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  Contents

  Introduction

  Part One: SEAL Mindset and Survival Psychology

  EXPAND YOUR COMFORT ZONE

  INCREASE YOUR PHYSICAL TOUGHNESS

  INCREASE YOUR MENTAL TOUGHNESS

  MENTAL PREPARATION

  Emergency Conditioning • Visualization • Rehearsal • Muscle Memory • Create a Trigger • Violence of Action • Situational Awareness • Composure Under Pressure • Combat Breathing • Checklists

  USE THE RULE OF THREE

  LONG-HAUL SURVIVAL

  Part Two: Survival Scenarios

  ABANDON SHIP

  What to Do When Boarding a Ship or Boat • What to Do When a Ship Is Taking On Water • Abandoning Ship • Mayday • Going into the Water

  ACTIVE SHOOTER

  Active-Shooter Incidents • Police Response Time • Situational Awareness: Exits, Cover, People • Once a Shooting Begins • Reverse 911 • Movement Techniques • Bullet Penetration • Decoys • Moving as a Group • Set an Ambush • Encountering Law Enforcement

  AIRPLANE CRASH

  Preflight Preparation • Where to Sit • Gathering Intelligence on Your Plane • Situational Awareness on the Plane • Impact Brace Positions • Postimpact • Finding the Best Exit • What to Do Once You’re Out

  ANIMAL ATTACK

  Dogs • Black Bears • Brown Bears • Polar Bears • Mountain Lions

  AUTO ACCIDENT

  Seat Belts • Air Bags • Other Safety Features and Precautions • Avoiding and Minimizing Accidents • Four O’clock and Eight O’clock Hand Positions • Tire Blowouts • Postaccident Actions

  BIOCHEMICAL ATTACK

  History • Early Signs • How to Protect Yourself and Escape • Improvised Gas Mask • Shelter In • If You’ve Been Exposed

  BOMB

  Car Bomb • Situational Awareness • Individual Precautions for Community Safety • Structural Safety • IED and Booby Trap • Suicide Bombers • If a Bomb Detonates

  BRIDGE COLLAPSE

  Crumbling Infrastructure • Bracing for Impact • How to Escape a Submerged Vehicle • On the Surface

  BURGLARY AND ROBBERY

  Crime Facts • Prevention • Point of Entry • Being a Good Neighbor • Neighborhood Watches • Exterior Lighting • Doors and Locks • Windows • Interior Lighting • Alarms • Dogs • When a Burglary Happens • When a Robbery Happens • Encountering the Invader • Convenience Store and Bank Robberies

  CARJACKING

  Being Alert • Typical Strategies Carjackers Use • The Bump and Jump • The Good Samaritan • The Ruse • The Trap • Surprise Attack • Prevention • During a Carjacking • When a Carjacking Becomes an Abduction • Carjacked as a Passenger • Locked in Your Trunk

  EARTHQUAKE

  Secure the Compound • If You Are Outdoors • If You Are in a Vehicle • If You Are Inside • Drop, Cover, and Hold On • Triangle of Life • Aftermath • Buried in Rubble • Tapping

  ELEVATOR EMERGENCY

  Situational Awareness • Elevator Entrapment • Free Fall

  FALLING THROUGH ICE

  Going In • Swimming Out • Rolling Out • Stop and Save It • If You Are a Bystander •

  FIGHTING

  Prefight • Commanding Presence • Distance • The Fight • Protect Your Face • Stay On Your Feet • Hit Hard • Vulnerable Points on the Body • Punches • Palm Strikes • Feet • Elbows • Knees • Chokeholds • Thumb Drops • If They Have a Knife or a Gun • Final Note on Fighting

  FIRE: FORESTS, BUILDINGS, HOMES

  Situational Awareness: Know Your Risk • Outdoor Fire Threats • Preparation Checklists • Building and House Fires • Renters • What to Do in a Fire

  FLASH FLOOD, FLOODING, AND TSUNAMI

  During a Flood • Aftermath of a Flood • Tsunami • Know Your Location • Animal Behaviors

  FOOT PURSUIT AND BEING CHASED

  Mindset • Use Your Environment

  GANG VIOLENCE

  Wrong Place, Wrong Time • Distance and De-escalation • Punch and Run: Fight and Flight

  HIJACKING

  Before You Board • Settling Into Your Seat • Observe Your Passengers • Air Marshals • Assess the Hijacker • Charge! • Improvised Weapons • Explosives • Search, Handle, Restrain • The Outside World’s Response

  HOME INVASION

  Tiger Kidnapping • Prevention and Rehearsal • Safe Rooms • When Violence Comes • SERE (Survive, Evade, Resist, Escape) • How to Escape Restraints • Alerting Others

  HURRICANE AND TORNADO

  Hurricane Preparation • When to Evacuate • Holding Your Position • Caught Outside • It’s Not Over Yet • Tornado Survival

  JAIL

  Jail Types and Stats • Mental Preparation • Just Locked Up • What Not to Do • Violence Behind Bars • Be Good

  LIGHTNING

  Know the Enemy • Targets • The 30/30 Rule • Action Checklist

  LOST AT SEA

  Survival Priorities • Staying Afloat • Retaining Heat • Avoiding Sunstroke • Getting Water • Getting Food • Signaling • Raft Survival • Sea-Induced Delusions • The Long Haul • Shark Attack

  LOST IN THE DESERT

  Survival Priorities • Shade • Finding Water • Building a Solar Still • Types of Shelters • Walking Out

  LOST IN THE FROZEN MOUNTAINS

  Survival Priorities • Finding Shelter • Building a Quinze • Starting and Maintaining a Fire • Dry Clothing • Getting Water • Getting Food • Trapping • Lichen • Moving and Navigation • Improvised Compasses

  NUCLEAR ATTACK

  How a Bomb Works • EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) • How to React • Materials That Protect from Radiation • Avoiding Radiation by Sheltering In • Avoiding Radiation by Outrunning It • Decontamination

  PANDEMIC

  Methods of Transmission • Preventing Infection • Pandemic in Effect • Disruption of Services • Minimum Food Essentials • Your Crew • When You’re the Sick One • Sickroom • Homemade Protective Gear • Handling the Dead

  RIOTS AND STAMPEDES

  Awareness of Likelihood • If You Are in a Riot • If You Live in an Area Where Riots Are Occurring • Stampedes

  ROAD RAGE: DEFENSIVE AND EVASIVE DRIVING

  Letting Go of Anger on the Road • Defensive Driving: Expect the Worst • Evasive Driving • Basic Techniques for a High-Speed Chase • Advanced Techniques • Y-Turns • J-Turns • Barricade Breaching • Being Rammed • Driver Down

  SEARCH AND RESCUE

  Step Up and Help! • Gear Up • Going In • Marking Your Results • Extracting Survivors • Levers • Cribbing and Shoring

  STALKER AND SURVEILLANCE DETECTION

  Stalking Stats • If You Are Being Followed • Change Your Routine • Surveillance Detection Route • Ambush

  TORTURE AND BEING HELD HOSTAGE

  Torture’s Many Forms • Why Me? • Accepting Your Situation • Stress Management • Time • Thoughts of Escape • Become the Gray Man • Managing the Pain • Give Something vs. Give Nothing

  TROUBLE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY

  Before You Go • Friendly Embassies • Avoid Trouble • In Trouble • On the Run

  Part Three: Gear and Improvised Weapons

  GEAR

  Go Bag Essentials • Go Bag Advanced

  FIREARMS

  Thoughts on Firea
rms • What Weapon Is Best? • Basic Firearm Operation and Safety

  IMPROVISED WEAPONS

  Part Four: Survival Medicine

  STEP UP AND HELP!

  Casualty Assessment • Get into Action • Initial Assessment • Triage

  IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES FOR TREATING THE INJURED

  ABC (Airway, Breathing, Circulation) • Rescue Breathing • CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) • Stopping the Bleeding • Dressing the Wound • Tourniquets • Protecting Wounds • Fractures • Dislocations • Transporting the Injured

  SHOCK

  Causes • Prevention and Treatment

  HEAT INJURIES

  Dehydration • Heat Cramps • Heat Exhaustion • Heatstroke

  COLD INJURIES

  Hypothermia • Frostbite • Trench Foot

  TRENCH FOOT

  CHOKING

  How to Help Someone Who’s Choking • If You Are Alone and Choking • If the Victim Is Unconscious

  BURNS

  Burn Types • Short-term Treatment • Long-term Treatment

  BITES AND STINGS

  Bees and Wasps • Spiders and Scorpions • Snakes

  Acknowledgments

  About Cade Courtley

  To my teammates both here and above

  Introduction

  What enables someone to carry a 250-pound man up three flights of stairs while taking enemy fire or spend six sleepless days and nights running around with a fractured right leg? What allows a man to break through a door knowing full well there is someone with an assault rifle on the other side trying to kill him? How is it possible to endure continuous physical abuse and confinement in a three-by-three-foot concrete box without food for more than a week and finish with a smile? Or not only survive exhausting days and nights of subzero temperatures during a blinding blizzard but thrive, coming out harder and stronger? How does one swim seven miles in frigid, whitecapped ocean waters? What makes one voluntarily return time and time again to a war zone?

  Essentially, what makes a Navy SEAL?

  There are currently nine SEAL teams and approximately 2,500 active-duty U.S. Navy SEALs. President John F. Kennedy created the SEALs in 1962, announcing his plans to do so during the same historic speech in which he promised to put a man on the moon. The president wanted specialized units to handle extremely dangerous and covert operations and become the elite force for unconventional warfare techniques. Since the creation of the Navy SEALs, they have been involved in thousands of combat missions, first making their name in Vietnam. There, SEAL Teams One and Two accomplished an amazing kill ratio of 200:1. SEALs were so feared by enemy forces that they were simply known as “the men with green faces.” SEALs also served in Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, in addition to conducting numerous highly classified operations in countries not mentioned above. Recent notable operations include freeing the hijacked captain of the Maersk Alabama, the rescue of American hostages in Somalia, and the killing of Osama bin Laden.

  Mr. President, you got your money’s worth.

  “SEAL” is an acronym for “Sea, Air, Land.” The idea was to forge a military unit that could operate effectively in all environments. Prior to the formation of the SEALs, there were numerous specialized military units, such as the Scouts and Raiders, formed in 1942, nine months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. These guys were trained for stealth and conducted preassault assessments of beachhead landing areas, marked targets, and did whatever it took to make a mission by other forces more successful. There were also the Naval Combat Demolition Units and the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs), which many remember as the classic “frogmen” of World War II. These were amphibious units that went in prior to conventional battles to clear beach obstacles, cut underwater enemy cables, or rig buoys, bridges, or enemy ships with explosives. They were responsible for blowing out fortified German gaps during the Omaha Beach landing, for example, which ultimately led to victory for the Allies. In addition, the Office of Strategic Services had a group called Operational Swimmers, which more closely resembled current SEAL operations. These men were dropped by parachute behind enemy lines for guerrilla warfare, or donned the first flexible diving masks and fins to attack by sea.

  The SEALs were formed to create a military force that combined all these varying branches, capable of operating in all environments. Whether it be the Arctic tundra, the jungles of the tropics, the desert, or the ocean, SEALs are trained to adapt to any variable and carry out everything from top-secret missions to conventional warfare. SEALs perform the most dangerous and oftentimes unimaginable tasks, and they do so with uncompromising principles and resolute loyalty.

  To be eligible to become a SEAL, you must be a U.S. citizen, pass a basic physical, have good eyesight, and be under twenty-eight years old. If you score well on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test, and at a minimum swim five hundred yards in under twelve and a half minutes, do forty-two push-ups in two minutes and fifty sit-ups in two minutes, and run one and a half miles in under eleven and a half minutes (although much higher scores are required for serious consideration), then you might get a chance to attend training.

  Only one out of a thousand who want to become a SEAL gets the opportunity to attend BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training), the twenty-six-week training process of becoming a SEAL, and of those, less than 15 percent will make it to graduation. Once trainees have completed BUD/S, the training continues with the twenty-eight-week course of advanced training called SQT (SEAL Qualification Training), which teaches them all of the skill sets they will need to officially become a Navy SEAL. The guys who thought it would be cool to be a SEAL because they saw the teams in the movies or wanted to use their SEAL status to pick up chicks last about two days. The ones who make it endure the toughest military training in the world and possess traits in common that include persistence, dedication, and tenacity; quite simply, these men are hard. But it’s much more than that.

  These new SEALs then report to one of the following SEAL teams: Teams One, Three, Five, and Seven are based in Coronado, California. SEAL Teams Two, Four, Eight, and Ten are located in Little Creek, Virginia. Once they join their team, they will spend another eighteen months training with their platoon prior to a six-month deployment. So if you are lucky enough to not get injured and make it straight through training, it will be at least thirty-one months before you are a combat-ready Navy SEAL.

  As you might notice, I didn’t mention SEAL Team Six, since before the bin Laden kill, this was a theoretically nonexistent unit and no one was to know of its missions or activities—it was our secret. So much for OPSEC (Operational Security). Nevertheless, to be chosen for SEAL Team Six, a SEAL must serve for six years on other teams, and then they’ll have the opportunity to screen for this crew of all-stars.

  When I entered BUD/S, I was determined not to quit. I convinced myself there was no backup plan. I would graduate or die trying, even if it took me nine months longer than usual to get through it, since I had broken my leg three times and suffered a fractured skull. I spent the entire six days of Hell Week running on a partially fractured right leg. To say my comfort zone was pushed with every step I took is an understatement. I did finally graduate as a lieutenant, and everything I learned and endured during training has served me well and kept me alive.

  As they say in Washington, D.C.: “If we want a mission done right . . . we SEAL it.”

  I tell you this not to boast. Those of us who have served in the teams are hesitant to list our trials. I cite the above examples to validate that what I have to offer comes from very real and current experiences. The information in this book doesn’t come from an “Internet expert” or someone “out of the game” since Vietnam. Rather, it comes from someone who has been there, done that, and truly survived.

  For a Navy SEAL, achieving and maintaining maximum physical fitness is a basic job requirement. I’ve spent the better part of my life working hard to stay at peak physical levels for mission s
uccess, but I will never forget the strongest muscle of all—and that is the brain. It is the foundation on which everything else is built. In this book I will teach you the true secret techniques used by Navy SEALs and demonstrate how to significantly enhance your odds of survival in any situation.

  The real successes and achievements attributed to SEALs are actually due to the way we have trained and conditioned our minds. It’s the ability to see the real world and react to any situation without hesitation and make split-second decisions that could have global ramifications.

  I am writing this book to give you the tools needed to think like a SEAL, to adapt rapidly to the unexpected, and to ensure maximum survival. If you follow the advice in this guide, you will significantly reduce your chance of becoming a mere mortality statistic when adversity strikes, and instead become one of the few who will survive.

  The world we live in is truly dangerous, but the intent of this book is to empower. It will give you the tools you need to survive in almost any situation, especially the most deadly. No one needs to become a reclusive survival fanatic or live in a paranoid state. We must all be prepared and vigilant, but living scared is not living. I became a Navy SEAL to protect our country and defend our rights and freedom. Be confident in yourself and the new skills you will learn, and then go on and enjoy every day of your life.

  This will take some work, but everything worthwhile does. Staying alive, I’ll assume, is the goal of all of us. These are the twin promises of this book:

  A. You will learn how to gain the mental and physical abilities that will enable you to survive a crisis when the time comes.

  B. You will learn skills and techniques to give you confidence and freedom in the world now, even if you never are faced with a life-threatening situation.

  It’s Time to Harden Up!

  Many indulge in lifestyles without discipline, preferring the path of least resistance. The overall attitude of the population is geared toward seeking self-centered comfort and convenience. Obesity is at an all-time high, and the trivial distractions that surround us, from video games to our infatuation with trash TV, seem to be designed to make us weaker as a nation, and incidentally unprepared. No matter your age or the physical condition you are in right now, this is the time to begin a new regimen and develop a mindset that will turn you into a survivor who can live with confidence and freedom in this changing world.