7-1. The decision to stay in place or move while isolated requires careful consideration. The reasons to stay in place or move are typically based upon the following:
- Requirements in the isolated person’s isolated Soldier guidance (ISG) or evasion plan of action (EPA) to move.
- Enemy situation. Does the enemy composition, disposition and activity threaten the isolated person’s ability to evade or survive?
- The current location does not provide multiple escape routes and/or contains numerous danger areas that canalize isolated person activities.
- The current location does not provide adequate food, water, shelter, or the ability to report/communicate or support the recovery effort.
- Injury or circumstance that limits the ability (physical and mental) of the isolated person to move.
- An operational environment in which host country military and law enforcement agencies have control as well as the intent and capability to assist recovery operations may favor staying near the isolation site (ex. aircraft crash) initially. Movement is considered only when certain that water, shelter, food, and help can be reached, or after having waited several days, they are convinced that recovery is not coming and they are equipped to travel.
- Other factors that should be considered prior to deciding to move include the following:
- Remember MARCH. Does the isolated person have a head injury or condition that effects their ability to make a clear decision? Avoid making any decision immediately after the isolating event. If possible, wait a period to allow for recovery from the mental (if not the physical) shock resulting from the event. When shock has subsided, evaluate the situation, analyze the factors involved, and make valid decisions.
- Are the necessary tools, equipment and materials available to support movement? Movement is risky unless the necessities of survival are available. To leave a safe shelter to travel in adverse weather conditions is foolhardy unless in an escape or evasion situation.
7-2. Once the decision is made to move, several considerations apply regardless of the circumstance:
- The ranking person must assume leadership and direct the efforts of the team during movement and recovery.
- Continually assess your physical capabilities (rest, hydration level, energy intake and output, injury prevention, pace and durability, mental and emotional state). Stop, think and take action before a problem arises.
Movement Considerations
7-3. Proper movement maximizes speed and mitigates energy output along a route. The best posture when moving should balance the person’s body weight directly over their feet. Dependent upon the requirement to move stealthily—the soles of the feet should be flat on the ground. Step over obstacles and not directly on them as they may pose a serious tripping hazard. When ascending a terrain feature, lock your knees with each step to assist the joints in carrying their weight. Traverse or use a zigzag motion moving up steep slopes to conserve energy and help maintain balance.
7-4. When descending a terrain feature, keep your back straight and keep your knees bent so they do not overextend the knees joint. The traverse is also used to descend steep terrain. After determining the step is stable, transfer weight from the lower foot to the upper foot and repeat the process. Additional considerations include —
- Using game trails when they follow a projected course only in addition to an easier route of travel and the chance of securing game or locating water.
- Surveying the surrounding countryside, and plan movement only after carefully surveying the terrain.
- Studying your back trail carefully. Know your route backward equally as well as your route forward.
- Continually assessing the climate and geography as you move. Asking yourself questions such as:
- Is the weather changing?
- Is the route leading you into an area that does not support food, water, or shelter?
- Does the movement require a change in survival techniques?
- Making camp early so that you have plenty of time to build a shelter.
- Using the buddy system to watch for heat and cold injury.
- Not placing your hands or feet anywhere without first looking to see what is there.
- Grazing type animals (including deer) are better indicators of water than predators/carnivores.
- Bees seldom range more than four miles from their nests or hives. They will usually have a water source in this range. Ants need water. A column of ants marching up a tree is going to a small reservoir of trapped water.
Mountainous and Cold Movement
7-5. When conducting movement in a desert environment, evaders must consider the following:
- Avoid possible avalanches of earth, rock, and snow, as well as deep crevices in ice fields.
- Movement on the wind packed side of a ridge is typically more advantageous because the snow surface is typically firmer and there is a better view of the route from above.
- A loose snow layer underneath is more hazardous than a compacted one as the upper layer of snow will slide more easily with no rough texture to restrain it.
- Leeward slopes collect snow that has been blown from the windward sides, forming slabs or sluffs, depending upon the temperature and moisture.
- Use a pole to probe ice and snow conditions during movement
- Avoid crossing glacial areas during the day.
- Avoid traveling during a blizzard.
- Take care when crossing thin ice. Distribute your weight by lying flat and crawling.
- Cross-streams where the water level is lowest.
- Wind-chill is a factor in all activities. Personal movement generates wind-chill that can lead to increased cold weather injury.
- Have enough clothing to protect from the cold; know how to maximize its warmth. For example, always keep your head covered. An isolated person will lose 40 to 45 percent of their body heat from an unprotected head and even more from the unprotected neck, wrist, and ankles.
- The brain is very susceptible to cold and can stand the least amount of cooling. Because there is much blood circulation in the head, most of which is on the surface, you can lose heat quickly if you do not cover your head.
Desert Movement
7-6. When conducting movement in a desert environment, evaders must consider the following:
- Avoid salt marshes. Water in these areas is typically undrinkable without significant purification effort. The area is highly corrosive to skin, equipment and clothing.
- Expect a large thermal shift between day and night. The drop in temperature at night occurs rapidly and will chill a person who lacks appropriate clothing.
- Protect radios and batteries from direct sunlight while moving in the desert environment
- Rest during the day, work during the cool evenings and nights.
- Hide or seek shelter in dry washes (wadis) with thicker growths of vegetation and cover from oblique observation.
- Use the shadows cast from brush, rocks, or outcroppings. The temperature in shaded areas will be cooler than the air temperature in exposed areas.
- Use the 1:3 rule when judging distance in the desert. What appears to be 1 kilometer away is really 3 kilometers away.
- Expect major sand and/or dust storms at least once a week. To avoid becoming lost, do not move during these storms.
- Mirage makes it difficult to identify targets, estimate range, and see objects clearly. Move to high ground (at least 10 feet or more above the desert floor) to get above the superheated air close to the ground to overcome the mirage effect.
- Find shade! Get out of the sun!
- Place something between you and the hot ground.
- If water is scarce, do not eat.
Jungle Movement
7-7. When conducting movement in a jungle environment, evaders must consider the following:
- There is less likelihood of recovery from beneath a dense jungle canopy than in other survival situations. Movement will be required.
- Avoid saltwater swamps if you can. If there are, water channels through it, use a raft to cross it.
- Do not concentrate on the pattern of bushes and trees to your immediate front. Focus on the jungle further out and find natural breaks in the foliage. Look through the jungle, not at it. Stop and stoop down occasionally to look along the jungle floor.
- Move through the jungle. Do not fight the jungle. Turn your shoulders, shift your hips, bend your body, and shorten or lengthen your stride as necessary to slide between the undergrowth.
- Do not grasp at brush, vines when moving, or climbing slopes; they may have irritating spines or sharp thorns.
- Protect yourself from insects with netting, clothing, etc.
- Promptly treat wounds and scratches to avoid dangerous infection,
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