When I was offered the chance to write about a Green Beret hero for Blaze’s yearlong Uniformly Hot series, I was excited but nervous at doing the Green Berets justice. My mother was a social worker at a Saigon orphanage during the war in Vietnam and knew several Green Beret soldiers herself. They were men of myth and legend, often disappearing and reappearing, and no one had the nerve to ask where they’d been or what they’d done. Green Berets are known as “force multipliers”, which means they live with indigenous populations and train them in methods of unconventional warfare.
After the war, of course, many stories came out about their bravery and dedication to the people with whom they lived. Doctoring people, doctoring precious water buffaloes needed to harvest crops, even sponsoring refugees from the tribes who had helped the Green Berets and were, and still are, subject to terrible persecution from the Communists after the war.
The Green Berets hit the news again during the war in Afghanistan, and that is where my hero Luc Boudreau comes in. He is weary from a tour of duty in the “sandbox”, the nickname for Iraq/Afghanistan postings. Before that tour, he spent a horrifyingly memorable time in the Amazon, and that is why he is picked to give jungle survival lessons to pampered congressman’s daughter Claire Cook. He unfortunately learned how to survive in the jungle alone for almost a month.
Claire has had a rough couple of years since her mother’s death and feels she has not lived up to her mother’s adventurous childhood in the Amazonian jungle. But Claire is not exactly cut out for life in the jungle. She blisters easily, hates bugs, is grossed out by worms and fish and doesn’t know how to pee in the woods.
Hmm. This is where the autobiographical part of the novel comes out. Ditto everything on that list for me.
But the most interesting thing I learned about jungle survival was not actually about what to eat (worms and grubs) and what to avoid (plants with white berries, milky sap, ants, stinging flies, basically most of the whole jungle). It was about the psychology of survival.
All of the books I found on the subject agree that the people most likely to survive any kind of extreme situation are those who have the most mental toughness—not necessarily physical toughness.
Those who want to survive the most. Fathers who need to seek help for their family. Mothers who need to return to their children. Soldiers like Luc who refuse to give up and let the jungle take them into an unmarked grave.
I am not planning to move to the jungle any time soon, but it gave me a lot to think about. What survival situations do we modern women encounter? Grief, depression, illness, divorce, miscarriage, dealing with difficult children/parents—I’m sure we could all add our own twist to the list of horrors.
You might not have scaled mountains or crossed rivers with a knife in your teeth (if you have, please let me know since that has to be an interesting story), but take a look back at your own life and I can guaran-damn-tee at least one episode where you were just as tough and strong as the beefiest Green Beret. I have to admit when I started researching survival, I was feeling pretty wimpy until I recalled a time several years back where I lost a baby, two uncles and had surgery twice within two months. I would have rather been in the jungle, but I survived—don’t ask me how.
Do you agree with the idea of mental toughness being more important than physical prowess? Let me know what you think, especially if you get a chance to read Her Last Line of Defense, out this week as a September release.
Marie
P.S. An interesting bit of trivia: during the filming of The Green Berets in Vietnam, the local Montagnards (hill tribes) gave John Wayne a brass bracelet as a symbol of devotion and brotherhood. They apparently loved cowboy movies. Wayne never took the bracelet off–you can see it in the rest of his movies, even the cowboy ones!
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I think there are some situations where physical strength is a must. But in addition to that I think in almost any trial or tribulation you need to be mentally strong. I think you need them both. I’m not outdoorsy either and I don’t know how I would cope with those kinds of situations.
Linda Henderson
I totally agree, Marie. I lost a baby too. (Preemie) He lived 3 days and my husband and I had to decide to take him off life support after he hemmoraged in his brain. (He would have been going off to college this year)
It was the worst thing I’ve ever had to live through, and I figured if I can survive that and not become bitter or insane, I can handle anything. Sometimes I think it’s just a matter of plain ol’ stubborness. We’re not gonna let anything beat us.
Now, having said that, I’ve lived a pretty pampered life compared to most. I don’t know if I could watch children being executed in, say, Nazi Germany or a village in war time Vietnam and not want to become an alcoholic.
I hit submit before I remembered I wanted to say, Marie, I cannot wait to read HER LAST LINE OF DEFENSE!
Oh and I loved learning all that neat info on Berets and the trivia about John Wayne.
My parents must have mental touchness, My second brother who was kiiled in action
in Korea was ony eighteen. Two years alter, my youngest brother about the same age drowned. At the time, nobody will tell the truth about his drowning.
It took toll on my mother’s healthy but we became emotionally stronger united family.
Hi everybody,
Sorry to be checking in late, but the Powers that Be at work frown on blogging and then it was the back-to-school grind that seems to suck up weekday evenings.
Linda, I agree that physical toughness is important in survival situations. If you don’t have the muscle to do certain brute force tasks, you can be in trouble. But I think you’d be as tough as you needed to be.
Hugs, Jillian! Unfortunately losing a baby is not an uncommon happening, but it’s one of the worst. And thank you for the kind words about Her Last Line of Defense. The heroine, Claire, has been one of my favorites to write. She knows she is a princess, but she is willing to give all of that up to live up to her mother’s memory.
Jane, how horrible! I think sometimes people of that generation were tougher than we are, but then I remembered from talking with my grandparents that they just grieved in private and buried a lot of their feelings. Not a good tradeoff. I am sorry for your loss.
Marie
Definitely mental. After a perfect pregnancy (& very short delivery) at age 24, my lst child was diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome & with a heart murmur. I was told she might never walk, talk or be potty-trained, & thought my life was over. Her murmur repaired itself, but, there was almost a year of genetic testing about the possibility of another Down’s. It was hellish.
Fast-forward to now. She’s 46 & she can do all of those things & many more. Not because she’s my child, but, she’s the sweetest, kindest, most considerate & compassionate person I’ve ever known. She has many chronic physical ailments, but, every day she has a great day. She goes to school, does word search puzzles & always tries her best, & makes everyone around her feel better. Even if I could, I wouldn’t wish I hadn’t had her. She’s taught me so much about what really matters, & made my life so much better.
I’ve been a working, full-time single-parent since she was 6 & her brother was 4, but, she’s been the light in all our lives. She’s definitely made me stronger, but, she’s taught me so much lot more.
Marie,
I wanted to stop by today to tell you that I bought HER LAST LINE OF DEFENSE yesterday. I read the whole thing today while I was doing laundry. OMG was it fantastic! I’m still speachless. I loved that they spoke French to each other. It was a great way to build a bond between them. And the ring at the end, that was perfect. the inscription was perfect, the timeing was perfect. It was an all around great read. Thanks for making my chore today enjoyable!
-Pamela