Survival Tips

More helpful ideas from the US Army Survival manual, printed in 1970:

Cooking makes most foods more tasty and digestible, and destroys bacteria, toxins, and harmful plant and animal products.

All parts of the animal are edible, inducing the meaty parts of the skull such as the brain, eyes, tongue, and fleshy portions.

Frogs, small snakes, and lizards can be roasted on a stick. Large snakes and eels are better if boiled first. Boil turtles until the shell comes off. Cut up the meat and mix it with tubers and greens to form a soup. Salamanders, roasted on a stick, are edible. Skin all frogs and snakes before cooking as the skin may be toxic.

Survival Tips

From FM21-76 (U.S. Department of the Army Field Manual, Survival, Evasion, and Escape, 1969)

• Small fires are easier to build and control than large fires. A series of small fires built in a circle around you in cold weather gives more heat than one big fire.

• Never speak to a stranger if it can be avoided. As a last resort, pretend to be deaf and dumb or even half-witted. This device has often been successful. To discourage conversation in public conveyance, pretend to read or sleep.

• The milky sap of the unripe papaya fruit is a good meat tenderizer if rubbed into the meat. Avoid getting this juice into the eyes -- it will cause intense pain and temporary or even permanent blindness.