What isn’t mentioned here, is the fact that she received in the region of 100 units of blood, during her life saving surgical procedure! She credits her ability to not only stay in the fight initially, after being shot, but in living after the fight with her mental conditioning: “You need to prepare your mind, for where the body may have to go.”

In other words, toughen your mind up first, and your body will follow suit!  I love this!!

Or how about this guy, Charles “Commando” Kelly – another recipient of the Medal Of Honor.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. On 13 September 1943, near Altavilla, Italy, Cpl. Kelly voluntarily joined a patrol which located and neutralized enemy   positions.

After this hazardous duty he volunteered to establish contact with a battalion of U.S. infantry which was believed to be located on Hill 315, a mile distant. He traveled over a route commanded by enemy observation and under sniper, mortar, and artilleryfire; and later he returned with the correct information that the enemy occupied Hill 315 in organized positions.

 Immediately thereafter Cpl. Kelly, again a volunteer patrol member, assisted materially in the destruction of 2 enemy machinegun nests under conditions requiring great skill and courage.

Having effectively fired his weapon until all the ammunition was exhausted, he secured permission to obtain more at an ammunition dump. Arriving at the dump, which was located near a storehouse on the extreme flank of his regiment’s position, Cpl. Kelly found that the Germans were attacking ferociously at this point. He obtained his ammunition and was given the mission of protecting the rear of the storehouse. He held his position throughout the night.

The following morning the enemy attack was resumed. Cpl. Kelly took a position at an open window of the storehouse. One machine gunner had been killed at this position and several other soldiers wounded. Cpl. Kelly delivered continuous aimed and effective fire upon the enemy with his automatic rifle until the weapon locked from overheating.

Finding another automatic rifle, he again directed effective fire upon the enemy until this weapon also locked. At this critical point, with the enemy threatening to overrun the position, Cpl. Kelly picked up 60mm. mortar shells, pulled the safety pins, and used the shells as grenades, killing at least 5 of the enemy.

When it became imperative that the house be evacuated, Cpl. Kelly, despite his sergeant’s injunctions, volunteered to hold the position until the remainder of the detachment could withdraw. As the detachment moved out, Cpl. Kelly was observed deliberately loading and firing a rocket launcher from the window. He was successful in covering the withdrawal of the unit, and later in joining his own organization. Cpl. Kelly’s fighting determination and intrepidity in battle exemplify the highest traditions of the U.S. Armed Forces.

After receiving the Medal, Kelly toured the country with a group of other infantrymen as part of the Army Ground Forces’ “Here’s Your Infantry,” demonstrating various battle techniques and selling war bonds. When the tour ended, Kelly was assigned to the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Kelly received an honorable discharge from the Army in 1945, and the rank of technical sergeant.^[2]

I first read about Steven Callahan in Laurence Gonzales book, Deep Survival – follow the link for more information about this great book too. 

This guy survived 76 days alone in a small rubber dinghy and exhibited the mother of all mental toughness by perpetually talking himself into not panicking. His book, “Adrift” is an excellent look into the human spirit, resourcefulness and tenacity, and is well worth a read - follow the link to find out more about his story, too. 

I read somewhere that rescue from a true survival situation should be viewed as a welcome interruption to your survival journey, nothing more.

For me the biggest part of being mentally tough is about not expecting your day to end without a survival disaster, or attack, or some other type of calamity!

Why?

Because when you expect your day to be dandy, everyday, day in and day out, and suddenly it’s not, you take too long to respond. The shock of the event is enough to stun you into inaction. Mentally preparing yourself for a few survival contingencies, however unlikely you feel they may be, means also preparing a sort of loose, “what if” action plan in reaction to the new reality. Nobody wants to be caught in a life and death struggle, but you’ll stand a much greater chance of coming out on top of it, if you have at least considered some options before hand.

Mental toughness begins with mental preparation. This morphs into faster reaction times should the worst occur. Which means, at very least, you won’t die with a dumb look of shock on your face….and once you have seriously considered a few survival variables, a few get out of this quick plans, or a few, “if this were to happen to me right now I’d do_________ and take action” – then you have unwittingly begun toughening up your body, too.

This mental toughening up process is part of what Lt. Col. Dave Grossman calls, “training yourself to live, not training yourself to die!”  And how much simpler can it get than that???

So that, mates, is how I’m going to categorise mental toughness:

Training yourself, mentally and physically, to live, and not die, should you find yourself in the worst of circumstance.

Some will say, “but of course I don’t want to die, who does?” And I would reply,

“Your ignorance of the possibility that something bad might happen to you at any time is training yourself to die. Depending on where you live, your occupation, or recreational habits, all manner of perfectly plausible possibilities of misfortune are never more than a few seconds away: research what’s most likely to happen to you based on a small amount of research and use the information to mentally prepare for those scenarios. Mental toughness is a by product of your consideration of what might befall you at any given moment, and then having already programmed yourself not to succumb: No matter what.”

Go on, save a life, get mentally tough – the life you save could well be your own….

Cheers, Terry