The airmen are trained here in Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape.
By: Eve Collins
MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE The walls of the rooms in the Aircrew Life Support Building are covered with the items airmen might need to survive, should their aircraft crash in enemy territory.
The walls of one room are covered with the pictures and pelts of different animals, while in another the different components of an aircrew member’s flight suit are displayed.
The airmen are trained here in Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE). Staff Sgt. James Goyet, a SERE specialist on the base, said all airmen receive the training at Fairchild AFB in Washington state, and recurring training throughout their careers with the Air Force.
Through SERE, airmen receive training in parachutes, and combat and water survival, Staff Sgt. Goyet said. They also learn the psychological implications of being in a crash or even captured.
"We teach them that they may feel lonely or helpless," Staff Sgt. Goyet said. "But we convey to them that the U.S. is not going to forget about them."
The course includes classroom instruction as well as training in personal protection, signaling, and navigation, which airmen can practice on a course located on the base, Staff Sgt. Goyet said.
The aircrew members receive global training, he said, including desert training, which could be used in Iraq. If survival in Iraq is the case, Staff Sgt. Goyet said, the big concern for the airmen would be to find water. They can be lost for 30 days without food, he said, as long as they find water.
Training for a combat pilot might differ from that of a pilot on a transport, Staff Sgt. Goyet said, but they would follow the same guidelines for survival once on the ground.
Senior Airman Lamont Conley, another survival instructor displayed all the items contained in a survival kit suitable for an aircrew of four.
Among other items, the kit contains nylon cord, matches, a fishing kit, a mirror, sunblock, sea dye, a sponge, a water bag, a wool cap, iodine tablets, and ration bars.
Sea dye can be released in water from a life raft. The bright greenh color makes it easier for rescue aircraft to find life rafts.
Iodine tablets, are used if airmen are unsure of the quality of water they are drinking.
Senior Airman Conley said the ration bars are affectionately called "sawdust bars" because of the way they taste, but said they are useful because they are small, yet contain about 200 calories.
Across the base at the Battle-Ax complex, airmen receive training on how to deal with chemical warfare. In a fictitious deployment location known as Phoenix Airbase, the trainees are instructed on how to don their equipment and determine whether chemical agents were used in an attack.
Phoenix Airbase also is equipped with a contamination containment area, a Red Cross area where the trainees learn first aid, and an area where they learn to identify munitions.
Led by Airman 1st Class Michael Alvarez, the airmen put on gas masks when the sirens sound and duck into a nearby shelter, where they put on the rest of their gear. This should take about 15 seconds, Airman 1st Class Alvarez said.
"If an airman is confused, we can identify that and work on it to gain confidence with the equipment and gear," he said.
Attached to the gear is tape that detects chemical and biological contaminants. The tape changes color when contaminated, Airman 1st Class Alvarez said. Different colors mean different agents.
If a persons or items are exposed to the agents, they are taken to the contamination containment area, where each station has instructions on how to decontaminate the person or item.
"Teamwork is extremely important," said Airman 1st Class Alvarez.