Survival (20 page)

John Middleton hesitated. He looked at Amber's face. It was thin and bruised, but he had not seen it so full of life and energy since before her parents died. 'Well,' he said slowly. 'There'd have to be safeguards. I'd need to give my approval to every mission--'

'Thank you!' yelled Amber. 'You won't regret this, Uncle. You'll see!'

'I'm regretting it already,' muttered John Middle-ton, slumping down onto the sofa again.

'If we're going to be a team,' said Li, 'we need a name.'

'I have a name for us,' said Hex, quietly.

'Thought you might, code boy,' smiled Amber, coming to stand at the head of his bed.

'Go on then, tell us,' said Li, moving with Paulo to stand at his other side.

'It's not A-Watch, is it?' asked Alex, joining the rest of them.

'No,' said Hex. 'We don't just watch any more. We're a force. A force to be reckoned with. I think we should call ourselves Alpha Force.'

'Alpha?' said Li. 'What's that?'

'Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet,' said Hex. He reached up and gently touched the gold Omega sign at Amber's neck. 'Omega - the end. Alpha - a new beginning.'

Amber nodded, her eyes filling with tears.

'And there's another reason for Alpha,' said Hex. 'It just happens to be made up from the initial letters of our names.'

'Amber, Li, Paulo, Hex and Alex,' said Alex. 'That's amazing, Hex!'

'So,' said Amber. 'Are we agreed? We will be Alpha Force?'

Alex, Li, Paulo and Hex all nodded their agreement.

'Alpha Force,' they said.

CHRIS RYAN'S TOP TEN
TIPS FOR SURVIVAL IN
TROPICAL CONDITIONS

1. PLANNING AND INFORMATION

If setting out into the tropics, plan ahead as much as possible - we always did so in the SAS - and try to know what you might be faced with. For example, why not try and learn about the types of animals and insects that live there before you go? If you wake up in the morning with a spider walking over your stomach, it would really help to know if it was poisonous or not! I always take a basic survival kit with me if I'm going anywhere my survival might be at risk.

MY BASIC SURVIVAL KIT
(stored in a waterproof box or tin)

1. Matches

2. A flint

3. A magnifying glass

4. Needle and thread: several needles, and coarse thread

5. A compass, the luminous button type

6. A beta light: this is a light-emitting crystal the size of a small coin. It's good for map-reading at night and for fishing. Expensive, but everlasting.

7. Beef stock cubes x 2 for drinks

8. Medical kit: aspirin, water-sterilizing tablets, plasters, butterfly sutures (once, I had to stitch up a guy's leg. It had been cut very badly with a machete and we couldn't get medical assistance because the helicopter couldn't come in for two whole days, so I stitched up his leg to stop the bleeding. Eventually, the helicopter arrived and he was taken to hospital where the wound was cleaned and healed); a condom (it makes a good water-bag, holding 1 litre of water), antiseptic cream and cotton-wool

9. A mobile phone, though not in my SAS days as they weren't available then. Nowadays, though, a mobile can be a life-saver

10. A small pocket-knife

If you make a kit for yourself, let an adult check your kit and that you can handle a pocket-knife.

2. DON'T PANIC

It's easy to panic when things go wrong, but panic wastes energy and helps nobody. Stay calm and assess the situation. Check what materials you have available - wreckage from a boat or clothing, and what is available around you - e.g.: good dry sticks for building a fire etc. Then begin working on the most important things first.

Our basic needs in any survival situation are:
WATER FOOD FIRE SHELTER

3. FIND FRESH DRINKING WATER

Guess how long the average human can go without food? The answer is three weeks. But you can only survive three days without water. (During the Gulf War, I was in the desert and was starting to deteriorate very quickly due to lack of water. Without water, the body just stops functioning. I started collapsing and passing out. Finally, after three days, I managed to find some water to drink in the River Euphrates, and I started to recover fairly swiftly. As soon as you give the body water again, you can start to function as normal fairly fast.) In any survival situation, finding fresh water is therefore our number one priority.

TO KEEP FLUID-LOSS DOWN TO A MINIMUM:

1. Find shade. Get out of the sun, and don't lie directly on a hot surface; place something between you and the surface.

2. Limit your movements (just rest whenever possible).

3. Eat as little as possible as food requires water for digestion.

4. Keep talking down to a minimum and breathe through your nose, not your mouth.

5. Never drink seawater.

Game trails should lead to fresh drinking water as animals also need water to drink. You can spot a game trail by the animal tracks on the ground and the way in which the undergrowth is pushed back by regular passage.

When you find fresh water, do not drink it immediately. There may still be bacteria in the water and you should first boil it to sterilize it, or use water-sterilizing tablets if you have any. A mate of mine once drank unsterilized water and puked non-stop for over forty-eight hours! And if you've got really thirsty, don't guzzle it down, take only small sips or you might just vomit it all up again.

4. FIND FOOD

If you've been used to a couple of good meals a day, a survival situation means you will almost certainly feel hungry pretty quickly. Although you can survive for a long time without food, we do need food in order to maintain energy in the long term and build new tissues within the body.

ON A TROPICAL ISLAND, YOUR MAIN SOURCE OF FOOD SHOULD BE FROM THE SEA.

1. Wait for low tide and then check tidal pools and wet sand. Rocks along beaches often bear clinging shellfish and molluscs. Do not eat shell fish that are not covered by water at high tide, and only eat bi-valved molluscs that have opened their shells when cooked (bi-valved means there are two parts to the shell). And be aware that mussels are poisonous in tropical zones during the summer.

2. Seaweeds can be dried and stored for several months.

3. Coconuts. Watch out for these falling and hitting you on the head! Don't drink milk from very young coconuts (green) or old (dark brown) as these give diarrhoea. And believe me, you do not want diarrhoea when you're a hundred miles from the nearest bit of toilet paper!

Within the rainforest, most fruits will grow up near the canopy.

If you scout around near the base you may find food that animals have dropped such as berries and types of fruits and, in extreme emergencies, you might have to try and climb up to get this. However, if attempting to eat any fruit or berries you find, you need to be very careful not to eat anything poisonous. Better to wait, if possible, for rescue. But if it is a real emergency and you must try eating something, take the time to check out whether or not it is OK to eat. It could save your life! First look at the food and see if it appears slimy or rotten in any way, then smell it (an almond or peachy smell is dodgy), then rub a small piece onto your skin and wait fifteen minutes to see if there is any reaction. If not, rub a piece on your lips, again wait another fifteen minutes and, if no reaction, continue in this way, gradually increasing your exposure. Touch a piece with the tip of your tongue, place a small piece within your mouth but do not swallow. Spit it out after a few minutes, and if there's no reaction, try eating a very small piece, no bigger than your little fingernail. If there is still no reaction, you are probably safe to eat it but, to be extra-sure, wait several hours before trying a larger amount. And remember - only attempt this in a real emergency as it's not foolproof as some people react differently to others. You might know someone who has a nut allergy for instance.

If you have been sweating a lot and begin to feel dizzy, sick and tired, you could be lacking salt. A pinch of salt in a pint of water is enough, but if you haven't got any salt tablets with you, dilute a little seawater in lots of fresh water and drink, or leave some seawater out in the sun so that the water evaporates and you are left with some salt crystals.

5. BUILD A FIRE

A fire can:

- keep you warm and dry

- be used for cooking

- be used to boil water to purify it

- be used as a signal (see Tip 10)

A good point to remember with fire is the fire triangle.

Without one of these elements, your fire will go out.

6. TRY AND PUT UP A SHELTER

A shelter can protect you from the sun, wind, rain and insects. It can make you feel better too and this will help increase your will to survive.

You'll need to pick a site where there's plenty of material to build it with, and remember to make it large enough and level enough for you to lie down comfortably.

Try, too, to camp on the edge of forests so that you can see anything approaching.

Places to avoid building your shelter:

1. Hilltops exposed to the wind

2. Valley bottoms (could be damp)

3. Near tracks that look like ones that animals use regularly

4. Always look up into tree canopies for dead wood that could come crashing down when it is windy. A big branch could kill you!

5. Keep away from solitary trees that may attract lightning

One further point: a latrine. Make sure this is some distance away from your camp, downwind. It's not just hygienic; inquisitive wildlife could come and check it out!