Things to Consider When a Shelter is Needed

When a time comes for you to build a shelter whether it is temporary or permanent is a great idea to always plan ahead. This doesn't mean having every supply on hand to make your shelter happen. However having certain tools necessary to help you efficiently and accurately build a shelter. With a little planning and preparation, you can have some of the necessities that will make building your shelter much easier. There are devices today such as the handheld chainsaw that will help you if you need to cut down small trees in order to build your shelter.

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Having familiarized yourself with techniques that can be utilized when building a shelter will help you immensely in the situation when you have to consider building one. Knowing where to put your shelter is just as important as how to build it. Placing your shelter in a safe environment that is out of the way of flash flooding, and other natural disasters is very important. Sometimes a simple thing like a heavy rainstorm can not only ruin your shelter it can also ruin supplies that you have if you're not prepared.

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If you take into consideration a few basic things when building a shelter, you should come out successful. Things such as how long you will be there, how much room you need, whether you are going to need a fireplace inside your shelter or not, and if you have any tools or accessories to help a process of building your shelter. With a little bit of planning and some pre-empted studying, you will have yourself prepared for any situation in which you have to consider building a shelter.

 

S.E., what you have in the photo up above is a nice, neat cabin. That's a whole LOT more than a shelter. That's the kind of thing that you almost need a permit to build. Don't get me wrong. That's a lovely place and better than most places I've stayed in my military days. Truth be known, there are days I would of LOVED to have had that building to live out of and operate.

My idea of a survival shelter would be a couple of ponchos snapped together, lifted off the ground by a couple of metal rods or wooden poles and supported in the ground by strings/cord attached to stakes driven into the ground. The ponchos should be about 6 feet or maybe a little more off the ground in the center. Just enough height for me to move around under in a comfortable fashion. I might stack brush up on the west and southwest side because that's the direction wind and rain will come from in my area. I might also use more brush to camouflage my tent or, if operating behind enemy lines, lower the tent for less visibility and better hide it.

Now, to be honest, there were many nights in Viet Nam when my recon team never used tents at all. If you're on the move and dodging possible hostile contact, you may need to rough it and go without any kind of shelter to sleep under or in. That means sleeping on the ground or, if you're lucky, sleeping in a hammock if you have one. That brings us to the idea that your gear has to be flexible enough to allow you to set up a temporary shelter, let you sleep on the ground and still let you carry all of it in a rucksack without needing a truck to haul you and the rucksack around in the bed of the truck.

But, like you, I agree about planning ahead. You have to plan ahead for your area where you will be operating, your survival mission and what kind of shelter need you will want. I can easily see making a shelter like the one you have pictured above in some situations. In fact, that shelter is very reminiscent of shelters used by Russians in WW2 on their Western Front. The only difference was that the Russian shelters were dug into the sides of hills and had canvas tarps for roofs with mud floors. Your shelter shows more potential for expansion and improvement and longer use than the Russian shelters.

So both of us have ideas about shelters. Both ideas are valid and will work depending on different factors. The shelter pictured up above is one for more of a permanent base of operations in a very rural area. What I describe is how combat paratroopers worked in Viet Nam.

 

I will be carrying a folding saw, hammer, assort. of nails, screws, screw drivers, a small folding shovel, ground cloth tarp, larger heavy tarp, heavy black plastic, duct tape, rope, zip ties, sleeping bag, knife, weapon. This is only for shelter. Other supplies would be carried for water, fire, cooking, food, cleaning off, change of clothes, etc.