it was a boiling hot summer day the temperature is easily over a hundred
degrees the woods all around me are silent but I know they're out there
looking for me and my partner we can't rest long we've been on the run for 18
hours straight since last night and we're both exhausted grudgingly we pick
up our aching bodies and push on into the thick brush once more checking our
compass to make sure we're on the right heading I'm somewhere in the deep woods
of the southern United States in a military land navigation and survival
training program six months ago I was just a regular teenager and now I'm
hiking through the deep woods on the alert for the squad of instructors whose
job it is to hunt me and my partner down our goal is simple we have to reach
three different way points and check in with an instructor at each before
hitting our extraction site the total course is about 30 miles but the
waypoints are set up so that you have to take a long winding path to get to each
and they each have to be hit in Secession causing you to double back for
part of your route the entire time there's six instructors hunting you and
if you get caught you fail if you miss a waypoint
you fail if you take longer than 36 hours to complete the course you fail
failure means you get washed back have to try the entire program again with a
different class or you simply get kicked out of the program entirely I don't want
to fail before we set off we're given a crash course on all the natural hazards
in this part of the American South alternating between swamp and forest
terrain there's the threat of snakes alligators of venomous spiders killer
bees and last but not least fire ants we all paid attention during the briefing
but I think most of us were worried about alligators and snakes how bad
could insects really be I'd soon find out eventually my partner and I made our
way to a road that cuts through the woods and we approached very carefully
roads our danger crossings because the moment you step out of the wood line
anybody within two miles could have a clear line of sight of you you typically
want to cross a road in the middle of a bend that way no one can have a direct
line of sight to you past maybe a few hundred meters
no such luck here though this road is a long and straight and though it probably
makes a turn a few miles down or up from us we're not sure in
can't risk adding miles or hours to our time we find a sheltered spot with a
good view of the road to simply taking the opportunity to eat a quick meal
we've been given one meal ready to eat or MRE each for the 36 hours we're
expected to complete the course so hunger is ever-present we've been
encouraged to forage even hunt if we can manage it in fact I think we're expected
to there's no way a single MRE can give you the calories you need in this heat
when you're on the move for a day and a half straight we munch on a few edible
roots we manage to dig up early this morning as well as a small portion of
the MRE we decided to use the MRE to supplement whatever food we find out
here in the wild rather than eat it out right as we rest we watch the road for
30 minutes waiting to see if there's any traffic it's a small two-lane road and
after a half-hour we don't spot any vehicles so decide it's safe to cross
a normal danger crossing would have one or two members crossing at a time while
the rest of the team took up overwatch positions to give covering fire if need
be we're unarmed though so decide that it's
best we cross together as quickly as possible we identify a spot with great
concealment in the woods on the other side of the road that's fairly close to
the road itself and we slowly start making our way to the road on our side
suddenly there's the sound of an engine and in a flash we both hit the floor my
partner manages to get behind the thick bush but I'm a little more exposed than
he is so I roll behind a thick fallen log I got a little too much momentum
though and to stop myself I reach out with my left hand and brace against the
log my hand pushes into the soft rotten wood but I don't notice a Humvee with
someone in the turret is slowly making its way down the road and I could see a
glint of binoculars which means this person is looking in my direction I
freeze immediately barely breathing even though I'm suddenly out of breath from
panicked before we set out my partner and I had put on thin skinned black
leather gloves and then we use duct tape to close the gap between the gloves and
the sleeve of our uniform blouse we did the same with our pant legs tucking them
into our boot and then using the duct tape on top of the boots this is so that
fleas ticks or any matter of insect would be unable to crawl inside our
uniform it also means our hands and feet are hot as hell but we stop every 6
hours to let them breathe and wipe up excess sweat from our feet so they don't
start rotting away as I am carefully watching the Humvee move in our
direction I'm not paying attention to my left hand unbeknownst to me when I
reached out to brace myself against the fallen tree truck to stop my roll I
punched into the soft rotting wood and straight into a nest of fire ants the
ants are now angry extremely angry and they are on the warpath dozens upon
dozens of them have already begun attacking my gloved hand but thanks to
the tough leather I feel nothing now they're moving their way up my hand to
my arm and because my uniform is sealed at the wrists they can't find a way in
they can only keep marching up my arm closer and closer to my neck and the
only entry point to attack my body and I am completely unaware that any of this
is happening the Humvee is moving slowly the person in the turret carefully
scanning with binoculars he looks in our direction and I remain utterly
motionless holding my breath so that I don't accidentally make a small leaf or
twig move as I inhale then I feel a sharp pain on my neck a moment later a
second sharp pain great some bug just bit me and it's probably still crawling
around on me I just hope it's not venomous and I pushed the thought away I
can't move I can't give myself away I can't fail my training then there's
three more sharp pains and a second later a dozen all at once now I know
something is seriously wrong and I can't help but turn my head and look at my
shoulder I almost wish I had it my arm all the way up to my shoulder is a black
and red mass of ants my hand is wrist deep in their nest and
the angry ants are swarming by the hundreds covering every square inch of
my uniform and finding a way inside it through the top fire ants are an
invasive species to the United States as well as many other nations and regions
around the world believed to have been accidentally brought to the US and
shipping crates fire ants quickly set up shop all across the American South and
every year they push just a little bit further up north while they can't
survive cold weather for long thanks to global warming the maximum range that
they can inhabit has been steadily increasing year after year amongst ants
they're known as one of the most aggressive species and regularly killed
birds and small mammals they've even been known to bring down larger
livestock when it couldn't flee after stung
into a fire ant nest the u.s. spends millions of dollars every year in
treatment for fire ant bites as well as measures to attempt to control the
insects for a long time it was feared that the ants would even drive many
species of native animals extinct most notably lizards which are unable to flee
fast enough to save themselves over the last seven decades though American
lizards have evolved longer legs and new behaviors to avoid fire ants
now these tiny aggressive invaders were busy invading me and every second dozens
more poured inside the top of my uniform the horror of discovering my entire left
arm and shoulder covered in a solid matter Vance was too much for me and I
immediately rolled away from the nest part of me tried to fight for control to
maintain my discipline but now my brain was kicking into survival mode and the
pain was becoming incredible I was being bitten by dozens of ants every second I
had to do something fire ants attacked prey and intruders by
biting down with their pincers and then using their pincers for grip stabbing
repeatedly with the Stinger in their abdomen often an ant will fight in this
circular pattern as it turns over and over stinging repeatedly this is what
makes fire ants unique amongst most ants the ability to sting multiple times when
the ants stinger penetrates the flesh and injects a toxic alkaloid venom
called Solon Thompson for humans this is typically not dangerous unless you're
allergic much like a bee sting but it does produce intense burning pain hence
the name fire and recently those scientists have discovered that a fire
ants venom might actually affect the nervous system itself which might
account for reports of hallucinations by victims the ants were now inside my
uniform though thankfully I was wearing a tight-fitting compression shirt
beneath my blouse it fits snugly enough against my body that a lot of the ants
can't find their way under that to get to my chest but at this point I'm
covered in so many ants that plenty do in a panic I leap up and rip off my
blouse tearing away the duct tape that keeps it securely attached to my gloves
at this point my partner has realized that I'm covered in hundreds of ants and
forgetting all about our tests he makes a break for the Humvee to flag it down
for help as he's running I'm stripping out of as
much of my clothing as I can because by now the ants have gotten
my compression shirt and our stinging my chest and back stumbling and wiping away
dozens of stinging ants from my body at a time I've worked my way toward the
road and in seconds someone's grabbed me by the shoulders
and is dragging me toward the Humvee at this point my vision becomes hazy my
hearing is slightly distorted and I can't quite tell what's going on I'm
laid down on the road and one of the instructors grabs a can of diesel fuel
from the back of the Humvee and douses my entire body with it fire ants are
pretty unaffected by water but in an emergency gasoline or diesel can
irritate ants and force them away I can hear someone on the radio calling for a
medivac but everyone's voice is sound distorted I can't make out much of
what's being said and my vision is getting dark around the edges the pain
which was like searing hot fire across my body is fading away too
which is nice the next thing I know I'm waking up in a medical tent and IV in my
arm and a medic standing at the foot of my cot I find out that I was unconscious
for an hour but my heart rate and breathing remained strong so they cancel
the medevac flight to the hospital the medic asks me how I'm feeling and I tell
him that I can taste iron in my mouth and that my body feels like it's on fire
my arm is covered in dozens of small red bumps each one a different sting and
when the medicals of a mirror for me I'm horrified to see that I have dozens upon
dozens of stings all across the left side of my face down my neck shoulders
the upper part of my chest down my arm to the elbow it almost looks like I have
severe chickenpox but in just a few areas of my body
a military ambulance takes me back to the training depot and there I see the
doctor at the attached clinic he tells me that I'm thankfully not allergic or
else I'd be dead as I received well over a hundred bites all across the upper
left side of my body he wants me to get checked in at the hospital though just
to monitor my condition is a cautionary measure I asked him what that'll mean
for my training and he tells me that I'll get washed back but be allowed to
repeat with a new class in a month I've been through hell with my class by now
pushing each other along when each one of us wanted to quit at some point in
our training we started with 40 and are down to just 15 of us at this point I'm
closer to these guys than almost anyone else in my entire life I don't want to
quit now want to finish with another team I
begged the doctor to let me stay eventually he calls in my training unit
commander who tells me to shut up and follow the doctor's orders
I beg him this time to let me stay he thinks about it asked the doctor if it's
even possible the doctor says that if I survive the initial stings there's
little danger now but it won't be pleasant for me I shrug tell them both
that I'll deal with it my commander agrees but warns me that
the only slack I'll be cut is not being forced to wear camo paint because of the
risk of infection on my bites I'll be expected to keep up with everyone do
everything else everyone else does no quarter given I agree and the next
day me and my partner are forced to restart our navigation course from
scratch he doesn't mind though he was given the
option to finish alone the day before but he refused because that's what
family does over the next few days the bites hardened into small white lumps
the doctor wasn't kidding training becomes even more of a living hell the
bites hurt bad due to the constant rubbing of my
uniform and body armor against my skin soon they start to lose paws and at the
end of each day my shirt is covered in salt and crusted sweat and pus I was
given a cream to use to prevent infection and ibuprofen for the pain the
cream apparently works but the ibuprofen doesn't even touch the intense pain the
nights are the worst though the temperature stays close to a hundred
degrees and I'm so miserable I can barely get any sleep and we've already
been sleeping too anyway I pushed through it though eventually
the small white lumps hardened and many of them tear off due to friction from my
skin in my uniform on my gear I'm carrying up to 80 pounds sometimes and
it's sheer agony but I keep on anyway after a week I'm exhausted and on the
verge of total collapse but my bites have finally begun to fade and this face
of my training is nearly complete when we leave this base of training a few
weeks later my unit commander approaches me and shakes my hand he doesn't say
anything just shakes my hand and he doesn't need to a year later I'm with
my active unit but I hear about an accident back in training some new kid
was sleeping out on one of the courses in the middle of the night fire ants
came across him he got bit all over his body and woke up in the middle of it he
ended up having a worse reaction than me and was medevacked out nearly died from
it and they ended up giving him a medical discharge from the military to
most people fire ants are a nuisance but to this day whenever I see any type of
ant I can't help but shudder and I thank my lucky stars that I wasn't born
allergic to fire ant venom have you ever been bitten by fire ants let us know in
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