Just Stayin’ Alive Teaching Kids Skills To Survive Outdoors Tests Instructor’s Mettle

Eat worms? No problem. Make fire with wet wood? Easy. Build a snow shelter in sub-zero temperatures? A piece of cake.

During his 20 years as an Air Force survival instructor, Tom Lutyens tapped his wits and a pocket knife to endure some of the harshest tests the outdoors can deliver.

A more recent challenge, however, taxed the veteran’s cache of savvy.

“Teaching the basics of winter survival to kids in less than two hours isn’t going to be easy,” he said as he hauled a pack to a site on Mount Spokane. “I normally spend days at a chalk board preparing students before we ever set foot outdoors.”

Indeed, his first session with a group of Garfield Elementary School kids was rough around the edges.

“I can digress for hours on ways to make a spark,” the Spokane man said, watching the first group leave. “That session was over before I knew it.”

Eight more kids would soon be on their way during the two-day school getaway to The Resort at Mount Spokane.

“I got to thinking, these kids aren’t even allowed to carry basic survival gear to school,” he said, raising his eyebrows. “If they get caught with a knife and matches, they’ll be locked up in the principal’s office.”

By the time the next group struggled up the snowy hill to his makeshift lean-to, Lutyens had used his armpit to warm a bag of snow into a cup of water.

And he’d boiled his vast survival repertoire into a few basic points useful to kids as well as adults.

He was hunkered and looking much like a tramp under a bridge when the kids arrived. He had made a simple shelter using a plastic sheet and parachute cord he always carries outdoors in his survival kit.

Health, shelter, fire, water, signal.

That was the message.

Survival situations often involve an accident. Take care of your health first, he told the kids. Stop the bleeding, for example, or get away from the rockfall that could inflict more injury.

Then devote your attention to shelter.

“There’s another shelter that’s even simpler than this lean-to,” he said, pulling a wad of plastic grocery bags from his pocket. Seconds later, kids were conserving heat and warding off the snowfall with small bags over their caps and larger garbage bags over their torsos.

“Plastic bags don’t weigh anything and they don’t take up much space,” he said. “You should always have a few stuffed in your pockets, because they have so many uses.”

The importance of prevention was stressed repeatedly.

“Always tell a responsible adult where you are going, what you’re going to do, when you’ll return and who you’re with,” he said. “I’m not including your brother or sister as a responsible adult.”

Never go out alone, he added. “That’s the rule for soldiers and other adults as well as kids.”

A survival instructor’s concept of prevention ranges from home to the field.

“Stay dry,” he said. “Shelter yourself from the rain or snow before you get wet. Unzip your coat and ventilate to avoid sweating and soaking your clothing from the inside out.”

Wetness kills, he said.

The snow had been scraped away under the shelter. Nevertheless, when Lutyens knelt, he put a pad between his knee and the ground.

“This is shelter, too,” he said, pointing to the pack on which he was sitting. “Use tree boughs, cardboard or whatever you can find to insulate yourself from wetness and cold.”

The kids were especially keen on the zippered bag he had filled with snow and stuffed in his armpit between his shirt and coat.

“You can survive weeks without food, but you can only go a few days without water,” he said. “Avoid eating snow. It dehydrates you and cool your inner core. It’s much better to melt snow and drink it.”

A fire helps.

“I know you kids aren’t allowed to carry matches at school, but you need to learn how to use them,” he said. “Tell your mom or dad you want to help light the fireplace or the barbecue.”

All of the kids said they knew how to light a match. But given a chance to prove it, none of them could light one effectively.

They got a quick lesson in crouching to block the wind, making a short stroke to light the match in the cup of their hands. They learned to hold the match head down for a few seconds, allowing the flame to climb the wood of the match stick.

Lutyens started a small fire under his shelter and retraced a few of the survival steps.

He showed the kids how he keeps his waterproof matches in a waterproof case that’s kept in a zipper-type plastic bag.

“If you can keep a plastic bag closed, you can have waterproof matches,” he said. “If you have dry matches, you can have fire. If you can have fire, you can live.”

“What about food?” a boy asked.

“You can survive weeks without food,” he said. “But you should carry peanut butter. It’s the most concentrated form of fat and calories, and tastes good, too. It will help fuel your body furnace.

“Water is far more important,” he said, scooping snow in his metal cup and putting it over the fire.

As water depletes from your body, he pointed out, you become less efficient. Eventually you become stupid. Ultimately you die.

“You can improve your grades 5 percent just by keeping well hydrated,” he said. “If you’re not peeing a clear stream, you’re dehydrated.”

But as long as you’re still breathing, you can signal for help if you carry a whistle, he said.

Everyone who goes in the woods should have one.

“It’s not a toy, though. Blow it only in an emergency. A whistle can be heard farther than you can yell.”

Should they become lost, the kids were told they’re better off to make themselves dry and comfortable and stay put rather than wander around, he said.

Go to an opening and stamp a V in the snow in case an airplane flies overhead. Listen for help.

“There’s a lot you can teach your parents about survival,” he said. “Have them put a blanket, some plastic bags, emergency road flares, water bottle, whistle, candle and matches in your car. Duct tape, too.

“You might save their lives.”

All too quickly, the session was over. The kids scurried down the hill, but Lutyens seemed content to be hunkered in his shelter.

“You can’t wave a magic wand and teach people all they need to know in a few minutes or even a week,” he said, poking the fire with a stick. “But some of those kids were sharp. I could tell some of them had the right stuff.

“The best survivors are people who simply say they aren’t going to die.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: 10 ESSENTIALS Outdoors groups and mountaineering clubs have devised a list of essential gear that should be with every hiker, hunter, climber or outher outdoors adventurer heading away from the road. With these “10 essentials” and ht eknowledge to use them, life-threatening situations can be prevented. 1. Map of the area 2. Compass 3. Extra food 4. Extra clothing 5. Flashlight with extra cells 6. First aid kit 7. Matches in a waterproof case 8. Firestarter 9. Sturdy pocketknife 10. Sunglasses and sunscreen