Another question ---read Opening post

fnc said:
If the organization that you are "with", keeps making unexpected short term plans "for you",
then you will almost inevitably be in a risky situation; your planning, or response will involve
snap decisions: not good (for you).
Making it worse, there will always be those, at various levels of authority, or even peers,
that say,
"You do not need ..."
"That is taken care of by ...".
"You will be supported by..."

Some of this is inevitable in the military, and it is part of war, but other orgs do this too.
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I'm only sitting at 22+ of service and I think what you mentioned was typical several years ago. I've seen more relaxed mindsets individuals and their personal preparation. Of course I'm no longer in an Infantry squad as I'm a little removed from that environment now; but, as more leaders spend a little time in a combat zone (and hopefully outside the wire and off the FOB), they tend understand the need for preparation and importance of certain "comfort" items. The days of the 'ol CSM chewing out troopers that didn't spit-shine their boots during a field training exercise are much fewer; discipline is always key to a healthy and functional organization, however allowing some modifications to suit the mission is a little more relaxed.

My last deployment really hammered home that "you deploy as you are"; don't expect anybody to take care of you or provide you anything. Our teams went into pretty austere locations...much different than Iraq. The downside to the current operating environment is that a lot of functions are provided by other security forces, contractors, etc. As much as our "tactics, techniques and procedures" have really been developed, honed and exercised to a very high degree, much of our field-craft skills have deteriorated.

Outside of very remote COP's, service members have access to the internet, hot water/showers, contracted chow/laundry facilities, etc. I've seen some good Soldiers that excelled in a combat zone, fail to function or execute their mission in a standard field training exercise where they had set up a basic, remote field site and maintain/sustain themselves.

Our SAR and quick reaction forces are very proficient. Because of that, the mentality that "911" will respond quickly carries over. Few are the days that Soldiers get-iced in on a Korean mountain top for a couple of weeks, or that weather keeps an observer from being resupplied for weeks. Our experience, success and refined abilities in some areas makes us take personal preparation for granted.

ROCK6
 
I had gone on an evening trail walk with my mentally challenged niece in ( unfamiliar) hilly terrain in New Hampshire. We were doing an out and back of about 3/4 mile from a main road into a relatively roadless area, with a clear trail. We made our turn around point and as the light quickly dimmed, the trail, covered in leaves, dissappeared. I hate to admit it, but I paniced, which was compounded by trying to calm myself down in front of my niece, although she remained calm. We were less than a quarter mile from the road, and if I was alone I would not have paniced, but the added responsibility of my niece and thinking I could not get her back home in the dark threw me. My niece watched me melt down, then she said, "Everything is going to be OK, Uncle, Mom said you knew what you were doing, and I would get home OK." That was a slap in the head, I squared away, and we got back OK. a little off trail, but all was well. I learned A LOT that evening.
 
Bumppo said:
I had gone on an evening trail walk with my mentally challenged niece in ( unfamiliar) hilly terrain in New Hampshire. We were doing an out and back of about 3/4 mile from a main road into a relatively roadless area, with a clear trail. We made our turn around point and as the light quickly dimmed, the trail, covered in leaves, dissappeared. I hate to admit it, but I paniced, which was compounded by trying to calm myself down in front of my niece, although she remained calm. We were less than a quarter mile from the road, and if I was alone I would not have paniced, but the added responsibility of my niece and thinking I could not get her back home in the dark threw me. My niece watched me melt down, then she said, "Everything is going to be OK, Uncle, Mom said you knew what you were doing, and I would get home OK." That was a slap in the head, I squared away, and we got back OK. a little off trail, but all was well. I learned A LOT that evening.
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Thanks for the honesty and time it took to write the story!!!
 
No, Ive been lost a few times, but theres always a road within a mile here. Been hurt a couple of times , but not life threating.
 
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WILLIAM.M said:
OK

Do you have a story where you were lost or injured that the others can learn from???
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On that note.

I had one of those.

My self and my friend from down the road always loved going camping in the late fall (Massachujsetts). The leaves were on the ground, the smell of the rich soil on the air, and we knew snow was soon to come.

We had heard that we were due for some light snow over the weekend -- perfect, we get to bid farewell to fall, and herald in winter in the woods. So we hit the trails up the hills to a great vantage point -- nothing but hills, and trees (my favorite varieties, white oak, maple, spruce). We had plenty of water, some sausage from the local butcher, and we carried our shelter half tent and sleeping bags to go play pioneer.

Well, it comes to sundown, we're tired on that Friday night, so we hit the sack, buttoned up in the tent. We wake up to the sides sagging in, and the poles bowing. Not a good feeling. I open up the tent, and dig my way out. Light snow? HA! Yeah, the snow was chest high, and we had those long widowmaker icicles hanging off every branch of every tree all around.

Here's the problem. At that time, I could always navigate with just a map, no compass. The terrain was vertical enough with enough landmarks to orient by. But now, it was like waking on a strange planet. The ground was at least 4 feet below us, even more in the valleys. The landscape had changed, so navigation by terrain was going to be very hard, and we were well off the beaten path, and no man-made landmarks were in sight.

We also hadn't brought our cross country skis, since there was no snow when we came up, and light snow wouldn't have been enough. Best we could come up with was hacking some spruce boughs off, lashing them together, and then lashing them to our feet as impromptu showshoes (my friend's idea, not mine). The only way I could figure to navigate out, is I remembered the sun was on our right most of last night, so this being morning, if we kept the sun to our right again, we should come out close to where we left the truck. So we set out, and ended up coming out on the road about 1/2 mile from the truck (there were some twists and turns that we missed by keeping to a straight line). Thank God we carry e-tools to dig the truck out with, had the tire chains in the back to put on, and it wasn't far to get to the main drag, which was plowed.

If we hadn't had more than enough food, shelter and clothing, it could have been really dangerous.

I started carrying a compass from then on.
 
I've been seeing this girl for a couple of months and our second date was the first time my survival mentality kicked in. We call it death date now. We were hiking down to this secluded beach in Ecola state park only when I recon'd it the year before it was dry. When we went, it had been raining previously so everything was a little muddy. We started down the trail and it became a mud slide. By the time we realized it was too bad to continue, it was too late to turn around. No way of going up due to the slick mud. So we continued down. Slipping and falling all the way. The last 15 feet of the trail had washed out so the only way was to jump on your butt and ride it down. At the end of the "butt slide" was a washed up log so if you tumbled you'd be impaled. I went first and then brke the branches off for her so if she fell, she would only break stuff and not be impaled. Got her down and now we had to find a way out. We walked between the cliff face and the ocean for a while. Then through a tunnel through the cliff face and then through the ocean, which came up to my waist, just to reach the next beach. There we found some people that said "Oh yeah there's a trail over there just look for the stairs." She and I looked at each other and had the same thought...STAIRS! Needless to say we got near the stairs, and with safety in sight, I threw my blanket down, we shared a growler of blackberry beer, and had our first kiss. :)

The survival instinct came in twice. First was to laugh at the fact that we were slipping and falling all over the place. No nevermind to the risk of tumbling to our death. The second time was in continuing on from the beach that I had panned on. With no way up and no way of knowing if that beach even existed at hightide, I pushed to find the exit. Only then did I relax. We did good although after, she said that the tension I was going through was palpable. Maybe she went into survival mode to calm me down? Either way it ended up as a good time. She even painted the experience. Maybe I'll post it when I get home.
 
Thank you Both

I posted the question so others(as well as myself) could learn from others..

Thanks for taking the time to post your stories!!!
 
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