Preparations For Mountain Survival
I spent June of 2014 in Bridgeport, California at the USMC’s School of Mountain Warfare undergoing the grand reopening of their Mountain Survival Course. Over the span of 13 days, I lost 31 pounds while in training. Here’s my story and lessons learned.
I left an elevation of 3,300 feet in the mountains of North Carolina for Bridgeport, which is at 6,500 feet. The first morning we ran our PFT with less than 12 hours of acclimation to the new elevation. We were required to score a First Class PFT before continuing the course. We had one Marine fail to achieve first class score twice and was shipped back to his unit. That left 26 students with three instructors. Our class consisted of all NCO’s, with a 1st Lieutenant and a Captain thrown in. We were a handful of Scout/Snipers, a Polish Commando, a Headquarters guy filling an empty slot, a Navy Corpsman, a Navy Doctor, a ROTC officer, and a handful of infantry grunts, like myself, who looking for fun and adventure.
Classroom Preparation
We spent a total of five days in a classroom setting going over wilderness survival basics. In class we learned to read the weather, learn shelter types, and identify edible plants, critters, and insects, as well as develop skills in signaling, fire starting, fishing, trapping, hunting, land navigation, path finding, and traversing mountains and rivers. Essentially we covered everything you can hit fast and hard. The smart ones studied at night and practiced starting fires with a bow and drill. Being a former Boy Scout, a hunter, fisher, and someone who grew up in the woods playing with fire and building forts, I had a good base knowledge to build upon.
Continue reading“USMC Mountain Survival Course- Part 1, by E.T.”