Video about my USN SERE Instructor: “Hanoi Hilton!”

Howdy friends,

Here’s a short nine-minute video telling the incredible story of young Seaman Apprentice Douglass Hagdahl who was captured and sent to the infamous POW camp in North Vietnam.

Doug was one of the senior SERE [Survival, Evasion, Resistance & Escape] instructors when I attended this nine-day course of instruction back around 1982 or ’83 when I was stationed at Special Boat Unit #13.

He was a civilian contractor to the Navy at that time. I still remember the command: FASOTRAGRUPAC, NAS North Island, Calif. In this SERE course were mostly Naval aviators and a couple of SEAL’s from Team ONE, both enlisted and officers were equally well battered and ill treated, for sure.

Doug was the most memorable instructor in this rigorous course. He warned us that the worst mindset an individual could possibly have is to remain willfully ignorant and to erroneously believe that, “Oh, nothing bad will EVER happen to ME.” Doug’s advice has assisted me in warning other folks in various ways and means.

Enjoy the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1gj3H8wrmQ