Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1532587
The Swedish training with Partyzanci Lubel- szczyzny bid us farewell with rain. We left with open minds, filled with new and fasci- nating knowledge. Those three guys chan- ged how I pack for the forest: I now carry significantly less gear, see more, and when passing certain trees, bushes, and plants, I recall what can be done with them. I think about new ways to use them. Yes. This kind of training teaches you how to think. And that's fundamental in survival, because survival is an unforeseen life-threatening si- tuation. It's a fight to stay alive. The return trip was still ahead of me. After reaching Jönköping and saying goodbye to Tomasz and Bartek, I waited for my FlixBus while listening to my audiobook, the conti- nuing story of Dr. Adam, now training in the maternity ward. After 10 hours and three transfers, I was home. Was it worth attending this training? I'd say: definitely yes. A highly knowledge- able team, teaching in a simple, fun, and ef- fective way. They didn't waste time making us run endless kilometers through the fo- rest. The instructors had solid military expe- rience. Bravo, gentlemen! Well done. Facebook: Magister w Lesie (This article contains product placements.) The next day greeted us with rain and cold. This time, Bartek and I helped Hubert slice a 10 cm (yes, ten-centimeter!) slab of pork fat and crack 86 eggs for scrambled eggs. Needless to say, it was once again outstan- ding. And Tomek's cardamom-infused cof- fee elevated our campfire cooking to at least one Michelin star. After breakfast, Szlendi announced another trip into the forest. To our delight, he infor- med us that in this beautiful rain, we would be starting a fire using only a flint and wha- tever we could find. Imagine our surprise when, on the way, most of us, remembering yesterday's training, didn't hesitate to scalp fallen birch trunks into neat squares. Before long, 13 small fires were burning along the path. Mission accomplished. Next, we ventured deeper into the forest, where Szlendi, using a string and a few care- fully prepared sticks, conjured up a pressu- re-triggered "trap". Placed near a trail, it co- uld alert us if someone was approaching the camp or, with a slight modification, could, if survival demanded, help catch a "marten- squirrel" for dinner. After the demonstration, it was our turn. We began setting traps, and in our imagination, we had already thinned out the forest of its darting martensquirrels (a word that stuck with us and is now often used in our family discussions). Armed with this new knowledge, we retur- ned to camp. On the last day, I also took a series of pho- tos of my sleeping bag, which had been my savior on the first night. The Snugpak Navi- gator SQ retained heat well. Additional draft tubes around the zipper and neck sealed everything tightly. Even at zero degrees Cel- sius, sleeping directly on the ground, I didn't feel the cold. Later, while talking to the Snugpak team, they told me that the Snugpak Expedition was rated for –17°C and would have been a better choice. But I had chosen the Navi- gator SQ for a simple reason: I was worried about excess baggage at the airport and the hassle it could cause. The Navigator SQ is smaller and lighter. www.fragoutmag.com