JD wrote:
Does anyone know if they still do survival for the aircrews? I would
expect it's primarily desert oriented, but if I recall, there was a tropical
survival school in the islands...... Not sure about that.

I think it randomly depends on which location you get sent to and
what time of year it is. Everybody still gets basic land survival
classes in API, SERE comes later. I got the winter deal at the same
time as SERE up in Maine a few years ago. One of the most traumatic
experiences for was looking out the window of the plane on the way
there, down into the snowy landscape and thinking, "Aw crap, I'm
gonna be sleeping down there next week. This really sucks!" My
friends that went to the one near San Diego said they froze in the
desert at night, but they didn't get the "cold weather" piece of paper.

Suffice to say they still have many good methods of instruction to
get the point across when you're in the camp.

For a week or two after getting back, I remember every time I saw an
animal I'd start thinking of a way to try to catch it and eat it.
Fun stuff. I also appreciated my freedom more than I ever thought
was possible.

Oh, I made a few photocopies of my SERE letter to be safe, just in
case I lost it. I stopped short of stashing them all around the
house, distributing copies to family and friends, burying one in a
safe place...