SERE

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It has been suggested that Air Force S.E.R.E.(Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

SERE (an acronym for Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) is a U.S. military program that provides military personnel, Department of Defense civilians, and contractors with training in the Code of Conduct, survival skills, evading capture, recovery and dealing with captivity. It was created by the Air Force at the end of the Korean War but was expanded to the Army and the Navy during the Vietnam War. The majority of students are aircrew members.

Contents 1 The SERE Patch 2 The Code of Conduct 3 Service schools 3.1 Air Force 3.2 Army 3.3 Navy/Marine Corps 4 Curriculum 4.1 Survival and evasion 4.2 Resistance and Escape 4.3 Water survival 5 Levels 6 Controversies 6.1 1995 U.S. Air Force Academy scandal 6.2 Use of techniques in interrogation 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] The SERE Patch

The SERE Patch was designed with meaning. It is green for the freedom, which we all cherish. It is halved with a yellow strip to represent that Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape requires caution. The knife is the basic survival tool and reminds us of our obligation to our country, family and selves to survive and return with honor. The barbed wire is for captivity, it is broken, one can survive and regain their freedom. The Chinese word "Tiger" represents a saying on ancient maps "Here there be tigers" the process leads to the unknown and possibly dangerous territories of one's life. The letters SERE are self eveident and are written in yellow, also signifying to use caution and it is surrounded by black to honor those who gave their all in their service to their country.

[edit] The Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct is at the heart of SERE training. The Code of Conduct is a guide for Service Members and sets the standard of behavior by which they are to live in uncertain and hostile environments. SERE training provides the skills Service Members employ to live up to the Code of Conduct.

Code of Conduct for Members of the United States Armed Forces:

I- 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.

II- I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command I will never surrender those under my command while they still have the means to resist.

III- If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.

IV- If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information nor take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way.

V- When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.

VI- I will never forget that I am an American, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America. ^[1]

[edit] Service schools

[edit] Air Force

The primary Air Force SERE training location is Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington. SERE training for medical aircrew is held at Brooks City-Base, Texas. The Air Force also conducts arctic survival training at Eielson AFB, Alaska and parachute water survival training at NAS Pensacola, Florida.

SERE training was conducted at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs from the late 1960s until 1995, when it removed the resistance/escape portion and offered only the survival and evasion portions in a program called Combat Survival Training (CST). The Academy discontinued CST entirely in 2005, but has recently announced that it is reinstating the program, including some portions of resistance training, in the Summer of 2008.^[2]

[edit] Army

The two US Army SERE Schools are located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and Fort Rucker, Alabama.

The SERE School at Fort Bragg is run by the Army’s John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (USAJFKSWCS—which Col. Wendell Fertig helped to found), at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The program was begun in 1981 under the supervision of LTC James "Nick" Rowe, a Special Forces officer who suffered under North Vietnamese captors for 62 months before escaping and evading to freedom (Five Years to Freedom). SERE at USAJFKSWCS is a 19-day intense course of instruction that is also a Phase of the Special Forces Qualification Course (the "Q course") in order for Army Special Forces candidates to receive the coveted Special Forces Tab. The course is taught 25 miles southwest of Ft. Bragg, North Carolina at Camp Mackall.

The SERE School at Fort Rucker is located at the Army Aviation Warfare Center and serves the entire Army. The SERE course at Fort Rucker is designed mostly for student pilots and aircrew members. The course is 21 days long at Fort Rucker. It is one of several pre-requisites for student pilots to begin the Initial Entry Rotary Wing courses.

[edit] Navy/Marine Corps

The Navy and Marine Corps SERE level C training is held at NAS Brunswick, Maine and at Navy Remote Training Site, Warner Springs, administered by NAS North Island, both near San Diego, California. The Marine Corps also conducts SERE level B training at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center, Bridgeport CA, and at the North Training Area Camp Gonsalves, Okinawa, Japan.

[edit] Curriculum

The SERE training curriculum can be divided into three parts: "survival and evasion", "resistance and escape", and "water survival".

[edit] Survival and evasion

The majority of SERE focuses on survival and evasion. Skills taught include wilderness survival and woodcraft (encompassing a wide scope of natural climates), emergency first aid (a variant of battlefield first aid), land navigation, camouflage techniques, evasion techniques, communication protocols, and the construction of improvised tools. This list is not comprehensive, and some of the subject matter has been classified by the United States Government.

[edit] Resistance and Escape

The "Resistance and Escape" component of SERE survival in captivity and resistance to enemy exploitation. It is based on the experiences of former American and Allied POW's as they were treated at the hands of the enemy. The majority of this portion of the course is classified Secret by the United States government. However, several official sites exist to give a general overview of the curricula. The training is designed to allow the student to utilize their training in a realistic manner and then upon debriefing, discover their weaknesses and how to better utilize their trained skills. The SERE students are not taught how to apply coercive techniques or interrogate enemy prisoners of war, as most are aircrews and would not normally be involved with handling enemy POWs.

[edit] Water survival

The remaining portion of SERE is Water Survival, a separate Professional Military Education (PME) course lasting two days and typically attended after the main SERE course. During the water survival portion, students are taught skills to enhance their ability to survive in an aquatic environment. Academic subjects covered include emergency first aid (tailored to an aquatic environment), communication protocols, ocean ecology, and equipment maintenance. The course also requires students to become familiar with and display proficiency using aquatic survival gear.

[edit] Levels

SERE training is presented at four levels:

• Level A - Entry level training. All services personnel are provided this basic level training annually. This is the Code of Conduct mandatory classes all American Servicemen and women receive at the initial induction training (Recruit training and OCS)
• Level B - For personnel operating (or anticipated to operate) forward of the division rear boundary and up to the "forward line of own troops" (FLOT). Normally limited to flight personnel of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Level B focuses on Survival and Evasion, with Resistance in terms on inital capture.
  • However, due to news of British sailors breaking easily under captivity because of their lack of resistance training, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force now requires all Airmen to receive Level B SERE training.^{[citation needed]}
  • In 2008, The effectiveness of the Air Force training has become questionable. It consists of an online course with reading, videos, and quizzes and takes approximatley 3 to 4 hours to complete.^{[citation needed]}
• Level C - For troops at a high risk of capture and whose position, rank, or seniority make them vulnerable to greater than average exploitation efforts by a captor. Level C focuses on Resistance in terms on prison camps and military interogations.
• Level D - For aircrews, but it has recently been phased out and all SERE-D students will undergo SERE-C training. SERE-C is now specifically taught at Fairchild AFB for Aircrew members.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] 1995 U.S. Air Force Academy scandal

One of the U.S. Air Force's SERE training programs was conducted at the United States Air Force Academy from the late 1960s until 1995. Because a large number of pilots and other aircrew members graduated from the academy, it was more efficient for the Air Force to send all cadets through SERE training while they were still at the academy. Cadets would normally complete the training during the summer between their fourth-class (freshman) and third-class (sophomore) years. A number of selected second-class (junior) and first-class (senior) cadets would serve each year as SERE training cadre under the supervision of enlisted Air Force SERE instructors.

As a result of POWs' experiences during Operation Desert Storm, sexual assault resistance was added to the SERE curriculum. However, some of the training scenarios allegedly were taken too far by SERE cadet members at the academy during practical portions of the program. In 1995, the ABC television news program 20/20 reported that as many as 24 male and female cadets in 1993 had allegedly been sexually assaulted at the Academy during SERE training. One of the cadets sued the government, which eventually settled for a reported $3 million in damages.^[3]

As a result of the scandal, the SERE program at the Academy was reduced to the survival and evasion portions only, and called Combat Survival Training (CST). All graduates going on to aircrew positions were then required to attend the resistance portion of the training at Fairchild Air Force Base before reporting to an operational flying unit. The CST program was discontinued entirely in 2004. The Air Force Academy is currently preparing for the return of the SERE program in the summer of 2008. The curriculum of the revived program will contain some resistance elements, but will not contain sexual assault resistance.^[4]

[edit] Use of techniques in interrogation

In July 2005 an article in The New Yorker magazine alleged that psychologists who help direct the SERE curriculum have been advising the military at Guantanamo Bay and other sites on interrogation techniques.

The SERE program's chief psychologist, Col. Morgan Banks, issued guidance in early 2003 for the "behavioral science consultants" who helped to devise Guantánamo's interrogation strategy although he has emphatically denied that he had advocated the use of counter-resistance techniques used by SERE instructors to break down detainees. The New Yorker notes that in November, 2001 Banks was detailed to Afghanistan, where he spent four months at Bagram Air Base, "supporting combat operations against Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters".

In June 2006 an article on Salon.com, an online magazine, confirmed finding a document obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union through the Freedom of Information Act. A March 22, 2005, sworn statement by the former chief of the Interrogation Control Element at Guantánamo said SERE instructors taught their methods to interrogators of the prisoners in Cuba.^[5] The article also claims that physical and mental techniques used against some detainees at Abu Ghraib are similar to the ones SERE students are taught to resist.

According to Human Rights First, the interrogation that lead to the death of Iraqi Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush involved the use of techniques used in SERE training. According to the organization "Internal FBI memos and press reports have pointed to SERE training as the basis for some of the harshest techniques authorized for use on detainees by the Pentagon in 2002 and 2003." [1]

[edit] See also

• Enhanced interrogation techniques
• Waterboarding

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• US Army SERE training
• US Navy SERE training (Brunswick)
• US Navy SERE training (Coronado)
• US Air Force SERE training
• New Yorker magazine article about SERE
• Army Regulation for Code of Conduct/ SERE Training
• DOD directive regarding SERE training (DODI 1300.21) - broken
• DOD directive regarding isolated personnel training (DODI 1300.23) - broken
• A narrative of SERE Instructor School
• Youtube video - patty cake edition