Weekly Contest AutoMatters & More Best bets this weekend Enter for a chance to win 2 tickets to Sea- Tiki Oasis Car Show & International Polynesian Classic Car Night, Mira Mesa Festival of World San Diego. Pop Festival. Beers, Bike the Bay, Open Cockpit Days, See page 4 See page 9 Del Mar concerts. See page 22 Navy Marine Corps Coast Guard Army Air Force AT AT EASE ARMED FORCES DISPATCHSan Diego Navy/Marine Corps Dispatch www.armedforcesdispatch.com 619.280.2985 FIFTY SEVENTH YEAR NO. 10 Serving active duty and retired military personnel, veterans and civil service employees THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2017 Marine commandant orders operational reset for aviation units In a story released by the Office of Marine Corps Communication, Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller announced that an aviation operational reset will occur within the next two weeks and will be taken at the discretion of commanders, based on their unit’s operational commitments, to focus on the fundamentals of safe flight operations, standardization, and combat readiness. The intent is for flying squadrons to review selected incidents which occurred enterprise-wide and study historical examples of completed investigations in order to bring awareness and best practices to the fleet. Pauses in operations are not uncommon and are viewed as a re- sponsible step to refresh and review best practices and procedures so our units remain capable, safe, and ready. U.S., Afghan forces confirm death of ISIS-affiliated terrorist by Cheryl Pellerin WASHINGTON - U.S. and Afghan forces have confirmed the Aug. 10 death of Abdul Rahman, a provincial emir in Afghanistan’s Kunar province for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria affiliate ISIS- Khorasan, or ISIS-K, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Rob Manning said here Aug. 14. In an operational update for Pentagon reporters, Manning said Rah- man was killed in an airstrike along with three other ISIS-K members in Kunar’s Dara-e-Pech district in northeastern Afghanistan. Rahman was a primary candidate to become the ISIS-K emir after the death of Abu Sayed in a July 11 strike on the group’s headquarters in Kunar province. “The death of Abdul Rahman deals yet another blow to the senior leadership of ISIS-K, showing there are no safe havens in Afghani- stan,” Manning added, noting that U.S. and Afghan forces are keeping pressure on ISIS-K to disrupt their expansion plans - part of ongoing operations to defeat the group in Afghanistan. In northern Iraq last weekend, two U.S. soldiers were killed and five others were injured, Manning said, as an Army artillery section conducted a counterfire mission against an ISIS mortar site when 2017 World Tour an incident occurred. “There is no indication that ISIS had anything to do with this,” Manning said, noting that the injured soldiers were evacuated by air Pechanga Resort Casino and that two eventually lost their lives. The other five soldiers did Friday, Sept. 1 • 8 p.m. not suffer life-threatening injuries. Survival, Evasion, MORRO BAY, Calif. (Aug. 1, 2017) - Sailors assigned to Coastal Riverine Group (CRG) 1’s training and evaluation unit, is underway aboard the two newest Resistance and Mark VI patrol boats during a delivery transit from Tacoma, Wash., to San Diego. The Mark VI patrol boats utilize optimal performance, fuel economy and Escape training firepower as part of the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command’s fleet of combatant crafts. Navy photo by SERE) Chief Boatswain’s Mate Nelson Doromal ( by Austin Rooney Deep in the desert moun- tor said the training is available loud snap in the distance tains of Warner Springs, the for any Sailor or Marine to ap- A makes the Sailor imme- Navy runs Sailors and Marines ply to as long as there are slots diately drop into a low crouch, through this scenario as part available. his eyes wide and heart racing; of Survival, Evasion, Resis- the noise could have been any- tance and Escape training, better For two weeks, these students thing - deadfall from the dry known as SERE. will be living in the desert, fac- tree branches, a desert fox or ing sweltering days under the mountain lion, or perhaps even “You’re going to be hot, hot sun and frigid nights sleep- the enemy stalking him. you’re going to be tired,” said a ing under the stars, all the while SERE instructor, facing a large searching for food amongst the His feet crunch through the group of incoming Navy and desert foliage and attempting to A montage of SERE. Navy photo brush as he slowly and care- Marine students. “You’re going evade capture by the instructors. fully moves to investigate the to be miserable, wishing you During that time they will learn SERE West, the parent com- leased in small groups and must of the training is not the most noise, avoiding cactus and didn’t come here.” valuable survival skills, and be mand of Remote Training Site attempt to evade the instructors, difficult. trying to stay somewhat hidden able to put them into application Warner Springs, is housed on who play the “enemy” in this despite the lack of vegetation SERE students come from in the field. Naval Air Station North Island, phase of training. Once captured “There’s plenty of physical in the sprawling desert land- varied backgrounds across the in a building named after Adm. (according to the instructor, barriers, obviously, when you’re scape. services; the bulk being recon- “A lot of guys when they come (Ret.) James Stockdale, whose all students will eventually be in a survival situation,” said the naissance Marines, Naval and out here don’t have a lot of field story helped shape the training’s captured), they will undergo instructor. “But the hardest ones The Sailor is completely iso- Marine pilots and aircrewmen, experience,” said the instructor. curriculum. During the Vietnam simulated interrogation and are mental; you have to have the lated, and miles behind enemy and special operations support “We teach the basics - not just War, Stockdale’s aircraft was imprisonment. will to survive.” lines. personnel. However, the instruc- on hiding, but navigation, how shot down over North Vietnam, to procure water, and how to and he was held as a prisoner While this phase of training is Many of the students said the procure food.” of war in the infamous “Hanoi classified, the unidentified instruc- difficulty of SERE training is far Hilton” for seven-and-a-half tor hinted at the intensity of it. outweighed by its importance. The training is infamous years. During that time, Stock- among Sailors and Marines dale stayed faithful to the U.S. “I think it would shock most “There’s a chance that this for being extremely difficult Military Code of Conduct, and students to know that every- could happen,” said a SERE and intense, but it also serves a despite intense interrogation thing they’ve heard about SERE student (all SERE students’ iden- valuable purpose - especially for and torture, was able to resist school - all the sea stories - are tities are withheld in this article). those whose missions will take his captors and return home all true,” he said. “I don’t want it to happen, but them into enemy territory. with honor. it’s a possibility, and there’s no The heat of the desert, coupled other way to [prepare for it].” “The purpose of this training, Today’s SERE training takes with exhaustion from lack of when you boil it down, is we’re inspiration from Stockdale’s food, lack of sleep, and constant When these students graduate teaching our students how to story, as well as others. After marches and hikes through the training and return to their units, survive, and return with honor days of training students how mountainous terrain, creates the instructor said he knows the from any isolating incident,” to survive, coupled with the physical difficulty for the stu- lessons they learned at SERE said another unidentified SERE exhaustion and hunger of living dents. According to the instruc- will stick with them for their instructor. in the desert, the students are re- tor, however, the physical aspect entire careers. “We train the best for the worst,” said the instructor. BOB STALL CHEVROLET FAMILY OWNED AND OPERATED SINCE 1971 You’re gonna get a good deal ... 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