Insects Are Just Side Dish Woods Offer A Moving Feast Of Main Courses, Experts Say

Capt. Scott O’Grady admits he didn’t take Survival School here too seriously.

If he had, the Spokane native and America’s fresh-faced hero would have eaten better during his six-day hide-out in the woods of Bosnia.

Instead of ants and grass, the fighter pilot could have feasted on succulent dandelions, salty slugs or raw squirrels.

To the trained eye, the world’s forests are not just trees and other vegetation. They’re all-you-can-eat salad bars with protein-rich side dishes.

The ecosystem that cloaked and sustained O’Grady from the Bosnian Serbs is similar to that of the midwestern United States, particularly lower Michigan. Many of its plants, insects and mammals also are common here.

“I don’t think enough credit or thanks is given to Mother Earth,” says Colville forest spokeswoman Cynthia Reichelt. “But it’s their native ecosystem that supported our native son.”

O’Grady, 29, was assigned to Aviano Air Base in Italy when his F-16 was shot down June 2 over Bosnia while on a peacekeeping mission.

More than three years earlier, O’Grady had returned to his hometown for a 17-day survival course at Fairchild Air Force Base and in these chilly mountains of northeastern Washington.

O’Grady jokingly admitted on national television last week, “I didn’t think I would ever need it.”

But he obviously mastered enough of the evasion skills taught here to save his life.

For Airman 1st Class Keith Garrison, one of the Survival School’s field instructors, O’Grady’s story is validation.

“It’s good to know they’re listening to us,” the lanky, bespectacled 22-year-old says.

“Sometimes we wonder. This really gives us a boost.”

An estimated 5,000 air crew members from across the country train here each year. The exhausting program is called SERE Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape.

Students spend most of the time in the classroom. But for six days, they learn firsthand to live off the land.

Lesson No. 1: Don’t eat poisonous plants. The last thing a downed flier needs is diarrhea and further dehydration. In the first 24 hours of such a state, a person’s judgment becomes impaired.

Students are advised to run plants through an edibility test.

First, crush the plant to make sure it doesn’t emit milky sap - usually a sign of toxicity - and then rub the plant on a sensitive area of the skin to ensure it doesn’t leave a burning sensation.

If so far, so good, then swallow one of the plants and wait eight hours for any adverse reactions. Then sample larger portions and wait another eight hours. If nothing happens, then you can pig out.

There are general guidelines, such as “leaves in three, let it be.” There’s the berry rule: blue or black ones generally are considered safe; red ones are 50/50; white and yellow are almost always poisonous. A bitter, soapy taste, spiny hairs and shiny leaves usually mean poisonous.

Avoid all fungi, including mushrooms, Garrison says. “Mushroom experts die every year.”

All grasses are edible.

“You can munch it on down,” Garrison says. “It’s not too bad. Cows live on it.”

The Air Force Survival School recommends plants over ants and other critters because it’s a less squeamish experience.

“Vegetarians do real well in Survival School,” Garrison says. “Most people can eat a salad. Plus, it’s easier to sneak up on a plant.”

But ants aren’t bad.

O’Grady discovered what all ant eaters quickly learn. They taste like lemon drops. There’s even a recipe for survival lemonade. Poke a stick in an ant pile and rake the bugs off into a canteen of water. Boil the water and, voila.

Garrison, who spends more time in the woods than most park rangers, eats what he preaches. Grasshoppers, he says, taste like almonds, but he recommends pinching off their heads and wings first.

He prefers big black ants to red ones. Although they can be eaten whole, Garrison recommends pinching their heads off “so they don’t bite me on the way down.”

Don’t sell mammals short either, Garrison says, although nothing in the woods tastes like chicken.

Survival School students are taught how to use string to snare rabbits, raccoons, opossums and squirrels. They taste better boiled, but in hostile venues such as Bosnia, fires are foolhardy.

“With a squirrel, you skin it, twist off its head, gut it, and you’re ready to go,” Garrison says.

For reasons more than obvious, the skinning and gutting part of the course induces the most vomiting, he says. But the skills are necessary.

Killing the animal is called thumping, while the consumption part is called mucking.

“Just thump ‘em and muck ‘em,” Garrison says, throwing down a handful of ants.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo