{"id":25681,"date":"2020-05-12T20:00:38","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T20:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/05\/12\/coronavirus-paves-way-for-changes-to-sere-training\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:38:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:38:04","slug":"coronavirus-paves-way-for-changes-to-sere-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2020\/05\/12\/coronavirus-paves-way-for-changes-to-sere-training\/","title":{"rendered":"Coronavirus paves way for changes to SERE training"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The coronavirus and its quarantining requirements has prompted the Air Force to reorganize its survival, evasion, resistance and escape<\/a> training \u2014 in ways that could last far beyond the current crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students arriving at Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington to learn SERE tactics<\/a> now have to quarantine for 14 days, to make sure they don\u2019t unknowingly bring the coronavirus with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to make better use of that time than just sitting around in the dorms, incoming students spend their time in isolation learning from study guides, workbooks and visual materials such as DVDs, said Col. Carlos Brown, commander of the 336th Training Group, in a Monday interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, these academic studies \u2014 roughly 25 hours of study in all \u2014 would have been scattered throughout the 26-day SERE course<\/a>, Brown said. But by getting academics out of the way early, Brown said, SERE students will be able to graduate after just 19 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force had been considering reorganizing SERE training for at least six months, but the COVID-19 crisis and Defense Secretary Mark Esper\u2019s stop-movement order that went into effect March 13 provided the jolt needed to actually make these changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverybody talks about innovation … [but] sometimes there\u2019s forces that are resistant to that change,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThe COVID situation really has forced us to figure out a [new] way to train.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Brown had to work a 14-day quarantine period into the SERE course, Maj. Gen. Craig Wills, commander of the 19th Air Force at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph in Texas, also challenged him to get the course\u2019s length down to less than three weeks. So the 336th converted its academics into a distance learning program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incoming students now study the material during their isolation period, and three times a week, dial in to instruction sessions with the command team and instructor cadre to share ideas and ask questions when something is unclear, Brown said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first class under this new structure \u2014 which now has 40 students instead of the usual 88 \u2014 began on April 13. Brown has asked the Air Force for permission to return to classes of 88 in early July, after the stop-movement order is expected to be lifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force hasn\u2019t decided once and for all whether it will stick with this model, after the need to isolate to limit the spread of coronavirus has passed. But Brown said that in the future, SERE could finish their academics via distance learning at home, in the 30 days before they come to Fairchild for the accelerated SERE course. This could include distance learning platforms such as Blackboard, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t