[The Reaper]

Sten:

Excellent advice from someone who has spent this amount of time in a primitive area, if not humping a ruck. Your nutrition points are well stated. I did the same prior to survival training, carrying as much weight as I could and eating like a pig till we went to the woods. After five days, I was barely starting to feel the hunger.

I disagree about weapons and fighting natives. Some will be friendly, most will be neutral, and some are going to try and kill you regardless. A good .308 sturmgewehr with a low mag optic is, IMHO, the way to go. I believe that if you drop the first one hard with what to them would appear to be a plasma rifle, the rest may look for easier game. At least, till you stop, make camp, and go to sleep again.

IMHO, a good, battle rifle should last, without cleaning, for far more rounds than you can carry.

While I would like to have 2,000 rounds, I suspect that I would have to get by with several hundred, mostly hunting rounds with a few tracers should a firepower demo need to be given.

No one has picked up on my pistol idea yet. I would either take a 9mm with a .22LR conversion kit, or a .22LR pistol. The .22LR is a great round for dispatching small game and running a trap line. The game return on the weight carried is superior in all aspects for the .22LR. I might take 2,000 rounds of .22, though 1,000 would likely be more than adequate, unless you are a bad shot. If possible, I would look to get an integrally suppressed version (and carry some sub-sonic match loads), so as not to attract too much attention while harvesting game. You could even add a NAA .22 Mini-revolver to the kit for a last ditch/hide-out gun. A head shot, even with a .22, should end most disagreements.

A good Li Ion rechargeable battery should make it through the two years of the trip with power to spare. A solar charger roll attached to the top of the ruck should help keep it charged, though you may have to ration power.

I would expect a high end pair of boots to last till the winter break. At that point, you could repair them with a set of spare soles, or make the soles from leather, if you were able to acquire the hides and tan them properly.

For watches, I prefer the Casio Triple Sensors with the solar chargers. You then have a handy barometer, altimeter, compass, and thermometer.

A dedicated man can survive some pretty bad injuries with minimal care. Stop the bleeding, repair the injury as best you can, etc. Since you are pre-antibiotic, all strains should, in theory, be extremely succeptible to treatment by a good course of appropriate antibiotics. I would carry a BIG med kit, and several bars of soap, though if you save the animal fat, render it, mix it with ashes and some ground up limestone, you can make your own.

The point is well made though that if you act like Bear Grylls and insist on climbing up, or jumping down mountains, trying to swim significant rivers in near freezing temps, playing with local fauna, eating the native flora, etc., eventually, you are going to break a major bone, or get bit, poisoned, etc. Even an encounter with a bunch of bees could be terminal, especially without a video crew to get you out.

Good discussion!

TR