Please Remember What's First

Please Remember What's First - The priorities of Survival

Protection

Priority number one in a survival situation is the protection of yourself - whether from extreme conditions (sub zero temperatures and wet clothing, for example, will kill you in a few hours, as will extreme heat with no shade), dangerous animals, or an airplane about to explode. You must protect yourself first - there is no point getting water but becoming hypothermic in the process.

Rescue

The next priority is to set yourself up to be rescued - lay out objects, stones, or whatever material is at hand, in a large SOS near your shelter. Rescue services will start their search as soon as they know you are in trouble, so don't miss those early opportunities to be saved; be prepared. As long as it is safe to do so, you should wait where you are. Stay put. If you are in a vehicle, don't stray from it. Stay nearby. Be smart; make yourself safe, make yourself visible, and then wait to be rescued. If the rescue services are not going to come, or days have passed with no sign of searches, then you need to think about planning self rescue: getting yourself out of there on your own two feet. This should be a last resort, but ultimately rescue must be the main goal of survival and you must do whatever it takes to save yourself. Leave a signal, either on the ground with stones or anything you can find, to indicate the direction you are taking and when you left, then prepare yourself and go for it.

Water

Once you are protected from the elements, and prepared for rescue, you must stay alive long enough for rescue to come. Water now becomes you top priority. Think in 3s: You can live three hours without decent protection from extreme heat or cold; Three days without water; But you can survive for three week without food. Get your priorities straight. You must find water.

Food

Energy is needed even more so if your plan involves self-rescue. But remember, you can survive much longer without food than without water, and your body has plenty of reserves of both muscle and fat to work through. If water is in short supply, restrict your eating, especially of too much protein, which requires more water to digest. Learn to scavenge as early man did. Find berries, maggots or grubs before you chase the big game. This is how you really stay alive.

So that's it: PRWF....Protection, Rescue, Water, Food...or PLEASE REMEMBER WHAT'S FIRST!

Sources from Man Vs Wild - Bear Grylls