Keeping up morale

nuub

I was talking to a few friends that served in the forces and they were mentioning some items they used to carry to help keep morale up. They placed so much importance on it and the difference it can make to someone caught in the worst situations.

But looking at videos on youtube and other places one thing that ppl rarely mention besides the usual important stuff like fire, shelter and water very few have anything for keeping up there morale (except the ex soldiers ).

So I am going to add a new baggy to my B.O.B that's just for morale. Not too sure of the contents of it yet but would love to hear your ideas of what you have in your Kit that you would use for a quick boost while out in the field ?

Doc Ruby

I have sticky sour apple sweets and a twist of tea in muslin for just that purpose.

eirator

Fresh gound coffee.

Except NO subsitutes!

Black no sugar, easy to produce a decent cup and for that extra morale boost have it in a decent china mug.

Drinking good coffee is a ritual for me but there are so many other morale boosting rituals that you can keep up. A bit like the British Stiff Upper Lip you must keep up standards, some well chosen ones anyway. The morale boost is in showing you are better than and one up on the situation. We have an occasional survival situation at home because of our location and we boost morale by having a decent meal and a bottle of wine even though we might all be wearing wellies and paddling around in a foot of muddy water. Followed of course by decent coffee.

Tabnabs

Chocolate and fresh fruit usually tucked away in pocket or hidden in bag for me.

ShadowFox

Deck of cards cigars hip flask of brandy

aaakev

I have a bag with tea bags, coffee an sugar, a few bars of chocolate and some sucky sweets, its always in my hikin gear. Cant beat a hot drink on top of a mountain when your freezin!! Never considered a hip flask because im always drivin where im goin!

nuub

Got around to putting one together. I put a small pack of playing cards, wet wipes , mini lynx deodorant, 12.6 gram pouch of tobacco and a mini bottle of redbull.

Khannie

eirator wrote: »

Fresh gound coffee.

It keeps flavour much better as beans.

Stovepipe

the ability to have a decent wash, doesn't matter if it's cold.
regards
Stovepipe

eirator

Stovepipe wrote: »

the ability to have a decent wash, doesn't matter if it's cold.
regards
Stovepipe

And dry cloths to put on afterwards is a bonus, even better if they are clean.

jugger

putting on clean dry socks i dont know why but that always feels great

eirator

jugger wrote: »

putting on clean dry socks i dont know why but that always feels great

Yep socks would be the number item of dry clothing on my list.

I have a definition of being wet and it states your not really wet untill there's water dripping down the crack of your arse , but still wet feet are a real demoraliser.

Rhinocharge

Hot chocolate, just about the best thing in the world when the spirits are down.
Change of socks & jocks, nothing beats the feeling of fresh clothing against the vitals.
Talc, dry off excess water from the feet, especially between the toes.
Wet gear or poncho, save yourself getting pissed on in the first place.
Popcorn, campfire popcorn, the smell alone boosts morale.
Small wind up radio, just to keep up with the outside world.
Photo of loved one's, remember why your busting your hump.
Dark chocolate, a little goes along way.
Mint cake, a sugar rush, high energy food, feel good snack.
Beef Jerky, it always brings a smile to my face.

I realise that 5 of the above options are food related, but finding something sweet & satisfying always lifts my soul.

fenris

Dry socks, tea and dark chocolate.

Praetorian Saighdiuir

You would be surprised how much better you feel after brushing your teeth and changing you socks.

jugger

four other people think dry socks are moral boost .....thank god i thought i had some strange sock fetish!!!!!

eirator

Being a predemoralised glass half empty type of person I worry about the dry sock fetish because I might not have dry boots to put back on

Dry socks are good but I don't have them at the top of my Keeping up morale list because most of the times I've come to use them everything is so wet inculding boots they aren't always as morale boosting as they could be.

Add in a good fire making kit so you can get a fire going and dry out before you put on clean dry socks moves them back up the list.

There are two parts to this Keeping up moral, the item that helps keep it up is sort of irrelevant because its often more the thought of putting on dry socks, eating a chocolate bar or drinking coffee (or whatever) that keeps you going more than the actual doing. You can think for a long time about stopping and eating a chocolate bar when you are soaking wet and stuggling on just that bit futher but once eaten that its its gone.

Khannie

jugger wrote: »

four other people think dry socks are moral boost .....thank god i thought i had some strange sock fetish!!!!!

I have spare socks in my drawer in work. True story.

Misty Moon

Yep, another fan of plenty of dry socks here.

Otherwise, it's some kind of music for me. Since I don't play any instruments (although I've thought for a while that a tin whistle would be excellent to learn as it's so portable) that means singing for me. And although I know a lot of music, a book of lyrics is something I'm likely to always have to hand. Because singing the same verse over and over gets irritating after a while. I suppose you might end up in some situations where you have to keep quiet but until I was, then singing would be it for me. The only time I don't sing is when I'm depressed and if were to be in the middle of a depressive episode during a SHTF situation, not much would stop me being demoralised anyway.

eirator

After a week of some very cold walks (I do 3-5 miles a day) I've decided to add another item to the morale boosting list and its my SanDisk Zip Mp3 player. When its really cold I put on something like one of Spike Milligans books (ripped from CD) Adolf Hitler My Part In His Downfall, works wonders, gets me laughing and forgetting how cold it is.

fenris

Khannie wrote: »

I have spare socks in my drawer in work. True story.

I thought that I was the only one!

eirator

And I've cleared out a few desks where ex-employes have left stuff behind after leaving a company and I'll leave you to guess what I often found in the drawers and they wern't always clean!

Got given an old laptop for spare parts recently and when I searched the bag it was in guess what I found?

They're BREEDING!

Deise Musashi

Dry socks, coffee and plastic playing cards.

For me a couple of DMT Diasharp sharpeners and a small strop, sharp knives make me happy and helps me zone out end of day.