“I never lost faith in the end of the story.”
The Stockdale Paradox
I have only watched one full episode of the TV Show but I am glad to have watched that one. Recently, a fellow, one of five, just decided that he had done everything needed to survive for a month but couldn’t really think of a reason to stay any longer so he called for pickup, and departure. What a nice option! I see no mention of this in the manual you provided (thanks for the .pdf !).
On the TV series ‘Unclothed and Unskeert,’ it is interesting to see people hit their personal wall and bounce back. In my observation of the show, (about 3 episodes) it seems the female hits the wall sooner but bounces back a bit stronger (or not at all and fails completely). The male takes longer to hit it but risks complete breakdown once it happens. Add the fact that the guaranteed rescue is planned at 21 days and always within a single cry for help, and then you see the nice option appear again.
In speaking and writing, Admiral Stockdale spoke about his stay in the Hanoi Hilton with respect to the Stoics, who he had studied in Grad School. He spoke about the optimists having the greatest trouble because they too often tried to create positive energy even with the silliest rumor (e.g., we’ll all be released for Christmas). Once something hoped for that was positive didn’t occur, spirits dropped significantly and sometimes led to death. I met another guy who was captured and held for several years before even being led to the Hanoi Hilton. He said he spent two years in a cage with a broken leg while trying to raise a python that he had befriended. In his mind, he wrote a book of Algebra that could better teach new high school students how to work algebraic formulas. By the time Doug Hegdahl was released and listed his name among the living, the wife, thinking she was a widower, had already remarried and had children and a new family.
In SERE School, no matter what stress they tried to add to the training, I could simply call up my seat number for the flight from San Diego to Dulles.
Try—try—try—try—to think o’ something different—
Oh—my—God—keep—me from goin’ lunatic!
Many with military experience have trained their mind (whether they know it or not) to think and emphasize deadlines and completion dates and this can be a hindrance. A deployment for example: 90 days and a wakeup was once easy to track until at 42 days someone tells us that a new countdown of 50 days has begun. Then, with only 5 days left we are told that all countdowns have been suspended indefinitely. LOL. This is but one example of the F-F GAME played inside and outside your head, and with many, and often Joint, HQ involved, it becomes another fine game by Milton Bradley.
Mental prep should be always #1.
The book “Unbroken” is worth a read. The movie was good as well but seemed to leave out one of the most important chapters.
Once my mental and spiritual condition is programmed to want to see the end of the story, I will want a good knife.
It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
Henry David Thoreau
