Inside SEAL Team Six(30)

Article V. When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.

Article VI. I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.

Once the twenty of us knew the COC backward and forward, we were given some basic lessons in land navigation; identification of poisonous plants, animals, and insects; water procurement; fire making; building shelters; and evasion, escape, and resistance techniques.

Then we were dropped off in the desert without food or water and ordered to find our way to a safe area while trying to avoid contact with the “enemy.”

Thirsty and hungry, we drank from prickly pear cacti and searched for edible plants to eat. Spotting a small rabbit running under a bush, I threw my Ka-Bar knife, and to my surprise it pinned the rabbit’s neck to the ground. By cooking the rabbit meat with edible plants, I made a half-decent rabbit stew.

But one little rabbit was hardly enough to feed twenty hungry men.

Hungry, thirsty, and exhausted, all of us were captured over the next several days.

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I figured that if they were going to act tough, I’d play it for real too.

When one of my captors stepped out of the jeep, I got my bound hands in front of me, grabbed his PRC-77 radio, and tossed it under the wheels.

I also managed to steal a knife and lighter, which I hid in my boots.

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