 From New York City, where the American stage begins, here is another program with a cast of outstanding players. Public service time has been made available by this station to bring you this story, as proudly we hail the United States Air Force. Our story today is entitled School for Survival, an intriguing tale of the training for survival in the case of emergencies that our Air Force plane crews undergo. Our first act curtain will rise in just a moment. But first, ask any jet pilot. He'll tell you, jet flying is one of the most thrilling experiences in the world. And modern jets are not only fast, they're safe and easy to fly too. And now, you can get in on this jet age as an Air Force aviation cadet. If you're between the ages of 19 and 26 and a half, single and a high school graduate, you may qualify. You'll receive 18 months of all-round jet training, the best in the world. It's rugged, intensive work. But if the training's hard, the rewards are well worth it. You graduate as an Air Force lieutenant, earning more than $5,000 a year, with an unlimited future before you. You'll be a highly skilled professional, fully equipped for leadership in both military and civilian aviation. Yes, become an aviation cadet today. Visit your nearest United States Air Force recruiting station or Air Force base for complete details. And now, your United States Air Force presents the proudly we hail production School for Survival. Looking spot. A room with a view. Those hills sure have a way of standing straight up. They were all right. The scene certainly had beauty. The Sierras climbing across the sky. The air was sweet and pure. You can see for miles. Below the mountains, the sagebrush flat spread away, bleak and open. Crouched on their lip was the smudge that marked our destination, Steed Air Force Base. There were 14 of us in that truck, crew of a sleek winged baby named Guinevere. Assigned to the strategic air command, we were coming to Steed to go to school. We'd been through a lot of courses together, but this was one school whose lessons we'd better never forget. This was survival school. All right, you characters, you heard what the man said. Hot toad falling. Welcome to Steed. I think you're going to find things kind of busy here. Unfortunately, time is a commodity we don't have to waste. Plain commanders will march their crews to that building across the road where you'll draw sleeping bags. Plain commanders will then draw their billet listings from me. You'll be assigned to area H. That's about a two-mile march down the road. Road's kind of dusty, but the walk will get the kings out of your legs. And they tell me tents are not bad till it rains. I thought I was in the Air Force. Hank, the man was right. What do you mean, Ed? That was a right and nice tent. Reminds me of when I was a boy scout. Yeah, yeah, it's cozy, isn't it? Why don't we toast some marshmallows? Oh, Shep, you and Hank got the wrong idea. Haven't you ever been camping before? Well, sure I have, but I don't like it then, and you don't like it now. Hey, what's the scoop? Yeah, tell us all, noble sir. Well, it's like this. Move those gunboats for me. Oh, come on. I think we all better plan to hit the sack about sundown. Why so? Because Digby, by my fine feather navigator, will be up and navigating at 0530. 0530? You guys sound like you've never gotten up early in your life. Yeah, but that was to fly. Okay, Mark, so we're up. What happens then? We get three days of school training, going to lectures, learning how to take care of ourselves in rough country. Then we draw out equipment, and head for those hills up there. I do declare a regular picnic. Oh, I have a suggestion to make. I suggest they start building airplanes with built-in planes in them. Then, if anything goes wrong, you just fly away your built-in plane, and they can eliminate this course, huh? Shall I slug them or will you? Why don't we all take a crack at them? Wait, wait, wait! It wasn't that we weren't used to getting up at an early hour. If you're a member of a sack crew, you're used to getting up at any hour. But somehow when 0530 rolled around and whistles began shrilling and voices shouting, it was tough shaking off a heavy layer of sleep and putting on a thin layer of clothes and stumbling out into a cold gray dawn. But with many grown size and muttered maledictions, we did it. And by the time breakfast was down us, we were all beginning to wake up. It was good we were, too, because it was then they started throwing education at us right and left. Now, you may think an airman's best friend is his mother, but I got news for you. When he's down in rough terrain, it's this baby, his chute. You're gonna get a lot of facts pounded into you, but you'll get this one pounded into you more than the rest. No matter what happens, hang on to your chute. And why hang on to a parachute after it's done its job of getting you down safely? Out of the canopy, the shrouds, webbing, and metal fastenings, here's a list of the things you can make. Those TPs, lean twos, snares, slingshots, fish hooks and fish lines, nets, mucklucks, eye shields, hats, scarves, patees, insect hoods, splints, bandages, slings, packs, sails. That's why you'll hang on to your chute. Now that you know it, all you've got to do is learn how to fashion these many items from it. Although we emphasize survival procedures adapted to northern woodlands, you're also gonna get a thorough briefing on surviving in the jungle, the Arctic tundra and ice. It's surprising how quickly you get the main point behind these lectures. That should you have to bail out or crash land. There's no type of terrain or country that you can't get along in if you know what to do. Lieutenant, suppose you tell us what you've learned here this afternoon. Well, that if you go down in the jungle, there's no need to go hungry or thirsty. Correct. Captain, where would you find water in the jungle? You can find it in cane stalks. You can find juice and vines or the fruit of most trees. Right. Can you add anything to that? You can drink the blood of any animal. I'll have mine on the rocks. If you're thirsty enough, you won't care how it's served. What about food in the jungle, Lieutenant? Well, you can eat any animal with fur on it, any palm bud or flower that hasn't got a milky-colored sap. Good enough. You gentlemen are really sharp, aren't you? Sergeant, you're being given the honor of instructing the sharpest bomber crew in the entire strategic air command. One full day's time it's amazing what you can learn and how quickly you can get into the spirit of the thing. Everybody groans and kids a lot, but underneath there isn't a man of a crew taking the training that doesn't know his life can depend upon what he learns about survival anywhere on this earth. All right, you're down in the desert. The temperature's 120. You're in command. Now, what do you do? Ration all water, ration sweat. How do you ration sweat? We're only like clothing. If you travel, travel at night. How many quarts of water does a man need to survive in the desert? At least three a day. When's the time to make sure you got enough to last you? Before you take off. One more question. Lieutenant, is it better to stay by your plane if you've crash-landed or start hiking? Well, that would depend on where you were down in the desert. The best plan would probably be to stay close to the plane and set up signal devices with mirrors, flares, and chute panels. Now, let's leave the desert for a minute and head into the frozen... Northeast, south or west, jungle, desert, woodland or frozen tundra. It's the same. How to get along with what you've got. How to come out in one piece. You're not expendable. Aside from the fact that there are no expendable men in any service, it takes years of training before a sack crew is ready for operational duty. If you go down, you've got one job. Get back. You can replace a plane. You can't replace a crew. Hey, where you guys going? Over to the display building. Such eagerness is roof-holding. Come along, sonny. You might learn something. That'd be a good idea if we took the whole crew over and roused out the rest of them, wouldn't ya? Hey, what are we gonna get out of going over there? You know how to build a dead-fall hank or a foot snare? Nope. But aren't they gonna teach us? Can't teach us everything in three days' time. We gotta do a little figuring out ourselves. That's right. The more we can learn, the easier it'll be on us. All right, let's go learn how to spearfish. I don't like fish. I think I'll spear an elk. Three days were never so jam-packed with information or passed so quickly. On the afternoon of the third day, you turn in your sleeping bags and draw your equipment for the problem which lies ahead. We were done with a theory of survival. The time had come to put what we'd learned to the test. At ease, gentlemen. Well, I see you're ready to take a little walk. We won't waste time. Now, look at this map. At 2,100 hours, you'll take off in a convoy of six by sixes. You'll follow this route on the highway leading out from Reno. At Honey Lake, you'll begin to climb up these switchback roads up into this area. Here, you'll find it a place of razor sharp ridges and narrow upland meadows, just right for your type of problem. You will be simulating a jump over remote and rugged terrain. You'll bail out of your trucks by cruise and head into the tall timber. Now, for the next 10 days, you will work your way easterly toward pickup points along this rim. You'll be carrying radios and maps. And for precise coordinates, should you need them, you'll be able to contact the base by radio every night. Now accompanying you will be your instructor. He's along the watch to evaluate, to see how you put into practice what you've learned. In charge of each crew will be the aircraft commander. Although the responsibility for all your moves will be up to him, each and every one of you will be judged on every phase of this problem. Good luck and happy hunting. It's one thing to have been trained to become the pilot and commander of a bomber crew. It's a responsibility you grow used to because you're in an element you know and understand thoroughly. It's backed by years of experience and pride and surety in it that can't be denied. Now, after three days' training to be thrown into an element where your knowledge is skimpy at best and to be responsible for the manner in which your crew accomplishes this mission puts the same kind of a lump in your throat you had the day you soloed. The captain of the good ship, Guinevere, has lost his tongue, he thinks. What's the matter, Mark? You afraid of the dark? I think it's the altitude. Man hasn't touched a vertigo. How much more time we got to go, sir? All right, you jokers, let in the air. Now, let's make like this truck is a sick duck. She's not going to stay up and we're not going to stay with her. We're bailing out over not only mountainous territory but also enemy territory. That means we don't go stumbling through the brush like herd of elephants. Now, everybody get out their maps. I want to pick a rendezvous point right now. You'll use no lights and you'll stay clear of anything that looks like a road. Now, you'll notice. South of Crocker Mountain, this boy cuts west to the Grizzly Valley Road. It's here that we bail out. Every four-tenths of a mile, there's a stake to indicate a bailout station. Ours is the fifth and as we near it, our truck slows down. Everybody set? All right, here we go. Get clear of the road and lie low till your eyes become accustomed to the darkness. Try to make the rendezvous point before 0100. Okay, let's go. Who's that off to my left? It's only me from over the sea. Well, anyone near you? No, not that I can hear or see. If it seemed dark in the truck following the road, here in the deep woods, you find it so inky black, you wonder if you've gone blind. If your eyes will ever adjust themselves so you can move without falling over everything in your path. You lie still and wait. You're in alien territory with a long way to go ahead of you. You're listening to the proudly-we-hail production, which will return in just a moment for the second act. For the young man looking to his future, there's a place today in the Air Force as an aviation cadet. Climb the skies in a powerful jet. Be one of the best-trained, best-equipped young men in the world, a pilot in your United States Air Force. If you're between 19 and 26 and a half, single and can meet the other high standards, check at your local Air Force recruiting station and get all the details right away. You're listening to proudly-we-hail and now we present the second act of School for Survival. The problem is accounted for. Stone and car still missing. One three men for guard duty. Hank, you take charge of that. Get two volunteers. Oh, yeah, sure. The rest of you, bed down. We've got about two hours till dawn. We'll move out in the first light. Any questions? Okay, pleasant dreams. Oh, yes, buddy. How could you sleep on a night like this? Take your men just to the edge of the timber line. Stone and car come in. It'll be that way. I suppose they don't find us. We can't have 12 men waiting on two. One comes that day, gray and ugly. Thick packed layers of full-bellied clouds that swept down from the north, snuffing up the warmth of the land and replacing it with a mean, brighting wind. We were on high ground and the cloud lay erased a few hundred feet overhead, blanketing us in, cutting off our horizon. It was a lovely day to start hiking. A lovely day to get lost. A peachy day for a walkin' in the rain. All right, you clowns. Gather round. Get them all here, sir. Right. Come on, boys. Hey, at ease. Now, we're gonna move out without stone or car. Our watchdog, the sergeant, is going to swing back and see if he can pick them up. At least make sure they're all right. Meantime, we're gonna be on our way. Rain starts coming down hard and we get tangled up in those clouds. We'll have to call a halt and make camp. Tinker, you and Doc will move out now with scouts. You got the route down? Yeah. Okay, good. Now, remember, stay off the logging roads. It starts to pour, pick a campsite and wait for us to come up with you. Okay, hit the road. Now, I'll take the point. Ed, you're a getaway man. Now, before we leave this garden spot, let's try to get rid of all signs that we've been here. What makes you think that? I couldn't say. Must be the water running down my bag. That's not rainwater, son. That's perfect. To save your wind, we've got some climbing ahead. Hey, look who's coming. Okay, hold it up. Take five. It's a matter, Ed. Mike, Tinker took a spill, hurt his ankle. Broken? No, I don't think so. It's all swollen up, though. He can't walk on it. Sergeant, you're right. Arms strong. Let's go. On a double. Is it broken? Bad sprain, I'd say. Sorry, Captain. That's tough luck. Doesn't look like a bad spot to make camp, anyway. Looks pretty good, I'd say. Well hidden. Screen is just jumping with fish. I suppose we stop John and get to it before those clouds unload. Chef, you make out a guard routine. We'll want sentries at all times. Ed, you go help Hank with the shelter making. Take a detail and get awesome bows for bedding. Dig, not that we're going to be lighting many fires, but you'd better round up a good supply of wood and get some green stuff too. We'll need it for smoke and the meat. I'm going to make me the prettiest rabbit snare you ever did see. Why, don't tell me you don't like this delicious Pemicon. I'll tell you, I'll eat my boots before I'll take on another slice of it. It's very nutritious, boy. As so the book says. High in protein value. I'll tell you what, it's high. Are you guys making out? We thought you'd gotten lost. Come in and squat a while. Smoke, peace pipe. We make talk. I can't. I got to check the rest of the herd. I'll bet old Shep's getting kind of wet. Oh, no wetter than you'll be getting. How do you make out with the radio? You've got the base, all right. Weather permitting, they'll be sending out a helicopter for Tinker in the morning. How's he feel? Lazy. How would you feel? Well, looks like you've got a nice home here. Keepin' dry. Oh, we're just snug as bugs and rug. Me, big wigwam, make them strong. Stand against mighty wind. Yeah, I hear a mighty wind. I'll see you guys later. Hey, Mark, before you go, how about a nice weekend on me? I wouldn't deprive you. You may get hungry before this is over. Well, at least the rain has stopped. I thought I'd drowned last night. You do look slightly mildew. Now, what's the pitch today, master of the hunt? How do you smoke beef? Huh? I said, how do you smoke beef so it'll keep? Well, you build a teepee out of saplings covered with some parachute panels, put a rack inside, three or four feet off the ground, put the meat on it in strips, and light a smudge fire or green wood underneath. Oh, give that man a box of candy bars. Hello, man, you've learned your lessons well. You're here by in charge of the meat smoking detail. Get yourself another man and go to it. Now, of all that shit. Shep, you look like a good man for fish. I'll put you in charge of makin' gill nets. Find yourself a nice bottleneck in the stream and we'll all have trout for supper. Well, that's fine. You talk to the fish about it? No, you speak to them. Dig. Hey, Digby. We'll need a couple of men to help you and Shep. They're not kidding. Yes, sir. Dig, you're the mighty Nimrod. Get some ripcord wires and build some snares. Snares, dead falls, and beta traps. I'd do to declare I'll flood the area with fresh meat. There, go to it. Doc, you can't belly myself and go up to the snow level and lay out some shadow signals for the helicopter. Give us a chance to see how good we are. Find them, Sergeant. Oh, they were doing all right, Captain. Thought it was better if we were all together, though. How'd you find us? The rain must have pretty well covered our trail. Your footprints, but not your trail. You left other signs. It's not so good. It's something you have to watch, Captain. You're not kidding. It's too bad about Airman Tinker. Things like that are bound to happen. I suppose so. Well, we'll break camp in the morning. You're the boss, sir. I'm just your shadow. One thing you've realized right from the beginning, your instructor is a pretty unusual man. He's not only an expert woodsman, but he's a sharp judge of character. He's got the poison intelligence to make you understand the problems you run up against and to give you a healthy attitude and medium. It's his job to appraise the survival efficiency of each crew member from the aircraft commander right on down. There's plenty of time between chores around the fire at night from to go over the day's action and to point out where you've done a good job or made a mess of it. Now, some of you are, I know, beginning to feel a bit low. You got to touch a mountain sickness from packing it over the mountains at this altitude. There's nothing to it. It's a common feeling. Just don't let it get you down. You're in enemy territory and you're walking out. Concentrate on that. And don't start feeling sorry for yourself. Now, tomorrow we'll be entering deep snow. It'll be rugged, but just take it slow and easy. Sergeant, maybe you'd like to tell us where we fouled up today. I was coming to that, sir. Actually, it was your best day so far. Lieutenant, undoubtedly you're a good navigator in the air, but without your maps and all your paraphernalia, you've gotten us lost three times in two days. Airman Gumbelie here has been the man who's gotten you straightened out. I'm for the birds. Well, happens more often than not, sir. Now, Sergeant, how long does it take you to learn not to pitch your camp in the middle of a game trail? Each day seems to get longer. You move into deep snow, you stop, make snowshoes, flounder on, make camp in the below zero cold. You build snow huts. You watch out for frostbite. You get tired and hungry and pack sore, and the altitude works on you. Everything wears the same look around. Snow and mountains in a wild, empty land. You notice the bearded, weary faces of your crewmen, and you figure that you must look the same. Descending a steep line of cliffs in a heavy snowstorm, you come within an ace of disaster. Make sure that rope's secure. All right, Chef, you lead off. Take it slow and keep the line around you. Yeah, right, right. Looks like a long drop on a clear day. Hey, you fellow chef, hey, that rope isn't secure. Huh? Hold on to the rock. What do you mean? Hold on. Oh, look out there. I can't hold on my hands to slip. Grab my feet, you guys, and hang me over. Hold on, Chef. Get him, my God. Hold us up. When you secure a line or a rope, you secure it so it'll hold. You don't just drape it around an outcropping and hope that it'll hold. Now, you've just seen that it won't. Ah, boys, I'm too young to grow all that fast. The morning you wake up and the sun is up, too. Somehow you've reached the 10th day in your camp near the final ridge on the eastern flank of the training area. One last cut over ridge to climb, and you've done it. It's been a long, rough road, but there isn't no one of you who hasn't learned a whale of a lot. You've learned how to pace yourselves in rugged country, how to care for your only means of locomotion, your feet, how to use the equipment you carry, and how to improvise. You've learned a lot more about your crew just as they've learned about each other. It's been a real education on every count. Remember to keep your eyes and ears open for rattlesnakes. The ridge is crawling with them. Oh, that's nice. Hey, oh, rattlesnake won't hurt you. Yeah, that's right. Not if it doesn't bite you. Shall we go, ladies? You'll get plenty of chance firsthand to study the habits of the lowly snake. Mark, you're left. Look out. Thanks, buddy. Yeah, the place is positively jumping with them. Yes, they don't know this is off limits. Hey, hey, look over there. Must be half a dozen of them on that ledge. Well, don't try to make yourself at home. Well, you look at that view. See all over the world. Yeah. It's almost like being up in an aeroplane. What's that? Eh, we'll want to watch it going down. Got about 2,500 feet of cliff to wrestle with. Yeah, and let me say for the record, make sure you secure those ropes before you start. Yeah, and let me be the first to second them. So you come back to steed, bearded, tanned, dirty, but still and all pretty pleased with yourselves. Scrub up your kits, you turn them in, grab some sack time, and then get set to hear the final verdict on your ratings. It's quite a rating with each man and each crew being judged on leadership, morale under stress, trail discipline, living off the land, care and use of clothing and equipment. The list goes on and covers everything. Gentlemen, I congratulate you. You made it. I know some of you didn't think you would and maybe some of you didn't much care. You didn't ask to be sent here. Didn't make you any happier when they dropped you out in the sticks in the middle of the night and told you to start running. But you kept in there plugging and you came through and you learned something, partly about yourselves, partly about the woods. This exercise you've completed was tough. But let me remind you that the real thing can be ten times as tough. You leave steed sitting just where it was when you came to it. It's more true than you were when you arrived. Sure, you were sharp in the air, a smooth working, beautifully trained team, but that was your job. Now you've just gone through something together that was out of your element. Like the man said, you've not only learned how to handle yourselves in the woods, you've learned about yourselves. In the long run, it's that knowledge which can be the most important. Should the day ever come when you're down somewhere, faced with a problem of survival. Can you qualify to wear the silver wings of a pilot in the United States Air Force and fly the speedy jet planes? Well, if you're a high school graduate, between 19 and 26 and a half and otherwise qualified, a visit to your nearest United States Air Force recruiting station will start you on your way to your future in flight. This has been another program on Proudly We Hail, presented transcribed in cooperation with this station. Proudly We Hail is produced by the Recruiting Publicity Center in New York for the United States Air Force Recruiting Service. This is Mark Hamilton speaking, inviting you to join us next week at this same time for another interesting story on Proudly We Hail.