(Before It's News)
I’ve been out of the military for a long, long time now. However, I still remember many of the things that were taught to me back then. Those Drill Sergeants, bless their hearts, really knew how to drive home the lessons they were teaching us. Looking back over the years, I can see they were teaching us lessons that would save our lives in combat. I can still remember our map reading and compass orientation course, and the drill sergeant told us “a good soldier never gets lost, they just get disoriented.” At the time, I wasn’t sure what that actually meant, I mean, “lost” is “lost” isn’t it – no matter what you might call it? And, map reading was a very important skill to learn, not just for a means of finding you way back to the base camp, but for calling in artillery on an enemy position, if needed.
I love the outdoors, and don’t get out there as much as I’d like to these days. However, I’m happy to say, I’ve never been lost – not in the wilderness, nor in the big city. I have an uncanny sense of direction – always have. However, I’ve run across some hunters, who were “misoriented” and couldn’t remember where they parked their vehicles or where their hunting camp was located. Before heading out to go hunting, in terrain that I’m not familiar with, I’ll take the time to study a topo map of the area – all the various road in the area, as well as sources of water, too. It’s just good sense, to have an idea of where you’re going in the wilderness – and the big cities. I don’t know how many people I’ve run across, who can’t even read a compass, and if they can read a compass, they haven’t set it for the declination in the area they’re in. When my girls were younger, I taught them how to use a map and compass, and how to learn which direction was north, south, east or west, too.
Many people die each year, because they lost their sense of direction and get lost in the wilderness. Also, boaters who might have a problem out on the ocean or a large lake, can get lost, and they have no means of finding their way back home. Here in Oregon, we have several people each year die while attempting to climb Mount Hood. It looks like an easy mountain to scale, but it’s not. And, more often than not, those who get killed climbing Mount Hood are “experienced” climber – they take unnecessary risks – where an amateur won’t take those same risks. Climbers get caught in snow storms – and they can’t get rescued because no one knows exactly where they are at. Sad!
Today I’m reviewing the Rescue Me PLB1 (Personal Locator Beacon) from Datrex. Now, a lot of people think I’m pretty smart – while that may be true, I’m just not smart all the time.
Source: http://www.survivalblog.com/2013/10/pats-product-review---rescue-me-personal-locator-beacon-1.html