what is sere course

by Raquel Toy 7 min read

What happens during SERE training?

Jan 06, 2020 · SERE is an advanced Code-of-Conduct course. All military personnel receives initial Code-of-Conduct instruction during basic training. At this early training, they are taught an American service member’s moral and legal responsibilities if captured by enemy forces.

What is SERE training like in the US military?

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. General survival skills.

How do I become a sere instructor?

Dec 01, 2018 · Survival, Evasion Resistance and Escape (SERE) Course (PHASE II SFQC) (19 DAYS) ATRRS SCHOOL CODE 331. COURSE CODE: 3A-F38/12-F27. PURPOSE: To train selected personnel on Code of Conduct, Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape. This SERE Course is only for personnel holding an ARSOF MOS as per USAJFKSWC command policy.

What does SERE stand for?

Jul 22, 2019 · SERE is an excellent course that each of the services has tailored to meet the needs of their particular mission. But the core elements for …

What happens at SERE training?

The goal of SERE training is to prepare U.S. service members to survive, on the run from enemy forces and while evading capture, and to resist your captors should you find yourself a prisoner.Jan 10, 2022

How long is SERE training?

Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training (SERE) is conducted monthly and includes a 12-day course, 3 days of classroom learning of the basics of survival (how to identify and catch food, build tools, start fires and construct shelter), 5 days on a beach where the Marines survive on their own (with nothing but ...

What do you learn in SERE?

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.

What does SERE in military mean?

SURVIVAL, EVASION, RESISTANCE AND ESCAPESURVIVAL, EVASION, RESISTANCE AND ESCAPE (SERE) SPECIALIST.

Do you get tortured in SERE school?

The school, which all pilots and special-forces soldiers attend, unintentionally serves to legitimize the use of torture by U.S. personnel in the field. In at least one documented case, special-forces soldiers in Afghanistan modeled their interrogations on the SERE training they received.Jan 29, 2009

Do they break your fingers in SERE?

The bone breaking thing is for the 'intensified' special operations SERE. Its supervised by a medical doctor (although it may not be obvious to you) and it is typically a little finger on your off hand...Mar 27, 2004

Is SERE school hard?

SERE training is hard but not too hard and certainly not impossible. There are multiple reasons people don't make it through the training but most failures/eliminations are due to one of the following reasons: 1. Not physically prepared, many cannot meet the minimum requirement.Jul 12, 2013

Do they break your bones in SERE?

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.Jun 26, 2017

Can SERE school break bones?

No, they can't break your bones. There are some training techniques that might make some trainees feel, uh, uncomfortable, for sure. But, it's designed for military members to make it through the program with a certain base of knowledge or to gain a particular skill set…not to break or damage them.

What rank is a SERE specialist?

Most newly enlisted SERE specialists will start out at the rank of Airman Basic (E-1). If a new recruit has prior SERE applicable skills or training this may be bumped up to an Airman (E-2) or Airman First Class (E-3) rank.

Who can go to Army SERE school?

By regulation, SERE-C school at Fort Rucker is required for all officers who have branched Aviation, prior to attending flight school, unless they have already attended another level-C SERE school. The three week course provides a leadership foundation that leaders of all branches can benefit from.Nov 21, 2014

Do all Marines do SERE training?

SERE is an advanced Code-of-Conduct course. All military personnel receives initial Code-of-Conduct instruction during basic training. At this early training, they are taught an American service member's moral and legal responsibilities if captured by enemy forces.Jan 6, 2020

Learning To Return With Honor

Rod Powers was the U.S. Military expert for The Balance Careers and was a retired Air Force First Sergeant with 22 years of active duty service.

Navy Code of Conduct

But SERE training goes way beyond that. In fact, you will remember this Code of Conduct verbatim. Not only is it a training tool for new recruits, but it is a tool for you should you ever become captured:

About SERE Training

The instruction begins with a week of classroom work focusing on wilderness survival and the real-world applications of the code of conduct for a service member. It includes an extensive look into ways of surviving off the land, navigating by compass, and finding a safe location to hide and live.

What Else Students Learn

The students never forget the simulations and lessons that are taught, and the confidence gained may save a life in certain situations. The students will gain the technical knowledge, practical experience, and personal confidence necessary for worldwide survival and evasion.

What is SERE course?

SERE is an excellent course that each of the services has tailored to meet the needs of their particular mission. But 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.

How long is the Sere course?

The SERE course spans three weeks with three phases of instruction, with the first phase consisting of approximately 10 days of academic instruction on the Code of Conduct and in SERE techniques that incorporate both classroom learning and hands-on field craft.

What is SERE school?

Breaking the Myths of What SERE Is and Isn’t: SERE School is a training program to teach military members, Department of Defense 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:

Where is Level C training?

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.

What does SERE stand for?

SERE stands for S urvive E vade R esist E scape. Created by the USAF as an intense, top-secret military training program. Founded after the Korean War to train US servicemen in order to withstand enemy interrogation. Devised by tortured American POW’s who formed the Code of Conduct; a list of six ‘articles’.

What is the difference between level B and level C?

Mostly limited to aircrew of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. Level B focuses on survival and evasion, with resistance in terms of initial capture. C: For troops at a high risk of capture whose rank make them more vulnerable than average by any captor. Level C focuses on resistance in terms of prison camps.

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Overview

U.S. military SERE/Survival Schools and courses

The vast majority of SERE/Survival Schools mentioned in "History" above are still operating. There has also been growth in private sector SERE Schools and training (which are not relevant herein). However, there has been a significant change in military use of private sector SERE training that is relevant here. That change has produced one odd outcome - the military has found it difficult to keep their well-trained and highly experienced SERE instructors because of lucrative private sect…

History

The origins of SERE are rooted in the leadership of Britain's MI9 Evasion and Escape ("E&E") organization, formed at the onset of World War II (1939–1945). Led by World War I veteran Colonel (later Brigadier) Norman Crockatt, MI9 were formed to train air crew and Special Forcesin evading enemy troops following bail out, forced landings, or being cut off behind enemy lines. A training school was established in London, and officers and instructors from MI9 also began visiting ope…

Curriculum

SERE curriculum has evolved from being primarily focused on "outdoor survival training" to increasingly focus upon "evasion, resistance, and escape". Military survival training differs from typical civilian programs in several key areas:
1. The anticipated military survival situation almost always begins with exiting a vehicle—an aircraft or ship. Thus, the scenario begins with exit strategies, practices, and means (ejecting, pa…

"Erroneous Conflation of "SERE Techniques" with "Detainee" Interrogation/Torture"?

President George W. Bush's declaration (February 5, 2002) that the Geneva Convention(s) regarding POWs did not apply to the conflict with al-Qaida or the Taliban as those "detainees" were not entitled to POW status or those legal guarantees of humane treatment has led to serious problems for SERE training. The military Code of Conduct, based upon American adherence to the Generva Conventions related to treatment of prisoners of war, gave American soldiers some leg…

SERE abuses and scandals

1. USAFA "sex abuse" during resistance training: See 2003 United States Air Force Academy sexual assault scandal. The United States Air Force Academyhas had several sex/sex abuse scandals, some involving SERE. In 1993 a female cadet alleged that she was particularly selected as a participant in a simulated rape and exploitation scenario where, while hooded and other cadets stood by, she had to lie on the ground with her shirt removed and her legs pried apart. The subse…

See also

• Survival skills
• Prisoner of War
• Special Forces
• Special Operations
• Personnel recovery

Further reading

• "Department of Justice to Guantanamo Bay: From the Department of Justice to Guantanamo Bay : administration lawyers and administration interrogation rules : hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties of the Committee on the Judiciary, One Hundred Tenth Congress, second session", United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, U.S. Government Pr…