Two Lessons from U.S. Air Force Survival School

The Sinking Raft

It was dark. About 12 of us students were seated in a 20-person life raft. It was a sick person who thought 20 adults could actually fit in one of these rafts. Even with only 12 it was a bit crowded. To add a degree of difficulty, the raft had a tent cover so we couldn’t see out. Outside the raft several survival instructors were harassing us and trying their best to swamp our raft. We were only in a large swimming pool so there was really no danger but ego and pride were on the line.

All twelve of us were new aircrew members from various types of aircraft. All twelve of us were definitely type A personalities who were trained to take charge: to be a leader.

All twelve of us did nothing.

This was a completely foreign experience, but we quickly realized we had better start bailing water out of the raft. As we started bailing, one guy located an instructor and began vigorously bailing water from the raft into that instructors face. The instructor’s shouts got our attention and we all began to locate other instructors and attack them in the same way.

The instructors were not pleased, but they did stop trying to sink us.

This is a phenomenon I’ve observed in other teams. Even if the team is made up of really smart people, or really aggressive people, an unexpected event that is beyond their experience can cause the team to stall and it takes an unusual or surprising action to get the team moving again.

A Map and Compass

Survival school is designed to take lessons learned over many decades of war and peacetime experience to give its aircrew members the maximum chance of survival in bad situations. The basic school provides instruction in water survival, land survival in various situations, and escape and evasion. Students learn to survive in austere conditions and they get a taste of what hunger really is. A large part of the instruction is helping students learn to develop the mental toughness necessary to survive. Students learn that they can do more and endure more than they previously thought.

After a week of learning yet another type of shelter which can be constructed from a parachute, and having had little to eat, the class is told they must move immediately and meet up at a location far from where they are currently camped. Students are divided into teams of two and given a specific point to reach. Each two-person team has a map and compass. This is when peacetime turns to wartime and instructions include a warning not to get caught by instructors who are tracking them.

The maps provided are a type of aviation chart, which is what one would have after suddenly leaving an aircraft. These maps don’t show a lot of detail on the ground. That’s not what they’re for.

They do show roads and rivers that seem to provide easy paths. Smaller details don’t always show. Tired and hungry, some take the easy way on the roads that do show on the map. They don’t bother with the compass because they can just follow the road. These easy roads present two problems. First, if they want to get to the rendezvous point they must eventually leave the easy road. The other is that the easy road is just that, easy. More people will take the easy route which means more chance of getting caught and failing to reach the objective.

On the other hand, the students who stayed off the roads and used their map and compass as a guide were more successful. That approach required more effort, but in the end they reached their goal faster.

It’s a good lesson in leadership. Successful leaders always have a map and compass. The map is their plan including a well-defined mission and clear goals and objectives. The compass is their personal values. Those values keep them and their team on track.

I attended survival school in the winter. As my partner and I worked our way to the rendezvous point, it began to snow – a lot. Visibility quickly dropped to a few feet. At the same time we came upon a cliff that prevented us from reaching the goal. We had to detour around and navigate through a canyon to get to the other side. The map and compass kept us on track, and we successfully reached our goal, well ahead of those who tried an easier route.

Success isn’t always found on the easy road. Often, the harder path builds a better team and leads to more success. As Robert Frost said, it will likely be the road less traveled by, but it will make all the difference.