WARNER SPRINGS, Calif. (NNS) - Hungry, tired and running to survive with no end in sight, this is how Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) prepares the best for the worst.
As the sun sets, the survivor finds themselves without food, still fighting to survive through the night. The cold begins to set in, and the danger of the wild creeps down their neck. Plants, animals, and even bugs are the only sources of food to eat, but they can be as deadly as they are essential for survival.
When survival is at stake, those who train the best need to have the most current survival knowledge available.
Stacy M. Hishinuma, a forest service entomologist and University of California Graduate student, provided field demonstrations and instruction for SERE instructors to safely live off the bugs they can capture while trying to survive, San Diego Oct. 10.
Hishinuma covered topics such as trap setting, food preparation and safety using the terrain and wildlife at the Navy Remote Training Facility in Warner Springs, Calif., located in the Cleveland National Forest. This training will be passed down to future SERE students and used in real survival situations.
“The SERE instructors should take away some basic general rules to follow in order to make sure whatever insects they find in the wild are actually safe to eat and will not put them in more danger,” said Hishinuma.
The SERE instructors used knives and nets to track and capture a variety of insects found in tree bark, soil and plants.
“A lot of students come here hungry, and they will not eat for another six days,” said Operational Specialist Second Class Alexis Quintana, a SERE instructor at SERE West. “Really knowing what you can and cannot eat when it comes to insects and what part of the insect are edible key to teaching the students because in a survival situation it is not something you want to risk.”
Some danger signs when eating bugs include hairy, brightly colored and spiky bugs to avoid becoming sick when in the wild.
“A lot of people have not been without food for more than six hours on a day to day basis so once you take food out of their lives they start to get grouchy and don't want to participate and want to drop out of training,” said Quintana. “In this field there is no hiding and with some food it can boost my students positive metal attitude which could be what gets them home.”
The training helped the Sere instructors build survival skills that will help them advance the instruction given to their students in the future.
With this training, the knowledge passed down will continue to be passed on to benefit others.
Date Taken: | 10.10.2019 |
Date Posted: | 10.21.2019 16:39 |
Story ID: | 348511 |
Location: | WARNER SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA, US |
Web Views: | 443 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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