United States Air Force hiring Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape (SERE) in Country Club Hills, Illinois, United States | LinkedIn (2025)

FAQs

Where is SERE training for the Air Force? ›

The 336th Training Group at the U.S. Air Force Survival School, Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, provides SERE training to at risk of isolation personnel. Instruction concentrates on the principles, techniques and skills necessary to survive with confidence in any environment and return with honor.

Staff Sgt. Josh Schmitz, who calls Wadena, Minn., home, is a 305th Operations Support Squadron SERE specialist here. He is one of only 400 SERE specialists Air Force wide.

Those who graduate (less than 10%) are awarded the Sage Beret (with insignia pin), SERE Arch and SERE Flash – only to enter another 45 weeks of intensive on-the-job training.

The U.S. Army SERE School conducts the SERE Level–C Course in accordance with Joint and Army Personnel Recovery Doctrine in order to train service members, DOD Civilians, and contractors who are identified as being at high risk of isolation on the Code of Conduct and tactics, techniques, and procedures of survival, ...

S-V-80-A is the Air Force SERE school's 19-day flagship course. Held 49 weeks out of the year, it is the standard level C, or highest tier, “Code of Conduct” training for aircrews, special operators, and other service members at higher-than-normal risk of being stranded behind enemy lines.

Candidates must overcome roughly a year's worth of demanding training before calling themselves SERE specialists. Their trials start with the SERE Specialist Training Orientation Course (SST-OC) located at Joint Base San Antonio. (U.S. Air Force video by Marcelo Joniaux)

The SERE Training Pipeline

60% of SERE candidates do not successfully complete SST-OC.

They also can deploy to combat locations, but SERE airmen do not directly participate in combat operations. Instead, they work as experts alongside pararescue teams in planning recovery and rescue operations.

Graduating the largest SERE specialist course marks the 336th TRG's second milestone in 2021. In January, the 336th TRG graduated its most successful class ever, with an attrition rate of just 7 percent. “Our goal as a cadre force is to train these guys to the best of our ability,” said Staff Sgt.

Sage green: The men under these teach Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE).

Do all Airmen go to SERE? ›

The SERE training courses are typically taught at three levels - A, B, and C. Level-A is the basic or entry-level. This is an introduction to the Code of Conduct that all Airmen receive in either Basic Military Training or Officer Training School. Level-B is required for Airmen with a higher risk of capture.

The United States Army's Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) training occasionally included waterboarding, in a less severe form that only mimicked drowning. Different accounts of waterboarding by the United States disagree about how it is practiced.

The 22nd Training Squadron is tasked with teaching those "at-risk of isolation personnel." The basic course, which instructs all aspects of SERE, lasts 19 days and occurs 48 weeks out of each year.

SERE Training School - Local and International Wilderness Survival Training Courses For Civilians & Outdoor Professionals.

To provide the appropriate level of training for aviation personnel, the Army integrated Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) Level C training, is a 21-day, once-in-a-career opportunity to learn the limits and emergency procedures (EP) associated with an isolating event and returning to friendly control.

The 22nd Training Squadron is tasked with teaching those "at-risk of isolation personnel." The basic course, which instructs all aspects of SERE, lasts 19 days and occurs 48 weeks out of each year.

Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape [SERE] training is conducted at the U.S. Navy's Training Site in Warner Springs, CA located in the Cleveland National Forest.

Total salary range for US Air Force USAF SERE Specialist

The estimated total pay range for a USAF SERE Specialist at US Air Force is $55K–$90K per year, which includes base salary and additional pay. The average USAF SERE Specialist base salary at US Air Force is $70K per year.