Survival Kits

My Dad in 1972, gifted me and my brother with Parachute Pack Survival Kits.  One of the Survival Masters out at Fairchild Air Force Base, gave them to him.  They were past their use by date.  He said to keep one in each glove box, and give one to each of the kids.  I thought this was the ultimate gift.  We weren't rich.  If I really wanted GI Joe, I'm sure that Dad would have found a way to get one for me.  I wanted to BE GI Joe.  Judging from my gun locker I'm afraid I succeeded.  Don't have a bazooka, but I did have a cannon for 3 years!  Kissing a pound of Black Powder per shot goodbye, even when I got it for free, went against the grain!

Back to the survival kit.  According to the intertubes it's known as a su-16 and the contents are as follows.

1	Aluminum Foil (contents packaging) may be utilized as an improvised signal mirror	Poor
EMERGENCY DEVICES GROUP
1	Colonial Ranger brand Medium Stockman 3-blade folding knife, sawcut plastic handles, 3.375 inches overall, 2-inch clip-point main blade, 1.375-inch sheepsfoot blade, 1.187 inch pen blade.	Good
10	Wooden Safety Matches and 2 striker strips, 2 packs of 5 each and striker strip wrapped in very heavy aluminum foil	Adequate
4	Tinder Sticks, 1 x 0.187 x 0.187 inches, individually wrapped in aluminum foil	Very Good
1	18mm Brass Dry Compass with lanyard ring	Excellent
3	Fish Hooks, 2 small, 1 medium, snelled with 7.5 inch monofilament leader	Very Good
MEDICAL GROUP
WATER & FOOD GROUP
1	Condom (water container)	Good
MISCELLANEOUS & MULTI-PURPOSE GROUP
2	Heavy Duty Sewing Needle	Excellent
16 ft./ 4.8m	Stainless Steel Wire	Good
1	Survival Instruction Sheet on Waterproof Parchment	Good
1	Cardboard Box inside sealed aluminumized plastic film pouch inside Nomex cloth sleeve: Box: 5 x 1.5 x 0.5 inches (127 x 38 x 13 mm), Pack: 7.25 x 2 x 0.625 inches (184 x 51 x 16 mm)

Mine had iodine tabs for water purification as well.  Dad pulled the condoms from the kit, as he didn't want us running around with big hurking water balloons.  I remember a scene of great hilarity as they showed the neighbor lady the 'water bag'.  I seem to remember some fishing line, though the survival master explained that the threads inside the paracord, or the thread sewing the pack shut, could be used as additional fishing line.  I loved the button compass.  I thought the kit came with a stainless steel Camillus pocket knife, I was the most envied scout in my troop!  But the stockman knife mostly ended up in Dad's pocket as a small handy knife.  The single blade lockers didn't catch on until early in the 80s.  It was the 90's before they became common carry with me.  If I'd known about inflation, I'd have snapped up a gross of those 4 blade Camillus Knives when they were $3.95 or cheaper!

here is the case for my current survival kit, my previous one was a 3X5 card case.  Altoids can is too small.

The bottom makes a dandy signalling mirror.  In addition to the parachute pack contents, I keep a little knife in there, some blue jean denim. a few different ways to start a fire.  I'm wondering if the modern version of the Liberator Pistol might be needing to be included soon.  When I'm feeling a little more outgoing, I'll expand on this entry.  A large portion of my life I solved problems by thinking in terms of "Survival Kits"...