[Survival7201]

I guess I'll take a shot at this. I was a Survival Instructor at FAFB from 72-75. As most of you know the Survival School had a very different mission from the Army SERE school. Our job was to take air crew members some who had never been in the woods before and get them acquainted with wilderness survival. It was, a very basic school, and not intended to bring knowledge levels above be able to identify, and some basic skills. The resistance training portion was very limited due to time constraints, and very basic. For most Air Force personal it was "the hardest school" they had attended, and did save many lives. I had the privilege to attend the Army school, and it was much more focused and much harder. I am retired now and one of my team mates from Homestead is living with me. He left the Air Force in 82 and went to Navy and eventually SEALS. He and I agree that the Air Force Survival school and the training prior, called ITB then "instructor training branch" was the easiest of all of our military training. We have a reunion this summer, we plan to see what the "New SERE" is all about, but at face value, it seems to have improved a lot since our days. I do not feel that we were ever "operators" or ever at a level to be more than baggage carriers. However, we did bring back to the basic school a new team discipline, that seems to have caught on. Nothing changes over night, and I hope our career field will continue to improve, and earn the respect of the other branches.