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Home > Training >
SERE
Army Special Forces SERE training is both a component of
the Special Forces Qualification Course and a stand-alone course. Although
the length changes over the course of time it is generally about 30 days
long. The training is held at Camp Mackall, North Carolina - not far
from Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Variety of SERE Courses. While the SERE
course that Special Forces Soldiers attend during the Special Forces
Qualification Course (SFQC) is at Camp Mackall, North Carolina, there are
many other types of SERE courses taught around the country by the
different military services. Descriptions of those courses can be
found in the following paragraphs on this page.
Camp Mackall.
Camp Mackall is one of the
Special Warfare School and Center's satellite training locations. Camp Mackall is home to a lot of the
Special Forces field training and much of the training that takes place in
the Special Forces Qualification Course. The facility, which occupies land in Hoke
and Moore counties, houses the Rowe Training Facility, FOB Freedom, the
SERE Complex and the Special Forces Preparatory Training Complex.
Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE)
There are different levels and types of SERE
training. Currently there are three levels of training. Level A is
introductory training and includes Code of Conduct classes. Level B
is focused on code of conduct, survival, evasion, and resistance but is
mostly academic in nature. There are different types of SERE B courses -
some online and others are a type of resident course.
The SERE Level C Course is usually the one
that everyone refers to when discussing training for special operators.
Level C is considered to be the hardest of the SERE courses and is quite
demanding. Special Forces candidates are required to attend the
Level C course as part of their training. The course teaches the student
how to evade capture, survival skills during evasion,
survival skills during
captivity, methods of resistance in captivity, and of methods of escape.
Other topics such as the military code of conduct are taught as well.
History of SERE Level C. The first SERE Level C
course was conducted at Camp Mackall, North Carolina in 1986. LTC Nick
Rowe, a Special Forces officer and former POW during the Vietnam War,
developed the first course. Special Forces Soldiers who were
qualified in SFQC prior to 1986 have not attended SERE although many
attended similar training in other venues. Many also attended SERE Level C
as a stand-alone course once it was established. In 1998 it became
mandatory that all Special Forces candidates attend SERE prior to
assignment to an SF group.
Program of Instruction for SERE Level C. The course incorporates
classroom training and field training on Code of Conduct Training, a field
training exercise where evasion and survival skills are practiced, and
surviving and resisting captivity in mock prisoner-of-war camp.
Peacetime Government Detention
and Hostage Detention (PGD/HD) Course
The Peacetime Government Detention and Hostage
Detention (PGD/HD) course is a five-day course. It is offered by the Army
and the Air Force as a stand-alone course or in conjunction with other
training. In August of 2005 the PDG/HD course was incorporated into the
SERE Level C course at Camp Mackall. Those SF Soldiers who did not
attend the SERE Level C course after August of 2005 are now "encouraged"
to attend one of the stand-alone PDG/HD courses offered by the Joint
Personnel Recovery Agency (JPRA), the Army or the other services. PDG/HD
provides the student with the skills to resist exploitation in a range of
operational environments that go beyond the context of a prisoner-of-war
camp during wartime. Although some refer to PDG/HD as a gentleman's
course - when compared to SERE Level C at Camp Mackall - it is noted that
the academic role-play laboratory can get interesting.
Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (JPRA)
The Joint Personnel Recovery Agency or JPRA has
oversight on Personnel Recovery and SERE courses. JPRA is located at
Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Many of the Personnel Recovery (PR) courses
are taught in Virginia while the SERE courses for the different military
services are taught at locations such as Fort Bragg, Fairchild Air Force
Base, Fort Rucker, and Rangley, Maine. PR courses are taught at the
Personnel Recovery Education and Training Center (PRETC) in Virginia
(learn more here). Some additional information about JPRA can be found at the links below.
JPRA. Joint Personnel Recovery Agency.
www.jpra.jfcom.mil/index.htm
Joint Personnel Recovery Agency. WikipediA.
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Personnel_Recovery_Agency
Joint Personnel Recovery Agency.
Fairchild Air Force Base Factsheet.
www.fairchild.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=3773
Web Sites with Info on the SERE Course
Survival Training. On the Special Forces Search
Engine web site. Although the information is somewhat dated the following link will
provide a glimpse of the SERE training Special Forces students go through.
www.training.sfahq.com/survival_training.htm
Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape.
Wikipedia.org provides information on what SERE is and some historical
info as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival,_Evasion,_Resistance_and_Escape
Camp MacKall. The SERE Level C
course is taught at Camp Mackall, North Carolina.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Mackall
SF SERE School. Inside Special Forces.
www.enlistspecialforces.wordpress.com/sf-training-pipeline/sf-sere-school
MIAD: Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape
Course. West Point.
www.usma.edu/uscc/ldb/xSERE-Cx.htm
SF SERE School. California Army National Guard.
Videos about SERE School and Survival Training
"Kibler - SERE Instructor", Defense.gov DVIDS,
November 2, 2018. An instructor at the U.S. Army SERE school at Fort Bragg
talks about his job. (2 mins).
www.dvidshub.net/video/637047/kibler-sere-instructor
"American Hero: LTC Nich Rowe on the R of SERE".
YouTube.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb_gCip6Nks
Air Force Video on SERE Training. YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-6YkLRAgC8
US Marines SERE
US Marines SERE. U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special
Operations Command.
www.marines.mil/unit/marsoc/MSOS/Pages/SERE.aspx
US Air Force SERE
goSERE.com. Informational website about the
US Air Force SERE Specialist career field (1T0X1).
www.gosere.com
Fact Sheet. U.S. Air Force Survival School,
Fairchild Air Force Base.
www.fairchild.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=3771
Miscellaneous Info on SERE
COL Nick Rowe. The SERE committee was founded
at Fort Bragg, North
Carolina by Nick Rowe. He was a POW for five years during the Vietnam War
and used much of that experience in the development of the course.
He wrote an autobiography based on his POW experience entitled
Five Years to Freedom .
For a short time he left military service and lived in Connecticut.
He later re-entered the Army and was asked to stand up the SERE course.
He was assassinated by a Philippine terrorist group in 1989 while he was
serving in the embassy in Manila. The link that follows has a short
biography on Nick Rowe provided by Psywarrior.com.
www.psywarrior.com/rowe.html
SERE Forum. on NationalGuard.com.
www.nationalguard.com/forums/showthread.php/20470-S.e.r.e.
"SERE: Doing More and Giving Back", Special
Warfare Magazine, Volume 29, Issue 2, July - December 2016, pages
24-29.
www.soc.mil/swcs/SWmag/archive/SW2902/JUL-Dec_2016.pdf
SERE References
Army Regulation 350-30. Code of Conduct,
Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) Training.
Department of Defense Directive 1300.7.
Training and Education to Support the Code of Conduct.
Department of Defense Instruction 1300.21.
Code of Conduct Training and Education.
News and Magazine Articles about the SERE Course
February 29, 2016.
"Green Beret high-risk survival, escape, resist, evade: Surviving as
prisoner of war", by George E. Hand IV, SOFREP.
December 25, 2014.
"What It's Like at the Training Camp Where US Troops Learn to Survive if
They Are Captured". Business Insider. A long article about
the Navy's SERE school in Maine.
March 9, 2012.
"Fayetteville exhibit shows 'uncomfortable' side of Vietnam War". News
Observer.
February 8, 2012.
"SERE School: myths vs. reality". SOFREP.
November 10, 2011.
"A Bit of a Challenge". Seymour Johnson AFB.
November 9, 2011.
"L-3 MPRI
wins contract to support SERE". GSN.
October 11, 2011.
"Interagency Exercise Hones Rescue Operations". American Forces
Press Service.
October 9, 2011.
"4-yr Army SERE Contract to L-3 for 2011-2015". Defense Industry
Daily.
April 22, 2009.
"Military helped with CIA interrogation tactics, report says".
Los Angeles Times.
January 29, 2009.
"Cancel Water-Boarding 101". Slate.com.
December 5, 2008.
"Kansas
couple teaches Soldiers how to live off the land". Army.mil.
September 1, 2008.
"Reality show displays grit, gore of SERE school". Air Force
Times.
February 23, 2008.
"A Narrative
of JFK Special Warfare Center SERE Instructor School". The Real
Revo.
2008.
SERE in Transition. Special Operations Technology Magazine.
November 5, 2007.
"Waterboarding: A SERE-ing Experience for Tens of Thousands of US Military
Personnel". Human Events.
May 10, 2006.
"Personnel Recovery Agency Works to Bring All Americans Home Alive".
American Forces Press Service.
December 1, 2005.
"US Military Runs Torture Training Facility". Blackfive.net.
November 2004.
"Pentagon
Seeks Joint Doctrine, Training for Personnel Recovery". National
Defense NDIA.
February 2004.
"Helping with post-conflict readjustment". American
Psychological Association.
March 31, 2003.
The Ultimate Survivor. FastCompany.com.
May 2001.
"Technology Hurdles Hamper Search-and-Rescue Missions". National
Defense NDIA.
Summer 2000. "SERE: Training Soldiers to
Survive". Special Warfare Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 3. (Adobe
Acrobat pdf file located
here).
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