Is SERE mandatory?

When Wills was a young F-15E backseater in the 1990s, the SERE program for combat aircrews lasted 14 days. It has gradually grown longer and is now required for aircrews in all platforms, meaning everybody from a B-2 bomber pilot to a flight attendant on a VIP aircraft.

Do they break fingers in SERE?

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.

Can 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.

Do fighter pilots go to SERE school?

Studying and attending lectures are good for some things, but the only way to truly know that you can handle these situations is to try them out. That’s why the military requires all pilots to attend both SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) and Water Survival courses.

How long is SERE school?

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 can you do after SERE?

Eventually, SERE specialists can move on to operational support squadrons at flying wings to provide refresher training to aircrew, or to postings at other locations, such as the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency. They also can deploy to combat locations, but SERE airmen do not directly participate in combat operations.

Where do SERE get stationed?

SERE Specialists are stationed at Air Force and joint bases globally —- often as few as one per base. The Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk is fortunate to also have a SERE Specialist close at hand —- Tech Sgt.

How long is SERE level C?

21 days
The “C” level class is conducted over the course of 21 days and is broken into three phases, which teach commandos and aviators how to conduct themselves if they are captured, how to survive in the wilderness, how to evade capture, how to resist interrogation, and how to escape from captivity.