← Mike Force Podcast
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This episode is brought to you by Prime. What if you had one more chance with the one that got away? Sam, you Came Home Based on the best selling novel from Carly Fortune Every Year after follows childhood friends Sam and Percy as they reunite in the dreamy, nostalgic lakeside town of Barry's Bay. Love can be hard to find, so if you're lucky enough to find that person, never let go. A second chance at first love every year after streaming June 10th only on Prime.
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Study and play come together on a Windows 11 PC and for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the Unreal college deal, everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more@windows.com studentoffer while supplies last ends June 30th terms at aka mscollegepc. Hey, what's going on guys? Welcome back to the Mike Forest Podcast. Stories of Survival, why people live and why people die. It's one of the questions that I asked myself when I started this journey into preparedness in air quotes because I'm so fascinated by the subject matter. Like why did that person in a second floor fire run to the third floor, jump out and not understand that you can't do that because of physics? And he lands on his head when he could have took a right instead of a left because he was so stressed out he wasn't able to make decisions. The guy on the sinking ship who hands out life preservers for his family, jumping in the water, forgetting he doesn't know how to swim. The person in a self defense scenario who has all the odds stacked against him, but because he's technically proficient, has trained inoculated in stress, he thrives and survives. I'm fascinated by it. And Shackleton. Ernest Shackleton, who led this expedition, is a good case study in understanding the right techniques, the right tactics to utilize in what I think is the most harrowing story of survival as well. This will not be the end. This is only the beginning. I've always, always been fascinated by stories of survival. I've done documentaries for Black Rifle Coffee, I've done documentaries for our own channel and I've been immersed in this world and it's what we're bringing back to Feelcraft Outpost and spoiler alert if you haven't heard it because you're not on my Patreon, I put it out in different segments. I got Feelcraft Survival back there's three reasons I got it back. God, answering a lot of prayers, my family and all of their support. And you because you guys have supported me. You've rooted for me all along. Full circle. Here we are 18 months later and I got it back. I'll come out with a video next week on kind of the circumstances of how I got it back and how we're moving forward. But the bottom line is Fieldcraft survival as an entity is dissolved. Fieldcraft Outpost the acquisition of assets Powered by My company, Long Haul Supply Company is moving this train in the direction it should focused on our origin story preparedness. Now initially I won't be offering products for sale because I don't have many, but I'm going to generate revenue to come full circle to be able to kick this thing back off. And I'm thankful to all of you for supporting me along the way. If you want to help me out in the description down below I have three different items. A 20 liter mobility bag, our EDC fanny pack, and our Philcraft KC Hilites flashlights. They are available for purchase and the instructions are down below because I don't even have it plugged into Shopify. You'll have to Venmo me, but all the specifics are in the description that helps me generate the revenue to get more product Kickoff Start filming Stories of Survival we're actually doing a mini documentary on Joe Kent's wife who tragically lost her life in the fight against ISIS in Syria. Shannon and we're covering down on John Wayne Walding, a peer of mine who grew up with me in Special Forces, who had his leg shot off by a machine gun, attached it back to his thigh and stayed in the fight. And one of the most harrowing stories of survival in the global war on terror and in Afghanistan. Also, if you want to support what we're doing and the endeavors and you're not following my Patreon, it's absolutely free. It's linked down below, but we'll be digging down in the weeds on preparedness content and education and that's where you could find it. Go to longhaulsupplycompany.com and make sure you subscribe to our newsletter for any and all the updates. There are survival stories where men beat the odds. Then there are survival stories where the odds should have erased every name from the record. And I believe the Shackleton expedition is one of those stories. But it wasn't on a battlefield. There were no rescue helicopters, comms, GPS they didn't have in reaches and Mylar space blankets, no modern cold weather gear. That's what makes this story so insane. They were in a wooden ship. A crew of 28 men and the most hostile ice had to make one decision after another while everything hung in the balance. This was originally supposed to be a story of conquest. What's interesting is Shackleton shopped the book, the marketing components for this expedition and had sponsors. It's one of the reasons why when he came back and returned, he wrote the book south the Story of this Expedition. This story also became famous because of the length it occurred over. It's a story about Endurance. When Shackleton set sail, he did so on the day World War I kicked off. Here we are more than a hundred years later and the ship was finally found at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. That's right. They discovered the Endurance, the ship that sank in the icy water in Antarctica and led these men Expedia and visit Scotland invite you to come. Step into centuries of history that await in Scotland. Castles steeped in legend. Walk along cobblestone streets. Come share the warmth of stories passed down through generations.
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This is a place with a past
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that is fully present today and all yours to explore. Plan your Scottish escape today@expedia.com visitscotland At
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on this famous expedition, they never crossed Antarctica. That was the plan. A transcontinental trek. Many people have done the impossible, including planting flags. The Norwegians were in the race to mark the center of Antarctica, but nobody had ever made a transcontinental trek. They never laid landfall on the continent for the crossing because their ship was trapped, crushed and eventually swallowed by the icy water. By every normal measure, based on the expectations they set, the mission failed. But by the only measure that mattered, especially to Shackleton and the men, they accomplished something nearly impossible. Shackleton brought every single man home alive. And that's the lesson. Preparedness is not about controlling the world. It's not about pretending that nothing bad will happen. It's about building discipline, the mindset, the systems and the leadership capacity to survive the worst case scenario when that plan, because of Murphy's Law, falls apart. In 1914, he planned and proposed this first landing and crossing of Antarctica. His ship, the Endurance, would sail into the Weddell Sea. Shackleton and his selected party would land on the Antarctic coast and cross the continent by way of the South Pole and emerge on the other side. It was the heroic age in the early 1900s of Antarctic exploration. Men were trying to map the unknown edges of the world. They were pushing into places that still had blank spots in the topographical map. Antarctica wasn't just remote, it was a different planet. Cold beyond comprehension. Wind that would strip all the heat off your body, and ice that moved, cracked, rose and destroyed anything that underestimated it. But Shackleton wasn't new to this. He understood the risk. He had already been to Antarctica, and he had already turned back from the South Pole years earlier when he decided his men's lives were worth more than the accolades. That decision, that calculated decision, tells you a lot about his leadership style and what kind of man he was, because there are leaders who would rather die than admit they cannot finish. And Shackleton wasn't that kind of guy. He wasn't that kind of leader. He wanted achievement, but he understood responsibility. And that's honestly probably what made the difference in this situation. They left England in 1914, right as the world was sliding into war. They even asked Churchill, even asked about the expedition, inquiring. And Shackleton said he would turn the ship around and all his men would serve. At the time, they weren't completely invested, and he said, continue forward. We need this PR campaign that you're doing for our country. Endurance was a wooden ship build for polar waters. I actually have the tattoo on my left forearm, a picture of it together before it broke apart and sank. By January, 1915, the Endurance became trapped. Not damaged, not sunk, but trapped. The men were in a precarious situation because the ice locked it in and they knew it was sinking. All the provisions they had packed to supply themselves for the entire transcontinental journey were on board. And for months, the ship moved with the ice. The crew waited, worked, maintained routines, exercised the dogs, hunted seals and penguins, and try to keep some version of normal life alive. I think that's the first lesson of survival. Your routine matters. When I'm on routine, it occupies my brain. It reduces fear and anxiety. It keeps me moving in a positive direction. Most survival circumstances are maintenance, and the habits that you build in that routine will keep you alive. Eat what you can when you can, repair gear, upgrade your situation, check on your people, maintain hygiene, move your body, and keep morale from rotting in a precarious circumstance. Where fear and impending doom could consume you. Do the small things because the small things keep the group from collapsing. And that's what Shackleton did. He understood morale. He watched the men he knew who was strong, fragile, who was dangerous, who was useful and who needed encouragement. That's leadership being invested. It's not speeches or demanding respect. It's observation. And Shackleton also understood that men can survive extreme hardship longer if they believe there is a plan. Facilitating that plan, with structure is how you keep the men oriented in the right direction. Because even a bad plan gives men something to hold on to. Eventually, the ice stopped being a prison and became a weapon. And the ship sank in 1915. The fall. In October, Shackleton gave his order to abandon ship. And they started pulling possessions off. Food, tools, boats, navigation, weapons for hunting, clothing, the things that mattered. Everything else, including film. Film that was taken by Frank Herd, famous photographer. It all sank because the priority was the things they needed. In real survival, weight becomes truth. Everything you own either helps you live or makes you slower. After abandoning the Endurance, the men camped on the ice and watched their ships slowly die. By November 21, 1915, it was gone. No ship, no engine, no radio, no easy rescue anymore. They were alone with three small lifeboats and any provisions they were able to pull off the ship. The mission was now in a fragmentation order. It was no longer crossing Antarctica. It was survival. The men lived on ice after the Endurance sank. For months they dragged lifeboats across the frozen surface. Every mile cost energy they could not afford to waste. Eventually, Shackleton recognized the obvious. They were not going to win by forcing movement against the terrain. So they waited. That is hard for modern people to understand because we're always conditioned to act, and act now. Move, post, react, push. But survival often requires tactical patience. Sometimes the best move is no movement at all. They drifted north. The ice carried them, and every day they had managed food. The cold, the fear, exhaustion and the mental strain of uncertainty. The unknown. What was killing them the most? One of the most tragic parts of the story being that the men eventually survived is that to survive, they had to take advantage of every resource, including their own dogs. Their sled dogs were eventually killed for food. And that's a hard detail, but it absolutely matters. Because survival was not a romantic story. It's ugly, it's cold, it stinks. It forces decision no one wants to make. And that's why preparedness needs to be honest. You know, people love gear. They love the Persona or image of survival. But real survival is not an aesthetic. It is suffering that's often managed with discipline. Every story of survival involves this tragic truth. Eventually the ice began breaking apart underneath them and the only thing holding them up was no longer reliable. That forced a new phase. Shackleton made the tough decision to launch three lifeboats the James Caird, the Dudley Docker and the Stancomb Wills and head south. Cold, wet, exhausted, half starved in small boats they tried to reach land to call for help to come save the rest. They set sail for Elephant Island. After days in the lifeboats the men reached the island in April of 1916. It was the first solid land they stood on in over a year. That should have been their salvation but it was not. It was remote, frozen and far outside the normal shipping lanes and no one was likely to find him there. So they had another choice to make. This is where Shackleton had to make defining decisions of the expedition in order to salvage the rescue. He chose action. Frank Worsley, Tom Crane and several others would sail the James Card for Elephant island roughly 800 miles across the southern Ocean in a lifeboat. Not a yacht. A lifeboat navigated by Worsley with a sextant and dead reckoning and rare glimpses of the sun through horrific weather cold seas, massive waves, storms, ice. If they missed South Georgia they would sail into an empty ocean and disappear forever. There was no backup plan. No one would know if they died. He left the majority of the men behind under the command of Frank Wild, his second in charge. And he did not say I might come back. He created expectation. Be ready and I'm coming back. The voyage in this small boat six men were almost constantly freezing. A brief break in the clouds to orient himself. Quick sightings, a number, a correction of course and in survival. In this example, skill sets matter. His navigator, Worsley, knew how to navigate in the worst case scenarios and that's what saved them. Do not build your plan in survival based on fantasy, based on grandiose ideas. Can you make the toughest decisions under stress, cold, tired, hungry and afraid? A lot of people technically train but do so in the most comfortable of conditions. Can you do so at the same time with the weight and suppression of the environment of the factors that are outside of your control? And can the people around you do the same? After more than two weeks at sea they found the island. The whaling stations were on the other side. So between them and help stood mountains, slopes and terrain no one had crossed before. Again, the mission changed. They adapted. Shackleton, Worsley and Crane set out across South Georgia. No proper climbing equipment, no map good enough to Be trusted completely. No margins. They climbed and descended through mountains and glaciers trying to reach the whaling station. At one point, they slid down a snow slope because turning back was not an option. After 36 hours of movement they reached the edge of civilization. And they heard the whistle from a welling station, a human sound. Shackleton had made it, but this is important. He did not stop there. He did not say, I survived and go on vacation. His men were still on Elephant island and they were safe. But the mission was not complete. He had to return. Shackleton immediately began trying to rescue the men left behind. The first attempt failed because of weather. Then another. Then another. Ice blocked the way and every delay meant the men on Elephant island were still freezing in a miserable camp living under overturned boats and rationing food. He might have said, we tried. We did our best, and that's the end. But he was persistent. On August 30, 1916, he finally reached Elephant island aboard the Chilean vessel. He could have stayed back and set rescuers on the boat but he would not do that because he wanted the first man they saw to be him. Just like he told them they were ready. Every man was alive. Every single one. This is why this story lasts. Not because Shackleton crossed Antarctica. Because he didn't. Not because the ship survived. It did not. Not because the plan worked, it failed miserably. But the story lasts because when everything went wrong Shackleton refused to let failure become his demise. He adapted. He moved when movement was required. He stayed still when it was required as well. And he protected morale. He kept the men's mindset in the game. There are a few lessons from Shackleton that matter today. This is a long story of survival. I can go on for weeks about this. We might do a part two. But first, the mission or the objective could change at any moment. A lot of people fail because they stay emotionally attached to the original plan. They can't deviate. They refuse to deviate. The original plan of any plan is not sacred. Survival was sacred. Adaptation and contingency planning is standard operating procedure and how it often works. It's like having an expectation that you'll never be traumatized in life and it should be perfect. That's not what life is. There is no platform or pedestal for success. You made it and then the story is over. That's part of the process. It's the journey. You will experience highs and lows. And the goal is not to be right. The goal is to live. Second, morale is logistics. It's something that I always paid attention to because when morale was low, it was dangerous, it impacted your day to day survival, but also it puts you at a higher risk of giving up and the men giving up. And once you give up in survival, it's hard to come back. People will treat morale like it's soft. It's not. It's long duration. Hardship and morale is a combat multiplier. A family that stays calm, communicates, works together, eats, sleeps, maintains routine, has a better chance than a family that panics, lets fear consume them and turns on each other. Shackleton managed the minds of his men and he paid attention. In one example, the troublemakers he put in his own tent. Why? Because they were less likely to be troubled if they were co located with the leader. It's not ego, it's not control, it's not volume, it's responsibility for outcomes. He could not control the ice, he could not control the ocean or the weather, but he could control the decisions and standards and discipline and the morale of the men. That's leadership. Preparedness is not hoarding gear. Preparedness is skill married to equipment. Or last, never confuse comfort with security. Complacency is what will get you killed. The endurance was comfortable compared to the ice, and then it was gone. And then they had to adapt. The ice was stable compared to the boats. Then it broke. Elephant island when they arrived was land, but it was not rescue. Every phase gave the men something that looked like safety and every phase forced them to to have to progress mentally. And that's real life. The house can fail. The plan could fail. The vehicle can fail. A supply chain can fail.
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You thought this was your run club era. Turns out it was more of a thinking about run club era. The good news, someone's marathon training is about to start. Sell your workout gear on Depop. Just snap a few photos and we'll take care of the rest. They get their race day fit and you get a payout for trying. Someone on Depop wants what you've got. Start selling now. Depop, where taste recognizes taste, response from first responders in the government can fail. And preparedness means understanding that comfort is always temporary, but capability moves with you. The Endurance, after a hundred years, was found. The ship that carried Shackleton and his men into history was found in March 2022 by the Endurance, 22, more than 100 years after it sank. The ship was located 3,000 meters below the surface, as clear as day. That word sitting in the back of the bottom of the world. There is something almost biblical about that, seeing the clarity of the words Endurance. The men were gone. Shackleton, who passed away on his following expedition, the age of the wooden polar exploration, was certainly gone. But one thing remained, the Endurance. Not success, not victory, not conquest, but endurance. This is what the story is really about. The ship failed, but the men, they endured. The mission failed, but the leader was victorious. And when the wreck was found, it did not rewrite the story, it just solidified it. It confirmed. It gave us the physical proof of a legend that had already survived through journals, photographs, testimony and memory. It reminded us that some stories last because they're not really about exploration and victory, success. They're about the condition of man under pressure. What happens when the plan dies? What happens when comfort disappears. What happens when rescue is coming and no one's going to save you? What happens when men choose between despair and discipline? Shackleton's answer was very simple. You keep going. You keep your people together, you make the right decision. You do not waste energy on fantasy. And you get to work. You endure. Preparedness is not paranoia. It's not fear. I've taught you guys this for years. It's not sitting around waiting for the end of the world to happen. It's about being proactive. It's about discipline. It's look, looking at reality early, accepting it honestly, it becoming your truth, and building capability around that. Shackleton did not bring his men home because he had perfect conditions. He brought them home because he had standards under imperfect conditions. And that's what we need in our homes and our families and our children in our country. We need less panic, less fantasy, more discipline, more truth, more God, more family. Sooner or later, everybody gets their weddell. See, it's going to happen to you. It happened to me, but I stayed in it. I stayed in the fight. And that's nothing special. I'm not special. I just understand the lessons learned and I apply them when that day comes for you, because it will. It's bound to happen. The question is not whether the original plan survived and you were married to it. The question is whether you did. Appreciate you guys for the support, for paying attention to this realm of survival. And taking it serious for keeping Phil Craft survival alive. It's alive because of you. I'm not Philcraft survival. I'm a curator for a culture of preparedness. The domestic prepper. The men and women who care about their families, their security, their independence, their self reliance. That's endurance. Appreciate you guys. Until next time. Peace out, guys.