SERE school (Survival, Escape, Resistance, Evasion)

[Flash]

Same deal with dive school, and jump school.

I thought everyone went to Army jump school.

 

[insanebikerboy]

I thought everyone went to Army jump school.

Everyone but Clux.

 

[Slammer2]

26 posts on a thread with SERE in the title and still not locked up. Maybe we're all learning how to STFU?

Thats change we can believe in.

 

[phrogpilot73]

26 posts on a thread with SERE in the title and still not locked up. Maybe we're all learning how to STFU?

Thats change we can believe in.

Or, the topic hasn't moved into sea stories about SERE. That's when they get locked!

 

[xj220]

Just completed it and it's definitely better if people coming in are not gouged up on it. It's a much better experience going in blind and you certainly get a lot more out of it. Great school though, once you're done at least.

 

[Zissou]

I learned alot at SERE. I think it's underestimated and over anticipated.

The course has an excellent safety record and is near impossible to fail. Double win right there, two weeks of very little scrutiny and very low risk training.

The field phase is Navy friendly and it has to be. I kept busy showing my Nav buddy tricks for reading terrain and he told me cool flying stories. We had a blast.

Avoid your inclination to get gouge on the school. Its out there if you want it. There will be students who are eager to share all the stories they have heard and students eager to hear them all. I think those guys had the least pleasant time and got the least value out of the course. I think some of them started whining before we got off the bus, they were the worst part of the whole trip.

 

[xj220]

Another thing, the instructors know the gouge is out there and they are VERY effective at countering it so even if you hear several different things, chances are it won't happen.

 

[Herc_Dude]

Zissou, it was great to spend some time with your type. I can't think of many times where I would get to sit around and chat it up with SEALs. Where else can SEALs, pilots/FOs, aircrew, recon Marines and a few other random types "take the rank off" (for the most part) and work together for a few weeks of valuable realistic training? Now I would never want to do it again but I'm very happy I had the opportunity.

 

[insanebikerboy]

Zissou, it was great to spend some time with your type. I can't think of many times where I would get to sit around and chat it up with SEALs. Where else can SEALs, pilots/FOs, aircrew, recon Marines and a few other random types "take the rank off" (for the most part) and work together for a few weeks of valuable realistic training? Now I would never want to do it again but I'm very happy I had the opportunity.

Yeah, I agree with that. My class was about 3/4 BUDS grads, a few SEALS, and the rest air crew. Just being able to shoot the shit with those guys was pretty cool, as it's such a completely different world than I had or probably will ever experience in the Nav.

 

[Uncle Fester]

I don't know if we should hold up the bus for everyone, but it does need to be a bigger priority. In my peer group of 8 or 10 guys at my first squadron, only 2 of us went. That's crap, especially when Navy pilots on certain platforms that have effectively 0% change of falling into enemy hands had 100% completion rates.

Well, it used to be that those low-risk-of-capture guys didn't go. For example, EP-3 crew.

After that policy got changed, there were a bunch of O-4's and O-5's from the various flavors of VQ going through. Bad time to be the SRO.

I gotta think that if the Corps decided to make it a priority, they'd find the money somewhere. SERE is psychological, not physical, hardening.

 

[Flash]

Well, it used to be that those low-risk-of-capture guys didn't go. For example, EP-3 crew.

After that policy got changed, there were a bunch of O-4's and O-5's from the various flavors of VQ going through. Bad time to be the SRO.

I am surprised, when I was in VQ everyone I knew had gone through SERE, the higher-ups included.

And it was acknowledged that we were at a higher risk since we flew right off 'Indian' territory all of the time. We even went through some extra 'SERE' training on top of what everyone else did. That was hit and miss before PR-32 landed on Hainan but I think it became mandatory afterwards.

 

[Mumbles]

Zissou, it was great to spend some time with your type. I can't think of many times where I would get to sit around and chat it up with SEALs. Where else can SEALs, pilots/FOs, aircrew, recon Marines and a few other random types "take the rank off" (for the most part) and work together for a few weeks of valuable realistic training? Now I would never want to do it again but I'm very happy I had the opportunity.

No doubt....that was the best part of it for me as well as a brand new LTJG getting to hang out with SEALs and Recon Marines.

 

[bubblehead]

Same deal with dive school, and jump school.

Yup... I had some Marines in my dive school class from 4th Recon... cool guys...

 

[xj220]

Zissou, it was great to spend some time with your type. I can't think of many times where I would get to sit around and chat it up with SEALs. Where else can SEALs, pilots/FOs, aircrew, recon Marines and a few other random types "take the rank off" (for the most part) and work together for a few weeks of valuable realistic training? Now I would never want to do it again but I'm very happy I had the opportunity.

Couldn't have said it better. It was great to work with enlisted personnel in general since coming out of flight school I hadn't even talked to one yet.

 

[phrogpilot73]

My partner-in-crime was a young Airman SAR swimmer. Before being captured, I had to drop a major deuce. After I was done squatting in front of him, I tried to rip off some of my T-shirt to wipe. That didn't work so well (it kept ripping in tiny strips) so I poured water from my canteen on my hand, and wiped that way. He just shook his head and said "Marines..." I'm sure in the back of his mind he was shocked that I was an O...