You’re stranded in the middle of nowhere, injured and without help in sight. Your cell phone has no signal and is not going to be the lifeline you were counting on it to be.
Whether you find yourself in the deepest of forests or stalled out on the most desolate of desert highways, this is a situation you don’t want to find yourself in. However, calling for help without your cell phone may be easier to achieve than you ever imagined.
It can happen to anyone
The reality of emergency situations, survival situations, and downright nasty conditions is that positivity is hard to harness as the gravity of your situation weighs more and more on your consciousness. It is hard to stay positive when the hardship factor is reading “11” on a scale of 1 to 10.
How can you improve your chances of survival when you seem to have no control over all the elements?
The solution is not easy and it is not immediate. There isn’t a switch to turn off your hardships, and there definitely isn’t a reset button. In fact, the solution to winning the mental challenge of survival is not quick at all and resembles more of a marathon than a sprint.
The solution is winning little victories and building upon these triumphs toward a positive mental attitude and, ultimately, your survival.
Stay strong
Studies show that if you have photos of children in your wallet, you’re more likely to have it returned with all its contents if it is lost. There is a better reason to carry photos in your wallet: It can establish your worth. Are you someone’s uncle? Are you a brother? Are you a member of a team? Whatever you are, carry reminders of your worth.
It is far easier to give up when you let yourself succumb to the idea of “I’m no one” or “Who even cares about me?” Never lose sight of who you are and what you’re worth. If you struggle to recount who you are, think about who you want to be and what you want to do.
Do you want to be a father? Do you want to summit all the high peaks in the lower 48 states? Do you want to marry someone?
Sometimes setting goals like these are all the motivation we need. The problem in group settings is the perception of purpose. Do you see your purpose as part of the problem or part of the solution?
Whenever possible, identify your purpose. Even in a solo situation, tell yourself your only purpose is to get that fire going. In a group, assign responsibility and divvy up the work. Set someone’s purpose as collecting firewood, another’s as picking edible leaves, another’s as gathering salvaged resources. Make sure everyone has a purpose because with purpose, you have a goal. Win the little victory over feeling worthless.
Signaling for help
Signaling indicates that you need help while in distress. Many of the methods of signals are a universal language, recognizable all over the world. There are so many methods of creating a distress signal that it all depends on what materials you have available.
If you are in trouble the two primary ways that you can attract help to your location include sight and sound signals. You can use various visual or audio signals to indicate your position. Visual signal types are the most efficient ones when you are stranded in the wild.
People are naturally going to notice and investigate a repetitive sound or visual anomaly (such as a whistle or flashing lights), particularly if they can be recognized as international signals of distress, such as the Morse code signal for “SOS.”
People are naturally curious, and you want them to be attracted to your location if help is needed, so sound off and light their way whenever possible.
Loud & clear
One of the best audible ways to attract attention to your location is by using a safety whistle. Whistles are lightweight, compact, can be kept on your key ring or attached to your pack, and are extremely durable.
The sound from a safety/distress whistle can carry over a quarter-mile by land and half a mile across bodies of water. Sound from a whistle is also omnidirectional. So, if you’re stuck in a canyon, for example, an individual completely out of your line of sight both vertically or laterally could potentially hear your distress signal.
The other benefit is that whistles require very little physical exertion to use, as opposed to, say, yelling at the top of your lungs for any duration of time.
The same principles apply to creating other loud signals. Banging pots and pans, pounding rocks together, hitting branches against trees or hollow logs, and any other means of generating a loud noise in consistent intervals is better than yelling alone.
Gunshots, for example, depending on your location, can carry for miles. As ammunition is limited, this may be a last resort, however.
A good rule for signaling is to provide about five seconds between sounds to increase the chances that someone will interpret the sound as deliberate and be allowed time to hone in on the origin of the noise and your exact location.
Shining through
Visual signals are best employed when audible distress calls will not work. This is especially the case when rescuers are far off or are inside vehicles (land, sea, or air) where they cannot hear your calls for help.
Some of the most common types of visual distress signals include flashlights, mirrors, flares, signal flags, and fire and its resulting smoke.
In order for a visual signal to attract attention, you will either be creating a widely visible signal of distress for all to see, such as smoke from a fire or a signal flare, or you may be directly targeting your efforts at visible rescue sources that you can see but who may not be able to see or hear you.
For the latter, think of directing the light from a flashlight or reflection from a signal mirror from the top of a mountain range to the camp at the base of the mountain below.
Flashlights are good for low-light and nighttime conditions, and high-powered LED flashlights are especially great for signaling help and generally retain power longer. When using a flashlight, remember that Morse code for “SOS” is three short flashes, followed by three longer flashes, followed by three short flashes. You can click the light on and off or pass your hand in front of the beam in this sequence to relay this signal.
Compact signal mirrors aren’t just for making sure you look good with that new pack on. To use one as intended, you’ll want to look through the little hole in the center of the mirror and center your potential rescuer through it.
Then extend your other hand and make a “V” with your fingers, center the rescuer between your fingers and then shine the reflected light between your fingers’ “V” formation. This method should help to best reflect the light onto or near your target’s location, where it will attract attention.
Get rescued
Flares and flare guns are highly visible light sources, particularly at night. Flares also double as a quick ignition source to create fire, which in turn produces smoke. Be mindful of your environment and surroundings to avoid accidentally spreading uncontained fire. Suddenly having to outrun a forest fire will not improve your situation.
Controlled smoke, however, can be a great signal during both night and day. Adding green, leafy plant matter to a fire will produce white or lighter-colored smoke, whereas rubber tires or other manmade materials will produce thick, darker smoke. Cover your nose and mouth with a wet bandana or shirt to avoid inhalation when working with smoke signals.
Flags have been used for centuries as effective signaling devices. The international symbol for distress is a flag of any national origin being flown upside down. For national flags with symmetrical designs (i.e., Japan), simply tie a knot in the flag to signal the same—you are in distress and need help.
A white or light-colored shirt can be draped or attached to your stranded vehicle, and “SOS” or other distress messages may be scrawled on them.
Concluding
As always, remember that preparedness is the name of the game. Whenever possible, mitigate the risk of being stranded by letting those close to you, such as friends or family members, know where you’re going and when you plan on being back.
Leave them an itinerary, draw a map or send an email to friends and family before embarking on your journey with the intended routes, waypoints, and contact information of those who may be in your travel party.
This type of preparation doesn’t make you reliant or weak but rather leaves you easy to locate should things not go according to plan and you require emergency assistance.
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Your concluding comments are the most important made. Yes, the mechanics are important, but the sooner Search and Rescue knows to come looking for you, the more likely they are to be successful. Something I didn’t see mentioned is panic. People start to do completely irrational things when panic sets in. Always have some high energy/calorie food with you and more water than you think you’ll need. Carry a compass and learn to use it. And, once you are certain that you are lost, stay put. Moving targets are the most difficult to find.
Good luck and stay safe!