This story may just save your life

Time Stamps:
#1 -- "The Signal" -- 00:41 -- A man's trip into the arctic wilderness takes a turn for the worse

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For educational, documentary and entertainment purposes only. Based on actual events. The authoritative sources used for this story include interviews, newspaper articles, and TV news reporting meant to educate and memorialize notable cases in our history.

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[elizabethsullivan]

Just finished listening to Redacted: Operation Paperclip. It makes so much sense now. I won't post any spoilers, but people really should listen to the podcast. It's definitely thought provoking

[truepatriot]

Man I wouldn't count on a family member picking me up from the airport with a "let me check my scedule?" Let alone a friend 5 months later by plane.

[carlacook]

Always always always tell somebody where you will be and when to expect you to come back.

[happytrails]

no way I would feel comfortable relying on someone picking me up after 5 months in a deserted area.... nope

[shelbysellers]

My lord. If I'm counting on someone to pick me up 5 months later via airplane I'm checking with them 10 times a day before I leave.

[crystallaws]

Ya know... His friend dropped him off. You would think that would have be an excellent time to discuss the pickup

[OldWomanfromtheMountains]

I was raised in the high mountains - about 9, 700 feet - just below tree line (10, 000) where the air is too thin for trees to grow. The person Mr. Ballen is talking about made so many mistakes to assist in his survival. Never ever throw out anything that can be used to save your life. Anything that you can eat, protect yourself from animals, keep yourself warm, or keep yourself out of bad weather. Always have a contingency
plan because anything that can go wrong, will go on. A backup for the backup for the backup. Be ready to walk yourself out.

[miss_darkrai]

This story actually did save my life. I came across Carl’s story on a subreddit I was a part of and read about it.
A few years later, I had injured myself badly while solo hiking/camping in miles of national forest. Fell down a cliff and broke both my legs and fucked up my back. Satellite phone was busted in the fall so I couldn’t call for help. I wasn’t scheduled to come back from my trip for another 2 weeks, so no help would be coming for me anytime soon. With my injuries, surviving for 2 weeks was highly unlikely. Still, I refused to give up.
I managed to crawl to an open area. I still had my pack, which was great, though crawling with it on was hell. I was grateful I had it though, because I think that pack was the only thing that saved my spine from breaking in the fall.
2 days later, a plane was flying low over where I was. I signaled it by waving my neon green vest. I was in a sitting position, covered by a blanket to protect me from the cold. For some reason, I remembered Carl’s story. I raised up both my arms. The pilot saw this, and I was rescued.
Since my legs were covered by the blanket, the pilot couldn’t see from his vantage point that I was injured. To them, it probably looked like I was just a hiker taking a break. The hand signals were definitely what saved my life.

[Trex_Matcha]

warm tea before bed + cold shower + rainy weather + fuzzy blanket + full charged headphones and phones + silent notifications + mrballen = perfect night

[knutelindstrom]

I can’t imagine throwing ammo into a lake. What a waste in such a place. If anything, just stash it, you never know when someone might come across it by chance & it’s desperately needed!

[GreezEweezel]

Nobody who has purchased ammo or shot a gun would throw ammo into the lake. Absolutely unbelievable.

[SteadyPeakin]

Throwing ammo into the lake? That’s pretty unbelievable. Also, going without making sure he was getting picked up is just careless and dumb.

[Elizabeth-ivgn]

I generally feel bad and empathic towards people who make wrong choices and decisions or they have bad luck, but I am honestly struggling to feel bad for Carl. Carl's mindset: I am going to go camping in the wilderness for 6 months, no means of communication, not telling anyone in my family and ordered them to NOT contact authorities if they think I am missing and my only means of return was a casual conversation with my buddy while we were drinking and didn't get a 100% confirmation that he would pick me up and didn't have a back up plan. What could go wrong?? 🥴🥴🥴
This story honestly reminds me of that story with the 2 guys who went hiking in a desert, they were told to bring a certain amount of water, they thought it was 'overkill', so they brought 2 mini bottles of water inbetween them for a 24-48 hour hike in a desert that goes upto 45C / 125f, on top of that, these geniuses used one of the bottles to cook hotdogs...

[Rothbard_is_God]

The guy was cartoonishly dumb, lol.

-Makes drunken pick up plans.
-Tells Dad to never call in missing person report.
-Throws ammo into the water (why?).
-Doesn't know basic survival hand signals.

Darwin award of the century.

[hermanmunster]

This is one of the many reasons why I camp at a tropical all-inclusive resort..!

[nandarox]

Actually found this out recently. My family was in the middle of hurricane Helene's destruction. We had several helicopters fly over many times the first few days. I have some medical issues & was starting to have symptoms leaning towards needing a hospital soon. We had no power, no water, no internet, nothing to get out to the world that we needed help. So, after about 4 days, we made "Medivac needed ASAP!" signs that we put on both sides of the roof, had bright colored shirts that we could wave, & mirrors to flash pilots. Thanks to one pilot circling around, seeing my son bust his ass on the deck to go wave a shirt, & coming in close to read the signs, we were able to be rescued. All the roads around us were washed out & gone & I physically wouldn't be able to hike down the mountain to get to the local VFD. So... thankyou Mr. Greg Biffle (former NASCAR driver & my hero) for saving our lives!

[dakotaani]

Using one arm as a sign for “I’m okay” while both arms means “I need help” is so stupid. What happens if someone gets injured and can’t move one of their arms? How are they supposed to wave you down?

[TauraBull]

Growing up in Alaska we were taught this story in an outdoor education class, I think of it nearly every time a bush plane flies overhead

[bighoss]

When the story started by saying the guy was throwing his ammo in the lake. I knew the guy was an absolute moron and was about to win a Darwin award.

[susancarlisle]

Why on earth would you tell your father to never, ever report you as missing if you missed your return date? That is beyond foolish! And throwing your ammo in the lake instead of burying it in case you need it later? And then to not evwn bother confirming whether your friend could pick you up or not??? This man made several terrible mistakes