TACP Retraining Question
- Thread starter DNMT9902
- Start date
Don't you love the way the assignments guys work that one.
For a long time guys/gals (AFSF) were going from Missile Field support to Korea and back to the same base they came from.
Retention was sooo, not happening.
SERE is now required for award of the 3-level skill identifier. There were two ROMADs in my class who has just gotten back from a deployment to AFG and went right into SERE. They were among the last of the legacy guys who were ROMADs and hadn't gone to SERE yet. Now the AD guys stay on hold at the Schoolhouse until they get a slot. Guard is a little luckier in that they get to go right away because of where the money comes from to pay them to PT and do bitch work at Hurby/Lackland all day for a month or two.
Red-Dot
Verified Military
SERE...I had the pleasure of attending this fine school in Maine....in late November. Nice.
Red-Dot
Verified Military
We relieved some Korea ASOS dudes in Ramadi...Icebox was their call sign if I remember correctly.
I didn't know we sent dudes to the Navy SERE.
Red-Dot
Verified Military
The primary SERE training for those in the Air Force is the Air Force SERE school and courses. The Army, Navy SERE courses are a possibility. However, during the late 1980s and early 1990s the Army SERE course was preferred for some training pipelines (PJ & CCT) over the Air Force course as the Air Force course was too downed aircrew isolated behind enemy lines rather small tactical teams operating behind enemy lines oriented. Supposedly all the High risk for Capture level of SERE course training is now the same no matter which SERE course gives the training.
Last edited:
The primary SERE training for those in the Air Force is the Air Force SERE school and courses. The Army, Navy SERE courses are a possibility. However, during the late 1980s and early 1990s the Army SERE course was preferred for some training pipelines (PJ & CCT, no clue about TACP or SOW) over the Air Force course as the Air Force course was too downed aircrew isolated behind enemy lines rather small tactical teams operating behind enemy lines oriented. Supposedly all the High risk for Capture level of SERE course training is now the same no matter which SERE course gives the training.
Hahaha. I was a GM in a prior life!
The focus of USAF SERE on downed aircrew was something we brought up in the course critique. It's understandable that the USAF cannot run two separate SERE schools. What I do think they could concede is letting the BA AFSCs use the kit they would actually carry during SERE. We had to wear the vest that aircrew would have available to them, which wasn't the most realistic for us. Same with the reliance on a PRC-112 for comms with SAR assets. They did skew the POW phase towards more realistic scenarios, but the time spent living in the field could have been more productive. They already put the BA into their own elements during SERE, so I don't think it's a stretch to have a slightly different scenario in place while allowing them to wear a more realistic kit.
Unfortunately there is no standardized basic load among the various ground capabilities for SERE purposes. The PJ basic load was required to incorporate the contents of the survival vest so it could be worn in lieu of the survival vest when perform aircrew duties on training and mission sorties. Thus survival vest or basic fighting load didn't matter much when going through the SERE course.
The Air Force survival course was a 13 day course during most of the 1979s and 1980s, as the Air Force put faith in helicopters quickly finding and recovering downed aircrew. It was not until the Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, N.C. opened its own SERE courses (1981-Colonel Nick Rowe) did enough Air Force interest began to get interested in moving towards providing SERE training rather than survival training with a little bit of PW captivity and resistance training thrown in. Also the standards were bit more physically demanding as there were no female SERE instructors for this course and no female students. Female students were going through the Air Force Survival course already in 1973.
The initial Army Special Forces SERE course during the 1980s concentrated a bit more on improvised constructing of weapons, packs and evading more so than survival. The transition of the AFSC from USAF Survival Instructor to USAF SERE Instructor is when all elements of SERE got back into the Air Force curriculums. However any aircrew SERE course regardless of the branch of the service still tends to favor isolated personnel relying on aircrew survival kits and equipment more so than ground combatants doing deep penetration many day missions into enemy controlled territory. Further there is other SERE training available at least for PJs after going through the pipeline required for award of 3-skill level SERE course.
The Air Force survival course was a 13 day course during most of the 1979s and 1980s, as the Air Force put faith in helicopters quickly finding and recovering downed aircrew. It was not until the Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, N.C. opened its own SERE courses (1981-Colonel Nick Rowe) did enough Air Force interest began to get interested in moving towards providing SERE training rather than survival training with a little bit of PW captivity and resistance training thrown in. Also the standards were bit more physically demanding as there were no female SERE instructors for this course and no female students. Female students were going through the Air Force Survival course already in 1973.
The initial Army Special Forces SERE course during the 1980s concentrated a bit more on improvised constructing of weapons, packs and evading more so than survival. The transition of the AFSC from USAF Survival Instructor to USAF SERE Instructor is when all elements of SERE got back into the Air Force curriculums. However any aircrew SERE course regardless of the branch of the service still tends to favor isolated personnel relying on aircrew survival kits and equipment more so than ground combatants doing deep penetration many day missions into enemy controlled territory. Further there is other SERE training available at least for PJs after going through the pipeline required for award of 3-skill level SERE course.
