Injured behind enemy lines; How to avoid injury when you are in a survival situation, behind enemy lines, or trying to escape danger.
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Injured Behind Enemy Lines Introduction
If you were to summarize this entire article, I could put it down into one sentence: Don't do what I did when I was on a live mission and be stupid by getting unnecessarily injured.
Several years ago I was working as a counter-drug agent for the military. We were on a live mission and my role at the time was to be the only medic for the team. As a result, I had a bag of medical supplies on my back that was about 30 - 40 lbs.
However, I put my team in danger by adding a huge monkey wrench to the entire mission from one stupid mistake. As a result, I learned a lesson that I'll never forget.
Hello, my name is Kit Arthur. I am the CEO and founder of Tackleberry Solutions. We teach wartime tactics for civil and home defense purposes. Our goal is to save as many lives as we can by helping others and teaching them how to survive during dangerous times. Today I wanted to share with you a few pointers on how to avoid injury when in a survival situation or behind enemy lines. This is content that is directly from our SERE program.
A Botched Recon Mission
We were travelling through the woods to get to our objective un-noticed. We had gone this way before, I was a familiar with the ditch that we came upon. I had walked through it the day before and gotten my feet sopping wet as a result.
Because of this, I had no desire to repeat the process as I had spent the rest of that day with soggy feet. This time, I was determined to avoid a repeat of the experience.
As a result, I decided to jump the ditch with what I considered an easy maneuver. I had spent my entire life on a farm by the woods full of ditches. I jumped them all of the time as a child, and I continued to jump them all of the time as an adult while out jogging. By that same token, it seemed to me that jumping this one would be just as simple. I couldn't have been more wrong. You see, I forgot to factor in the weight of my medic pack.
By the time I realized this, I was sailing through the air and falling much faster than I had expected.
How I Almost Compromised My Entire Team by Getting Injured
The next thing I knew, I ended up on the edge of the ditch as opposed to the top of it where I had originally planned. Consequently, my foot landed at the wrong angle and I had to allow myself to fall backwards so that I would not rip my Achilles tendon.
Immediately after that, I fell into the water (pack and all.) So instead of staying completely dry, I ended up totally wet with an injured ankle. Because of this, I could no longer move very quickly.
This was very dangerous, because had we needed to fight, I would have been useless. Furthermore, if we had needed to run, I would have completely gotten captured. Which is additionally bad for my team since I was their only medic. Had one of them gotten hurt after I got captured, I wouldn't have been there to help keep them alive.
Lesson Learned From Being Stupid
The first thing that I learned form that incident was that I shouldn't have been trying to jump ditches while carrying a pack. I should have just walked across the stupid ditch.
Second, I should have worn waterproof shoes. As opposed to the "tacticool" hiking boots that I was sporting. There is a reason why the military uses the boots that they do. "Tacticool" crap will cause you problems and possibly get you killed.
The third thing that I learned from that incident was that by unnecessarily injuring myself, I was unable to help anyone else. And as I had stated before, being the only medic on the team, that was not good.
All of this because I wanted to be He-Man and jump a ditch.
How does this apply to you?
In conclusion, the same exact lessons that I learned from that apply exactly to a survival and evasion type situation. Consequently, when you find yourself in that kind of predicament, TAKE IT EASY. Don't attempt any unnecessary risks. (Even if it is something that you're confident you can do.)
To expound a little bit more, let me share with you an example. Say that I'm far out into the woods and no one is following me. I come across the cliff with a steep fall to a river below.
Now, there is a chance that the water is deep enough to soften the fall, but I don't know for sure. However, I'm not going to risk jumping it because I've got the time to look around and find another way down.
In contrast, let's say that I'm on the run and come across the same cliff. I've got men actively chasing after me with the intent to kill. Now I've got to choose between getting shot or jumping off the cliff since there is no time to find an easier path down. I'll take my chances with potential rocks before I do certain death by gunfire.
Do you see where I am going with this? It is one thing to take a risk because you have no other choice. It is an entirely different matter when you take a risk just because it inconveniences you not to.
Thoughts?
I hope that you learned something valuable from this. If so, please share it with everyone that you can. It may help them out too.
Secondly, if you'd like to learn more about survival and SERE in general, I encourage you to check our our program. There is a ton of life-saving knowledge that I'd love to share with you.
Finally, if you have a question or something that you would like to add, please leave a comment below. I'd love to hear from you.
God bless, and stay free.
