Just an opinion and it may be a bad one but I'm throwing it out there anyway. I have spent well over a year in a bad environment with lots of sandstorms and freezing temperatures mixed in with muddy sand environments. We had little support so ingenuity was the mother of necessity. I have done a lot of backpacking, rock climbing well above the tree line in my youth. I have slept very comfortably in sub zero conditions and often have had very miserable nights with little to no sleep the next day. Many times I could care less about how wet I was it was more about keeping some semblance of warmth.
Oiling zippers works great once they are cleaned or in an emergency because you can't get them to free, but if there is a lot of dust to follow it will clog them and they will fail at the least opportune time resulting in a not so happy time (No Borat reference here). Keeping your zippers clear and free of dirt, sand, moondust etc will result in a favorable outcome. If you will take notice on zippers, the more exposed they become the larger the teeth is and the more tolerances are allowed to enable the operation of the zippers in a difficult environment.
For things like sleeping bags the tolerances get much tighter with overlapping material to prevent heat loss. The exterior fabric zippers are large and rely on overlapping flaps to prevent water and dust from getting inside. Oiling a zipper is an awesome quick fix and works great for a stuck zipper, especially under less than favorable conditions. For my humble opinion as part of your recovery everyone should be cleaning all of their equipment and testing it out before and prior to load out for the next trip, especially if it's in an environment that someone could run into problems with due to equipment fault. When I go into the desert, I look at it like diving. Everything I bring along is life sustaining equipment each and every time. What are you comfortable with surviving without?
