SERE

///AMG

///AMG

Well-Known Member
graduated today.....quite the experience. Wouldn't want to ever do it again, but probably some of the best training I have ever had.
 
///AMG said:
graduated today.....quite the experience. Wouldn't want to ever do it again, but probably some of the best training I have ever had.
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you will rely on the things you learned about yourself over the last week for the rest of your life...congrats!:beer:
 
Aye, congrats.

I once went through a locally produced unit level SERE-B course.

You SERE-C graduates have my undying respect. I don't have the stomach for that kind of experience.

Hats off and glasses raised to you, sir. :beer:
 
You might feel a little messed up for a few weeks, but you'll eventually get back to normal. Congrats!
 
A good school, but not a "fun" school. Went through the one at Camp McKall in the middle of the winter. Dropped off on a Wednesday for the survival portion and we found nothing to eat. It was below zero every night. Got my first "meal" in the prison camp on Monday. A handful of rice and a minnow.
 
Blackhawk said:
A good school, but not a "fun" school. Went through the one at Camp McKall in the middle of the winter. Dropped off on a Wednesday for the survival portion and we found nothing to eat. It was below zero every night. Got my first "meal" in the prison camp on Monday. A handful of rice and a minnow.
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Agreed. It was probably some of the worst days of my life. Even the most optimistic guys looked like walking ghosts by the end. I hadn't eaten or slept in 6 days when I got home. Closest thing you can get to actually being a POW without sustaining permanent injury.......incredible training. I've never been beaten or tortured like that before to say the least.
 
///AMG said:
Agreed. It was probably some of the worst days of my life. Even the most optimistic guys looked like walking ghosts by the end. I hadn't eaten or slept in 6 days when I got home. Closest thing you can get to actually being a POW without sustaining permanent injury.......incredible training. I've never been beaten or tortured like that before to say the least.
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I did mine at Warner Springs, California (up in the high dessert of SoCal) and I've never been so cold in my life. I didn't sleep for 6 days...

We did the evasion part and I evaded for the entire time. When they set off the siren for everyone to come in to the camp, I was one of the first ones they grabbed. The "facilitators" were pissed at me because I had "evaded" for the entire time so I was singled out. I was grabbed by my shirt and rammed into a corrugated metal wall over and over... (I had bruises on my chest from this) and then I was water-boarded. Anyone who says water-boarding isn't torture doesn't know what they're talking about!

When I got into the "camp" I was put into a small box in the foetal position - I was so happy to be warm that I promptly fell asleep... not the response they were looking for so they put me in my "cell" and left me alone for awhile...

It was a great experience; it taught you what you could withstand...

Kevin
 
SERE training is very useful when you get called in by OSI (NCIS, I suppose, for our Anal Naviator brethren) to be questioned.
 
Best resistance technique I ever saw or heard of was a Ranger who was able to fake a severe stutter. The guards were completely fooled by it. At one point they had him doing the "Work more harder, work more quicklier" announcement... but he butchered it so bad we were all laughing so they got someone else to do it. After we graduated one of them came up and asked him how he was able to get into the Rangers with such a bad stutter. He responded, "What stutter?"
 
///AMG said:
Even the most optimistic guys looked like walking ghosts by the end.
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Without fail, every bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, super-motivated "I love the Air Force" dude I know has come out of SERE with the gleam gone from their eyes. Every single one. It's a huge eye opener for those types.
 
staplegun said:
I was grabbed by my shirt and rammed into a corrugated metal wall over and over... (I had bruises on my chest from this) and then I was water-boarded. Anyone who says water-boarding isn't torture doesn't know what they're talking about!

When I got into the "camp" I was put into a small box in the foetal position - I was so happy to be warm that I promptly fell asleep... not the response they were looking for so they put me in my "cell" and left me alone for awhile...
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With all due respect, the prison camp portion of SERE is classified for a reason. You shouldn't be posting this stuff on the internet.
 
Blackhawk said:
Best resistance technique I ever saw or heard of was a Ranger who was able to fake a severe stutter. The guards were completely fooled by it. At one point they had him doing the "Work more harder, work more quicklier" announcement... but he butchered it so bad we were all laughing so they got someone else to do it. After we graduated one of them came up and asked him how he was able to get into the Rangers with such a bad stutter. He responded, "What stutter?"
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Kind of reminds me of that guy (name escapes me at the moment) who faked retardation in the Hanoi Hilton, and proceeded to memorize the names of every prisoner in the camp. Was subsequently released out of mercy and when he came home and debriefed, allowed a lot of guys to get taken off the KIA/MIA lists.

@ staple, I went to sunny warner springs as well. Highs in the 80s, lows in the low 30's......never had a moment at night when I wasn't shivering my balls off. You pretty quickly get over any aversion you have to spooning another man in those conditions.

@ Miked, kind of like Club USA in Guam? I remember hearing a story about a Hornet driver who was hog tied up on stage where the strippers proceeded to beat and gouge out his torso with their nails. Came home shortly thereafter and had a pretty hard time explaining the scars to his wife :)

@ Hacker, good call, I think I remember you saying that you had some personal experience with them

I lost just over 10 lbs (which I think mike can attest that I didn't have to lose) in 6 days, so I guess it is a good weight loss program ;)
 
staplegun said:
I did mine at Warner Springs, California (up in the high dessert of SoCal) and I've never been so cold in my life. I didn't sleep for 6 days...

We did the evasion part and I evaded for the entire time. When they set off the siren for everyone to come in to the camp, I was one of the first ones they grabbed. The "facilitators" were pissed at me because I had "evaded" for the entire time so I was singled out. I was grabbed by my shirt and rammed into a corrugated metal wall over and over... (I had bruises on my chest from this) and then I was water-boarded. Anyone who says water-boarding isn't torture doesn't know what they're talking about!

When I got into the "camp" I was put into a small box in the foetal position - I was so happy to be warm that I promptly fell asleep... not the response they were looking for so they put me in my "cell" and left me alone for awhile...

It was a great experience; it taught you what you could withstand...

Kevin
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I've heard horror stories from the Warner Springs camp (I live 5 miles from it, and knew a lot of instructors there). Nothing I would ever really want to go through.
 
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