Tactical Bushcraft Primer

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.”---Abraham Lincoln

A quick scan of any defense or law enforcement budget shows that the overall trend is toward technology. It’s the same with the civilian and contractor industries. New fangled solutions offered up to solve timeless problems such as getting yourself fed, watered and out of the weather are, for the most part, overly expensive and dependent upon supply lines, service technicians or worse—customer support hotlines.

At the same time however, there is a sub-current of military, law enforcement and civilian individuals moving in the opposite direction. They are going against the grain and seeking the most simple, solid and flexible skills and gear by which to provide for basic and advanced operational needs.

Somewhere mixed in and over toward the other end of the spectrum is a small contingent of practitioners dedicated to reviving and preserving the essential survival skills used over the ages by all cultures. Friction fire, plant fiber technology (weaving, employing plant material for rope, etc.) stone tool fabrication and celestial navigation are all found in this sphere.

What we propose as an alternate to all of these extremes is a guideline of utility. One that states broadly:

Use anything and everything necessary to achieve adequate shelter, sustenance, hydration and warmth. Do not get locked into dogma one way or another. It is a hindrance to survival.

Perspective

Millennia ago, when primitive hunting cultures left home to procure meat for their tribes, it was tracking that often determined whether or not they were successful. The abilities—both gleaned from elders and improvised on the spot—to use the bounty of the natural environment must have played an enormous role in the survival of individual hunters and hunting bands. Insights into the various tools, supplements, raw materials and relationships found everyday in any given natural environment would make the difference between getting home if/when things went wrong on the hunt.

Somewhere along the timeline early man came to understand fire, projectile weapons, permanent and temporary shelters and—essentially—we progressed from there. Tracking and group hunting gave way to agriculture as the primary means of food procurement. Nomadic cultures adjusted to sedentary lifestyles and so on.

However, for thousands of years, right up through even the 1970’s and 80’s westernized culture retained vestiges (and in many cases, whole knowledge bases) of useful survival-related understanding. Modern tracking probably reached its apex in the form of two legendary collectives: the Apache Indians and the Rhodesian Tracker Combat Unit. Other units have achieved phenomenal tracking results, however these two seem to have established themselves in the historical and culture records as the true tracking and scout masters.

There is least one important commonality between these two groups: each of them had the capacity to not only live, but to thrive, for extended periods of time in complete and semi-isolation within the wild places where they plied their trade—and to do so with minimal outside support. Often times with none whatsoever.

When taken in the context of human survival desert southwest (Apache) and southern Africa (TCU), respectively, present very different challenges, pitfalls, rewards and needs. Yet, both of these tracker groups were able to consistently feed, water, shelter and generally sustain themselves under extreme stress, both physical and mental while engaging formidable enemies.

This brings up the point that while tracking and survival are both rooted in a fundamental framework that can translate from one environment to another, both skills also depend upon a familiarity those environments. Change the flora, fauna and climate and you’ve got a whole new set of challenges. The principles remain, but the specifics must be adjusted. So how do we train for the broadest possible application of these skills?

Reviewing/Renewing Origins

The word ‘tactical’ having devolved to little more than a marketing buzz work, gets overused, but the original meaning (My advantages go up and yours go down.) still contains an important value. In terms of tactical bushcraft we are simply talking about how you go about surviving while tracking.

What shelter do you choose and how will you make it; what will your water source be as you are led over an unknown landscape, sometimes for days; how are you going to eat and how are you going to regulate your core temperature? And most importantly how are you going to do all of that while maintaining your own security?

We are going to go about everything we do with the intention of leaving the absolute least signature possible. We are going to make our fires as unnoticeable as possible, our food give off the least odor and give up the least noise when harvested. We are going to procure water without leaving a trace and make our shelters with an eye towards both security and hasty movement—as it might be necessary at any point.

We are going to do it in a way that brings us the most possible advantage and brings the other guy the least. In other words, tactically.

Modern tactical trackers usually have the luxury of supply lines, but what of those situations where there are none? Do they give up the track? Wait for support/re-supply and lose the quarry?

It would depend on the tracking team and their capabilities. If they can supply themselves from the environment and stay out an extra day (or more), then they should if it ultimately increases their odds of completing the mission. If they simply aren’t capable of this, then they are subject to the whims of outside forces and may potentially lose whatever tactical advantage they had built up.

A Flexible Framework

There are certain principles which will lay the foundation for such a team capability and we’ll close this article with them. Future installments will expand on these principles and provide mini-lessons on a few of the techniques as well as precise gear suggestions.

Should organizations be interested in further instruction, TÝR Group is capable of adding bushcraft components to any class.

Principle One

The environment is your grocery and hardware store—to a point.

Principle Two

Your gear is like a paintbrush, you still need paint, canvas and creativity to get anything done.

Principle Three

Maximum utility adheres to neither prejudice of method nor to doctrine.

The common idea behind all of these is more or less to do whatever you can with whatever you have while minimizing effort and maximizing return on that effort.

For example, unless we are training, it is frankly better to carry three Bic lighters in various places on your person AND know how to make a bow drill if you have to than to rely on one or the other. Likewise it is highly valuable to know how to make a primitive forge and manufacture a field blade out of an old leaf spring—however if we are on a mission we are carrying a large chopping knife and probably two smaller backups. If everything goes sideways and we are without weapons then we’ll start searching for a broken down Mercedes and get to making charcoal.

The British used to say, “Knowledge is light in the rucksack and can’t be left at home.” This is the essence of those principles above and speaks to the philosophy of mindset, knowledge and preparation—in that order. After the mindset of survival is deeply understood, every technique becomes little more than a trick, which can oftentimes only be used in a specific environment. Preparation and knowledge are sort of like the egg/chicken argument but if we are being sincere about it we’d rather be able to know how to handle the worst possible case and avoid it through preparation.

A. Edwards is a tracker, fieldcraft instructor and Wilderness-EMT/NREMT. At TÝR Group he provides expertise in wilderness survival, communications. A graduate of various survival, tactical and weapons-based schools, he also holds degrees in English and Film.