"We have met the enemy and he is us"

Well as anyone who has ever been in a real survival situation knows that the time period between 36-72 hours(it can vary) is the most critical point. This is when a person must accept their situation-something that is impossible to prepare for. It's been 23-24 years now but I remember thinking about something I read from professor Hugh Trevor-Roper. During the last days in Berlin-when the fate of the people was now rock solid-the Red Army was raping and murdering all the women-and torturing and murdering all the solders. He describe the scene under one of the flak towers(this particular one is still there).

4 Star Generals completely cracked up into hysteria- some private solders remained calm others killed them selves. Some women begged to be shot-others schemed to latch on to the first 'Ivan" they saw.

The professors point was that it is impossible to know how any one individual will react when they are FORCED to accept their situation. For some reason that seemed to calm me and I accepted what I had gotten my self into and the misery that was to follow.

Any one who teaches survival will tell you about this. It is truly an unknown but you are better off knowing about it than not.