(dramatic music)
- [Soldier] We are in a three week
selection course for SERE.
We're taking what we learned in the last two weeks
on base and we're applying it to the field,
and learning how to survive out in nature.
- We're looking for the future of our career field here.
So it's a pretty big and important task
to be able to get the right people in the door,
and then make sure that we're pushing
the right people up to Fairchild to continue
to pursue becoming a SERE Specialist.
The outdoor portion, it fits in
because it's a opportunity to see them put it all together.
We spend two weeks on base and a lot
of that's just giving them task and giving them standards,
and seeing how well they're able to manage their time,
and how well are they able to pay attention to small detail.
- I became a SERE Specialist
because I had a personal experience.
My great grandfather was a prisoner of war in World War II.
That really inspired me to wanna help save others
who might be in that situation.
Help them survive, and push through resilience,
and return back home to their families.
- [Ssgt Vaden] Out here in Camp Bullis,
the things that we're really focusing on
is giving them the basic survivability.
Learning how to build a fire, a shelter,
a signal, and how to navigate.
This three days we focus on those things,
and then day four we put them out alone on a solo exercise,
so they have an opportunity to show us
that they can do it on their own,
without us having to watch them.
Then day five we pack it up and we head back to base
for they're final mentor session.
- [A1C Hawkins] So far we've learnt signaling,
how to put up a signal to be rescued.
We've learned how to make a fire in a timely manner,
and we've also learned several different shelters.
- [Ssgt Vaden] Some of the intangible traits
that are gonna be necessary and key
for going to this training here,
is one, having the ability to bounce back.
Everybody here has probably failed at something,
and just going through this course we've only hit day three.
Having that ability to basically say,
"I failed, I messed up, how do I recover from that?"
The ability to push through situations
when they get hard, they get challenging,
and I think the ability to adapt is definitely gonna be key.
- [A1C Hawkins] You definitely want a will to survive.
You can't just come out here not wanting to be here.
To be in the SERE you have to love the outdoors,
you have to enjoy being out here
and you also have to want it.
You have to have that competitive edge,
to be better than everybody else and to just keep striving.
- [Ssgt Vaden] I think this course builds
a better war fighter because it exposes them to
some uncomfortable situations.
Just being out here and having
to deal with what we're going through.
It also gives them the basic
understanding and tools to survive.
This training is important for these individuals,
because it's the first step for them
to continue down the SERE training pipeline.
This is their first stop and it's our chance
to assess to see if they've got what it takes
to continue along our career field.