Outdoor Survival Bar

By Dolabriel Hurst

As an honorable deed to prove their patriotism, many United States citizens signed the dotted line, promising to protect and defend the Constitution. Many soldiers anticipated war, but some soldiers see the Army as a means of paying for college, and a secure career plan. When the Operation Enduring/Iraq Freedom became a reality there was no turning back for those soldiers who never saw war as a reality. Never considering the comfort and the luxury that they would be ripped from, many soldiers conformed to their new way of life in Iraq.

Well, four years and 2,000+ deaths later, I and other soldiers found a way to become self reliant to cope with our new tour in Iraq. Deprived of all the convenience of the United States many soldiers found other ways to use their human survival skills. Of course there is a military exchange that we frequent to purchase CD’s, DVD’s, and toiletries but no liquor (or sex). The fact is that soldiers in a "war zone" are not allowed to have sex, use alcoholic beverages, or any type of drugs. Drugs were not a big deal since most of us didn’t use them anyway but most of us enjoyed a cold beer every now and then. But the truth is, when you get enough hard charging brains together things will happen.

Some survivalist soldiers came up with a way to concoct their own liquor that would be the drink of the day. Familiar to some, there is a self made liquor called Pruno that is easy to make, but hard to drink. Pruno consist of:

13 oranges
A ton of sugar (too much to measure)
8 ounce can of fruit juice
2 cans of water (we used the fruit juice can to measure)
7 packs of ketchup
1 trash bag

We mixed the oranges and the fruit juice together and heated it up with the heater from the survival kit and a towel. We allowed the bag to sit for about one day and a half. We added some sugar and ketchup; the bag is fairly large by now. We heated the bag again once a day for 20 minutes for the next two or three days. Be careful as the bag may pop on you, and make you smell like a New York subway. On the third day of heating we opened the bag, and covered our noses, and removed all of the solid particles from the oranges. After about three days of work it is time to get wasted.

I don’t know where this recipe originated or the consequences of drinking such a mess, but desperate times call for stinky measures. I don’t guarantee the survival of the smell.

Email: hurstdg@yahoo.com