THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 23, 1995 TAG: 9502210116
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JANE HARPER, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
For three days and two nights, ROTC students from three Norfolk high schools survived the freezing cold of Maine.
They slept outdoors in below-zero temperatures. They killed and cooked rabbits for food. They hiked snow-covered mountains.
And they did it for fun and adventure.
Why, one might ask, would teenagers subject themselves to what most people would consider a miserable and frightening experience?
``It was a challenge,'' said Lt. Cmdr. Michael Mortensen, a senior at Maury High School and one of the ROTC cadets who braved the cold weather survival training at the Navy's Survival Training School in Brunswick, Maine.
``It was quite a learning experience for all the cadets, I'm sure,'' Mortensen said.
Taking part in the survival training were nine male cadets from Granby High School, seven male and seven female cadets from Norview High School, and nine male cadets from Maury. Each was invited to participate in the assignment by their instructors, who chose the cadets based on their leadership skills and past performances.
The students traveled to Brunswick via a Navy airplane on Feb. 1. Once there, they were issued their gear and trained in cold-weather survival tactics before setting out for a three-day trek into the surrounding mountains.
The experience was similar to what Navy recruits go through but was slightly modified for the students, said Capt. John Warren, who heads Maury High School's Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps.
Soon after reaching the mountains, many cadets admitted that they began questioning the wisdom of their trip.
``To give you an idea of how cold it was, the canteens started freezing in 15 minutes,'' Mortensen recalled.
``Ten degrees was the warmest it got,'' added Alan Matson, a junior cadet at Maury. ``We were lucky to see zero.''
The cadets slept under parachute-covered shelters and in ``mummy'' sleeping bags, which covered them completely except for a small breathing hole.
The most difficult times, most cadets agreed, was simply getting in and out of their sleeping bags while dressed only in long underwear and socks.
Trying to get warm food also was especially challenging, they said.
``You would put something on the fire and boil it, and as soon as you took it off it was cold again,'' said Damon Miller, a junior cadet at Maury.
For some cadets, their most traumatic experience was killing a rabbit by hand, skinning and cooking it, then eating as many parts of the animal as they could stand, including the brain and heart.
Teamwork was one of the most important lessons that cadets said helped them to survive.
``I owe my life to Jason,'' Miller said, pointing to cadet Jason Johnson, who gave Miller most of his water when Miller's froze and he began to show signs of dehydration.
Johnson also came to the aid of another cadet who began suffering from hypothermia. The cadet felt claustrophobic in his mummy bag and hadn't zipped it up all the way. Johnson heard his friend shivering, told him to get dressed, and walked him to the Navy barracks to get warm.
The experience was truly an eye-opener, Miller said.
``It definitely opened my mind to new things,'' he said. ``I know now what the homeless people around here go through every day.'' ILLUSTRATION: From left, Allan Matson, Markee Burton, Michael Mortensen, Damon
Miller and Shane Miller show the rabbit that would become their
meal.
by CNB