expressed itself there. I wracked my brain and came up with
a bunch of possibilities. There are a lot of dangerous occupations.
However, I don’t think anyone would disagree that being in the
military Special Forces must be one of the riskiest jobs out there.
Luckily, I had met someone who was both a high sensation-seeker
and a retired military officer.From Special Forces to Helping the Homeless
In his younger years, Corey was a classic high sensation-seeker. He
rode motorcycles up steep winter trails that were frozen with ice,
just for kicks. He dreamed of flying, bungee jumping, and skydiv-
ing. At some point he realized that there was one place where he
could put all of his physical skill and high desire for intense sensa-
tion to work for him: the military. Being an intelligent, fit young
man with little fear and a propensity for risk, Corey moved up the
ranks quickly. He did airborne training. He was in air, sea, search,
and rescue. Then he left that field to work in shock and trauma
units like intensive care, critical care, and the emergency services.
He had been engaged in some of the highest risk occupations in one
of the highest risk fields in the world by his late twenties. Corey was
clearly a high sensation-seeker, he knew it, and he put it to good
use. When I asked him to tell me about a situation where he was
able to use his HSS skills he responded without hesitation. “In
search and rescue your primary goal is to go in behind enemy
lines and recover pilots and/or anyone that they identify. When
you drop-in your mind is really clear. You’re wide awake and
because you’ve trained so hard, you’re in such good shape you can
pick people up and carry them back if you need to. You have to do
a medical assessment, take care of them in the field, prepare them,
and bring them back.”
Going behind enemy lines, rescuing fellow soldiers, doing
medical assessments, and potentially carrying them out of danger
on your back is difficult for most people to wrap their heads around.
For Corey this was just another day at work. When he was finished
with this part of his career he spent time in a military ICU unit
where he specialized in pulmonary and cardiology issues. This is
not like being in a typical ICU or emergency room. The problems
are even more severe and immediate. Soldiers can come in with
gaping wounds on the verge of bleeding to death and quick deci-
sions have to be made. And because we are talking about war,130 / Buzz!Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Access paid by the UCSF Library, on 11 Nov 2019 at 14:18:48, subject to the Cambridge