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The MSR Pocket Rocket | Your little camp dragon

Everyone has their preference when it comes to camp cooking. Some are completely kosher with an MRE; freeze dried food or some sort of protein and granola bars. Others take solace in the process of making a good, warm meal on the trail, out in the wild enjoying Mother Nature. There’s something to be said about hiking 12 miles a day and sitting down with your boots off while cooking some fajitas in your camp kitchen kit. Luckily there is someone to help you with that fine meal at the end of a long trek; the MSR Pocket Rocket.

This past week I spent 5 days out in the gorgeous Arizona desert overlooking Roosevelt lake with 3 of my very best friends from the Army. During the day we were off-roading in my buddies jeep till sunset so there was very little time in the morning to cook a proper breakfast. Well I’m not the one to skip breakfast out in the field, so out came the MSR Pocket Rocket and my stove-top kit from Winterial.

Preparing for these types of meals before you head out to the field is crucial to making your life easier. For breakfast I dice up some raw bacon or breakfast sausage with some potatoes, onions, peppers and keep them in a sandwich bag for each day. This way you can just dump the contents inside the small skillet and sauté away. Turning on the MSR Pocket Rocket reminded me of a fighter jets after burners being engaged at an air show. The burner puts out some serious heat that nearly causes you to worry that you’ll melt the pot over the burner. The new addition of the push-start Piezo Igniter worked the first time and every time thereafter. Flawless operating gives you the peace of mind when out in the field and builds the confidence you need in your gear.

MSR boasts’ that the Pocket Rocket can boil 1 liter of water in 3.3 minutes, and they’re not wrong. I think if you have a Titanium cook set it works faster due to the thinner alloy allowing the water to heat drastically faster. Regardless, I was incredibly impressed with how easy making French Press coffee became in the morning. Coming in at just 2.9oz, you can easily stuff this in a pocket or hang it off a belt loop and you would never notice the weight. It’s actually quite impressive to see the immense abilities of this petite device. Crazy to think that 20 years ago Coleman was making the massive propane burners with far less heat capabilities and minimal thought to packability.

Wilderness survival expert breaks down how to build a fire

Fire is life. It’s cooks our food, it keeps us warm, it drives away the darkness in which we sometimes find ourselves. There’s something incredibly calming, almost meditative, about sitting in front of a crackling blaze. We stare at it intently, slowly getting lost in the flames. Fire connects us, with each other, with ourselves, and with the past. I think that somewhere in all of us is some ancient spark, left over from whatever forward-thinking Neanderthal first brought fire to life, that makes us feel cheered and secure within a fire’s glow. The reality is that in the modern age, the art of fire building is a seemingly unnecessary skill and is often forgotten. But whether you’re suddenly alone on a deserted island after an unexpected misadventure, or simply trying to impress at your future in-law’s summer barbecue, knowing how to make a fire anytime, anywhere can really save your life.

When building a fire, most people simply cheat and use an accelerant; be it lighter fluid or gasoline, soaking a pile of wood in the stuff and then throwing a torch onto it and watching it explode into blazing life is what works for a lot of us. While it’s fun and effective, having a gallon of gas or two with you while hiking or camping just isn’t practical. And not only can accelerants be dangerous as a fire can quickly get out of control, but they are a short cut. Plus, if you intend to cook on said fire, the chemical residue from lighter fluid isn’t the most palatable, unless you like your steaks to taste like a melting credit card, in which case more power to you. So, without using a flammable liquid, the first thing you need to start a good fire is tinder. Tinder can be anything from man-made materials such as newspaper, or natural materials such as dry grass or leaves, that ignite quickly and can hold a flame long enough for you to begin adding more fuel. Always try to add small dry twigs first, followed by larger branches, before you add any large logs. You always want to build a set of coals up to keep your fire going. It can take practice and patience to “build from scratch” like this, but while a slower process than pouring gas on a flame, it’s here that you learn how to bring a fire to life.

Once you have the basic understanding of building a fire then you can put together a simple fire starter kit to carry with you wherever you go, always keeping a potential blaze at hand. Whenever I go into the woods, I slip a small Ziplock bag into my pocket or backpack with a few simple items. First and foremost are two butane torch lighters from Jetpro. I like them because they’re windproof, refillable and simple to click into life with freezing fingers.

As a back-up, since lighters can break or run out of fluid, I also throw in a couple of simple Bic lighters and a flint and steel. I like Swiss Safe’s 5-in-1 fire starter kit steel, because it’s small and light, extremely reliable, and comes with a handy whistle and chunk of parachute cord that I can play with when I’m bored. Aside from the lighters and flint and steel, I also carry a small amount of tinder. This can vary depending on what I have at hand when I remember to refill my kit. Dryer lint, a small ball of duct tape, or a couple of cotton balls coated in Vaseline all work well. I’ll also put in a small bag of pencil shavings or my personal favorite, powdered birch bark, which catch a spark from the flint and steel very effectively. These are all items that are small light and easy to carry, and they ignite quickly and hold a flame even in damp and wet situations.

Now, the thing about fire starters kits is that for them to be effective, you must have them with you. Of course, things can happen like the kit becomes lost or damaged or you forget to bring it. So knowing how to build a fire with literally nothing is pretty vital. We’ve all seen Tom Hank’s rub two sticks together in Cast Away, and in truth doing it that way is entirely possible but not very practical. When I was a kid, I’d spend hours messing around with sticks trying to start a fire and never had much success. I wanted to find a better quicker way to get a fire started and that’s when I discovered the fire bow. A fire bow often called a “fire drill” or a “bow drill,” is a straight piece of wood bent into a bow shape, with a piece of rope tied at either end.

Bow Drill courtesy of WikiMedia Commons

Combined with a spindle, a fire bow is easily the most effective way to quickly start a fire with just two sticks. Using friction to generate heat, when used effectively a fire bow can create an ember that when placed in a tinder bundle (a ball of light dry tinder material) can be coaxed into flame quickly. To make a fire bow simply bend a stout branch into a bow and attach a piece of twine to both ends. Once you have that together pick a dry stick to use as a spindle and wrap it in the center of the string in the bow, tightly enough so it wont slip around too much. Place the end of the spindle in a notched piece of dry wood on the ground held between your knees for stability. Then simply work the bow back and forth like you’re playing a fiddle in a duel against the Devil, while putting downward pressure on the spindle until a coal is formed. Now I may be oversimplifying it a bit and it admittedly takes a bit of practice but using a fire bow is a great fire-starting weapon to have in your quiver.

When it comes down to it, being able to build a fire is a skill. Whether it’s simply building a quick blaze outside a tent to set the mood or coaxing a lifesaving flame from soaked and snow-covered logs with trembling fingers, you want to be sure that you can get it done quickly and efficiently. Everyone knows that dude who throws their family in the car and takes them to McDonalds because he can’t get the campfire going. Don’t be that guy.

 

The warrior’s dilemma: My biggest parenting challenge has been renegotiating my relationship with death

On Thanksgiving Day this past November, something incredible happened: my wife gave birth to my beloved baby girl. It had been a long road, much longer than 9 months, and far more difficult a journey than most people realize. The birth of my daughter was more than a momentous occasion for my wife and I, it was something that we had both grown to fear would never happen at all.

We had decided to have a child while I was still on active duty, and after months of trying the good old fashioned way, we finally relented to testing. The process, I’ll readily admit, is a lot easier for the man — since it basically boils down to romancing yourself into a cup and moving on with your life. For a woman, it’s far more arduous. Strangers with strange devices rummaging around the parts of you no one wants to have them. Laying around in MRI machines while doctors inject easy to track dyes to peer into the internal workings of your plumbing. It goes on.

Worst of all for both of us, however, was the guilt. We each stewed quietly, too afraid to bring up the laundry list of reasons why we each felt that our predicament was our own fault.

I’ve done some pretty bad things. Maybe I just don’t deserve to be a father.

Those musings hurt twice over: first because of the shame over what you’ve done to your spouse (“she should leave me so she can be a mom”) and again when you think about your own wish to be a parent. Of course, little did I realize, she was going through her own laundry list of lifetime transgressions – making all the same decisions about her own fault, her own unworthiness, secretly scared that her husband would leave her in search of a more fertile pasture to start his family. Despite having the sort of relationship where we talk about everything, we never talked about these fears. They were too frightening, too real.

Now, in hindsight, I can honestly say that I think my daughter’s delayed arrival did happen for a reason. Had she been born while I was on active duty, my medical retirement would have been much more difficult and I likely wouldn’t have gone back to school. Had she been born while I worked in HR. I probably would have finished my MBA instead of changing majors and you’d find me, miserable as ever, inside my office near the production floor of a defense contractor. If she’d been born during my first year as a writer, none of us could have afforded to eat.

Instead, she was born on the most fitting of holidays: Thanksgiving of the same year that I became a senior staff writer for a website I once followed on Facebook and thought to myself, “one day… I hope I’m doing stuff like that.” I’m living a winning lottery ticket, and I thank my lucky stars every day. I’ve had a lot of jobs, but now I have the two best ones in the world: being a dad, and being a writer.

I’ve never understood the urge parents have to instill fear in expecting mothers and fathers. Everyone warns you, over and over, about the difficulties of parenting. By the time my daughter was born, I had gotten the “you’ll never sleep again,” “you’ll never have sex again,” “you’ll never have money again,” speeches from just about every person I knew that had ever become a parent. People love to tell you that they love their kids, but if you ask them about parenting, they act like it’s a prison sentence and they’re trying to scare you straight. It doesn’t get better once the baby is born either — every stage your kid enters is “the last good one” before the real horror begins. Teething, potty training, bedtimes. All future skirmishes parents are happy to tell you that you’ll suffer heavy losses in.

It’s all bullshit. Yeah, you sleep less. Yeah, you can’t go drop pills at the club on a Tuesday night or whatever the hell it is most parents seem so upset about missing out on. Instead, you get to hang out a little person that, I shit you not, will occupy your every waking thought, fill you with happiness and excitement, and give you a greater sense of purpose than anything I’ve ever experienced.

That doesn’t seem so bad to me. To be honest, I never slept much to begin with.

After 9 months of well-intentioned warnings about how hard and exhausting and miserable being a parent is (and to be fair, there are times when it genuinely is the first two), you finally bring your baby home and suddenly realize… it’s just you guys and this baby. You’re a team facing the challenge of growing up together. Some parts will be tough, some parts will be great, but to be honest — my best experiences, the ones that truly shaped who I am, weren’t the fun-filled and easy going days at Six Flags. They were the times I was with a team, facing challenges and taking the days as they came: the good and the bad. Now I have my own three-person fire team, and we’re taking on the world in just the same way.

But there is one thing I was never warned about — one struggle of parenting that I’m not sure if I share with others. I was ready for the sleepless nights. I was ready for the anxiety of her getting her first cold, and the fussy misery that is teething. What I wasn’t ready for, however, was the realization that having a baby means renegotiating my relationship with death.

I’ve lived the better part of my life with an understanding that death’s looming presence was always nearby. According to a marriage counselor we visited for a while, my pursuit of dangerous situations and hobbies was born out of self-hatred. He and his degrees figured me for a masochist — I assume because he had never pushed himself to the edge, just to peer over and see what lies beyond. He’d never pushed through broken bones, broken hearts, and broken spirits to finish something for the sake of a team. He had never had the opportunity to learn the joy of self-sacrifice; when something great gets accomplished and you know you had a hand in it.

There’s a freedom that comes with knowing you might get hurt or killed and accepting that risk. Whether you’re in a fire fight or climbing a tree to rescue a kitten, you recognize that you could get hurt, you weigh the cost, and then you push forward — knowing that what you’re setting out to do is more important than what you are. I’m going to climb that mountain, I’m going to take that hill, I’m going to fight until the fight is all there is left of me.

But not anymore.

Although I’m old enough to have been a village elder in another era, I’m not so old that there isn’t any fight left in me. I get up each morning and watch the news while I check messages from sources and colleagues – giving me two different accounts of the same flames that seem to be engulfing so much of our world. It’s good for business, of course — if the world stopped burning, there’d be less to write about — but it reminds me of all the battles being fought out there, all the mountains left unclimbed, all the tough days going by without anyone there to experience them.

Now, when I think of risk, it’s only about ways to mitigate it. Now, when I think about death, it’s not in the same sense as before. The presence of death around me used to make me feel more alive by comparison, gave what I was doing an air of importance. Now, for the first time in my life, I’m scared of it.

Not because I don’t know what comes next for me, but because I’m so afraid of leaving my little girl without a dad.

Ideas still pop up: fights that are worth fighting, risks that are worth taking and for a fleeting moment, I get that old feeling again — purpose mixed with excitement — but then I remember the beautiful smiling face of my daughter. I sigh, shrug, and tuck the idea away.

I’ve lost too many friends to be afraid of dying. If there’s any afterlife waiting for me, regardless of how I’m judged, there are sure to be some familiar faces — but without me, my wife has to face the challenges and the joys of parenting alone. Without me, my daughter has to face the adventure, the excitement, and the heartbreak of growing up without her dad.

And I’d miss it too.

I don’t miss sleep. I don’t miss going to the movies. I don’t miss spending more time with friends or not worrying about when it’s time to refill the humidifier in her nursery. These are the changes in me I not only saw coming, but I longed for.

The only thing I do miss, if I’m being honest, is that presence of death. Reminding me that I come from a long line of warriors that valued accomplishment over self. Our society was built on the backs of men and women that were willing to give all they had to a cause, and now I’m not one of them anymore. It’s easy to go looking for a good death. It’s a lot harder, I’ve found, to resign yourself to the long haul… but it’s worth it.

Because I want to see my little girl grow up into an incredible woman. I want to hold my wife’s hand and choke back tears on her wedding day. I want to hold her baby in my arms, knowing that she too will have to recognize that a torch, burning with our warrior spirit, has now been passed to a new generation.

And I have no doubt that they’ll make us proud.

Images courtesy of the author

Editor’s Note: This piece was first published on April 12, 2018 on NEWSREP

How to Survive Anything: Be prepared for an inbound hurricane

Hurricane season on the Atlantic coast usually runs from the beginning of June to the end of November. So far this season, we’ve been fortunate to only see on full scale hurricane and a hand full of tropical storms meander their way toward shore. However, as history has shown, it only takes one serious storm to cripple an entire region of the nation.

If you find yourself in a hurricane’s path, there are a few things you can do around the house to help minimize your risks while you wait out the storm, as well as to help better position you for success once the storm is over… But remember, the best thing you can do to prepare for a hurricane is to get clear of the storm well before it makes landfall.

  • Stock up on non-perishable foods well ahead of time
  • Cover windows with plywood (use wood screws, not nails)
  • Store loose gear indoors or tie it down
  • Survey your property for trees or tree limbs that look like they could come down. If possible, deal with them ahead of time. If not, avoid rooms in the house near those threats.
  • Make sure you know how to turn off the gas, electricity, and water in your home.
  • Put together some water storage
  • Shelter in an interior room, away from any windows.

Grab your gear and go | Here’s everything you’d need to build an adventure go bag

Grab your gear and go. In the military, especially in Ranger School, you are taught and instructed to never have more than one item out of your ruck at a time. It was always entertaining to see some guy in the position next to me with both boots and socks off just as that fateful high pitched squeal of an artillery simulator kicked off. In school, you never wanted to be that guy.

As I’ve transitioned into civilian life, I still strive to never be the one that gets left behind because I didn’t have my gear in order. Many people have go-bags, medical kits, and emergency rations in their vehicles or homes, but neglect the fun stuff. There have been a couple of occasions throughout the years where I’ve missed out on a quick trip to the mountains or a last-minute adventure because I didn’t have my gear together. I vowed to never let that happen again.

The Adventure GO BAG

I previously kept two large Pelican Cases in the back of my truck for easy access to my gear on the go. This worked great for a while until I needed to transfer the gear to a friends vehicle or throw it on my back to pack into distant camp. I’ve since transitioned to three items for storing and transporting all my necessary adventure gear.

As the seasons change I will adjust the contents of my gear to the specific activities or sudden trips that may come up. Although most of the gear may change, the following is gear that never leaves my adventure go bag no matter the season:

*A sleeping bag should never be stuffed for extended periods of time and is therefore omitted from this list. With everything else packed it only takes a minute to stuff the bag and go.


Gregory Stash Duffle 115L

Grab Your Gear and GO

My go to duffle is the Gregory Stash Duffle 115L. The 115 liters of space allow me to throw in everything I need and have it ready at a moments notice. Having one large heavy-duty duffle for storing gear is essential. Too large and you end-up keeping it packed with more gear than you will ever use. Too small and you run out of room for trips and events that involve multiple sports and activities.

When traveling there is enough room to keep my primary backpack, summit pack, the gear listed above, and any additional equipment. In the winter this includes a baseline of alpine climbing or skiing gear (minus skis of course). Summer and fall allowing me to throw in rock climbing, mountain biking, or other backpacking necessities – the extra weight is worth it.

The Stash has a full length zipper that allows for easy access to all items and makes stuffing in extra gear a breeze. The built-in shoulder straps with reinforced stitching make this duffle pretty darn comfortable if you need to haul in a large quantity of gear. I did just that on a recent “find the rock climbing spot that no-one has been to before” trip. What was thought to be just a few hundred meter hike turned into over an hour of searching and plenty of boulder hopping to reach the crag.

Grab Your Gear and GO

This duffle behaved more like a pack and was able to haul all the necessary climbing gear, food, and water for an evening at the crag.

Gregory Stash Duffle Specs

  • Big, large, huge, zippered opening to main compartment provides exceptional access to interior
  • Can be carried with padded backpack harness straps or with traditional duffel-style handle
  • Top of bag is padded for comfortable carry against back
  • Zippered exterior pocket with key clip
  • Compression straps on each end
  • 4 tubular webbing grab handles
  • 800 D Ballistic and 1680 D Ballistic Nylon main body materials
  • MSRP — $109, but can be found for less online.

Gregory Alpinisto 50L

Grab Your Gear and GO

I own a number of packs and still use them for very specific purposes and when I have ample time to plan and pack. For my grab and go pack I’ve transitioned to the Gregory Alpinisto 50 liter as my do-it-all adventure pack. Although intended for alpine climbing, this pack is capable of multi-day trips in a variety of conditions. From three and four-day backpacking trips, long day hikes, or alpine climbing in the Cascades, this pack checks all the boxes.

Multiple accessory pockets, modern ice tool attachments, and a designated crampon pocket make this pack a do-it-all gear hauler. The comfortable waistband, ergonomic back panel, and side or top openings make this pack not only comfortable, but easy to access. For shorter adventures or for a day at the crag, the pack can be synched down. The crampon pocket is the perfect size for a guidebook or water bottle when not carrying a pair of crampons.

The material is burley and has multiple reinforced stitching points. The gear loops on the waist belt aid in organizing climbing gear while wearing the pack. If you dabble in a variety of outdoor sports and activities this pack may suit your needs as well. The weight, comfort, versatility, and competitive price make this pack a perfect all-rounder.

Grab Your Gear and GOGrab Your Gear and GOGrab Your Gear and GO

 

Gregory Alpinisto 50L Specs

  • Stowable crampon pocket with puncture-resistant TPU panel
  • Stowable, adjustable ice axe attachments
  • Removable top lid, aluminum frame stay, HDPE framesheet, bivy pad, and hipbelt padding
  • Top-loading design with side zip access to main compartment
  • Removable lid pocket with occipital cutout and security pocket on underside
  • Single wand pocket
  • Hydration sleeve with locking zip hose port
  • A-frame ski carry slots with sled pull loops
  • Side compression straps with integrated ice axe retention
  • Rope strap and emergency haul loops
  • Expedition hipbelt with dual gear loops and ice clipper slots
  • High-visibility exterior and interior liner
  • Dual-layer HD nylon bottom panel
  • Sizes: xs – L
  • MSRP — $239, but can be found for less online.

Grab Your Gear and GO

CiloGear 20L WorkSack

Grab Your Gear and GOGrab Your Gear and GOGrab Your Gear and GO

Next to my pack and easily stuffed inside of my duffle is a CiloGear 20L WorkSack. If there is a better summit bag or pack for multi-pitch trad climbs, I haven’t found it. Based out of Portland, Oregon, these guys make every pack to order. Their small operation produces packs that are used and coveted by some of the best climbers and adventurers the world over. I know I’ve got this guy on my wish list.

When on a multi-day climb and you want to move fast to the summit and back, this is the pack to take. At only 330g (10 oz) this pack weighs next to nothing and packs down in into a larger pack until needed. I’ve used this pack on numerous occasions climbing throughout Oregon and California. On longer mountain biking days I used this pack with a hydration bladder and still had plenty of room for lunch, jacket, and other luxuries. The greatest benefit is how this pack rides on your back. It sits up high and between your shoulder blades. It doesn’t get in the way and makes access to a climbing harness a breeze.

CiloGear 20L WorkSack Specs

  • Weight – 330g
  • Material: Dimension Polyant VX07: 70d nylon ripstop laminated in a five ply sandwich with dacron X-Pac for rip resistance and structural stability. This fabric is 200 psi waterproof.
  • Colors: black, red, grey
  • Two side mesh pockets
  • Inner ninja pocket for keys and other small items
  • Inner sleeve that will fit a hydration bladder. I cut a section from an old foam pad to use as a bivy seat and it also protects my back from any hard or sharp objects.
  • MSRP — $69

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Overall, find what combination works for you. These are what I use today, but I may find something else that works better a week down the line. The most important thing is to always be prepared, have fun, and never miss out on an adventure again. Grab your gear and go. If you have an adventure go bag, let us know what you carry and why.

Check out this setup for more great adventure ready ideas.









Off the beaten path: 4 tips for mitigating the risks of adventure traveling

I’ve done a fair amount of traveling over the years. I’ve stood next to pyramids on two continents, wandered around the Coliseum and the Acropolis, gone white water rafting in Alaska and relaxed at a wine tasting in Malta. Que Johnny Cash singing, “I’ve been everywhere,” because, although there’s still plenty of world left to see, I’ve seen enough to know what to expect when I get there.

Despite what Tumblr posts and motivational memes on Facebook would have you believe, travel alone isn’t really enough to educate you in the ways of the world. Tourism is a powerful industry; powerful enough to shape your experiences as you jet set around the globe. Many tourism based economies revolve around the idea of giving you (the tourist) what you want. In some places, that means only offering food that fits a region’s stereotypes rather than local tastes, but in others, like many Central and South American countries, it often means the construction of entire facades intended to convince you of some Disney interpretation of local life, carefully built at just the right angle to obstruct your view of reality. The reality of poverty tends to stay under wraps–but that’s not the only way traveling can mislead you.

It’s honestly pretty easy to write an article laying out a few simple steps that can help keep you safe when seeking adventure that’s a bit off the beaten path, but the problem with that sort of article is that the IDEA of adventure seeking inherently requires a bit of risk. The risk in some situations, is the very goal of the trip. Therefore, the secret is to actively manage those risks, and make sure you try your best not to end up in over your head.

 

Do your research.

Back in my HR days, I was always amazed at people who would come into my office for an interview without ever even googling the company they hoped to work for. If you didn’t know what we did, or the specific requirements for the job, you were unprepared and off my hiring list. Call it harsh, but if you don’t prep for our meeting I’ll assume you aren’t going to a competent leader if hired.

Just like you should know all you can about a company before an interview, you should know all you can about a place before you arrive. No, that doesn’t mean re-reading the brochure your travel agent gave you, it means doing a little digging around the internet, checking news stories and, if applicable, State Department warnings. If you’re visiting someplace you’ve already been, you should still do some research to see what new changes have occurred since your last visit.

This counts for cities in the U.S. as well. Before I set off on a trip to New Orleans a few years ago, I did some quick google research and found a story about local thugs approaching tourists and asking them “where they got their shoes.” Apparently, it would make people glance downward, allowing these criminals a chance to start the beat down with an unobstructed shot to the head, followed by a good old-fashioned mugging.

The very concept sounded too idiotic to be true–until I found myself standing face to face with a big, bald dude in a Bourbon Street alley less than 24 hours later, asking me where I got my shoes.

Maybe he saw me walking around in khakis and a polo shirt from afar and thought I’d be an easy mark, but realized he bit off more than he could chew when all 6 feet and 230 pounds of me was staring him in the eye and waiting for him to flinch. Maybe he was just really into alleys and shoes. Either way, I kept my wallet that night and possibly my intact face, thanks to situational awareness and a bit of background research. Having a real mean stare helps sometimes too.

 

Image courtesy of the US Army

Plan for the worst.

It doesn’t always seem cool to be the guy that’s planning for safety. Some will think you’re paranoid, others that you’re “playing operator” and just showing off your tactical vocabulary, and there’s usually at least one (like my wife) that’s a little too sure of his or herself, and in their ability to fight their way out of trouble. To quote Mike Tyson, “Everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

You need to be the person with a plan for WHEN you get punched in the mouth. Identify a spot to meet back up if you get separated from your group, talk about how to get to safety and what safety IS in the location you’re in. At the mall in Cleveland, safety might mean just meeting up in front of Sears. In Turkey, it could mean finding a consulate, depending on your faith in local law enforcement (the last time I was there, they were far more interested in taking pictures of my wife with their cell phones than giving me directions).

If you’re traveling with veterans, they probably won’t think twice when you start dropping ORM bombs (Operational Risk Management) in the middle of planning a night of hard drinking in Honduran bars, but if you’re among civilians, you may catch a few stray eye rolls–but I’ll always take those over right crosses, or god forbid, stray rounds.

 

Trust your gut.

This is the second time I’ve written an article about travel advice and included those three words. That’s not due to a lack of creativity, it’s because your gut is THAT important when it comes to survival.

Trusting your gut is more than trusting yourself–it’s about trusting a specific part of yourself. I once tried to fight a group of guys in Italy over five Euros. My gut told me that I was in a dangerous situation, but it was my ego that told me the solution was to punch my way out of it. Fortunately for me, my wife was present in both body and mind and just gave the dude the money to save her husband’s hide. My ego said that was giving in, but my gut knew it was the fastest way to getting us out of a dangerous situation. Paying up isn’t always the right move, but in that instance, squaring off with street peddlers just outside the Vatican gates, it was the right call.

It’s not in my nature to avoid a fight, but it is often in my best interest. If you can manage it, especially when overseas, diffuse situations before they start and look for ways to ease tensions as they rise. Avoiding a fight might not only save your life, but even winning a fight in many countries will land you a trip to the sort of jails you’ve only seen on the Discovery Channel. Use that gut instinct to get you of harm’s way, before harm even knows you’re there.

 

Acknowledge that some risk is necessary.

In the military, every operation can be visualized in the form of a fraction: you take your risk factors and throw them on top, you take your objectives and stick them on the bottom, and hopefully your result will be equal to or less than 1. From there, work on ways to mitigate risks until the ratio starts looking friendlier.

Travel doesn’t have to be very risky at all, but sipping rum runners from the deck of a cruise ship isn’t everyone’s idea of adventure and if you’re hoping to go live a chapter in a book you hope to write one day, it’ll mean raising the risk number in the numerator of that fraction.

You don’t always have to avoid risks to reduce the threat they present, sometimes you need only to be aware of them. However, it’s imperative that you make an objective assessment of what could go wrong in the pursuit of your adventure, and pair it with an honest appraisal of how much risk you’re willing to deem acceptable. That’s a personal decision that needs to be based on your level of experience, ability to address dangerous situations on the fly, and the amount of faith you have in the people around you.

Risk doesn’t have to be avoided, but it should always be assessed.

 

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