When you get back from the field eat a steak downstairs at Churchills, the piano man will let you sing dirty pilot songs. The bar/spa at the Davenport is nice and so is the cigar lounge at the casino.

I'll second the recommendation of the Davenport. Don't miss Sunday Brunch. Best to have a good meal prior to eating bugs and Rabbit with Ramen in the woods.

Send my regards to the Glorious Commandant. He and I had a nice 2 zip-tie chat a few years ago.

Fuck that guy.

all hail the Glorious Commandant

Let me know when you're here, so I can watch.

I had a hard time at SERE until I remembered that when in doubt, just tell them, "Eat shit you commie, prick."

I had a friend tell them he was the FAGO- Flap and Gear Operator. Earned a laugh and a beating.

I had a friend tell them he was the FAGO- Flap and Gear Operator. Earned a laugh and a beating.

Nice. Those small victories are worth the beatings. For you and everyone else.

We had a girl say she gets hit harder when she burns dinner....

Half the instructors broke character on that one.

We had a girl say she gets hit harder when she burns dinner....

Half the instructors broke character on that one.

Classic. Well played.

HAHAHA, now that is awesome; classic one-liner right there.

Care to drink from the firehose?

Go to https://www.efoia.af.mil/palMain.aspx

Click "AF FOIA Library"

Search for "SERE School Curriculum"

Download file (~16 MB)

Read pages 104 through 1714

Bar napkin math says that will take me 33.5 hours to read...no thanks!

We had a girl say she gets hit harder when she burns dinner....

 

Half the instructors broke character on that one.

We had a hott Lt get taken into the room where she is in with the interrogator and the entire class is in the auditorium watching on the big screen. Interrogator slapped her and you could see a slight smile on her face when he did it. When they brought her back into the auditorium to debrief the whole thing, they froze the video at that point and the instruction said "I guess we all know what you are in to"

My recommendations, equipment wise:

-Ear plugs, for when you're sleeping with all your new best friends

-Consider clear plastic workshop type glasses or sunglasses. I can't believe more people don't go DNIF due to getting whacked in the eye by tree branches.

-Bring your own multitool, ideally one with a sawing blade. The issued ones are crap.

-Bring spare batteries to the field. We had a guy whose headlamp burnt out on the first night. It was a long time in the woods for him.

-In one of the second floor laundry rooms, there is a boot closet. It's full of boots you can borrow for taking to the field. Don't trash your own.

 

By and large, that's about all extra that I'd take to the field, and it's quite compact (ear plugs, glasses, multitool, and batteries). The reason I don't advocate anything more is because, regardless of how expensive and great the stuff you bring is, you are still required to bring the AF issued equipment i.e. I have a nice Petzl headlamp, way nicer than the AF issued one, but I was still required to bring the AF one with me, doubling the amount of space taken up in those cramped rucks.

Edited March 3, 20169 yr by Insubordinate & Churlish

On 3/3/2016 at 5:05 PM, Insubordinate & Churlish said:

-Bring your own multitool, ideally one with a sawing blade. The issued ones are crap.

Just curious, what did you use yours for?

I was told to purchase/bring one and never understood why. What are people doing out in the woods that you can't do with the issued dull knife? Are people carving shit out of trees they sawed down with the blade? Even when we were building our shelters, I usually just used my boot or my knee to break branches and shit and that worked just fine.

If you need a multi tool at SERE, then SERE is the least of your worries

You'll waste time and energy using a multitool or whining that you lost your expensive personal one. They give you, or at least used to, a hand saw. That's more than enough for what you need it you can't do what chuck suggested

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Best bet is to buy all the high tech survival gear you discovered you needed right afterwards.  And then spend the next 6-9 years looking over at it every time you walk through your garage before finally throwing it away.

We used a pocket saw once, the rest of the time the SERE guy chopped wood because god forbid anyone use an axe without 69 hours of axe safety training.  SERE is not hard, and is actually pretty fun if you're an outdoors type.  Really no need to bring anything other than what they tell you to bring.

9 minutes ago, brabus said:

... God forbid anyone use an axe without 69 hours of axe safety training...

Never did SERE but the axe comment is spot on.  I'm sure there are axe basic, intermediate and advanced courses, woodland cutting tool CBTs and of course periodic axe re-certifications/check rides in order to stay axe current.  

1 hour ago, Stitch said:

Never did SERE but the axe comment is spot on.  I'm sure there are axe basic, intermediate and advanced courses, woodland cutting tool CBTs and of course periodic axe re-certifications/check rides in order to stay axe current.  

Well, you wouldn't want an axe wound, now would you?

You know, the one thing I was really glad I brought was tobacco. I got a pipe, a lighter, and some vanilla Cavendish from that place in Columbus MS, and it was damn peaceful to chill out on top of a mountain with a good buzz and flavorful smoke floating around.

Well, you wouldn't want an axe wound, now would you?

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I like hatchet wounds

Those work well for smaller logs.