The Official U.S. Army Survival Guide

As a soldier, you can be sent to any area of the world. It may be in a temperate, tropical, arctic, or subarctic region. You expect to have all your personal equipment and your unit members with you wherever you go. However, there is no guarantee it will be so. You could find yourself alone in a remote area, possibly enemy territory, with little or no personal gear. This manual provides information and describes basic techniques that will enable you to survive and return alive should you find yourself in such a situation.

If you are a trainer, use this information as a base on which to build survival training. You know the areas to which your unit is likely to deploy, the means by which it will travel, and the territory through which it will travel. Read what this manual says about survival in those particular areas and find out all you can about those areas. Read other books on survival. Develop a survival-training program that will enable your unit members to meet any survival situation they may face. It can make the difference between life and death.