Most of what we write here at SOFREP deals with the training side of the house and what you’ll need to do to pass the Selection and Assessment courses. But today, we’ll leap ahead to the second phase of the Special Forces Qualification Course or SFQC for Special Forces students and talk about SERE training.
The Evolution of SERE Training in the SFQC
Since the Army revamped the training and made SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) a part of the SFQC about a decade ago, every prospective SF soldier goes through it before their patrolling phase (Phase III). It makes more sense; in the old days, candidates would go through a survival portion of the training, and then, after graduation, selected members would get tasked to attend SERE. Now, everyone does, and it allows training for the entire force.
The only drawback is that the survival portion of SFQC was very good training that candidates did on their own. They had a lot of tasks to complete while isolated in a survival situation. Now, the survival training is done in groups. But perhaps the school didn’t think it was as important as in the past.
Times change…
Dispelling Common Myths about SERE Training
Breaking the Myths of What SERE Is and Isn’t: SERE School is a training program that teaches military members, Department of Defense (DoD) civilians, and military contractors survival skills, training in evading capture, and the military’s Code of Conduct.
The JFLSWC’s SERE course focuses its training on:
- Code of conduct applications in wartime, peacetime, governmental, and/or hostage detention environments
- General survival skills
- Evasion planning
- Resistance to exploitation & political indoctrination
- Escape planning
Before we begin, let’s get some BS out of the way. Like everyone else, we read what is out there on social media. And the myths that are perpetrated about SERE rival those of Selection. You’ve seen all of these myths, and some of your candidates have probably already repeated them without realizing they are false.
Myth #1, the Cadre are allowed to break one bone in your body
Really? I would use more colorful language, but suffice it to say that this is a total horse dump. I’ve even seen the “It may just be a small one like a pinky.”…. Jeez. No one is breaking bones out there, folks. We don’t do it to detainees in Gitmo; we’re not going to purposely break the bones of future special operations troops.
Myth #2 SERE is a “Torture” School designed to break you
Wrong again. It isn’t a torture school at all. It is tough; it will push you in ways you probably haven’t been pushed before, and it isn’t fun. SERE attrition rates always fluctuate; they can be as low as 7%, which is the best record yet. And it can get as bad as 90%. Yep, there are accounts where barely anyone passed or stayed.
If you fail the course, your branch will usually help you improve and retake the course. This is because military branches are committed to raising SERE graduation rates, as those who pass become an important component of our Armed Forces.
When all is said and done, SERE is one of those courses that no one wants to go to but looks back upon as a great learning experience. Treat it as such and learn from it. That is what it is designed to do.
Myth #3 Troops come out of SERE with PTSD and Psychosis
This one has to be my favorite. Most of the great unwashed who repeat this use the 24-hour rule after SERE is over to justify this myth. It is akin to saying 1+1 = 6. After SERE is complete, students are given a 24-hour break to decompress before the outbriefs are given. This is because, in the final week or more, the candidates get very little sleep, and they are generally hungry as hell. The outbriefings are important teaching points, and the students must retain them.
If you get PTSD from SERE school, perhaps you need to rethink a career in special operations and take up something other than combat arms as a primary MOS. My officer class was released after the course, and we met that night en masse at Chi Chi’s in Fayetteville. The staff at the restaurant was alarmed, not by our psychotic behavior but by how much Mexican food was put away as we tied on a serious feed bag that night. Too many margaritas? Yes. PTSD? No.
The Structure of SERE Training: Levels A, B, and C
Sere training is broken down into three levels. As the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (JFKSWC) puts out in a letter of instruction to students:
Level A
Level A is initial-entry-level training that all soldiers, enlisted, and officers receive upon entering the service. It provides a minimum level of understanding of the Code of Conduct.
Level B
Level B is designed for personnel whose “jobs, specialties or assignments entail moderate risk of capture and exploitation.” DoD 1300.21 lists as examples, “members of ground combat units, security forces for high threat targets and anyone in the immediate vicinity of the forward edge of the battle area or the forward line of troops.” Current combat operations have shown that practically everyone deployed in theater falls under this category. Consequently, demand for Level B training has proliferated exponentially, and it has become mandatory for most deploying forces.
Level B is conducted at the unit level through the use of training-support packets containing a series of standardized lesson plans and videos.
Level C
Known as the hardest SERE Level, level C is designed for personnel whose “jobs, specialties or assignments entail a significant or high risk of capture and exploitation.”
AR 350-30 supports DoD 1300.21’s mandate: “As a minimum, the following categories of personnel shall receive formal Level-C training at least once in their careers: combat aircrews, special operations forces (e.g., Navy special warfare combat swimmers and special boat units, Army Special Forces and Rangers, Marine Corps Special Operations and force reconnaissance units, Air Force special tactics teams, and psychological operations units) and military attaché.”
The SERE Level-C training facility at Camp Mackall is one of only five facilities within the DoD that is authorized to conduct Level-C training. The Air Force conducts training at Fairchild AFB, Wash., and the Navy has facilities in Brunswick, Maine, and at North Island, Calif. The Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker, Ala., has another Level-C facility for Army aviators.
The Historical Context and Evolution of SERE
SERE was developed by LTC Nick Rowe because, during his five years in captivity as a Prisoner of War (POW) of the Viet Cong, he saw difficulties in how the troops were being trained. It used to be “The Big Three” (Name, Rank, and Serial Number) and nothing more.
But while a captive, Rowe saw that he had to change that outlook and approach things differently, or else he’d suffer the fate of CPT Rocky Versace, who fought the Viet Cong at every turn and so incensed his captors, who he was executed by the VC. And with minor tweaks, the course has remained largely how he envisioned it.
The Phases of SERE Training: Academics, Field, and Resistance
The SERE course spans three weeks and has three phases of instruction.
1st Phase
The first phase consists of approximately 10 days of academic instruction on the Code of Conduct and SERE techniques that incorporate classroom learning and hands-on field craft. One of the highlights of the course is that the cadre brings in former POWs to talk to the students about what to expect and how they coped with being a captive.
Our class had Dan Pitzer, who was a POW with Col. Rowe in Vietnam. Suffice it to say, you could have heard a pin drop during his presentation.
2nd Phase
The second phase is a five-day field training exercise in which the students practice their survival and evasion skills by procuring food and water, constructing small evasion fires and shelters, and evading tracker dogs and aggressor forces for long distances. This was by far the best part of the course.
Trying to defeat the tracking dogs is not easy. And to dispel another myth, tracking dogs don’t bay while on your scent. You won’t hear a peep from them until they can see you. Hollywood perpetuated this one as a means of building suspense in film.
It isn’t very suspenseful when the escaped cons from the prison farm stop and hear silence. Once you hear the dogs baying, it is too late. One morning, we made it to our hide site, camouflaged it, and I was already sacked out asleep when I was awakened by a basset hound licking my face.
Final Phase
The final phase takes place in the resistance training laboratory, a mock prisoner-of-war camp, where students are tested on their individual and collective abilities to resist interrogation and exploitation and to properly apply the six articles of the Code of Conduct in a realistic captivity scenario. That’s as far as we’ll go in that phase, as the schoolhouse has some strict rules on that.
But by now, many prospective special operations troops will have read the horror stories of SERE and psyche themselves out before ever touching foot in the place. Don’t pay attention to that, to quote my man, Bill, “ignore the noise.”
The course finishes with a day of debriefings, during which the students receive individual and group feedback from the cadre. These critiques help students process everything they have been through, solidify the skills they applied properly, and correct areas using constructive criticism.
Conclusion: The Lasting Impact of SERE Training
SERE is an excellent course that each of the services has tailored to meet the needs of their particular mission. However, the core elements for each service remain the same for each course. It is a great learning experience and prepares you as best the services can what a survival situation may entail in the real world.
“Boots, boots… There’s no discharge in the war…” This will eventually make sense to you; for SERE grads, no explanation is necessary.
This article has been reviewed and updated by the SOFREP News Team.
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