Adding agin to my journal entries from advanced training…
31 December 2014 (Montour)
Something was stiring inside me and I don’t know what it was. I needed to be outside today. Odd- because its cold and I really hate cold. Below are my thoughts on cold transposed from journal on this outing when I asked myseld “Why do you hate the cold?”
“As a young troop I got hit with hypothermia in one of the courses I was attending while stationed in Germany
I had progressed well in a very difficult course….not stellar and not at the last of the pack, but well enough to not draw attention to myself. I was hungry, deprived of sleep, and placed under stress.
The course was set up so every man would have a chance to lead, sub lead, and of course follow. I had just come off my mission, a recon of a camp and I had done very well. This was good, because in my first attempt I had failed when my whole squad fell asleep on an Ambush. At least now, I had been vendicated. It was during our next mission I grew to hate the cold. We were bringing an assault team in on a makeshift raft we had to build. This was my first exposure to lashing. It was fascinating how we could build a few of these to hold our team. However, as the raft approaches the shore, two men have to slide off into the water to guide it the rest of the way in. It wasn’t my turn to do this, but my team mate who was already suffering from exhaustion and cold hesitated going in on the order to do so. I took his place and into the icy waters I went.
You were supposed to slide in just about waist high. As I went in, it became evident that I was in deeper than waist high water. I became fully submerged. Ruck, battle gear, weapon….everything under. Team mates pulled me back up. Apparently I found the one deep spot in the entire shallow lake.
Over the next few hours of being wet and cold…with temps in the 40’s….I continued to lose body heat. By the time the medic checked me out my core temp was 95 degrees. I had become good pals with a team mate since we were both naked and unafraid…and “snuggling” in a bag. I was consuming coffee and cocoa when I could. I was given a choice–get warm and get my temp back up or drop from the course and stay the remainder (two days) of training in the warm huts of the “POW” compound. I chose to stay and finish.”
So my outing did include some outdoor activity. I collected cattail, tested a Life Straw for charateristics in sub-frezing temps (12-15 degrees), and tested cattail for burnability when collected in the cold. Also collected pics of trees I wanted to identify.
I wound up heading back so I coud work on my One-Stick fires at the advanced level.
Adventure IQ 