Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1528235
It starts to rain again. It's wet, fortunately - warm as well. The fatigue is kicking in. I decided to focus on what I can control. On pushing my poles in front of me and taking the next steps. I try to push away the tho- ught "we'll rest at the shelter" because I have a strange feeling that when we deliver the "load," we'll end up sleeping in the woods anyway, so it's better not to set my expec- tations. We rotate on the stretcher. I think about my poles and that I hope there won't be a change before we get to the shelter because I'm tired. But there is. So we swit- ched. Soon it's "change" and you can move to the back and think about the sound of the poles and the thought "I hope there isn't a rotation." But there is, anyway. Finally, we see the light of the shelter; we ar- rive. The Garmin shows 5000 kcal and 26 ho- time with your gear and an open mind. We arrive at the shooting range, preparing for activities. I have a fair amount of uncertainty and an attitude of "be always ready" becau- se I assumed that any moment there could be a surprise with the task "5 minutes to departure and…". I might have exaggerated that approach, but generally, it's very useful. If you let your guard down, that's when you won't have batteries for your headlamp or a change of shirt. And success is the sum of details. I realized this on the last day during the final task. A great idea is that during the Camp, we en- ter into a certain story that also binds our training together and is a tribute to the hero- es to whom we owe our freedom. The main theme is the story of the WW2 Tatra Moun- tain Couriers, and our training is structured in episodes that reflect, to some extent, the tasks and challenges that those brave pe- ople had to face. Here, we start our training with weapon handling in a situation where you're injured and can't shoot comfortably like we usually do at the shooting range. A lot of water on the range, shooting only from the right, only from the left. Evacuating the injured. Team cooperation. Communication. Then, working with the weapon, safe car- rying, awareness of working with it, keeping BLOS at bay. In theory, it's simple, usually at the shooting range too, because you're not loaded with gear, but… it's supposedly all simple, but the backpack and rifle aren't always compatible. Transitioning from car- rying the injured to shooting isn't trivial, and just like everything at first, it requires a lot of patience. On top of that, teamwork, naviga- ting the terrain, and a bit of cooperation aro- und buildings. The adrenaline is pumping. It's great. We got some pea soup for our first task. It's already afternoon, but if anyone expected that was the end of the activities, they were surprised. We're just starting. We split into two 8-person squads. This is how we'll work until the end of the trip. One team gets the responsibility of the re- scue sled, while we receive the stretcher. To avoid wasting equipment, we also get a task. Transport the "injured" to the shelter on Śnieżnik mountain. The Wrocław-Poznań squad, with the sled, will handle transport in the snowy area, while the Warsaw team will operate in the forest area. We receive the coordinates for the meeting point and the time to arrive. Before leaving, we check the equipment. We set off. From the beginning, we step out of our com- fort zone because "Łasuch" is keeping an eye on our discipline in light and sound. I took a typical tourist headlamp with white li- ght. So I quickly learn to walk in the dark. We push uphill. Some are darting ahead like rab- bits, and a thought crosses my mind – may- be I miscalculated, and it would have been better to stay in front of the TV. There's no turning back for now, we press on. We take over the "injured" from the first section and haul him on the trail. We decided to make life easier and pull the stretcher in pairs. The plan works, but I feel like I've never heard anything as loud as plastic being dragged over stones in my life. We manage to tear off the climbing rope, and we change tactics. www.fragoutmag.com