however, because of the shape of his body, his trail is only slightly larger than his feet
3. What vegetation was safe to eat. As it turned out all we had to do was watch to see what the animals were eating, then eat the same foods they ate.
4. Water was a real problem, as it is a prime requirement for survival. In the mountains there were plenty of rivers and streams some of which did not show on the maps I was provided. In the deep jungle, however, potable water proved to be a problem. There, it would sit and stagnate and become a breeding ground for mosquitoes, leeches, and other water-borne carriers of disease. Water for consumption was difficult to find.
It was during these parachute jumps that I realized one of my biggest mistakes -- assuming that a 95-pound, 5-foot Montagnard could possibly be big enough to handle the parachute rigging, or that he would weigh enough to have a proper descent if his parachute opened. This mistake nearly killed three new team members.
Another aspect of Air Ops that I had to concentrate on was the art of rappelling. This technique was very similar to that used when descending a mountain, except that now we would descend from helicopters.
At that point I learned that only the American team leaders could rig the "choppers" for rappel. The American pilots and crews were very fussy about who messed with the inside of their aircraft.
After doing some preliminary training off the side of the water tower (only 30 feet high), my team members had the spirit and were ready for their first try from a helicopter at an altitude of 100 feet. Ahh, success -- and no mistakes I could not recover from.
Only one last subject remained for ah of us to learn -- how to communicate with each other when we were committed to a mission. In the silence of the jungle, verbal communications