I Was Swarmed By Fire Ants And Survived (True Story)

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 the comments and as always if you enjoyed this video don't forget to like share and subscribe for more great content

Channel: The Infographics Show

Views: 2,043,309

Rating: 4.8742976 out of 5

Keywords: fire ants, ants, insects, bites, insect bites, military, survival, training, infographics show, infographics, entertainment, video, crazy, ant colony, survive, true story, story

Id: tNTaWbbvfcg

Length: 13min 23sec (803 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 28 2019