In honor and strength Published Nov. 20, 2008 By Senior Airman Joshua K. Chapman 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- While families throughout the country enjoyed a comfortable Thanksgiving meal last November, students attending the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape school at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., filled up on the grub shadowed beneath small rocks; meals-ready-to-eat, fresh out of 10-year-old brown plastic bags; or, if they were lucky enough, freshly deceased ground rodents that once scurried about nature's floor. Life in the field is a hard pasttime. But SERE instructors with the 336th Training Group, a tenant unit at Fairchild assigned to the Air Education and Training Command, find no greater pleasure. To the few with stomachs strong enough to endure and the physical and mental preparedness to get through, there's simply no other way to live the good life than out in the wilderness. It's no wonder, then, that so many Airmen - from those fresh out of basic military training to more seasoned veterans - are ready to raise their hands to join this selective unit. But while only a handful of Airmen are selected to become SERE specialists - an elite group whose mission it is to train military personnel from junior-ranking enlisted members to senior-ranking officers - many more throughout the Air Force will be required to participate in their unique mix of field and academic training, learning the skills to survive against dangerous odds, in a more basic context. "Currently we have three major phases of SERE training: A, B and C," explained Senior Master Sgt. Thomas M. Bonsant, 336th Training Support Squadron superintendent. "Everyone who joins the military receives at least level A training. And now, since our last Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley [ret.] ordered it, all Air Force personnel are required to train through level B." Level B training was commonly used for moderate risk of capture personnel, but is now a computer-based training that has been directed for all Airmen throughout the Air Force. In a post-Sept. 11 world, senior Air Force leaders have decided to increase training in skills to combat "asymmetrical warfare," a term used to describe the more prevalent type of combat in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, where suicide bombers, roadside bombs utilizing improvised explosive devices and hostage situations have become more prevalent. "To combat the new type of enemy that we encounter today, we've reshaped and adapted our training regimen," explained Lt. Col. Michael J. Poole, the deputy commander of the 336th Training Group and, as a pilot, a former graduate of the program he now oversees. "Currently we train anywhere between 10,000 - 11,000 military personnel every year. In addition to the new programs that we've either recently or soon plan to stand up, we expect that number to grow by about 6,500." The need for a battlefield-ready Airman is apparent as situations become more dangerous on the battlefront; thus, the skills taught by Air Force SERE specialists have become increasingly relevant and important. Beating the odds in SV-80-A Littered across televisions networks and motion-picture media, Americans are confronted with more and more outdoor, survival-geared entertainment. With this provocative look into the life of a person sustaining on little, the topic of military survival training is becoming a peak in popularity. Probably the most well known of the courses offered by the 336 TRG is SV-80-A, SERE Training. Aircrews and other high-risk personnel are required to make it through this training most commonly prior to completing their technical training. The course is a finely-tuned, 19-day lesson designed to hone the critical skills necessary to survive when lost behind enemy lines or, in the worst case scenario, captured. Trainees learn to survive in harsh terrains, whether they are at arctic-freezing temps, desert-like heat waves or rainforest-type lushes. They train to evade capture in the midst of enemy combatants, to resist the enemy's demands for sensitive information when captured, and to escape successfully when the opportunity presents itself, said Sergeant Bonsant. Those basic trainees that remember Article 1 of the Code of Conduct: "I am an American, fighting in the forces, which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense," are in for a refresher. "During SV-80-A we always fall back on the Code of Conduct," said Senior Airman Mathew T. Cothron, a SERE specialist assigned to the 336th TRG and an instructor in the SV-80-A course. "Every night we end our training by discussing the Code of Conduct and its importance in training and in the chance that a capture does take place." The new four-day course More Airmen can expect lessons in survival with the advent of a new SERE course taught by 336th TRG Airmen. The course is a condensed version of the SV-80-A program at four days, shaving off approximately 15 from the main training program, taught for the first time in June 2008. It's called ECAC, or Evasion and Conduct After Capture, and is geared toward Airmen at a higher risk of capture due to increasing time spent "outside the wire" in deployed environments. Currently the course targets a select group of Airmen, including the Office of Special Investigations agents, transition training teams, security force members, explosive ordinance device Airmen and some in the civil engineer career field. Yet there are plans to extend the training to an even larger crowd in the future. "The major benefit and goal of this course is the expanded audience," said Colonel Poole. "This short course will allow our experts to teach valuable information to Airmen before heading downrange. It is essential training that will give men and women the skills necessary to return with honor." The course's three main objectives include apprehension avoidance, escape enhancement, evasion techniques, and lessons in dealing with captivity, ranging from "peacetime to wartime and hostage detention strategy," said Colonel Poole. In summer 2011 the 336th TRG has plans to stand up the ECAC course at the Security Forces Academy located at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, the gateway for all U.S. Air Force Airmen. Cadets at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., will soon supplement the cadet-conducted Combat Survival Training with the contractor-based ECAC course in summer 2009, where many of the contractors are retired or separated SERE specialists. Beginning October 2009, all incoming second lieutenants across the Air Force will also take the course during their stay at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., during the aerospace basics phase of their training. Already in the works is a new urban evasion facility to be added to the unit at Fairchild, which will act as the main hub for Airman training with the cadres. Nearly 30 SERE specialists have already been added to facilitate the growing training demands, with Twenty three contractors, most of whom were prior SERE specialist themselves, to help aid in the process. Avoiding the freeze In their training repertoire, aircrews and other high-risk-of-capture personnel endure arctic training, one of the most physically and mentally strenuous. Airman Cothron described his experience as, in one word, "miserable." "You've got to think about what you're doing at all times," the Airman explained. "You're thinking about how to keep your body at an even 98.6 [degrees]. And that's pretty difficult to do at negative 25 to negative 40-degree temperatures." The three-day training environment is a test of psychological might, said Airman Cathron. "The first night I wasn't allowed a fire and I was given a raft to sleep in. I drank water that was near the temperature of the air around it and I tried my best not to sweat, because each drop of perspiration would freeze and cling to my body, further adding to the chill factor. All the while you're thinking about what you've eaten and if you've eaten enough. It's tough." Beyond maintaining homeostasis in biological functions, a primary challenge in the training involves building a sustainable shelter out of the most plentiful resource around: snow. "But it gets better as you continue to add some of the 'niceties,'" the Airman said. "The fire on the second day is welcomed, even though building it in an arctic-like environment is a pretty major, counterintuitive feat in its own right." "When I went through the training the temperature dropped into the low negative 40s," said Colonel Poole of his SERE course experience prior to becoming a pilot. "It was rough, but that kind of training really develops strength in character and confidence - it was well worth it." "It gives you the stress inoculation in case something goes bad ... That's what we're shooting for here," he said. "I've had a lot of guys come back and tell me that when they were faced with the situation they remembered the training they had taken 12 years earlier. The material makes its impression and when the time comes, people recall what they need to know. That's the goal." Supporting the ongoing mission Spread throughout bases globally, SERE specialists are being used for continuing SERE education, as well as assisting with reintegrating of former isolated personnel. One of the main jobs for the specialists is to help in transitioning military and civilian personnel returning from captivity. "There are a lot of guys stationed at Joint Personnel Recovery Centers at various world-wide bases who are in charge of managing the joint personnel recovery effort at whatever unit they're assigned to," said the Deputy Commander, Colonel Poole. "Whether it be in a forward-deployed space or a base here in the contiguous United States, we have specialists willing and able to assist in missions, both wartime and peacetime." Reintegration comes in three phases: diagnosing psychological and physical integrity, recovering usable intelligence to aide in future operations, and helping return captives with the resources they need for successful reintegration. "It's important to help returning captives while they re-acclimate to society by giving them the decompression and counseling time they need," said Airman Cothron. "One of the first things we do besides an intelligence debriefing is to begin the process of preparing the released to live within a healthy society again." "The amount of time that they're in the program is directly proportional to the amount of time that they are held captive," he said. "Obviously someone who's been held as a prisoner of war for many years will require more work than someone who's been gone for a few weeks." During the process, vital intelligence is gathered and worked into SERE course curriculum to supplement existing material with relevant updates. "As operations take place, the courses continue to evolve to incorporate lessons learned," said Paul Cepeda, 336th TRG curriculum developer, SERE historian and retired U.S. Army intelligence officer. "We continually adapt the courses to expand on the information that we receive from former isolated personnel. There's plenty to grow from." And while SV-80-A, ECAC, arctic training and reintegration counseling are all aspects of the SERE mission, they're by no means all inclusive. The specialists work in a variety of settings. Over the past two years six new courses have been added to the SERE training regimen and within the near future the 336th TRG plans to increase the number of available courses by three, totaling 17 in all. Whether it be on land, in water or in air, SERE specialists are there training the next batch of military personnel what they need to survive, evade, resist and escape.