S.E.R.E. - My Experience - in Retrospect

S.E.R.E

MY EXPERIENCE - IN RETROSPECT

STEVE SHRAWDER

SERE is a United States military acronym for Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape, a program that provides military personnel, Department of Defense civilians and private military contractors with training in evading capture, survival skills and the military code of conduct. Established by the United States Air Force at the end of the Korean War (1950-53), it was extended during the Vietnam War (1959-75) to the Army and Navy. Unlike conditions for prisoners of war during WWI and WWII, the conditions in Korea and Vietnam prison camps included extremely harsh conditions, cruelty and torture. That is not to say that conditions for POWs during WWII were not harsh, especially in the Philippines, but conditions during the Vietnam Conflict were different. Prisoners were also exploited wherever possible for propaganda purposes.

There are four levels of SERE Training (A, B, C & D). As I was preparing to go to Vietnam for the second time in 1971 (First tour was gunfire support in 1967), I was assigned to Level C. For east coast Navy personnel the training takes place at Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine and at the Navy Remote Training site, Rangeley. This installation provides "Code of Conduct" indoctrination that is necessary for Recon Marines, MARSOC Marines, Navy SEALS, Navy and Marine Air crewmen, Pilots, Naval Flight Officers and Navy SWCC. The mission is to ensure American service members are armed with the confidence, knowledge and skills required to survive the challenges of isolation in hostile environments. SERE TRAINING IS GIVEN TO THOSE WHOSE JOBS MAKE THEM MOST LIABLE TO BE CAPTURED.

Before departing for SERE Training I knew very little about the experience because the details of the training are highly guarded and each graduate is sworn not to talk about it especially to those who might be attending later. I also knew that there was a pilot in my squadron, Helicopter Combat Support Squadron Four (HC-4), who had recently finished SERE Training and had been so badly injured that he was waiting for a medical discharge as a result of his injuries. That gave me something to ponder.

As I prepare to recount the details (as best as I can recall forty years later) of my own experience I need to provide a little background. First I must say that I am putting this into words at the urging of my children, who have asked me dozens of times to "tell the SERE School story". Second, I am able to see my experience in a better light after having read books about the POW experiences in Vietnam.

My favorite is titled Honor Bound and it was written over a twenty year span of time by two individuals who had greater access to government information and former prisoners than anyone else who has written about it. The details are deemed to be correct and accurate.

I am particularly drawn to the experiences of Admiral James Stockdale, a Naval Academy graduate) who spent seven and a half years in the prison camps of North Vietnam. He was one of the camp leaders and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions there and four Silver Stars for valor as a Naval Aviator. Jim Stockdale was shot down over North Vietnam in 1965 while leading an airstrike in his A-4 Skyhawk and was not released until spring of 1973 when the final prisoners were released. In retrospect my Naval Service extended from June 1966 to September 1972 and the thought occurred to me that Jim Stockdale and others were in prison camp longer than I was in the Navy! I will tell you also that compared to what I have read about their experiences, my own experience which seemed harsh and severe at the time, I now know was closer to recess at kindergarten than an actual prison experience.

A year earlier, Jim Stockdale was involved in one of the pivotal events in the Vietnam Conflict. On August 4, 1964 he and his squadron were flying overhead during the second alleged attack of the Tonkin Gulf Incident. Unlike the first attack by North Vietnam torpedo boats two days earlier, this one was believed to have been a false alarm. Years later he recounted "I had the best seat in the house to watch the event and our Destroyers were just shooting at phantom targets - there were no PT boats there....There was nothing but black water and American fire power." Even though he had reported this to his seniors, President Johnson, Secretary McNamara and others were so desperately looking for a "reason" to escalate the military action that they used this incident to precipitate the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which gave the President the authority to attack North Vietnam without officially declaring war. His superiors tried to convince Stockdale to change his story and when he would not, they warned him to "keep quiet about it". History now proves Stockdale to have been correct and the Tonkin Gulf Resolution to have been an ill conceived document. After his capture this knowledge threw a burden upon him. He later said he was concerned that his captors would eventually force him to reveal that he knew this terrible secret about the Vietnam War.

Ironically enough when, as a result of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, President Johnson ordered bombing raids against patrol boat bases and oil storage tanks in North Vietnam it was Jim Stockdale who led the first raid. It was during this raid that the first Navy pilot was shot down, captured and sent to the "Hanoi Hilton". Lt. Everett Alverez Jr. was the first of nearly 600 aviators to end up in the prison camps of North Vietnam and remained incarcerated for eight years, longer than any other POW.

Stockdale was a philosopher and one of his underlying philosophies which he credits with helping him survive his prison experience is now called the "Stockdale Paradox" by management experts. It is referenced by Jim Collins in his best selling book "Good to Great". Basically it is this " You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of difficulties, AND at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they may be".

Admiral James Bond Stockdale, USN Medal of Honor Citation:

Rank and Organization: Rear Admiral (then Captain), U.S. Navy. Place and date: Hoa Lo Prison, Hanoi, North Vietnam, 4 September 1969. Entered service at: Abington, Ill. Born: