What 23 Years in 29 Commando Taught Me About Survival

By Steven Kelly (Survival Ste)

When people hear “military survival”, they picture a bloke lighting a fire with two sticks. Fire matters, but after 23 years in the British Army, including service with 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, it was rarely the first thing on my mind.

The things that stuck with me were much less glamorous. Know where you are. Look after your kit and your feet. Keep an eye on the weather. Sort out small problems before they become big ones.

I carried those habits into South West Survival and then onto Naked and Afraid. The location changes, but the fundamentals don't.

Navigation comes before survival tricks

Navigation was a big part of my Army career. I still see people buying expensive outdoor kit who haven't learnt to read a map properly. Modern GPS is useful, and I use it myself, but a phone isn't a plan on its own.

Know where you're starting, what the ground looks like, what your alternative routes are and when you need to turn back. Take a map and compass and learn to use them. If you stay found, you've already avoided a lot of trouble.

Good personal admin keeps you out of trouble

Wet socks, broken kit, missing meals and a bad night of sleep don't sound dramatic. But they stack up. When you're tired and cold, you rush jobs and make poor decisions. One mistake leads to another.

The Army drilled the basics into us: check your kit, look after your feet, protect dry clothing and don't leave eating and drinking until you're struggling. It might not make a great 15-second video. It works.

British weather deserves respect

My military training covered jungle, desert, Arctic and mountain environments, including cold-weather training in Norway. But you don't need to go abroad to get caught out. I've seen plenty of nasty conditions on Dartmoor and across the UK.

Once you're soaked and the wind gets up, simple things take longer. Fingers stop working properly. People get short-tempered, then make rushed decisions because all they want is to get warm.

For a normal day in the British hills, I'd rather see someone carrying proper waterproofs, warm layers, a head torch and an emergency shelter than relying on an expensive collection of survival gadgets. Have a realistic finishing time and know how to get off the hill.

Energy is a resource, not something to waste showing off

I completed 21 days in Colombia on Naked and Afraid and a further 35 days in South Africa on Naked and Afraid: Apocalypse. That's 56 days across the franchise. It was an excellent reminder that everything you do has a cost.

Building a shelter is great, but have you picked the right spot? Have you got water sorted? How much energy will you burn making it? Could you make something simpler and keep enough in the tank for tomorrow?

My first thought is never “what clever survival trick can I show?” It's “what actually needs doing next?” Sometimes that means building a fire. Sometimes it means getting under cover, filtering water or leaving a job until conditions improve.

Changing the plan isn't failing

On a Great Glen canoe expedition, our canoe capsized on Loch Lochy. We ended up in the water with our kit, and the rest of the group helped recover us. The sensible response wasn't to pretend nothing had happened. It was to deal with the situation.

More recently, I set off on an off-road walk across Dartmoor. The weather turned nasty and we finished at Princetown rather than forcing the original route. I wrote about the trip in my Dartmoor expedition article.

Experience won't stop every problem. It should help you recognise one sooner, change the plan and get everybody home.

Leadership is about paying attention to people

Good leadership in the field is often straightforward. Check that the team is coping. Share the jobs. Listen when someone spots a problem. Don't let confidence become arrogance.

On long survival challenges, hunger and exhaustion can turn minor disagreements into big ones. I've seen how quickly a group can pull together when everyone has a clear job, and how quickly frustration can get in the way.

Twenty-three years in uniform taught me to look after the people around me, not just concentrate on whatever task is in front of me.

A military background doesn't automatically make you an expert

I've met excellent bushcraft instructors who've never served a day in the forces. I've also met former soldiers who would struggle in unfamiliar country. A military background gives you experience and habits, but the real test is whether you can apply them and teach somebody else.

At South West Survival, I don't need people to act like commandos. I want them to go home knowing how to make better decisions outdoors and with practical skills they can use without me standing beside them.

Where military survival and television meet

People often ask me if the Army prepared me for Naked and Afraid. It certainly gave me useful habits around fieldcraft, keeping calm and dealing with discomfort. But going without food for weeks and living with strangers under cameras is its own test.

For the other side of that story, read what a TV survival expert actually does. I also have a personal guide to 20 UK survival experts, including military instructors, bushcraft teachers and TV survivalists.

Want to learn the skills properly?

At South West Survival we teach fire, shelter, water, navigation and fieldcraft in the woods, including military-inspired survival courses and practical outdoor education. It's about getting competent, not pretending you're in a television programme.

Explore the survival courses or contact South West Survival. For TV, speaking and media work, use my enquiry page.

Quick questions

Is military survival training the same as bushcraft?

They overlap, but they're not identical. Military survival tends to prioritise staying alive and functioning when things have gone wrong. Bushcraft also develops the skills for living competently outdoors over longer periods.

What's the most useful military survival skill for a UK hiker?

Navigation backed up by good judgement. Know where you are, have another way out and don't be too proud to turn back.

Does Steven Kelly run military-style survival courses?

Yes. I founded South West Survival in Devon to teach practical survival skills drawn from my military and civilian experience.