A Tennessee assisted living facility faces hefty fines after two residents escaped thanks to some military training.

Elmcroft Senior Living in Lebanon must pay $2,000 for failing to provide daily awareness for the whereabouts of two residents who briefly escaped from the secure memory unit.

The couple, a husband and wife who remain unnamed, suffers from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, but the husband used his military training with Morse code to figure out the facility’s electric lock code.

He would listen as staff punched the code in, and he was able to figure out the pattern. He made a break for it with his wife, managing just 30 minutes of freedom before a stranger found the couple wandering two blocks from the facility.

Staff were meant to increase their check-ins with the husband after he displayed concerning habits, such as wandering about and repeatedly seeking exits.

He had scheduled times to walk outdoors to mitigate these habits, but it did little to deter his urge to escape.

The facility changed all of its exit codes following the incident.