HERE THERE ARE TIGERS
I spent
eight years of my military career as a SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and
Escape) instructor.
I watched
the American sailors captured by Iran with special interest. They did everything contrary to SERE training;
but an allowance has to be made.
SERE
students are chosen from service units likely to fall prisoner into enemy
hands. SEAL teams, Green Berets, Pilots
etc. are required SERE training. The
majority of military personnel never experience SERE, and this is probably the
case with the boat sailors captured by the Iranian Coast Guard. SERE graduates would have behaved differently
because of specialized training.
These young
sailors should not be vilified. They acted on instinct in a stressful
situation for which they were not prepared.
It is more than likely that anyone reading this post would have acted
exactly the same.
It
especially pisses me off when people who have never served in the military express
an opinion critical of these young sailors.
They are doing a dangerous job and training for the eventuality that
someday they may be required to lay down their life in defense of their
country.
the Ol’Buzzard
Seems to me that all Brown Water small boat crews should be going to SERE training. I have been watching the news looking for follow-up stories on the sailors detained by Iran. I have a hard time believing that our guys were such knuckleheads and didn't realize they were in Iranian waters. And if you do find yourself in a bad situation you can't just open up with every automatic weapon you have on-board without realizing you might create an international incident. I feel bad for those guys and I think there's more to the story than has been released to the media. Now I'm wondering if they did go to SERE. Stay tuned.
ReplyDeleteEDG Vietnam River Rat, Whidbey Island SERE 1967