Missing soldier was hungry but confident
For three days and three nights he was lost in the jungle, not far from a disputed area near the Guatemalan border. Today, Private Marvin Card, safely back at Price Barracks, took time out to talk to the press about exactly what transpired during his lonely weekend… beginning with how he came to get lost in the first place.
Private Marvin Card
“The jungle is think and filled with different tracks and I ended walking on the wrong track instead of the correct track with my fellow troops.”
Stewart Krohn
“When you realised that you were lost, was it dark at this time?”
Private Marvin Card
“Night was already setting in.”
Stewart Krohn
“What ran through your mind at this point?”
Private Marvin Card
“I said well, I’m all alone now, so I have to do what I do best, what I was trained for and try to get out of this situation.”
Stewart Krohn
“Which was?”
Private Marvin Card
“Which was to go back to the last position where I last left the rest of the troops, where I got seperated.”
The first thing Card did after realizing he was separated from his patrol was to head in the direction of his base camp, but…
Private Marvin Card
“I didn’t see anyone, hear anyone, so I stayed on the track, rested. Everyday I just worked different tracks trying to find my way back.”
Stewart Krohn
“At this point did you have enough food and shelter and water, wow did that stand?”
Private Marvin Card
“Water was there, but food, I didn’t have any at the time. I ate out the last Friday evening, so Saturday, Sunday, I didn’t have any food. I had water, water is in the jungle like that.”
Stewart Krohn
“How is it then that you came to be rescued?”
Private Marvin Card
I backtracked to the position that where the troops were. I took a track to there and I ended up in the area where I lost my troops. I went there and recognised that British soldiers were there and I felt safe that they would take me back to the link. So I just walked to the HLS so that when they passed back the other day, I could wave it down and they will see because it’s a open area.”
Stewart Krohn
“Private at any time while you were in the jungle did you start to get a little bit scared?”
Private Marvin Card
“Well I was scared, but not to a great extent because I was fully loaded. I had weapons on me and anything that came my way, it was them first not me.”
Stewart Krohn
“At any point during that time, were you afraid that you may have wondered across the border into Guatemala?”
Private Marvin Card
“Well I could have never wondered across the border because when the sun goes down, it goes down in the west and if the sun is going down that means I’m heading across the border.”
Stewart Krohn
“Where you didn’t want to go.”
Private Marvin Card
“I didn’t want to go across the border.”
Stewart Krohn
“Are you ready to go back on patrol as soon as you can?”
Private Marvin Card
“If they let me go, I will go. I not afraid of the jungle.”
Card told News 5 that when he saw the BDF defender aircraft flying overhead, he knew that authorities were looking for him. Due to the density of the jungle canopy, however, Card was unable to signal to the plane. He was eventually flown by British helicopter back to BDF headquarters in Ladyville.
