Don't really want to hijack the thread, but I have gotten more than one inquiry about my post. All branches of the military have Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) training. The government is pretty sensitive about people giving out a lot of details about the training. There are different levels of training, depending upon the risk of the 'combatant', should he or she be captured. My training was about 40 years ago, when I was attending the USAF Academy. The Academy was unique, because it had its own SERE program. Actually a part of this training was classified by the USAF as "Secret." Since many graduates become pilots, it was extensive. Keep in mind that this was during the Viet Nam war era, and very realistic. Pilots are privy to a lot of military intelligence, and are prime targets for capture by any enemy. The Air Force took this training of the cadets very seriously.
The survival and evasion training took part in the national forest, in the Pikes Peak area. The 'aggressors' were trained as SERE instructors, and acted as any enemy would in a war. They traveled on foot, and others used jeeps and trucks on forest service roads trying to locate us. I remember the area was very remote, and I did not see a single civilian during the week I described in my earlier post.
Before this training we had completed Resistance and Escape training to include a simulated POW camp. That training was unpleasant to say the least, and all of us were truly afraid of capture. Many of us had sustained minor injuries during the prior training modules, and capture meant more of the same. The simulated enemy knew the territory, there were lots of them, and they wanted/needed to capture as many of us as possible. Given the time frame, we were well versed in Geneva Convention standards, and we were appropriatedly trained to the real fact that the enemy might not honor any of them. Thus, our realistic desire to avoid capture.
The training we went through left a lasting impression on most of us. Last year I attended our 35th class reunion, and we drank many beers over our SERE rememberances and stories.
During the late 60's and early 70's the USAFA SERE program had the reputation of being as difficult as any program in the military.
In later years, due to a "harassment" lawsuit which the government lost, the USAFA SERE program was watered-down to CST (classroom training) and eventually discontinued at the Academy. Graduates who required SERE training went to the training at Fairchild AFB in Washington state. If you do a Web search for USAFA SERE, you can find more information.
