SERE and military survival in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, SERE stands for Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Extraction: surviving, avoiding capture, resisting in captivity and being recovered from isolation. After being shot down, making an emergency landing or becoming separated from friendly forces, the person must organize protection and sustainment with the equipment still available. An action that helps against cold or thirst may also reveal their presence. Training connects these personal decisions with conduct in captivity and the tasks required for recovery.

The SERE School at Gilze-Rijen provides Levels A, B and C alongside land, environmental and water training. Service units also deliver Level B through their own instructors under the school’s oversight. This allows personnel such as airmobile soldiers and Air Mobile Protection Teams, which protect aircraft on the ground, to prepare for the isolation risks associated with their duties.

A, B and C: risk and training format

Dutch levels correspond to low, medium and high risk of isolation. Level A provides basic understanding through e-learning and also prepares personnel for Level B in the airmobile training model. Level B combines instruction with practical field tasks. Level C is intended for personnel at particular risk, including aircrew and other military roles with a high risk of being cut off from friendly forces in hostile territory.

B: sustainment with the means actually available

In airmobile Level B training, the food and water issued initially do not cover the entire field phase. In the SERE-B component of AMPT training, participants work with items including the clothing they wear, a poncho, cord, a saw and a knife. They build protection against the weather, make a fire with materials found locally and prepare food. The poncho can form a roof; cord and fabric can also help carry materials. Rain and a soaked resting place make shelter selection and preparation immediately relevant: a person who continues to lose heat and sleeps poorly starts the next movement weakened.

Food procurement has an uncertain return. AMPT training therefore addresses the poor local yield from snares, rather than assuming a catch. Catching, killing and cleaning a trout are practised before the field phase. Time and energy have already been spent before it becomes clear whether a trap will produce anything. Food gathering must be weighed against remaining supplies, the need for protection and required movement. The individual skills are learned first; under hostile threat, the additional question is whether the location and activity can be detected.

Reaching a contact is also a personal task. In one airmobile Level B contact task, participants must come within approximately one hundred metres of friendly troops. Hunger, distance travelled and fear of detection strain the ability to retain and act on new information.

Captivity: a personal strategy and national conduct rules

AMPT Level B includes developing and applying a captivity survival strategy and resisting questioning and exploitation. Resistance instructors from the SERE School deliver this component. Such a strategy must account for the person’s situation after losing freedom of movement: a captive can no longer control supplies and surroundings as they could during evasion, while the captor seeks information or statements they can manipulate. The Dutch Level B component therefore already addresses captivity; the additional individual field phase and separate resistance component of a Level C course remain distinct tasks.

Dutch military prisoners of war have a national conduct framework. When requested, they must provide surname and forenames, date of birth, rank and naval or registration number. Beyond these details, they must make every effort to protect information, particularly military information. This task extends beyond formal interrogation: letters and conversations with fellow prisoners or other people can also carry information outside. They must endeavour, to the best of their ability, to avoid spoken or written statements harmful to their own country or its allies.

Maintaining cohesion is another personal task. Rank relationships remain to be respected, and solidarity with fellow prisoners should be maintained. A prisoner must not accept personal favours denied to fellow prisoners in comparable circumstances. This prevents an individual advantage from coming at the expense of the group’s shared position. Promises that conflict with military duties are also prohibited. Escape is expected when a suitable opportunity arises to rejoin friendly or allied forces. Whether an opportunity is suitable must be judged against the actual situation. These rules concern military prisoner-of-war captivity in international armed conflict; hostage-taking and other forms of detention require preparation adapted to their actual conditions.

C: hiding, observing and continuing movement

One Dutch Level C training format begins with learning and applying survival skills in an initially non-hostile environment. Later, participants are placed individually in unfamiliar terrain with the survival package appropriate to their duties. They must now make their own decisions and maintain routines despite hunger, fatigue and pressure from search forces. Tasks include moving at night, hiding during the day, eating and drinking regularly with entries in a logbook, and checking the hide as daylight begins.

A place chosen in darkness may prove unsuitable in daylight. A car park on a walking route may go unnoticed at night and bring people directly past the resting place during the day. The resting place therefore needs to be considered together with its surroundings: where do paths and access routes pass, and from which directions can people approach? The hide should allow rest without keeping the person at a location people regularly visit. Search forces use binoculars and thermal imagers.

In this field phase, roads and paths may not be used for movement. Participants receive orders over their survival radio to move towards an extraction point in stages. The person must leave their hide again, continue sustaining themselves and complete the next movement task. If search teams detect them, this training format uses a discussion of the mistake; the resistance component occurs at another time.

Survival and evasion in the desert

Environmental courses add the demands of a particular operating area to SERE preparation. In Dutch desert training in Spain, theory is followed by initial stationary tasks: establishing shelter, obtaining water and food, and finding a way through the terrain. Available means depend on the aircraft. A fighter pilot works with the contents of a seat pack; a transport or helicopter crew may carry a different survival package. Protective materials include parachute fabric or large sheets that can be joined together.

Heat causes fluid loss, so the person must combine sustainment with protection against the sun. Long sleeves and headwear protect exposed skin; gloves reduce injuries during work with the hands. Shade reduces immediate strain but does not replace obtaining water. The following dynamic phase changes the decisions: participants remain hidden by day and move at night while instructors search for them as an opposing force. A location useful for stationary sustainment may be too conspicuous or make onward movement difficult.

The use of visible materials also depends on the situation. White or orange parachute fabric can help locate aircrew during an aerial search; in a hostile search area, it makes a resting place easier to detect. Fire and conspicuous markers must therefore be weighed against the threat.

Aircraft and water create different tasks

Dutch aircrew preparation includes the Initial Survival Equipment Course and Sea Survival alongside Land & Combat. ISEC separates aircraft-related tasks: helicopter personnel practise orientation and escape from a submerged cabin in the Helicopter Underwater Egress Trainer, while PC-7 training includes parachute-related tasks. Other problems then take priority: entering the life raft, staying as dry as possible and using the emergency equipment available. Time at sea in a single-person life raft adds water movement and restricted space.

Extraction: from contact to actual pickup

The isolated person must actively contribute to the transition to friendly forces. One Dutch school field-training model uses questions during recovery to check identity; answers are given in the agreed code. The personal tasks remain distinct: reach the correct contact, complete the required identity check and prepare for pickup.

Within the NATO framework, an Isolated Personnel Report supports prepared identity checks, while an Evasion Plan of Action helps recovery forces understand intended evasion movements. During isolation, radio contact requires a working device and a reachable station. Actual pickup also requires suitable forces to be available and able to act under the existing threat. The person reports their situation and position through the prepared procedure; identity is checked before pickup. Precise coordinates answer where someone is, not who is waiting there. Until pickup succeeds, the person must continue maintaining protection and sustainment and, where necessary, moving independently.

Return: regaining control and predictability

Dutch SERE psychologists prepare personnel at risk and support reintegration after hostage-taking or isolation. Their approach connects resilience with a sense of control and predictability. After a situation in which others determined movement, supplies or contact, the returned person should again be able to understand what happens next and recognize what they can decide for themselves. An understandable next step and renewed opportunities for personal action help end the previous loss of control.