[ARCHIVED THREAD] - SERE Training. (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 7/23/2007 2:01:28 PM EDT
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Is SERE training portrayed realistically in movies (GI Jane is the first that comes to mind, heh). I heard it's really rough.. but this comes from my friends cousin, whom I've never talked to. He is an Army Special Forces medic (I know this to actually be true). I have SERE training to look forward to, so I'm just a little curious. |
Fair enough. My friends cousin supposedly won't talk about it hardly at all. I guess he said it was one of the most unpleasant experiences he's ever been through, and hates thinking about it, and that's pretty much it. heh. |
You will learn a lot. You won't enjoy it. You will be glad you went. 
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| My SIL went thru it 4 or 5 years ago- Naval aviator. He said he lost track of the number of times he got struck in the face. Punched in the stomach every time he stood up. LOTS of mind games. He started hallucinating after 2 days from dehydration. Said he was determined to not break before going in. And he is an outstanding individual. They got him to sign something, then they changed a few words to show him what COULD happen. But, he said he wouldn't take anything for the experience. Said it was the BEST training he received. |
Then its Basic SERE. I recommend that people that want to give you input on this take it to IMs. Basic SERE isn't *that* sensitive - but posting details just isn't the best thing IMO. |
Ahhh, I just read the gist of what it was on Wikipedia and now I completely understand why. Man some of that sounds harsh. |
I'm sure that it's changed a lot since 1979, but I can tell you that you can be the toughest bastard in the squadron, but you're gonna break like a dry twig before it's over. (I wonder if they still waterboard students during this remarkable "training evoloution"?) |
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CNN Presents did a special on SERE training called, "Captured: Inside the Army's Secret School". You can purchase it here through iTunes for $1.99. ETA: I remember watching it when it aired and thinking it was pretty interesting. |
They had it in 87.... Now, who knows. I still remember my "number"... Went through in Dec of 87... I thought CA was warm, but where we went.. cold as hell. |
Cody, are you in the pipeline? Regardless, thank you for your service. |
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i duck hunt with a full time air guard blackhawk crew chief that has done stints all over the world, where english is not the chosen language. he went thru a number of years ago..i think WA state. his words.. "god i hope i never go thru that again".. he also said.. 'that rabbit head was the best rabbit head i have ever tasted" eeewwwwwwwwww |
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1. The Attention Grab: The interrogator forcefully grabs the shirt front of the prisoner and shakes him. 2. Attention Slap: An open-handed slap aimed at causing pain and triggering fear. 3. The Belly Slap: A hard open-handed slap to the stomach. The aim is to cause pain, but not internal injury. Doctors consulted advised against using a punch, which could cause lasting internal damage. 4. Long Time Standing: This technique is described as among the most effective. Prisoners are forced to stand, handcuffed and with their feet shackled to an eye bolt in the floor for more than 40 hours. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation are effective in yielding confessions. 5. The Cold Cell: The prisoner is left to stand naked in a cell kept near 50 degrees. Throughout the time in the cell the prisoner is doused with cold water. 6. Water Boarding: The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt. There you go. |
You may want to consider the use of quotation marks on pieces written by others. That way people will know whether its a cited piece or something you wrote. |
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It sounds pretty tough but I think if you've been around the block a few times, you can handle it. I'd like to add that kind of training to my considerable skill set. I have a lot of pretty intense shit in my background. Here is how I summed up my skills (this is just scratching the surface, I assure you) to one tactical trainer before recently so he'd waive the pre-reqs on a class (and nobody call me a liar 'cause I've done all of this shit)... "Oh, and you'll know I'm good to go on that contractor's class cause I'm going to send you a video showing me doing push ups, arm-wrestling my sister (I've only lost to her once out of like at least 3 encounters), playing quake 3 really well, showing you that I have a pony tail that is extremely similar to Steven Seagal's and crushing empty coke cans-WITH MY BARE HANDS. Plus I'm like a level 13 dungeon master at D&D. Some of those guys may have seen some scary stuff over in war zones but you don't know pressure 'til that 32 sided die is rolling right at you with every kind of ogre and ork bearing down on you and you're armed with nothing more than fairy dust and a unicorn horn. Oh, and there's also a video floating around down here some place showing my neighbor's great dane donkey kicking me in the nuts-I DIDN'T FLINCH." |
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Both Dad (former Air Commando) and Junior (Marine Recon) went through SERE school. It wasn't called SERE school when Dad went through it in the late 50s. I remember him talking about it as a kid with other former Air Commandos and Combat Controllers that he hung out and worked with. Back then the instructors could beat the crap out of you if they wanted to. They could stick you in a cage if they wanted to. And they did. He was a Colorado mountain boy who was used to being in the backwoods, so it took a long time for them to capture him initially -- several nights of sleeping wrapped up in a parachute in the Sierra Nevadas. He was doing okay until the captured and beat the crap out of him. He escaped a couple nights later and they found him outside of Reno eating chicken. Junior went through it after Recon Qualification and Jump School. He was paired with an Air Force lieutenant who gave up within hours and also turned over Junior. To say the least, they had 'difficulties' throughout the course -- it even came to blows after the officer took Junior's jacket off a wire that was in a shed or bard of some sort near a fire to dry his own jacket. At 150 pounds soaking wet and 5'-5", Junior still beat the tar out of the officer and then challenged the rest to remove his jacket again. No one did and, more intrestingly, none of the other officers reported the incident. They caught, killed, skinned, gutted and ate a rabbit. Junior ate the eyes in front of everyone else. He said that the psychological side of SERE was not as difficult as he expected, but was pretty tough on some of the USAF officers who, in his words, hadn't yet experienced hardship. The worse was treatment of women (yes, there were a few), but even that was not as tough as some logging or fishing town bars that I've seen on a Saturday night. I was able to listen to Dad and Junior talk one night while they were at the kitchen table and I was in the living room. The stories were enlightening to say the least. The training, in Dad's words, has been made more 'tolerant' and acceptable for the PC and 'time out' crowd that many are not prepared for what life will be like if they are ever captured. Even during the bad old days of Vietnam, the treatment by the enemy could not really prepare a captured pilot, aircrew, soldier or Marine for what they were to endure for so long. The bad guys seldom care how the American public feels about torture. |
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I haven't seen, nor do I intend to see, GI Jane, but SERE school was probably the best, most useful (if one had occasion to use it), and realistic training events that I have been through. Admittedly, things would be much worse being an actual POW, but the school sure put folks in that mindset. 3 years after undergoing that training the PR that my detachment took to sea was one of the SERE instructors that trained me. He could creep me out by just speaking with the accent the instructors used. |
SERE has been filmed for television news (CNN Presents, 10 August 2002). See a synopsis of "Captured: Inside the Army's Secret School" here about 2/3rds of the way down the page. CNN used to sell copies of the show. It gives you a good feel for it. |
Available for $1.99 via iTunes: video.aol.com/video-detail/id/3712513518 |
That. x1000 I went to a different one in Germany. It was at the ILLRP school in Weingarten Germany and was run by SF, SAS and a bunch of other HSLD types. Their version I went to was called . "Winter Survival With Resistance To Interrogation" (yes its as bad as the title conveys) MAJOR SUCKAGE. Glad I went though. Would NEVER do it again though. EVER. |