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MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan: When Air Force pilots initially train to fly, they learn about ejecting from a plane and how to survive behind enemy lines.
Several Misawa survival, evasion, resistance and escape, or SERE, specialists took a pilot out recently for some realistic training.
1st Lt. Michael Baird, an F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot, trained with SERE specialists in the nearby woods. Once in the woods, the SERE troops hooked him to a parachute and dragged him several feet until he was able to detach himself from the parachute. From that point, the lieutenant was on his own and had to pretend he was behind enemy lines.
Lieutenant Baird grabbed his parachute and scrambled for cover in the woods. He hid his parachute and helmet using brush and fallen branches. Then he contemplated his next move.
“If it was real I would want to get a nice hiding spot,” he said.
Eventually he did find a hiding spot and three hours into the exercise, ground units were able to locate the lieutenant through his radio transmissions.
“I wanted to be up flying, but it's been a pretty good experience in that I've learned a lot and it's taught me what I need to go back and review,” Lieutenant Baird said.
