![]() He’s portrayed as not having any type of survival skill-sets, yet has the common sense to know what to do. ![]() That’s what makes this movie so fascinating, it could be you or me. Hanks’ Chuck Noland is your every-man, a nice enough fellow and good at his job. At least he has some supplies!Ĭast Away portrays a realistic struggle to stay alive against all odds. Lo and behold, said thunderstorm pops up and after one of the most intense crash sequences put to film, he wakes up on an uncharted island, surrounded by aircraft wreckage and hundreds of FedEx packages. He’s an executive schlub for FedEx who has to leave his fiance on short notice and fly across the Pacific to take care of company business for a few days. “I’ll be right back!” – Tom Hanks in CAST AWAY (2000) The first is more than likely NOT to happen (I hope), but the latter is sometimes a split second decision as weather can be a fickle mistress. Will Drinks Be Served On This Flight?īeing in the aviation industry, I sometimes wonder what I’d do if the pilot decided he’d had enough and plummet us into the earth or fly through a thunderstorm when the weather radar told him to divert around it. Group structure (chain-of-command), communication and escape planning are all paramount to staying alive and one step ahead of the enemy. The CBS network was even brave enough to have a funny little sitcom in the 60’s called Hogan’s Heroes. It took place in a Nazi POW camp during WWII AND was a comedy! If you can’t laugh at Hitler, what can you laugh at? Looking back at it now, they touched upon some basic survival skills used by the military to this very day. Yes, this was actually a sitcom! HOGAN’S HEROES Movies like Bat 21, Unbroken, Rescue Dawn and Lone Survivor (the movie that inspired me to write this article). The Discovery Channel has even capitalized on it with their popular series, Naked and Afraid. Military tales about evading capture or worse, being captured and enduring mental and physical hell. Wilderness survival films such as The Edge, All Is Lost, Alive, 127 Hours, Jeremiah Johnson and it’s most recent counterpart, The Revenant. The “what would I do if that happened to me?” scenario. I’ve always enjoyed and been drawn to “survival situation” movies. The real questions are: How far will you go to survive? What are you willing to endure to improvise, adapt and overcome? Could you survive as a Cast Away? Could I Really Survive If That Was Me? What usually got me through was the fact it only lasted a week or two. I always had in the back of my mind, “They can’t kill me, it’s only training!”. Supplied by our wonderful US military, some of it was pretty intense. In my 50 some odd years on this big blue ball, I’ve had the “pleasure” of being subject to different forms of survival training.
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