Woman says she played dead during bear attack at military base in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Jessica Gamboa grew up hearing you should play dead during a bear attack, and she did just that when she was pummeled by a brown bear that left her bloodied on a remote road at a military base in Alaska.

That action likely saved her life.

Gamboa says in a videotaped interview at her hospital bed that she surrendered to the bear during the attack May 18 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. Gamboa, of Sacramento, California, is married to a soldier there.

The Army on Thursday released the interview of Gamboa and a combat medic who rescued her after the mauling.

Gamboa and her husband were jogging at the sprawling base when they became separated. The mauling left her with lacerations to her neck, arms and legs, and neck fractures.