Come out Americans, we know you are here

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Christopher Wuerthner
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  The words come out of the bullhorn; flat, hard and cold. Cold like the air and the snow on the ground. A group of five armed men follow the man with the bullhorn. He's a political officer and they are hunters. But they are not hunting animals. They are hunting humans.

It's part of the scenario for the one day survival, evasion, resistance, and escape refresher course. The morning lesson was held in a classroom, but the afternoon classroom was the outdoors. Eight students, from several units, are trying to avoid capture. They are playing the role of a downed aircrew. But weather isn't playing. It's cloudy, cold, and there's fresh snow on the ground. Perfect for leaving tracks.

Tracks the aggressors soon find.

"There's not much you can do to hide your footprints," says Tech. Sgt. Justin Christman, 184th Security Force Squadron. "If you drag a branch behind you, it's going to look exactly like you dragged a branch behind you."

This two man team checks under trees and finds a patch of disturbed snow. It's a common hiding place and a common mistake.

"One of the best places to hide is out in the open, in a patch of bushes like those," explained Staff Sgt. Jeremy Bissell, 184th Security Forces Squadron, as he points to the nearby thicket, their black branches stand out against the snow, stripped of the leaves by the cold. "Get in there and stay still. You can see we aren't going in there."

Sergeant Christman calls him over. He's found something. Two somethings. A small shelter built of reeds. But the real find is under the shelter. A backpack. Military issue.

"He dropped it because he probably thought it was slowing him down," said Sergeant Christman. "But that was a mistake. Anything small thing can turn into a survival item." He slings the pack and they continue following the tracks.

"Come out Americans. It is cold out here. Come out and we will give you hot food." The voice is distant. The other teams are looking for other Airmen.

The team of aggressors exits the woods and climbs to the top of a berm. It cuts the woods in half. Tire tracks run along the length of the berm. Footprints cut across the berm.

"Pretty significant trail, one student following the other," said Sergeant Christman. "They basically made a sidewalk for us to follow."

The tracks show the Airmen slid down and entered the woods on this side of the berm.

"I think we've got them," said Sergeant Bissell.

Twenty five feet into the tree line they find the Airmen, hiding.

"What are you doing in our country," said Sergeant Bissell. "Invading, yes?"

"We're not invading, our plane was shot down," replies Senior Airman Matthew Sutherland, 184th Security Forces Squadron.

"You are dressed for our weather," counters Sergeant Bissell. "I think you are invading."

It's at that point the aggressors call an academic time out. They go over what the students did right and wrong and they give the students the global positioning satellite coordinates to the collection point. It's their final exam. Get there by 4:30 p.m. and avoid capture. The students are turned loose and the aggressors return to the berm, walking back to their trucks.

"They should have walked inside the tire tracks and gotten into the higher grass at the berm's edge so you couldn't readily see their footprints," explains Sergeant Christman.

They take a position by the river, a chokepoint the students must pass to get to the collection point. They try but all get caught. Again they review lessons learned. The students return to the woods.

It's a little after 4 p.m. and getting dark. With the cloud cover, it's gotten colder. Most are ready to call it a day but the aggressors have a surprise waiting for their students: they've set an ambush. Hiding behind trees and small bushes they wait for the students to come up the path.

They don't have to wait long.

The aggressors hear the students talking before they see them coming down the trail. The aggressors pop up, weapons ready.

"Get on the ground, now," screams Sergeant Christman.

The students drop to their knees, hands up, surrounded by aggressors. They're marched out in single file to a clearing where the day's final academic time is called. Instructors and students review what they learned and head for the vans. The training will keep the students current for another three years. They'll shortly leave the cold behind but will keep an afternoon's instruction close at hand.