The Family Thread - Letters from Home

[DBTrek]

“Buddy, you’re freaking your mom out with that falling through the ice shit. Try to take it easy in the future, eh?”

Knowing wink.
Back to video games.

[Smitty-48]

I went through the ice once, with like a hundred pounds of kit on me, wearing snowshoes. Main thing is just not to panic. The only way to train for it tho, is to do it in a controlled manner.



Safety is only half the battle, cause, shit will happen, then you have to fall back on survival drills.

Soon as I felt the ice give way, before I was even fully underwater, my immediate action checklist had already kicked off, there was no fear, just step one, step two, step three...

[DBTrek]

Rode my dirt bike over an icy river when I was 11. Ive cracked. The front tire and one of my legs went in but I managed to back my way safely to the shore.

Then ... I rode my bike till my pants were dry/frozen, went home, and didn’t say peep about it.

Because what were my parents going to say?
“Never ride your bike on the ice”

Duh.
Like I needed to hear that after learning the lesson first hand.

[Smitty-48]

When you hit the water, you're in a window where you have to take action before you succumb to the effects, the thing that generally kills people, is that the shock of the cold paralyzes them, they panic and flail, because they haven't been exposed to it before, the only real way to harden yourself to it, is to be exposed to it.

[DBTrek]

I found the exposure of one leg sufficient to refrain from making that mistake again.

Of course, if the hole in the ice were large enough to swallow an 11 year old and their bike in one gulp I doubt there would’ve been much I could’ve done to save myself. There was still a current flowing down there.

[Smitty-48]

Oh I was fully in the shit, I was looking up at the hole above me for a moment or two, but even then, I was already getting the kit off and executing the drill, but even as I was going through that drill, battleschool was so deeply ingrained, my foremost concern was actually not losing my rifle.

Good thing too, because I was snowshoeing, so I didn't have ski poles, so I ended up using the rifle to pull myself out, hooked the FN FAL magazine into the ice to get purchase, then used to the rifle as leverage to pull on. Even had my ruck rigged for flotation, dry bag liner, so it just bobbed back up to the surface.

Just went straight into the woods, opened up the dry bag, full kit change right there and then, the only thing I lost was the snowshoes.

[DrYouth]

So drill it and take the kid back to the ice and jump on it until he goes through... then execute survival maneuvers...

Battle home school....

[Smitty-48]

So drill it and take the kid back to the ice and jump on it until he goes through... then execute survival maneuvers...

Battle home school....

Best left to the professionals, when he's seventeen, you can send him to the Army Reserve.

The British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own), B Squadron is at the Angle Armoury, 720 Lawrence Ave.

It's the regiment the Defence Minister served with, Lt. Col (ret.) Harjit Singh Sajjan PC OMM MSM CD MP

[DrYouth]

Best left to the professionals, when he's seventeen, you can send him to the Army Reserve.

Alright then....

Stop freaking out your mother... or else I'm sending you to the Army Reserve to learn how to fall through the ice properly.

I think that kind of nails it.

[Smitty-48]

I don't know how a kid wouldn't want to serve in the Army Reserve, beats flipping burgers for a summer job, employment is guaranteed, you're with your buddies all day every day, you get to do bad ass army shit, and chicks dig a uniform, what's not to love?