Can you describe what happened to you when you were interrogated and how you dealt with it?
Certainly, my own experience is what we called a "round robin." You're all put in the cells, you're handcuffed, you're blindfolded, and stripped of your clothing. Guards would always come into the cells, very noisy, kicking the doors, hollering and shouting, and basically conditioning you. You get punched, you get kicked, and spat on, all of those things happen in the cell. He'll then move on to the next guy, and the next cell, and what that's doing is really fearing you up, of course. At that moment they're trying to soften you up for the next round of physical interrogation, and there's nothing that you can do about that. All you are going to do is curl up, tighten the jaw and hopefully you take as little damage as possible during that time. In your mind, all the time, is escape. You're always trying to take in information, how the door is locked, when you're being taken out of a cell, and which way you turn. Are you outside, or are you inside? If you've got the opportunity, you must take it, because you don't know how long you're going to be interrogated for, or be a prisoner-of-war for. In other times, do exactly the same route, going to a different room. This one would be warm, and with a paraffin heater, and there would be questions, "Look, we're trying to help you. You've got to tell us what you know. I'm trying to stop these guys from torturing you," which was obviously a load of rubbish. You have to keep on doing the grey man, I don't know. All I know is that this is what my job was. I was there to rescue downed pilots. We got out in a helicopter, took off, and we were lost. You keep on with that story, because that's your job. You have got to maintain what's called "operational security," which is to not give out the information no matter what you do. Physically, you can't control it. They have total control of you physically, so you just have to accept that. What you've got to do is keep mental integrity, because that's what they're after. They're after information, breaking down and signing bits of paper denouncing the war, and all of these things that go on. If you put all of your efforts into your mental integrity, and the rest of it, so what, you've got no control, so you can't do anything about it. You might get through with minimal injuries. You might end up a cripple at the end of it, you just don't know. You've got to accept that you're in the shit, and just accept it, but keep that going.
