Read SEAL Survival Guide Online
Authors: Cade Courtley
SEAL Survival Guide (68 page)
Managing the Pain
This will probably be the worst thing you have ever experienced. Stay strong! You need to dig deep and pull out the maximum mental and physical toughness that you can muster. You must tell yourself that there is nothing they can do that will make you forfeit the will to live. Strategies to employ include:
•
Check out.
Put your brain in neutral and conjure up that mental vacation. Imagine you are floating in a warm ocean or sitting on the side of a mountain, or whatever place offers you interior peace. This is not the time to conjure the image you created in “Creating a Trigger,” which will only make enduring the suffering more unbearable. This is not the time for your trigger; this is the time for complete numbness.
•
Guard your eyes.
Your captors are monitoring your reactions to the first round of torture very closely. They want to find your “fear buttons,” so they know how and where to press harder. You must remember that our eyes are often giveaways as to how we are really feeling, so make a tremendous
effort to present a face of neutrality. If they find anything that can be used to turn you, they will use it.
•
Exaggerate.
If you find that maintaining neutrality and trying not to let the pain show in your eyes has been ineffective, you could instead try to overplay and exaggerate effect the physical abuse is having on you. Make it seem as if you are injured more than you really are. For example, it’s okay to moan, groan, and even scream with pain at the slightest touch. This will make them think you have a low threshold for pain and could make them hold back from using greater force. It could also gain you more time and get them to bring you water or food, since at this point they don’t want you to die, or they would have already killed you.
•
Let it go.
Urinate, defecate, and vomit on yourself. Your captors will be less likely to physically harm you if they don’t want to touch you or even be in the same room with you.
I remember about the third day of being cooped up in my three-foot-by-three-foot luxury concrete box in SERE school, when I was really starting to go stir-crazy. I literally couldn’t wait for the interrogations to begin. I said to myself, “Please hit me, you assholes, so at least I’ll feel something.” Well, it wasn’t long before my wish was granted, and I was soon more than ready to get back to my box. This goes under the “be careful what you wish for” column.
Give Something vs. Give Nothing
In many instances you are being subjected to torture for information. They want something from you or they wouldn’t be wasting their time. If you give them no information, nothing at all, then you could be considered unbreakable or dispensable, which in this scenario means
that they might as well kill you and be done with it. While under torture, it is difficult to make a decision about how much or how little you should talk or what questions you should answer. You must decide what’s best based on the specific situation and the captors you are up against.
• Do you give little pieces of information in an effort to prolong the time?
• Do you continue to give nothing?
Giving some information or even the wrong information may have a positive effect in prolonging the time and decreasing the abuse. However, the captors may believe that more torture will produce more information. On the other hand, if you are giving no information, the captors could very well lose patience and kill you. This is one of the lessons we were taught during SERE and is a choice that can be made only based on the particular circumstances of your abduction and torture.
TROUBLE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY
Travel to a foreign country, whether for business or pleasure, can be an amazing experience. But you should understand first and foremost that as soon as you leave the United States, you are also leaving the rights, laws, customs, language, and culture of America. Do not assume you will be afforded any special privileges because you come from the United States. Quite the opposite—as an American you may be drawing attention to yourself simply because of your nationality. (Many college-age Americans put Canadian flags on backpacks while traveling in Europe to avoid being picked out as an American.) So, when traveling abroad,
please
don’t be the “ugly American.” Respect and appreciate that you are a visitor in a foreign land, and you will lessen the vast majority of problems you may encounter.
In the 1990s, when American troops went to Somalia on a humanitarian aid operation, a one-hour local-culture briefing could have saved the lives of many U.S. soldiers. When our troops flew around in helicopters over the local population, they had their legs hanging out, which is a normal way we sometimes traveled when crammed into these things. We had no idea that in Somalian culture, showing the bottom of your feet is the same as flipping someone the bird in the States. It also would have been good to know that a large portion of the population indulges in a drug called khat, pronounced “cot,” which is a highly addictive drug categorized as a stimulant that creates feelings of euphoria. They primarily do this drug in the day, so that when night comes, most of these folks are zoned out and sound asleep. Yep, we stirred a hornet’s nest with day raids against a city of fighters that would have been otherwise out of commission in the evening—but then again, war is imperfect.
Before You Go
• Know the culture, laws, and customs of the country you will visit; that which is considered acceptable in the United States may be horribly offensive in other countries. Also know some of the language, at least a few key phrases to help you ask for directions, for example. Usually making an effort to speak some of the native tongue will get people to act more hospitable toward you.
• Make sure people at home know your travel plans. Write down flight numbers, hotels where you’ll be staying, and contact numbers, if possible. Also include the names, and the stateside contact information, of all persons traveling with you. In addition, provide the number for the Office of American Citizens Services division of the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. If you get in trouble or lose your passport, for example, calls made by relatives in the States could help to expedite your situation while you are abroad.
Carry a pictogram guide for the area you’re visiting. This will allow you to communicate visually. Learning key phrases such as “Where is the embassy?” and “Can you help me, please?” could be invaluable in any number of situations. In the SEAL team, key phrases we learned before we went to battle in a foreign country included “Drop to your knees! Get down! Hands up!” and “I’m going to shoot you if you don’t.” We also we found it very useful to have picture cards displaying an IED, an ambush, and a small American flag used to help us interrogate and communicate. Additionally, a one-hundred-dollar bill was universally accepted and overcame all sorts of language barriers.