I may have left out the most important survival tip I have ever
learned, until today.

For Survival You Gotta Have Salt.  Some thoughts about salt, and as it
turns out, water. Paul Phillips, May 3, 2002.  Old Wagon Road,
Yadkinville, North Carolina.

One vital item all any survival kits should have is salt tablets. 
Take that to heart.

For many years I have worked in construction.  In some former years I
had "heat exhaustion" a couple of times.  It would recur, almost every
year.

Then I discovered salt tablets, and no more heat exhaustion.  (Turns
out I was also drinking no where near enough water, in the heat or out
of it.)

Upon returning to work, recently, from a lay off, I began buying a
gallon of filtered water a day, to drink at work.  As the heat has
begun to show up, here late in April, I remembered my heat tablets,
that is salt tablets.

Not having found them yet, I simply bought plain table salt, in large
container, from the grocery store.  I just put a little bit in my
hand, and take it directly.  I probably also get a little bit of
sawdust with it, as I am a carpenter.

The function of the salt it that it enables me to "break a sweat." 
(In former days, I would not sweat much, even in the heat.  That was
probably because I did not drink enough water.  The "rule of thumb"
for water is, take how much you weigh in pounds, cut that in half, and
the result, expressed in ounces, is how much water you should drink
each day.)

Now, this is turning into as much a discussion of water as it is about
salt.  They say you never limit your water in a survival situation,
you limit your activity.  Actions taken during times that cause you to
sweat the most are limited.

Back to salt.  I don't care if you use iodized salt, sea salt,
whatever kind of salt, you have to have salt.  In canned an processed
foods it is said that we meet the minimum requirements for salt,
without adding any to your diet.  (And I am claiming that means only
if you are not working out directly in the heat.)  

If, for reasons or in seasons as yet unknown, you were forced to "live
off the land," there would not be enough salt in your diet.  As well,
if a forced movement were underway, particularly in the heat, no way
would you get enough natural salt from the wild.

Salt is used in so many ways that I have seen survivalist claims that
you should consider storing a ton of it.   If things get scarce, salt
itself may be worth more then gold to you.  It will certainly keep you
alive longer.

Paul