With all the doomsday scenarios that conspiracy theorists churn out daily, only the creator knows why you think you don’t need SERE training. The hope here is not to point you toward the best SERE schools but to help you understand the importance of the training.
The covid year was one where lots of people felt like the end of the world was near. I can say I did. Before we get to the part where people were crazily hoarding things because of the coronavirus, let’s talk about the fears of North Korea and Chinese dominance.
Remember when Twitter was agog with rantings about World War 3? Haha! Well, that didn’t happen, but what if it had? There are more than enough legitimate reasons you need the SERE training away from the scary stuff.
This article brings to you the best SERE schools and all the other details essential for you to know.
Table of contents
What is SERE?
SERE stands for survival, evasion, resistance, and escape. This may sound like a lot, but it isn’t. They are essential skills that are supposed to prepare you for situations where you may need them or some form of the training’s applications or lessons.
Meanings
- Survival stands for your ability to continue to exist beyond an earlier point. It is for anyone who may find themselves in situations that could cause harm to them or lead to their discontinued existence. Those who realize that nothing is guaranteed in life are those who take survival classes.
- Evasion in this sense is about not getting caught or caught up with something. If you hunt and happen to find yourself being hunted by something else for reasons within the range of a broken limb, then the importance of evasion just starkly hits you in the face. SERE school is no joke.
- Resistance is not yielding in the face of pressure. If you find yourself under a lot of pressure, resistance training can help you stand your ground and give in to the pressure. Resistance training is not only applicable to those in the armed forces or intelligence arms of government. They can also play a part in your life if you are the type that handles large swaths of information and fear that you may not be able to hold your own if put under pressure to divulge what you have. Resistance training is for all classes of people.
- Escape literally means escape here. No other definition describes escaping better than getting yourself out of a situation where you’ve been held captive.
The SERE training helps you prepare for imaginary situations like this where you’ve been held captive and need to survive, resist interrogation or pressure, escape captivity, and then evade capture after you have got yourself free
Why aren’t these skills taught in normal schools?
These skills are difficult to teach in normal schools for two reasons. One is that you cannot theoretically understand these things and truly tell yourself that you know it. No, you don’t.
To know these things, you need a teacher who has undergone extensive training in this line and has more than enough real-world experience on how to survive, evade capture, resist whatever is thrown at the instructor, and how escape.
These are not things you read and know. They are things you do to know. The second reason it cannot be taught in normal schools is that you need the right environment to practice all these.
No matter how well you like the idea, they cannot all be practiced in a room. Normal classrooms have huge limitations that make them a poor fit for life training of this kind.
It is one thing to know what to do. Being able to do what you know is a different ball game.
Will SERE help in a nuclear attack?
Maybe or maybe not. If you are immediately within the sphere of a direct hit, it will not help you as you’d be liquified.
Fall within the buffer zone; then there is very little that can be done about it, save for wailing and tears.
Provided you are not within the initial zone of a direct hit, then that is when your SERE training should kick right in.
That is the moment of the highest levels of imaginable chaos. It is, therefore, in your best interest to take steps that allow you to carry out your SERE training in real life.
With the adrenaline that has kicked in, do impressive work to secure you and any others with you.
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The best SERE schools
#1 – Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School
The mountain shepherd wilderness survival school plans itself so that you make whatever you use. Who would give you those things if real situations suddenly occur? Me? I don’t think so.
True SERE is getting yourself in tune with nature and the reality of your situation. That is why this four-day, three-night class by the mountain shepherd wilderness survival school is taught by graduates of the U.S. Air Force’s prestigious SERE school in the mountains of western Virginia.
You get to experience the survival school in all conditions as classes are held all year round.
The “Humble Thunder” is Mountain shepherd wilderness survival school’s most popular course and you can get yourself in for $550.
#2 – Survival Training School of California
The survival training school of California offers a seven-day course for $1050. The training takes places somewhere between the Mojave desert and the Tehachapi mountain, north of Los Angeles. The survival school places minimalist survival at its core.
This means that you are taught all you should know and how to manage yourself in as many conditions as possible with close to nothing.
Known for his ability to manage himself as he had done in the past as he hiked across the Death Valley in summer without food and water, Chief instructor Thomas Coyne teaches all classes of candidates.
#3 – Aboriginal Living Skills School
As the name suggests, you are taught to survive like the aborigines. The aborigines lived on as little as they could lay their hands on and made the rest up as the days went by.
It was not a funny affair for them and the aboriginal living skills school would like to recreate such conditions to help you get an understanding better.
The school was founded in 1991 in Arizona by Cody Lundin, the co-star of the TV show “Dual survivor.”
The school has a two-day course that goes for $595 which they call the “nothing course” during which the instructor and the students walk into the wilderness with nothing but their clothes on. They make up the rest of the things they will need as they go.
#4 – The Pathfinder School
Founded by Dave Canterbury (popular for his role in 2 seasons of Dual survivor) in Jackson, Ohio.
The pathfinder school offers three-day basic survival classes for $400 in October, November, and December which simulate emergencies for its participants and expects them to use skills taught to navigate their way and fend for themselves until rescue comes.
This course is a prerequisite for another course where another level of survivorship training is given. If this is too much for you, then there is a virtual class for you for just $65.
#5 – Jack Mountain Bushcraft School
Based in Masardis, Maine, the Jack mountain bushcraft school courses range from single-day workshops in skills like axe-manship which you pay $125 to access, to the weeklong “Woodsman” class.
You pay $800, to year-long immersion programs that combine bushcraft skills with winter survival and Jack Mountain’s specialty, a wilderness canoe expedition.
It is as good as a survivorship school can be. You get to earn college credit if done right.
#6 – Ancient Pathways
Based in Flagstaff, Ariz is one of the military’s go-to schools for survivorship training. The ancient pathways, run by Tony Nester, a survivorship guru, is adept in bushcraft, wherein participants are treated to what bushman ship should be about.
Participants are sent walking into the wilderness with a minimum of gear and relying on their skills while foraging and depending on nature’s resources for as many as between four to fourteen days. This is after paying $295 for the “knife only course.”
#7 – Wilderness Awareness School
Suppose you have what it takes, have 9 months to spend, and $10,350 to invest in yourself. In that case, this environmental education non-profit that emphasizes connection with nature, and even has a variety of programs even for children is a good fit for you.
The Anake Outdoor School — a school within a school — offers its survival programs, including a 9-month wilderness immersion course, in the Pacific Northwest.
It is not for everyone, as you must be fit enough not to pass out in the first round. You will do things like go very long distances and go without food and water for extended periods.
Conclusion
The best way to get training on SERE is to enroll yourself in a SERE school that teaches the basic things about survival and throws you into situations where you have little or no choice but to practice the things you have been taught.
This post should guide you in the right direction if you want to learn survivorship skills.
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