One of the key outdoor skills you need to master is starting a fire. Obviously if you are evading an enemy, fire may not be feasible, but in a survival situation, it may save your life. You need to have items in your fire kit that are considered sure-fire items—supplies that will give you a flame in any weather condition.

Chances are, if you have to start a fire in a survival situation, the conditions won’t be ideal thanks to Murphy’s law. It will likely be cold, wet, snowy, or windy, which is why you need sure-fire items in your kit.

Being able to get a fire going is beneficial for several reasons (in order of importance):

1. To dry out clothing and provide warmth to combat hypothermia.
2. To boil water or melt snow so that you can stay hydrated.
3. To cook any food or game you have caught, trapped, or killed.
4. To signal for help or rescue.

My personal rule of thumb when it comes to a fire kit is to have a minimum of three ignition sources and a few methods of sure-fire tinder to start a fire.

The items I have in my fire kit have been field-tested and work for me. Take the time to test the items you choose in a controlled environment so that you know how to use them and become confident that they will work when you need them to.

Practice not only in fair weather, but also in inclement weather. The more you practice, the more confident you’ll be if you’re thrown into a survival situation.

My kit is kept in a canvas zippered pouch made by Frost River:

An ignition method is something that can produce either a direct flame or a spark hot enough to ignite tinder. Here are my three ignition methods I’ve chosen for my kit. Sometimes I may change up my kit to test other products, but I will always have three methods of ignition.

• Ferro rod with striker
• BIC lighter
• UCO Titan storm-proof matches

A sure-fire tinder is a tinder that will ignite by one or more of the above methods in any weather condition. The sure-fire tinder sources I’ve chosen for my kit are as follows:

Mini/Micro Inferno – Tear apart the mini Inferno disk to expose the inner fibers, then ignite it with any one of your ignition sources.

This will give you a guaranteed flame for five to seven minutes while you add other sticks and fuel to your fire.

Pine fat wood – Fat wood has a high resin content; resin is very flammable. Use the spine of your knife to scrape off fine shavings and then the blade to carve off smaller pieces.

It should easily take a flame or spark, giving you that guaranteed fire when you need it.

Gorilla duct tape – Chances are you’re going to have this in your kit anyway, so why not take advantage of it to assist in starting a fire?

Pull off several 6″ strips, then tear those strips into smaller strips in order to increase surface area for igniting. Once you’ve processed the tape, roll the strips into a loose ball shape and ignite it with one of your ignition sources.

Get outside to practice your fire-making skills and build your confidence so you’ll be prepared if that need ever arises in a survival situation.

Scott Witner is a former Marine Infantryman. Served with 2ndBn/8th Marines and was later attached to the 24th MEU(SOC) during a deployment to the Mediterranean. He has received training in Desert Warfare at 29 Palms, Mountain Warfare/Survival School at the MWTC in Bridgeport California, Korean Mountain Warfare school in Pohang Korea, and Jungle Warfare in Okinawa Japan. Scott has also cross trained with the Korean ROK Marines, French Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment, and the British Royal Marines. Follow Scott on Tumblr.

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Despite 2015's freakishly warm holiday weather, winter is one of the worst conditions to endure.

That's why the US military has courses designed to teach its people how to survive in arctic temperatures.

Here are a few tips from the Winter Survival Course handbook and some items the Marine Corps consider essential to combating the cold.

Here's what the Marines say to take with you if you venture deep into the cold (somewhere other than New York) this winter.

Key Items:

Water/Food: At least a few gallons of water is advisable in harsh conditions.

Fire-starting material: Flint, matches, or a lighter.

550 Cord: This gets its name from the weight it can bear. Good for making shelters, trapping animals, and treating wounds.

Blankets/Poncho

A metal container: For boiling water. It's not safe to eat mass amounts of snow off the ground. Must be a non-petrol carrying container. Kill two birds with one stone and carry a can of beans.

Tape: Electrical or gorilla duct tape has near-infinite uses.

A knife and/or multipurpose tool: Some of these actually contain a flint.

First Aid kit

Compass

A mirror: For signaling. In a pinch, a makeup mirror will suffice.

Pocket sewing kit

Essential Tips:

Planning: First you have to assemble your kit. If it's mobile, make sure it's kept in a water proof container or bag.

As for the first 24 hours of being lost or stuck:

Shelter: If you're in a car, don't leave it. If you're on foot, build a shelter, or find one: Finding shelter is the paramount consideration when stranded in extreme weather.

Hollowed-out logs can be cleaned out and enhanced. Caves work as well. Reduced living space means warmer living space. Beware of occupying animals, and consider ventilation.

Here's an example of a snow cave, dug from beneath a tree caught in a snowdrift:

Start a fire: And plan to maintain that fire. Dig a hole and use dry pencil-thick branches and evergreen limbs as kindling. Evergreens burn fast and hot.

Fuel should be thicker limbs that have broken off a tree — found near the ground, but not submerged in snow.

Now for the second 24 hours.

Find water: Nearby lakes and rivers are great but snow and ice will do. Ice is better because it has a higher water content by volume.

You can build a water generator out of three sturdy sticks, some binding, and a plastic bag, sock, or shirt:

Conserve food: Given that you told people where you were going, they'll be out looking for you within a day or so. Catching food in the wild is not difficult though.

550 cord (or better yet, fishing line, if any is handy) can be used for snares. Paper clips, hairpins and sewing kits all yield hasty fishing hooks.

Here's a brief how-to on building a quick snare.

And here's what to do if you aren't found after a couple of days:

Improve survival conditions: This doesn't just mean upgrading your shelter with new additions. It also means preparing to be seen by anyone looking for you.

Prep a platform of dry interlocking green limbs to be set ablaze at a moment's notice, and bright pieces of clothing or material could be placed in visible places.

This post is originally by Geoffrey Ingersoll.

SEE ALSO: Here's How Long You Can Stay Outside In Extreme Temperatures Before Getting Frostbite

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If you're willing to eat MREs or "Meals Ready to Eat" for 3 straight weeks for a military study, the US Army has will pay you $2oo, Army Times reports.

Participants must be between 18-62 years of age and without digestive health issues. 

A full MRE meal contains around 1,250 calories, as they're designed to sustain soldiers during field missions.

The Army hopes the data gathered from this study will allow them to improve MREs.

The packaged MREs are precision engineered to deliver calories and nutrition, but they miss out on some of the inedible but necessary compounds natural foods contain. These compounds are vital to what Dr. J. Philip Karl calls "gut health."

"There's a lot of interesting and new research looking at gut bacteria, and how those gut bacteria interact with the human body," Karl told Army Times.

"We think we can manipulate the bacteria in a way that helps the bacteria fight foreign pathogens — things that could cause food-borne illness, for example," Karl said.

"Oftentimes, war fighters are overseas and they eat something off the local economy that can cause [gastrointestinal] distress. Potentially, what we could do by increasing the amount of beneficial gut bacteria is to help prevent some of that."

Participants in the study will even get an MRE cookbook that features dishes like "Bunker Hill Burritos" and "Fort Bliss-ful Pudding Cake", Army Times reports.

As it is a true scientific study, there will be a control group among the 60 participants that will maintain their regular diet. 

For more information on the program click here.

SEE ALSO: What the world's armies eat

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Twelve US Marines missing after two military helicopters collided last week off Hawaii's Oahu island have been listed as deceased, the military said on Thursday.

The Coast Guard called off the search for the missing Marines on Tuesday after five days of search-and-rescue efforts across some 40,000 square nautical miles of ocean, along with shorelines.

The Marines were officially classified as deceased on Wednesday, and Marine Corps officers personally notified each family, a statement from the Marines said.

The victims ranged in age from 21 to 41, the statement said.

The two CH-53E helicopters belonging to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing from the Marine Corps Air Station at Kaneohe Bay were on a routine training mission when they were reported to have collided just before midnight on January 14, according to the Coast Guard.

The search was hampered by storms.

A Coast Guard helicopter crew spotted debris in the water off the town of Haleiwa on the north shore of Oahu, but no passengers were found. The debris field spanned more than 7 miles off the coast, the Coast Guard said.

No distress call was issued by either aircraft.

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Amid the Department of Defense's historic change to open all combat jobs to women, the Marine Corps accepted the first female applicants to the sister service branches' special operations command (MARSOC).

An average of 11 months of grueling training and the mastery of seven weapons are just some of the hurdles to join the elite tier of the Corps'.

After serving three years as a Marine, MARSOC candidates arrive at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in the best shape of their lives.

Some of the physical assessments include a 300 yard swim in cammies and a brutal 12-mile timed rucksack run carrying 45 pounds of gear.

Come along to MARSOC and see what the training is like.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best US military pictures of 2015

MARSOC training begins with Phase One, a 10 week long course that focuses on basic skills that all operators will need to master.

These skills include general fitness ...

... And significantly more advanced swimming skills.

America's most expensive weapons system ever just hit another snag.

The F-35 Lightning II, Lockheed Martin's fifth-generation fighter jet, is expected to miss a crucial deadline for successfully deploying its sixth and final software release, referred to as Block 3F.

Block 3F is part of the 8 million lines of sophisticated software code that underpin the F-35.

In short, if the code fails, the F-35 fails.

The latest setback for the F-35 stems from a 48-page December 11 report from Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon's top weapons tester.

According to Gilmore, the stealth fighter won't be ready by its July 2017 deadline.

As first reported by Aviation Week, the DoD report says "the rate of deficiency correction has not kept pace with the discovery rate," meaning more problems than solutions are arising from the F-35 program.

"Examples of well-known significant problems include the immaturity of the Autonomic Logistics Information System (aka the IT backbone of the F-35), Block 3F avionics instability, and several reliability and maintainability problems with the aircraft and engine."

One recommendation Gilmore gives for the F-35's latest woes is to triple the frequency of weapons-delivery-accuracy tests, which are executed once a month.

Adding more tests to the troubled warplane will most likely add to the cost overruns and schedule delays, but Gilmore says decreasing testing to meet deadlines will put "readiness for operational testing and employment in combat at significant risk."

According to the DoD report, the Block 3F software testing began in March, 11 months later than the planned date.

The nearly $400 billion weapons program was developed in 2001 to replace the US military's F-15, F-16,and F-18 aircraft.

Lockheed Martin's "jack-of-all-trades" F-35s were developed to dogfight, provide close air support, execute long-range bombing attacks, and take off from and land on aircraft carriers — all the while using the most advanced stealth capabilities available.

Adding to the complexity, Lockheed Martin agreed to design and manufacture three variant F-35s for different sister service branches.

The Air Force has the agile F-35A; the F-35B can take off and land without a runway, ideal for the amphibious Marine Corps; and the F-35C is meant to serve on the Navy's aircraft carriers. 

Despite the Block 3F software setback, the Marine Corps last year declared an initial squadron of F-35s ready for combat, making it the first service branch to do so.

The standard for readiness the Marines used, referred to as initial operational capability, is determined separately by each service branch when the aircraft has successfully demonstrated various capabilities.

IOCs are announced prematurely, however, in that all tests and upgrades to the aircraft, such as the Block 3F software update, have not necessarily been completed.

Still, Gen. Joseph Dunford, then the commandant of the Marine Corps, in July declared initial operational capability for 10 F-35B fighter jets.

The Air Force is expected to declare IOC for its F-35As later this year, and the Navy plans to announce IOC for the F-35Cs in 2018.

Even so, America's most expensive warplane's turbulent march to combat readiness is far from over.

Here's the full report from the Department of Defense:

SEE ALSO: 15 of the most expensive projects abandoned by the US military

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US military leaders said on Tuesday it will take years before women are fully integrated into combat positions, although they voiced strong support for the plan to skeptical members of the US Congress.

"Full integration will likely take several years," Patrick Murphy, acting secretary of the US Army, told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

Mark Milley, the Army chief of staff, estimated that full integration of women would take "no less than one to three years of deliberate effort."

President Barack Obama's defense secretary, Ash Carter, announced in December that the military would let women serve in all combat roles, a historic announcement greeted with intense skepticism by many Republican members of Congress.

Republican Senator John McCain, the committee's chairman, objected to the announcement at the time. He said it would have "a consequential impact" on US forces and their war-fighting capabilities.

At Tuesday's hearing, McCain again expressed doubts, saying he worried there had not been enough planning before the announcement. "I am concerned that the department has gone about things backwards," McCain said.

Some Republican critics of the plan have said they fear it would lead to the imposition of quotas mandating a specific number of women in some units.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus rejected that suggestion as "unacceptable," adding, "It would endanger not only the safety of Marines, but also the safety of our nation."

Many Democrats have expressed strong support.

Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the panel, said physical abilities alone do not determine whether a military unit is effective.

"Fighting and winning wars, as I’m sure our panelists know well, involves much more than that," Reed said.

SEE ALSO: Army and Marine Corps chiefs: It’s time for women to register for the draft

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When the stakes are high, only the best can get the job done. These are 5 of the most elite special forces around the world.

Produced by Lamar Salter 

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The USS West Virginia was one of the hardest hit ships at Pearl Harbor but rose from the ashes to destroy Japanese forces in the years after that surprise attack.

On Dec. 7, 1941 the West Virginia was struck by torpedoes launched from a midget sub and immediately began sinking. As it sank, it listed to port and each subsequent torpedo strike hit the ship further and further up its hull. The damage was so severe that the salvage officer said, “The damage on the port side … is so extensive as to beggar description.”

At least seven torpedoes struck the ship and two bombs pierced the outer hull but failed to detonate. Knowing West Virginia was going down, the captain and crew counter-flooded the starboard side of the ship so that is would go down on its keel instead of capsizing. An oil fire raged through the ship for the next 30 hours, buckling the metal.

The captain and many of the crew died during the attack. Capt. Mervyn S. Bennion received a posthumous Medal of Honor for saving the ship while he lay dying from shrapnel that pierced his abdomen.

One of the men who carried the dying captain from the fight was Navy Cook Dorie Miller who then returned to the fight. He noticed an unmanned .50-cal. machine gun and used it to destroy three or four Japanese planes that were still attacking the ships. He became the first African-American to receive the Navy Cross.

Recovery of the West Virginia was a long process. Patches of concrete and wood were used to plug the damage and the ship was sent to Washington State for a full repair. Entire decks and much of the armor belt had to be replaced. When the work was completed in late 1944, the West Virginia was a state of the art battleship, more capable than it had ever been.

The crew wasted no time in getting her back into the fight to achieve vengeance. The ship returned to Pear Harbor, fueled, and rushed into the Pacific War.

West Virginia pounded Japanese positions on Leyte during the Army’s Oct. 17 invasion of the Japanese-held Philippines. After nearly a week of their army getting destroyed by the American bombardment and infantry, the Japanese navy finally arrived in force and the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.

On the night of Oct. 24, West Virginia and three other battleships resurrected after Pearl Harbor spotted four Japanese ships approaching the Philippines. The Americans got the jump on them, sinking two battleships and a cruiser in a nighttime firefight. It was the last time opposing battleships fired on each other in combat.

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All military service members dread the ominous  “knife-hand” when being addressed by a superior as it usually means they are being corrected or some sort of discipline is soon to follow. Below are the 8 images designed to awaken your greatest fears:

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1. Recruits are quickly introduced to knife hands

2. A loud verbal correction often accompanies a knife hand to maximize effect

3. The knife hand extends across all branches of service

Most people think of  Air Force One when they picture the president traveling in style. However, President Obama himself recently stated in an interview with GQ that it may actually be Marine One, the Marine Corps aircraft, that he will miss most. 

Produced by Justin Gmoser

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1. Artillery belches smoke and fire every time it shoots a round.

2. When crews emplace the weapons, they anchor them to the ground and set up aiming aids to ensure rounds go exactly where they should.

3. While the gun crews are emplacing the cannons, other artillerymen move the rounds to the firing point and prepare them for action.

Taiwan's marine corps' "Road to Heaven," is the final stage of a grueling 10-week amphibious training program. In order to become "frogmen," candidates must crawl 164 feet over jagged, porous, coral rocks in a pair of shorts.

In the slides below, see what these recruits go through to earn their place among Taiwan's elite troops.

SEE ALSO: Watch the insane knife training South Korean special forces go through

The "Road to Heaven" starts with a hard fall from standing to planking position. The fall looks to be tough on the elbows, but immediately after the recruits begin to crawl through the sharp rocks on the points of their knees and elbows.

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In some ways, the training simulates a landing on a rocky beach, but it appears to function mainly as a test in which the trainees must will themselves to conquer pain. "I don't fear pain!" the recruits shout as they cross the razor-sharp rocks.

The path has ten stopping points, and at each one the recruits must stop and perform an exercise.

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While there may not be a lot of downtime at sea, sailors and Marines make the most of their time off with "swim calls." During these events, they are given permission to swim near the US vessel while onlookers keep an eye out for sharks. We've collected 21 photos showing that the US Navy and US Marine Corps have the best diving boards and swimming pools.

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A sailor from the USS Mobile Bay jumps into the Pacific Ocean.

Sailors assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey swim in the Philippine Sea.

Sailors and Marines aboard the USS Essex run into the Celebes Sea.

The raising of the US flag atop Mount Suribachi on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima 71 years ago is perhaps the most iconic image of World War Two.

No other picture so succinctly and evocatively captures the triumph of the Allied forces, while also highlighting the critical role that US troops played in the Pacific. The picture has also become one of the enduring symbols of the US Marine Corps.

Joe Rosenthal, at the time an unknown Associated Press photographer, is the man behind the photo. Although it was technically the second flag raising on Iwo Jima, which shows five Marines and a Navy Corpsman, it is no less important. The first flag planted was replaced, as it was too small to be seen from the coast.

Rosenthal, in an attempt to position himself properly for the shot, almost actually missed the flag raising. In a desperate attempt to capture the scene, Rosenthal shot the image without the use of his viewfinder. His gut instinct certainly hit the mar. He went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for his image.

Almost immediately, though, the overall quality of the framing led to accusations that Rosenthal had framed the picture.

This controversy still remains. Fortunately, an official video of the flag raising by a Marine photographer shows that the events transpired naturally, and exactly as Rosenthal had claimed.

Rosenthal's photo has gone on to become a deeply ingrained cultural image for America. The US Marine Corps War Memorial, in Arlington, Virginia, is modeled after this photo. President Franklin D. Roosevelt also used the image to promote war bonds at the end of the war, and it was featured on stamps.

It's important to note that while the image evoked a feeling of American victory, it was shot only five days into the Iwo Jima campaign. The battle went on for many more weeks, and three of the Marines who raised the flag were later killed in action.

Although Rosenthal's image has become synonymous with the courage of the Marines, many still debate the value of invading Iwo Jima.

The battle was particularly bloody and was the only battle in which the US Marine Corps suffered more casualties than the Japanese Army. The Japanese were well entrenched on the island when the US decided to invade. Iwo Jima is also a mountainous island, and its topography proved extremely difficult for US troops.

Once taken though, Iwo Jima proved of significant tactical importance as the US military pursued its strategy of "island hopping" to the Japanese mainland. For pushing the US deeper into Japan's Pacific holdings, the military command decided that the 26,000 American casualties was worth the island.

Both the cost and the accomplishment of the campaign is forever immortalized in Rosenthal's photograph.

SEE ALSO: The most iconic photo of World War II is also a reminder of how deadly the battle of Iwo Jima was

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For the last decade, the Marine Corps' special operations command (MARSOC) has trained top operators at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. 

Since February 24, 2006, Marines have spent an average of 11 months of grueling training in order to join the elite tier of the Corps'.

Some of the physical assessments include a 300 yard swim in cammies and a brutal 12-mile timed rucksack run carrying 45 pounds of gear.

In honor of the tenth birthday of MARSOC, come along and see what the training is like.

SEE ALSO: Surreal photos of Marine night operations that look straight out of a video game

MARSOC training begins with Phase One, a 10 week long course that focuses on basic skills that all operators will need to master.

These skills include general fitness ...

... And significantly more advanced swimming skills.

Have you ever seen a 60-ton tank drift on ice? These tanks are sliding around corners as part of a joint training called Exercise Cold Response 2016, to train US Marines how to navigate tanks in freezing temperatures.

Produced by Rob Ludacer. Original Reporting by Paul Szoldra.

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"Swim call" is a military tradition in which sailors and Marines blow off steam by turning the middle of the ocean into their swimming pool.

In 2012, Kyle Cawein took a video of one of these swim calls in the Persian Gulf while aboard the supercarrier USS John C. Stennis. It shows the contrast between swimming millions of miles from land while right next to a building-sized machine.

Story by Tony Manfred and editing by Kristen Griffin

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Taken on Apr. 3, 2015 the following clip shows a USMC Huey door gunner providing close air support at Yodaville, near MCAS Yuma, during Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) course 2-15.

WTI is a seven week event hosted by Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One (MAWTS-1).

MAWTS-1 provides standardized tactical training and certification of unit instructor to support Marine Aviation Training and Readiness and assists in developing and employing Aviation Weapons and Tactics.

Yodaville is the first urban close air support range in the U.S. military and it features an urban layout very similar to the terrain in many villages in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here the USMC helicopters take part in close-air support exercises, such as the Weapons and Tactics Instructor course, giving the chance to their gunners to experience realistic training sessions focused on providing cover to ground operations as well as to defend the helicopters from ground threats.

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At a speed of about 767 miles per hour, depending on temperature and humidity, a moving object will break the sound barrier. 

It was not until World War II, when aircraft started to reach the limits of the sound barrier — although without successfully breaking the barrier into supersonic speed — that the term came into use. Now, More than 70 years later, military aircraft can routinely break through the barrier and travel at incredible speeds. 

The pictures below demonstrate the still amazing visual effects that occur as military aircraft punch through the sound barrier and travel faster than sound itself.

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An F/A-18C Hornet assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 113 breaks the sound barrier during an air power demonstration over the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.

An F/A-18 Super Hornet assigned to the Kestrels of Strike Fighter Squadron 137 breaks the sound barrier during an air power demonstration above the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

An F/A-18C Hornet assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 113 breaks the sound barrier during an air power demonstration over the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.