- 6 minutes ago
Air Force Survival School at Fairchild Air Force Base trains aircrew for the moment they could become isolated behind enemy lines or stranded in hostile environments after a crash. The course, known as SERE training, teaches survival, evasion, resistance, and escape skills designed to prepare aircrew for worst-case scenarios. The training covers skills like emergency egress, water survival, long-term evasion, and recovery.
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00:04these air force airmen are training for a worst-case scenario escaping from a
00:12plane that has crashed into the water the airmen have to release their harnesses
00:24open the plane's door and swim to safety I had a blacked out mask and we have to find the
00:35nearest
00:35wall grab the nearest reference points and then just get the hell out of there but this is just
00:44the first obstacle they have to overcome because a crash landing can quickly turn into a fight for
00:51survival should the worst happen that's where we come in we provide training for things like if
00:57you are in an austere location and you need to survive up to and including encountering enemy
01:02forces and how you should deal with that that's why air crews trained for the possibility of
01:07isolation at seer school which stands for survival evasion resistance and escape they spend three
01:18weeks learning what to do from the moment they escape a downed aircraft to the moment they're
01:24rescued anything can happen while you're out flying around if you're over you know enemy territory or
01:32even just over the ocean things can go south really fast if they do become isolated in a hostile
01:43environment instead of getting picked up in four hours they could have to live out here for days
01:48and weeks and potentially even months business insider spent five days at Fairchild Air Force Base in
01:54Spokane Washington following different groups of students undergoing Air Force Survival School
02:09this training today is the dunker course we train pretty much anybody who would end up on a rotary
02:14wing asset how to get out if they were to end up upside down trapped inside of that aircraft and
02:19the
02:19steps to get themselves out as efficiently and safely as possible today we're gonna do four rides the
02:27first one this is their first experience being in the water it's really uncomfortable situation
02:30pretty high stress situation to be strapped inside of a box and flipped upside down do you guys
02:35understand what you're doing for the first ride we're gonna ditch our door from a hover we're gonna
02:39go straight down establish your reference release seat belt squeeze squeeze shimmy over reference release
02:46the reason today's training has only 16 students is so that we can get more one-on-one time as
02:51instructors with them to help them kind of talk through how to combat that stress lower their heart rate
02:57work nice smooth and efficiently through the nets and getting themselves out nice and efficiently
03:07just the whole being in the water portion was probably the most stressful being on the water strapped
03:29they are in there flipping upside down all the way the doors are in place they have to reach over
03:41grab the
03:41the door handle release themselves and get out then after that we allow them to have the air
03:51real world if there's that location it's probably even violent I thought it was awesome like all the
03:58training here at Sears been awesome this was super fun it's a nice way to end end the trip up
04:01here in
04:02Washington that is your time to go ahead and release with whatever can be released that you have on
04:10there in the pool students practice releasing from a parachute after an overwater landing this thing broke on
04:26me but other than that good simulating high winds and the disorientation of being dragged through the
04:35water if they're making an overwater landing in a high wind scenario more likely than not they're
04:42going to end up face first or on their back in the water getting dragged through
04:55getting dragged forward it was really hard to not keep water in my face it was just like all over
05:01me
05:01and I couldn't like think but it's just one small part of their water survival training
05:10the way we start out is by teaching students about the general equipment that they may see on an
05:15aircraft and then we'll move on to raft living so going over the general nomenclature and use of the
05:23one-man as well as the 20-man life raft so I've identified land I figured out how I'm going
05:27to travel
05:28to that land and the last step that I need to do is safely make landfall this is going to
05:32be an
05:32incredibly dangerous process it could be very violent process depending on where we land on that
05:37shoreline so let's talk hypothetically real quick what is the least ideal shoreline for me to land on
05:42rocky ledges cliffs any sort of wave activity coral reefs jagged edges I'm just going to get absolutely
06:07all right how could you guys get this life raft to kind of sink a little bit down in the
06:10water
06:11no you don't stab a hole in it who said that yeah deflate it so you've got those uh the
06:15valves on both
06:16the meat and potatoes of our raft living lesson comes down to the five A's air there we go which
06:22stands for air anchor accessory assist and assess anchor as long as the students are utilizing these
06:31five A's it basically provides them a framework for making decisions in an open sea survival situation
06:36once students complete water survival training they're equipped with the skills necessary to
06:41survive for multiple weeks at a time in the open ocean environment ultimately the end goal
06:46when you become isolated is to get recovered and in order to accomplish this task of recovery you
06:53have to have an understanding how to actually interact with this recovery devices force penetrator here
06:58and then a naval rescue strap I'm going to give you guys some general principles to be considerate of
07:03when you're being hoisted over whatever environment you're in there is a seat on the bottom of the
07:07the floor is penetrator there's actually three but you need to make sure one is deployed and then
07:14you're going to post your foot on it to keep this device away from you get your foot on that
07:20seat so you can control that device
07:30and we want these students to be comfortable using these recovery devices because they may be using
07:35it under complex situations they might be stressed out there could be inclement weather and there might
07:39be time constraints associated with that recovery
07:58so the scenario that we're actually doing is simulating rough weather conditions as well as
08:03a non permissive environment and the primary limiting factor in that situation is going to be communication
08:11individual skills are combined into a single survival scenario designed to overwhelm the senses
08:19and test decision-making under stress
08:32once the students are inside the life raft their main goal is to communicate to go through their five
08:37base like they learned earlier in training and to protect themselves from the simulated environmental
08:42conditions that are happening
08:53i honestly didn't think it would feel as real as it did everybody's yelling it's loud speakers are going
08:58and we're getting splashed by water i mean trying to communicate with everybody was was crucial and it
09:02was kind of hard to do after the students successfully execute raft procedures the mock helicopter arrives
09:09once again to perform an extraction they have to apply the hoist techniques they learned earlier
09:16now under pressure all of that stuff happening around me it was extra stressful because we were actually
09:23like swimming and getting to it pressure was on for sure it definitely felt very real
09:32oh that was a lot of fun uh most fun i've had in the military probably since 2021 that's awesome
09:38never want to do that again let's put it that way i know it was a good time to do
09:42do once
09:43uh yeah it was a lot and our end point is up here starting off uh we're in 35 degrees
09:53uh for 800 meters
09:56at 100 meters there is an east west g trail so right now we're at the air force's sears survival
10:04training area we're just figuring out how to survive in the woods after an isolating incident so down
10:09pilot or if you're separated from your team figuring how to how to make it make it out alive and
10:15get
10:15back to safety so instead of a zero three five let's let's shave that down a bit we teach them
10:19to
10:19maintain life and eventually return to friendly forces in the most austere of environments and
10:25we're out here for a week with them trying to give them the the basics of wilderness survival and
10:30then also evasion as well moving in a hostile environment as we go north of this road what color
10:35is this what is this annotating white which is a clearing right so it's going to be either logged
10:40out or just i just did the demo navigation leg point to point navigation and now the rest of the
10:45day is going to be on our students to lead us to a recovery site and then from there we'll
10:50see where
10:51we have to go but they know all the skills at this point it's just up to them to implement
10:54them with
10:55their navigation checklist and their compass and their map keep a good distance between each other
10:59guys in the back especially head on swivel all right all right
11:19yeah i got my point right now but i see
11:22i was the lead navigator for the first leg so plotting out the points we were going to go
11:26uh start and finish and then figuring out the distance
11:32had our team leader he was the main guy keeping our pace count so we sort of knew
11:36based off that pace count how much farther we had to go
11:41right after the road crossing low vegetation it starts to flatten what was the orientation of the road
11:51we have that you got order yes southeast northwest jeep trail northwest
11:59how about the compass i know nothing that doesn't mean sorry yeah northwest so we got
12:03yeah southeast northwest you're saying what's the point we're walking to
12:21we'll go from here but very important we don't lose that point right we stay on our heading
12:30all right let's keep going we had 800 meters we had to get to our final destination so i took
12:36over
12:36at the halfway point and got us to our final destination which we are here next is i believe
12:40we have a little learning segment that we have to do and then we're going to navigate some more
12:45i'll show you guys how to determine where you are on a map using just the map the compass and
12:50some
12:51terrain features so with the silhouette of that peak you guys see how it's gradual off to the left
12:56side here all right and it gets a little bit steeper off to the right all right so i can
13:02either write it
13:02that way or i can get a little bit more accurate and get out my compass and say hey it
13:06is gradual
13:07on the northeastern side and steeper on the southwestern side airman gossett was showing us a way that you
13:14can determine your exact location based on picking two points and determining the angle where you are
13:21from that point drawing the line on the map and then that gives you your exact location if you just
13:26want
13:26to double track put the tip of your compass on the actual future we don't know what kind of electronic
13:32warfare techniques are going to be used in the future so we're sticking with like sticks and stones
13:36pretty much we're directing a helicopter to pick us up at our current position or let them know where
13:49we're at on the mountain whether we visualize to our mark on the ground or just letting them know like
13:54hey you're passing us look out your left window we're right here this will be a helo rescue situation
14:06rescue rescue rescue mosey zero five bravo
14:34after each student successfully signals a helicopter to their location
14:40they gear up and navigate to their next training site
14:48oh yeah that's going to be luxurious trust me now i just need a like a big whale bone one
14:56of these
14:56sticks that's going to act as my ridge pole if they do become isolated in a hostile environment we're
15:02looking at potential timelines for the isolated person to get recovered way longer than what we saw in
15:06the middle east so instead of getting picked up in four hours they could have to live out here for
15:10days and weeks and potentially even months so the ability to build a good shelter that's going to
15:15protect you from the environment and from the enemy is of the utmost importance that'll do now i want to
15:21make sure it's high enough for me to actually lay down in because all my stuff is going to be
15:25built off of this
15:34all right that should be good there students learn to make shelters that must be hidden from the enemy
15:43for their first attempt they have 30 minutes to build one it's going to be your spot right here yeah
15:49i think so nice what do you like about it there's a lot of leaves that can cover me up
15:55and i think it's like a good spot to snuggle up and you can't really see it from any pathway
16:00or anything
16:05they've been sleeping in shelters up until this point in training and now we're trying to tailor
16:10that into an invasion mindset so all the same principles apply but they're just trying to make
16:14them hidden
16:19how's your shelter coming so far i think it's going good just got to figure out how to conceal
16:24myself a little better
16:37what didn't work about that just thinking because my head's going to be up here and if i have the
16:41shelter facing this way if it rains or something it's all just going to come down right on me
16:47so no protection yeah
16:51this will probably be my entrance and my exit i'll just have to figure out something to put over it
16:56for sure but it should be good is this your first like survival training you've taken or is this
17:01like just like a next step in the pipeline for you yeah i mean this is the first time i've
17:05done
17:05survival training but first time in the woods too really pretty interesting for sure this pole
17:11right here and it intersects in that trunk right there and then i've got my whale bones coming
17:15across i've got a couple of them pretty much just enough space for me to get in get in there
17:18and
17:19curl it but get on in there
17:26it's real low i'll give you that real low uh there is a sweet spot though right this one i
17:32would say
17:33is bordering on being too low to where we might just be wearing our poncho as a blanket in the
17:38middle
17:38of the night right got it and we want to avoid that so yeah so when we do this tomorrow
17:42i'll just keep
17:43that feedback in mind and just try and improve on this but overall pretty good job on this one yeah
17:48so right off the bat first thing i would say is just the protection level right uh like why not
17:54just
17:55grab a bigger ridge pole and have it extend here so it's nice and sturdy for you yeah okay hop
17:59on in
18:00there for me let's see how she holds up see if you'd want to spend the night in there
18:20those feet in yeah man okay all right so a little on the small side right yeah and then you
18:26can see
18:26the ridge pole wobbling like i said all right so uh hop on out you're not going to sleep in
18:32it
18:32tonight so you can just destroy it as on your way out that's fine okay so big things for you
18:38for next
18:39time more protection right we want a more stable framework to build our shelter off of and then
18:44just working on the blending making it look a little more natural and then overall this site selection
18:49correct and that's getting an area that's already pretty much made for you so you don't have to
18:53to try and blend something in that's just going to be different okay all right got a nice little
19:00curve on our wrist there god made it to choke the enemy take your card put this foot flat
19:09this is our combatives program that we teach our air crew this prepares them in case they do happen
19:15to become an ip and they need to know how to fight how to defend themselves and if if they
19:20do have a
19:21wingman they need to know how to defend them too in addition to survival skills students learn basic
19:31combatives that they can use to defend themselves and their crew if they encounter enemy forces
19:37this is definitely just an introductory course for combatives from pummeling to striking to maintaining
19:43mount and getting out of guard with some uh a little jujitsu seminar at the end military we have ocps
19:54we can use that elbow to hip
20:00super easy choke but not every encounter ends with escape
20:08in some scenarios ips may be captured if that happens survival depends not just on physical
20:17strength but on the ability to resist exploitation and protect sensitive information we cover all the
20:25spectrums of captivity or isolation and resistance training is just one of them
20:30things these buses are waiting for the next class of students who will be taken to a classified location
20:38and undergo a simulated capture scenario based on real world threats i don't know what's going to come
20:44next to be honest so that fear of the unknown i'm trying not to really pay attention to that but
20:50you
20:50know it's still there a lot of emotions running through me right now some fear some nervousness
20:56but thinking about hearing the stories of people have gone through this training and have actually
21:03been a prisoner of war and detained in the war it kind of motivates you as well what we do
21:08here is we
21:08create a realistic environment so that these students can practice doctrine and policy to ensure
21:14that we can resist the enemy exploitation or anything that may include detrimental to the united states or our
21:22allies students must be deemed medically and psychologically fit by medical staff to ensure
21:29they can handle the mental and emotional toll of resistance training due to the classified
21:35nature of this training our cameras were not allowed to film it we grab all four uh four rises if
21:42we can and then we're gonna pull them apart and we're gonna bicycle kick in the opposite direction of those
21:47quips so we teach post-segurist procedures so all the actions that they need to do if they fail out
21:52or
21:52eject another aircraft the lesson begins with a live demonstration of seer specialists jumping
21:58from a helicopter and deploying their canopies this is the first time a lot of them have seen
22:03somebody jump so they can actually see what it looks like how they turn into the wind how they
22:07steer how they maneuver it and how the wind kind of reacts to it and then they can see all
22:12the steps
22:12they're about to learn so it's almost a really big attention step as an instructor on the ground
22:25teaching the students it's a great teaching point for us learning point for the students where we can
22:29actually show them the techniques that we just taught them on how to get out of those twists they
22:33can see that being performed real life so it just gives a lot of credibility to what we're teaching
22:43so this specific spot is really the first stop for anyone who's going through seer training this
22:49is where you go to learn the parachute landing fall the personnel lowering device and then pretty
22:54much high wind drags how to release yourself from your canopy if you are being dragged on the ground
22:59and land and land and land so the parachute landing fall is essentially the best way that
23:12the army came up with landing under a static line parachute this is the way that has been proven to
23:20have the least amount of damage for your body which if you're an isolated personnel evading surviving
23:26obviously getting down to the ground in a good physical condition is a huge step in the rest of that
23:31process we like to teach in kind of a crawl walk run stage the lateral drift apparatus that's kind of
23:40the the last step that encompasses all that they've just learned and that is the most realistic scenario we
23:46can give them without actually sending them out of an aircraft
23:57the chances of you getting dragged by that same canopy when you get down on the ground are pretty high
24:03real life scenario depending on what the winds are if it's a really high wind day getting dragged
24:08across the ground for a long time you are going to sustain some sort of injuries and so it all
24:12kind
24:12goes back to making sure the ip or the isolated person is in the best condition as they can
24:16i'm going to be like this you'll be on your back first yep okay so you trace your edges down
24:25yeah the easiest way to activate your dust cover is you use your pinch of fingers you just have pull
24:29down okay when you're ready yeah there you go give it a yeehaw all right yeehaw
24:41it's fun i mean definitely it won't be fun in real life if it happens but it does prepare you
24:49they also train for scenarios in which the parachute becomes a hazard so the pld stands for the personnel
24:55lowering device it's a repelling device that you just connect to your harness and then you can
24:59use that to lower yourself or repel down so you're not stuck in the tree bridge whatever it is that
25:05you got stuck on the things that we do are just inherently dangerous the way that you know aircraft
25:11it's not like if you have an engine fire or something goes wrong on the airplane you can't
25:14pull over to the side of the road like you can a car so being able to safely egress from
25:18the aircraft
25:18will probably mean the difference between life and death as the students wrap up their final exercise
25:23they move on to the culmination of their emergency egress training put the goggles down adjust for
25:29your vision remember close one of those which takes place in virtual reality we can tell them a
25:36million different things about it but actually getting hands-on and practice with it is the most
25:39important tool that we've found helps them out through that process so we have the parachute simulator
25:44parisim they have a vr simulation of different scenarios that we provide for them
25:56it's got a head tracker on it that's going to allow them to see that scenario immerse them in that
26:01scenario what was that last scenario so we were jumping over the water there's boats underneath us
26:06so we had to watch out for those i had a line over so i had to adjust that but
26:10other than that pretty
26:11simple straightforward it's fun they're going to be lifted up by the risers so they're actually
26:15lifted in the air and then when they come down to land it actually lowers them to the ground so
26:20they have that real feel of actually landing to the ground and then conducting that that plf
26:24pretty much a check on learning so your whole goal at 200 feet is to make sure that pushed inside
26:28your canopy is directly in front of you that means you're turned into the wind right i felt pretty real
26:32i guess i mean it's still like the tiny screen you know you don't have all the senses that you
26:36normally get so it's a little disorienting but it's certainly better than not having any of the
26:40training before you actually have to address an aircraft in an emergency you guys would swim on
26:44up to this device once you guys get there it's going to sink to about the buoys you're going to
26:51climb on in and you're just going to treat it like a roller coaster outside students cover the final leg
26:56of
26:57their isolating event and the ultimate goal of that is recovery right we want to get you guys home
27:03but it's all going to start with you guys and this training portion
27:06this is basically the last line of them getting home biggest thing here is teaching them safety
27:12with device to make sure that they are not risking danger themselves or the aircraft we're going to
27:16start from the very ground up the very basic stuff with like our simple loop here talking through some
27:21of the capable forces this could be like host nations coming in with that first rider refusal common
27:26deal coming in picking you guys up might not have the uh the most gucci of equipment right
27:30we're going to go ahead and swim one arm through instructors show students how to use rescue
27:35equipment they could receive from allied forces as well as u.s assets all right so watch your face
27:42next to that cable there yep tuck your head that's your big thing cool drag your feet to be able
27:45to go
27:45home this cable the reason why you tuck your head on one side use the opposite hand don't touch the
27:51cable
27:51just use the opposite hand for that thumbs up because you don't want to get your arm cut over here
27:54right
27:54out here we will teach them on the ground make sure they understand uh the basic principles of them
28:00just handling device on the ground getting introduced to it and then we'll take them out to the live hoist
28:08so we're going to be lifted into the huey here via the fork penetrator
28:15just some regular training exercise i guess this is going to be awesome it's so cool
28:28we try to just give them the most real capable scenario we can
28:33that way when they are in a isolating event and need to be recovered they've experienced that real
28:38situation now they can bring that to getting themselves back to back to safety
28:43it was a little scary i'm not gonna lie i was going up you know i'm strapped in but you
28:48still you
28:49you know heights you're high up it still feels like you can fall down but they got insecure
28:55yeah honestly it wasn't too too bad you can see uh you can feel the helicopter kind of moving back
29:01and forth a bit it was it was nice it wasn't as bad and nice and then our last rule
29:05guarantee that
29:05i go home what is that you remember drag your feet go drag your feet to the last point of
29:11contact
29:12and get hoisted straight up does that make sense everyone okay does anybody have any questions
29:18welcome to my crib mtv
29:27that was fun
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