Photo Information

Staff Sergeant Chad Braunschweig, SERE Specialist with the 908th Operations Group, assisted by fellow specialists and civilian contractors, recently conducted combat survival training for members of the 908th Airlift Wing. Above, Chief MSgt. Patrick Weir practices hand-to-hand combat moves with the assist of TSgt. Christopher Hines. (Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jay Ponder)

Photo by Tech. Sgt. Jay Ponder

Wingmen get escape, evasion experience

10 Feb 2011 | Tech. Sgt. Jay Ponder

Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape, (SERE) instruction concentrates on the principles, techniques and skills necessary to survive in any environment and return with honor. Given the nature of their special occupations, refresher training in these techniques is crucial for aircrew and air evacuation personnel. Luckily, experts whose mission is to help ensure Airmen come back "with honor" are available to share their expertise.

Staff Sergeant Chad Braunschweig, SERE Specialist with the 908th Operations Group, assisted by fellow specialists Staff Sgts. Bryan Smith and Joseph Whitfield of the 22nd TRS and civilian contractors and military veterans Derek 'Coach' Whaley and Daniel Medlock, recently conducted combat survival training for members of the 908th Airlift Wing. The SERE team guided the Reservists through a classroom lecture, hand-to-hand combat exercises and a night escape and evasion course.

"Only a few bases besides Fairchild AFB Wash. have the capability to conduct this (urban evasion) training, so being able to take advantage of it here is really important to our warfighters," he said.

"I think Airmen have an awesome opportunity here because of the SERE members who enjoy coming out and helping these guys get some good exposure to real-world situations," said Sergeant Smith.

The training, required every three years and designed to ensure Airmen are updated on current recovery techniques conditions in the operational environment, focused on a new type of jungle, the urban jungle.

"It has been five or more years since most of this class's attendees have attended the SERE school," explained Sergeant Braunschweig. "It's important to introduce these folks to an alien environment because they already have the skills. We want to bring this training to the forefront of their memories so it is always fresh. Evading in an urban environment has just recently been implemented, so it is most likely that most of the Airmen in this refresher course have never evaded in an urban environment.

"We are always trying to make this training the most applicable training we possibly can. They need all the skills we teach, but evading in an urban environment is probably the most likely evasion skill Airmen will need in the future."

Beginning the day with a two-hour classroom lecture on escape tactics, Sergeant Braunschweig taught the Airmen the importance to think before taking action in a hostile environment, as well as techniques in camouflage construction and hole-up sites. The group then moved to the gym to renew skills in hand-to-hand combat and disarming an assailant of a weapon during an escape.

During drills, each member took a turn facing an assailant, practicing several techniques which could be used, like the "Hammer Fist," to ward off an attacker.

After a brief dinner break, the class convened just before sunset to put the day's training to the test in the night escape and evasion course. As the sun and with it, the temperature, began to drop, instructors sent small groups into Maxwell's realistic mockup of an urban area, where aircrew members began using their renewed evasion skills.

Some skills learned while in the evasion portion were how to break into a vehicle without being noticed, evading through weak spots in fence rows and using solid objects to blend in while evading bad guys.

"I can just about guarantee these guys are feeling some tension, feeling some emotions about now," Sergeant Braunschweig said as he watched his students making their way through the course. "This will help make effective evaders should they ever have to do it in the real world."
When it was all over, everyone gathered to discuss what they had just been through. Wing members were impressed with the training they had received.

"The escape and evasion lab is very realistic, especially when all the sights, sounds and realistic characters are added to the scenario," said Chief Master Sergeant Patrick L. Weir, Superintendent of Nursing Services, 908th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. "This adds to the overall experience of the course. If in this type of situation, AES members might not only have themselves to take care of, we might have patients as well."

"The realism part is hard to mimic, but what the SERE members have done is as good as they can do locally," said Lt. Col. Stanley Jesionowski of the 357th Airlift Squadron. "The training benefited us in a major way because we deploy often. You can't place a price tag on that kind of training once you're in that type of environment."

Sergeant Braunschweig said one of the things he really loves about his job is that everything he teaches, everything he does, has been learned not from books, but from the experiences of guys who have been there, returned and shared their stories.

"The techniques we teach here are because of those who came back and said, 'I wished I had known this,'" he said. "This is also for your family so you can come back to them."