Chosen Soldier - Dick Couch [186]
One of the reasons I chose not to expand on SERE training is that much of the training is classified, as well it should be. It is how we train our warriors to deal with capture, to return with honor if they can and to die with honor if they must. It’s serious business. In past wars, including my war, to be taken by the enemy was an ordeal—one that was painful and life-threatening, but one that you had a better-than-even chance of surviving. Your being taken captive was a collateral consequence of the conflict. Those were the good old days. In the current fight, quite often the objective of the enemy is the taking of captives—not for information or political advantage, but for ritual execution. To be taken captive can be a death sentence. And for that reason, content associated with the SERE portion of the Q-Course will not be addressed in detail.
I did speak with two recent graduates of SERE training—and by recent, I mean they had just finished the course when I interviewed them. Earlier that morning, they had been POWs. One was a staff sergeant with eight years in the Army, and the other was an 18 X-Ray specialist with just over a year in uniform. Both had that calm, satisfied, far-off look in their eyes that said they’d just put a very difficult and moving experience behind them. They had, after all, spent five days in a POW compound.
“We learned a great deal about fieldcraft and living off the land during the survival and evasion training,” the sergeant said. “The cadre sergeants were a wealth of knowledge. Real world—or at least real-world North Carolina—I could survive out there and evade capture.”
“And the training in the compound?”
“That was a learning experience as well, in a different sort of way.” The staff sergeant looked from me to the SERE phase company commander, who was also present, and then back to me. “Well, sir, let’s just say I have some idea of what it’s like if, God forbid, I’m taken prisoner, and how to conduct myself when that happens. It’s another component of the skill set—another tool in the toolbox.”
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” the young specialist said. “The regular phase training of the Q-Course is hard, but not hard like this. I lost twenty pounds, and I didn’t exactly go into this training chubby.”
Assuming the weight loss was from the field-survival training, I asked, “But didn’t they feed you in the camp—the POW compound?”
“Yes, sir. We got a bowl of rice.”
“Daily, right?”
“No, sir. The whole time.”
I sensed they were still digesting this experience and didn’t yet want to talk about it. I also figured they probably wanted to get to the nearest Burger King. “One last question. Did you cry?”
For the first time, they smiled and both nodded. “Oh yes, sir, we cried,” the sergeant replied.
I’ve yet to speak with a SERE student who didn’t cry when they hoisted up the Stars and Stripes, which signaled the end of the POW-compound phase of SERE training. I did, but of course, that was a very long time ago.
Special Operations Language Training addresses the conversational, tactical, and cultural aspects of a foreign language. The instructors are native speakers, and one often sees them roaming the corridors of Aaron Bank Hall in native dress. In addition to native-speaking instructors and state-of-the-art language laboratories, there are computer-driven personal programs available, like the highly regarded Rosetta Stone series. The instructor-student ratio averages about eight to one.
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