Posted by LostBoyinNC43 on February 22, 2013, at 23:42:47
In reply to Re: Water boarding, etc » Toph, posted by sigismund on January 24, 2013, at 0:47:00
The Army practices waterboarding not too far from where I live. At Fort Bragg, NC at the Special Forces SERE school. All the guys going thru the SF school at Bragg and Camp Mackall go thru SERE as one of the "packages" of training programs in the SF training pipeline. They have to sign a waiver and such when they enter training. So we waterboard are own guys in training, before they even deploy. The purpose is to teach them how they will respond to waterboarding and to teach them how important it is to avoid being captured, if at all possible. Years ago, in the nineties and before I developed health problems and before the events of 911 and before Fort Bragg/Mackall became a closed/semi-closed base, I was at Camp Mackall and Ive actually been to the section of the Camp where the "Survival" training (SERE) is done. Ive also walked thru the "Nasty Nick" Obstacle Course at Mackall years ago, it is done wearing full gear, pack and dummy rifle. Its a long, really long O course with a bunch of rope climbs more than Ive ever seen on any O course.
Waterboarding, the goal is to create oxygen desaturations while you are conscious. Its kind of like it forces you to feel like you are drowning, your blood oxygen levels go down and it incites a total and severe panic feeling. It makes you feel like you are going to die, you can die from it in fact if its not rigidly controlled. In the old days, before 911, the waterboarding at Bragg SERE school was a semi-controversial subject in Army SF circles and within the Army itself. A lot of "regular Army" officers did not care for the practice. After 911, attitudes changed bigtime on the subject.
I also briefly knew a Camp Mackall SERE instructor. The guy was not the friendliest guy in the world, even off duty. I dont think he was the smartest, either. he was not SF, he was considered "SF support." Most of the SF guys Ive met are pretty cool guys. But some of the support people, they have attitude probs
As an old time ex Lifeguard heavily trained in CPR/AED and oxygen administration, Ive been formally taught that low blood oxygen causes you to both feel panicky, irritable and confused at the same time. Its called hypoxia and thats what waterboarding causes. As a sleep apnea sufferer, Ive suffered from oxygen desats but they were in my sleep. But I feel like crap the next day if I dont use my CPAP gear.
As for my attitude about whether its OK for our military to waterboard terrorists, I think its OK in overseas situations where you are dealing with extremely hardened terrorists. I do know that sometimes, SERE school causes SF trainees at Bragg to flunk out. They cant take it. I suspect a few of them have landed in the psych ward at the Fort Bragg hospital in decades past. Plenty of guys have ended up having total breakdowns on the Fort Bragg SF training pipeline. On the other hand, plenty have made it thru relatively unscathed as well.
the world is not a pretty place and there is much bad about it.
Eric AKA "LostBoyinNC"
poster:LostBoyinNC43
thread:1036320
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20120327/msgs/1038688.html