I was stuck on a mountainside in Guatemala for 11 days when my antenna repair crew members were killed in a helicopter strike. After something like that, you get in the habit of asking yourself? If all I had was what I have on me RIGHT NOW, what could I do? What do I know HOW to do? What would I be going for?

I was saved because I was in the wiring chase under the antenna emplacement working. My crew members were eating, I was determined to stay and work till I had to pee because it was so damned hard to get into position to work on the cabling. I had an open circuit with one of my engineers while I was working for safety and I heard what they said when they saw the helicopter and heard the thumping bullets and the yelling.

I stayed in the wiring chase for hours after the original attack because I was scared that they'd come and inspect their damage. I knew that the entrance to the wiring chase was quite a ways downhill from the antennas and hard to find. I was hoping they wouldn't find me.

There wasn't much left of the bodies. The guys had been sitting under the raised tailgate on the shelter on the back of the HMMWV, and the helicopter set that on fire. BTW, burned bodies are awfully terrible looking and yes, smells like burned meat. The HMMWV stayed hot for a couple of days too; there'd been a generator and diesel tank in the back and they just continued to burn and smoke, even in the rain. I crawled back into the wiring chase after collecting some things I thought might be useful.

Then, at dusk, I came out and did inventory. I had my toolkit, a couple of hardhats, one aluminum and one plastic, my belt pack which I'd left at the entry to the wiring chase, my rain jacket, The snacks in my toolkit (peanutbutter crackers, peanuts, a couple of snickers bars, and a small bag of bucky ball mix (it's a high energy mix of nuts, honey, and berries mixed together, I got the recipe out of a book years ago and prefer it to trail mix). I also had a lot of tangled metal and wire. The fence around the emplacement was intact, I also had an axe and a can of diesel fuel from the shed.

I had water (collected in the V shaped metal from the antennas collecting off the edge of a sheet of metal roofing then guided into a hard hat (thank God it was Aluminum, which was pure damn luck) which I used as a container and cooking vessel. Since then, I refuse to own a hard hat that's not aluminum. I have a regular collection of them.

I ate snails (Thanks, Grandad), a couple of bushy tailed varmints that I managed to catch with some peanut butter crackers and kevlar thread from fiber optic cable as a snare (great stuff that Kevlar, and I HAD my toolkit with the cutters). I set about 18 snares being very careful to scent them with animal scat and I caught 4 varmints in 11 days. (Snares work, but location, persistence, and scent are EVERYTHING.)

I made a fire with my trusty knife and fire steel that my Grandad DRILLED into me to carry all the time. There was plenty of dry leafy/dusty stuff in the wiring chase that I could use for tinder too, I collected sticks and stored them there to dry out.

I used the wiring chase for shelter because I felt safer there and kept my firemaking to tiny fires that were just enough to cook on. I couldn't stand to eat raw critter, but I was scared of being found by the "wrong" people. I made myself a little chimney stove using a piece of metal panduit (rectangular metal tubing).

I was dirty, but I was dry even in the daily rain, and I was hungry but not starving. I knew it was about 80K (about 48 miles) down to the town where we'd been staying. We were only supposed to be there for 3 days of work, changing out an antenna and making a check. I was very careful to keep myself from getting hurt, I stayed hidden whenever I could and listened . . . you can't believe how hard I listened.

My plan was to wait for 2 more days then make my way down the mountain because I KNEW that they would send someone to investigate. I just didn't realize that the Guatemalan Army would tell them that the entire emplacement was gone and everyone was dead (even though they didn't come and investigate) so it took them 11 days to get someone there.

Frankly I CURSED myself for not remembering to be better prepared. I would have KILLED for some salt and some Neosporin ointment. A couple of space blankets or a bag made of them would have made me SOOO happy. At least I had some skills and thanks to my Grandad I wasn't stupid enough to poison myself or wander around without any direction like an idiot and get myself totally lost. Now, no matter what, I have MY OWN map in my waist pack and in my toolkit.

I could go on and on about the meltdown I had AFTER I got back to my hotel room . . . so eerily the same as I'd left it. I found out later that it was the lady that ran the little hotel that called my boss, she called my office and told them that we'd gone up the mountain, expecting to be back for a late supper that she made each evening special just for us--that we didn't come back and she was worried.

And yes, I cried, I was scared, I was lonely, I was really really focused on surviving, though. I had a husband and a son then and I was absolutely determined not to let them down. What scared me the most was being found by the "bad guys." Oddly, one of the things that really helped was that I'd put a paperback book, a big fat one, in the inside pocket of my rain jacket. Which I'd conveniently left just inside the opening to the wiring chase. It was a big anthology of Heinlein's Scifi called, "The Past Through Tomorrow." Having something to be able to alleviate the boredom.

Now, my purse is also a "fanny pack" and it has my little Em-O-Kit (Emergency Operations kit), my "container" which doubles as a cosmetics container, The stiff bottom of my purse has been traded out for a crimped piece of steel (edges crimped up to form a stable shallow tray) that is a dandy cooking surface for fish, quite a luxury. I also carry a decent map of wherever I am with a compass. There's always some food in my bag and I always have some kind of reading material.

Some people would say I'm lucky to be alive. Yep, I was lucky to be underground when the SHTF, but what kept me alive were the things I knew, the decisions I made, and what I was WILLING to do to stay alive.

I'm a woman, I survived. Sure, it was 11 days, not all that long, but 11 days is long enough to get irretrievably lost, do something stupid and get killed, die of exposure . . . well, you get the picture.

Hey NB...Thanks for sharing that experience with us...Truly amazing story!

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If it's in your pack, but you don't know how to use it...it's useless. So, always test your skills as a form of preparation...Don't wait until your life depends on it. That's a lesson you don't want to learn the hard way.

NB, My hat is off to you. You did well. You Survived!

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Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

Great story. You did what you have to do to survive. You did the best great. Cheers!!!

Thanks for sharing such a nice experience with us, I felt as if I was the one and it was really happening to me. Good work dude.

Well done, ma'am. Very well done. I'm trying to get my wife into camping, so that she can learn the basics. We're planning on doing a backpacking camp this weekend. It will be her first time out, without a designated camping area. I'm going to teach her a few survival tips, like making fire, shelters, snares, etc... Your story is a fine example of why everyone, men AND women, need to learn basic survival techniques. Thank you for sharing it with us.

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The LORD be magnified!
-Psalm 40:16

MOLON LABE
-Sparta (monument at Thermopylae)

"It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible."
-George Washington

http://www.constitutionparty.com

Great story. I will remember this. Thanks for posting this.

Like many women, camping isn't my idea of a relaxing vacation. It's work, all the schlepping and making a home and cooking and being dirty. It has its moments and rewards, but a relaxing vacation . . . not even close.

On the other hand, you can LEARN things when you camp. You can test your knowledge, you can get to know what you are capable of doing and remembering.

If you tell a woman that you want to go on a camping trip for "fun" she's likely to snarl at you. Women do not like to be dirty, we think "vacation" means someone will cook FOR us--not having to do improvised cooking and washing up while in a squatting position on a creekbank.

On the other hand, if you put it forward as a LEARNING experience that you can share . . . you might get a more positive reaction. It's also EXTREMELY important that you make it CLEAR you don't intend for her to do the cooking, cleaning, and spiffing. Her first few camping trips, you should aim for doing ALL the cooking yourself and make sure you schlep some real food with you. Try some car/tent camping first and wait for her to OFFER to help.

I'm SERIOUS. You can turn her into an enthusiast if she thinks you enjoy it and let her take part on her own terms. Sure, she might jump in and cook, but don't ASK her to do it.

Incredible story, and thanks for the tip in your last post .

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Anything is Possible

I really think that you did very well in that situation.You showed intelligence and wisdom in staying put, not taking off on your own. Also PTSD is not anything to downplay in a situation like that and to even talk about it shows that you are making good strides in getting past it. But you want to know what really stands out? The fact that you are commited to being perpared now no matter what. Good job maam.