E-Mail 'USMC Mountain Survival Course- Part 4, by E.T.' To A Friend

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10 Comments

  1. Is there a reason for not building two fires and sleeping between them? I have no training and know nothing about it, but wonder why this is not done.

    1. With the wind that picked up during this portion, I wouldn’t have wanted to lay between two fires. We were dreadfully close to the flames as it was, if any burning wood had rolled out it would have been a bad thing.

  3. A good read. Good survival training. Lots of information and things to think about. I have seen video of this training on TV so I would imagine it is available on youtube somewhere. The instructors then were more aggressive and unpredictable. This is a beautiful area I have driven thru many times. Bitter Cold in the winter.

    1. I watched that video several months later. I was very unimpressed with the course and the caliber of Marines participating.

      I don’t recall the ranks of those involved, but I believe that by having only NCO’s and Officers we had a more mature and experienced group. Most of whom had undergone rigorous training outside the norm.

      I was pleased ours seemed much more benefiting then what I watched.

  5. Tickling Trout was one of the exercises we did at Camp Hale (Leadville CO) when I was a Company Commander at Ft Carson in the early 80s. I took volunteers from my company up to Camp Hale in summer and winter, skiing and snowshoeing between snow caves in winter; hiking, climbing, rapelling and sleeping outdoors in summer.

  6. This reminds me somehow of “bat 21”. ( pure conjecture I have no survival training )

    Reality counters the romantic image of the Lone Wolf survivor out in the woods living off the land.

    Both in training and real world survival, people ( who are lucky enough to survive ) come to the end of their ordeal filthy,exhausted and starved half to death.

    Thank you for a great article.

  7. Emergency blankets can be set up like a tarp to reflect the IR from the fire to one’s backside, using small round stones pushed into the material as attachment points for cordage. If one had clear sheet plastic like Painter Plastic, a shelter can be made near a long fire with the emergency blanket in the rear of the shelter, one has created a ‘green house’, where inside temps can be surprisingly, and even uncomfortably high. I carry a larger 7 foot in length, and durable reinforced Mylar type material(aluminized plastic) scavenged from heating duct insulation, and a small package containing heavy gauge Painter’s Plastic.

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