Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape

The military "has an obligation to the American people to ensure its soldiers go into battle with the assurance of success and survival. This is an obligation that only rigorous and realistic training, conducted to standard, can fulfill"[27]. The U.S. Army has long taken survival training as an integral part of combat readiness (per FM 7-21.13 “The Soldier’s Guide” and FM 5-103 “Survivability”) and combat training is largely about an individual soldier's survival as opposed to the enemy’s non-survival. “Survival”, as a distinct part of modern military training, largely emerges in special environment operations (as shown in “Mountain Operations”, FM 3-97.6, "Jungle School"[28][29], the Marine Corps' mountain warfare training center[30], the Air Force's Desert and Arctic Survival Schools (as above), and the Navy's Naval Special Warfare Cold Weather Detachment Kodiak.

Certain skills have been identified that enhance every soldier's chance for survival (whether they are on the battlefield or not):

1. Use weapons properly and effectively
2. Move safely and efficiently through various terrains
3. Navigate from one point to another given point on the ground
4. Communicate as needed
5. Perform first aid (evaluate, stabilize, and transport)
6. Identify and react properly to hazards
7. Select and utilize offensive and defensive positions
8. Maintain personal health and readiness
9. Evade, resist, and escape (aka "kidnapping and hostage survival")
10. Know and utilize emergency procedures, survival equipment, and recovery systems

All U.S. military branches recognize the enhanced risks for "special forces" and aircrew personnel. Thus, beyond basic combat skills and their specialty skills, these soldiers should have practical knowledge of survival skills to remain alive and facilitate rescue. Generally, they must have training in:

1. Special equipment and procedures intended to enhance their survivability (ejection seats, parachutes, commnication and navigation devices, resuce devices and procedures, etc.)
2. Preparing for survival (knowing what to know, what to have, and what to do before you need it)
3. Situational awareness and assessment
4. Understanding the environment: hazards and opportunities
5. Prioritizing needs and planning actions for personal protection, survival, and recovery (survivial decisions)
6. If an enemy is involved - evasion (camouflage, travel techniques, et al).
7. Shelter (improvised)
8. Fire (with and without "starters")
9. Water (finding and treaing)
10. Signaling (radios, mirrors, fire/smoke, flares, markers)
11. Rescue contact and recovery procedures.
12. Navigation (generally not advised for military "survival" because rescue is likely)
13. Improvisation - an essential survival skill[31]
14. Food procurement and preparation (nice to know, but a low priority)

Evading an enemy has certain well-known basic skills, but the military doesn't want to openly discuss its practices since this may assist an enemy. Suffice it to say that major militaries spend considerable time and energy preparing for evasion with extensive planning (routes, practices, pick-up points, methods, "friendlies", "chits", weapons, etc.). Some elements of hostile survival preparedness and teaching are classified. This is especially true for "resistance" training where one hopes to prepare those who might be captured for hardship, stress, abuse, torture, interrogation, indoctrination, and exploitation. The foundation for capture preparedness lies in knowing one's duty and rights if taken prisoner.[32] For American soldiers, this begins with the Code of the United States Fighting Force. It is:

1. I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.
2. I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist.
3. If I am captured, I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and to aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.
4. If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information nor take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way.
5. When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability, I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.
6. I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.[33][34]

Training on how to survive and resist an enemy in the event of capture is generally based on past experiences of captives and prisoners of war. Thus, it is important to know who one's captors are likely to be and what to expect from them. Intelligence regarding such things is sensitive, but in the modern era, captives are less likely to enjoy the status of "prisoner of war" so as to gain protections under the Geneva Conventions relating to such. American soldiers are still taught the standards of international law for humanitarian treatment in war, but they are far less likely to receive them than offer them. Because details cannot be offered, a few examples of well-known resistance methods provide clues as to the nature of resistance techniques:

1. Use of a tap code to secretly communicate between captives.
2. When U.S. Navy Commander Jeremiah Denton was forced to appear at a televised press conference, he repeatedly blinked the word "T-O-R-T-U-R-E" with Morse code.
3. The "code" of prisoners at the "Hanoi Hilton" Hỏa Lò Prison: "Take physical torture until you are right at the edge of losing your ability to be rational. At that point, lie, do, or say whatever you must do to survive. But you first must take physical torture."[35][36]
4. A pilot POW who gave the name of comic book heroes when his captors demanded the name of his fellow pilots.
5. Much from The Great Escape (book).

The teaching of "resistance" is typically done in a "simulation laboratory" setting where "resistance training" instructors act as hostile captors and soldier-students are treated as realistically as possible as captives/POWs with isolation, harsh conditions, close confinement, stress, mock interrogation, and "torture simulations". While it is impossible to simulate the reality of hostile captivity, such training has proven very effective in helping those who have endured captivity know what to expect of their captivity and themselves under such conditions.[37][38]

"Escape Training" has elements similar to evasion and resistance training - if details are revealed, we potentially help adversaries and harm our soldiers. Much of this training has to do with observation, planning, preparation, and contingencies. And much of this comes from historical experience so public sources are revealing (such as the movies The Great Escape (film) and Rescue Dawn).

1. Water (ocean, river, littoral) Survival: Military personnel are much more likly to find themselves in a water survival situation than others. How to survive in water is taught at Navy Recruit Training, Navy SUBSCOL Submarine Escape Training, the Air Force Water Survival Course and at a separate Sof Special ForcesProfessional Military Education (PME) courses. Featured in such courses are topics and exercises such as[39]:

1. Underwater escape from vessel/vehicle (from submarines to aircraft)
2. Water parachute landing (being dragged through the water by your parachute harness)
3. Swimming out from under a parachute (easier said than done)
4. Dealing with "rough" water"
5. Boarding and getting out of a life raft (the later being easier)
6. Life in a raft (care of raft, shade/shelter, use of "sea anchor)
7. Use of aquatic survival gear (flotation devices, water desalination, flares, markers...)
8. Aquatic environment hazards (from critters to sunburn to dehydration - yes, people die of dehydration in the ocean)
9. Aquatic environment first aid (seasickness, immersion injuries, animal injuries)
10. Food and water procurement and prepartion (the open ocean "desert"; you can't drink sea water) Digestion requires water.
11. Drown-proofing, swimming, floatation
12. Special Psychological Concerns (
13. Ocean ecology[40]

2. Arctic (sea ice, tundra) Survival: Air Force aircrews spend considerable time flying over arctic regions Polar Routes and while modern arctic survival situations are rare, the training remains useful and worthwhile because its content obviously relates to winter survival anywhere. All U.S. military branches have some type of cold/winter/mountain survival training originating from hard-learned lessons during the Korean War (see above and below). Dealing with cold conditions presents several unique content areas:

1. Cold injuries:[41] frostbite, hypothermia, chilblains, immersion foot...
2. Snow/Ice/Cold Issues: snowblindness, avalanches/ice fall, icebergs, wind chill
3. Staying Warm: Shelter, shelter, shelter. Proper care and use of clothing. Body mechanisms in cold conditions (why a hat is crucial)
4. Why an igloo or snow cave is far better than a tent...
5. Firecraft: what can you burn when all you see is ice and snow?
6. Saving calories, burning calories, and finding calories.
7. Arctic/Snow Travel: Where are you going to go? Risk v. Reward. Improvising snowshoes.
8. Water (everywhere, but not liquid): Methods for melting.
9. Hazards of moisture/Keeping dry

3. Desert Survival: While desert survival training was part of U.S. military survival courses since their inception (see Air Forces Manual No. 21)[42] the focus of survival training went that direction in 1990 with Operation Desert Shield Gulf War (1990-1991). Desert survival training is likely to remain a major focus in the forseeable future. While there is a common mistake to think of deserts as hot, much of the Arctic (and Antarctic) is also desert polar desert. And under the definition of desert climate (a climate in which there is an excess of evaporation over precipitation), some deserts are deemd "cold weather deserts" (such as the Gobi Desert[43]. Because the unifying feature of all deserts is a lack of water, that is the focus for desert survival:

1. Conserve water (but don't over-do it): If it's hot, avoid perspiration; if it's cold, avoid dehydrating respiration[44]
2. Understanding dehydration (and why`it's a killer)
3. Water sources in arid regions
4. Hot desert - shelter by day, move/act by night
5. Cold desert - trap breath moisture
6. Desert shelters (above or below surface)
7. Desert garb (the Arab way)
8. Desert hazards and treatments
9. Desert signalling (smoke and mirrors)
10. Desert travel (is that a real mirage or a mirage mirage?)

4. Jungle/Tropics Survival: Staying alive in the jungle is relatively easy, but doing so comfortably can be very difficult. There are good reasons why soldiers deemed JWS (Jungle Warfare School) in Panama "Green Hell"[45]: Constant heat and humidity with frequent rain makes it almost impossible to stay dry. The long list of dangerous plants and animals doesn't usually include the worst - mosquitos. And even if they don't share some dreadul disease with you, mosquitos may annoy you to distraction and bite you into submission. Yes, staying alive in the jungle isn't so much the problem as wanting to.

1. It's a Jungle out there: jungle or tropical "rainforest" (Does it matter?)
2. The jungle environment: conditions (wet, wetter, wettest)[46], heat index
3. Jungle hazards (it's a long list)
4. Jungle ailments: trench foot, insect bites, bad food, bad water, parasites, snake bite...
5. Food everywhere - if you can stomach it.
6. Where's all the water? Water preparartion/treatment
7. Jungle shelter(s): "Shingles" and bug barriers, Off the ground?
8. Firecraft: getting a "good start" on survival
9. Jungle improvisation- so much to work with...
10. Jungle signalling and rescue

5. Isolation Survival: Isolation is not just "being alone", it's being away from the familiar and comforting. Isolation survival has long been part of SERE in the "resistance" portion of training, but has more recently been recognized as worthy of broader attention. The psychological impact of suddenly finding yourself alone, lost, or outside your "comfort zone" can be debilitating, seriously depressing, and even fatal (via panic)[47]. Isolation survival also focuses upon the broader view of captivity to include kidnapping and non-combatant captivity. Isolation survival training has more focus on psychological preparedness and less upon "skills"...

1. Understanding and avoiding panic
2. The importance of "keeping your wits about you"
3. Focus, Observe, Plan, and Envision ("FOPE")
4. Stress can kill[48]... “fight or flight” coping response, the "stress cycle"[49], and things to help you stay calm[50].
5. The psychology of captivity[51]

US Army aviation SERE students create a Dakota hole to conceal a fire in order to better protect their position from enemy observation.

The Army position statement on SERE training is clear: "The Army has an obligation to the American people to ensure its soldiers go into battle with the assurance of success and survival. This is an obligation that only rigorous and realistic training, conducted to standard, can fulfill."[55]. Like all military branches, the Army operates under DOD Directive 1300.7[56] which requires and specifies Code of Conduct training for military personnel. Because the Army views a large portion of its training as "survival" related and since the Army has more soldiers[57] than the other branches, there are many modes and schools for survival and SERE training (as indicated above and below). Army Airborne School, for example is largely about surviving parachute jumps but is not deemed a "survival school". Army Rangers, Delta Force and other SoF soldiers receive extensive survival training as an inherent part of their overall combat training (as well as specicifc SERE training).

The mission of the United States Army SERE training is "to ensure each student gains the ability to effectively employ the SERE tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) necessary to return with honor regardless of the circumstances of separation, isolation or capture."[58]

The major "specialized schools" and courses for Army SERE training include:

1. John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (SWCS) at Camp Mackall where Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) personnel complete their Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC - Phase III "SF Tactical Combat Skills")[59] with a 19-day SERE course (including the Special Operations Forces' (ARSOF) Resistance Training Laboratory (RTL))[60] that includes Level C training.[61]
2. Army Aviation School at Fort Rucker where 21 days of SERE training is included in the Army aviators curriculum. The program has a Level C course with both academics and resistance training labs.[62]. The Basic Officer's Leadership Cource (BOLC) includes introductory SERE training including Helicopter Over-water Survival Training (HOST). The SERE Level C course exposes students to various captor exploitation efforts including interrogation (eight methods), indoctrination, propaganda, video propaganda, concessions, forced labor, and reprisals. A simulated captivity environment provides experience which includes wartime, peacetime governmental detention, and hostage detention scenarios with content involving resistance postures, techniques and strategies, establishing overt and covert organizations, establishing overt and covert communications, and planning and executing escapes in captivity environments[63].
3. Northern Warfare Training Center (NWTC) at Black Rapids, Alaska (administered from Fort Wainwright) where several courses are intended to maintain the U.S. Army's abilities in cold weather and mountain warfare. The Cold Weather Orientation Course (CWOC)[64], Cold Weather Indoctrination Course (CWIC)[65], and Basic Military Mountaineering Course (BMMC)[66] each have specific "survival" sections[67].
4. The Jungle Operations Training Course (JOTC) at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii is a 12 day program of instruction with focus on jungle operations and survival. Students learn tactics, techniques, and procedures required to fight, win, and survive within any jungle environment. [68][69]
5. Desert Warrior Course outside of Fort Bliss, Texas where a 20 day course emphasizes the "individual strain on the body from the heat, sun, high winds and dryness." There is also special focus on desert hazards ("rattlesnakes, cobras,vipers, scorpions, tarantulas, camel spiders, coyotes, camels, big cats and antelope") and related medical skills. [70][71]

The USN Center for Security Forces (CENSECFOR) of the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC)at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek–Fort Story promulgates the Navy's SERE training. The mission of the Command is "to educate and train those who serve, providing the tools and opportunities which enable life-long learning, professional and personal growth and development, ensuring fleet readiness and mission accomplishment; and to perform such other functions and tasks assigned by higher authority"[72]. This includes basic survival training for all Navy sailors and DOD Directive 1300.7 requiring "Code of Conduct" training (as above). The major Navy SERE schools and courses include:

1. The Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) School (A-2D-4635 or E-2D-0039) at CENSECFOR Detachment SERE East, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, New Hampshire offers several SERE ourses including the outdoor/field course at the Navy Remote Training Site, Kittery, Maine, a "Risk of Isolation Brief" course, and the SERE Instructor Under Training course. The school employs approximately 100 military and civilian personnel and trains an average of 1,200 students per year. It also operates the...
2. Cold Weather Environmental Survival Training (CWEST) at Rangeley, Maine - the US Navy's only cold weather survival school.
3. The Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) School (A-2D-4635 or E-2D-0039) at CENSECFOR Detachment SERE West, Naval Air Station North Island, California provides all levels of "Code of Conduct" training for Recon Marines, Marine Corps Scout Snipers, MARSOC Marines, Navy SEALs, enlisted Navy and Marine aircrewmen, Naval Aviators, Naval Flight Officers, Naval Flight Surgeons, Navy EOD, and Navy SWCC. The school operates the Navy Remote Training Site at Warner Springs where soldiers learn basic skills necessary for worldwide survival, facilitating search and rescue efforts, and evading capture by hostile forces. Additional Level C Code of Conduct training includes a five-day Peacetime Detention and Hostage Survival (PDAHS) course providing skills to survive captivity by a hostile government or terrorist cell during peacetime.
4. Recruit Training Command’s Water Survival Division at Naval Station Great Lakes ((NAVSTA Great Lakes), Illinois offers introductory survival training including: basic sea survival training; lifeboat organization, survival kit contents and usage, abandon ship procedures, and swim qualification (3rd class).
5. Naval Special Warfare (NSW) SERE (K-431-0400), Naval Special Warfare Center, Coronado, California (mostly classified personnel recovery TTPs).
6. Naval Aviation Survival Training Centers: The Navy operates eight water survival training centers for its aviators (Miramar, Jacksonville, Norfolk, Cherry Point, Pensacola, Patuxent River, Lemorre, and Whidbey Island). NASTC "provides and meets the aviation survival and safety requirements of all Naval Aviation and DoD activities. Through didactic classroom or squadron lectures, simulator devices and a curriculum that emphasizes hands-on exposure to survival skills, we offer the best survival training available to the Fleet."[73]
7. Naval Special Warfare Advanced Training Command (NSWATC) courses (4) providing advanced training related to SERE and Personnel Recovery (PR) to Naval Special Warfare (NSW) trainees (SEAL/Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewman pipeline students and Combat Support/Combat Service Support (CS/CSS) personnel) and other select groups at Kodiak, Alaska and Virginia Beach, Virginia.

USAF SERE Instructor explaining how to jump safely with a parachute

The Air Education and Training Command (AETC) has over 60,000 personnel (making it the largest educational organization in America - perhaps, the world) and is responsible for all Air Force training programs, including SERE training. In the AETC, the 336TH Training Group at Fairchild AFB, Washington has the mission to "provide high risk of isolation personnel with the skills and confidence to "RETURN WITH HONOR" regardless of the circumstances of isolation."[74] It is also "the Air Force's sole unit responsible for training the famed SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) specialists who in turn train more than 6,000 students a year.”[75] Beneath the 336th TG are the 66th Training Squadron (that trains the SERE specialists and instructors) and the 22nd Training Squadron which trains all of the Air Force's aircrews.

As with the other branches, the Air Force offers a wide scope of survival training within other courses, but unique to the Air Force is the stationing of career SERE specialists at bases around the world as renewal and upgrade SERE instructors, advisors, and PR specialists. The primary Air Force survival schools/courses are:

1. Arctic Survival School - the "Cool School" offered by the 66th TRS, Det. 1, at Eielson AFB, Alaska - a five-day course consisting of both classroom instruction and a 3-day field experience where students from all military branches along with "the Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other organizations that find their members operating in arctic conditions" get to build snow shelters, trap rabbits, and deal with being COLD.[76]
2. SERE Specialist Selection Course (where over 50% of the hopefuls don't get to "first base") offered by the 66th TRS, Det. 3, at Lackland AFB, Texas - a rigorous pre-screening intended to save the Air Force time and money - and students needless pain and suffering.
3. Evasion and Conduct After Capture (ECAC) Course, also by the 66th TRS, Det. 3 at Lackland. A Level B code of Conduct course that may act as partial/preparation course for Level C Code of Conduct (completed elsewhere).
4. Non-ejection Water Survival offered by the 22nd TS at Fairchild - a 2-day course with an obvious focus.
5. SV-80-A - the USAF aircrew SERE course is the largest in the military with 6,000+ attendees in an average year. This 19 day course mixes classroom, field, and "laboratory" (captive simulation) experiences to prepare students to "Return with Honor". The course is the "standard" for Lervel C Code of Conduct training and is offered broadly beyond the Air Force.
6. JPRA courses: The Personnel Recovery Acadamy is located with the SERE school at Fairchild and there is significant overlap in instruction and facility. The west coast JPRA facility is just across the highway at White Bluffs where separate Level C(+) training is offered (classified).
7. SV-81-A - the U.S. military's only career SERE Specialist Course is offered by the 66th TS at the Air Force Survival School at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington and other regional locations. After a grueling selection process, successful students re-locate to Fairchild where they experience what tthey will teach by completing the SV-60-A course. Then they undertake a series of challenging field training exercises over a 5-month period to develop broad first-hand knowledge and experience in different terrains, weather, and situtations (and differing gear). Those who graduate (less than 10%) are awarded the Sage Beret (with insignia pin), SERE Arch and SERE Flash - only to enter another 45 weeks of intensive on-the-job training. At some point, graduates must complete Airborne School. After completion of three-four years as a "Field Instructor", Specialists may be tasked to train students worldwide. USAF SERE Specialists must complete an associate degree in Survival and Rescue Sciences through the USAF Community College in order to continue to advance in the SERE career field. (SERE Specialists complete additional qualification training at specialized schools as required. Examples are Scuba Courses, Military Freefall Parachuting, Altitude chamber, etc. Assignment to each of the outlying schools requires additional training by the SERE Specialist. Upon reporting to the new assignment, each SERE Specialist must first complete that school's course (the same as an Aircrew member), and then be trained by the school's cadre in the specialized subject matter (and carry crews under supervision) before the newly assigned Specialist is "qualified" to teach without supervision. At Edwards AFB, USAF SERE Specialists are tasked as "Test Parachutists" and required to perform multiple jumps on newly introduced / modified rescue systems, aircraft, and parachuting and / or ejection systems. This includes test parachuting newly designed canopies, harnesses, etc. Currently, they are the only Test Parachutists in the Department of Defense. USAF SERE Specialists are considered DOD-wide subject matter experts in their field and are assigned to base level and command staff as advisers).[77][78]
8. Combat Survival Training (CST) taught by the 22nd TS at the Air Force Academy (AFA) in Colorado. Since 2011, this program has been significantly reduced (following problems and controversies detailed below). With most Academy graduates now required to attend the SV-80-A course at Fairchild, the AFA program is limited to some survival and Level B Code of Conduct training.[79][80]

“Preserving the lives and well-being of U.S. military, Department of Defense (DoD) civilians, and DoD contractors authorized to accompany the force (CAAF) who are in danger of becoming, or already are beleaguered, besieged, captured, detained, interned, or, otherwise missing or evading capture (hereafter referred to as “isolated”) while participating in U.S.-sponsored activities or missions, is one of the highest priorities of the DoD. The DoD has an obligation to train, equip, and protect its personnel, to prevent their capture and exploitation by adversaries, and to reduce the potential for the use of isolated personnel as leverage against U.S. security objectives. Personnel Recovery (PR) is the sum of military, diplomatic, and civil efforts to prepare for and execute the recovery and reintegration of isolated personnel.” MSGID/GENADMIN/CG MCCDC QUANTICO VA REF/A/DODI O-3002.05//REF/B/CJCSM 3500.09//REF/C/MCO 3460.3| MARADMINS Number: 286/18 May, 23, 2018 announcing that “Training and Education Command (TECOM) in a joint effort with U.S. Army Forces Command, and with the assistance of the Joint Personal Recovery Agency, has developed a SERE Level A Training Support Package (TSP) that enables deploying units to self-train SERE Level A in an instructor guided group setting.”

The U.S. Mariane Corps operates jointly with the Navy and cooperatively with the other branches[81] in much of its SERE training, but operates its own Level C course at the Full Spectrum SERE Course, U.S. Marines Special Operations School (MSOS), Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Marine Spec Ops often train with Navy Spec Ops and utilize Navy training when it fits their needs nd there is no equivalent USMC course. The Corps like to stand apart and have their own specifications for required "Code of Conduct" training:

Level A is taught to recruits and candidates in Officer Candidate School and the Recruit Depots, or under professional military education (but note the JPRA note above).

Level B is taught at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center, Bridgeport, California, and at the North Training Area, Camp Gonsalves, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.

Level C is held at Camp Lejeune, as above, although some Marine personnel are trained at the Navy facilities listed above.

USMC courses or training with survival focus include:

1. Full Spectrum SERE Training taught by the MARSOC Personnel Recovery (PR)/ SERE Branch at Camp Lejeune provides 19 days of full spectrum Level C SERE training to MARSOC personnel encompassing Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTP) to plan for evasion, effect personnel recovery, survive and evade capture in austere environments and resist exploitation appropriately, in accordance with the Code of Conduct, should they become captured or detained. The training consists of classroom academic instruction, vicarious learning evolutions consisting of Academic Role-Play Laboratories (ARL), field survival exercises, an evasion exercise, experiential resistance training laboratories (RTL), an urban movement phase and a course debrief.[82]
2. Mountain Warfare Training Center (MWTC) at Pickel Meadows in the Toiyabe National Forest (~20 miles northwest of Bridgeport, California) offers "specialized training in technical climbing, military mountaineering, snow mobility, field craft, survival, CASEVAC, navigation, use of pack animals and high angle marksmanship. Medical challenges include treatment of high altitude and cold weather illness and injuries, and casualty transport in a snow covered mountainous environment."[83][84]
3. Special Operations Training Course (SOTC) is taught at the Marine Raider Training Center (MRTC) at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in four phases under the general title Individual Training Course (ITC). The entire course includes six months of unhindered, realistic, challenging basic and intermediate Special Operations Forces (SOF) war fighting skills training. In the ten-week Phase I portion, Marines learn basic Spec Ops skills including SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape), TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care), fire support training and communications. Survivability is a focus in all phases of the ITC course.[85][86]
4. Jungle Warfare Training Center (JWTC) offers various courses taught by the 3d Marine Division at Camp Gonsalves, Okinawa, Japan. The skills, leaders, and endurance courses intend to teach Marines the skills they need should they become separated from their units in a combat zone and must survive off the land while evading the enemy.[87] The Jungle Tracking, Trauma, and Medicine Courses have more specific goals. The rigorous eight-day Basic Skills Course teaches skills such as first aid, communication, booby traps, knot tying, rappelling, and land navigation. Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training (SERE) is conducted monthly - a 12-day course, 3 days of classroom learning of the basics of survival (how to identify and catch food, build tools, start fires and construct shelter), 5 days on a beach where the Marines survive on their own (with nothing but a knife, a canteen and the uniforms on their backs), and 4 days of "team" evasion through the muddy and tangled jungle (to avoid being captured by students from the man-tracking course). Captured student get placed into an improvised POW camp and the instructors interrogate them to test their "resistance" skills.[88]

Marines often participate in "exercises" and some of them have a survival focus.[89]

This is an odd "controversy" in that it is too vague to even be controversial and even when focused, too misinformed to be arguable[90].

1. SERE is survival, evasion, resistance, and escape TRAINING - are we talking about all of these "techniques" - No. The "controversy" is about resistance techniques.
2. Prior to public awareness of Americans using interrogation methods "reverse-engineered" from resistance training techniques taught at SERE Level C schools, those techniques were classified so that hostile forces wouldn't readily know how our soldiers were trained to resist them.
3. The "resistance techniques" that have become public were specifically devised and developed following the Korean War (as in "History", above) - mostly by the EA for such - the USAF "Survival School" at Stead AFB. (In September 1954, Stead AFB became part of the Air Training Command and the 3635th Combat Crew Training Wing (Survival) was activated).[91][92]
4. One of the little known functions of the USAF Survival School was the debriefing of American POWs (from all branches) for the purpose of improving training. Unfortunately, Korean POWs returned to an environment of suspicion and anger and DoD debriefings were often focused on POW mistakes (confessions, compliance, and even traitorous acts). For a variety of reasons, much of the debriefing details were classified.
5. What cannot be controversial (from numerous consistent public accounts) is that the Koreans (and their Chinese allies) ignored the Geneva conventions and subjected U.N. POWs to abusive and torturous acts. Generally, the worst of such was directed at U.S. Air Force personnel because of their hated bombing and their perceived information and propaganda value (the Koreans wanted "germ warfare" confessions).
6. "Torture" took on a new meaning during the Korean War because the Koreans and Chinese understood that information and/or confessions gained through obvious torture had little value. New techniques were needed which "convinced" cooperation as much as they coerced cooperation (although they were VERY coercive).
7. The "resistance training" which was developed in response to this new way of treating and using POWs was in direct response to the Korean War POW experience. That training was intended to prepare students for the shock of captivity and the treatment they were most likely to experience in future conflicts.
8. Because those training methods and content were fairly well established by 1956-57, it is ludicrous to assert that they were derived from other sources that didn't exist until later.
9. Additionally, it is logical, if not known, that the more sensitive and therefore higher classified methods and content of U.S. military resistance training have NOT been made public. Thus, it would require a treasonous/traitorous act to even publicly discuss the full "origin" of such.
10. Those who know this topic best cannot readily refute the absurd claims made by those who simply make stuff up because the knowledgeable folks are bound under law and agreement to not disclose details. They cannot cite sources because many of those remain classified. But the public domain data eliminates any "controversy" about the origin of "SERE techniques" - the ones in question arose from the Korean War POW experiences.

Heavily redacted US Department of Defense memo discussing SERE techniques used at Guantánamo

"The U.S. government torture program since 9/11 has been "breathtaking" in its scope, according to the detailed report submitted to the United Nations Committee Against Torture by the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School and other human rights activists." Torture and the United States - "Torture, interrogation and prisons in the War on Terror" (See Main articles: Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, Bagram torture and prisoner abuse, Criticisms of the War on Terrorism, Enhanced interrogation techniques, and Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture). That Americans used "stress and duress" (and worse) techniques to humiliate and interrogate captives after 9/11 is now beyond cavil. While some may claim that such did not constitute "torture" and others may claim that torture was necessary to prevent deaths, those arguments are well refuted elsewhere.

That American military, intelligence, and security personnel adapted some of those techniques from the "resistance" aspect of SERE TRAINING is flawed in both fact and reason:

1. The idea that American soldiers would torture American soldiers or stand by while other American soldiers tortured American soldiers is so far removed from the creed and culture of the American military that it could only be suggested by someone who is TOTALLY biased and COMPLETELY unfamiliar with reality.
2. That "torture simulations" used by SERE instructors in the U.S. military are equivalent to "torture" is as silly as believing that torture simulations in movies are real torture.
3. That stress and duress are intentionally inflicted upon American soldiers during "resistance training" is unquestionable. But the same is true of most military training from "boot camp" on. There is a lot of military training that, if inflicted upon a civilian, would be unlawful, outrageous, and perhaps even "torture".
4. To believe that military command would needlessly subject pilots that cost over $1 million to train to torture and excessive duress designed to make them fail is irrational and easily disproven by the very high levels of successful completion of U.S. "resistance training".
5. In fact, some "resistance training" students do not pass the course - but that is not a failure by either the student or the program. It is TRAINING. It is also "screening" (as much of military training must be). The time, money, and effort invested by the military in training soldiers is positive proof of the desire to prepare and protect those soldiers.
6. SERE instructors who provide "resistance training" are some of the most carefully screened, best trained, and most closely monitored soldiers in the U.S. military. (And, they are some of the most respected and admired teachers by their students). But, they are human and their work requires a fine balance. Helping someone find their "breaking point" means that most will "break". Students who don't "break" during "RT" are instructional failures who have missed an extremely valuable lesson.
7. Some RT students fail to see the value of their stressful (even painful) training experience and believe that they were even "tortured" during their training. (One often cited example is a student claiming that he was "waterboarded".) These are testimony to how realistic the SIMULATIONS are... as they are intended to be. But such claims are outweighed hundreds-to-one by positive testimonials from former RT students.

What role did "resistance training" techniques play in torture by Americans?

   1. "The SERE program's chief psychologist, Colonel Morgan Banks, issued guidance in early 2003 for the 'behavioral science consultants' who helped to devise Guantánamo's interrogation strategy although he has emphatically denied that he had advocated the use of counter-resistance techniques used by SERE instructors to break down detainees. The New Yorker notes that in November 2001, Banks was detailed to Afghanistan, where he spent four months at Bagram Air Base, 'supporting combat operations against Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters'."[93]

Dr. (then Col.) Banks was assigned to US Army Special Operations and "helped establish the Army’s Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape Program".[94] He was NOT "The SERE program's chief psychologist" or even the Army SERE program's chief psychologist (the SoF SERE course is only one of two within the Army). His role in "establishing" the Army's SERE program is doubtful, but his stated role in "the use of counter-resistance techniques used by SERE instructors to break down detainees" is grossly misleading. The cited section from "The New Yorker" actually reads:

... Another scientist connected to sere, Colonel Louie (Morgan) Banks, a senior Army psychologist who is an administrator of the program, has played a significant advisory role in interrogations at Guantánamo Bay. He has recommended that the psychologists working with the bscts in Guantánamo have sere backgrounds. In an interview, Banks said, “I do go down to Guantánamo occasionally. I have provided assistance.” He said that he saw no problem with psychologists helping in interrogations, “as long as they don’t break the law.” Asked to provide details of his consulting work, he said, “I just don’t remember any particular cases. I just consulted generally on what approaches to take. It was about what human behavior in captivity is like.”

Banks emphatically denied that he had advocated the use of sere counter-resistance techniques to break down detainees. When asked about the similarities that have emerged between sere training methods and interrogation practices at Guantánamo, he replied, “I’m not saying people don’t do some stupid things sometimes. Some people who received sere training may have sometimes done things they shouldn’t because they misunderstood what the training was about. I’m not going to tell you it didn’t happen. I can’t say that someone didn’t say, ‘Hey, let’s try waterboarding’ because they’d seen it at sere.” In fact, the problem was pervasive enough so that, last year, Banks introduced a new requirement at sere: graduates must sign a statement promising not to apply the program’s counter-resistance methods to U.S.-held detainees. “We did this when we learned people were flipping it,” he said.[95]

Dr. Banks actual role in SERE was as a psychologist who assisted the Army's first permanent SERE training program [at Fort Bragg] involving a simulated captivity experience by "establishing the psychological screening program for U.S. Army Special Forces personnel".[96] (It is unclear whether this was screening for students or instructors). The confusion and misleading references to Dr. Banks' role with SERE also ocurred with two other key psychologists, John Bruce Jessen and James Elmer Mitchell, who have been wrongly deemed "SERE instructors or interrogators" and who pulled off a million dollar scheme to sell the government its own information.[97]

In June 2006, an article on Salon, an online magazine, confirmed finding a document obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union through the Freedom of Information Act. A March 22, 2005, sworn statement by the former chief of the Interrogation Control Element at Guantánamo said SERE instructors taught their methods to interrogators of the prisoners in Cuba.[98] The article also claims that physical and mental techniques used against some detainees at Abu Ghraib are similar to the ones SERE students are taught to resist.

According to Human Rights First, the interrogation that led to the death of Iraqi Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush involved the use of techniques used in SERE training. According to the organization "Internal FBI memos and press reports have pointed to SERE training as the basis for some of the harshest techniques authorized for use on detainees by the Pentagon in 2002 and 2003."[99]

On June 17, 2008, Mark Mazzetti of The New York Times reported that the senior Pentagon lawyer Mark Schiffrin requested information in 2002 from the leaders of the Air Force's captivity-resistance program, referring to one based in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The information was later used on prisoners in military custody.[100] In written testimony to the Senate Armed Forces Committee hearing, Col. Steven Kleinman of the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency said a team of trainers whom he was leading in Iraq were asked to demonstrate SERE techniques on uncooperative prisoners. He refused, but his decision was overruled. He was quoted as saying "When presented with the choice of getting smarter or getting tougher, we chose the latter."[101] Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has acknowledged that the use of the SERE program techniques to conduct interrogations in Iraq was discussed by senior White House officials in 2002 and 2003.[102]

On December 9, 2014, the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a report further confirming the use of SERE tactics in interrogations.[103] The contractors who developed the "enhanced interrogation techniques" received US$81 million for their services, out of an original contract worth more than US$180 million. NBC News identified the contractors, who were referred to in the report via pseudonyms, as Mitchell, Jessen & Associates from Spokane, Washington, which was run by two psychologists, John "Bruce" Jessen and James Mitchell. Jessen was a senior psychologist at the Defense Department who taught special forces on how to resist and endure torture. The report states that the contractor "developed the list of enhanced interrogation techniques and personally conducted interrogations of some of the CIA's most significant detainees using those techniques. The contractors also evaluated whether the detainees' psychological state allowed for continued use of the techniques, even for some detainees they themselves were interrogating or had interrogated." Mitchell, Jessen & Associates developed a "menu" of 20 enhanced techniques including waterboarding, sleep deprivation and stress positions. The CIA acting general counsel, described in his book Company Man, that the enhanced techniques were "sadistic and terrifying."[104]