By Tech. Sgt. Shad Eidson
379th Air Expeditionary Wing
Public Affairs 379th Air Expeditionary Wing
Preparing for a mission, aircrew
members listen carefully to the briefer as
if their lives depend on his every word.
If the mission goes awry, Staff Sgt. Eric
Zwoll's survival, evasion, resistance and
escape briefing may not only save their
lives but allow them to return with honor.
Sergeant Zwoll, a native of Orma, Calhoun County WV, is one of a handful of
SERE specialists here who support missions
throughout the region by briefing
theater preparation and SERE refreshers,
planning and execution of reintegration
operations, and serving as advocates for
isolated personnel.
"In the U.S. Central Command theater,
we don't actually train anybody," said Sergeant Zwoll.
Staff Sgt. Eric Zwoll, son of Edna Zwoll of Orma and the late Oliver Zwoll, Jr., is a survival, evasion, resistance, and escape
specialist with the Combined Air and Space Operations Center,
demonstrates the use of a PRC-112 survival radio here Tuesday. The
radio is used to contact recovery forces if a member of an aircrew
should become isolated in enemy territory. Sergeant Zwoll is native
to Orma, W. Va. and is deployed from Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.
(U.S. Air Force Photo by Staff Sgt. Joshua Garcia)
The shop specialists here do not teach
or instruct SERE as each service trains
and prepares individuals before they arrive
in theater, said Sergeant Zwoll, who
is here on a permanent change of station
from Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash.,
which is home for the Air Force's main
SERE school.
"Our main responsibility is to directly
assist and support personnel recovery
operations," said Sergeant Zwoll. "We
coordinate with all assets in theater to
execute personnel recovery in the U.S.
CENTCOM area of responsibility."
The SERE specialists support
recovery as part of the Joint Personnel
Recovery Center here. The JPRC prepares
aircrew in U.S. CENTCOM to be
recovered from an isolated situation and
executes the recovery operations. SERE
specialists do not run recovery operations
but advise as subject matter experts.
"We focus on giving aircrew the information
they need for the environments
that they will be operating within," said
Sergeant Zwoll.
The different environments within the
AOR not only affect mission planning
but recovery operations, said Sergeant
Zwoll. Aircrew fl y in a wide range of
environments to include not only desert,
water, mountains, temperate plateau areas
but also arctic conditions in the high
altitude regions. Knowing theater-wide
information allows SERE specialists
to be knowledgeable advocates for not
only aircrew, but anybody who may fi nd
themselves isolated.
"We prepare individuals for what to
do in case they fi nd themselves isolated.
[We explain] how to survive in any
environment and what actions they can
take to help affect their own recovery,"
said the Orma, W. Va. Native. "If there
is an event where we need to recover
an individual, we put ourselves in their
shoes. Knowing the type of training they
have received and determining what they
should be thinking and doing to survive."
Following a recovery operation,
SERE specialists have a critical role in
an individual's reintegration from isolation.
Reintegration in this case has few
similarities to when deployed servicemembers
return to home station.
"We don't just recover the individual
and say great to have you back, get
back to work. That is not the focus,"
said Sergeant Zwoll. "Reintegration is
geared toward taking care of this person
throughout the full spectrum of their
physical and psychological well being."
SERE specialists here focus efforts to
expand reintegration into two more steps
-- learn from the incident and use the information
to prepare for future incidents,
said Sergeant Zwoll.
SERE specialists see their job as helping
aircrew ultimately return with honor.
"The point is to do what it takes to
survive to the best of their ability. Give
them the tools so they can do everything
right and return with their honor intact
and not do anything to the detriment of
their country and fellow Airmen," said
Senior Airman Brandon Dunphy, also
deployed from Fairchild AFB.
Since its inception when the Air Force
created SERE at the end of the Korean
War, the training has evolved through
its application in worldwide operations.
There are always going to be lessons
learned and modifi cations to the application
of those lessons to prepare future operations,
said Airman Dunphy, who was
raised on Kadena Air Base, Okinawa.
"You have to push yourself to learn
more and not be content with what you
already know," said Airman Dunphy.
The SERE specialist feels that with the
mission and fellow Airmen's lives at
stake, the status quo can never be accepted
as already perfect.
"Today, the career fi eld has expanded
because we have such a wealth of knowledge
we have garnered from teaching,
experiencing, and we are putting it into
operational use here," said Sergeant Zwoll.
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