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Survival, Escape, Resistance and Evasion Notes

SERE

Introduction

Welcome to the SERE (Survival, Escape, Resistance and Evasion) Course.

While this course will not in any way make you instantly qualified to go into the bush and excersise these techniques, it will set a good basis to build from.

The information presented in this course is for entertainment purposes only. The course professor(s), Imperial University , Training Officer, and Emperor's Hammer assume no responsibility for the way you use the information contained herein. In fact, we do not recommend you use it at all without having taken the proper classes or courses on the subject.

Survival

Attitude is everything. Some of you may read this and think "yeah, o.k., now get on to the good stuff". What you must realize is that without the proper mental attitude, the other topics will be of use for only a short period of time. Depression, loneliness, feelings of abandonment, despondency, and the feeling that nobody knows where you are or cares will conspire to kill you. If you have done your homework, practiced the techniques described, there is a very good chance you will survive if you have a positive mental attitude. Tell yourself that you WILL get out of this. You WILL persevere.

I have seen some survival books talk as though collecting water is easy, catching game with snares is simple, and survival is something that can be taught in books. Try as they might, it can?t. Survival is one of those things you need to learn first hand, be it going into the bush on weekends, or finding groups to teach you. To survive you must battle three things in this order:

  1. Exposure
  2. Dehydration
  3. Starvation

You can die in a few hours if you cannot retain body heat. You can die of exposure in 72 degree weather! You will develop hypothermia when your body loses heat faster than you can produce it. You need calories to generate body heat. People die of hypothermia in warm water. The water is cooler than they are, subsequently the water absorbs body heat until their body can produce no more. It is a slow death.

When you breath your breathe causes water loss. Perspiration causes water loss. Evaporation from your eyes causes water loss. If you cannot replace these losses you will die. Drink water with little microbes, parasites, etc. and you will develop diarrhea. This will increase your fluid loss and you will die even quicker.

Food is the last thing you will need. In moderate climates, you can survive without food for up to 30 days. You will die without water in one or two in the desert! Finding edible berries and plants are the last things you need to learn. Rescue and conserving fluids and body heat are the primary survival skills. If you can survive long enough to get real hungry you are doing a good job. In extreme cold food is more important because your body converts food to heat.

Exposure and Body Heat - Arctic

Time is running against you here. You must work quickly and conserve energy. After you have taken inventory, build a fire:
Hopefully you will have matches or a lighter. You must conserve these valuable items. Before you build your fire, pick a place for your shelter. (see below). Now gather combustible materials. Cones from pine trees don't burn. Bark doesn't either. DON?T waste matches trying to ignite them. Gather material in this order:

  1. Very small match stick thickness twigs. Have at least a good double handful. They must be dry. To find dry sticks in the rain, look under the overhang of an embankment, under-side of logs, dead dry roots pulled out of an embankment, the center of a stump or dead tree (dug out with a knife).
  2. Small sticks a little bigger than the smallest. You will need more of these, at least one or two quarts. Some of these may be a little wet.
  3. Bigger sticks - Twice the thickness of the ones before, even more of these.

Keep moving up in size until you are collecting branches/small logs. If the wood is available you will need as much as you can gather in an hour. Drift wood will work if it's dry.
Now that you have your wood it's time to build your fire. Take your time and do this right. DONT throw the fire together haphazardly. This will only waste fuel and increase the risk of the fire not lighting. Every match you have is like gold. Do not waste them. If you do this right you will only need one.
Take a medium size branch and lay it down. Now build a tiny lean-to with the smallest sticks by leaning them up against the branch. Take more and and lay them perpendicular to first layer, and parallel to the big branch. Use lots of very small sticks and leave enough gaps between them for the flames to rise up through and ignite the upper layers. If it's raining or windy cover yourself with something to protect your fire. Now add the bigger sticks to the top of the your neat little lean-to, using a teepee shape, and surrounding the little lean to on all sides. Leave a small gap up close to the big branch to get your match under the pile. If you have a small slip of paper or lint from pockets, put it under the lean-to and ignite it. As your fire grows, start adding more and more sticks to get the fire very hot. Now add the larger sticks, the heat will dry them if they are damp.(Not if they are green or soaked through.) Keep building your fire in stages. DON'T wait to long to add the next size larger sticks. The heat generated from the rapidly burning small ones is needed to dry and ignite the larger ones. As soon as you can, put some bigger stuff on by laying them across the big branch on the ground. Once your fire is going, DONT let it go out. If you need more fuel gather more, and start building your shelter.

This is the fastest shelter I know of:
Is there a snow bank nearby? Can you build a small one? You are going to dig a cave in the snow. You want the opening to be away from the wind. The cave has to be very small. For a snow shelter to be effective it must be below freezing. If not, melting snow will saturate your clothing and you will freeze. Hollow out a place to lie in the snow. If you have something to line the floor with it will be much warmer. If you have nothing but plastic or something, try to find evergreen tree limbs to line it with. You want as much between you and the cold ground as you can. You will lose more heat by being in contact with the cold ground than you will from the air. The air in your cave will warm and retain heat. If you have a small heat source you can place a vent through the roof to allow gas to escape. You must ration your heat source. You will need it more at night when the temperature drops. Luxuries to add will be more insulation, seat cushions, etc. and a door.
A Ranger Pile is a shelter used by small parties who lack bulky camping equipment or who for tactical reasons, must not risk fire or shelter construction. First layer of men, four or five lays very close together on two ponchos snapped together. Next layer lies on top of the others, cross ways. Another layer on top of them. Remaining ponchos are snapped together and pulled over the top and tucked in around the sides. If a quantity of DRY pine needles, leaves, etc can be quietly collected, this can be used for insulation stuffing. Just pile it on each layer before the next gets on. This is how small recon teams survive without carrying a lot of equipment with them. It only gets bad when one of the guys has gas!
A vehicle will block the wind but the compartment is too big to retain body heat. You will freeze if you stay in a car or aircraft. Strip cushions, carpet, floor mats, insulation, etc. from the vehicle to line your shelter with. If you have tools and can remove the hood or trunk lid you can use these for a reflector to direct heat in one direction from a fire.
If you are fortunate enough to have the materials to construct a lean-to, build one similar to the way you built your fire. Keep the openings away from the wind, and towards your fire. Use a reflector to direct the heat into your lean-to.

Clothing:
What do you have to work with? Thin material should be put closest to your body, as should wool. If you have extra foam from seat cushions, stuff your shirts and pants with it. It will work as insulation. Extra clothing can be stripped in to pieces of about 5" x 4' and used as wrapping for extra socks. The Russian army has always used wool strips for field socks. You want to have the material that best holds in heat closest to your skin. This same concept can be used when you have the luxury of a sleeping bag. Sleeping bags are designed to hold in heat much better than clothes. When you get into a bag, remove all of your clothes and lay on them. Naked, your body heat will be trapped between your skin and the bag. Otherwise your heat escapes through the thin material of your clothing, and stays between your clothes and the bag, until it dissipates.
If you have no clothes for the environment you find yourself in, you will have to use the shelter for clothing. Keep your shelter VERY small and use insulation. This is your only chance to survive.
If there is plenty of snow/ice you will have a good water supply if you have a fire and a container to melt it in. DO NOT EAT SNOW. It will lower your body temperature and bring on hypothermia. Always melt it and get it warm first.
Do not drink alcohol of any kind. It will thin your blood and increase your urine output. If it's strong enough, you can use it as a disinfectant, or to help start your signal fires if an aircraft approaches.
Now that you have your fire and a shelter it is time to improve the odds of rescue. The international distress signal is three (3) of anything or the letters SOS. Don't build three fires because it wastes fuel. Scrape out three large circles in the snow by dragging something around. If it snows these will fill in. If you have access to lots of branches or something that provides a good contrast to the white snow, lay them out to form 3 large X's. What looks big to you on the ground looks very small from an aircraft at 10,000 feet? Your X's should be 100 - 150 feet across and 75 feet apart. If you have the wood build three fires in the middle of each but don't light them. Keep your main fire going so that you'll be able to take a torch to the other fires in a hurry.
Smoke will be quite visible from the air also. Large piles of pine needles smoke well, as does rubber, plastic, or oil. Be careful about burning critical supplies however! I would not throw a poncho, sheet of plastic, or rubber boots on the fire in a vain attempt to signal a distant plane. You will have to use common sense. If the plane cannot land near you, and has to radio for help, you could be there a while longer anyway. With bad weather it might take a rescue party several days to get you. If the pilot is an idiot, or lacks a GPS or LORAN, he might report your location as being 20 miles away from where you actually are.
If you are inland you will not have much opportunity to hunt for seals. In some areas of the north, the only things you will find are lemmings, lichens, and maybe a fox or two (If there are enough rats to feed them). Near the sea you will be able to hunt seal. That far north and you won't find much snow; it is too arid and cold. On the Ice pack you will have to build your shelter with ice, and heat it with animal fat. If you wind up on the ice pack, with no supplies, there is little I can tell you here that will save your life. You will have to stay warm long enough to get rescued, which had better be pretty quick.

Exposure - Desert

Since there is nothing in the desert to hold in the heat, it dissipates quickly after the sun goes down. Deserts can drop to near freezing over night. During the day the temperature will soar and fry your brain, dry you out, and kill you. For this reason any movement should only be at night. For shelter you must get out of the sun. If you can, dig a hole to get in and cover it. Do not strip off your clothes. Have you ever wondered why arabic people wear those long, heavy, hot looking clothing on their heads and bodies? It is because moisture evaporation is your worst enemy in the desert. Clothing helps keep in this moisture and slows evaporation. It must be loose enough to allow heat loss. You will need to stay warm at night, refer to the arctic topic above.
Water is the most important thing to consider in the desert, it must be conserved. Long term drinking of urine can make you sick, but if it's all you have you will have to drink it. Succulent plants like cactus also contain water, as do the bodies of snakes, lizards, and other animals. Suck every drop you can from them, but avoid the poison glands in snakes (they are right behind the head in the neck). The only two parts of animals in North America that cannot be eaten are the livers of the polar bear and bearded seal. They contain toxic amounts of Vitamin A.
If you have plastic or a poncho you can collect water at night in the desert. Dig a hole (or use support sticks) as wide as the plastic. Make a hole in the plastic at the center. Stretch the plastic over the hole and weight down the edges with rocks. Press down the center of the sheet or tie it to a tock to pull it down. Place a container under the hole. When dew forms on the plastic it will roll down hill through the hole and it into your container. Use your poncho during the day as shade.
Do not drink alcohol, it will increase your urine output and aid in dehydration. The same goes for caffeine. It may keep you awake for a while, but it will also speed up dehydration.

Exposure - Jungle

Here, heat and sunlight are your worst enemies. Insects and water contamination are also major problems. The heat and humidity of the jungle makes for rapid bacteria growth. Any untreated wound will fester within a few hours. In a day or two a cut can become bad enough to cause gangrene. You must protect yourself by turning down sleeves, blousing your pants to keep insects out, and wearing gloves and a hat.
Water must be boiled well to kill parasites. Safe water can be found in water vines. These are very thick vines that hang down from large trees. You know the ones that Tarzan swings from? Cut one at a 45 degree angle, move up the vine and cut it off about three feet up or sever it to release the suction. Hold your mouth under the vine and the water will flow out. This water is safe to drink without boiling. Try not to let it run along the exposed outside of the vine though, that area will have tiny creepy crawlies.
Jungle streams are usually as deep as they are wide. Dieffenbachia (or 'dumb cane') can be crushed and added to water to stun fish.
Chinese Star Apples, Mangoes, bananas, coconuts, and other fruits are safe to eat if you wash them with sterile water first. The seeds of the Star apple are poisonous. Many species of tree frogs in the rainforests are highly toxic. They are recognized by there bright vivid colors. If you are very careful not to touch them, you can use their skin secretions for poisonous blow gun darts.
Blow guns are difficult to make, but I'll cover them for the sake of thoroughness. Take a limb and split it length-wise. Scrape the bore of the weapon into both halves. It must be perfect. Allow it to dry and polish the bore halves smooth. The two sides must fit perfectly (This is harder than it sounds). Bind the two back together with bark or vine strips.
Darts are made from any wood that can be sharpened. To launch the dart a small tuft of fiber (like cotton) from the stem of a tree branch is balled around the base of the dart.
During the rainy season, grubs can be found in the center of trees. It may not sound all that appetizing, but given the choice of death by starvation or sucking down a few grubs, I think that?s pretty straight forward.
Build a platform or hammock to get off of the ground when you sleep. Insects will eat you alive if you don't. Mud can be used to keep mosquitoes off.
The jungle is a Garden of Eden compared to the desert or the arctic. With a little common sense anyone should be able to survive.
I don't know of any poisonous plants that don't taste extremely bitter and nasty. If the leaf tastes mild it is probably OK to eat. When in doubt, try a little piece first and wait a couple of hours. If nothing bad happens try twice as much and wait again. Keep doing this until you?ve tried enough to have made you sick. If you are still O.K. then it's probably safe to eat. There are exceptions to this rule, most notably among berries. Some berries don't taste too bad but are poisonous.
You should educate yourself before going to a new area. Pictures in books never look like the actual plant. Generally, if it crawls, walks, or slithers on its belly it is safe to eat.

Escape

You are on the run behind enemy lines with just the contents of your escape tin and the clothes you stand in, what should you do?
However, it is not just the fast jet jockey and winged dagger trooper who could find themselves in the role of unwelcome guest behind enemy lines, being hotly pursued by a hunter killer force. Once the shooting starts, at any time it could happen to YOU.

  1. Your unit has been decimated after being surrounded by the enemy, but you have managed to escape.
  2. Your defensive position has been overrun by the enemy but you have survived and must get away before they start mopping-up.
  3. Your patrol becomes lost behind enemy lines.
  4. You have accidentally strayed through the enemy front line.
  5. You have broken out from a POW holding area behind the battlefield.
  6. You have managed to escape from a POW camp further into occupied territory.
  7. You are on a peace-keeping mission when your unit is taken hostage or ambushed and all are captured except yourself.
The list is endless, but ask yourself honestly these two questions. If I found myself in any of the above situations, would I know exactly what my very first move should be? And then, as the minutes tick by, what should I do next?

Now you are probably thinking that you should start water gathering, building a shelter and instituting all the other 'surviving in the wilds' skills. Wrong! Long term evaders such as downed pilots, or escapers from permanent POW camps deep inside enemy territory, may need to travel for weeks or even months before reaching friendly territory, so 'wild' survival skills are very important For them. However, only a very few soldiers ever become long term evaders. Most Escape and Evasion (E&E) in any conflict is short term, lasting anywhere from about one hour up to 48 hours.

What is most important in short term evasion is to understand the few basic rules of E&E based around anti-capture and anti tracking techniques. Without this knowledge, the chances are that you will be shot, taken prisoner or recaptured very quickly. If you don't understand the fundamental anti-tracking skills, the chances are that you will not be able to use your survival skills without tipping off the enemy. So it is important that you learn the basic ground rules of short term escape and evasion first.

The Escape Phase

1st Rule - Escape Quickly
This is the first and most important rule of E&E and can be applied to many different situations. In this case, Escape Rule 1 refers to the period immediately after capture by the enemy. You must escape at the first opportunity because:

  1. The longer you remain in captivity, the more thoroughly you will be searched.
  2. The longer you remain a prisoner, the further you will be sent behind enemy lines.
  3. Your captors will very probably be front line combat troops. These soldiers will likely have neither the interest, the time, nor the training in handling POWs. The longer you remain in captivity, the greater the chance of being sent to a secure POW camp with guards who have been specially trained in preventing escapes.
  4. Once incarcerated in a purposebuilt POW camp, the rules of E&E will change drastically (to be covered in a future article).

2nd Rule - Don't Talk
Being captured by an enemy is a severe psychological shock, even for experienced soldiers. Only those who have experience of such an event can appreciate the desire to talk to captors, sometimes without being able to stop. You must steel yourself from the very first moment of captivity to say as little as possible.

3rd Rule - Be The Grey Man
After capture, most soldiers adopt one of two attitudes. They either try to appeal to their captors by smiles and other friendly gestures, or they show defiance by scowling, cursing or exhibiting signs of aggression. Do neither!
You must attract as little attention from your captors or jailers as possible. This will prevent you from being singled out for interrogation, when you will be under closer guard, and will greatly help your chances of escape.
To play the grey man, stand or sit motionless with head slightly bowed. Avoid eye contact, but if forced to look at the enemy, focus on your opponent's forehead and show no emotion. Speak only if spoken to.

Resistance

Resistance is one of the toughest parts of this course, as it is designed to teach you how to deal with being captured. Feeling's of loneliness, depression, and abandonment are bound to set in without the proper training.
Yet at the same time, it's also one of the single most difficult sections to attempt to teach. Each mind will differ, and not everyone will react the same to being captured. I cannot go into great detail, as this skill requires you to learn it the hard way - during the three week SERE course offered through the Imperial University at Fort Braga on Phare. The key is to keep it in your head that the EH has not, and will not, forget any of you. Help WILL always come. Your enemies will try to get inside your head - resist the urge to give in. While these are by no means very helpful, use them as a base. Members interested should contact the SERE Intructors as to program availability at Fort Braga.

Evasion

This most important Escape Rule also applies to the Evasion Phase. You may have just escaped from POW custody, be the surviving member of an ambushed patrol or have been overlooked as enemy assault troops overran your position.
In any of these situations, you could be captured at any moment. You must now travel as far and as fast as you can. The further you escape from your last point of contact with the enemy, the wider the arc or area the hunter-killer force will need to search for you and the greater the area that tracker dogs may have to cover to pick up your scent.

Rule 2 - Evade In Pairs
The larger the evading group is, the easier it will be to track down. If possible, try and break down into pairs as this could split up the team tracking you or even leave them all tracking just one spoor. In most situations, two heads are better than one and when rest becomes a necessity, one can remain on guard while the other sleeps.

Rule 3 -Assume You Are Being Hunted
An evader has a very limited view of events around him and it's very easy to assume that he has given the enemy the slip. Often this is a mistaken view. Besides which, always assuming you are being hunted focuses the mind and this should lead to you making less mistakes.

Rule 4 - Carry A Compass
The sensible soldier will always carry a minicompass in his Survival Tin plus one hidden in his clothing. This is one of the most treasured E&E possessions. To allow for all eventualities though, learn to make an emergency compass by magnetizing a needle and sitting it on a free floating leaf on water. Practice now as you won't get time when you are an evader.

Rule 5 - Make Or Get A Map
Maps are important. Before a mission make a simple map on a sheet of paper from your waterproof notepad. Show just the basic routes, roads, rivers and major topographical features, then sew it into your uniform.
If captured, while awaiting escape, make a rudimentary map by drawing on the inside of your clothing as this will greatly aid your navigation plans. Once on the run, acquire a better one- search bodies and deserted buildings and, particularly in an urban environment, look inside vehicles or even check out phone boxes.

Rule 6 - Ignore The Hay Barn
Don't assume the 'Hay Barn' mentality. In other words, never hide in obvious places. The barn on the hill will look tempting refuge with hide, but this is also the first place the hunter force will search.

Rule 7 - Become a Magpie
Never pass-by anything that could be of use. A discarded bin liner or even a plastic fertilizer bag can make an emergency waterproof overgarment. An abandoned steel helmet, not too common in these days of composites, makes a good cooking pot but look out for any metal container that will do this job and also transport drinking water.

Rule 8 - Camouflage Your Tracks
You must camouflage signs that you have passed, and especially your footprints, from man trackers. This is because the most common form of track to find and easiest to follow is the markings you leave on the ground-known as ground spoor. an even better find for an experienced tracker is a full bootprint (a confirmed spoor) from which he will be able to tell how fast you are moving, how tired you are and much more information on you.

With a consecutive pair of prints he can tell how fast you are travelling, what distance you are covering and even if you are carrying a load. Despite your boot probably having the same tread pattern as the rest of the guys in your unit, individual wear marks and tread damage make your boots as individual as your fingerprints. No wonder trackers call full bootprints a confirmed spoor.

Consequently, avoid walking on soft muddy ground. Instead try to find hard, rocky surfaces. Remember, though, not to disturb loose rocks as these would give a tracker recognizable, though less useful, ground spoor.
Of course there will be times when you have no choice but to walk on soft or muddy ground, so remember the following techniques. They may only temporarily confuse trackers, but they may gain you valuable time.

  1. Often there are harder ridges on either side of well used, soft, muddy paths. Walk legs astride on these ridges.
  2. Step carefully into existing footprints.
  3. Walk backwards or on tiptoe.
  4. Walk in a stream. Remember not to leave scuff marks or other ground spoor on the bank as you enter or leave the stream.

Rule 9 -Don 't Leave Aerial Spoor
Spoor above the ground or overhead may not be as easy to spot as ground spoor, but a good tracker will find it nevertheless.

  1. Don't break branches in your way - gently bend them aside.
  2. If you can't bend it, go under, over or around it.
  3. If you snag or tear clothing, don't be in such a hurry. Check to see that you have not left a small piece of cloth or telltale fibers behind you.

Rule 10 - Don't Leave Scent
Tracker dogs follow the microscopic body scent particles that continually fall from your body and settle on or just above the ground.Their remarkably sensitive noses will follow your previous route as accurately as if you could draw the dog a map. Even so, there are ways to slow down,confuse and even defeat tracker dogs.

  1. Use a vehicle or even a bicycle. This will not only break the scent chain, but will put you further ahead of the pack much quicker and with less fatigue.
  2. On foot, follow an erratic path through tangled undergrowth. This usually tangles the running lead of the dog and its handler, slowing them down.
  3. Use well traveled animal or human trackways. Even better, follow an erratic path through a farmyard, as a large collection of new scent may temporarily confuse the dog and hinder progress.
  4. When you reach water, don't just cross it. Walk in running water for a short distance before exiting on a part of the bank where your spoor will not show.
  5. If you can only find narrow waterways such as ditches, with still water in them, walk in them but cross diagonally, doubling back on yourself at least once to confuse the dog.
  6. If practical, wash regularly, but never use anything scented.
  7. If you cannot wash, roll around over the ground you are traversing, to add country scents to your own. However, remember that a man who has rolled in a dung heap smells just like a man who has rolled in a dung heap, to a well trained tracker dog with a good nose.
  8. Don't allow yourself to come in contact with strongly smelling substances such as smoke or animal droppings. If an article of clothing becomes contaminated and you have to discard it, make sure you bury it, or better still hide it under rocks in a stream. Now wash hair and skin if also contaminated.
  9. Try to outrun the dogs. A tracker dog has to move comparatively slowly so, as stated before, escape as quickly as possible.

Rule 11 - Camouflage Your Identity
It should almost go without saying, that you practice the basic rules of camouflage and concealment when resting, laying-up, approaching a dangerous area, etc. You should also practice camouflage and deception when traveling.

  • Avoid busy or populated areas and keep your distance from any civilians you see.
  • Don't act suspiciously or appear to be nervous as this wilt attract attention.
  • Never walk in an upright, military fashion-adopt a tired slouch.
  • Try to at least keep the appearance of being clean and keep shaving if you can.
  • If traveling in countryside, carry a spade or some other farming implement.
  • Keep your uniform on underneath any civilian clothing as otherwise you could be shot for being a spy.
  • Keep your watch in your pocket.
  • If approached by the locals, unless you speak and look like a native of the area, pretend to be deaf and dumb or perhaps even half-witted. The latter often works.

Rule 12 - Disguise Your Hide.
Sooner or later you will need to lay-up or rest. Again, leave no traces of your presence.
It is a good idea to rest for 5-10 minutes in every hour that you travel. Don't just stop anywhere though. Choose an area of good cover and try to leave no trace of your LUP (Laying Up Point).
A longer LUP occurs when you sleep. lie facing the ground, and if you have a ground sheet or something similar, cover yourself with it. This should concentrate your scent in one place. Before you leave, cover your sleeping area with soil and natural debris to mask the scent.
Always bury any food waste, camp fire debris, feces, urine or anything connected with your stay. Try not to contaminate your skin with waste material. Finally, cover disturbed soil with natural debris. Waste on the surface will attract flies in warm weather and will be easily spotted by human trackers, and a dog's nose will pick up the scent a long way off.

Rule 13 - Disguise Your Fire
Opinions vary as to exactly when you are safe enough to light a fire. However, sometimes it is crucial to purify food or water by cooking or boiling, to provide warmth to prevent hypothermia.
If you have to light a fire, ideally you should dig a fire pit deep enough to hide the flames. Try not to make the fire too big and ensure that flames to not show above ground. Use only small pieces of fuel.
Dig a separate air shaft at an angle to the pit as this will make the fire burn quicker and prevent excessive smoke. If the ground is too hard to dig, is too waterlogged, or a fire pit is impractical for some other reason, light the fire under a canopy of leafy foliage to disperse smoke. Alternatively, light a surface fire against a high wall.

Above all else, when Escaping and Evading, DO IT QUICKLY and DO IT CAREFULLY!

Taking Inventory

First examine what you have to work with. Seat cushions from a vehicle are insulation. Shiny glass, mirrors, or polished metal can be used to signal search aircraft. Glass with imperfections, bifocals, binoculars, etc. can be used to focus the suns rays enough to start a fire. Thread stripped from a from seat cushion and wound together can be used to lash things together, make fishing nets, sutures fro stitching wounds, etc. Remember your priorities: Rescue, Shelter, Water, and food. You will have to balance these priorities and make decisions. Generally, you should stay in the area where you became stranded if there is any chance of a search for you. If you try to walk out, the search party will not find you. You will burn calories while walking, calories that will be hard to replace. You will also perspire; can you afford the water loss? If the enemy is searching for you, you will have to move to a safe location.

Advanced SERE

To find you they have to use their senses. But you become one with your environment--- invisable and inaudible, so their senses won't work. Confuse them and they can't think. Attack them, Harass them, trap them, destroy their minds, then their hearts, and finially some of their tired, beaten bodies, and the only thing that WILL work is their emotions. Then, You own them.
Stealth is your great ally. Speed is only used for emergencies. Many people think that the idea in escaping and evading is merely to put distance between you and your pursuers. That's wrong--- with one exception. In this game of life and death, stealth, and the ability to scheme are relative. It's them against you. In the beginning of the chase, flat out speed often works to your advantage, because it forces them into hot pursuit immediately, so they never get a chance to organize.
Even if you are running scared, so that the more lead time you have the better you like it, the answer may not be for you to run faster, but to make them run slower. Take at least one member of their party out and the rest will slow down to a crawl. When they start out after you with superior numbers, better weapons and dogs, they will press on and enjoy the chase. As soon as one of them dies, all will scare, and start thinking maybe this isn't fun after all.
DON'T PANIC; Stay cool! If you Panic you loose the ability to scheme and plan. Then you are dead meat. You have to know the power of the enemy and plan for every possibility. Dont just move. Think. Scheme. You must be able to PRECISELY assess the situation and then Plan and scheme around the facts.
Never make a maneuver that requires a strength you dont have or a weapon you don't own. On the contrary, Force THEM into over-extending, hurrying, and running scared. Why Tangle with them when they are fresh, confident and ready to fight. Wait. Sooner, or later, they will make a mistake. The seconday factor is your physical condition and how well you maintain yourself as you escape. Finally, distance is helpful, but remember--- ONLY HELPFUL.

Hiding in Water
DO NOT attempt to hide in Water. Every War movie from Rambo on back, puts the hero into the drink. He breathes through a reed while they pass, and then comes out behind them. That's show biz; Here's real life:
You go into the water. If they have dogs, the doggie will turn and say, "this is where he went into the drink because I can't smell him anymore." (Even if you have bathed 100%, you develop Maggot breath in the woods, and no dog could miss it.)
Then the Handler will fan left or right and find a place for the dog to pick up your trail on one side of the bank or the other. If they find no trail, they know you continued to bathe. They will find you. "But," you say, "you're hidden under a bunch of sacred lilies, Which they don't dare to disturb, so they can't see you." (yeah, right.)
So--they will just wait you out. Water takes away your body heat at a phenomenal rate, about 7 times faster than air. Your natural body temperature is about 98.6 degrees. Even if the water is a comfy 74, in time you will suffer from hypothermia. They will wait, and you will freeze. Even if they didn't have time to wait (but they certainly will...you are their priority), detection is a big problem. You have to get deep enough so they can't see you through the water. You also have to breathe. Now, we already know that you wouldn't be in the water if you didn't believe in fiction, so you just happen to have with you a special camouflaged hose six feet long.
At first you breath fine. But then it becomes labored. Why? You exhale carbon dioxide, which does not clear the hose, so you breathe back in your own carbon dioxide, and re-use the unexpended oxygen... you run out of air. You end up cold and sucking gas as you bubble to the top. Yes, water hideouts are great, but only in the movies...
Finally, there's the one about running in the creek. Then a scent dog can't track you and you get away. No,no. First, you run a tremendous risk of injury travelling in creeks because all the rocks on the bottom are slippery. You'll think somebody designed them just for breaking ankles. Second, you move more slowly in water than you do on land. Anybody can walk faster on the bank than you can run in the water... And you will make God's own noise while running. Hypothermia is, again, a problem, and at very least you lose calories, and therefore stamina. The creek getaway is an armchair dream; it won't work either.

Hiding In Trees
If you go up a tree, the enemy will make a monkey out of you. As you sit at home and think about it, treetops are alluring. Here's the scenario: With a slingshot you shoot a shot weighted fishline over a high limb. The fishline is tied to a parachute cord (550 lbs test) and you pull it over. With your foot in the loop on one side of the line, you Hand-over-hand up the other until you're into the tree tops. Then you connect tree to tree, and you befuddle the whole Posse. Bull; it really goes like this:
You finally get up in the trees and, miracle-- the branches are thick enough to connect. It takes a long time to pull this off so you lose lead time, and it is tiring. Also you could have fallen on your Butt and broken something, but you made it! Now, you're ten-twenty trees away, and they arrive.
The dogs either bark tree'd or stop and look up. So the posse fans out and goes heads up also. You don't dare move. If you happen to have a gun and shoot, you'll kill one, and the other 19 will ventilate you. You are cornered.
They WILL find you, day or night, because they know you can't move. If you do.. they will probably kill you (weapons or the fall). Yes, the tree plan sucketh. Ask any dead bear or coon that has ever been tree'd---DONT TAKE TO THE TREES.

Food
You can't evade if you don't preserve yourself. If you let your diet go or get a case of food poisoning, you're history. You have to eat. No 7-11's in the woods, so you will have to go native, and eat what's available.
Most often in an E&E situation you must feed yourself on the run. Snake, birds and rodents are great, But it takes a ton of lead time to catch them. You are better off with ants, Termites and grubworms, because these are plentiful and take very little stopping time to catch and prepare. Even grasshoppers take some time and energy to catch. Ants, termites and grubworms are the fast food of the jungle. Just think of this as the escapee's Kentucky Colonel. You can even sing, "We do termites right."
Turn over a rock and catch a bunch of ants on a leaf or piece of paper. Scoop them into a cup, add water, heat 'n serve. It will taste sweet. Break off a bottom chunk of wood to find termites, and flick these into the same cup. Incidentally, replace the log so that trackers won't know what you're eating. Add water, boil; enjoy.
Grub worms go down like a large pill. Break off the head and swallow the body with a swig of water. These are best because the fat content provides you with energy.
With enough lead time developed to enable you to build a small fire, you can upgrade your menu. Rodents, birds, squirrels, etc, make great meals. A fat rat isn't much less than a skinny rabbit. I am not in favor of snakes because the risk isn't worth the low fat diet they provide. Birds can be snared alright, but they take a long time to prepare, and you have to boil any carrion-eater because they are full of parasites. Fowl are wonderful to eat, but they make a racket you would not believe when snared.
Plants are another chapter entirely, but as a rule grasses are edible unless they have saw toothed edges; this will tear up your digestive system. Avoid eating any plant with a mily sap, except dandelions, which are fine to eat cooked or raw.

Navigation

Remember these things:
Do not cross open areas
Don't walk across the tops of hills, walk around them. Freeze if you see or hear an aircraft.
Cross roads in curves, not on straight-aways.
Parallel streams, rivers and roads if necessary, but be very cautious when doing so.
Avoid all inhabited areas (traditional method).
Travel at night, sleep during the day.
Sleep in thick inaccessible wooded areas. Crawl under bushes to get into the center of thickly wooded areas. If traveling through populated areas you must adopt the customs of the people.
Don't linger in one area. It arouses suspicion and authorities may be called to investigate.

Alternate Method - Steal clothing from houses when no one is home. Conceal the theft as best you can to slow down reporting of your pilfering to authorities.

Keep a clean, neat set of clothes rolled up and protected. Change into these when you come to a populated area. Keep your sleeves rolled down and wear gloves when traveling through woods and fields. It is not hard to keep from getting cuts and scrapes when you are out for a day or two camping. It is much harder when you have to traverse hundreds of miles. After a few days you will be covered with scratches, insect bites, and torn, soiled, clothing.
It is very hard to look like anything but a vagrant but that is what you must do. The authorities will be looking for someone who looks like they have been traveling on foot. You want to look clean cut if you are in a town, like a farmer if you are in the country, or a factory worker if you are near shipyards, factories, etc.
The alternate method allows moving from one inhabited area to another. If you have the temerity to pull this off it could be much simpler than trying to avoid the enemy in the woods. You can't go around asking directions in a foreign tongue if you don't want to be noticed. You must find a place where you can blend in and observe the actions of others. If you are sitting outside, it helps to have a newspaper or book to pretend to look at. Get one from the trash. be very careful when trying to steal. If you are caught it will mean more than a jail term. If you are caught by a homeowner or proprietor, don't just run. Try pleading your situation to them. If you are a foreigner fleeing from an occupying army or unpopular government troops you may find sympathy. In some undeveloped regions, you may be viewed as a rich outsider and shot for your shoes! It all depends on the situation. Rural farming people are distrustful of outsiders in any country. If you can win them over, they are also friendlier. They work at farming, animal husbandry, etc. and don't depend on nor expect the kindness of others. Poor urban dwellers will probably rob you or turn you in for a reward. Use your knowledge of the people to survive. You can see why there is less danger if you choose to make your own way through the wilderness. But it has it's own difficulties, shelter, clothing, food and other necessities are very difficult to come by with a knife, compass, and the clothes on your back.

If you are armed you may be able to take a road checkpoint, or other unaware small party of soldiers/civilians. Take their clothes, vehicle, food, weapons and simply escape as far as you can. Then strike out over the country again.

If you come to a road check point it may be a good idea to watch them for a while. Sit back in the woods and see what they do.

Celestial Navigation

Now is the time to learn to do this. Don't wait until it is necessary to learn basic constellations.
In the northern hemisphere navigation revolves around one star, Polaris, also known as the North Star. It's easily located if you know how. Many people if asked to find ANY constellation will point to the Pleiades and call it the little dipper. Consult a star chart for further clarification.
The North Star is important because it never moves. It is always in the same place -- the north sky. It is the very end of the handle of the little dipper. You can find it this way, or if the dipper is below the horizon, locate it by using the big dipper. Measure the distance between the two stars that form the end of the 'pan.' Now draw a straight line through those two stars. Measure along that line 5 times the thickness of the pan. That is where the North or Pole star is located. To check your work, if you are close to 30 degrees latitude, the North Star should be three hand widths above the horizon. The farther north you go, the higher it will be in the sky. On the North Pole, it would be almost over head. Near the equator it is invisible, and its location must be approximated by looking for the big dipper or the constellation Cassiopeia.
In the southern hemisphere, you can find due south by looking for the Southern Cross. It rotates around the South Pole. If you draw a line from the top of the cross straight through the bottom and on across the sky, the line will pass through a due south point. Remember this, if you are about -30 degrees latitude, the imaginary 'South Star' will about 3 hand widths above the horizon. There is no southern pole star.

Sun Navigation

Take a stick and push it into the ground straight up. Place a small rock on the tip of the stick's shadow. Wait about 30 minutes and place another small rock on the tip of the 'new' shadow. Now draw a straight line between the two rocks. This line points east - west. Stand with your left toe on the first rock and your right toe on the second. You are facing north. Think of it this way -- if the sun moves from east to west, then the shadow moves from west to east, right?
Take a small stick, pencil or something in the fold between your thumb and hand. Hold your palm up and flat. Tilt the stick about 15 degrees toward the center of your hand. Face due east. Look at the point on your hand where the shadow falls. Divide the hand into 12 hours, starting at the wrist and moving clockwise around to your index finger, 12:00 noon being about where your little finger meets your hand.
The place where the shadow falls is the time of day. Congratulations! You just created a sundial.

Credits:

Created by: MAJ Domingo "Ding" Chavez
Edits by: CA:TO/VA Pel "Tuba" Morba