ANDREWS AFB, Md. –
The 201st Airlift Squadron, D.C. Air National Guard, held their annual survival training at Naval Air Station Key West, Fla., March 13 and 14.
More than 40 Airmen participated in the mandatory training for pilots and aircrew members.
Although the training is required every three years, the members rotate training every other year, said Capt. John J. Campo, 201 AS training chief. "This way, if they are on a mission and they get captured, they will know what to do because they had recent training."
The first day of training began with a four-hour Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape High-Risk-of Capture/Conduct After Capture course taught by Staff Sgt. Jonathan D. McGrath and Senior Airman Nathan M. Indorf, 89th Operations Support Squadron SERE specialists. During the remaining two-day training event, they taught water and combat survival.
"Our people are going to restaurants and hotels in high risk areas overseas every week," said Sergeant McGrath. "They need to know how to conduct themselves in any environment. Our goal is to provide the best and most realistic training and have them enjoy the experiences they are going through. If I can put them in a scenario, have them learn everything they need to know and have them thoroughly enjoy themselves, then I've done my job."
After the four-hour training, the Airmen were dropped off in Key West with a map of the city. They were told to contact the simulated embassy to find out where they were to go. If they were caught by simulated hostiles, (the SERE instructors and 113th Security Forces Squadron Ravens) they would be sent back to the starting point.
"You have to trust the system to work," said Lt. Col. Kevin Prom, National Guard Bureau A3O Mobility Forces branch chief. "The fact that you would be intermingling in a civilian population and you're not sure who to trust, you have to follow the clues to get to the helicopter and finally to a safe spot."
Once the Airmen arrived at their destination, they were flown to a safe area by a D.C. Army National Guard UH-1 helicopter.
The second day of training included Self Aid Buddy Care, CPR, water survival, and hand-to-hand combat, taught by the Ravens.
This elite military team, who also have to keep up with this form of training, fly with the 201 AS when they go into hostile territory.
For water survival, the participants donned life preservers and swam approximately 150 yards to a raft. They also had role players who were "injured" and needed assistance out to the raft.
"The water rescue was harder than I thought," said Major Campbell. "This is the first real world exercise in which I not only had to consider an entire crew's welfare, but also the welfare of untrained passengers. I also had to call upon SABC techniques to treat "injuries" that would have been very realistic in this scenario. Thinking about what you would do and actually doing it are two very different things. This scenario allowed us to 'practice-doing' instead of 'thinking-about-doing.'"
Once they were back on land, some of the participants went back into the water and were extracted by a DCARNG helicopter.
"I re-learned the things I already knew," said Tech. Sgt. Kevin Gallagher, 201 AS flight attendant. "It was a really good refresher and it's critical that we do it. Hopefully, I will never need to use this training, but it makes me more prepared to lead during an emergency. Anyone can read in a book and memorize, but I'm more hands on."
"The ANG benefits greatly from being able to stay current on this valuable and realistic training due to the number of dignitaries we routinely carry," said Major Campbell.
"The training gives us better awareness of the actual environment that we might deal with in an emergency situation," said Master Sgt. Donald Humphreys, 201 AS aircrew training NCO in charge and flight attendant. "If something goes wrong, the more you practice it, the more it becomes repetition and you tend to make less mistakes. Instead of just reading about water survival or seeing a slide show, you actually get hands on. Instead of seeing the sea spray in the picture, they taste the salt in the water."