SERE ... aka my first camping trip in about 9 years... sort of...

I'm at Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School at NAS Brunswick, Maine. It is probably one of the more intense things I've had the chance to do and the training is actually very cool, so far. We'll start our "camping trip" up on "the mountain" Friday night and continue through various scenarios involving all the subjects contained in the SERE acronym.

The real challenge for me so far has been one of leadership. I found that I'm only the 6th highest ranking officer and person in my class of about 50 or so. I now have a squad of just about 10 folk and I'm responsible for getting them ready to go off in the wilderness. If this were a squad of ooh-rah Marine Corps types, it probably wouldn't be so bad, but at least one of these guys has never spent a night outside in his life. Additionally, I'm not much of a mountain man... I like mountains... when they pass under my plane, no really, they're fun to look at. So this is definitely a new experience for me and it's pretty cool that I'm somewhat in charge. Really, I actually am learning a lot, I feel like it's building on when I was a squad leader back at the Academy, which was a big part of my experience there.

NAS Brunswick has got to be one of the cooler Naval Air Stations I've ever seen. I say this mostly because I'm a New Englander and this is the most New Englandey Naval Air Station I've seen. It's located just outside a quintessential Maine town with a quaint old church and a nice brick and clapboard lined main drag. The bars/restaurants that I've been to are great, have great food and friendly staff. The base itself is gorgeous, everything is brand new, the BOQ is in great shape and also very new. All the on-base housing looks really nice, driving through the base I feel like I'm driving through my home town, not a military facility. Even the base entrance sign has a New England feel with a rough wood construction and neat but rough painted lettering. Also, it's really cold and there's snow everywhere.

Also, they're closing the base in 8 months. They closed the last runway and flew off the last plane just last week. SERE is the only real command left, everyone else is just tasked with the process of shutting this little slice of frozen paradise down. I was totally crushed when I realized how cool this place is, if they had an E-2 or C-2 squadron up here, I would probably do everything in my power to get stationed here. So, if you've got some pull down in Washington, start writing some letters! Don't let Naval Aviation leave the North East!

I'll finish up with the fun Thursday morning I think and then after a nice Friday night spent in Portland, I'll be back South in VA Beach by late Saturday night.