I used to be a Cavalry Scout in the United States Army and I am going to show you Dune's Wilderness Survival Tactics, the tactics that Miles Teg uses to escape the Face Dancers in Heretics of Dune.
Have you seen any other environment of Dune besides the desert? Well in Heretics of Dune we get to see a tactical movement through the wilderness used to escape pursuers and search for a hidden no-globe that will provide refuge, and hide them from spice prescience. Teg is disadvantaged by firepower, manpower, vehicles, and supplies, yet from his planning and creative tactics he completes his mission. In this essay I will talk about the tactics, technology and strategy from Dune's best military strategist that will help you from being pursued by an adversary in the forest.
The setting of Heretics of Dune explores wilderness that is not the typical desert of Dune. We get to see our protagonist trekking into the forests of Gammu. Gammu is a planet that used to be called Giedi Prime and was home of the Harkonnen. Giedi Prime suffered major ecological collapse after over industrialization from the Harkonnen. The planet then switched into Atreides hands after the Fremen Jihad and underwent ecological repair. Then 5,000 years later on Gammu, the main protagonists are having to evacuate a Bene Gesserit Keep.
So the setting our characters are traversing is thick forest, most likely temperate rainforest what you would see in the North West of America or a temperate deciduous rainforest like in the East and Midwest of America.
This forest trek starts when a young Duncan Idaho, his mentor Miles Teg, and a Bene Gesserit named Lucilla are fleeing from an assassination attempt on Duncan.
Technology
"Some thirty kilometers into the thick forest northeast of the Gammu Keep, Teg kept them waiting under the cover of a life-shield blanket until the sun dipped behind the high ground to the west." p. 269
Now we are starting to understand the technology they will use. The first item is the Life-shield blanket. The Dune Universe describes this blanket as hiding the user's biological signatures from life-detection rays and scanners. Nowadays people have thermal capabilities i.e. drones, or vehicle turret sights, or gun scopes. Every living creature gives off a thermal signature due to the heat generated from the body. If someone wants to hide their heat signature then you could use a thermal blanket that conceals the heat coming off from your body that can be seen by thermal vision.
This technology's purpose is to hide. If you do not have technology then the backup is camouflage. This is available to you since you are already in the area where you are hiding. If your clothes are bright then you should smear mud and dirt over them to darken them up. If you don't have dark face paint use mud for this as well. The drawback with camouflage is that improving camouflage takes more time and in the situation of the three in this book they do not have much time. And rubbing mud on their face wouldn't hide them from the advanced bio-scanners they have in the Dune Universe. In the end technology will give you more of an advantage but the environmental camouflage will always be there for you.
Now when it comes to having this gear ready Teg had small care packages prepared for him before the attack, he also had fake care packages set out in different directions to divert the people trying to locate him. It is hard to have all of this prepared but everyone should at least have a small go bag. You can pack your go bag with things like a thermal blanket, a compass, binoculars, a knife, maybe a radio if you can hide your signal, a life straw, and maybe small rations, things that would be useful for a hasty couple of nights in the wilderness. But it is also very important to pack as light as possible, only what you need to survive, do not pack comfort items, unless you have something that is sentimental and would provide mental stability. Maybe something that will remind you why you need to escape and keep on living.
Navigation Skills
"Three nights he had led them along what he called 'Patrin's memory-path.'" p. 272
Now from our modern perspective this seems like an incredible task. Patrin did make a very precise path that Teg, Duncan and Lucilla would travel down to escape. From new research we have found that the brain can compile nature much faster than human made structures. There is a weird fractal effect in nature that the brain can perceive and store more information about nature with less energy. The brain was formed for nature so the human brain is very good at remembering paths and landmarks in relation to one's position. The brain can process and understand tiny subtleties in natural landscapes very well. This makes the task of Patrin not as out of reach as modernity would think.
Navigation skills are obviously important in survival. Patrin, the one who plans this route for Teg grew up on Gammu and he understands the subtle information of the forest. Because Patrin grew up here and has explored the forests as a child he is accustomed to the different cliffs and hills and other landmarks in the environment. All this information is stored into the brain easily.
Now for you, this explains the need for scouting an area. It is important to know what is around you. An easy way to develop awareness is to do patrol walks to establish a security perimeter. In military training they show you to scout in special patterns to prevent the enemy knowing where you came from, but that is the case if you are actively advancing into enemy territory. These tactics are more for defense. And in defense it is all about security and awareness. So to help prepare for any danger it is important to understand your environment. Overall, if you know the terrain better than your enemy then you have a drastic advantage that could be the decider in surviving and escaping.
Planning
One important thing in escape tactics that is most effective but not always available is escape plans. Now Teg being the Supreme Bashar obviously had a plan for everything. So he had a plan devised of how to escape on Gammu from the Bene Gesserit stronghold if someone was to attack. One of his best men, Patrin, planned a route and held it in his memory so there was no physical evidence of this route. Only Patrin had known this trail. And there's a catch. While Patrin was growing up he found an old Harkonnen No-globe and never told anyone. Until he needed to tell Miles Teg. The no-globe is the one way to hide Duncan before he can awaken his dormant memories. Now this plan and strategy is the main reason why they will eventually succeed. The number one way to escape or avoid conflict is to have a plan of action. When problem A happens then solution B will be executed.
"Given a trail of logic, Occam's razor laid out with impeccable detail, the Mentat may follow such logic to personal disaster." p. 270
While Teg is deciding on whether to move or stay at a rest location he starts to think about his plan. Teg knows that the most logical plan of action is bound to fail. Each situation has its own answer. The easiest answer is never the best answer. Teg is trusted to do this in his typical unexpected way. When you are trying to escape an enemy that has much greater weapon and vehicle capabilities then you need to do the unexpected. The enemy will always know what the most logical path, plan or decision for you to do. The enemy will always plan for you to be logical first. They will assume that you will do what is most logical and if not they will still have to assume the most logical plan before checking others. This doesn't mean to do the dumbest thing or to do the most abstract thing. It means be unpredictable and change your plans to your unique thinking and creativity. Assess your advantages and disadvantages and make a unique plan.
Remember to stay safe, be prepared, and love life. Lux is the Way.
Sources
Herbert, Frank. Heretics of Dune. 1984. Ace, 2019.
Andrew Huberman and Dr. Marc Berman, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewnvjnuFTOY
Dr. Marc Berman Wilderness Cognition Study, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22464936/
- Lucas Edward