
a soggy bag of groceries that contains a loaf of bread, oreo cookies, and butter













Now that you have taken the time to identify eight items that you feel are critical to have for your survival, did you ever give any consideration as to what your survival strategy might be? So often, we make decisions without looking at the big picture. Depending on the survival strategy you support, some items may be more valuable than others. Remember, you are cold, wet, and you are the one who has a sprained ankle. What survival strategy do you advocate?


If you are like many people in society, you chose the items without thinking clearly about a rescue plan. Such individuals like to act, sometimes impulsively, before thinking. More than likely you behaved this way. Now you get a second chance at surviving.


Look at the following survival strategies. Which one would advocate?

1. all survivors staying put and waiting to be rescued
2. some survivors leaving and others staying
3. all survivors leaving together

Now, go back and re-examine which items best support your survival strategy. As soon as you have identified the best survival strategy based upon the facts presented, and you have identified the eight best items that would support your strategy, email to me your choices as well as a detailed explanation of why you chose the items that you did. Your rationale is most important for this exercise. You can even explain to me why you did not chose some items. Remember, your life and the lives of others depend upon your decision. Please re-read the items carefully. There are some tricky items on the list.


In your email to me, not only do I want to know the chosen items and your rationale to support your survival strategy, but I also want you to address the following:

1. What mistakes in judgment did you make when you initially chose your items?

2. How long do you really think you have to make a good decision about what to
take off the plane. Remember the time of day and conditions sometimes force
people into deciding things too quickly and perhaps making mistakes.


3. If you weren’t restricted to 8 items, do you think you would try to take off more
than 8 items? Do you have a tendency to carry around a lot of excess baggage?


4. If this incident really happened, would you be afraid? Please explain.



This was my solution!
SURVIVOR CHALLENGE, or a walk in the park!

ITEMS


1) all survivors staying put and waiting to be rescued

gallon can of maple syrup
hand ax
3 pairs of snowshoes
fifth of Bacardi rum, 150 proof
13 wood matches in a metal waterproof container
a duffel bag full of down filled sleeping bags for each person, but the bag is soaking wet
250 feet of 1/4" braided nylon rope, 50 pound test
a book entitled Northern Star Navigation

These Items I would rate in importance in this order:
Hand Axe
13 Matches
book (for burning)
duffel bag full of sleeping bags
3 pairs of snow shoes (for fishing)
250' of rope
the fifth and the gallon of maple syrup are extras, as we already have all we need with the first six.

Couple things, If we were coming from Detroit, that means we were approaching our target town from the SW, so we couldn't have ended up EAST of the town. And if we were only 25 miles from the town, then we cannot be 30 miles south of the flight plan. Regardless, with the exceptionally mild temperatures, the abundance of perfect pine trees, and the many fish filled streams, we will soon be sitting around the camp/signal fire, drying out our sleeping bags on the pine trunk frames, cooking a feast of fish, and getting ready for bed in our pine bough lean-toos.

Using elementary infantry skills, we would build fish traps, use pine trunks tied to the snowshoes to scoop the fish to the creek banks, and the rest is history.

Given that we are disallowed to simply walk out (town can be reached by road/rail only, & one member has sprained ankle), and that we were at 20,000 ft/25 mile range from the airports radar, the searchers have a good idea of where we are, and (I assume) that we will not be seeing long periods of darkness this close too the Arctic circle in summertime. Our best chance is obviously too stick together (so no one gets 'lost in the woods'), and with barren hilltops nearby, signal fires on them should be little problem.

This is where he made his critique.

"I can tell that your military skills helped you with this assignment. It is always good to draw upon past experience to help one's self in a crisis. There is nothing wrong with all of you staying together. You implied that you were disallowed to leave and that is not true. That was certainly an available option. The group could have split up with some staying and some leaving, or the entire group could have left. Or, as you suggest they could stay and be rescued. The major flaw that I am finding with you survival plan is how you ignored the existing weather conditions. You did not crash in the summertime. The weather is in the low 40's at best, and more than likely cloudy and damp. Furthermore there is ice on the lake where you crashed. This does not sound like summer to me. A better analysis of weather conditions was a must in order to make your selections work for you. Hypothermia is a big issue here. I like how you were creative using the snow shoes and rope. You were the very first person to offer that perspective on building fishing traps. Excellent. My major concern would be how you are going to get dry. You never mention the importance of doing this first. All of you emerged from the lake wet and one person is soaking wet. What are you going to do???? It is late in the day and nightfall will be approaching. Potentially you have some wet sleeping bags. In other words, I was looking for a more careful examination of how you would use your resources. You never mentioned anything about the things that you guys had in your pockets that might have been useful. What are you going to do for shelter if it starts to rain or snow, since there is a 40% of that happening? These are all important elements of decision making and one can't just assume things will happen. You needed to have done a better job of spelling out your survival plan. I am taking off 5 points for the aforementioned."

And my response to that, lol.

Hmmm, what wasn't clear about:

"Regardless, with the exceptionally mild temperatures, the abundance of perfect pine trees, and the many fish filled streams, we will soon be sitting around the camp/signal fire,

drying out our sleeping bags on the pine trunk frames,

cooking a feast of fish,

and getting ready for bed in our pine bough lean-toos."

I must have given my answer in the minimum of words, as I didn't ignore anything, lol. I remember going through Arctic training in the Army. We were trained that in (or near) the Arctic circle, at night, in winter, you would be lucky too see temperatures above zero. That's why I mentioned the "exceptionally mild" temperatures, a little tongue in cheek humor, that.

He has yet too respond...

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