A while back, on one of my periodic trips back to Nashville to visit my parents, I noticed a book sitting on the kitchen table that was so nondescript that it actually stood out from the clutter that shared the space. The cover was unbleached and unmarked, save the minimum amount of information required to properly identify the book. At the top was a very official looking identification number, and printed in the middle of the book were the words “US ARMY SURVIVAL MANUAL”

“I knew you were in to that sort of thing.” my father said as I picked up the “Reprint of the Department of the Army Field Manual” that lay in front of me and began flipping through the pages filled with diagrams of ropes, instructions on cleaning deer, arctic survival methods and countless other pointers for a life of necessity. A bit overkill, I thought but it was definitely a nice gesture.

Later, I decided to sit down and read a bit from the USASM (I have decided to take precedent from the Army and refer to the Manual as an acronym). One of the first things that struck me, on page 3 of the manual was “To overcome the first danger—the desire for comfort—you need to change the way you think of comfort.” I thought, “That is one of the best first rules for survival I have heard in a while” and continued on.

Now, with a 70–mile hike on the Appalachian Trail creeping eerily close I can’t help but think back to this statement and wonder how much money I have spent preparing for this trip. I am not going to go into the exact details, but sufficed to say there is a lot of “preparation” that needs to be made for such an arduous journey. As I am packing gear into my (smallest in the group) backpack, I can’t help but think “do I really need this to survive?” My initial response is no, but after a bit of reflection, I have come to a conclusion inspired by the old Boy Scout motto I knew so well as a child: “Be Prepared.” While I don’t need a sleeping pad or a percolator to “survive” in the most basic sense, I know more or less what is ahead of me, and purposefully packing light just to “rough it,” while a noble and romantic thought, will inevitably lead to suffering down the road. I suppose it all boils down to me being a creature of the new millennium, but I personally don’t see the harm in being a little prepared.

—d