Mini Personal Survival KIT (PSK)

Introduction (top)

The information on this page are based upon information from Doug Ritter's Equipped To Survive Web site.  Doug has graciously extended permission for us to post this information on our site.  I encourage you to visit his site  at http://www.equipped.org to learn more about how to use many of the items found in this kit, as well as about general survival techniques and product reviews.  You'll also find information on larger kits, including those for the car or home in case of a disaster.  This information would also be useful for Scouts working towards Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge (an Eagle required badge).

The contents of the kit have been modified slightly from Doug's list so it's more suitable for Scouts.  I have also added a few comments or suggestions based upon my own experience.  Remember, as Doug states in his opening paragraph, that this kit is in a constant state of being revised and improved.  You may decide to add or remove items for your own kit based upon your experiences and ideas.

Good luck and have fun!

Doug Ritter's Mini Survival Kit (top)

by Doug Ritter (dritter@equipped.org)

Doug Ritter's Mini Survival Kit

Being time to repack my personal mini-survival kit, I took the opportunity to update and modify it a bit and take a few photos. Changes were primarily the result of finding new ideas in other small kits or from comments and suggestions in The Survival Forum, as well as a reassessment of needs and functionality. This is an ongoing and never ending search for a perfect kit, which I never expect the achieve. It was interesting that the sum of all the changes resulted in a very slight decrease in weight, down to 5.9 oz. from 6.1 oz.

This kit is designed to fit in a pocket and to supplement what I normally carry on my person, such as my knife and multi-tool, firestarter, signal mirror, etc. It provides gear and supplies that are difficult or impossible to improvise and which are small enough or critical enough to make them worthwhile carrying. In some cases, the items serve as back-up to my normally carried equipment, for example the reflective surface for signaling is back-up to the excellent rated signal mirror I carry.

Bear in mind when considering what I've packed into this small tobacco tin the fact that this tin is the smaller size. Commercially produced kits along this vein all use a larger tin. The difference is they don't have hours to spend re-arranging and tightly packing everything into the kit. To me, that's part of the challenge and fun.

A few other notes. The duct tape was applied to the peel-off backing from some adhesive labels, which allows it to be folded and packed compactly without concerns for it sticking (Thanks to Coghlan's for inspiring that idea). The plastic bobbin around which I wound the fishing line had slightly domed ends which I filed and sanded down so they were flat, significantly reducing the overall height and making it easier to pack. The small plastic vials are Cryogenic Vials from Evergreen Scientific (Thanks to Sue Critz for these). The Potable Aqua is packed in the small glass vials previously featured on ETS. In answer to a question I've received frequently, the Teflon tubing was obtained at an electronics supply house. Any small diameter tubing would suffice to use as a straw to draw water from small seeps.

NOTE: In response to the occasional request, this survival kit is not for sale or available commercially.

If you are interested in a commercially available pocket-size survival kit that has been designed by Doug Ritter, check out the Pocket Survival Pak™ by Adventure Medical Kits, an affordable pocket survival kit that really could save your life.

[Click photos for higher resolution image.]