On June 1st, two days after I was winged, I flew up to Brunswick ME for S.E.R.E. school. S.E.R.E. stands for Survive, Evade, Resist, and Escape. It's a two week course that teaches military men and women with high-risk jobs how to deal with capture overseas in different scenarios. The whole first week was a ground school where they reviewed the Geneva Convention, land navigation, and basic survival skills. The second week was all "hands-on" training. We drove 3 hours into the beautiful mountains of Maine, where they dropped us off with only one MRE (meal-ready-to-eat) and a canteen. We had a rucksack full of gear and a couple changes of shirts and underwear that weighted about 50 lbs, and the camis and boots we were wearing. Once up to the mountains, we had a land navigation skills course, and after a few more lessons, were on our own. Four days and miles later, I found myself in a tiny, empty cement cell, famished, tired, and alone. Let's just say they did a great job of "simulating" a capture by the enemy. I've never been so hungry, so exhausted physically and mentally, nor have I ever learned as much. My team was awesome, we got along really well, and really stood by each other when things got tough. When we got back to Brunswick, we ate TONS of fresh lobster and drank a couple beers! It tasted wonderful!!!
My Team
The whole class
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