I did Fairchild in March. It sucked. Well not really. If you ever did any camping in the boy scouts it is like that only a lot worse. No food so to speak. They teach you how to land navigate, make shelter, find food (you might not think it is food but...muck it on down) and how to get the hell out of enemy lines. That is the fun part.
As for the POW training. That is classified. All I will say is I would never want to go through it again.
Just remember going through all the people that have done it before you and all the people that will do it after you. It is a learining experience. As the sign says when you pull on the base "Welcome to USAF survival school. Your life may depend on what you learn here" ASK Scott Grady.
I did Fairchild survial training in late May. My best piece of advice:
Bring at least three cans of "OFF" & two mosquito nets (for your face). After seven or so days camping, I came back with probably 1000+ bites. I'm still scratching from all those bites after eight years.
For a change of pace a few days later, when we started RT in June, it was snowing in the mountains and was 43 degrees and raining in our little RT world.
#2- Don't spend the whole time complaining, it won't make you feel any better.
#3- Keep in mind it will all be over soon.
I attended SERE in November. It hadn't started snowing heavily yet, although we did get dusted a little. Worst part was the rain....everything was soaked, and the temp was about 35 degrees. By the last day in the field, both flight suits were completely soaked through, I stank like a wilderbeast, and my skin was numb to the cold.
Luckily, since I am ex-Army, I was used to carrying a heavy rucksack. Many of my classmates weren't so lucky, and this was their first real experience rucking in miserable field conditions.
Oh, one other thing to remember...if you're too tall to fit your entire body under your poncho-tent (as most of us are unless you're 5'2"), it's better to let your feet stay warm and dry, and get your face wet (and cold). Get those feet cold and wet, and the next day's rucking will s^ck in a big way.
"Muck it on down!" **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**, who could forget those words?
Words to live by though. I did Fairchild in May. Bugs weren't bad yet though, RT was rainy. Have fun in the woods, and try to keep RT in perspective. You'll be fine!
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