SERE trainers eat weird stuff, chill in woods

Published March 28, 2013
By Airman 1st Class Ryan Throneberry
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Your aircraft experienced a catastrophic engine failure and went down in the heart of a great forest. You survey the wreckage and find you are the only survivor. Fear and panic begins to worm its way to the foreground of your consciousness. Then you begin to remember bits and pieces of survival tips from the Airman in the light-green beret. The words act as a beacon of hope in an otherwise dire situation.

Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape specialists are a specialized career field in the Air Force who prepare Department of Defense personnel to return with honor from isolating events. The training consists of learning to adapt to all biomes and their associated weather conditions, along with surviving various captivity situations.

Staff Sgt. Josh Schmitz, who calls Wadena, Minn., home, is a 305th Operations Support Squadron SERE specialist here. He is one of only 400 SERE specialists Air Force wide.

"My job is equipping anyone who has the possibility of being isolated with the knowledge and tools needed to survive in an inhospitable environment," said Schmitz. "Our training provided us with first-hand survival experience so we can then pass on that knowledge to our students."

A SERE specialist is an expert in the methods used to survive in isolated regions, in combat and captivity situations. They learn the skills necessary to pass the knowledge on to others and ensure personnel recovery operations are feasible and capable through training. The SERE specialists can "talk the talk," because they have "walked the walk." The intense instructional program authorizes them to wear the SERE Beret, SERE-specialist Arch and the Air Education and Training Command instructor badge upon completion of tech school.

"I thoroughly enjoyed training, especially the fact that I can now build a fire from practically nothing," said Schmitz. "I feel pretty confident that if I were to wake-up in the woods with just a few simple tools, I would be able to survive."

SERE trainees spend six months at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., and other locations learning to teach service members how to survive in environments which include: temperate, desert, coastal, open-ocean, tropics, rough land (rocks) and the arctic. The majority of the tech school is spent in the Cascade Mountains learning the tricks of the trade. The trainees sometimes work as teams but are often tested individually, spending three to five days alone in the wilderness with a limited amount of food with very limited instructor supervision.

"The instructors would come by each day just to see how we were doing for safety reason," said Schmitz. "Otherwise, we were totally isolated."

Schmitz spoke of the 'exotic' local cuisine he and his wingmen would eat during field training.

"When we were out training in the desert, we would catch rattlesnakes, cut their heads off and fry them up," he said. "On other occasions, we would look for carpenter ants which taste surprisingly similar to lemon chicken when cooked."

It is important for the SERE specialists to experience things like hunting and eating various animals and fruits so they will be better prepared to teach their students down the road.
"I absolutely love this career field and I want to make it a career," said Schmitz. "Up until I actually got to my tech school, I had no idea my job would be so training-centric. I was definitely pleasantly surprised because I consider myself a people person and have always enjoyed sharing knowledge."

Of the 1,500 candidates who were initially chosen out of Basic Military Training, Schmitz included, only 29 Airmen graduated from his particular iteration.

"The training is not a walk in the park by any means; it's tough and most people can't cut it," said Schmitz. "I just didn't quit. I'd recommend this job to anyone who has a love for the outdoors."

Schmitz's Survival Tips:
Here is a list of need-to-know survival tips that could save your life one day:
1. Get away from the flames and fumes.
2. Find a shelter location close to the crash sight.
3. Take care of any injuries and don't forget to drink water.
4. Take advantage of survival equipment that may have survived the crash.
5. If no food is readily available, check your surroundings.
- Any grass is edible and a great source of Vitamin C.
- Pine needles can be brewed to make tea.
- Stick to plants with berries you know for sure are okay. If you second guess yourself, it's not worth taking a risk.
- Pound for pound, insects have more protein than a T-bone steak. It may be out of your comfort zone, but the nourishment could save your life.
6. Remember, a person can survive for three weeks without food but only three days without water.

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