Do You Know When to 'Cut Sling Load?'

For you U.S. Army Vets that are reading this, it’s not about the detailed steps involved in the Air Assault procedure of dropping the load under the helicopter. Sorry. The saying, at least across the military, is synonymous with avoiding danger and/or an untenable situation. Some Veterans also use the adage, “Slip Right,” a Paratrooper term for avoiding a bad situation, or, “Break Contact,” a combat operational term that is a call to retrograde and discontinue engaging with the enemy.

Please note, this is not synonymous with quitting. This is not looking at a situation, determining that it’s too hard, and giving up because it’s uncomfortable, your body hurts too much, or you are tired.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions…

However, it is about understanding how this analogy applies to dealing with emergencies… and people.

As a young Combat Medic, I remember learning a lesson that I would not understand until I was actually in combat in Fallujah, Iraq: “you can’t save every person’s life.” It sounds like a flash of the blindingly obvious until you are in the heat of the moment and your desire to be super-Medic kicks in.

Some of you know what I am getting at already, I just ask that you humor me.

Just as I learned, as a Combat Medic, that you can’t save all lives, my Air Assault brethren understand that not all loads can be salvaged safely.

What is the criteria for coming to this understanding?

As a medic, I was always keenly aware of what I had in my Aid Bag. How many IV bags, supplies for GSWs, airway injuries, tourniquets, etc. I understood my capacity to handle a mass casualty incident. In layman’s terms, this means I knew that I was unable to deal with 15 major injuries with the medical supplies I had. If I tried to spread the supplies required for 9 people to try to treat 15 people, I would risk losing 13. I think you get the point. In trying to do too much, you can do more harm than good.

Similarly, a helicopter transporting equipment that experiences some type of mechanical or environmental emergency may be forced with making the decision to ‘Cut Sling Load’ or lose the load, the helicopter, and the lives of the aircrew. By deciding to release the load, the helicopter and crew live to operate another day. Depending on the load, it can be replaced… still sucks to lose it… but you can hopefully organize another delivery.

I know… these are pretty simplistic combat-related examples, right? Lets bring it closer to home.

Do you know when to ‘Cut Sling Load’ with… people, relationships, or efforts? Again, this is not some excuse to quit anything.

As in the examples above, would you retain a relationship that is detrimental to yourself to keep the relationship together? In this example, releasing the load may mean that you are able to ‘fight another day’ in the future. Or… would you risk your future for the unlikely event that you can salvage the dangerously harmful relationship now?

If your job was literally killing you, would you be able to make the decision to leave that job with the understanding that you are saving your long-term health but will experience some near-term financial pain?

I don’t say this lightly, and I know that everyone’s ability to make this decision differs.

To complicate things, I am going to throw another variable into the mix.

You begin your endeavor, understanding that the potential for an emergency to occur.

You are working in your garden and adding some external fencing. As you are driving poles, a storm blows in and lighting strikes are getting closer. The wind speed increases and debris is blowing around. You start to think, “maybe I should stop until the storm passes.” More lightening. More wind. You decide to suggest that maybe it would be wise to let the storm pass and complete the project later. Your partner argues that you should just push through. “It’s just a storm that will be over soon,” they say.

What do you do?

You understand that if you stop, you lose your project window you set aside to get the task completed and your partner won’t be able to help you again until next week because of their work schedule.

If you don’t stop, you are worried the weather gets worse, someone may get struck by lightening or someone may get hit by some of the debris blowing around.

You have to make a decision. Yes… I’m leaving you to make this call. You are the one that has to live with the results…

“Thinking is great, but at some point you have to make a decision”

What about when crisis is on the horizon?

You have a feeling that danger is afoot and are making preparations. Your friends are aware, but largely think you are a bit crazy. You keep pointing out that it would be wise for them to prepare themselves. As you are having the conversation about being prepared, they jokingly say, “well… if something happens I will just come to your house.” Everyone laughs… but it is stuck in your mind.

This example is incredibly simplistic, but I would like you to think about a few things.

You have known them for years and know that they are ill prepared for a minor power outage, not to mention a major emergency.

Do you really think they were joking about coming to your house?

In the event of an emergency, do you think they would show up at your house?

Do you know how you will react if they and/or their family show up at your door asking for food or shelter?

Just like last time, I’m going to leave it to you to answer these question.

I will give you an example I personally experienced in a Combat Zone.

Prior to any mission, we conducted PCCs (Pre-Combat Checks) and PCIs (Pre-Combat Inspections). During these, leaders ensure soldiers have the proper equipment and gear for the mission. Before one specific mission, I remember leadership was ensuring we were good to go, doing sensitive items checks, etc., and one soldier only had one canteen of water filled. Outside the fact that this was Iraq and it was ungodly hot, I remember leadership berating him as he ran to fill his other canteens and CamelBak.

Why was he berated?

Well, his lack of preparedness put the entire element at risk. At the very least, he would be run out of water and need some from a fellow Soldier. At worst, he would become a heat casualty, require medical attention (from me), detract from the combat capability of the element, risk undermining the mission, and put his fellow Soldiers at risk.

You can’t cut sling load on fellow soldiers.

Remember, this was because he didn’t ensure that his water was filled before a mission.

“Failure to plan on your part, does not constitute an emergency on mine”

This is a lesson I learned early in my time in the U.S. Army. The reality is, it’s both true and false. It’s a fancy way of telling someone to plan better and take personal responsibility. In reality, the failure of one person in a team can impact the entire element, potentially constituting an emergency. In the military, if your negligent actions negatively impact your element, you forfeit your right to be spoken to respectfully. The moral of the story is, if you fail to plan and prepare yourself, don’t come running to me when things go bad. This is much easier to enforce in the civilian world than in the Army…

Make sure your ‘unit’ is a group of solid people…

Things will happen. When supplies need to be redistributed among the element, they will be. However, this is almost never because of negligence. Maybe you just broke contact with the enemy and a couple Soldiers are low on ammunition. The team can take stock of the collective ammo supply, and ensure everyone has enough to fight the next fight. Note, the Soldiers in this example didn’t run low on ammo because they forgot to bring any. It was because they used it engaging with the enemy.

Every soldier that has seen combat understands the risk of operating outside the wire. There are a litany of things that can happen and things that Soldiers must be prepared for. The saying we were beat over the head with was, “Don’t Shit In Your Own Boot!” This simply means that one should not engage in self-sabotage. The mission, and life, is hard enough without you making decisions that hurt yourself.

Now. Given that you have a better understanding of how I think you can probably guess how I would react to the unprepared friend above… especially if they were given forewarning.

This, however, is something that you must decide on your own.

From a personal standpoint, this doesn’t mean that you don’t care. If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t have suggested to your friend that they prepare. However, once you understand that their failure to prepare, like the soldier above, will directly impact you, your options become limited.

Even as I come to the end of this article, I understand that it sounds harsh to some. “How could you just cut someone off from your life?” If that is how you are looking at it, it makes me wonder if you read and understood the earlier parts of this article.

It is not selfish to prioritize the completion of the mission or your own existence. The decision to Cut Sling Load is not something that is done haphazardly. It's a calculated decision. The decision you make is personal and you are the one that has to live with the consequences.

Choose wisely.