Seal Survival Guide

by Cade Courtley

  Aftermath

  If you were at home or in your apartment when the earthquake hit, and you escaped physical injury, then get up and go outside immediately. Aftershocks can occur from minutes to days after the first major shake. The next one could bring the structure down.

  If you live in a single-family house, make sure all gas lines are closed at the main, and turn off the electrical breaker; there may be loose and bare wires that can cause fires. You should be able to do both of these from outside your home. You should never attempt to reenter a building after an earthquake unless a structural engineer approves it as safe to do so.

  Don’t think that the danger is over because the earthquake has stopped. Aftershocks continue for days following the initial earthquake and frequently do more damage to structures already compromised. Some aftershocks are just as strong as the first tremor.

  If you are on the move, be alert and remember that what was once normal landscape is now a very different environment. Postquake dangers are numerous.

  • Avoid entering structures without approval, unless for rescue purposes. (See “Search and Rescue,” page 273.)

  • Sleep outdoors, make a shelter, or go to a designated shelter center. If in a city, try to set up a base in a park or wide-open area.

  • If living in a coastal region, get to high ground as quickly as possible because of the possibility of a tidal wave (See “Flash Flood, Flooding, and Tsunami,” page 167.)

  • Avoid bridges, overpasses, and elevated walkways.

  • Watch out for downed power lines.

  WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE BURIED IN RUBBLE

  1. Try to cover your nose and mouth with a cloth or part of your shirt. There will be a ton of dust and particles and you want to protect your airway. Concrete dust—and there will be plenty of it—can actually reharden in your lungs and throat and choke you to death.

  2. Call out to let someone know you are there, but don’t waste too much time or energy doing this, especially during the first hours of the aftermath.

  3. If you can move, look for light and slowly crawl toward it. You don’t want to start moving too many obstacles, as these could be keeping more deadly debris from tumbling down on you. As you are crawling, make sure you move only items in front of you that are non-weight-bearing or easily movable. Don’t start yanking or tugging at debris. If you attempt to move even a small item like a piece of two-by-four wall stud, in this scenario, the thin wood might be serving as a weight-bearing beam, and moving it could cause the small area you are in to collapse.

  4. If you can’t move, again, don’t waste too much of your energy yelling. The best thing to do is find something that you can tap or bang on. The vibrations from this will travel much farther than your voice. Make sure your tapping is inconsistent or rhythmic so it sounds out of place and will be more easily noticed. When in doubt, you can always tap “SOS”: three short taps, three long taps, three short taps. Continue doing so until help arrives.

  SEALs say: “If trapped, tap.”

  ELEVATOR EMERGENCY

  There are more than 200 billion trips made annually in elevators. Considering that elevators account for only approximately 150 deaths and 18,000 injuries each year, they are a safe means of transportation, at least statistically. However, many of those fatalities could have been avoided. By following SEAL survival techniques, even during the most mundane daily activity, such as riding an elevator, you are retraining your mindset. This is how you should handle an elevator emergency.

  Situational Awareness

  Normally, you push the button, the door opens, and you get in. How the elevator works, what the flooring and cables are made of, or when the elevator was last inspected are of no concern. Understanding the basic operation of many of the common technological advancements you use frequently, such as elevators and escalators, is part of being aware and prepared, and will give you an advantage in the event of an emergency. In the military, for example, we know the mechanics of a parachute, the design of tanks, and certainly the detailed components of weapons before we use them.

  Many serious injuries and deaths caused by elevators are due to door malfunctions. The door opens and there is no car there; those who died falling down the shaft did so because they simply stepped forward when the door opened, totally unaware of their situation or surroundings. Other times, the door signal malfunctions and a car begins to move before everyone has entered or exited. Do not place blind faith in technology, especially in something that can malfunction and kill you. Be alert. It’s important to know not only how to properly ride elevators but also what to do if the elevator becomes stalled.

  In 2008, a man was stranded in a Manhattan elevator for forty-one hours and survived.

  Elevator Entrapment

  On average, rescue from a stalled elevator takes three hours, so it’s best to wait. Even though most elevators have hatches concealed by paneling, which provide a way to get to the top of the car, this is an option to consider only under the direst of circumstances. Depending on whether the elevator is powered by hydraulics or counterweights, there are many hazards in the shaft that can kill you instantly; only those with prior knowledge of the elevator’s design should attempt this escape. It is better to stand by for trained personnel.

  Those who experience entrapment often suffer extreme panic, and in instances this can bring about a heart attack. In this situation, when you can do nothing physically to aid in your survival, you can keep yourself and those around you calm by using your mind.

  If the elevator should ever stop between floors, do not panic. There is plenty of air in the elevator. Even if the air temperature feels warm, there is plenty of air circulating in the elevator and the shaft.

  1. Push the Door Open button. If the car is, in fact, at the landing, the door will open. Be certain you sense no movement in the car before departing rapidly.

  2. If the door does not open, you are still safe. Never climb out of a stalled elevator, especially if the door opens between floors.

  3. Never try to exit a stalled elevator car. This is the second-greatest cause of fatalities, which result from limb severing, crushing, and decapitation when the elevator unexpectedly begins to move again while a passenger is only halfway out of the car.

  4. Use the Alarm or Help button, the telephone, or the intercom to call for assistance. Do not be concerned if you cannot be heard on the phone or if it seems not to work. Some phones are designed to only receive calls. Use the Alarm or Help button in this case. Always wait for trained emergency personnel.

  5. If service response time exceeds thirty minutes, 911 or the fire department should be called to report the entrapment first; if you can reach a friend on the outside, assign them the task of helping to locate or call the relevant facility operations manager of the building.

  6. Your best course of action is to relax, get comfortable, and wait for professional assistance. Emergency lighting will come on in the event of a power failure, so most likely you won’t be in complete darkness. You may be inconvenienced, but you are safe.

  At SERE (during POW training), I spent a week in a three-by-three-foot concrete box. To combat the feelings of entrapment and isolation, I started building things in my mind. I found that the more detailed and specific I was in my imagined design, the better. I broke it down to every nut and bolt of what I wanted to assemble. I even pondered paint options. When the week was over, I envisioned having a fully restored 1966 Shelby GT-350 classic car sitting in my garage at home. This is another example of utilizing the mental movie, an essential tool in many aspects of survival. The brain is our strongest muscle. To endure confinement or entrapment, use it, and let it take you on a mental vacation.

  Free Fall

  Fifty-seven percent of elevator fatalities are due to fall deaths. Some are caused when the door opens but no car is there. Other incidents are due to the collapse of the floor of the elevator car. Many older elevators have plywood floors that rot or have support brackets weakened by
excessive overload. When the floor gives way, just the slightest load can send it tumbling below. That was the case in 2001, when an eighty-five-year-old Richmond, Ohio, woman entered an elevator alone. At the sixth floor, the flooring apparently had carried one load too many; the woman fell down the shaft when the floor of the elevator suddenly gave way.

  • When you are waiting for an elevator and the door opens, be alert and pause. This may sound so incredibly obvious, but practice the most minimal form of situational awareness—look to make sure there is an elevator car to step into.

  • In the event of a fire or other situation that could lead to a disruption in electrical services, take the stairs.

  • When available, hold on to the interior handrail while riding in an elevator.

  • Report unusual metal sounds, grinding cables, car jerkiness—even adverse floor conditions, like if it feels spongy or uneven—to building management.

  • Again, use the stairs until you have proof that the situation has been rectified.

  LONGEST FREE FALL

  In the summer of 1945, a B-25 Army bomber got lost in the fog while attempting to land at LaGuardia Airport. It crashed into the seventy-ninth floor of the Empire State Building, killing fourteen people. When the plane hit, the engine ripped from the fuselage and torpedoed through the building. The engine cut loose all six cables of elevator car number 6, then on the seventy-eighth floor. The only occupant was elevator operator Betty O., who then experienced the longest free fall of an elevator car before or since, plunging a thousand feet toward the subbasement, which ended in a thunderous crash. The woman miraculously survived by holding on to the handrail and thus becoming weightless during the fall.

  FALLING THROUGH ICE

  With water covering more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, it’s inevitable that many people will find themselves submerged whether they want to be or not. A particularly dangerous scenario frequently occurs in the early winter or during the spring thaw, when ice-covered lakes, rivers, and ponds aren’t as safe as they may appear. Ice is deceiving, and it’s difficult to know by looking at it if it’s thick enough to hold the weight of a person. Environmental factors can cause sudden changes to ice, and it’s never certain whether or not you are literally walking on thin ice.

  Every two minutes a person drowns. Worldwide, more than a million people drown every year, the greatest percentage being children. Drowning by falling through ice is not classified in a separate category, but there are unique techniques for surviving a fall through ice, even if you are otherwise a fairly good swimmer.

  Going In

  Remember how I suggested ways to expand your comfort zone in Part One, “SEAL Mindset and Survival Psychology,” and recommended ending a warm shower with a thirty-second blast of cold water? Well, no matter if you are bundled up for the winter chill, falling through ice is that same sensation multiplied by a factor of ten. The work you did expanding your comfort zone will definitely pay off in this scenario. However, instantaneous submersion in near-freezing water will physiologically cause your body to experience a phenomenon known as cold shock response. When the blood temperature changes so dramatically, in some cases, it can lead to cardiac arrest and sudden death. The sheer surprise of being submerged will cause the onset of shock, and you could find yourself breathing rapidly—or hyperventilating—which causes a loss of coordination of the limbs.

  Swimming Out

  Fortunately, cold shock response lasts only a minute or two before the body can get its circulatory system realigned to cope. If you know this is happening to your body involuntarily, you must remain calm and attempt to keep your head above the waterline, or merely keep your mouth closed, holding your breath. It is fear of drowning and a panicked mind that are the base causes of most drowning deaths, since floundering and breathing uncontrollably hinders our natural buoyancy. If you fall through ice, know that the cold shock response condition will subside. When it does, it’s time to get out of the water.

  1. Do everything you can to keep your head above the water. Your only goal for the first minute is to not drown.

  2. Swim back to the place where you initially fell through the ice. This will be your escape route. Don’t panic—you should have anywhere from three to eight minutes in which you will have enough strength to get out.

  3. In general, it’s most likely that the ice surrounding the area where you fell in is also weakened. You will not be able to simply grab at the edge of this hole and hoist yourself out. You will have to lengthen your body as you would in a normal, horizontal swimming position. As you approach the edge of the ice opening, continue the swimming motion until your head and arms are out of the water. Once you have your elbows up on the ice, keep kicking as if swimming. Then proceed by inching forward, using your arms and fingers to pull yourself along the ice.

  4. Your propulsion will be provided by your kicking feet, still underwater. If you stop kicking too soon and you put too much of your upper-body weight on the ice before you are fully out of the water, more ice could break, and you will become submerged again.

  Rolling Out

  Sometimes it’s possible to get out of the water by rolling yourself out of the hole, especially if the opening in the ice is large. You need to get on your back and float to be in the correct position near the opening to make this maneuver successful. When your body is aligned and floating as close to the surface as possible, reach an arm out of the water and sling it onto the ice. Then lift the leg that is on the same side as your arm out of the water and onto the ice. Once you are half out, thrust the rest of your body upward while at once starting to roll away. Staying horizontal on the ice will create less pressure and give you a chance to roll to a place where the ice is firm.

  Whichever method you use, do not stand up immediately. Assume the ice is still too thin to support your weight and roll toward the nearest shore. Once you feel that you are on more solid ice, get to your knees and crawl until eventually you are on your feet and off the ice.

  Stop and Save It

  If after five to eight minutes of attempting to climb out you are still unable to free yourself, then you need to shift gears. You need to think about improving your chances of survival by conserving your energy and helping your body to maintain heat. Water can take the heat from your body twenty-five times faster than air of the same temperature.

  If you can get only halfway or partially out of the water, do so. Usually, you will be able to keep your upper body or chest out of the water by holding on to the edge of the ice. Stretch your arms on the ice and keep them there. Your goal is to stay alive and conscious as long as possible, in the hopes of being discovered. If your arms freeze to the surface of ice, in this scenario, it might be a good thing. It will help to keep your head out of the water without your exerting energy.

  How to Help If You Are a Bystander

  If you witness someone fall through ice, identify possible hazards and decide whether it is safe to enter the ice or attempt rescue from shore. If you react inappropriately, such as racing onto the ice yourself, you will probably be joining the victim underwater.

  1. Take the time to send someone for help or make a call on your cell phone before trying to help the victim.

  2. Attempt to talk to the victim by giving clear, concise instructions. Call out in a firm yet reassuring manner, relating the steps and methods described above.

  3. Find something you can throw to them. Ideally, a rope that you tie a loop onto one end of and toss toward the person in the water is the best option. If you know how to tie a bowline in the rope, this is when to use it. The person may not be able to maintain a grip on a rope that doesn’t have some kind of loop or knot on the end.

  4. Sometimes, public parks or places where people skate have ladders for rescue purposes located at various points along the shore.

  5. If nothing is available to throw and there is no rescue ladder at the scene, attempt to find a tree branch or pole. Or if in a residential area, send someone
to fetch a ladder.

  6. If you use a ladder, place it flat on the ice and push toward the opening. Again, depending on your scene size-up, you may need to tie a rope to the end of the ladder to retrieve it. Then push the ladder with a branch or pole to the person, so you don’t get too close and put yourself in danger. Give instructions clearly, telling the victim that the ladder is above them and to grab the end.

  During BUD/S, on any particular day, we spent hours in what we called “surf torture” sessions in the Pacific. I always used to laugh when the instructors would repeatedly say, “You may be cold now, but in the unlikely event you make it to the teams, you will be colder.” To which my response was: “Bullshit.” I changed that opinion during Winter Warfare Training in Alaska. There, I found myself once again neck-deep in the Pacific, for “polar bear appreciation.” In this training, the new guys, or “meats,” were stripped and submerged in the ice water. It was the longest ten minutes of my life. Let’s just say it took longer for some of my anatomy to start working again than other parts. I feel your pain, George Costanza.

  FIGHTING

  In any number of survival scenarios, there could be a time when the only option to save your life, or the lives of others, is to fight. Even if it never comes down to getting into a physical confrontation, knowing how to fight—correctly—brings confidence. An important aspect of incorporating the SEAL mindset into your daily life is having the tools to defend yourself if the situation arises. This is important in order to live free and unafraid. You may not have the self-defense skills that SEALs or martial arts experts possess, but if you practice the following basic and effective fighting techniques, this knowledge will keep you alive, and in many instances, incapacitate your assailant. When the situation calls for an immediate physical response, it undoubtedly would be to your great advantage to have trained and practiced the following techniques. I have talked about muscle memory, and when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, only by doing certain moves again and again will you develop the skills needed to fight efficiently without forethought. This gives you an incredible edge—not to mention the element of surprise—when the time comes to use them. I must also add that I encourage you take some form of self-defense training as well. It not only will help should you find yourself in a life-threatening situation, but it will give you many benefits, such as self-confidence, physical fitness, and discipline. Learning self-defense will make you both physically and mentally tougher.