Steadman - yep exactly.

You do need both tools and gear, but being able to improvise tools when you have none is the jist.

you said "Building fire is inherrently equipment and technique oriented. As you know, you have to convert energy into heat (whether you do it with a firebow, a match (or other exothermic reaction), flint and steel, or a battery), catch tinder, and move up. I'm not getting from here to there with no tools to work with, at least not on an acceptable/usuable timescale, no matter how much I know."

I would disagree. phat made the fire bow and started a fire. I'm not saying that others will be equally skilled nor lucky, but given a choice, I'd go with phat rather than you because he was challenged and came up to the challenge, and you are saying that without the gear you simply could not do it.

that is the message of this post - learn skills that work when equipment fails or gets gone. Some have lost their entire pack and had literaly what was on their back and in their pockets. phat hates the word tough - but it does sort of describe the mental attitude of "I can make it with nothing and still have fun." Thats the person that walks out and survives when others perish. And probably that person has practiced doing without whether on purpose or by accident.

Jim