anyone else see this episode on the national geographic channel?

overview:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/critical-situation/2948/Overview

video highlights:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/critical-situation/2948/Overview#tab-Videos/02746_03

i was impressed, very good story and good suspense for a documentary. i highly recommend seeing this if you get a chance. the actual pilot recaps the story, the navy and marine officers who coordinated the rescue, and they even have the commander and an officer of the serb forces who were trying to capture him. it really hit home when the marines came to save the guy, and he talked about how he felt when he saw the chinook coming in.

seems like the movie "behind enemy lines" is loosely based on this event (it had potential, but owen wilson failed)

could you imagine being in a survival situation behind enemy lines? i know most of us are well prepared for the unthinkable in friendly territory, but this guy had to do things like eating bugs, drinking water from wet socks, and the plant edibility test, all while evading detection by enemy forces. the stress must be tenfold in a case like that. all i know is that no matter what survival situation i ever find myself in, i can always think, "hey, it could be worse, at least i'm not being hunted by serbian paramilitaries who wouldn't mind shooting me." it would really put things into perspective if you know what i mean.

Well, as usual I can't get the link to open. And we dumped out sat TV service, so we only get fuzzy broadcast channels. Can't see the good stuff.

As for the surviving behind enemy lines things, I don't even want to think about how stressful it would be...

ah, the link was messed up, but should be fixed now...

I've seen that episode...good. I've also read the book ("Return With Honor") by the downed pilot, Capt. Scott O'Grady.

I served with the Marine helicopter pilot who flew that mission lead and rescue chopper (I believe there were two CH-53's and a couple of Apaches) when I was in Okinawa in the early '90's. At that time he was a Major, and had come to 3rd MarDiv from HMX-1....where he flew Marine One...the President's helicopter. William "Bill" Tarbutton is his name...good guy. So, the show was kinda extra cool to me. If you catch the entire episode, they interview Lt. Col Tarbutton.

All military crewmembers (pilots, navs, etc), go through extensive training to do just that. They attend water survival (2 weeks when I went) and basic survival (3 weeks) where they learn survival skills along with resistance and escape and evasion training. Then they receive supplemental training at the units based upon the mission they perform and the environments they operate in.

I have participated in exercises which involved dropping crewmembers in the desert within the auspices of a combat exercise. We needed to identify our location from charts we would have been using during flight, find appropriate hiding locations, treat wounds, contact SAR forces, do challenge and respond, then move to the pickup area following the SAR forces sent in to get us. The pick-up was made the following AM after evading during the night. (We hid one guy - our most wounded - so well they missed him in their walk-in... they were NOT pleased ) Our foraging skills were not needed as much, but that was the nature of our training environment/scenario. We also worked w/ during the year w/ local Army units to do water pick-ups, etc.

I admire (then) Capt O'Grady for the skills he exhibited, but more so the skills of those who went in to get him. They showed exactly how things get done and to what extent we will go to retrieve a downed crewmember. The planning, the adapting, the risks taken, and the coordination involved are tremendous. These same skill sets are used daily to help civilians in need.

Sorry this is so long.

Way cool. Thanks for your excellent service to this country.

I read "Return with Honor" as well. Highly recommended reading. I was amazed that he did so well even when he failed to bring his BOB (don't know what the AF calls their survival bag) but that had water and lots of survival goodies in it. At least he had his radio and beacon transmitter.

He was spotted by many bad guys as he was parachuting down! Worst case scenario, in anyone's book! I found it interesting that he went motionless very quickly after hitting the treeline. The searchers went past him, thinking he would continue running. He moved at night, slept during the day, classic E&E. Fantastic story. I can't imagine staying calm during that type of stress.

All I can see on the first link is the thumbnail. Is that the guy who hid under a cow to disguise his body heat from detection?

Sue